Flagship Co-Founder: Hellgate Was Overambitious, Rushed

We're all pretty much aware that Hellgate: London failed, and I'd say we're all pretty sure of the reasoning behind that failure, but it's always nice to get confirmation from someone in the know. In an interview with Eurogamer mainly dealing with their new MMO Mythos, Flagship's operations chief and co-founder Max Schaefer explains that the company just bit off more than they could chew.

If we made a mistake with Hellgate, it was trying to do too many things for too many people. We wanted a cutting edge graphics engine, we wanted multiple business models with subscriptions and free play, and single-player, we wanted to combine third-person play with first-person play, we wanted to do random 3D levels, and when you're starting with a brand new game studio with very limited budget and no existing technologies, that was probably biting off too much. We ended up rushing it to market and not keeping it in the oven long enough, just out of necessity.

It's still a shame, especially when the game had so much potential, but it's good to see Flagship accepting and learning from their mistake and moving on to bigger and better things. Hit the link for the full interview.

Flagship's Max Schaefer [Eurogamer]

EA Mythic's Barnett on Why He Doesn't Hit GDC

That's one of the tidbits coming out of a 90 minute interview Shigeru Miyamoto did with Wired, in which he expounds at great length on Wii Fit and to other degrees on subjects such as the Wii's graphical capabilities, competitor imitation of the Wiimote, and other matters. Here's an interesting excerpt:

Miyamoto: I think that the understanding of the Wii remote technology has certainly proliferated to developers, and their understanding of how it works is now very strong. But, I think that in terms of developing games for the Wii remote, it's really more about the focus of the team and how thoroughly they consider the user interface and the end experience for the consumer in terms of how intuitive that is and how easy it is to use. And, at this point, I think it's just difficult for me to say how many teams that are really focused on that experience ae out there and are working on games.

In other words, shovelware, by its nature, doesn't fully employ the capabilities of Nintendo's unique controller. Or any, controller, really.

Was that too harsh? I need to go back and watch "I Love the World" again. In all fairness, Miyamoto covers a ton of ground in this talk, including how his approach to designing Donkey Kong carries forward to game design today. Check it out.

90 Minutes with Miyamoto, Nintendo's Master of Amusement [Wired]

The Making Of Puzzle Farter

You may remember our link regurgitation of Puzzle Farter last week, Pet Tomato's debut platformer featuring a farting mechanic that really resonates. Mike Nowak of The-Inbetween, whom we regularly check in with for interesting things, briefly interviewed half the Puzzle Farter team, providing great insight into the Flash-based freebie.

It touches on all manner of interesting topics, such as character design challenges ("We go to the bar.") and plans for the future ("...the next version will also allow people to create and submit levels.") that Puzzle Farter fans will find rewarding. If not, maybe you'll just give the game another go or for the very first time.

Inside ‘Puzzle Farter’ [The-InBetween]

Interview: Pachter Says Console Sales Still OK, But Expect Holiday Price Drops

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said that Nintendo's lead over its competitors in hardware sales is no cause for alarm for Sony and Microsoft, even though console sales in the recent month saw declines Xbox 360 and the Wii declining over the month prior. Even though console sales are still within expectations, the analyst said the Xbox 360 and PS3 will see at least a $50 price reduction by the Holiday.

"I don't really think that Microsoft and Sony are doing badly - just doing badly in comparison to Nintendo," Pachter said. "It makes sense that PS3 and 360 are doing about the same... instead of saying 'what's wrong with Sony and Microsoft,' we should be looking at Nintendo and saying, 'how the hell do they keep doing this?'"

It's easy to peg the answers on the price discrepancies, but Pachter said that's not all there is to it, pointing to Nintendo's success in a mainstream market most gamers are less aware of. "There really are people who play games that don't read Kotaku - I know it's hard to believe," he said. "There are people out there who don't even know how to spell Kotaku, and don't even know that there are websites dedicated to games."

Calling the typical console-fanboy attitude "extremely myopic," Pachter added, "There are actually people out there who have sex. The people on Kotaku, other than their parents, they've never met anyone who's had sex."

Interview: Turbine Confirms Console Project, Talks Future Plans

When we heard this morning that Turbine was planning to put part of its $40 million Time Warner-led investment to work doing console MMOs, we wondered if a console version of Dungeons & Dragons Online or Lord of the Rings Online could be in the works.

Alas, when we spoke to Turbine's communications director Adam Mersky today, he confirmed Turbine is "actively developing a title for console," but declined to specify.

"We've hired over 60 people since the beginning of the year," said Mersky, and 40 more job postings for the project are currently waiting to be filled. "The people that invested in us, Time Warner... one of the media giants, getting into the MMO fold, and that's obviously a big deal," he said. "They also have a huge distribution network... that may bear fruit for us."

And that investment, Mersky said, makes Turbine "well funded for a good time into the future," and he told Kotaku a bit more about what the company plans to do with that money.

Interview: Flagship Studios On Life After Hellgate Launch

What happens at the studio when a game doesn't sell as well as was hoped? Imagine being at Flagship Studios after Hellgate: London's launch stumbles, which 1UP identified as "one of the top 5 worst PC game launches of all time." Angry PC gamers even invented a special term, "Flagshipped," to refer to when a company overpromises and doesn't deliver.

If you think morale might suffer on the team, a blog entry from Flagship Studios audio and gameplay manager Guy Somberg suggests you might be right. Somberg said on his blog that work had become "depressing" because of fan response to Hellgate's issues. (The original post has since been pulled, but MMO fansite IncGamers retrieved it.)

Although Somberg wrote that he loved being part of Flagship, he also expressed a fair bit of worry about many of his colleagues moving on from their jobs:

Thing is, the way things are going I’m likely to be the only programmer still working on Hellgate left from the original crew. I’ve heard rumours that other programmers and artists are thinking of leaving.

And with Somberg himself writing that he was "getting burned out on Hellgate," Kotaku decided to reach out to Flagship Studios and see what was really going on.

Interview: How Cloud Computing Changes Trion's Game

Trion CEO Lars Buttler promises that platforms like his company's will evolve the way we play online. The company recently announced some ambitious plans - to develop a persistent MMO that ties into an ongoing Sci-Fi Channel television series, to create a new fantasy MMO helmed by Might and Magic creator Jon Van Caneghem, and to publish PlayStation 3 games through an agreement with Sony.

Though Trion has just recently announced its games, the company has been quietly at work on its technology infrastructure since last year, when it scored $30 million in investments from Time Warner and NBC Universal, among others. It's this infrastructure, says Buttler, that aims to shift the paradigm for multiplayer gaming.

Trion's World Network server cloud, Buttler said, will allow high volumes of players to participate in a fully persistent online world that can be evolved at any point by the game operators - or affected by the users. And the company has big cross-platform visions, promising mobile access to the worlds as well as console or PC, on the heels of the Sony partnership.

What about the Xbox 360? Is Trion talking to Microsoft, too?

Interview: Halo Designer Leaves Bungie For Academia

Imagine this: You designed missions and gameplay for Halo 3 alongside lead designer Jamie Griesemer at Bungie. After wrapping up one of the hugest hardcore smash successes of all time, what's your next move? Hang around to help continue the Halo franchise? Parlay your way into a choice role at another industry-leading developer, get on board the next big blockbuster?

If you were former Bungie designer François Boucher-Genesse, you'd have picked none of the above. Boucher-Genesse decided to leave top-shelf game design behind for the world of learning, academia and social change.

At the 2008 Games For Change conference in New York, where he'd come to learn more about the field of social and educational games, I asked him, flat out, if he was nuts. But Boucher-Genesse told me that Halo 3's massive success prompted more soul-searching than ego boosting, and he explained to me the reasons behind his decision and what he hopes to accomplish next.

Grand Theft Childhood Author Weighs in on GTAIV

ESA, Game Critics' Awards Debate "Best Of E3" Eligibility

A heated debate has erupted between the Entertainment Software Association and the Game Critics' Awards over the eligibility of games in this year's E3 Media and Business Summit. The dispute was prompted by Activision and Vivendi's recent departure from the ESA and, simultaneously, from the show.

The association assumed that the departed companies' games would no longer be eligible for any of the annual "Best of E3" awards, given out by an independent group of Game Critics' Awards judges at each year's show.

But Geoff Keighley, GameTrailers executive producer and co-chairman of the Awards, said that decision hasn't been made yet. The critics' group, of which Kotaku managing editor Brian Crecente is also a member, still needs to meet to discuss the issue and decide how exactly to define which games are and are not eligible.

"The fact that Activision is not a registered exhibitor for E3 has brought to light the issue of how to determine the eligibility of games," Keighley said.

The design philosophy of WiiWare launch title LostWinds appears to echo a broader industry trend favoring innovation on the usual mechanics. The peaceful platformer has a distinctly "indie" feel and a unique look, and seems to be getting the biggest share of the buzz among its fellows on the service.

And as studios consider smaller, digitally-distributed formats as a lower-risk avenue for new game concepts, launching Wiiware with a title like LostWinds might herald further potential for the service and those like it.

How are clean, compact ideas like these born? We spoke in-depth to developer Frontier about the possibilities for WiiWare and the inspiration for LostWinds' breezy world; hit the jump for the full interview.

Interview: Playboy Cyber Girl of the Year Is A True Player

Do Playboy models love video games? On a first meeting with Jo Garcia, it'd be easy to levy skepticism. She's Playboy's "Cyber Girl Of The Year," beating out 52 weeks of rival models in an online-only competition. It just happens, Garcia said, that she's "really big into games."

We've seen many beautiful faces representing themselves as gamers, of course; booth babes, models and even amateur cam girls using photos of themselves posed suggestively with game paraphernalia to sell products or drive web hits. Because of this phenomenon, every time you see a so-called "hot gamer chick," the temptation is to assume she can't possibly be an actual gamer.

So is Jo Garcia the real deal? Full interview - and slightly NSFW pics - follow the jump.

You may remember Threewave Software best for the original "Capture The Flag" Quake mod. These days, the studio's known for developing the multiplayer component of several major titles, most recently Touchstone's Turok and EA's Army of Two, and is currently developing the multiplayer for Activision's upcoming Wolfenstein title.

As you may have noticed, many of the devs to which we turn for our hardcore fix seem to be making full-tilt sprints for social networks like Facebook and the casual space. In today's ultra high-risk game development environment, Threewave also thought it'd be prudent to get on the burgeoning social media train, founding Gnosis Games, a casual subdivision with titles like Paparazzi, which according to the studio is a chart-topper on RealArcade, Gamehouse and other casual portals.

Now, Threewave's Gnosis has turned to Facebook. In this case, though, there's a surprising and interesting ulterior motive that's more in line with the hardcore audience than you might guess.

Talking Club Penguin, Disney, and 'Emergent Play'

You know, I can't really argue with the claim that Wes Cherry created the most-played video game ever: Solitaire for Windows (PC) which came out in the early 1990s and was installed on millions of machines worldwide. I think IGN gave it a 10/10 at the time. I kid! I kid!

But the Web site B3TA tracked down Mr. Cherry and, by all appearances, got a legit Q&A with him. A bunch of their commenters sent in questions and according to the article, Cherry got back to them about a year later. The big question, would he play ball with this kind of an interview? Oh yes, he did.

EA's Rod Humble on The Sims, Death and Potty Humor

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has posted a two part interview with EA's Rod Humble on The Sims, among other things — the first half of the interview covers a lot of (non-Sims related) gaming territory, while the second focuses on the Sims. On designing the death bits:

We have a lot of fun with it, so every expansion pack we come to the point where we're adding in some new death states. I remember in Seasons they were putting in the death state of being snowed to death. The person is in a snowstorm, and you see them trying to fight it and fight it, until the fighting slows down [laughs] and he just rolls over and gives up. It shouldn't be funny. But oh my goodness, it is. It's always about mean things happening in an amusing way. There's also a lot of potty humour in it, and we fully embrace that. I think that's a wonderful traditional mode of humour, and I still find it funny watching Sims pee themselves. I make no apologies for it. I think that's a classic genre and endlessly entertaining. [laughs] It makes chuckle just thinking about it!

It's a fun little two part interview, even if you're not a big Sims fan.

Dinner With Rod Humble: Sims Style Stuff [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Rumors have abounded regarding an upcoming motion control device for the Xbox 360, purportedly codenamed "Newton" — first, a loquacious anonymous source told MTV that such a controller is in development with support from developer Rare, and next 8bitjoystick pegged patents from Gyration, the same company responsible for Nintendo's Wii remote technology, as the likely tech behind Microsoft's top-secret project.

Gyration, however, unequivocally denied yesterday that it has any such project in development with Microsoft. However, talking to Rare, Microsoft and a company called Motus revealed more items of interest regarding the "Newton" — the picture seen above is Motus' "Darwin" controller.