Kotaku: Behind The Scenes

Publishers Basing Royalties On Metacritic Scores

Mike Fahey — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:00:00 MDT

Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer continues his week-long look at video game review practices by exploring the practice of game publishers withholding certain bonuses and/or royalties if the game doesn't achieve a certain Metacritic average. Basically a publisher agrees to finance the development of a game as long as the developer in these sort of situation agrees to Metacritic score limit stipulations that could theoretically see a low-scoring game that sells millions (any children's licensed title really) hardly earning the devs a dime.

Totilo talks to some pretty big names about the practice, including GameSpot's former employee Jeff Gerstmann, who explains why the practice is so disturbing.

I’ve gotten e-mails from developers over the years who have said, ‘I don’t think you realize what you’re doing to me with this review’ because my review knocked them out of the range of some bonus that they were up for...

It's really a ridiculous practice that almost always works in the publisher's favor. Luckily it isn't as widespread as it once was, but it does give you interesting insight into why some developers will defend their games as if their lives depended on it. Sometimes they might.

Low Metacritic Scores Cause Game Publishers To Withhold Developer Royalties [MTV Multiplayer]

The Incredible Hulk And Stan Lee's Rage

Mike Fahey — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:40:00 MDT

Why do I continue to post these behind-the-scenes vignettes for Sega's new Incredible Hulk video game, despite the fact that they hardly every offer any real new insight into what goes into creating a game of this magnitude? It's all about Stan Lee, really. The man fascinates me, and the Hulk is a big part of why. The man is always cheerful, always courteous, always polite and clean...you just know that somewhere inside him there's a Hulk waiting to come out. I won't rest until I've got a video of Stan Lee screaming "F**K" and punching something. This is my quest. It'll probably never happen, but it's good to have a dream.

The Incredible Hulk Behind The Scenes

Mike Fahey — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:40:00 MDT

Now that I've more or less learned my lessen about getting over-excited about a game from Sega and Second Level's ambitious but ultimately lackluster Iron Man, I watch this Victor Lucas-voiced behind the scenes for the Incredible Hulk game with wary optimism. After all, it is following the formula from Ultimate Destruction, and as long as Edge of Reality doesn't stray too far they've got a winner on their hands, but I refuse to get my hopes up. The team loves the Hulk, knows the Hulk, yadda. We've heard this all before. Just because you love something doesn't mean you won't go all Lennie from Of Mice And Men on it.

Dead Space Devs Talk Story

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:00:00 MDT

Finally something about EA's horror sci-fi game Dead Space beyond simply telling us it is scary and in space. I've been worried about the game's story since I first heard about the title, but seeing the developers discuss the amount of work and detail they've put into the main character's back story alone makes me feel a great deal better about the whole thing. The most reassuring bit of all was their acknowledgment of that universal truth...sci-fi and horror work against each other, so you have to tone down one for the other to work. Alien did so well because it was a horror movie that made you forget you were in outer space. Jason X, on the other hand, failed because...well, because it was Jason X, but the point still stands.

Iron Man: One Man Army

Mike Fahey — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:20:00 MDT

The star-studded behind the scenes Iron Man action continues as Sega gathers Stan "The Man" Lee, John Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., and a cast of thousands sing the praises of the upcoming game, due out at the end of this week. There really isn't all that much more they can say at this point. Stan likes it. John likes it. I myself am mildly fond of what I've seen so far, while awaiting having the full game in my hands before I pass any sort of final judgment. I think we've seen just about everything we're going to see before the movie and game come out, so now we wait.

And play GTA IV.

Behind The Iron Man - The Armor

Mike Fahey — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:00:00 MDT

Personally I don't know why Sega and Secret Level keep putting these things out, seeing as we already posted the definitive Iron Man video on Friday, but at least this behind the scenes look at the making of the game deals with what we can probably all agree is the best-looking part of it - the armor itself. Having played the demo some 20 times more over the weekend after my initial impressions, I can say that I am a good bit excited by the potential of the title again. I think I could find a great deal of fun in upgrading the armors and customizing the suit to my liking. I would have liked some cosmetic customization, but that wasn't going to happen. The game is due out May 2nd with the movie, and with my birthday May 1st, I shall procure it as a present for myself. That way if it isn't as good as I hope it'll hurt that much more. Woot!

Age Of Conan's Fighting Is A Bloody Mess

Mike Fahey — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:00:59 MDT

I've gotten two things from this developer diary for Funcom's Age of Conan MMO. First off, it is open season on heads in AOC. If you have a head and plan on playing the game, I highly suggest you either reinforce it with a steel neckpiece of some sort, or perhaps pre-detach your head with some sort of velcro solution so it can easily be retrieved and reattached. Secondly, Funcom Senior System Designer Andrew Griffin has some amazing hair. You wouldn't think a guy with such great hair would have anything to do with all of this rampant decapitation, but there you go.

Condemned 2 Voice-Over Sessions

Mike Fahey — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:20:07 MST

As a guy who dreams of one day doing work in the field of voice acting, clips like this always tickle me to no end. The video shows voice actors doing their thing with the characters of Condemned 2: Bloodshot, the sequel to Sega's psychological horror game. In a way I suppose it ruins the mystery - you never would have figured MadTV's Phil Lamarr as the voice of LeRue - but then the truest test of voice work is having it blend with the action so well that you don't picture these people in your head as you play.

No Ass Monsters In Velvet Assassin

Mike Fahey — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:40:44 MST

Replay Studios creative director and co-founder Sascha Jungnickel has some very important things to say about their upcoming stealth action game, the recently renamed Velvet Assassin. This game contains no ass monsters, or for that matter - tits monsters. While I am sure he mentions something about hiding in dynamic shadows or the atmospheric lighting, as soon as he drops the ass monster bomb the only thing I hear when watching this clip now is "Ass Monster, ass monster, ass monster." The two phrases shall henceforth be an important part of the Fahey vernacular. Thank you, Mr. Jungnickel.

More Alone In The Dark Tech In Action

Mike Fahey — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:40:24 MST

The technology Eden Games has integrated into their forthcoming Alone in the Dark continues to impress the hell out of me. From their first installment of their Real World Rules video series, which showed how various objects can be intuitively combined to create weapons and gadgets, to this second episode, which highlights object manipulation on a somewhat larger scale. I particularly love the notion of a health spray that can be used to heal, blind enemies, or be combined with your lighter to create a flamethrower. It might be a long way from fighting undead pirates in a Victorian mansion, but this new AitD could wind up being something just as exciting as the original.

Turok - Awakening The Giants Part Four

Mike Fahey — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:20:52 MST

Part four of Touchstone's five-part making of series Turok: Awakening The Giants is here, and finally they touch on the portion of the game I was most interested in - the voice actors. After a brief bit about level design, we get to see actors like Ron Perlman, Donnie Wahlberg, and Stargate's Christopher Judge take a turn at lending their pipes to to game's heroes and villains. I don't think I will ever get used to seeing Judge without that golden Goa'uld forehead dealie. They seem to have managed to wrangle up every actor with a deep, rumbly voice ever, so expect your bass to get a real workout once Turok launches next week.

Turok - Awakening The Giants Part III

Mike Fahey — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:20:37 MST

Touchstone's Turok making-of series Awakening the Giants continues this week with a look at creating the game's antagonists. The team at Propaganda lay out how the artificial intelligence was developed for both the savage, bloodthirsty dinosaurs and the cunning, strategically thinking human enemies. After a bit of speculation last week I dug around a little bit to discover that it is indeed Electric Playground's Victor Lucas - one of the nicest guys in the industry incidentally - narrating the series. Score one for my super-powered auditory senses! In case you missed them, be sure to catch Victor's VO performance in part one and part two of the series.

Turok - Awakening The Giants Part Two

Mike Fahey — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:40:36 MST

Touchstone and Propaganda games continue their very well-produced behind-the-scenes video series Awakening the Giants: The Making of Turok with part two, which explores the concept stages of the game. Witness early test concepts of the game, the creation of the concept art, and the work that went into giving the game a compelling storyline with deep characters rather than a series of checkpoints and firefights. Still trying to place the narrator's voice. Right now it kind of reminds me of Victor Lucas of Electric Playground and G4 fame, though I might be completely wrong. I'll be sure to find out before the next installment hits. You can check out part one of the series here.

Turok - Awakening The Giants Part One

Mike Fahey — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:00:04 MST

Propaganda Games and Touchstone have just released part one of six of Awakening The Giants, which goes behind the scenes from concept to the final retail-ready version of Turok. In this first segment the developers grant insight into the reasoning and inspiration behind the resuscitation and re-imagining of the five-year dead franchise while giving a brief glimpse at what to expect as the series continues. It's a highly polished documentary complete with professional narration and background music, and you can tell a lot of work went into it. I'm still not sold on the game, but very nice video.

Hunting Prototype With The Blackwatch

Mike Fahey — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:20:34 MST

Radical Entertainment's Prototype is shaping up to be a pretty grey game. Not color-wise mind you, but in the whole good-versus-evil sense. Are you the bad guy of the story? Certainly it isn't the mutants - they're just humans caught up in a viral infection. The regular military is just doing their best to keep the peace. Then there's the Blackwatch, detailed in this behind-the-scenes video clip. A shadowy organization familiar with the virus that causes the whole mess, they aren't above killing innocent civilians who "might" have come into contact with it. Is their motivation really the protection of the species, or are they just a bunch of psychopaths with too much power and too many resources at their disposal? Whatever the case, this is just the sort of detailed background story that gets me all hot and bothered over a video game. Keep it up!

Making The Witcher - The Story

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:00:33 MDT

The second of five making of videos for Atari's PC RPG The Witcher focuses on the story behind the game, explaining some of the back story from the novel series, while at the same time completely spoiling the ending for anyone who hasn't read them yet. Not too big a loss, since the game picks up after the novels, which haven't even been released in North America yet. Hit up Game Trailers for parts 3 and 4 which focus on the art and gameplay respectively, while I continue playing the game itself.

Bizarre Talks Boom Boom Fireworks

Mike Fahey — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:20:36 MDT

Boom Boom Rocket creators Bizarre Studios have posted their latest Studio Update, which delves into the creation of the fireworks used in the game. Stu explores the various types of explosive goodness you'll encounter in the game, which might be the only time you get to see them clearly considering how frantic keeping up with the button presses can be.

Kotaku Fun Fact: Fireworks are sparkly.

They also touch on some of the hidden details that went into creating the city, the backdrop for the game. Apparently the lifting of Microsoft's 50MB restriction meant the city designer could go crazy with the graphical touches.

I'm think I am in the early stages of a behind-the-scenes game development addication. I really enjoy reading about what goes into creating the games I love to play. It gives me a deeper appreciation or at least a deeper understanding of the end product. Michael Fahey

Studio Update 25 - A closer look at Boom Boom Rocket. [Bizarre Creations]

GDC07 Party Time - Sam and Max

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:40:27 MST

One of the biggest attractions of the Game Developers Conference for both the game companies and the gaming news media would have to be the parties. Despite many of us being misanthropic shut-ins most of the year, there's just something about the lure of free booze and finger foods that brings out the socialite inside all of us. Take me, for instance. Before starting to write for Kotaku I hadn't been what anyone could consider drunk for the better part of seven years. Now, thanks to the wonderful people at Telltale Games, I have a terrible headache and woke up on the bathroom floor of our hotel room this morning. I feel like crap, but I don't blame the creators of the Sam and Max episodic adventure game series. No, I blame ordering 'something blue', pictured to the right there.

It tasted of pineapple and the spite of an overworked bartender. If anyone knows what exactly this drink is, please be warned that it should be considered armed and dangerous. Do not attempt to subdue it yourself...rather call the authorities to dispose of it from a safe distance.

Telltale threw a pretty cosy little party, which included a peek at the upcoming episode 5 of Sam and Max, Reality 2.0, which looks to be a fine addition to the series' arsenal of funny. It was in a little bar tucked away in an alleyway, which is exactly the sort of place I would expect Sam and Max to show up at. Unfortunately and much to the disappointment of several people in our group, Sam and Max did not make a personal appearance.

I did actually got to shake the hand of Sam and Max creator Steve Purcell, however. It took me several minutes to realize that, unfortunately, because for some reason I lack the special eardrum bits that allow me to hear what other people are saying in bars, and the last time I had seen a picture of Purcell was, I believe, 1992. Once the realization hit me I walked over to him and rudely interrupted a conversation he was having to basically tell him that this giant drunk man was a big fan. I am sure he was impressed.

The food was a lovely mix of strange finger foods, ranging from sweet nachos of some sort to what I am relatively sure was fried squid, which falls under the 'things I would only eat while drunk' food group, tasting like battered deep-sea rubber bands to my sophisticated palate. I am proud to say that between the three Kotaku writers present and the friends we were with we probably consumed a good 25% of the food available.

The night ended relatively young, which was probably a good thing considering the fitful sleep I had afterwards, snoozing first on the bed, then on the floor between the bed and the wall, and then finally on the bathroom floor. I didn't get sick in the traditional hugging the toilet sort of way, but I am not at all right this morning, and this was just the first day. Join me tomorrow morning for the next round, if I don't end up passed out in an alley somewhere. Michael Fahey

Behind The Scenes Of The "Wii Fatality" Video

fdemarco — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:00:00 MST

By now, I'm sure you've probably seen Ross Howard's video answer to all the Wii remote injury stories last month entitled 'Wii Fatality." It was a pretty timely video and quickly made the rounds on the interwebs. As is often the case with these things, ended up being credited to someone else due to some misinformation from certain websites.

So, to set the record straight, Ross has sent us an exclusive email detailing exactly how the now infamous "Wii in the head" effect was done.

So I made a couple of papercraft wiimotes based on examples and photos, stuffed them full of tissue paper, and weighted them down with coins stuck on the back with tape (giving mass for throwing). I cut one in half and stuck it to the victim's head with double-sided tape. We had had a few beers (this was taking place during Friday night drinks) so I thought I'd pour some tomato sauce around the wound. You can see the tomato sauce bottle on the table in the video clip.

Ross has uploaded some video outtake clips on Revver so you can see for yourself how it was all put together. Who knew that a simple paper Wii remote and some tomato sauce would cause such an internet stir. Flynn De Marco