It's crazy how the ratio between sales to piracy is probably 1 to 15 to 1 to 20 right now. For one sale there are 15 to 20 pirates and pirate versions, and that's a big shame for the PC industry. I hope with Warhead I hope we improve the situation, but at the same time it may have an impact on [our] PC exclusivity in the future.

Yerli goes on to say that if a game isn't an online multiplayer game, it's up for grabs to piraters, and for that reason the company is spending development effort making Crysis: Warhead more difficult to crack. But if it doesn't pan out, and PC games continue to be pirated at the 15:1 ratio he offers, it's going to affect Crysis' development strategy in the future. "We would only consider full PC exclusives — if the situation continues like this or gets worse — I think we would only consider PC exclusive titles that are either online or multiplayer and no more single-player," Yerli says.

So I guess the message is: PC gamers, stop pirating and start snitching on your friends if you want more exclusives out of Crytek. And to show he's serious, he also tells IGN they're working on a non-Crysis console game.

Cevat Yerli Q&A [IGN]

Kojima explains his brand of antiwar sentiment, which is more or less circumspect about the reasons and results of war rather than outright pacifism. He also pines for a future where smaller, art-house productions are comparatively viable, among a world of titles that are increasingly developed for blockbuster effect, like Grand Theft Auto IV and MGS4.

Kojima said that action, sex and gambling are the genres "immediately understood all over the world," and expands on that in a thought-provoking way.

"We use action and that is why our games become bigger and bigger - Hollywood big. It is however possible to make smaller, more personal games if you, for example, limit the target region, the gender or the age of the audience. MGS is a Hollywood blockbuster, like GTA. But maybe it is time for something like independent movies, with a smaller target audience, like movies for an arthouse movie theater.

And he gives a great one-liner when asked to explain MGS4 to a non-gamer. "It's a game of hide-and-seek."

Spiegel Online Interview: Hideo Kojima talks about pacifism, movies and GTA [Gaming in Germany, thanks for the translation maxax]

Nonprofit advocacy group the Parents' Television Council takes their position on enforcement beyond just demanding legal consequences for retailers who sell M-rated games to kids under the age of 17. The council wants games like GTA IV locked up behind store counters, like cigarettes, tobacco and porn.

Gavin McKiernan, national grassroots director for the council, has never played a GTA game and does not dispute the right of mature adults to have access to it.

"The PTC thinks that there's room in our society for adult products, be they video games, movies, magazines, guns, whatever you want," he said. "But scientific research has shown and common sense tells you also that until [as children] we reach a certain stage, your mind and body are still growing and things have a different effect on you than they do as an adult and you don't have the perspectives to make the best decision."

"I know I was a blithering idiot when I was 16, and most people were," he said.

McKiernan believes that violent media actually causes harm to young people, pointing to studies from the University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Michigan State University, and the University of Oklahoma Medical School, among others, that appear to demonstrate a correlation between exposure to violent games and "aggressive" brain activity in adolescents.

"All of these correlations are the basis for preventative medicine... and the need for preventative steps to be taken, and the medical community accepts that on the whole," he said. "The potential for harm has been proven over and over again."

Video games like GTA IV are evaluated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and assigned a rating that indicates the age group for which it is - or isn't - appropriate. And these games are intended for adults, not kids. The Entertainment Software Association's data finds that the average video game player is age 35, and the average video game purchaser is 40 years old.

"If you go into your Wal Mart, the guns are not marketed at eye level to children," McKiernan says. "They are not promoted widely and broadly as something everyone should be heading over to the gun aisle to pick up... But the stores are not treating these games as adult products."

And the ESRB's voluntary regulations are not enough, he said. "Parents can punish their kids for drinking when they're 15, but we still have laws to keep alcohol out of kids hands to help the parents because they can't be everywhere at every time."

"Specifically with GTA, there is no legal ramification for selling this game to children," McKiernan said. "We ask that stores not promote it to the wider audience, to children, and that it be treated like any other adult product, like an adult magazine, that is kept behind counters and not at the sight line and within reach."

Dan Hewitt, the Entertainment Software Association's senior director of communications, said that the laws the Council hopes for have been found unconstitutional over and over again, at every instance.

Nonetheless, McKiernan is frustrated that the ESRB advocates a responsible use of its rating system without lobbying for adoption of these laws, and he feels industry groups like the Entertainment Software Association should be on the front lines of this battle. "It seems hypocritical, from our viewpoint," he said. "These rules should become law and that would increase the enforcement of them... voluntary things tend to meet with varying levels of success."

"An unconstitutional law that repeatedly gets thrown out by the courts is not an effective way to empower parents," said the association's Hewitt, who still feels the most effective regulatory methods involve a collaboration between parents and family advocacy groups to inform themselves, such as the efforts made through ongoing partnership between the Parent-Teacher Association and the ESRB.

"And it's setting up a parameter by which games are being treated differently than other First Amendment-protected material. Treating games differently than books, magazines and movies goes against the First Amendment. You can't codify the ratings system; you can't give it the rule of law, because then you're giving the power of government away to a private entity."

So according to Hewitt, information and communication is still the best way to protect kids from material inappropriate for their age level. "Really robust actions that drive the messages out there, that put tools and information into parents' hands are great ways to educate, empower and ensure that the games kids are playing are the right ones... the activities that we're talking about don't waste taxpayer money, don't waste state resources, and don't waste legislators' time," he said.

Little new information was revealed beyond what's already been published, but executive producer Graham Fuchs did elaborate a bit on what we've heard about the role of choice in the game, whereby the player's actions determine whether certain comic superheroes become friends or foes. Which heroes and villains? Will Venom be in it? No comment, but since Fuchs promised "fan favorites that have never been seen in a video game before," comic book aficionados may be able to make some educated guesses based on process of elimination.

Expect open-world, sandbox-style gameplay; at the same time, there will also be a story to progress through, with choices, opportunities and consequences dependent on the means by which the player solves his objectives. One key factor Fuchs emphasized regarding Web of Shadows is that while the publisher's more recent Spider Man games were based on the films, this title plans to cleave closely to the vision as set in the comic books, with more elements drawn directly from the source material.

With the game headed for a launch on every platform — PS2, Wii, DS, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC — you might have visions of motion-controlled web-slinging on the platforms that support it. Fuchs would not confirm or deny, but stated the player will have "more control over Spider Man than ever before."

He added that the gameplay mechanics will emphasize the verticality of the New York City setting, and like the combat system, the city has been rebuilt from the ground up, rather than using any of the structure of previous Spider Man titles.

An official website is now up, where those who sign up can cast their votes on the way Web of Shadows media is revealed, like voting on where the next trailer will take place. The Activision booth at Comic Con also had a sound booth where fans lined up to record their best screams, and the community will also pick a winning screamer to have his or her voice featured in the game.

It's a huge talk. I can't digest it all into bullet points for you. But he delves into the origin of the 3D GTA titles, more or less saying that Take Two's 1999 acquisition of DMA (which became Rockstar, and now Rockstar North) was to answer an internal dispute of whether Grand Theft Auto could be done in 3D. We know the answer to that.

Fritz asks Houser if, at any point, the creators doubted that the level of detail put into GTA III would even matter, much less become the baseline expectation of the sandbox genre as we know it. Houser answers with a visionary's conviction:

I remember when we were talking about 60 or 80 different speaking parts, I remember it was such a big production issue, but the thing we never spoke about was, "Are people going to care about it?" Our attitude always was, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing. If they don't' like it..."

I agree wholeheartedly. Some first person games, I feel like I'm looking into a shoebox diorama of the world where I'm playing. Admittedly, a well rendered, often fun diorama. But it makes me wonder again why they ever did the first-person free-look in GTA III and Vice City (I will never stop complaining about that.)

There's tons more in the full interview.

Dan Houser's very extended interview about everything "Grand Theft Auto IV" and Rockstar [Variety]

Why, then, is the bid lower? Well, it's not because EA docked it. Last night, about an hour after Take-Two's annual meeting, the results of the vote that took place were announced, and as it turns out, Take-Two shareholders approved the extra cash and the 780,000 shares that the management team was seeking. The approval of that compensation package dilutes EA's offer - more stock equals less value per share - but many current shareholders were not allowed to vote last night. Only those who bought Take-Two stock prior to February 19th got a say - even if they don't own any stock anymore. In other words, Take-Two itself reduced the per-share value of EA's bid, even though the aggregate amount of the offer hasn't changed.

We'd heard some rumors out of Asia that this deal was already sealed behind the scenes, but when we spoke to Owen Mahoney, EA's senior VP of Corporate Development, he stated, "It's not in the bag." We also heard from Take-Two this morning that only 8.3 percent of total shares had been sold to EA.

Where does EA stand, then? Mahoney tells us the clock is ticking for this deal. Hit the jump for our full interview, plus comments from Strauss Zelnick on his side of things.

Yesterday it was announced that the Federal Trade Commission wanted to further investigate the deal to evaluate potential antitrust issues. Like Take-Two, Mahoney says EA is cooperating fully, and extended the deadline of its bid in order to allow plenty of time.

However, said Mahoney, "The thing for us is that further delays... could affect the value of our offer."

EA continues to believe that the longer this fight drags on, the less the deal will be worth. We asked Mahoney directly whether he'd increase the offer — while he declined to speculate on possible future decisions, he stressed, "I'd say that our offer... is very full and fair. We think it's a great opportunity for [Take-Two's] shareholders, for the employees, and for our shareholders. It was a huge premium on the unaffected price of the company."

After all, EA's got investors to answer to also, and must be careful about volunteering more money without good negotiation taking place first. "Our board expects us to be very price-disciplined," said Mahoney.

Analysts have told Kotaku that most investors already believe in the potential of GTA IV, and that their anticipation for a huge first week of sales is already reflected in the current share price, and EA agrees. However, what if the unexpected occurs, and Take-Two's stock does rise after the release of GTA IV? Said Mahoney, "I'd say that's a short-term event, if that does happen. All I can speak to is what we think is appropriate for our sholders. $26 is a very full and fair price and... we intend to be price-disciplined because [our] board has made that clear."

Moreover, EA says this offer isn't predicated on the value of one launch, or even one franchise. Said Mahoney, "We're talking about people... all of the thousands of developers all over the world who are creating great franchises, several wonderful studios and.. they've got some fantastic IP. But [GTA is] only one in a whole, broad range of wonderful assets."

Speaking of wonderful assets, we asked EA directly to respond to some of the gaming community's fears that EA might repeat some past mistakes and quash this studio talent, in the event that the takeover is successful.

"That was ten years ago," said Corporate Communications VP Jeff Brown. "Granted, since then, we've done Pandemic, BioWare, we've done DICE, Criterion and Mythic and I would encourage you to call those guys. They're pretty happy. If you want to go back to Westwood back in nineteen-ninety-frickin'-seven, then yeah. We blew it. The point is, we've done Maxis and we've just celebrated 100 million units sold of The Sims. Ask those guys if they're happy working for EA."

The bottom line, said both executives, is that it's the talent that's vital to them in any deal, and that ultimately when they invest in a studio, they invest more than just money. Added Mahoney, "When we're looking at companies, one of the things that really factors heavily into our thinking is the quality of management and the teams creating IP. We have to believe... they can run some larger portfolio than they're currently running."

As an example of the company's broader approach to acqusitions, he mentioned Patrick Söderlund, CEO of Battlefield series developer Digital Illusions before that studio was acquired by EA. "Since coming to EA, he's taken on a larger and larger portfolio, and we've invested many millions in the Battlefield franchise. We believe that... people who are the creative leaders and who are leaders of those studios... what we're looking for is people who are going to be doing larger things than they're currently doing. We feel strongly about those people, we felt strongly about them when we approached them to acquire them and our objective is to invest behind them and make them bigger than before we bought them."

So what about the Take-Two deal? We asked EA what they were ready to do next. Though Mahoney could not comment on future plans, he stressed, "One of the things we're here for is we feel these are some of the best studios in the world."

So will the company keep going for Take-Two and try to get this deal done? Yes, says Mahoney — but with a caveat. "Any delay that we get, whether that's from regulatory or management [issues], is going to affect the value in the certainty of our offer."

This morning, just after Electronic Arts extended its deadline for its bid to acquire Take-Two, Take-Two confirmed just how many of its shareholders had sold to EA. 6,432,787 shares total were tendered, which may sound like a big number, but it's only 8.3 percent of the total of outstanding shares.

Said Board chairman Strauss Zelnick in a public statement, "The minuscule number of shares tendered, as well as the strong vote in favor of the proposals presented at our annual meeting, offer indisputable evidence that our stockholders regard our efforts to enhance Take-Two's stockholder value as superior to the EA offer."

Zelnick reiterated the same statements he made during the annual meeting, that EA's proposal undervalues Take-Two, adding, "It undervalued the company at $26 per share, and it certainly undervalues Take-Two at $25.74." He again urged shareholders not to tender shares to EA, and promised the company is exploring all of its options to maximize shareholder value, including either remaining independent or considering purchase by another third-party.

Finally, he stressed once more that he would enter discussions with interested parties — including EA — after April 30th and the launch of GTA IV. Concluded Zelnick, "The Board continues to believe that we will be best positioned, from the perspective of both value and timing, to move forward at that time. We are confident in the significant growth potential of Take-Two and in the unique value of our business given our strong position in this dynamic industry."

I'm a big fan of the "honest and blunt" approach. An internet reader has a right to visit a game site and read "Did Oblivion really suck or what?" or "Molyneux has gotta be on drugs!", don't you think? Instead every journalist pretends that Oblivion was a 10/10 brilliant masterpiece, that Molyneux isn't a lying old kook, and that Dungeon Siege wasn't a screensaver. Then Chris Taylor says that he's making Space Siege even simpler and everyone nods in agreement: Right on, man! It's about time someone makes a game for the amputees. BRA-VO!

You can practically hear him frothing at the mouth. He does have some interesting takes on things, though I think he could've toned it down a bit and had more success at getting his points across without leaving his audience with mouths gaping.

Against RPG Decadence: Vince D. Weller Interview [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

The interviewees ... were universally interested in vaulting into the console and handheld markets, and growing audiences both inside and outside Korea with these projects.

The groundwork is still being laid, however .... Lim sees the Xbox 360 market as presently laying the groundwork for consoles catching on in Korea — "The console games market is not really successful here. We want to establish the base first for the Xbox 360 by releasing games more fit for Korean gamers. The company itself will make an investment for that. We're trying to establish the fact that games can be played by anyone, not just by adults."

If you're not scared off by the length, it's well worth a read through - the interviews cover a lot of ground and it's interesting to see different approaches to the same problems.

Korea Rising: Five Crucial Interviews [Gamasutra]

I mentioned a week or so back that Playboy had an intriguing feature on their latest magazine that talks to a collection of game developers about some of the deeper issues involved in creating and expanding video games and play.

In the article, which is now on their mostly work-safe website, they talk to:

Kane & Lynch's Jens Peter Kurup about making games for adults and creating unlikeable characters.
Clive Barker about his love of gaming and why film is fascist.
Sony Worldwide Studio Prez Phil Harrison about the expense of game development and death of the disc.
Harmonix Co-Founder Alex Rigopoulos about creating an army of real drummers with Rock Band.
David Jaffe about the shallow game design in God of War.
Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions about the death of adventure games and the life-cycle of a critical acclaimed video game.

The monstrously long package is chock full of interesting insight into a bunch of designers who not only know their stuff, but are willing to talk frankly about the industry.

Geniuses at Play [Playboy]

"I think some games are art and some are just entertainment, just like in the film industry," he says. "There are action movies that don't really say anything but entertain you, while there are films that can move you, make you laugh and cry, change your life.

"Maybe we've become too obsessed with the question 'are games art?' and should just appreciate it as a medium like no other," Stevenson suggests. "The industry is always changing, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens once people see past the technology we use to produce the game and see the care and love we put into the art."

The ITP show will be exhibited to the public at the E for All Expo, but you can take a look at the current crop (as well as the 2004-2006 collections) on the ITP website.

Into The Pixel: The Artists Speak [Gamasutra]

... For Kim, the business model is step two. "In terms of our products doing well, it's that our games are very fun, and I think that's the core to all games that are going to be successful in terms of the business model we're in," he says. "It's one of the most competitive markets out there, because we're selling free. So unless your game is good, nobody's going to play it. There are a lot of free games, so your game really has to be very good. And once the game concept is good, then you build the business model around it. So those business models never took off because the games weren't fun. We all understand we're working with a hit-driven market and we're fortunate. I think in Korea, there are only four products that have broken the 200,000 concurrent user level. Three of those games are ours."

Nexon is not without criticism - KartRider bears a rather striking resemblance to Mario Kart, and MapleStory has left plenty of people saying 'No thanks' - but there's no question that they're a company to keep an eye on, even outside of their home turf of Korea. We'll see if they can manage their stated goal of creating the next Mario-like characters in terms of popularity and visibility.

Q & A: Nexon's Min Kim on KartRider, MapleStory and Things to Come [Worlds In Motion]

I'm hoping that the work I'm doing breathes more life into COH and the soldiers represented on the battlefield. I hope the player walks away with a window into the hearts and minds of the soldiers. The stories for both campaigns look deeply at the price of war. I am confident we are pushing the medium to new heights. You'll have to finish both campaigns to see what I mean, and yes that is a big commitment.

A lofty order, to be sure, and time will tell if the majority of players feel it's one Dinehart and his coworkers lived up to.

Narrative Design For Company Of Heroes: Stephen Dinehart On Writing For Games [Gamasutra]

In an infuriating interview with arch-nemesis site IGN, Halo novelist Eric S. Nylund starts off with a bold-faced lie...

I really enjoy reading IGN. You guys do a bang-up job.

... and then proceeds to field a lot of questions about the plot of his upcoming novel, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.

Except he really doesn't tell us anything about the plot at all. Spoilers, don't you know. And as much as I actually think Nylund is just a bang-up pulp novelist, he makes me want to reach through my computer screen and throttle him.

I know spoilers are a big concern for those whose sole appreciation of art is what happens next. But for those of us that are more concerned with the dramatic significance of what happens — who reject the idea that a good story (outside, say, a mystery) can be spoiled — this sort of teasing is extremely frustrating. Thanks for the non-interview, Eric! Florian Eckhardt

The Halo Ghosts of Onyx Interview [IGN]

Electronics Arts buys DICE, makers of the Battlefied series. Then Computer And Video Games comes along and conducts this interview with Marcus Nilsson, senior producer of Battlefield: 2142, and he says this:

It's not that we are necessarily very bad, we're not, but there is a very vocal minority on the forums who say 'EA is crap' and 'DICE are lazy', but they're all probably playing the game every day already anyway. We have minor problems, sometimes we have big problems, but minor problems are not what people should write about. Maybe they should write about why they're playing Battlefield every day. But that's human nature, I guess - you have a vocal minority and a silent majority.

Lovely attitude. If you are complaining about something the devs qualify as "minor", they suggest you would be better off spending your time writing about, say, your own sexual dysfunctions. After all, you are part of the minority that speaks... the majority loves the game and has no problem with it, as evidenced by the fact that they aren't talking.

Man, Marcus, shut up. That vocal minority? Those are the true fans of your game. The guys who aren't talking? They are the guys who ponied up the money, got bored a week later and aren't likely to come up. Silence in gaming forums, as in death, does not indicate satisfaction. Florian Eckhardt

Interview: Battlefield 2142 [CVG]

By Florian Eckhardt.

That adorable, auburn-haired sprite with the exposed milky calves, hugging her violin? That's Hanah Stuart... teenage girl, classical violinist, and the pixy who casually pranced upon a high school auditorium stage and rocked the Halo 2 theme song so hard that Steve Vai started spitting up bloody chunks of lung.

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on this YouTube video of an unknown band, fronted by a blurry, undefined violinist. Everyone loved it. Marty O'Donnell, the audio director of Bungie himself, cooed in appreciation. But no one really knew who they were.

Well, wonder no longer. In this exclusive interview, Hanah sets the record straight on the origins of the Halo 2 performance, talks all about the band she's with, Corporeal, and the various gangly teenage geniuses behind it. She also totally smacks down Steve Vai and Yo Yo Ma.

By the end of the interview? I don't want to ruin it for you, but she agrees to go steady with me. Hit the jump for our passionate tale of love.

Florian: Okay, we're going to start. Are you ready?

Hanah: Eek. Okay!

Florian: I'm a little nervous. I'm a gamer. I'm not used to talking to girls. Alright, so why don't you start off by telling us who you are, besides a 20 pixel tall, beige-and-black colored blur in a popular YouTube video?

Hanah: My name is Hanah. I'm a freshman at The Juilliard School for violin performance. I've been playing since I was five. And this is my first AIM interview.

Florian: As such, it will be scathing, penetrating and utterly journalistic, to the highest standards of my Pulitzer winning field. Let's find out a bit more about you.

Because you have captured the gamer zeitgeist, many individuals have fallen madly in love with you, even though — as far as we can tell from the low resolution YouTube video — you might not even have a face. As you know, I myself wrote a particularly maudlin poem about how your performance of the Halo theme song made me feel. Can you give any of us poor suckers any leads on how to capture your heart? Second best thing would just be to tell us where your Amazon.com gift list is, so we can start buying you presents.

Hanah: Ha ha ha! Wow. I should go do that right now :-). Well honestly I'm pretty high maintenance. Not in a bad way (at least I know it!) but I like to spend a lot of money, Not necessarily on makeup or clothes but on food. I love food. Especially sushi and coffee. Not necessarily together, of course.

On a little more serious note (yeah, okay, that was cheesy... but I'm like that!) I obviously love music. I love all the arts. I'm really into theater and dance. I love going to shows and performances and concerts. Anything that can expand my artistry. I loved rocking out with Corporeal with the Halo theme. It was a great way to escape from the classical world.

But let's get back to buying me presents. I have no idea... no, wait! There's something I'd like. But I have no idea what it's technical name is. It's what Dave Ver Lee (guitarist of Corporeal) hooked me up to for the concert, it's a souped up "wawa" pedal. I'm such a... how do you say... "noob" in that area of rock.

Other than that, send me cash. I'm a musician!

Hanah's Self-Proclaimed 'Slutty' Picture, Andy Warhol Style. Like Ashcraft, Eliza and Florian, Hanah is a big Mac fan.

Florian: Okay, fellas. Write that down. Hanah loves cold fish, classical music, and money. A sensualist, in other words. But she also likes wa-wa pedals, which are god's gift to rock.

Hanah: Do they need an address?

Florian: You don't want to give them your address. Instead, give it to me. Unlike this undersexed rabble, I can be trusted not to perch naked in a tree outside your window. I will send on any presents.

Hanah: I was just kidding.

Florian: Me too. That's me outside your window right now. Let's talk about this performance. We've all seen it on YouTube. We all agree it rocks. But honestly, no one has any idea what's going on, except a bunch of high school students take the scene and knock the Halo theme song out of the park. Can you give
us a brief rundown on where it was held, when, and how it came about?

Hanah: Okay. I attended Libertyville High School, Illinois In May, there was a variety show at our school called "Collage". One day, Dave Ver Lee of Corporeal came up to me and said, "Hey, I need a violinist for an act. Are you interested?"

I immediately said yes, of course: I've known Dave since 5th grade. We went to the same church [editor's note: the Church of ROCK!] and high school. I know how awesome he is at guitar and percussion, so I knew if I said yes to anything that genius did, it would be awesome. So that's how I got into it.

Rehearsals were held in Dave's basement. First rehearsal was with just me Dave, and Dave (Bedell). Second rehearsal we added Rob Leu (bass) Third rehearsal was at the high school in the bad room and we added Pat, Artie, and Corey (percussionists). We did that a second time. Then we auditioned. Then we rehearsed for the dress, and then rehearsed again. And then we performed it. Hooray!

Florian: So Dave is the lead of Corporeal?

Hanah: Yes. Dave Ver Lee.

Florian: So you're not a member of Corporeal normally? What would Nelly say? You 'feated' with them?

Hanah: Beats me. I don't follow Nelly. So I'll have to take your word for it. But yeah. They were my window to playing rock, or at least some form of "rock". It was so much fun.

Florian: You've never heard of Nelly? That is another reason why we love you, Hanah. Her squealing voice sounds like a sow in mid -slaughter. But we're not interviewing you about Nelly Furtado and her hip-grinding music: we're talking about Halo 2 and your hip grinding music.

Hanah: Oh, THAT Nelly. Anyway, yeah. Halo 2.

Florian: So you are not a member of Corporal? Are they out of their minds? What sort of band turns down a cute violinist?

Hanah: Actually, I was officially added after Collage...

Florian: Damn right.

Hanah: ...Dave is writing parts for me on all of their songs now so they're re-recording everything. We're definitely recording our versions of Halo and Mario around Thanksgiving and hopefully... well, I don't know details yet but Thanksgiving we're working on some stuff that ought to be very fun and exciting.

Florian: Sanity prevails. So let's ask the big questions: had you ever played Halo before, or heard the music? Do you play games? Are you a gaming girl?

Hanah: Yes these are the big ones. Actually, I had not played Halo before our performance. But I had heard the soundtrack numerous times since my Dad actually plays it in our basement. But never fear, I started playing it this summer! Rob made me. And I am absolutely horrible at it.

But it is addicting. I can see why so many people get into it. But I'm horrible: I've never learnt how to use the joystick...thingy. I was looking at the sky while running around aimlessly and getting shot way too many times before I got the hang of it. But once I did it got fun. Just starting was kind of frustrating. Especially when you're playing with two addicted serious players.

[editor's note: Hear that? Her bandmates introduced her to Halo by using her for deathmatch target practice. Nice one, guys.]

I've also played Mario. But I have to say I don't really play video games. But I do like the music! But honestly, I just prefer watching people play. I'm better at that. Ha!

Corporeal Member Robb Leu rocks out Mjolnir in a paintball mask.

Florian: Yes, I can understand it. It's like how my girlfriend is better at driving when she's sitting in the backseat, incessantly nagging me about my technique. But it's okay not to be a gamer: you're obviously the daughter of one, and you did a powerful job interpreting Halo 2 for us.

Speaking of which, you guys performed the Mjolnir Mix of the Halo 2 Theme Song, which is different from the Halo version of the theme in that it has Steve Vai wanking off on the guitar. How do you think it made Steve feel when an 18 year old girl managed to outrock him? Do you think he started crying like one?

Hanah: Ha ha. I don't know. Hmmmm. I don't think I outrocked him. I evenly rocked him. We're all on the same playing field. He has a totally different quality to his sound than I do. I could learn from him, I'm sure. I don't think it's possible to be "the best" at something. People have their own personal qualities and it's fun to listen to someone, then incorporate that into your playing in your own personal way.

Anyway, Steve Vai should call me. We should get together and jam.

Florian: Look, this isn't the time for you to be asking Steve Vai out on a date. You're better than him. He was thoroughly outclassed, by a girl whom - by her own admission - has never played a lick of rock music in her life, and spends most of her time having rickety walking stick classical music professors instruct her upon the orthodoxy of her vibrato. Right now, he is sitting alone in his multi-million dollar mansion, filling his nine Grammies with tears as he watches your Halo 2 video over and over again.

Hanah: HA HA HA HA HA HA! Well, I wouldn't ask him out on a date. He's kind of... old. And gross. And he looks like he's done way too much pot.

Florian: OOOOOH! BURN! OH NO YOU DIDN'T!

Hanah: (long silence) I'm more into 20-something guys.

Florian (internal monologue): ... I'm a twenty-something guy! And I start puking when I smoke a magic jay bone. Do I have a chance? Dare I hope?

Florian (out loud): I already know the headline of this Kotaku interview. FEATURE: Hanah Stuart - "I Out-Haloed A Gross, Freaky Druggie."

Hanah: Ha ha ha! Oh gamers.... Now getting schooled by gamers as well as a violinist. Poor fellow.

Florian: Okay, I think we both agree that Steve Vai is disgusting. I find him musically repulsive; you find him sexually so. High five. We're in concurrment. So let me ask a follow up question.

If there's one thing that's clear now to gamers like Eliza and me (who speak for ALL gamers), it's that your group has made any other version of the Halo theme song completely irrelevant. Don't you think Bungie should fire Steve Vai and ask you guys to record Halo 3's theme song? The only correct answer to this question is "Yes, I jolly well do."

Hanah: Well. Okay. "Yes, I jolly well do!" Actually, that would be awesome. I wouldn't mind at all. A recording contract? Heck yes. Please sign me up. I mean, it was pretty awesome when Marty O'Donnell, the Audio Director of Bungie complimented us, I have to say. That's what a musician likes to hear.

And that I have fans... holy cow, when people appreciate what you do, and that they love what you're doing. That's just what it's all about.

Florian: Well, you were great. But you need to keep in mind the fact that gamers would applaud a man with a butt for a face if he managed to squirt out the works of Hip Tanaka on a kazoo. I say this only because we don't want fame to go to your head: that's what happened to Steve Vai, and look what happened to him.

Hanah: Oh, don't worry about that! There are plenty of people over here to keep me in check. But thank you for your concern. Hot headed musicians are no fun to deal with.

Florian: Nor hot headed gaming journalists.

Hanah: No kidding.

Florian: Whatever. Anyway, I think Steve Vai has probably hung himself from a doorknob by now, thus practically guaranteeing you his job. Who else are they gonna get? Yo Yo Ma?

Hanah: Actually, Yo Yo Ma was just here a couple of days ago. And they would let him in because he didn't have a Juilliard ID.

Florian: Wait a second here. Are you telling me that you have bested both Yo Yo Ma and Steve Vai? Steve Vai's a given, and granted Yo Yo Ma has been on a downward spiral ever since he did that duet with Condoleeza Rice. But still!

Hanah: No, no. I love his stuff - I actually heard his performance at Grant Park for the Silk Road Tour. Just awesome. What I'm saying is that he was at the school and they wouldn't let him in until another student vouched for him.

Florian: But he graduated from there. Class of Ving Rhames, right? And, I mean, Juilliard lets you in. And you play game music. Consequently, you are a greater musician than Yo Yo Ma.

Hanah: Fine. There's no arguing with you. Have it your way!

Florian: New Kotaku headline! FEATURE: Hanah Stuart: Yo Yo Is Ma Bitch!

Hanah: Oh my gosh... my poor classical reputation.

Florian: Juilliard to Hanah: You're FIRED!

Hanah: LOL!

Florian: What are you, Ashcraft? Anyway, here's your chance to redeem yourself. Can you tell us how the Halo theme makes you feel? How do you interpret it, emotionally? I realize that asking someone to actually qualify his or her emotional reaction to something as ephemerally moving as music is difficult, but I think many of us would like to hear you talk about it.

Hanah: It's a rush to perform. I'm on stage with lights and electric instruments and screaming people. It's a totally different kind of feeling then when you're playing Beethoven or Mozart.

Halo was just tons of fun for me. I could play with its intensity and energy. Halo is one of those pieces that if you're really into it, you can't mess it up no matter what you do. For me it wasn't about the notes, but energy. The excitement. The fun. You could improvise the movement and what exactly you wanted to bring out.

A lot of it was just following the line, building up to the climax, and then totally switching gears at the Mario part and then back to Halo. That was a little tricky. I was in four inch high heals for that performance... and I had to make sure I could press the different pedals within 1/2 a second so that the sound quality changed at the right point...

The difference between when I rehearse music and when I perform it is huge. I'm more of an analyst when I rehearse. But the performance? I just let out whatever I want. A lot of improvisation went on that night.

At the last minute we added some glow sticks to our instruments and a lot of choreography was improvised at the concert. Except the coming out at the end was planned which was so awesome. The whole thing was just a rush!

But those back bends... wow, I felt those in my thighs the next morning. Music like this...just...I don't know...takes you to another realm. I call it "performance high." It's like nothing else. You're all shaky afterwards and full of life and energy.

Florian: What was your favorite part to play? We're not plebs. Please reply in musical annotation. If AIM doesn't support that, words will be an inferior second.

Hanah: I really loved it when Dave and I were in unison and then we branch off into thirds. That was great. Also at the big head banging parts. Those were fun. I know, I know... that's really descriptive!

The whole thing was just fun. You can't compartmentalize it.

Another thing that really stands out to me is when we walked out and the confetti was flying everywhere. That moment when the streamers shot off and the audience went nuts. That was probably my favorite part, It was like: "Yes, I'm on stage. I'm totally rocking out. This is just awesome!"

Florian: That really must beat the polite, ascetic clep-clepping of those classical music snobs. It's not like they ever stand up in the concert hall, rip their panties off and start just hooting.

Hanah: That would not be a pretty sight, lemme tell you.

Florian: Yeah. Old Mrs. Rockefeller, patron of the symphony, probably couldn't keep her genitals above her buckling knees if she took 'em off. I think we can count our blessings.

Hanah: Absolutely.

Florian: Let me ask you some specifics about the concert. In the back, prancing mysteriously about, there are some teenage homuncular Blue Men. What's that about? Who are they? Do they serve any purpose besides aquamarine eye candy?

Hanah: Ha ha ha! They were Pat, Corey, and Artie (the percussionists) and they thought it'd be fun to be blue men and incorporate the Blue Men Group act that into our little shindig. It was just a fun thing we decided to do, along with spray painting my face with green and sparkles, along with Dave and Rob's hair.

I went to a movie afterwards with my friends....got the weirdest looks. I was still green at that point

Florian: It's not easy being green.

Kotaku Readers: YOU SUCK, FLORIAN!

Florian: SHUT THE HELL UP!

Hanah: Who are you talking to?

Florian: No one. Ignore them. Back to the Blue Men. A few minutes before the Mario interlude, the Blue Men wandered out and appeared to touch toilet plungers. What was that about?

Hanah: Um. What?

Florian: Did they just not have anything to do at that point?

Hanah: Do you mean the paintball guns?

Florian: Is that what they were?

Hanah: Ha ha ha ha! Yes. They had paintball guns during Mario and we had two boards on either side. They shot at them. It was cheesy, but they had to do something. Before, they were going to do a little dance... but that was just bad.

Florian: Blue Men Can't Dance.

Kotaku Readers: BLOW ME, FLORIAN!

Florian: ShuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupshuttupSHUTTUP! ASSHOLES!

Hanah: ...

Florian: ...

Hanah: ....

Florian: ... Wait a second. Your high school let you bring guns into the building?

Hanah: We had an awesome performing arts director. He let us bring them in. We explained what we were going to do.

Florian: Do you know who Jack Thompson is?

Hanah: Nope.

Florian: Oh. Okay. Well, to briefly explain, he's an idiot.

Hanah: OH! One of those.

Florian: Exactly. But he'd be very upset that a high school allowed you remorseless killers-in-training to bring loaded guns onto school premises while brainwashing the audience audiophonically with a video game tune.

Hanah: I... see.

Florian: We won't tell him.

Hanah: Let's not.

Florian: Okay, now I'm going to delve into some harsh criticism.

Hanah: Sweet.

Florian: Are you prepared?

Hanah: Always.

Florian: Most of us interpreted the discordant Mario interlude as an appeal to the proles. It was like a sexy female Paganini suddenly stopping La Campanella to toss off the Looney Tunes theme song on her Cannone Guarnerius. Predictably, it seems like you got your greatest applause when you did the Mario tune. What's wrong with those people? This wasn't performed at a vocational school, was it?

Hanah: HA HA HA HA HA HA! Man, I love La Campanella. It's ridiculously hard.

Ummmm... jeez. Ha ha! That's the perfect analogy.

Alright, look, we're at a public high school and the audience obviously didn't have many Halo players. We can see why people online weren't to thrilled about it. But people like what they know and they obviously knew Mario.

When we record in Thanksgiving (we had some fans and we had some people that didn't like it so we're doing it a couple ways) we'll have the version that we did onstage and we'll have a version that's just simply Mario and then simply Halo. To appease all.

Florian: But overall, people seemed to love it.

Hanah: Yeah, they did.

Florian: You know, when I was in high school, I actually entered the talent show. All through rehearsals, I dramatically recited The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, only to change my act on show day to an obscenity-laced, hip-hop style roll call of all the teachers who had ever shown me disrespect (all of them, as it happened).

The entire audience of gangly teenagers actually rose as one to start chanting my name in unison; never the less, the winner that year was a kid from the football team who walked on stage and did a 'Pumping Iron' style muscle man show. The school was torn apart by riots for the next three days.

Hanah: Okay.

Florian: ?

Hanah: ...

Florian: ????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hanah: ?

Florian: ... Okay. My question is: did you guys win your show? If not, were there riots? There damn well should have been.

Hanah: Actually it wasn't really a contest. We closed the show though. So we were the 'finale' act I guess implying that we were the best of the night. Or at least the most interesting of the night.

Florian: You know how sometimes, you're at a concert or a play or a ballet, and some dreamy, somewhat hazy vision under the spotlights captures your heart, and all you want to do is get to know them? Did you get any dates out of your Halo performance?

Hanah: Ha ha! No. I get some people that are "requesting friends" on Facebook, but I have no idea who these people are. Other than that, most of the guys who message me are like, "Please don't think I'm a creep, I just loved the Halo 2 performance."

Florian: You're better off. One of our writers at Kotaku is a girl. She's grotesquely disfigured, but she shares the same name as a dollsome Seattle model. Consequently, she gets skeevy love letters every week, that are distributed to hilarious effect amongst her fellow Kotaku writers. One reader messaged her the other day. His AIM pic was a picture of a stick figure holding a screw, under which was the caption "Wanna screw?

Hanah: Yes, I'm better off.

Florian: However, an alternative presents itself. Since I know you like sushi, and I know you like twenty something guys, I want to give you adequate forewarning that I may one day send you a dead fish through international post and ask you on a date, because you've captured my heart... all 20 pixels of you. I've never asked out a girl before, because I'm a gamer, but my understanding is that this will mean we're going steady. So your Halo performance won't be a complete loss, romantically.

Hanah: Oh, awesome! And I'm single! So you're in luck!

Florian: Me too! You know how I mentioned a girlfriend earlier?

Hanah: Yes.

Florian: That was just a lie to get you jealous. And I can see you fell into my trap.

Hanah: You had me at Canone Guarerius.

Florian: If we agree we're now engaged to go steady, we can finish up this interview.

Hanah: Only if you fly me out to Ireland! I've always wanted to go there.

Florian: Because I write for a games blog, I'm a millionaire. Naturally, I'll fly you out. But our readers aren't interested in our mutual passion, no matter how lustful and throbbing.

So tell me, Hanah. You've started off a promising musical career by making Steve Vai look foolish and hopefully getting him fired. You've captured the heart of millions of gamers and helped me get paid for creepily flirting with you. You've also dissed and dismissed Yo Yo Ma. What's next?

Hanah: I'm trying to figure that out here. I want to do a couple of international competitions in the next few years, My dream would be to travel internationally with a quartet. I'd also love to get into the movie recording business. I think that would be tons of fun. Who knows? Maybe teach, maybe get into an orchestra, maybe rock out. The sky's the limit!

Florian: Okay. Anyone you want to suck up to?

Hanah: Much much much thanks and love to Dave Verlee who arranged everything. You're my hero.

Thanks and love to the rest of my Halo boys, ROB (you have perfect pitch in my book :P), Dave Bedell (ridiculously amazing drummer with the best smile), Artie, Corey, and Pat (Oh, you blue men!)

Extreme thanks and gratitude to bungie.com (especially Marty for his support and recognition, and the fact that he composed the music so it was possible for us to do this).

Thanks to the support from Kotaku, Digg, and Youtube, and everywhere else.

My parents for always encouraging me to follow my dreams. To my best friend Sean who couldn't watch the whole thing because he couldn't see me as a rocker and thought it was all just awesomely hilarious. But he's always been there for me!

I also want to thank all my buddies back home and all my friends here at Juilliard, as well as my new teacher Mr. Smirnoff who thought it was just awesome that I was part of a rock band.

And last but not least, thanks to all my fans out there! Yay!

Oh... and to Florian, who conducted this interview and has totally made my day.

Florian: Damn right. Final question: has any classical strings player ever performed in high heels and a bikini?

Hanah: No. And I don't think they'll be starting any time soon.

Florian: Maybe that's another way you can stick it to Yo Yo Ma!

Thanks again to Hanah for the interview! Go check out Corporeal's web site and give 'em your support.

IGN's PSP limb reached out to snag Rockstar Leeds boss Gordon Hall and ask him some questions about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Hall managed to spill some pretty exciting new details about the game.

For example, jet skis that can go underwater are in. So are helicopters and planes, which we knew, but this necessitated some engine optimization to pull in a far expanded draw distance. Polygon counts are way up, "with new features such as animated textures and neon light effects and an all-new radiosity lighting model." And hey, there's even some grappling moves and throws you can do unarmed.

Plus, the soundtrack has 100 songs, making it the largest soundtrack in any game. Of course, I have no idea if this means licensed songs: has this information been released yet?

Looking very good. I think with this and Silent Hill: Origins I need to cave and get a PSP. Florian Eckhardt

Vice City Stories: The Interview [IGN]

Over at Game Set Watch, they have a great interview with the creator of an even greater project: an original Legend of Zelda game programmed for TI-83+ Graphical Calculators.

With some previous experience in a Harvest Moon port for the TI-83+, Spencer Putt took the graphic style of Link's Awakening and used it to code an entirely new adventure.

Q: How is this possible on a TI-83+? My understanding has always been; the more your try and do graphically, the slower it's going to be, but the videos suggested things were moving exceptionally smoothly - especially the camera movement, which was amazing.

A: Yes, it is programmed for the lowest common denominator: the black [standard] TI-83+. Most people have dabbled in the built in TI-BASIC, which gives them an impression that the calculator is slow. While it's astounding that TI has made such a complete language on such a weak device, when you get down to the assembly level things are a lot faster. The video you saw was recorded on an emulator, a copy of a TI-83+ running on a computer. The game will run faster on the real calculator.

It's a great looking project, sure to make hundreds of bored middle schoolers in geometry class happy. Check it out. Florian Eckhardt

GameSetInterview: Spencer Putt On Zelda For TI-83+ Graphical Calculators [Game Set Watch]

Lest we all forget last year's great undead opus, REHorror.net conducted an interview with Hiroyuke Kobayashi, producer of Resident Evil 4. It does, however, appear to be aimed at the truly hardcore RE4 fan. For example, I have no idea what the hell's being discussed in this little snippet:

reH: We've heard a lot about the "fog version" of Biohazard 4 that was scrapped but there was another version that very little was revealed about at all. How did this version attempt to 'revolutionise' Biohazard's gameplay?

Kobayashi-san: A version after "Fog" is known as the version with "Hooked Man", which was also introduced at E3. The next was a version with "Zombie", which we haven't released to the public.

Kobayashi-san, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. That "Hooked Man" sure sounds scary, though! And we sure are glad you didn't release the version of Resident Evil 4 that actually had zombies in it either. I like the crazy Spanish hicks version a lot better.

Seriously, can anyone cast any light on what the difference between these versions are? Florian Eckhardt

Interview with Hiroyuke Kobayashi [REHorror.net]

Faith Naked, the girl behind the Top 10 Hottest Guys in Gaming List, was interviewed over at Destructoid, one of our favorite sites. This is not news. But I found this quote from Faith disingenuous enough to comment upon:

Fronz: Speaking of embrace, readers want to know if you embrace the "girl gamer" status/stereotype, or would you rather be known as simply a "gamer?" There seems to be a divide between those who would rather be anonymous and those who embrace their minority, sometimes pretty vehemently. How do you feel about this digi-feminism, and which camp do you find yourself in, if any?

Faith Naked: Hey, I'm a girl and I can't change that. I want people to treat me as a normal gamer, but as long as there are guys who are going to send you Myspace messages like "Hey, you wanna play with my joystick?", my status as a girl gamer will always stand out.

You know, that's an interesting thing for a girl who sprang upon the 'scene' at the tip of the quivering, dew-tipped erection of gamers' collective desperation to say.

Look, I have nothing against Faith Naked. She seems nice. She posts cool things. Her writing is passable... more than we can say about most game writers. She doesn't take herself too seriously. She sends us tips! And hell, I'm apparently inadvertently responsible for her newfound "fame", being the Kotaku staffer who posted her Top 10 Hottest Guys in Gaming List in the first place, which was consequently picked up by Attack of the Show.

But doesn't this sort of statement ring completely hollow when she first became noticed for posing almost entirely naked for Destructoid, with the exception of some game controllers covering her vagina with the exception of a Gabecube hovering over her pudenda and a diaphonous bra? Or when almost all of her mentions on Destructoid are accompanied by a picture of her similarly disrobed? And when I discovered her 'Top 10 List of Hot Gaming Guys', even I was following a link from Destructoid to see if I couldn't figure out what she looked like pubically.

If Faith really wanted to be treated as "just a gamer" (and, presumably, as "just a game writer")... why all the nudity? Because she doesn't want to be just a gamer or just a writer... she wants to be that hot girl gamer. That hot, naked writer.

To be clear, what bothers me is not that Faith Naked shakes it for attention. Hey, you got it? Flaunt it, baby. I just hate the entire "I just want to be treated the same as everyone who isn't a hot, half-naked gamer/stripper" disingenuousness.

There's nothing wrong with hot girls getting attention for being hot girls, or using their personal attractiveness to draw attention to what they are saying. Sex is marketing. But either be unapologetic about using sex as marketing or don't use sex to sell yourself at all.

For example, consider our own Eliza Gauger. When Eliza posts, we don't accompany it with a picture of her naked. Part of that is because she is morbidly obese; sort of the estrogen-saturated, anthropomorphic equivalent of Goatse.cx's gaping, flabby anus, and just as attractive. But the larger reason is that Eliza's a quick enough wit, a clever enough writer and has interesting enough things to say that her writing really speaks for itself. And while I am less talented than Eliza, the reasons there aren't naked pictures of my godlike genitalia on Kotaku's front page are similar.

This isn't really meant as an attack on Faith, but it's obvious why a lot of gamers are paying attention to her all of a sudden, and denying it makes her less credible, not more so. Despite what she says, she doesn't really want to be treated as a gamer... instead, she realizes the practicality of marketing her writing with her body and she's using that fact to further her career. And that's fair enough: writers are a dime a dozen, and you need any edge you can get. If Faith's talented, then people will keep paying attention. If she isn't, people will get bored and move on.

But the first step to everyone getting bored? Deluding yourself about your most base and obvious appeal. It's better to just cheerfully admit it and be interesting enough that we keep on listening once we turn our oggling eyes to another lustful female frame. Gaming already has enough Frag Dolls, after all. Florian Eckhardt

Edit: Faith correctly pointed out the original photograph we used of her wasn't her. Apologies for the mistake, but I hope everyone can understand why I confused one red headed, half-naked girl for another.

Weekend Reading: Faith Naked Interview [Destructoid]

Ken Levine, the smartest writer in video games, gave an interview to Through the Looking Glass fansite SShock2.com about Irrational's upcoming "art deco underwater utopia participant-evolution inspired civil war" survival horror FPS, Bioshock. Subjects cover the evolution of Bioshock's story, art deco game design, the themes of horror in games, and morality in gaming.

On the latter subject Levine cites the typical moral choice of an RPG: a one-dimensional choice between good and evil.

What always bugs me about this is that it ignores the key component of what compels people to do nasty things: need. In BioShock, we put you in a terrible world that has exploited the weakest members of that world in horrible ways. Then we put you in a situation in which, in order to survive, it's pretty damn tempting to exploit the weak yourself. And there's no moral authority telling you what to do, what's right and wrong.

The people who exploited the Little Sisters in Rapture were motivated by ideology and their survival instincts. Any player who plays BioShock is going to be very tempted to exploit the Little Sisters, too, because now it's their life on the line. That's going to lead, I hope, to an understanding of how terrible things happen. It brings the player into the process of evil, and maybe makes them understand how terrible things happen, even when basically good people are involved.

Which is all very eloquently said, but ignores two aspects of what makes moral choices in games so paltry. Games simply are not dynamic enough to extrapolate those choices into subtle, pervasive, non-scripted consequences. Moreover, a player chooses to be good or evil because, ultimately, it's the same thing when you're the only sentient being amongst automotons. Moral choices in games do cover need: I need that +5 Vorpal Sword, so I'm going to kill that beatific monk.

Games can put the player in someone else's body, but until the worlds are filled with a more dynamic artificial intelligence in the non-player characters around you, they can't infuse you with that person's game world conscience. Which is why even the nicest of us simply weigh pros-versus-cons when murdering a Resistance fighter in Half-Life 2 for his shotgun. It sounds like Levine is looking to correct that with meaningful NPC AI, though. Let's see if he succeeds. Florian Eckhardt

Irrational Games Interview July 2006 [SShock2.com]

There is a wee tiny interview with British fantasy and science fiction author Terry Pratchett over on CVG, and despite it being bafflingly brief (perhaps he began cussing uncontrollably after that point and had to be restrained), it's nice to hear from the ol' Hat n' Beard.

As a fantasy writer, do you find yourself preferring fantasy games, or does spending time in an imaginary land feel like another day at the office?

Ho ho. No, I'll pretty much play anything that's intelligent and has some depth. That means Half-Life 2 and not Doom 3, for example.

I will take this opportunity to plug one of Pratchett's older books, a little science fiction novel called Only You Can Save Mankind. I think his other work gets overshadowed by Discworld, but I have never read anything from him that wasn't excellent.

Only You Can Save Mankind is no exception, and is the gratifying tale of a young gamer using his twitch shooter powers for the ultimate good. His companion in this is a hardbitten little girl who reminds me of myself as a del, and who insists that she be referred to by her gaming handle, "Sigourney".

I won't link to the Amazon page because someone has left a stupid review that spoils everything. Just check it out from the library sometime; to hell with reviews and expectations. Eliza "Why is there no netflix for books" Gauger

Pratchett interview on CVG

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in this Eurogamer interview, asserting that his company is from the future and therefore makes superior games than competitors:

I think it's our investment in the next-gen consoles. We invest more in the next-gen consoles than our competitors so we will create better quality games.

But as one commentor on the interview video says, Guillemot is "very good at saying nothing in a language that isn't his own."

Interspersed with footage from the oh-my-god-look-at-all-this-stupid-blinking-shit E3 show floor, the interview features a lot of percentages (25% movie franchise games for next year, 7% expected drop in market share, EA purchasing 20% of Ubi last year) and assertions of future growth. Eliza gauger

Watch interview here [Eurogamer]

GamePolitics has an exclusive interview with the Oblivion modder who made it possible, through a series of hacks, to play the game surrounded by topless NPCs. The ESRB found out and slapped a new M rating on the previously T-rated RPG.

The modder, Maeyanie, disapproves of the re-rating and proclaims the modding community bears responsibility for the boobs, not Bethesda. I'm inclined to agree. The next step is M-rating games for user-created skins.

CM: Do you think companies should be held responsible for content discovered by modders?

Maeyanie: In the case of content in the game waiting to be unlocked by a certain button-sequence or whatever, yes, they put it there. In the case of mods requiring third-party software, downloads from the Internet, and other things, absolutely not. The ability to add content to a game is a great thing, and leads to much greater replayability (if that's a word) and all-around fun. Just because some people like me "abuse" this ability to add "evil" content based on a single culture's narrow definitions of what is and isn't appropriate isn't the fault of the developers.

I wonder if the skin artist got in trouble for this. There's no reason to create an anatomically correct base skin except for simple aesthetics (and a desire for publicity via the inevitable modder "discovery" of nipples), and if I worked in games I'd probably be doing it too. Eliza gauger

Complete interview here [GamePolitics]

When I posted about Part One of Evil Avatar's interview with Randy Smith, some were kind enough to take time out of combing bear grease into their Van Dycks to write a highly substantial number of words pointing out the fact that I seemed to have completely misread the interview.

Hey, sorry about that! Apologies to everyone who was disappointed that, in reality, Randy Smith didn't actually admit DX:IW and Thief 3 sucked. Wistful thinking got the better of me. My bad. Won't happen again.

On that note, Evil Avatar has posted up the second part of their interview with Randy Smith. This time, topics covered include why Randy thinks System Shock is the worst game he's ever been involved with, the unbearable psychological torment of being scythed asunder at the age of twenty-five from his Siamese birthmate and Ion Storm colleague Harvey Smith, Warren Spector's coke habit and some shocking revelations about the true identity of Garrett ("He's a robot.") Florian Eckhardt

[Interview] Randy Smith - Thief Series - Part 2 [Evil Avatar]

FiringSquad has an in-depth article in which they quiz mainstream media outlet writers about games writing for the average joe:

Lev Grossman, who has written a number of video game themed articles for Time magazine, has a slightly difference stance on the subject of "dumbing down" such an article for the mainstream media. "Sure. We do it all the time. "Dumb down" makes it sound like a bad thing, but the fact is, I'm not writing for a hardcore audience, and you always want to pitch your writing to the people who are reading."

They interview a variety of writers who offer a gamut of opinions on Dumbing Down, but the general consensus is that it should be done. It goes on to point out that the big outlets don't publish as often as, say, every twenty minutes (ahem) and that game companies know they have to "feed the beast".

So even if CNN snipes our story about Duke Nukem Forever being signed exclusively to the Phantom, and furthermore being developed into an animated series for the WB by Uwe Boll, we'll still have lots of fiddly minutiae to gibber about after the big blab. Let's hear it for job security. Eliza Gauger

Gaming in Mainstream Media [FiringSquad]

Earthworm Jim creator Doug Tennapel is the sort of man I admire, while I simultaneously fear the possibility that I will end up like him. He goes into detail about this duality in a new interview over on Gamasutra.

They're spending so much that now they're making $30 million games. Big business is big business, and I think some of the smaller mom-and-pop shops got closed down or bought out, and again, I think it was kind of because the gamers weren't even in it for the art of gaming. They wanted to sell their company and make big stocks to swell up the company to 70 people and try to unload a bunch of cash.

Just look at his portrait over there. If that is not a man who is deadly talented and pays dearly for it, I dunno who is. Jim is this vague spectre from my childhood, a standout amongst a milling herd of forgettable platformers. What's sad is that so many of these cartoonists end up mushing along at Nickelodeon, pumping art and comedy into properties that are largely ignored, or at least pigeonholed into the "children's entertainment" heading. Eliza Gauger

More on Earthworm Jim for the PSP, art in video games, and an assertive jadedness in the complete interview. [Gamasutra]