Wired has a fascinating article on the economics of giving products away for free: Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
It doesn't have a magic solution for the challenges faced by the music, movie, and anime industries (otherwise I imagine the author'd just go make a fortune himself) but it's a very interesting examination of what it means for economics when the perceived value (and costs) of products drops to zero (or near to it).
Recommended for anyone curious and speculating about the future of business in the digital age.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, episode 5
The world fills with Itoshiki-sensei with despair, his class is filled with mutants, and each episode takes everything to its ridiculous, illogical extreme, constantly driving the teacher into the comforting oblivion of suicide. While not as hyper as traditional crack-comedy like Excel Saga it's just as - if not more - random, constantly taking impossible-to-predict-but-hilarious turns. The unique visual style of the show is similarly varied, with art style and color palette changing as rapidly as the tone and ridiculous storyline.
It's no surprise that the director had previously worked on Pani Poni Dash!, as both shows share the same uncontrollable randomness. His work on SoulTaker also shows through in the wild shifts in perspective, lighting and color. While it's not as cute or quite as anime-typical as either, it does manage to avoid being weighed down by a massive cast with more distinctive character designs - and frequently not really expecting or needing you to remember who's who. Sayonora Zetsubou Sensei seems to draw from smarter source material with sharper (and more risqué) jokes. It's not just loli-con snipes or running gags; it keeps building as more and more screwed up students are introduced.
This is one of those titles I'd watched one episode of and knew I was going to like it, so I put it aside for quite some time. Now I've gotten back into it and I'm at a loss to really explain why I didn't keep up with it. Really brilliant stuff, one of the best comedy anime in quite some time. Highly recommend to anyone who doesn't need their anime to constantly make sense.
It's no surprise that the director had previously worked on Pani Poni Dash!, as both shows share the same uncontrollable randomness. His work on SoulTaker also shows through in the wild shifts in perspective, lighting and color. While it's not as cute or quite as anime-typical as either, it does manage to avoid being weighed down by a massive cast with more distinctive character designs - and frequently not really expecting or needing you to remember who's who. Sayonora Zetsubou Sensei seems to draw from smarter source material with sharper (and more risqué) jokes. It's not just loli-con snipes or running gags; it keeps building as more and more screwed up students are introduced.This is one of those titles I'd watched one episode of and knew I was going to like it, so I put it aside for quite some time. Now I've gotten back into it and I'm at a loss to really explain why I didn't keep up with it. Really brilliant stuff, one of the best comedy anime in quite some time. Highly recommend to anyone who doesn't need their anime to constantly make sense.
based on 5 episode : ANN : Wikipedia
Microsoft's XNA Initiative
So GDC saw some very interesting announcements (beyond just confirmation of Gears of War 2 and "Still Alive" for Rock Band) with the new push of Microsoft's XNA program as potentially the most far-reaching. Microsoft put out the XNA framework a while back, allowing people to create their own games to play on the Xbox. Unfortunately, you could only transfer it via a memory card and it wasn't particularly straightforward. With the new version announced at GDC, you'll be able to create a game and then publish it online for community play and review through Xbox Live (and probably through the Zune Store as well, since they've announced XNA development for that device as well).
To promote and showcase the potential of the platform, they've put up 7 games for free download (though it does require some weird Xbox Live hoops of downloading a launcher first and then downloading through that menu instead of the Xbox Live Marketplace blade). The games are only available for download through tonight, apparently, and are only playable for another week-and-a-half-or-so. So grab 'em while you have the chance.
Their not really full games, though. There's little difference between these offerings and the standard Xbox Live Arcade demo, and it seems pretty clear that's where these games are going to end up once they're fully finished. In that sense, these games could be a bit deceptive - they're less a sampling of what kind of community content we can expect to see down the road than they are a demonstration that XNA can handle producing something with the same polish as a professionally published XBLA title.
I am very, very curious - and optimistic - about how the final community game sharing will be set up, and what this kind of open environment might mean for modding of commercial games - something that has traditionally been the realm of PC gamers only but has begun to creep onto the consoles with stuff like Unreal Tournament III (which is supposed to allow user-generated content on the PS3 but efforts to do the same on the Xbox 360 have been stalled).
There is, of course, the question of how this will all be filtered and monitored. I'm sure that Microsoft doesn't want their webbertubes awash in penis-faced Mario clones swearing up a storm and they've said as much: adult and copyrighted material are off-limits, obviously. How they intend to police that is an open question. I'm not sure that they can afford to take a laissez-faire approach of relying on users to report products for objectionable content, nor do they have staff that could completely play every submission (especially if the service will be free). I wonder if the XNA framework itself has some kind of built-in asset audit that would allow Microsoft to quickly scan art and text for flagrant offenders...
Anyway, the Xbox (and the Zune) have a potentially huge product here. If this can really take off, they'll have more ammunition against both Sony and Apple on both fronts of their war. In the meantime, let's look at what they have up right now. The seven games available right now show a surprising range in both style and game play.
To promote and showcase the potential of the platform, they've put up 7 games for free download (though it does require some weird Xbox Live hoops of downloading a launcher first and then downloading through that menu instead of the Xbox Live Marketplace blade). The games are only available for download through tonight, apparently, and are only playable for another week-and-a-half-or-so. So grab 'em while you have the chance.
Their not really full games, though. There's little difference between these offerings and the standard Xbox Live Arcade demo, and it seems pretty clear that's where these games are going to end up once they're fully finished. In that sense, these games could be a bit deceptive - they're less a sampling of what kind of community content we can expect to see down the road than they are a demonstration that XNA can handle producing something with the same polish as a professionally published XBLA title.
I am very, very curious - and optimistic - about how the final community game sharing will be set up, and what this kind of open environment might mean for modding of commercial games - something that has traditionally been the realm of PC gamers only but has begun to creep onto the consoles with stuff like Unreal Tournament III (which is supposed to allow user-generated content on the PS3 but efforts to do the same on the Xbox 360 have been stalled).
There is, of course, the question of how this will all be filtered and monitored. I'm sure that Microsoft doesn't want their webbertubes awash in penis-faced Mario clones swearing up a storm and they've said as much: adult and copyrighted material are off-limits, obviously. How they intend to police that is an open question. I'm not sure that they can afford to take a laissez-faire approach of relying on users to report products for objectionable content, nor do they have staff that could completely play every submission (especially if the service will be free). I wonder if the XNA framework itself has some kind of built-in asset audit that would allow Microsoft to quickly scan art and text for flagrant offenders...
Anyway, the Xbox (and the Zune) have a potentially huge product here. If this can really take off, they'll have more ammunition against both Sony and Apple on both fronts of their war. In the meantime, let's look at what they have up right now. The seven games available right now show a surprising range in both style and game play.
- Culture (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
Very laid back, Culture is almost as much a gardening sim as it is a game. Only one mode really feels like a game, where you plant flowers to combat weeds on a Little Prince-esque planet. The other modes allow you to plant flowers or "paint-by-flowers" (paint by numbers, but with flowers). The game has a surprising charm. It'd idiotic to say that this is just targeted at little girls and gamer wives, but spinning that little planet and seeing your flowers sway and sprout does have a simple beauty that will I would expect to have an appeal beyond the average Xbox demographic. It's a neat little idea - but don't expect a whole lot of challenge from this as a game - there's no final plant-monster boss battle or anything. - Jelly Car (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
More of a puzzle than a racing game, Jelly Car is another game with a very non-Xbox look and feel: everything looks hand-drawn with crayon and all the sound effects sound like they were made with a human voice. You drive a bouncy little car around a puzzle, trying to get to the exit, which could require bouncing off squishy parts of the map, getting pulverized to fit through small holes, or inflating your car to push aside obstacles or bounce yourself around. It's very reminiscent of Loco Roco in many ways, minus the wacky Japanese insanity. - Little Gamers (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
Very much at home with the Xbox stereotype, Little Gamers is a humorous side-scrolling beat-em-up based on the web comic. Heads are big, there are no mouths and bodies are tiny. The game keeps the same 1337-speak humor (one of the more effective weapons was a long stick to pick people with). Amusing, but I didn't find it particularly compelling and it took a little bit to get a handle on timing and controls. - ProximityHD (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
Offering board-game like gameplay, ProximityHD is pretty straightforward: place a numbered hex piece on the board. If it is higher than any neighboring opponent's piece, you take control of their piece. Otherwise the value of their piece is reduced by 2. If you put a piece next to your own pieces, you increase the values by 2. Whoever has the highest total at the end wins. Pretty simple to grasp but with some interesting strategic potential. - Rocketball (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
Pretty straightforward - dodgeball but with power-ups and extreme action. Rocketball's controls were very stiff and it was virtually impossible to get any real handle on the game as I flopped back and forth between the two characters on my team. - The Dishwasher (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
This is likely to be the most popular XNA game in the gamer crowd, combining side-scrolling action with Jhonen Vasquz-esque art. It's only listed as The Dishwasher here, but it's got the subtitle of "Dead Samurai" everywhere else, so the tongue-in-cheek humor should be pretty clear. You run around the screen ripping people apart with brief breaks for comic panel cut-scenes. The controls are simple and straightforward, but responsive and pretty intuitive. - TriLinea (1up, GameSpot, YouTube)
By far the most confusing of the XNA games, TriLinea is a virtual board game of laying domino-like tiles on a board to create color combos and damage your opponent. Complicating this are special patterns that can be created by lining up different symbols on the tiles (instead of just colors) and a variety of spells each player can cast - and the fact that there's no turn structure, players just put down tiles as fast as they want. Very poor documentation and no tutorial whatsoever made for an extremely obtuse and unsatisfying game: random stuff happened until I lost, not really knowing why.
If the average gamer out there can make anything that's half as good as these initial samples (even the worst of the bunch, like TriLinea and Rocketball) then Microsoft stands a good chance of tapping into some of that YouTube-combined-with-PC-game-modding potential they're touting here. This should also make it much, much easier for "real" publishers to get product out onto XBLA and that can only be a good thing.
I think what intrigues me most about this, though, is the potential for expansion of non-action games. I'd love to see some people like my buddy Daniel Solis take their weird ideas for board games and translate them into the digital space - especially with the Zune connection, so people can take these games with them wherever they go. Either way, good, solid board game mechanics with a slick digital interface and a computer taking care of tracking the details will be great (that reminds me that I need to play more Catan and Carcasonne). Hell, I'd be very tempted to try to put together some kind of video game RPG that actually has a stat system that makes a goddamn lick of sense, or a good grid-based strategy game for the 360.
Lots of potential here, and I think many people will be surprised when this blossoms into a viable alternative to both the Playstation Store's downloadable games and the Wii's appeal past the traditional gamer.
I think what intrigues me most about this, though, is the potential for expansion of non-action games. I'd love to see some people like my buddy Daniel Solis take their weird ideas for board games and translate them into the digital space - especially with the Zune connection, so people can take these games with them wherever they go. Either way, good, solid board game mechanics with a slick digital interface and a computer taking care of tracking the details will be great (that reminds me that I need to play more Catan and Carcasonne). Hell, I'd be very tempted to try to put together some kind of video game RPG that actually has a stat system that makes a goddamn lick of sense, or a good grid-based strategy game for the 360.
Lots of potential here, and I think many people will be surprised when this blossoms into a viable alternative to both the Playstation Store's downloadable games and the Wii's appeal past the traditional gamer.
XNA Creator's Club : XNA Developer Center : Wikipedia
quick layout tweaks
It's been a few days since I've posted anything - sorry. I've been busy seeing Be Kind, Rewind and wrestling with my Mac trying to get Boot Camp to work with Windows.
I've done some tweaking to the site layout, though. Take a peek.
Mostly it's just minor adjustments of what was put where, but I've also added a poll to see what people actually care about hearing and changed how the RSS feed works. I've redirected it to Feedburner so that people can sign up for email notifications (since that's easier for some people).
Lemme know what y'all think.
I've done some tweaking to the site layout, though. Take a peek.
Mostly it's just minor adjustments of what was put where, but I've also added a poll to see what people actually care about hearing and changed how the RSS feed works. I've redirected it to Feedburner so that people can sign up for email notifications (since that's easier for some people).
Lemme know what y'all think.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Ghost Hound, episode 9
A subdued, subtle show that seems into your mind through your ears, Ghost Hound is as much a soundscape as it is piece of animation. The sound design is nothing short of brilliant, accomplishing more with a few moments of audio than most anime can with hours of dialogue. And it has a lot to say, too. It's Production I.G's 20th anniversary project and boasts a pedigree that includes Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh, Kino's Journey, and Hell Girl - there is certainly no shortage of stunning style mixed with philosophical pondering that is always just beyond reach.
Sitting squarely in the realm of mind-fuck anime, Ghost Hound clearly has a lot going on behind the scenes and dribbles the hints out slowly. It succeeds where earlier shows such as Lain may have lost some viewers by constantly evolving, expanding or event changing the mystery as it progresses. The viewer isn't left out the dark, the questions just keep leading to more, deeper issues. What starts as 3 boys who all have some connection to death in their childhood leads to out-of-body experiences and creepy visions of insect-like spirits covering everything. That soon veers off back towards the mental trauma you would expect these kids to be carrying around - and that leads to ruminations on memory and the dead, tying back into the spirit world the kids stumbled into. It's a coil that takes you deeper and deeper without really realzing what's going on, but its kept grounded by realistic characters with a plethora of real-world problems and flaws - and that most un-anime of character traits: a willingness to actually talk to those around them about what is happening.
Even with all that, however, it would just be good anime. What takes it beyond that and into the realm of truly great is the execution. The visuals are top-notch. This is a Production I.G show, after all, so the animation and art-direction is unmatched. The character designs might strike some as plain or blandly generic, but just like the show itself, quickly reveal themselves as intricate, subtle and remarkably expressive without relying on the usual flashy tricks. The supernatural bits are handled with a flair that becomes increasingly disturbing and ominous, building the sense of tension. But again, it's the sound design that really steps up as remarkable. There is very little music in the show, the creepy atmosphere is wrapped around the viewer using ambient noise and effects. Sounds fade into each other and are distorted so masterfully that they quickly serve as storytelling tools as deft as direct dialogue or full animation.
Ghost Hound has a lot it wants to get off its chest and manages to do most of it with a glance and the sound of a heartbeat fading into footsteps in gravel. When it does talk, it answers your questions by revealing that you were only seeing the tip of the iceberg before and now you have to re-evaluate everything.
Highly recommended to anyone who wants more than a robot and a cute girl in their anime.
Sitting squarely in the realm of mind-fuck anime, Ghost Hound clearly has a lot going on behind the scenes and dribbles the hints out slowly. It succeeds where earlier shows such as Lain may have lost some viewers by constantly evolving, expanding or event changing the mystery as it progresses. The viewer isn't left out the dark, the questions just keep leading to more, deeper issues. What starts as 3 boys who all have some connection to death in their childhood leads to out-of-body experiences and creepy visions of insect-like spirits covering everything. That soon veers off back towards the mental trauma you would expect these kids to be carrying around - and that leads to ruminations on memory and the dead, tying back into the spirit world the kids stumbled into. It's a coil that takes you deeper and deeper without really realzing what's going on, but its kept grounded by realistic characters with a plethora of real-world problems and flaws - and that most un-anime of character traits: a willingness to actually talk to those around them about what is happening.Even with all that, however, it would just be good anime. What takes it beyond that and into the realm of truly great is the execution. The visuals are top-notch. This is a Production I.G show, after all, so the animation and art-direction is unmatched. The character designs might strike some as plain or blandly generic, but just like the show itself, quickly reveal themselves as intricate, subtle and remarkably expressive without relying on the usual flashy tricks. The supernatural bits are handled with a flair that becomes increasingly disturbing and ominous, building the sense of tension. But again, it's the sound design that really steps up as remarkable. There is very little music in the show, the creepy atmosphere is wrapped around the viewer using ambient noise and effects. Sounds fade into each other and are distorted so masterfully that they quickly serve as storytelling tools as deft as direct dialogue or full animation.
Ghost Hound has a lot it wants to get off its chest and manages to do most of it with a glance and the sound of a heartbeat fading into footsteps in gravel. When it does talk, it answers your questions by revealing that you were only seeing the tip of the iceberg before and now you have to re-evaluate everything.
Highly recommended to anyone who wants more than a robot and a cute girl in their anime.
based on 9 episodes : ANN : Wikipedia
Gears of War 2 confirmed
A shocker, yes, I know, but still very welcome news - complete with a date of November 2008. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this - I think maybe only my anticipation for Mercenaries 2 comes anywhere near close. All they need to do is give 4 (or more) player co-op and a much more robust multiplayer versus mode (take a page from Halo 3, fellas) and I'll be more than happy. Gears of War was definitely one of the most distinct and innovative shooters I'd played in a while and I'm sure the sequel builds on that.
Let's just hope that the release date don't slip too much. I want something big to look forward to next holiday season.The Joystiq article has more details, including some discussion of fluid dynamics and shadows/lighting. Looks plenty beautiful, of course, but I'd still be happy with minimal to no graphical update.
Imran. In case you haven't realized this, you need to stop buying new PS3s and get a goddamn Xbox 360.
Update: have a teaser trailer:
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Minami-ke
There's the way-too-kind-and-pretty older sister, the smart-mouthed younger sister and the overly-exuberant-and-dumb middle sister. Wackiness ensues. The slice-of-life comedy Minami-ke isn't really breaking any new ground at all but has an undeniable endearing charm to it and is just funny enough to keep from being simply an exercise in laid-back adorability. Very much in the vein of both Azumanga Daioh (but less straight-out wacky and with a tighter cast) and Strawberry Marshmallow (but with older characters and more focused on humor than "aren't little girls just the most adorable things?"), the expressive, dynamic character designs and animation are strongly reminiscent of Kamichu! (without the supernatural schoolgirl-become-a-god complication) as well.
As a slice-of-life show, there's little-to-no ongoing plot. Exaggerated characters are just thrown at each other in a variety of ridiculous situations and you laugh at the fallout. Animation is top-notch and used to great effect to bring everything to life. It's hard not to laugh along with the over-the-top antics when the younger two sisters start going at it.
It's virtually impossible not to draw comparisons with Azumanga Daioh, as it largely established the genre for American otaku. Minami-ke has a smaller cast (which may mean you might not find that one kind of girl you just love) and isn't quite as overtly cute (like Kamichu!, it's somewhat subtle its cuteness attack, letting it sneak around and jump you from behind when you aren't paying attention) but does feel somewhat less disjointed. It's less obviously a sequence of humorous skits sewn together by merit of sharing the same characters, even if only by virtue of each skit/sequence being longer.
Definitely highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of either cute girls just doin' stuff or heroin-comedy (Azumanga Daioh, as opposed to the crack-comedy of Excel Saga).
As a slice-of-life show, there's little-to-no ongoing plot. Exaggerated characters are just thrown at each other in a variety of ridiculous situations and you laugh at the fallout. Animation is top-notch and used to great effect to bring everything to life. It's hard not to laugh along with the over-the-top antics when the younger two sisters start going at it.It's virtually impossible not to draw comparisons with Azumanga Daioh, as it largely established the genre for American otaku. Minami-ke has a smaller cast (which may mean you might not find that one kind of girl you just love) and isn't quite as overtly cute (like Kamichu!, it's somewhat subtle its cuteness attack, letting it sneak around and jump you from behind when you aren't paying attention) but does feel somewhat less disjointed. It's less obviously a sequence of humorous skits sewn together by merit of sharing the same characters, even if only by virtue of each skit/sequence being longer.
Definitely highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of either cute girls just doin' stuff or heroin-comedy (Azumanga Daioh, as opposed to the crack-comedy of Excel Saga).
based on 6 episodes : ANN : Wikipedia
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