Archive for the ‘video games’ Category
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
I’m currently dragging myself across Europe. Check out @fourzerotwo for updates as they happen.
DAY 1 - Arrived in London around 4pm on Sunday. A good 7 hours of sleep on the plane had me prime and ready to kick off our over seas adventure and pumped to see the sights of London. So what’s the first thing I see out of the cab? G4 TV host Adam Sessler’s smiling mug outside my hotel. Totally random and unrelated to my purpose in London and totally ironic that the first thing I see in London is something I could have stayed in Los Angeles and see all I wanted.
I later found out that Bethesda was in London as well with a few aces up their sleeves as well. Apparently announcing their new game, “Fallout: New Vegas” earlier than they would have liked as word leaked from their press conference like a flood and after one journo breaks embargo, it’s the wild west of game journalism. I felt for the guys, as there’s an art to how and when you release information on a game your working on. Just like a great game, it’s all about the pacing. You don’t want to blow your load right out of the gate. You want to build up to the climax and tease first. Gain interest in your story and characters gradually before you give em’ the farm. (sexual innuendos are totally in YOUR head, not mine!)
With that said, I feel bad that their big announcement was leaked earlier than they planned, but ah well, I’M HYPED!
I did a quick site check at our hotel to make sure things were up to snuff before meeting some acquaintances for dinner in downtown London (Covent Garden area) before getting an impromptu walking tour of London’s major sites by fans that were UK natives. It was late, but I got a chance to check out Big Ben, Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace. Standard tourist affair really but was a great to get it in before we kicked off the real work Monday morning, as I knew we’d have no time to rest once the week got started.
DAY 2 - Monday started early (a bit too early for me) and fast. Luckily though I got too meet up with some familiar faces to start off from our friends @OPM_UK (Official Playstation Magazine UK), PC Zone, OXM UK and many others. What exactly we talked about I can’t say. As I said, it’s all about pacing with this type of stuff and trust me, it works on in your favor in the long the run. While the middle of the day is under wraps, dinner that night introduced me to a new love of mine…. MEXICAN DONUTS. An absurdly delicious and near-deadly of donuty-powdersugared-toffeetdipped dessert served at the restaurant in our hotel. While 2 could probably be considered unhealthy consumption of sugar, I snuck about 8 more orders onto the bill and stuffed my face like I was dying the next day. (which I felt like doing after the 9th Mexican Donut)
Ah… gluttony. My old friend.
DAY 3 - After I awoken from my sugar coma, we rounded out our trip to London with 3 more meetings from our benelux buds before making a mad dash to the EuroStar. A 300 mph train that goes underneath the english channel and across the French countryside into the heart of Paris. An awesome trip. By Day 3 my body was starting to feel the effects of jumping time zones and non-stop activity, but once we arrived in Paris and were met immediately off the train by the sight of 3 French soldiers with FAMAS rifle’s strapped to their chest on patrol of the EuroStar, I got hyped and thus got my second wind. I was ready to see what Paris had to offer and prep for 2 more days of adrenaline.
We did a site check then headed to our hotel before dinner with the ATVI France team. I laughed when they gave me an English menu at the restruant and realized it was oddly different from the original french version everyone else had. It seemed I was being profiled as the first item on the French menu was “Frog Legs” whereas the first item on my menu was “Cheese - Burger w/ French Fries”. Really? Do I look THAT american that you assume I’ll just want a Cheeseburger with fries?….. well YOU’RE RIGHT! I did want that!
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure where French Fries got their name or if France is related at all really, but these will the most killer Fries I’ve ever had. Fantastic homemade french fries. I also got a desert of ice cream in the form of French Vanilla (honestly, I wasn’t just eating food with ‘French’ in the title on purpose, it just worked out that way…… REALLY!).
Ended out the day back at the hotel fighting with the local wifi to try and receive some assets from the guys back at IW studio for approval. Once that was done, it’s time to get some well needed sleep before another 7 AM start to the 2 days in Paris. Rinse and repeat then we’re off to Germany!
/end
>Updates as they happen<
Tags: London, madrid, paris, stockholm
Posted in IW4, London, Modern Warfare 2, Playstation 3, UK, infinity ward, interview, life, twitter, video games, xbox 360 | Comments
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
SOURCE: GAMASUTRA
Check out the most recent feature on Gamasutra.com where one of our lead designers and I discuss Achievements in games.
Achievements are “like a topping on a pizza,” explains Robert Bowling, community manager at Infinity Ward. They enhance the gameplay experience and reward dedicated players for their effort and skill.
That is why unlocking all the potential points in a Call of Duty game is such a grueling process. They are badges of honor — particularly achievements like “Mile High Club,” says Bowling.
In reference to the question, “Do you design the game first, then worry about achievements, or do you design around achievements from the start?” - Achievements are “like toppings on a pizza”, as to say they are purely meant to enhance gameplay, not determine it. You make the pizza taste fantastic with it’s core ingredients, then you work on how to enhance that flavor in the same way you make the core game great, then comes the process of adding the extras.
Only 2.8 percent of the 10 million Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare players who have ever logged into Xbox Live have earned the achievement, which is awarded for completing COD4 on veteran difficulty.
Achievements like “Mile High Club” should be rare — perhaps only one per game, Bowling explains. “It is one of the hardest achievements to achieve and you lose some of that weight when they are all that hard. It would be more frustrating than fun.”
Players, however, complained that the achievements in Call of Duty 2 were too difficult to obtain, says Call of Duty 4 lead designer Zeid Rieke. All but three of the 13 achievements had to be completed on veteran difficulty. So the studio compromised for COD4.
What are your thoughts on it?
Read more about what we said as well as input from several other great developers on Gamasutra.com - Unlocking Achievements: Rewarding Skill with Player Incentives
Tags: achievements, editorial, feature, gamasutra
Posted in achievements, call of duty 4 modern warfare, infinity ward, interview, video games, xbox 360, xbox live | Comments
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
www.ModernWarfare2.com is LIVE with the first teaser for MW2.
Post and track trailer discussion at http://twitter.infinityward.com
or
Discuss the teaser at http://www.infinityward.com/forum/
Tags: gdc, infinity ward, Modern Warfare 2, teaser
Posted in GDC 09, Modern Warfare 2, community, infinity ward, twitter, video games | Comments
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
I’ve booked a last minute flight into London / Heathrow Airport for Sunday night to attend this year’s BAFTA Awards (http://www.bafta.org/) which will be held in London on Tuesday the 10th. We were blown away on Feb. 10th when this year’s BAFTA nominations were announced and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was up for 8 AWARDS, including:
- Best Game
- Best Multiplayer
- Best ACTION / ADVENTURE
- Artistic Achievement
- Best Story and Character
- Best Gameplay
- Best Use of Audio
and last but not least the GAME Year of 2008 Award! While the rest of the awards are voted upon and decided by the British Academy, the GAME Award is the only one voted on by the players ( http://www.baftagameaward.com/ ). Of course, it’s a great honor just to be nominated in the British Academy awards and I’ll be in Londay by 7 AM Monday morning ready to show our appreciation if we’re lucky enough to win. If you’re in the London area, drop me a line and say hey. As always I’ll be twittering live from the award ceremony via @fourzerotwo on Twitter.
Tags: awards, BAFTA, call of duty 4 modern warfare, London, UK
Posted in London, UK, awards, call of duty 4 modern warfare, infinity ward, life, video games | Comments
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
Reviewing some radio-chatter VO we just finished recording for Modern Warfare 2 today.
“Cujo Two-One this is Vulture, solid copy on all.”
View / Reply to this Tweet on Twitter @fourzerotwo
Posted in infinity ward, twitter, video games | Comments
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
If you’re not already addictively twittering, then I’m sure you’ve at least heard about it by now. As it’s hard to miss my personal account @fourzerotwo which is syndicated on the left-side of this blog. Twitter is a micro-blogging (140 character limit to be exact) service, which allows you to make quick and easy updates regarding “What you’re doing”, wherever you are. With the help of web and mobile apps like Twitteriffic on iPhone or TwitPic online, you can also attach photos and GPS coordinates to your updates.
Simple concept that seems to be oddly polarizing for people. Either you totally get it or you are completely boggled by it’s usefulness. I for one, LOVE IT. It was literally my life-line for the 3-something weeks I was on vacation with no access to a computer.
I kept tabs on the Gaza Strip Conflict via CNN’s Breaking News twitter @CNNbrk , stayed in tune with some of my favorite bands as they went through the recording studio, via Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records head-honcho Brett Gurewitz twitter @OblivionPact (which led to the official Epitaph twitter being made @EpitaphRecs), and kept up on Gaming specific news among many site’s Twitter feeds, including @Kotaku.
In short, Twitter has personalized, summerized, and made the internet intimate again. Providing me 140 character bursts of information every minute, straight to my phone / email / other device of my choosing albeit the fact it also helped to further destroy my already limited attention span - but honestly, who needs one of those in this day and age.
While I’ve obviously been using Twitter personally for quite sometime, I’ve finally launched an Official Infinity Ward Twitter @Infinity_Ward this past week. Which I plan to update strictly with PR friendly updates, studio news, job postings, and some free DLC codes every now and again.
(Download a custom Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare twitter background here)
Essentially, if you’re not on Twitter yet, you should be. As it’s quickly becoming THE place to source exclusive and raw news regarding just about anything, as well as giving a voyeurtastic look into the personal lives of just about anyone you could imagine, from @MCHammer to more gaming note-worthy @djaffe .
The big reason I mention it though, is because Twitter (specifically @fourzerotwo and @Infinity_Ward) are going to play a key role in getting quick and raw updates regarding the development of our future games. As I can easily update them with info, news, and even photos from anywhere I am at anytime. While @Infinity_Ward will be focused on top-level news, @fourzerotwo will be chockfull of a more personal look and more in-depth details throughout development of our future games.
So try it out, go to Twitter.com, sign-up, and start tweeting. You’d be surprised by the people who are interested in listening or the amount of people you’d be interested in following. To get you started, here are just a few of the people I find interesting to follow:
CNN Breaking News - @cnnbrk
Brett Guerwitz of Bad Religion / Epitaph Records - @OblivionPact
Felicia Day of The Guild / Dr. Horrible - @Feliciaday
Amazon Game Deal of the Day - @amazongames
Valve Software - @valvesoftware
Naughty Dog for Uncharted 2 updates - @naughty_dog
Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb - @jeffgerstmann
Kotaku - @kotaku
Just to name a few of the 107 I actively follow.
Update: Sam “QforQ” Houston posted a comprehensive list of all the video game companies and people on Twitter for you to follow. Pretty handy resource for those new to twitter. Check it out here.
Tags: blogging, infinity ward, twitter, updates
Posted in IW4, blog, call of duty 4 modern warfare, community, infinity ward, internetz, twitter, video games | Comments
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
I’m back from Las Vegas and most importantly the Call of Duty 4 National Champsionships that were held there this past weekend as part of the MLG National Finals. While I was there I met with up team FeaR (seen above) who took home the title as the best Call of Duty 4 players in the country. I watched over their shoulders as they shut out EnvyUs three games straight in some of the most impressive COD4 skills I’ve ever seen.
I caught up with (Robert) FeaR Assass1n, Kevin (FeaR Choppy), Joey (FeaR Moho), and John (FeaR PacMan) just after their win, before they scored their giant check, to congratulate them and talk about flying them out to the Infinity Ward studios at some point in the future.
While team FeaR came out as the best, 2nd place EnvyUs, 3rd place Head Trauma, and 4th place TBRE (seen below) were still some of the best Call of Duty 4 players I’ve witnessed. The fucking speed of some of these guys was incredible.
While sheer speed and skill will get you far, it definitely won’t get you the National Champion title which takes a lot more than just the ability to get quick headshots. The most impressive part of watching professional teams play is the level of communication they use (keeping the mics clear of useless information) and relaying the location of every enemy, what weapon they’re using, and any other useful information as they see it.
Overall the entire event was impressive, and a great debut for Call of Duty 4’s first live national champsionships. It was great to meet up with the MLG staff, and I have plans to meet up with them more formally once we get back to the studio and talk about how we can make Call of Duty 4 and it’s professional players a more prominent role in future seasons / tournaments.
Congrats again to FeaR on taking home the cash and title. Expect to hear from me once I get back to the studio.
In addition to those competiting in the tournament, I met up with several of our community members to talk “shop” and discuss Call of Duty 4, Infinity Ward, and get some of their direct feedback on what we can continue to improve on in the future (in terms of game development and a CRM point of view). I had lunch with Chase (Th3 Wiz4rd) and Brett (Th3 VerDict) on Saturday as well met with DpG Witness (when he wasn’t coaching teams). It was great to meet you guys and learn the meaning of “Jugger-twatting”.
Tags: call of duty 4, cod4, FeaR, MLG, national champsionships, professionla gaming
Posted in call of duty 4 modern warfare, event, infinity ward, video games, xbox 360, xbox live | Comments
Monday, November 17th, 2008
The MTV Game Awards is this weekend in Berlin, Germany and we’ve been invited to attend thanks to our nominaton for the “Let’s Play Together Award” for Best Multiplayer Game. Regretfully, we won’t be able to make it out to Berlin for the live show, but we’ll be recording a little video tomorrow morning to show our appreciation and thanks to all of our German players who voted and supported the game in the awards, just in case. So if you’re part of our German game community, be sure to check the show this weekend, more info here www.mtvgameawards.de.
My Fallout 3 character. (Feral Mask + Chinese Spy Uniform)
Over 60 hours of gameplay later, and I’ve finally finished Fallout 3 this weekend; Holy hell was that an amazing game. You can definitely beat it in half that time, but I savored the gameplay, and completed every main and side quest before beating the main story line - as well as maxing out my character at the level 20 cap. I love the amount of detail and thought that went into every aspect of this game. Bethesda did a great job of really immersing you in their world and I’m kind of depressed it’s over. I still need to find a few bobbleheads and do a few random achievements, but for the most part it’s over, and I’m gonna miss it.
Although, thankfully I can get back to living a productive life now that it’s over, not to mention focus on finishing up Gears of War 2 (on the last level) and Mirrors Edge (on Chapter 6).
Hopefully I can finish them both up before Friday, because my entire weekend is being spent in Vegas. I’ll be flying in to attend the first ever LIVE tournament for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at the MLG’s National Championships. There will be over $340,000 in cash prizing up for grabs overall this weekend - which will promptly be blown on hookers and blow immediately following the event. So be sure to drop me a line if you’re in Vegas or competing in the tournament. I’ll be held up at the Hard Rock where the event is taking place, so stop by and say hey. We can get together and gamble our life savings away in a horrible drunken rage.
Tags: call of duty 4, cod4, fallout 3, MLG, mtv games awards, tournament, vegas
Posted in awards, call of duty 4 modern warfare, community, event, infinity ward, life, pro gamers, video games | Comments
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World At War hit today, so if you haven’t already picked it up, GO GET IT NOW! If I haven’t stressed it enough, Zombies are awesome. What’s even better than run of the mill everyday zombies? Nazi Zombies!
I’m going to spend most of today powering through the 4-player co-op single player in order to unlock the Nazi Zombie mode at the end. So who’s with me?
I wasn’t kidding when I said this is one of the most awesome things about World At War.
If you’re not familiar with what the hell I’m talking about - Nazi Zombies is a bonus mode after you beat the single player campaign. Essentially, it’s you (and 3 other co-op buddies) defending an abandoned house. Every window / door is boarded up at the start and there are weapons lining the walls around the house.
Each weapon costs money, once you own a weapon, you can go to it’s place on the wall to replenish ammo (for a cost). To get the money to buy the weapons / ammo, just kill zombies. Bonus points for headshots! Every once in a while a zombie will drop a power-up (Instant Kill, Double Points, etc.) and even one that allows you to explode all zombies on screen at once (save that till you need it) which lasts for a set duration.
The zombies will come in waves, so you have to work as a team to cover all the windows and doors, and most importantly work on rebuilding the barricades the zombies tear down in their attempt to get in. Once you hit wave 10 and over, fuck the windows, just find a secure location to defend from because your ass is going to be swarming with the nazi undead. It’s awesome.
Once you get $1000 though you can unlock more portions of the house which gives you access to even more weapons. Move a couch to access the upstairs, knock open a door to get to the basement, etc. Once you’re in the basement, you’ll have access to a random weapon box. Essentially everytime you open the box you’re entering a lottery for a random weapon. Could be a shitty pistol, or a bad ass flamethrower (which is only available in the box, not on the wall) as well as a few “special” weapons that you’ll definitely want to shoot for.
It’s all about working together to cover and secure the windows, going for headshots, reviving your teammates when they go down into last stand, and calling out zombie positions so you can defend a certain area of the house. The highest we got in-house before it went retail was about Lvl 20, so that’s what I’m aiming for.
So if you’re down for some co-op zombie action in World At War then hit me up, send me a message and I’ll try to add you to my friends list.
Tags: call of duty, co-op, nazi zombies, world at war
Posted in Call of Duty: World At War, community, video games, xbox 360, xbox live, zombies | Comments
Monday, November 10th, 2008
I’m currently 32 hours into Fallout 3 and I’m STILL fully addicted to it. Now that says something about a game. What is really blowing me away about the game is the fact that I can come into the studio today and start talking about it, and everyone I talk to has completely different stories about what happened in their game. Despite us doing the same quests. The reason being, and what makes the game so unique, is every quest has multiple ways it can be solved - in many ways changing the entire course of events for that and other quests. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t go into great detail, but I’m really loving this game right now.
Other than that, Gears 2 has finally arrived. I’m making my way through Single Player co-op now, and have already completed all 50 levels of Horde Mode. They have definitely brought a lot of cool new features to the table with Gears 2, especially on the UI front with their in-game friendslist via the LB button. Completely independent from the Guide system and it works beautifully. They also did an amazing job with their Achievements; making me feel like I’m ALWAYS getting rewarded for what I do. The pacing of achievements if perfect, even when I’m not getting achievements, their in-game achievement progress tracker is always reminding me that I’m working towards a big one. I love that shit! It’s the kind of stuff that pushes you to keep playing (besides the awesome gameplay). For example, I’m in horde mode, and it’s getting hellish. There’s locust coming out of the wood work and every locust I drop is a potential chance to get that sweet sweet reminder that I just hit my 400th / 500th kill. Good stuff.
So whats everyone else addicted to at the moment. It has to be something, because there are WAYYYY too many amazing games coming out at the same time. Mirrors Edge tomorrow, then Left 4 Dead, and Call of Duty: World at War. I feel sorry for our loved ones.
Tags: call of duty, fallout 3, gears of war 2, left 4 dead, mirrors edge, world at war
Posted in video games, xbox 360, xbox live | Comments
