This week in class!

Hooray! The Ventura County Star ran a great article on our video game class today. You can read the full article here.

After basking in the glow of their glory, the kids are gonna roll up their sleeves and do some intensive learning this week.

They've got a lot to learn about the LittleBigPlanet Level Editor but they're smart, I'm sure they're up to the challenge!

Red Faction? I'm all over that game!!

See what Darius Mason is doing up there? He's saying WOOOT! 'cause he's so darn happy for me!

The latest games that I was involved with here at THQ is Red Faction: Armageddon - if you like blowing everything up including horrible aliens, then this is the game for you!

What's even cooler, is if you Pre-Order RF:A at Amazon or GameStop, you get a free download of Red Factions: Battleground, a game I worked on. If you like blowing things up (including your friends) while driving around in vehicles, then this is the game for you!

If you Pre-Order RF:A at Wal-Mart, you get a FREE copy of the Red Faction Comic Book I WROTE! (with Paul DeMeo) If you like reading about guys who blow each other up, then this is the comic for you!!!

Let me repeat this... The comic book I wrote will be carried in 2,907 Wal-Marts! Very Nice!!

"Do Books HAVE T-Shirts?"

That's what someone recently said to me.

Well, THIS BOOK DOES!

There are so many awesome designs based on artwork from "Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design," I don't know which one I want to wear first. Maybe I'll wear all of them at once and walk around like that kid in "A Christmas Story"!

What are you waiting for? Christmas!??

You can get your official LEVEL UP! T-shirt right here!

Dorks in the forest!

Hey all,

You can hear me talking about video game design, Level Up! and other junk on the Dork Forest Radio internet show today at 2pm.

Just follow the link to the Dork Forest!

Level Up! advance copies in hand!

That's right, I received my advanced copies of Level Up! this weekend and it is thick!

Here are ten reasons to pre-order at your favorite e-tailer or bookstore (or just click link to the right!) Level Up! RIGHT NOW!

1) It has over 15 years of video game design experience packed into one book
2) Over 400 original illustrations and diagrams
3) It's funny (at least that's what I'm told)
4) It contains a full outline for writing a Game Design Document and making pitches
5) It has hand exercises to prevent cramping from playing games
6) It contains an award-winning chili recipe
7) Did I mention it's thick!? (almost 500 pages of Game Design goodness!!)
8) Anyone who buys the book is entitled to a custom made unique and free level design
9) All the cool kids are doing it
10) I will be your best friend forever

Level Up! due out June 11th!!

Hey all,

Things are really heating up here at Level Up! central!

First off, Level Up! has an official release date - June 11th (just in time for my birthday! Did I mention it makes a great gift?)

Secondly, there is a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) 94 page preview of the book at Amazon.com including the introduction by Danny Bilson, the infamous "wife-blinder" chili recipe and the debut of "Farm Wars" the greatest game never made!

Don't forget there's plenty of time to pre-order a copy of the book - just click on the link at the right!

Enjoy!

Two great things that taste great together!

One of the first handheld games I ever owned was the Nintendo Donkey Kong Game N' Watch a friend of mine brought back for me from Japan. I loved that thing and sadly had to sell it while in college for some rent money. SIGH.

Years later, I designed the hydra boss fight for the original God of War - It's a pretty well-loved level and pretty damn hard, but had some great visuals (Par for the course with the talented GoW team)

How do these two topics go together? Behold!

The mad geniuses at Swing Swing Submarine created Greek and Wicked - a mash-up of Old Skool tech and New School cool... and it is glorious!!

By the way, have you ever wondered what inspired the "Kratos in the jaws of the Hydra" sequence? Well, wonder no more.

Shank!

I love 2D games. I admit it, I'm an art-school educated snob who loves his games to have personal artist expressions. I like seeing "the artist's hand" in the work. I'm not a huge fan of pre-rendered gorgeousness. I'd rather have style over realism any day. In comic books, all of my favorite artists are ones with very unique styles like:


Kyle Baker


Mike Mignola


Kevin Maguire


Evan Dorkin



Ben Caldwell

What I love about Shank is that it has a very definite style and carries it all the way through the game. It's not out yet, but I'm based on what I've seen, I can't wait!

Big announcement coming next week!

OK, so I know I'm lousy about updating this blog. But that's because I've been busy with something BIG!

Keep posted, I'll let you in on all the details next week!

Tuper Tame

Is it Mario Bros. or is it Tetris?

It's BOTH. You have to play Tuper Tario Tros. - it's very compelling and has got my mind spinning to what other great games would taste great together...

Pac-Man and Burger Time?
Sinistar and Quake?
God of War and Legend of Zelda?

The Horseman Cometh!

Tomorrow is the release date for Darksiders - a big sprawling action adventure game from the talented team at Vigil Games that I had the pleasure to help make.



If you like killing demons with giant swords, fighting through dungeons while solving massive environmental puzzles, gigantic bosses and trampling down bad guys with a kick ass horse with fire for hooves, then you should buy Darksiders. You will not be disappointed.

I have no idea why I didn't post this before...

I'm sure everyone on the internet has already played Canabalt, but here's a link anyway.

Just add code and art!

Another fun site I found on the interwebs: It's a "make your own Atari 2600" label. Just import your art and viola! Instant cart art!

Sounds like the perfect tool for those awesome 2600 homebrewers I've read about.

Why not make one yourself?

"Why didn't anyone tell me about these?"

Sometimes I feel like Henchmen 21 from the Venture Brothers. Howcum no one told me about the "Awesome" series of cartoons? If you haven't seen them yourself, they're damn funny and incredibly accurate. (but not for the kiddies)





Their creator Egoraptor obviously had the same experience with "Shadow of the Colossus" as I did. }:P

Is it Rocktober yet?

Brutal Legend is coming in October and I CAN. NOT. WAIT!



This intro movie should be used in screen writing classes as an excellent example of how to introduce a character in a game. Bravo Double Fine!

Six for six!

I was shopping at a local Toys R' Us today and I saw a promotional kiosk selling older PS2 games for $9.99 ($5 off if you buy two!) - one of the games being sold was Maximo vs. Army of Zin, a game I was lead designer on while at Capcom. I picked up a copy to send to a relative but then I noticed something... it was a "Greatest Hits" version.



For those of you who don't know, Greatest Hits status is awarded to games that sell over a half a million units. It had always bugged me that Zin never reached Greatest Hits as I think it is an excellent game. Well, now all six playstation games that I contributed to the design of are all greatest hits! (Pac-Man World, Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, Soul Blade, Maximo, Maximo vs. Zin and God of War)

Hooray!

Ride 'em Darksider, RIDE!

As you may or may not know, I've been spending some time here in Austin helping Vigil games with their upcoming title - Darksiders.

However, this isn't what this post is about.

It's about the AWESOME mechanical horse that THQ is showing at PAX. Check this thing out - it looks amazing! It even lights up from within with an eerie eldricth glow! Wish I was going just to ride it!



And don't forget to pre-order the game!