ulo.tricho.us

On day 4, we wanted to talk a little about the basics of the way that software thinks about things and introduce a few of the fundamental abstractions of programming. I know it’s a whippersnappers/get off my lawn/uphill both ways in the snow kind of moment, but the computing experience of the 80s really did prepare us beautifully for software engineering careers, and, well, these kids don’t have to type in 6 pages of code if they want their computer to draw a picture of Alfred E. Newman like we did. Anyway, I introduced Eric as someone who writes software for a living, and he talked about variables and collisions and things that the computer would have to keep track of.

On day 5, the topic was the main loop of the game and continuing to build on the distinction between property and state; and the notion of stepping through the loop many times per second; when it updates positions, when it implements input from the players, checking for collisions or scoring, etc. Of course, this may not be the exact way that the engine handles events, but it’s helpful to analyze what would be needed to make a game happen.

On monday, we’re going to talk about the process of making a game, the types of jobs that are involved (including looking through the credits and seeing if I can hint them into guessing what QA means) and a few ideas about game design. We’ll play a few of the minigame modes and they’ll come up some of their own ideas for minigame modes. We’ll see how it goes!

Also, I have to say that we could no longer resist the opportunity to let them play Little Big Planet of Friday… we’ll see if they demand it first thing on monday.

The plan for Day 3 was to talk about the basic ideas of 3D space, coordinate systems, and how the 3D space is represented in a 2D image. I had two personal goals for this day: get the two girls to take some guesses, and say the words “Matrix Transformations” in a meaningful way.

Before the class started, I took a shot at singlehandedly solving one of the biggest issues in modern education: girls and geekiness. Now, the two Sophies in my class are really cool, smart girls; they clearly know what’s going on, they love to play the game, and they seem to be enjoying the class, but they don’t take any guesses during the discussion. There is so much built-in resistance to overcome to get them to participate, from the modern image of what girlhood is and what girls are supposed to be interested in to the ancient imbedded biological maxim that you can’t go wrong making a man feel smart. Regardless, they chose to take this class, and I’d like to try to get them to engage with the content a little. I had noticed that they were quite into the competitive element, cheering on their team and trash talking as required, so I mentioned to them before class that their team had falled behind a little bit yesterday because neither of them took any guesses, and they could help their team out by speaking up a little during the discussion. They nodded enthusiastically, and lo and behold, during the discussion, they actually took some guesses! It didn’t last, though, and I can’t yet try that gambit again; later in the week a Sophie would raise her hand and when called on point to Nemo.

It is clear that these kids by and large understand 3D, even if they’ve never really heard the terminology before. Nemo got a super papa bonus for correctly guessing that the third axis is called the z axis. The funniest thing is because ‘binary’ and ’software’ were answers on the first day of class that I got really excited about, they keep guessing those again just in case. “OK, how does the program know what lines to draw to make the perspective shape of the car?” “Uhhh, binary?” Which is fun, because it’s not exactly wrong!

However, we got through the stuff I wanted to talk about and then moved on to a 2 vs. 2 teams tournament. The kids are starting to get a little better at the game, but it’s still hard to get them to do anything other than blindly charge after the ball. But who could blame them?

Today, I split the group up into 4 teams with the intent of them staying in those teams for the rest of the class. In the open school way, each group covered the age gamut of the class, although I was sorely tempted to make a team out of the 3 Andrews and 2 Patricks and call it Full House. Teams can earn points for good guesses or right answers during the discussion, plus points from their team’s turns in the battle arena. I had put down Physics and math as the topic, but I really started with “What is a videogame made out of?” Which was initially answered with “uh, chips?” and with some prodding and discussion was ultimately getting shouts of “ones and zeroes” and even, to my delight, “information!” We talked about the difference between hardware and software (and even firmware), what the game needs to be able to calculate, and what kinds of forces are in play during the game. We also talked about the difference between properties and state in relation to the ball, which even led to the difference between linear and angular momentum. It was pretty great. Still a lot of answers from the 8 or so geekier guys (and no guesses from either Sophie), but I gave out about 80 points for lots of good guesses over about 30 minutes of talking, leaving 45 minutes to play.

On the first day, there were few goals because even the easy bots get right after the ball and control the match. So today, we tried 4 vs 4 with no bots and all the kids on the same team; I also added the red and the blue scores so they could get it into either goal. This gave them time to look at the ball and their starting places and see if they could make something happen. After the first two rounds of everybody running all over the place and scoring 3 or 4 goals over 5 minutes, they realized that when their positions get reset after a goal, one of them is usually lined up to bop the ball right into the goal, so the game became figuring out which of the 4 players was lined up, and then letting them shoot it as quickly as possible. The high score was 32, which we added to their question points to determine who advanced to 2 final matches: The Marauders ultimately defeated Team X, while The Blazers fell to The Destroyers.

For tomorrow, I’m hoping to talk a little about how the game produces a 2D image of a 3D simulation, talk about wireframes and textures and 3D modeling, and a little about lighting and special effects; and maybe get the girls to take a couple guesses.

Day 1 was off to a great start! We have the use of Mike’s content studio / classroom with a projector and lots of open space. We set up my 2 PS3s (I’m again thankful that a PlayStation Network purchase usually allows you to download the product onto 5 different units) and 2 of my 15″ travel LCDs with 3 controllers each. We projected the game onto the screen and I went through the tutorials so that all the kids could see the basic moves. Nobody has played this game before (except Nemo) and we have a wider spectrum of game familiarity than I had expected; some self-proclaimed videogame experts who were clearly not all talk, and some kids who sheepishly admitted that they aren’t very good at videogames. I have to admit, I’m shocked to see American elementary schoolers who haven’t ever held a videogame controller and are at a loss when confronted with an analog stick; it’s clear who has anti-game parents. I can’t help but see this as a handicap, but it’s one that they very quickly overcome.

The kids correctly identify what ’supersonic’ means (although the answered first said ‘faster than light, er, sound!) and Nemo chips in by adding that it means that the vehicle should cause a sonic boom. I love that answer, because that’s totally not in the game and Nemo knows it; but he’s applying his knowledge of the world to the question and that’s what it’s all about! The kids also go CRAZY when I mention that you can destroy other cars when you’re supersonic. Nothing like mayhem to inspire an elementary schooler. Lots of oohs and ahhs as the cars do backflips and such; and many helpful suggestions to defeat the tutorials and move on.

We then spent the rest of the class taking turns going 3 on 3 vs. the computer so that everyone could get a few chances to play. While they’re at this, I rethink my approach to taking turns the rest of the week; I think I’ll split them up into teams with all ages on each team to make it fair, and there should be enough time for everybody to get to play at least once each time we meet. During the discussion, I’ll award points to the teams for each good guess or correct answer; I want to get them throwing out ideas and see how much of what goes into 3d software they can deduce on their own. We’ll then add the discussion points to points earned in the battle arena and crown a team victorious each time; and the number of daily wins each team accrues will affect their standing in the final tournament.

Tomorrow will be the first big step; talking about the concepts of 3D Physics and Maths (not doing any equations, just talking about what equations need to be done) to see if we can get them thinking about everything that goes into even simple little games like these!

Stay tuned for a report from day 2!

My kid Nemo is lucky to go to a really great school: Ann Arbor Open School @ Mack. One of my very favorite things they do at Open School is called Focus Studies: three times a year, for 2 weeks, a mini-elective is shoehorned into each day. There are usually 25 or so different Focus Studies to choose from, offered by teachers, staff, and parents. Some are creative, like knitting, building a model, poetry, or writing and staging a play; or there’s a Basketball clinic, a Euchre tournament, a Spanish class, all kinds of stuff. Last year I offered a Focus Study called “Pokémon and Probability” for grades 5-8, and it was a blast. Of course, I learned a lot about what worked and what didn’t, how to engage the kids and keep them focused on some content that’s above grade level. I wrote out lesson plans and everything, but I didn’t keep notes on what happened, so much of what we did was lost to the mists of time. Well, not exactly, but I wanted to blog about it and didn’t, so I’m fixing that this time around.

This year, with the assistance of Eric ‘rhymes with toaster’ Klooster, I’m offering Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-powered Battle Cars: The Focus Study. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars is a wonderful little game from the Playstation Network that essentially boils down to playing soccer using , well, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars. One thing that I found last year when talking about content that the kids had had essentially no exposure to (like, say, the concept of a spreadsheet!?) was that kids were reluctant to throw out guesses to leading questions if they didn’t know the answer. So, to encourage kids to think and guess, I’m going to award tokens for good guesses or right answers (and artificially spread them around, especially to the little guys) and the kid with the most tokens at the end of the discussion advance to play the game… the idea is to use this game as a framework to talk about things to which kids grades 1-6 aren’t usually exposed. Here’s the basic idea of what we’ll talk about, and I’ll post each night about how it’s going.

Day 1: Overview of Game, What We’ll Cover, How to Play.
Everybody gets a turn, 2v2 and 1v1.

Day 2: Physics and Math: Gravity, Velocity, Momentum, Relative Speed.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 3: Graphics: 2D and 3D, wireframes, textures, lighting, special effects.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 4 (ejk): Memory: game code vs. variables, what the game needs to track.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 5 (ejk): Programming: collision, networking, graphics & physics engines.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 6: Game Design: Who works on a game, Specifications, Designing for Fun.
Mini-game modes, design your own mini-game

Day 7: Full Tournament for 2-player teams

I’m not really much of a PC gamer. I was crazy into Apple ][ software and its vibrant acres of pirated, paper-punch-modded truly floppy discs, and I downloaded lots of Apogee stuff at 1200 baud in the late eighties, but when I think about it, the only computer game I’ve actually bought since leaving the nest was the legendary Homeworld. Oh wait, no, that was a crack too. OK, I did actually buy the brilliant and disasterously underrated Moonbase Commander, which is SO overdue for a release onto Wiiware it hurts.

I do remember playing Doom for the first time at a campus computing lab and getting almost violently sick whilst wondering who still thought that space demons were a neat idea. I also used to play Rise of The Triad when I was a retail store designer at the now-defunct VideoWatch against my slightly odiferous and despiseable colleague; which I think is a key to why shooters have just not ever taken hold of my interest: there just isn’t anybody (except that guy) I’d like to pretend to shoot in the head. I guess that ‘no gun toys’ rule worked, thanks Mom and Dad! As someone who doesn’t like shooters, I’ve had no use for the Xbox and thus no exposure to the Halo menace; in fact, when I played Halo 2 for the first time at the first Sandbox Symposium in 2006, I was very interested in the story and the atmosphere but just had no interest in all the running and shooting. It would be a great game if it wasn’t for the need to essentially move through the entire game sideways to avoid incoming fire.

I realize it’s perverse for someone who likes videogames and immersive experiences as much as I do to dislike first-person shooters, an influential sector of the market and a cornerstone of the industry. However, I do think that my distaste for the tropes of the FPS world allow me to see lost potential in these games abilities to appeal outside of the 14-34 year old boy twitch world. Which brings us to Bioshock. The demo has recently become available in the PlayStation Store (officially no longer the PLAYSTATION Store, in case you missed that very important press release this week), and I had been fascinated with the story, the graphic design, and the atmosphere since the game’s PC release almost a year ago. I even read through the whole plot on wikipedia assuming I would never play through the game. So, I downloaded the demo, and after explaining to Nemo that I could only play this game after he was safely in bed (he is not accustomed to me showing interest in titles that are rated M, and I had to explain that there are some games that just aren’t for kids) I fired up the demo and tried to set my expectations aside.

At first, it worked. I was transfixed by the first-person perspective of the airplane crash and sinking in the water, sitting there looking at the burning wreckage until the game reminded me that I could actually, you know, push the stick and move. Looking up at the tower, the artful and engrossing environment, the fortunate calm seas and sinking tailfin… I was a fool to have discarded this genre, and that sensation lasted until the game actually started. Enter the dehumanized monster one can safely kill legions of, the flickering lights, hooks for hands, the friendly voice actor on the radio dedicated to “keeping you alive”, and the reveal of the friendly voice’s wife and kids who he needs you to save just in case you weren’t emotionally invested enough yet. Gah. Even a unique story, gorgeous set dressing, brilliant audio work, the introduction of ethical repercussions and a healthy dollop of Ayn Rand fanservice can’t disguise that this game isn’t really different than the 100 other mild permutations of the same idea that a profitable corner of the industry has pumped out over the past 15 years to snare the interest of a certain segment of gamers.

I did give it a chance; I played through the whole demo, experienced heart palpitations at the entrance of the first Big Daddy, felt relief that I didn’t have to fight him yet, marvelled at the breakthrough and highly effective use of old music to set the atmosphere instead of just another bad game soundtrack, and stood around corners to hear the mutant folks mutter to themselves to see how much content was there. And there was a lot! This game is so clearly a labor of love, and a masterwork of the genre, and it’s deserves every accolade it’s received, most of which came from people who love this kind of game. Then, the demo ended, and I was wondering if I should consider actually buying this excellent title to experience the rest, even though it was not my thing. Fortunately, I was then treated to a 2 minute video, obviously put together by a marketing department with a very narrow view of its customer, that attempted to entice me with the delights that awaited me in the rest of the game. Oh god, why would I want to do any of that? It was 20 or so 8-second excerpts from the most violent and frenetic moments of fights yet to come in the full version, shrieking, flopping zombies being electrocuted and blown up. Simply put, that did not look like fun to me, it looked like agonizing, unpleasant work. I’m glad they put it all out there, as I just saved $60. I guess I can’t shake the feeling that this product, and others like it, are restraining themselves to appeal to a narrow but fervent, fickle, and pissy audience (see the collossal fuss over making Diablo III actually be visible), and I would have enjoyed this game much more if there wasn’t always a bloody carcass waving in my face. I’m not disputing that there are people who like this kind of entertainment, and that’s fine with me; I know horror films continue to be big at the box office for similar reasons; but I’m not interested in the ideas those stories are putting forward, even though there may be someone who knows what I did last summer. It just disappoints me to see such a cool idea as the city of Rapture get the fangoria treatment in pursuit of a narrow market. I’d love to see a prequel get further into the story but without so many scary scary zombies.

This is just a tip of a big iceberg that the game industry is going to have to grapple with seriously over the next few decades. Up until the mid aughts, gamers were a safe, definable subset of the population that could be easily targeted, developed for, and marketed to. As ‘gamer’ reaches the level of ubiquity across our society that ‘tv watcher’ has and ceases to be a monolithic stack of wallets, game developers are going to have to decide who they’re going to pander to, and how much money they’re leaving on the table when they do. Sure, SAW and other violent films are big business and have their place in the content ecology, but as they say at Pixar, G-Rated equals G-money. The decision for developers and for the publishers who finance their projects is going to be who does your game include, and who does it exclude? Profitability lies in many locations across that spectrum, but you can bet that the wide-ranging appeal and greater market of games that appeal outside the hardcore is going to lead to publishers and other suited types putting pressure on developers to make titles that are accessible to more casual players.

We’re seeing this already with Fable II, Gaming Legend Peter Molyneux’s latest adventure title, which is being killed in early previews because hardcore players don’t like it. Molyneux is beseeching these foul-tempered pad-grippers to find a nongamer and try the demo with them, as a gamer clearly wouldn’t appreciate the accessible direction this title has taken. This is essentially the Jersey Girl defense, if someone doesn’t like your work, just say “well, it’s not for you.” That’s not going over very well with gamers, but Molyneux is at least trying to get ahead of what is going to be a very different curve for the game development industry to negotiate. He’s trying to make a game that has a broader appeal to reach more customers (and their wallets), but the success of the title is threatened by the hardcore’s response to his choices, which impacts all-important review scores and undermines the title’s base sales. If this direction results in a commercially unsuccessful title, the industry is going to be scared off this tack for a while until the indie scene beats them to it and they have to scramble to catch up. That said, I can’t understand how Molyneux can insist that an Xbox 360 title is intended to appeal to new gamers…. that’s akin to equipping a chopper with training wheels.

People who weren't kids in the 80s may have heard of Nintendo, but they usually don't fully understand how ubiquitous the NES was, and what a fundamental component of our childhood the system and its software became.  I think that part of the reason that so many of today's thirty-somethings are such avid gamers is that Nintendo showed us as kids how great videogames could be, and its universality cemented gaming as part of our generational identity.

With my kids and Wii, I can see it happening again.  It's quickly becoming a cultural framework for their generation, and once we get to the point where every household that wants a Wii has one (and how long might that still be?) I think Nintendo may again achieve the universality they enjoyed in the 80s, when you didn't play videogames, you played Nintendo.

Case in point: there's a new building in our neighborhood that has a somewhat ostentatious vertical blue stripe that glows at night.  (Geeks already know where this is going).  Ever since the stripe was added, every time we walk by the building at night, 5-year-old Nemo says, "Look papa, that building has an update!"   The other night he added, "or maybe it got a message from one of its friends."

The coolest thing about this is that because the best software franchises of my generation are still here thrilling his generation, that cultural framework is something that I can share with my son, instead of scratching my head at his interests in bewilderment as parents are often stuck doing.  For example, Nemo's preschool is housed in a church that has recently finished a significant organ transplant (isn't that what they call that?).  As I was taking him into school a few weeks ago, we could hear some seriously forté, slightly ominous, slow-paced organ music coming from behind a large double door at the top of some stairs.  This immediately triggered a game memory for both of us, and I said, "Hey Nemo, I wonder if that's Ganondorf playing the organ behind that door."

Now, while some may consider it inadvisable for a parent to intentionally blur that critical fantasy/reality line in a young boy's mind, the fact is that when kids are pretending, they know what they're doing, and they can have very firm ideas about what's real and what's not.  As if to prove my point, Nemo laughed and said, "Naw, it's probably just an old lady." 

It appears that mysterious and arcane forces (like the impending end of Q3 and the subsequent shopping frenzy) have allied themselves to give Geeks an confluence of events that may not happen again in our lifetimes.  Here, in the same week, we are expecting major product announcements from Apple and Nintendo.  If my great-grandchildren can still speak to we fleshly beings, I'm sure I'll tell them tales of this exciting moment.

While Apple is expected to announce a 'true' video iPod and movies in the iTunes store, some rumors fly as far as the tivo-killing set-top boxes or iPhones that are almost certain to seize their respective markets, almost anything could happen once Steve gets to the 'one more thing' slide.  Given the number of people involved, it's quite impressive that Apple retains the ability to not only announce, but also instantly launch a product that people weren't expecting.  If Apple's rumored PVR Mac is ready, this would certainly be a logical event (It's Showtime!) at which to announce it. 

The information that Nintendo is expected to announce answers far more specific questions.  When will Wii launch, how much will it cost, what will be in the box?  That's all we want to know.  The launch is almost certainly sometime in October, although it looks like Nintendo still has to hire people to stuff the boxes.  The cost has been rumored to be as low as $150, although Nintendo has launched its 4 previous consoles at $199 and that's worked out pretty well for them.  Plus, with the competition squarely in the $300-$600 range, they've got plenty of price advantage at $199.  While $150 would be extremely aggressive and sure to make a splash heading into the holidays, it's a solid and frequently-made point that Nintendo is unlikely to price the Wii at only $20 more than the DS lite handheld.  Of course, if they really wanted to make some waves, they'd drop the DS lite to $99, launch the Wii at $150 with a solid Wii-DS link title, and advertise that you can get a Wii, a DS lite, and that new game for the cost of an XBox 360… and you could get TWO such kits for the cost of a PS3!  However, while Nintendo clearly wants to make waves with the Wii, they'd rather make money.

Which brings us to the most hotly debated issue.  What will we get in the box?  My money's on the prevailing thought of the console, 2 controllers with nunchaku attachments, and Wii Sports.  At $199, that is an unheard-of value, and really harkens back to the megahit NES of the 80's, which sold 60 million units over its lifetime into a market with far fewer gamers than there are around today.  If Wii Sports really is bundled with the console, and the Wii is the smash hit is seems poised to be, Wii Sports could be positioned to finally eclipse Super Mario Bros. as the best selling (although bundled) video game yet.  If I recall correctly, it will also be the first console to launch with a bundled game since the Super Nintendo in 1991.

The other option is that we could get a 2-controller, Wii Sports-bundled $199 set at launch for the early adopters, and see a $149 bundle with a single controller and no game for next Christmas, when the ball is really rolling and manufacturing costs are dropping like a stone.  In any case, Nintendo has all the hype and is positioned to be making a killing on the Wii when Microsoft and Sony are still struggling to get a handle on manufacturing costs and collect their first dimes of profit.  Nintendo excels at making money in this business, and I am so ready to help them achieve that goal.  Only a few days until all our questions will be answered… 

So, Last weekend at the Sandbox Symposium, I had the good fortune to find myself running a Guitar Hero 2 Co-op Mode Tournament with Elena Seigman of Harmonix, Lead Designer on Karaoke Revolution Party, and Producer on Guitar Hero 2.  While the E3 build she brought offered little new information about the hotly anticipated sequel, I did get to hear lots of cool little tidbits about the game and life at Harmonix.

Guitar Hero 2 is scheduled to hit the shelves in time for Black Friday, and while they're not in crunch yet, they've done a lot of work in making substantial refinements to the gameplay and the visuals.  Of course, we'll get all new songs, venues, character models and mocap for returning characters (including a much improved ripper), and at least two new characters.  First is Dax DeVille, the Rockabilly Guy seen in the E3 demo, where he was named 'King Kendall', after Harmonix Artist Jason Kendall, who also did the awesome tutorial voice-overs in Guitar Hero, and is the singer of Harmonix House Band Monkey Steals the Peach.  Elena also has a girl rock trio of Harmonix staff who hope to get a bonus song in Guitar Hero 2; however, the name of their band is 'Vagiant', which complicates things just a little.  Harmonix Management even built a practice room in the basement of their Boston office in order to encourage this type of extracirricular behavior.

Elena didn't tell me the name of another new character, a Norwegian Death Rocker, who, as she mentioned (with an Achewood-class level of detail), hates big dogs.  It's very clear that Harmonix takes these characters very seriously; their personalities are as lovingly rendered as the Guitar Hero venues, and I'm sure they have larger lives in the hive mind at Harmonix that we can only glimpse.

One of the most obvious enchancements is a new venue lighting system that allow the audio guys who lay out the gems to send commands to the lighting system to matchup with big changes in the music, just like a real rock show.  The lighting is really improved, and and behaves just how you'd expect to see the lights run at a rock show, except for one thing: some of the 'audio guys' have real rock show experience, and set the lights to blackout during breaks in the music.  However, this doesn't work in Guitar Hero, when the only time that the player looks at the world is during breaks in the music.  They came up with an elegant solution that preserves the blackout feeling without reducing the view.

The art continues to stand out in Guitar Hero 2; all the menu screens are again fantastic, especially the coop level select screen, which features a 2-headed, 3-legged, 2-axed mutant rocker.  One interesting fact is that the saving screen from GH1, with the man holding his ears, was done by Shepard Fairey, creator of the Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker, and spawner of the subsequent meme.  Most of the posters were done by Rock Poster artists from outside Harmonix, and they've really delivered the same high-quality fit and finish that Guitar Hero displays.  Also, the success of Guitar Hero has led to demand for in-game endorsements, and while the band will now feature Orange amplifiers (and a sponsored drum kit too), Harmonix takes this super-seriously and will only put the right stuff in the game.  One of the venues is the Vans Warped Tour, and the stage is a medieval dungeon, with awesome success effects.  

Co-op mode is truly fantastic, especially since each player can choose their own difficulty.  I'm forseeing playing a lot of that with Nemo.  We'll also get an improved multiplayer mode, Pro Faceoff mode where each player plays exactly the same notes, and a practice mode with speed adjustable by section.  It sounds like there will be several more original masters in addition to Primus' John the Fisherman, which had to be completely remastered for use in the game (recording technology has changed a lot since 1989).  Core gameplay remains mostly unchanged, although Hammer-ons and Pull-offs will be tweaked without the need to hold down the lower frets, and the window of success for hammer-ons is moving back a bit.  While three-note chords have been added, it sounds like they've decided to eliminate chords that bridge from fret 1-5.  Even though people love these because they feel so, well, so guitarry, Harmonix feels strongly that even people with small hands should be able to finish the expert mode.  That's a good point, but maybe we could get a small hand switch option… I'd hate to lose that particular challenge!

Elena confirmed that the window for hitting a note successfully in the same at all difficulties (although they've argued about that) and that wiggling the whammy bar as fast as possible when applicable is the path to maximum star power (although they've argued about that).  She also said that Star Power was originally intended to be turned on by raising the neck, and turned off by lowering it, but the tilt switches were just not reliable enough for it to work that way.  It would be awesome to have pressure sensitivity in the controller, but she thought it unlikely due to cost issues (I'd rather have a foot pedal to stomp on).  She also said that Harmonix would love to do a sequel to Amplitude, but it's become a lot harder to sell a music game without a peripheral.  And while there is a loading card in the GH2 Demo that promises Accordion Hero in Summer 2008, it remains just a joke and frequent focus of my own feverish dreams.

For the tournament, we let teams qualify at the difficulty level of their choice throughout the day, and then brought back the top 8 teams to play the song of their choice on hard difficulty for the highest score.  Because scores are not normalized from song to song, the advantage laid with the longer songs, so we heard War Pigs over and over again.  However, a team from UNC-Charlotte took the top prize.  It was really great to get to play Guitar Hero 2 so much (YYZ is HARD!  What's next, King Crimson?), and it was fantastic to get to talk to Elena and Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom.  It's clear that Guitar Hero 2 is being crafted with as much love and serious thought as the original, and that Harmonix is about to put another Smash Hit into Red Octane's (and now, Activision's) hands.

Back in February, I got an email from an address at playstation.sony.com. It was from Alan Heirich, an Ann Arbor expat who’s been working on the graphics architecture of the mighty Playstation 3. He was on a committee that was putting together ACM’s first ever videogame symposium, and they wanted to have tournaments as a part of the event. And they wanted me to organize and run them! Once I got a hold of myself, I found myself an events chair on a committee consisting of some very amazing people from around the growing academic videogame world, led by Drew Davidson, recently named director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon.

SIGGRAPH is the annual conference and expo for the ACM Graphics Special Interest Group, which drew a crowd of around 30,000 in 2005. As a large conferences, SIGGRAPH has a little fleet of colocated pre- and post-conferences for smaller audiences. The Sandbox Symposium would be the two days right before SIGGRAPH in Boston, and ACM was interested in the idea enough to fund an inaugural conference just about videogames. Not Interactive Entertainment, VIDEO GAMES. Like any Symposium, Sandbox would include peer-reviewed papers (including papers like ‘The Submissive Speaks: The Semiotics of Visuality in Virtual BDSM Fantasy Play‘) and panel discussions. Unlike most Symposiums, it would also include Katamari Damacy, DDR, Karaoke Revolution, Halo, and Soul Calibur III tournaments.

It was great to get the opportunity to envision two days of tournaments and open plays for adults, trying to cover as wide a range of games as possible on the cheap, and looking at the finished schedule, this is something I would be totally geeked to go to if I wasn’t already going. Hey, do what you know, you know? Also, I get to do things that I’d never get to do at the Library, like have a Karaoke Revolution tournament with a Cash Bar.

However, the most exciting thing about Sandbox is that being in Boston, Drew was able to get Harmonix themselves to come run a Guitar Hero tournament, and they’re even going to bring the still-in-development Guitar Hero 2! Nemo and I have been playing Guitar Hero nonstop for the past month or so, and it is simply one of the very best videogames yet made. I’ll provide a full report next week of my Date with Guitar Hero 2 and as much information as I can get out of Elena Siegman, a Lead Designer at Harmonix, a woman responsible for some of my very favorite games.

This should be a very fun weekend. Stay tuned.