Will you be buying a Playstation 3? |  |
GR’s resident games reporter/blogger Fraser Maclnnes bags a press pass to
Edinburgh’s prestigious Interactive Entertainment Festival. With Sony,
Microsoft and other powerhouses all present, there’s many a story to be told. (Update)
Day 2 (scroll to the bottom for the first entry)
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (alarm clock clicks on with the rhythmic autonomy of a drill sergeant, but one that sings Lilly Allen songs) ”smiiiile I sit and smiiiiile” CRASH BANG *#'@#**”$! And all of a sudden my eyes are open again, it's the second morning in a row that I have to rise at the same time as a milkman but it's ok. The previous evenings indulgencies are still very much with me but the promise of free coffee and pastries is more than enough to ensure that I am at the front of the queue by 09:30 at the Odeon on Edinburgh's Lothian Road. A slightly less affluent part of town but no less charming for it Lothian Road is already a thrum with the hustle and bustle of the festival. Not two minutes walk from the Odeon is the lavish antiquity of the Cameo Cinema, the throne upon which the Edinburgh film festival sits. Not five minutes in the other direction are the lush and verdant Princes Street Gardens awash with a cornucopia of street theatre, buskers and rowdy drunkards (yes even at this time in the morning)
It seems as though Chris Deering may have overdone the Scottish hospitality the previous night somewhat as his presence is thin on the ground and aloof on day two. The role of compeer seems to have been thrust upon a slightly reluctant Fred Hasson, founding Chief Executive Officer of TIGA, a company that works to ensure a stable financial climate for the gaming industry in Britain. After a fairly perfunctory intro the day strode on. The first presentation of the day was delivered by Rosanna Sun one of the co-founders of the Velvetelvis production company. Sun spoke on her involvement with the Enter the Matrix game and as such did little to ingratiate herself with the crowd. The whole topic was geared towards the increasing synergy between the games industry and the film industry. What might have been a very insightful presentation was belittled by Sun's observations amounting to little more than `games use graphics and special effects much like movies do so there is an opportunity to bring the two mediums together', similarly her presentation was doused with a week display of rhetoric that barely concealed her lack of understanding about the games industry. Hasson's hesitant and ill prepared questioning did little to salvage any substance from the presentation but did draw it to swift close.
Next up was something that piqued the interest of this ace reporter much more than the potential to make money from poor movie tie ins, in the shape of inanimate alice. Inanimate alice is an interactive graphic eNovel delivered via the internet in episodic form. Spearheading the project is established author Kate Pullinger who spoke very eloquently on the potential of such media. Her arguments were convincing and would have sat much more comfortably alongside the Ofcom presentation of the previous day. The EIEF crowd were lucky enough to be given an exclusive preview showing of inanimate alice episode three. There were many issues raised about the potential for such a brand of story telling within interactive media and the audience were given ample time to ask questions of the speakers. One of the more interesting points raised was what the observer or player desires, branching story structures may provide a less linear interaction but they may not necessarily facilitate the creation of a strong unified narrative. This Gameroobie hack was lucky enough to get chatting to some of the inanimate alice people over lunch so expect a full report on the possibilities presented by new forms of interactive media on Gameroobie soon.
Following on without delay was put simply a techie's wet dream, entitled `From Here To Ubiquity'. Graham Brown-Martin Founder of Handheld Learning, gave a talk on how the devices we use to experience interactive media will evolve. Top of the list was the possibility of online distribution for games and the demise of the high street gaming chain, and also the possibilities presented by the ever increasing speed of wireless connectivity. In what was a completely typical set of fortunes almost all of the technical demonstrations about streaming content between various devices went (to paraphrase my note book) totally batshit. Which was a shame as there was certainly something to be gained from such a demonstration. The Q&A section afterwards was very engaging with this Gameroobie hack venturing a few choice questions of his own. I raised the issue of the importance of ownership and the physicality of gaming as a hobby, to which I received mostly articulate and open minded replies from three men who were not ashamed to say that they don't have all of the answers just yet. The fourth speaker however, resembling a verbose yeti with stunted growth an addiction to microphones and a penchant for poorly executed allegories came off as condescending in the way that only the supertechie can. Despite this unfortunate thorn in Handheld learning's side the presentation was a welcome addition to the proceedings and set the crowd up nicely for their complimentary buffet lunch.
After lunch (consisting largely of mini quiches and those tai influenced deep fried bits and pieces that are very much in vogue just now) your reporter in residence foolishly chose to go to the game screening of Colin McRae: DIRT for the PS3 and 360 in favour of the Machinima presentation. In retrospect I could have made a better choice as I later heard that the Machinima presentation was one of the highlights of the event. However my time was not completely wasted in the company of Codemasters Matthew Horsman. Truly the inner workings of games these days make ones mind boggle uncontrollably. The benefits of a fully integrated wind system, soft shadow lighting and fully destructible scenery were described in ruthlessly efficient detail and served as a reminder of just how far programmers are willing to go even with game aspects that are fairly innocuous. Even so I decided to cut my time in Screen three short so I could go and catch the next presentation in screen one, carefully avoiding the withered discerning eye that the grey usher lady gave me on my way out.
Ken Perlin, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University is one of the gaming industries most eccentric characters but on the strength of his presentation he is also clearly one of it's greatest assets. His idiosyncratic cartoon persona (helped in no small amount by the fact he sounds exactly like the dinosaur in Toy Story) easily offset the technical nature of his presentation and as a result the crowd warmed to him instantly. Through the use of such simple objects as basic 3D boxes Perlin demonstrated how simple it can be to imbue any object with an emotive dimension. The focus was very much on how procedural programming can yield much more believable results than that seen on the last generation of hardware. Facial emotion conveyance was touched upon (with Perlin modestly playing down his involvement with Valve and the excellent virtual acting they have become the vanguards of) although only fleetingly so and the overall feeling was that Perlin's insights were stifled by the confines of a mere I hour presentation.
Peter Derby wasted no time in taking to the stage to present `Green Blood vs Red Blood' a look at how age ratings censorship and issues relating to violence and sex in computer games are officially audited. The focus of the presentation was stated to be firmly with next gen in mind and the new challenges that increasingly realistic graphics present. Despite an informative insight into the inner workings of how games are rated, next gen examples were sadly few and far between. After a few short videos used as examples of what is and is not allowed (including the infamous Hot Coffee section of GTA) it was question time again and your humble narrators arm shot into the sky like a bullet. Unfortunately I didn't get to ask my question so just for you lot here it is, `How will the added level of immersion and interactivity presented by the Wii mote affect the way in which games are assessed, will the added realism of actually swinging an axe or a sword affect how games on that system are rated?' Seeing as there was no time for my query to be explored your faithful Gameroobie April O'Neil wannabe will be writing a more detailed article based on that very question in the not too distant future.
Sadly the final presentation of the event was an uninspired look at how games might be used in education. The unquestionable zeal of Adrian Hall, Director of Mobile Learning at Steljes was bordering on the aggressive come question time but his dogmatic approach to oratory gave the presentation the tone of lecture and as such the audience did not seem to engage in what might have been a very interesting topic. However as interesting an area as this might be, particularly with Brain Training scooping an Edge award on the previous night, it didn't seem right that the event should end on such a misfire. Unfortunately timetabling problems and poor organization plagued the second day throughout and technical difficulties were not short in their number either. In spite of this, the great array of speakers and the intelligent discussion between the speakers and the attendees was more than enough to make up for any organizational errors and even though the event did not end with a bang, as an event it was an unequivocal triumph in unpretentious discourse over overblown empty spectacle.
Gaming industry events are often typified by their glitzy approach to captivating an audience usually through the use of high definition trailers and demonstrations, afterall a picture as they say speaks a thousand words. This is an assumption that this years Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival seemed keen to sideline in favour of a much more high brow approach to taking stock of the games industry past present and future. At the expense of the age old statute of events like these becoming a platform for brand promotion, company rivalry was nowhere to be seen and the event was instead typified by a refreshingly forward thinking series of presentations and some lively discussion.
The vastness of the ground covered by this years EIEF was truly staggering given it's diminutive stature. By focusing on the wider context of games, their burgeoning cultural merit and potential future impact the EIEF has carved itself a niche that panders to the wider issues faced by the games industry without lending itself to bolshy self congratulation. And so as the sun goes down on your merry reporter in residence I stride home confident of the EIEF's return and satisfied that if nothing else the last two days have proved that the games industry is in good health. With all that the next generation holds the EIEF will surely be back to guide the discourse about gaming culture continually past the fug of anonymity through to a more recognised cultural platform for expression and artistic endeavor. Ahhh times are good and they look set to get better.
Yours in binary code,
frazmacaz
It's 8:30am on Monday the 21st of August in this foul year of our lord two thousand and six and this Gameroobie hack is slowly emerging from a very brief and broken sleep. After I wake it takes all of three full minutes before I remember why this Monday morning is not going to be so crushingly regular; today is the first day of the EIEF. And so after gathering all of the requisite regalia of an ace reporter (like April O'Neil from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but sadly without the yellow jumpsuit) I shuffled forth and disappeared into the morning.
August is one damn fine month to be prowling the streets of Scotland's capital. Edinburgh becomes home to a performing arts summer camp of sorts and every bar café and theatre begins to groan and swell under the weight of the thousands of culture vultures and flakey artiste's that descend on the city. In what is clearly an indication of the artistic and cultural merit that games are increasingly being recognised as having, the EIEF is now an established strand of the Edinburgh festival and as an event sits comfortably alongside other high profile events such as the Edinburgh Film festival and the Fringe Music Festival.
Then onto the main body of the event. At 13:00 Chris Deering former chairman & CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and this years chairman of the EIEF formally opened the event. It was a brief opening largely geared towards placing the EIEF in context within the greater Edinburgh festival. Deering also spoke on what he described as `the big kahuna' in the industry, namely mobile gaming and it's obvious market potential. It was a slightly dry and business like tact to take for an introduction to the event, however Deering's closing comments urging the attendees to "question, challenge, learn, create” did rescue him from coming off as gamings answer to Hugh Hefner (to which he has more than a passing resemblance of).
Chris Deering was followed swiftly by the aforementioned David Gardner, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of EA's Worldwide Studios. David Gardener provided this years keynote speech which was based around several predictions. He began with “Developers will start dreaming about girls” in which Gardner suggested the potential female contingent of games players is worth an estimated $1 billion to EA alone. Next was “ The debate about in game advertising is over” a fairly self evident section that amounted to “it's already here and it's here to stay”. Other points included the importance of harvesting new talent and the increasing threat of game censorship. Of particular interest was Gardner's' outlining of EA's emergent design ethos for publishing. According to Gardner multitasking is what the current generation of games players are best at, what with You tube, myspace, MP3 players, hand held consoles and MSN messenger all taking over our lives the need to draw more synergy between different streams of media is upon us. The example given was with how ESPN are set to deliver content about real life sports information such as scores, fixtures and player interviews in sports games via online content. Other highlights included a big screen demo of Valve's new portal game, and the assurance that great games come from rainy countries, a sentiment that rang like music in the ears of the Scottish developers present. From another speaker these words may have seemed sycophantic but in David Gardner EA have found an affable spokesman who succeeded in both engaging and charming the crowd.
It was down to Ben Sawyer - Co founder of the Games for Health Project and The Serious Games Initiative to salvage some of the lost momentum caused by the fire alarm and `The View from Wall Street'. And this he did with aplomb; Sawyer is a man blessed with the glory of fevered ecstasy, he is absolutely hell bent on ensuring that games have a role to play in a much wider scope of application that reach far beyond the boundaries of entertainment. A huge amount of ground was covered in this topic, games for training in the workplace, games to combat pre surgery anxiety, games to combat ADD and even war games designed as a therapeutic intervention for sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder. Considering the infancy of games in the wider cultural context, it is hardly surprising that there are moves being made in this direction, and despite some concerns amongst the audience about the sensitive application of such products the presentation was received warmly and Sawyer proved himself to have an evangelical zeal that was nothing if not convincing.
Boasting a fourteen year career in the games industry working for the likes of Sony and Nintendo Nick Parker or the games industries answer to Chris Tarrant as he was affectionately introduced provided the next section of the day. The presentation was entitled `So you think you know games' and was conducted in a `Who wants to be a millionaire' format (the audience even got to use some fancy voting boxes stored under the seats!). The questions asked of the audience provided little in the way of insight into the industry besides Parkers prediction that the PS3 will be much more of a slow burner than it's predecessors. On the whole Parker maintained the pace of the afternoon albeit without much passion or enthusiasm.
After Parker's slightly unnecessary schoolboy question about who performed former official Lara Croft model Rhona Mitra's breast augmentation, (apparently it was her dad) Peter Phillips of Ofcom took the floor, visibly nervous about what he was about to suggest. Ofcom plan to establish a Public Service Publisher whose rather large media umbrella will encompass games. This essentially means that Ofcom will become a sort of BBC for games developers and projects will be undertaken according to their potential cultural merit as opposed to their profitability. The audience found themselves divided as to whether this is a good idea, the potential for such a scheme is certainly undeniable but the appropriate management of such a large budget (300 million) and the possibility that some indie developers who are not eligible for a grant may be further stifled in an increasingly complex industry are legitimate concerns which would need to be addressed if Ofcom does not want to do more harm than good.
The last talk of the day was by far the most entertaining and also the most insightful. Margaret Robertson - editor of Edge magazine delivered a presentation on `The games that make me cry'. Her argument was more than enough to convince this Gameroobie hack that the presentation deserved a feature all to itself so check back on Gameroobie soon to read about why games should be considered as important an art form as any.
By this time many of the attendees were starting to work up quite a desire for booze. My own thirst for the hops was getting quite powerful so without delay (unfortunately cutting question opportunities for Robertson's speech short) everybody decanted to the Edge awards being held at the Jam House not thirty seconds walk from the Royal Edinburgh College of Physicians. At least that is what I was lead to believe by the chap sitting next to me, I later realised that my haste had cost me an obligatory goodie bag.
Here is what I missed,
- One Scottish Development International-branded 125 MB USB memory stick (complete with strap, USB extension cable, and a preloaded catalogue of game developers in Scotland).
- A CD holder bearing the legend 'Canada'
- Six Wilson Prostaff 360 Max golf balls.
- Various documents relating to investing in Canada which are too boring to detail here.
- An advert for Macrovision.
- A leaflet about the Dare to be Digital competition, run by the University of Abertay Dundee to encourage students to experience work in games development first-hand.
- A leaflet explaining UK games ratings systems (www.askaboutgames.com)
- An advert for a videogame recruitment website.
Check back with Gameroobie tomorrow to see what happened on day 2.
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