Oh, you haven’t heard? We get to talk to JEPH LOEB later today! We’ll be asking some of the great questions from our forums and from newsarama.com. Thanks for those, and be sure to check back here later tonight for the show!
I figured it was about time for me to say something on here, so here I am! It’s me, The Viceroy, your Shots in the Dark ‘man on the inside’ as it were. And by inside, I mean the lone cast member that works at an actual video game company. I’ve been in the industry for several years by now, and it’s given me a different perspective & appreciation when I play games in my spare time. Whenever that is…As I said in our first show (which can be found here by the way…), I’m currently working on a next gen title that’s due to come out roughly this summer. So right now I’ve got next to no free time. In addition to talking about my trials & tribulations on the air during future Shots in the Dark shows, I’m going to attempt to have a weekly section here in our blogs talking about various aspects of what it’s really like working at a video game company. It’s a segment that I like to call my Designer Diary. So using these meager means of communication I’ll at least be able to keep you all informed of my madness in some form or another. You see, I won’t be around on the show much the next few months. The end of a project is always the worst in terms of work hours. Hell, even the middle can be bad sometimes…Anyway, I’ve been working at a well known company for the past several years. I got my start in the Testing department, and made the transition into Design, where I been for the past few years. By now I’ve got several games under my belt as both a Designer & from my testing days. I’ve worked on a few different genres, from Sports to Fighting to Action, so it’s a pretty diverse list. In case you’re wondering, I’m being purposely light on the details. I’d ratter not get into name dropping and getting all high & mighty on everyone. It’s tacky, but also the topics and concepts that I hope to talk about in my Designer Diary entries are applicable to any video game company and game development cycle, regardless of genre.
Oh. And there is the rather minor concept of company confidentiality. Meaning, there’s a fair amount of information that I know based on my affiliations that I can’t talk and shouldn’t talk about. Especially online for the world to see. See, I like my job, and I don’t want to get fired for writing something on a web site. Trust me, they do it, and I’ve actually seen it happen firsthand. So to summarize, don’t bother trying to ask me any “secrets” or any crap like that.
Even leaving out the “juicy details” there’s still a fair amount of stuff that I can talk about that should be interesting enough. Stuff like “how does a feature get designed” or “What’s the process for making a level” or even something as simple as “How many does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop” (The world may never know…) Er, I mean “How many people does it take to make a game” There, much better… All this and more I’m hoping to comment on.
Anyway, look to the Shots in the Dark blogspace for more of my Designer Diaries in the future. I’m trying to have Wednesday be the day that new ones appear. Let’s hope that I can stick to that timeline with my busy schedule. Until then..
“Later Evil Ted, later…”
The Viceroy
That’s right, the moment you’ve ALL been waiting for…..
The show is up! So click the link below, download, listen, enjoy, maybe go to your happy place, negotiate a deal with the big pink elephant to allow you to rule a third world country, and don’t forget to listen alllllll the way to the end for a HUGE announcement about the first ever guest of Shots in the Dark!
And stay tuned- tomorrow we’ll have a couple new threads in the Forum and a special contest for our first episode!
In 2006, Rare decided to revitalize a fantastic brand that had languished for over five years: Conker! In case you missed his appearance on the Nintendo 64, I’ll give you a brief summary. Imagine if one of the puppets from Peter Jackson’s: Meet the Feebles was featured in a video game about his adventures the day after a late night out with the boys: that’s Conker’s Bad Fur Day (BFD), in a nutshell.
Conker’s: Live & Reloaded is the port of BFD to the Xbox, which features a new Xbox live-enabled multiplayer mode. I’d love to recommend you check it out, as there are many points in the game where I found myself laughing out loud. At one point, I was laughing so hard, I had to pause the game. There’s something just incredibly hilarious to me about an enormous pile of feces with a penchant for poo-slinging that only communicates by singing in opera-style.
But you’ll notice this blog update is a Headshot, which means that I’m supposed to shred the game, not endorse it. (more…)
I logged on, I downloaded, I played… I downloaded again, but this time in my pants. The next release for the Elder Scrolls IV series was unveiled on March 27, 2007 on XBox Live. Being an avid Oblivion player, with my 20th level Elf Archer being pretty much unbeatable, I quickly found myself dominating everything that the previous expansions could muster - including the amazing holy quest of the “Nights of the Nine” This is where it begins. In the middle of a lake in Cyrodiil - just east of the Imperial City, an island appears with a triple headed doorway to The Realm of Madness, also known as the Shivering Isles, a realm ruled by the daedric prince Sheogorath. At the head of the doorway are bystanders who seem to already be aware of this random occurrence. “Interesting,” I muttered to myself. I pressed on. I managed to enter the glowing doorway, arrow knocked, ready to kill whatever I had to. (more…)
You back? Good. This is going to be amazing. As you may or may not know, MTV acquired Harmonix, the developer that has brought us the very addictive Guitar Hero series. Now, this new conglomerate, along with EA, are bringing out a new game this holiday season called “Rock Band.” In it, there will be a guitar track, bass track, drum track, AND vocals!
That’s right- you and 3 of your friends can all stand around with various bizarre controllers in front of your PS3 or Xbox360 and make utter, utter fools of yourselves. This is brilliant. I can’t wait! No screen shots or anything yet; we just got the press release today about it. I for one am very excited. If you want to hear more about the game and the whole cast’s thoughts, be sure to check out our inaugural podcast as Shots in the Dark THIS SATURDAY at 6pm, only at www.shotgunreviews.com/shots. So, what do YOU think?