This has nothing to do with game design, but...

As many of you know from this year's GDC talk, I like Disneyland.

I won't embarass myself by telling you how many times I've been to the Magic Kingdom this summer alone (more than most people go in their lifetimes) but tomorrow I go for a special reason. It is the (un) official 40th anniversary of my favorite attraction: the Haunted Mansion.



Built in 1964 and finally "populated" by ghosts in 1969, the Haunted Mansion is the easily (IMHO) the world's best dark ride. It serves as a constant inspiration to me as a game designer - the way it uses space, sound, lighting and simple but effective effects to bring its 999 grim grinning ghosts to life. But my favorite phantom isn't even in the ride.



This the infamous Hatbox Ghost. This fine fellow appeared only for the first month of the ride's life and was quickly taken down because his effect - which gave the appearance of his head disappearing from his body and appearing in the hatbox - never worked correctly. Here's what he looked like... actaully, this is a full-sized reproduction - an item you can bid on at the upcoming D23 expo - isn't it gorgeous? If only I had the money and space...

Anyway, rumor has it that the Hatbox Ghost will be returning to the Haunted Mansion during the 40th celebration. Well, I just can't missing welcoming the old boy home if it is true. So tomorrow night at midnight, I will be crusing along in a doombuggy, hoping to catch sight of a hatbox clutching ghost.

Ultimate PS2 library!

OK, I can't afford to get EVERY game on the PS2 (my favorite gaming platform... well not counting the Vectrex), but I've been amassing a moderately impressive PS2 library for some time.

Here's what I have:
Alien Hominid
Batman: Rise of the Sin Tzu
Batman Vengeance
Beyond Good and Evil
Bully
Capcom Greatest Hits vol. 2
Chulip
Destroy all humans!
God of War
God of War 2
Guitar Hero
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Escape from Monkey Island
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Harry Potter Quiddith World Cup
Haunted Mansion
Ico
I-Ninja
Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Justice League Heroes
James Bond: Everything or Nothing
Peter Jackson's King Kong
Katamari Damacy
Kya: Dark Lineage
Lego Batman
Lego Indiana Jones
Lego Star Wars
Lego Star Wars: Original Trilogy
Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude
Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
Mad Maestro!
Matrix: Path of Neo
Metal Slug Anthology
Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty
Mark of Kri
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory
Maximo vs. Army of Zin
Midway Arcade Treasures vol 2
Monster House
Onimusha: Warlords
Pac-Man World 2
Pirates: Legend of Black Kat
Pitfall: The lost Expedition
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Psi-Ops
Psychonauts
Ratchet and Clank
Rathet and Clank Going Commando
Ratchet and Clank Up your Arsenal
Red Dead Revolver
Resident Evil 4
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of Rome
Silent Hill 3
Simpsons Hit and Run
Simpsons Game
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Spider-Man
SpongeBob: Atlantis Squarepantis
SpongeBob: Creature from the Krusty Krab
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Star Wars: Force Unleashed
Star Wars E3: Revenge of the Sith
Stuntman Ignition
Swashbucklers: Blue vs Grey
Tak and the power of juju
Tak 2: Staff of dreams
Tak: the great Juju challenge
Tak and the Guardians of Gross
Tomb Raider: Legend
Trapt
Twisted Metal: Black
Wall-E
Up
War of the Monsters
The Warriors

And here's what I planning on getting:
Okami
Klonoa 2
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (Hey, Metacritic says it's the #1 PS2 game!)
Viewtiful Joe
Disaster Report
Red Faction
Mystic Heroes (which was great on the Game Cube)
Jak and Daxster (which I played to completion but for some reason don't own)
Ultimate Spider-Man
Devil May Cry

So, given all of those titles (and that I really don't play sports games) are there any must play or important PS2 titles missing from my collection? Post your recommendations below!

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!

This blog brought to you by...

As you might notice, there are now small ads linked to blog-entry related products at the end of the most recent blog entries.

If they offend you, then I apologize. However, if you are interested in buying any of the excellent products listed below, do me a solid and click on the link below. I get a very small portion of the profit from Amazon if you do and I have a very bad video game habit to support. :)

Thanks for your understanding and business!

BLURST!

Thanks to the fine folks at Kotaku, I have discovered a new game site. http://www.blurst.com/ has several fine looking games with themes that only games on the interwebs can provide.



Minotaur China Shop (from Flashbang studios) might be the first "Man vs. himself" game I've ever played. You play a huge Minotaur who owns a china shop, helping other anthropamorphized customers buy the mug or grecian urn of their dreams. However, you move around like... well, like a bull in a china shop. Each time you accidently blunder into a cabinet and break something, you get more incensed with rage. You can either give into the rage, destroy the place and collect the insurance, or calm yourself with deep breathes and continue with your day. Something I think many of us can relate to.

An absolutely fantastic concept that reaffirms my idea that you can make anything into gameplay. Well done, Flashbang!

Galaga!

I read a new story today about an Australian fellow breaking the world's record for Galaga and it reminded me of a story early in my career:

I was working for Namco during the mid-90's and I was sent to Japan to help out with some design work on an arcade game (IIRC, it was Tekken 2)

When I got to Namco's Yokohama tower office, I was given a tour including the arcade division where I'd be helping out. Their offices were small tables (the kind you'd find in elementary schools) literally wedged between gutted arcade cabinets, filing cabinets and fire-hazard stacks of old paperwork. I had heard Japanese work spaces were small, but our American cubicles were luxurous compared to these work spaces.

In one of these tiny spaces, I was introduced to a Japanese planner ("Planner" is the Japanese term for designer) who, as I was told, had worked for Namco for "a very long time." I asked him (via translator) what games he had worked on and he listed several off including... Galaga.

I bowed very deeply to the planner, telling him how much I loved the game as a child (to the amusement of the other employees with us) and the planner made a "don't go anywhere" motion with hands as he rushed back to his "office."

He returned with a stack of yellowing graph paper which he started to flip through. After a second, I realized he was showing me the ORIGINAL DESIGNS of Galaga! It was amazing to see the whole game on paper: the ship patterns, the controls especially the famous capture mechanic!

I felt like I had been allowed to touch the Declaration of Independance of gaming. It was quite an amazing experience!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it...

This Friday, I have been invited to present my "Everything I Learned About Level Design, I Learned at Disneyland" talk to Disney's Imagineers.

As a life-long Disneyland fan, this is a HUGE honor for me - but I can't help worrying that they already know everything I have to say. After all, they built all of it.

Wish me luck!

Even 7 years later, Maximo gets great reviews!

Dave Siller, a great designer and one of my favorite bosses, pointed this out to me - a review of Maximo: Ghost to Glory for the PS2 in the latest issue of Edge. As you may know, Edge is a UK video game magazine with a reputation for being a tough game rater.

Imagine my surprise when they published a glowing review of the game seven years later! Imagine my surprise when I saw my Maximo 3 designs published in the article! (I wonder which blog-o-site they got those from? :P Next time, howabout a credit guys?!)

It's nice to see this game get some love - if you haven't played it, I highly recommend it. It still holds up even after all of this time.

Sorry I'm late!

This summer has been super-exciting with lots of great things happening! Unfortunately, none of them have been blogging. I apologize to any loyal readers (if you are still out there!) but I'll be getting some fun posts together soon.

In the meantime, my "Best of E3":

Split Second (Black Rock Studio/Disney Interactive)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady/WBIE)
Darksiders (Vigil, THQ)
Zombie Apocalypse (I think that's what it was called - it is an PS3 or XBOX live game that reminded me of Robotron)
Brutal Legend (Double Fine, EA)

All of these games had playable demos that were fun and easy to play. I'm looking forward to playing the final versions of all of these.

I would have put Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (Ubisoft Montreal) on my top five list had there actually been playable code (well, playable if I were a member of the press) - there are lots of cool innovations that I'm looking forward to trying out.

Overall the show was competent and it was great to see an E3 that wasn't lame but there was no single "OH MY GOD I HAVE TO OWN THIS NOW!" game.

I think the industry is recovering from 2008 and we'll start seeing more of the super-star games in 2010 when the teams that makes the big hits (Nintendo's Mario and Link teams, Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, Kojima, etc.) are reaching alpha with their "whatever's next"

Did you see any games that you liked? Tell me about them!

E3 is back!

I love E3!

I've attended every one (with the except of the last two lamE3's) and I have to admit, I love the crowds, I love the noise, I love getting my hands on games months before they come out.

Some of the games I'm looking forward to getting my hands on?


Batman: Arkham Asylum (what Batman fan isn't looking forward to this?)


The Saboteur (very intrigued by the "color system" and the 30's setting)


God of War III (Still have lots of friends at Sony working on this one and they're very excited about it. Looking forward to seeing what they've made!)


Bayonetta (Come on, the lead character loses clothes with damage ala Maximo, has guns in her stilletto heels and can turn her hair into a giant monster! What's not to like?)


Red Dead Redemption (Always liked the original - even when it was a Capcom game - and I'm a big fan of the genre.)


Assassin's Creed II (The first game was pretty good, but I'm hoping that the second will solve many of the pacing and game play issues I had with the first.)


Brutal Legend (I have a lot of respect for Double Fine's Tim Schafer and always end up really liking his games. I assume this one will not be an exception)


Darksiders (I didn't work on it, but I have played some of it, and it definately feels like the heir to Maximo. Some great combat mechanics and the horse is very cool!)

Which games are you looking forward to seeing/playing at E3?

If you happen to be at E3, be sure to swing by the THQ booth. Not only do we have some kick-ass games this year, but you can say "hi" to me! I'll be manning the Drawn to Life Wii demo every morning.

See you there!