Behind the Scenes: Dean and Nooch rub elbows

San Jose Mercury News reporters Dean Takahashi and Mike Antonucci talk about their adventures at a gaming industry charity dinner.

10 minutes

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We're Moving Our Blog Site!!!

Well, if Apple can migrate to Intel, I guess we can try to migrate to a new blog site. The good news is that we're going to make the gaming blog a regular thing. The bad news is we have to point you to a new site. We're going to become part of a cool new set of entertainment blogs that the San Jose Mercury News is hosting. Think of us as the gaming channel on the larger entertainment network. Please join us there. Our new site is going to be at http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/gaming

thanks for visiting so far and please spread the news about our new digs,

Dean and Nooch

The "Father Of Video Games" Chronicles His Story

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, usually gets credit as the "father of video games." But that title really belongs to Ralph Baer, who several years before Atari was born, in 1966, created the first games that ran on TV sets. At least that's what Baer himself says in his new book. While on a business trip to New York, Baer thought that he could figure out a way to make games run on ordinary TV sets. he jotted his notes on paper and took them back to the office. While Steve Russell, an MIT student, created "Spacewar," a game that ran on $60,000 computers in the 1950s, Baer figured out a way to get simple ping-pong games to run on a TV set. An engineer at Sanders Associates in Nashua, N.H., he licensed the technology to Magnavox, which used it in its Odyssey video game console. Eventually, Magnavox wound up suing other companies in the industry that infringed upon Baer's patents. Baer has chronicled his story in "Videogames: In the Beginning," published by Rolenta Press. The title lists for $29.99 on Amazon.com and the publisher is at www.rolentapress.com. The book itself is as much a reference book than a narrative history. Baer loads it up with pictures of the first games, copies of his patents, and a few rants about who gets credit for what. Don't tell Baer that success has many fathers.

Calling All Gamers and Game Developers

Here's my first fetcher. If you're a gamer, can you tell me what you think about the game systems being proposed by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. What do you like about them? What do you hate? What games are you looking forward to most? And if you're a game developer, please tell me why you're going to choose one system to make games for over another. Send an e-mail privately if you'd like to dtakahashi@mercurynews.com. I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to take your thoughts into account in future posts or stories.

Gamer Metrics Shows How Far We're Out Of Touch

For a view of what gamer's liked from E3, check out the favorites from IGN Research's GamerMetrics statistics. Yes, it shows how quirky Nooch and I are, and how much we are in step with the pulse of gamers. GamerMetrics' People's Choice Awards are based on the traffic on www.IGN.com from May 1 to May 21. Well, hey, at least Nooch and I each got one right.

Top current generation title: "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess"
Top next generation title: "Metal Gear Solid 4"
Top handheld title: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Top overall franchise: "Madden NFL '06"
Top PS 3 title: "Metal Gear Solid 4"
Top Xbox 360 title: "Gears of War"
Top PS 2 title: "Kingdom Hearts II"
Top Xbox title: "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas"
Top GameCube title: "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess"
Top PC title: "Battlefield 2"
Top PSP title: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories"
Top DS title: "Mario Kart DS"
Top GBA title: "Gunstar Super Heroes"

Nooch: A comprehensive wrapup of what looks good and what sucks

FYI, my list from May 21 didn't get on the blog after I headed out of town, so here it is, with context, so you can compare and contrast with Dean's:

Each year, E3 can be summed up by one truth: Only a relative handful of games and products stand out as truly special. Ordinary games and accessories are everywhere. Good stuff pops up here and there. But anything that can be called remarkable or great is rare.

These are my choices for the 10 breakout games and items. It's not based on a comprehensive survey -- nobody can see everything at E3 -- but it's backed by four days of hoofing it to about two dozen meetings crammed with game and technology demonstrations.

1. "Twilight Princess." Want to dismiss Nintendo as a kiddie company? Go ahead, if you want to miss out on the "Zelda" franchise. I don't get many fanboy chills, but I felt something in that category during the "Zelda" trailer. It happened when Link, the signature character, morphed into a spectacularly animated wolf, signaling a new era of possibilities for the classic series. Some details about the plot are being dribbled out (the Nintendo Power magazine has a "Twilight Princess" cover story), and I was told that the game fits into "Zelda" history between "The Ocarina of Time" and "Wind Waker." "Twilight Princess" is scheduled for late in the year, as a holiday season release.

2. "Spore" (for PCs). This is the next big creation from Electronic Arts' Will Wright, the man who gave us "The Sims." It's going to take a while to finish -- the current target is a fall 2006 release -- but just the introduction to it is fascinating.

Here's the best synopsis I can muster: You design and evolve a creature/life-form, starting with a single-cell organism. The game then takes you through the development of a tribe, city and civilization, to be followed by the ability to travel into space and perhaps dominate the galaxy.

There's more: Going online will enable you to interact with what other players have created, but the outcomes affect only your game and won't disturb theirs. I don't see this being as big a phenomenon as "The Sims," but its use of player-created designs and scenarios could change game development.

3. "Death, Jr." (for PlayStation Portable). This somewhat violent and warped action game from Konami also feels fresh and funny. Weird, I know.

The title character is the school-age son of the Grim Reaper, and when trouble arises, he has a wide range of weapons at his disposal, including C4 hamsters. That's right, grenade-like hamsters. The kid also has some distinctive friends, such as Stigmartha, whose hands and feet bleed when she gets nervous.

Repelled? Fair enough. But if you're intrigued, you don't have to wait long. The game is scheduled for summer release.

4. Cellboost (for PSP and Nintendo DS). I love this product, from Compact PowerSystems. You may know Cellboost as an instant battery supplement for cell phones -- a low-cost widget that plugs into the charging port when your phone is low on juice. This summer, you'll be able to buy Cellboost plug-ins for the PSP and DS in the $8-$9 range. The PSP one will supply another two hours of immediately available power; the DS version will be good for six hours.

5. "Star Wars: Battlefront II" (for PS2, Xbox, PCs and PSP). A sequel to last year's huge hit, this game stands out just because its concept is so good.

You play as characters who are part of large battle scenarios drawn from the "Star Wars" movies, and LucasArts is adding "Episode III" environments for "Battlefront II." Oh, and now those characters you play as will include -- yep, you guessed it -- Jedi. It's scheduled for a fall release.

6. "EyeToy: Chat" (for PS2). I've written a lot about EyeToy, the camera-and-game concept that Sony keeps finding new ways to use.

The "Chat" version, coming this summer, turns the PS2 into a video phone if you have a broadband Internet connection to hook up to the console. There are game and text chat features, but Sony suggested a particularly intriguing idea: Set Grandma up with a PS2 and "EyeToy: Chat."

The camera -- a simple attachment to the PS2 -- could bring Grandma and her grandchildren into video contact through the kids' game system. That strikes me as a killer app.

7. "We Love Katamari" (for the PS2). Namco is a smart company: This much-desired sequel will be available later this year to sustain the momentum of last year's "Katamari Damacy," which first got attention as quirky and then seemed to hook anybody who tried it.

I'm simplifying, but you basically spend your time rolling up about half of everything in the world in a clumpy ball. The sequel adds a co-op mode in which you have to coordinate the rolling with another game player.

8. "50 Cent: Bulletproof" (for Xbox, PS2 and later the PSP). Brace yourself for this one.

The early peek at this game from Vivendi Universal revealed an experience that was riveting in terms of the cinematic scripting and urban-life nastiness. The game clearly has deep buy-in and participation from 50 Cent, who's fusing his music and video style with the game action.

But whew, it appears to be a celebration of over-the-top brutality and offensiveness. It may end up supplanting ''Grand Theft Auto'' as the poster game for the industry's detractors. It's on a timeline for November.

9. The Fly pentop computer from Leapfrog. This isn't a video-game product per se. But it's an innovative educational technology, mixed with electronic game capabilities, that fits into this list perfectly.

In a nutshell: Fly is a computerized pen-like implement with a built-in speaker and optical scanning. Users can write and draw things on dot-encoded paper and materials from Leapfrog, and then generate impressive multimediaeffects.

One example: You can draw a keyboard -- a basic outline, nothing artistic -- and then tap out music that's processed by the Fly computing power and played through the speaker.

The device is aimed at the ''tween'' market -- kids 8-14 -- and you'll be hearing a lot more about it when it becomes available in the fall. Leapfrog has a good shot at making it the hot educational toy for the holidays.

10. Nintendo's next console, Revolution. No, we don't know enough about it yet, and yes, it's already being dissed by some people as weak-sister technology compared with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

I don't care. They say it's going to be able to download almost every game ever made for previous Nintendo consoles, going back to the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). That's a glorious prospect.

Let's also note some games that failed to live up to their hype:

-- ''The Godfather'' from Electronic Arts displayed little in its game action that conveyed any depth of emotion.

-- ''Peter Jackson's King Kong'' from Ubisoft looked flat-out silly, with action that included throwing sharp sticks at huge dinosaurs.

-- ''Fantastic Four'' from Activision may be a little better than mediocre (or not), but there was no ''wow'' value to match the buildup to this summer's highly anticipated movie.

--Nooch

Nooch: So much good stuff: Katamari, Soul Calibur III impress. And what's up with Dean and Nintendogs?

The gaming community is gaga over Namco's oddball "Katamari" franchise, as is this critic. But all the chatter about the upcoming "We Love Katamari'' -- a follow-up to last year's ""Katamari Damacy'' -- might be diverting some attention from the rest of the company's well-diversified lineup.

* "Soul Calibur III" for PS2, scheduled for fall, looks terrific and includes a create-a-warrior mode.

* "Sigma Star Shooter," scheduled for July, is an example of Namco's support for the
still-robust Game Boy Advance devices. This appears to be a particularly deep GBA game that combines a role-playing motif with a space shooter.

* "Pac-Man World 3," scheduled for fall, helps celebrate Pac-Man's 25th anniversary by including the original Pac-Man arcade game. Versions will be available for PS2, GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation Portable and PCs.

* Other titles include all-ages fare such as "Gumby vs. the Astrobots" for GBA, scheduled for August, and much grittier material, such as "Frame City Killer," a late-year, Xbox 360 action game set in a "high-tech urban jungle in East Asia."

DEAN, WAS THAT YOU?: I was intrigued by my colleague Dean Takahashi's top 10 list from E3, posted last week as a follow-up to my list.

I could have predicted his fondness for intense shoot-'em-ups such as "Black" and "Quake 4," but what in the world provoked him to include three Nintendo games, including the "cuddly" puppies experience of "Nintendogs"? Moreover, the three Nintendo games didn't even include the E3 show-stealer, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" for GameCube.

We may all need to keep an eye on Dean. This quirky set of selections, highlighted by a new warm and fuzzy streak, is a bit unnerving.

--Nooch

Nooch: Capcom's stunning 'Okami' is a year away, but boy is it a looker

I was out of the office for a week after E3, but Dean, the reporter with no off switch, has been tending the blog faithfully.

Now it's my turn again, starting with this question: If it's happening in 2006, is it news now?

One of the video games that got a lot of attention at last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo -- but which isn't scheduled for release until 2006 -- is Capcom's "Okami" for PlayStation 2.

The game's premise was described to me in clear but exalted terms: Players take the role of a wolf that is embodiment of a sun god and have to restore life to a devastated world.

Will it really be engrossing to play? Too early to say. But it's going to have a visual style that's an immediate attention-grabber.

I can't convey it any better than Capcom did in its press release: "Traditional Japanese art comes alive through beautiful scenic 3D levels that have the appearance and texture of paper scrolls brushed with watercolor-like calligraphy art."

After the 2004 E3, I touted some games far in advance of their release, such as the still-to-come "Kingdom Hearts II" from Square Enix and "The Movies" from British developer Peter Molyneux. This year, I decided to downplay games with a distant publication date.

But I'm making an exception for "Okami," which captivated me at first glance.

-- Nooch

Dean's Disappointments From E3

My list of disappointments at at E3 include:

Electronic Arts' "The Godfather." This one had unwieldy controls, choppy graphics, and no distinct reason to have such an expensive license, since you start out as a young thug in the Corleone crime family and wander around New York looking for racketeering work. When you want to take a swing at someone, you have to do something very unnatural with the controller. It seems you can accidentally kill someone when you just want to rough them up. You could beat up a grandmother on the streets, but no one would come to her aid even while there are lots of people walking by. Well, maybe that's intentional. EA hasn't shown this title can live up to the hype.

Ubisoft's "Peter Jackson's King Kong" seemed like an oversold throwback to the old "Jurassic Park" game, where a T-Rex chases you and you have no choice but to run along a pre-determined path of escape. Like Mike says, it's stupid that you just shoot at the T-Rex with a pistol and try to annoy it or slow it down. Does anyone remember "Trespasser?"

Marc Ecko's "Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure" by Atari. I didn't look at this one for very long, but I really didn't need to after seeing the little graffiti artist character paint ""through'' the wall. You play "Trane," a character who tries to break into a variety of areas to vandalize them. But there won't be any brand names for you to deface. This is about as fun as Tony Hawk without the skateboard.

Microsoft's "backward-compatible" announcement. Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer, got screams of applause (presumably from the Microsfot PR folks in the audience) when he announced that the Xbox 360 would be backward compatible. But he added on this phrase, ""with the top-selling Xbox games." Microsoft dumped its original Xbox chip partners so making the games compatible isn't easy. The company has to use translation software, always tricky on reliability, to make the old games run. It has to test those games one by one. This is sure to lead to consumer confusion and ultimately disappointment.

Sega's "Spartan: Total Warrior'' game seems to be a well-intentioned but dumb extension of the Creative Assembly ""Total War'' brand. I mean, how do you take a great real-time strategy game and turn it into an OK third-person combat game? Instead of running whole armies, you're commanding one soldier who really isn't rendered that well. The mistake here is that the developers are trying to make the leap down to individual fighting soldiers on console technology that just can't do the graphics.

My Own Experience With Current Generation Games On HDTV

I wasn't able to get my own attempts to be a gear head in my previous HDTV gaming story. I evaluated the current Xbox games on a 32-inch HDTV from Samsung which promised "no more watery eyes." The liquid-crystal display TV was too big for my entertainment center so I had to set it on the ground, and I had to use a special Monster cable to hook it up to my Xbox. Once I turned on the Xbox, I had to go to the dashboard to change the resolution to wide screen, and then I was ready to go. I played "Doom 3" on the TV. It looked good, but it didn’t necessarily look better than any other non-HDTV games. The game also didn’t look as good as it did on my PC. But it was good enough so that I didn’t automatically gravitate to the PC as the destination for the best graphics.
You can find a list of Xbox video games that run in high-definition formats at www.hdtvpub.com. Of the five supporting 1080i, I tried "Dragon’s Lair 3D," and it was quite forgettable. The other games weren’t exactly barn burners: "Enter the Matrix," "MX Unleashed," "MX vs ATV Unleashed," and "Syberia." The thing you’ll notice if you play these games is that console games and PC games will finally look the same. So HDTV is an equalizer, but it doesn't yet create a superior gaming experience. If you've already got a decent computer monitor, there's no reason to switch to HDTV console games to get better visuals.