Halo: Reach Draws Gamers Out for Midnight Events

In the still of the night, more than 100 dug into the trenches in preparation for a Sept. 14 standoff. Fueled by beverages and snack food rations, these future soldiers refused to give up their position.

Many waited hours for the opposing side to act first and at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, the gate finally opened for them to make a move of their own. As the GameStop location in Napoleon, Ohio, finally opened up for midnight business, this army of eager gamers flooded into the storefront to be among the first to get their hands on the thumb-blistering digital warfare of Halo: Reach.

Billed with one of the most recognizable brand names among gamers, this entertainment juggernaut drew in roughly 130 to the Napoleon retailer as a part of the gaming spectacle of midnight launches, of which many were held worldwide for the Halo release. Reserved for only the most anticipated of titles, the midnight launch of gaming product is pretty self explanatory – stores operate special late-night hours to get these hot titles into the hands of gamers the second the calendar flips over to the game’s allocated release date.

These launches are more notorious when one of the three console manufacturers, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, release their newest gaming platforms, which typically take gaming hardware into the “next generation.” For such releases, it wasn’t uncommon for people to wait outside of a store for days, claiming their rightful spot in line for the product while camping out with coolers and lawn chairs. Such campers became so adamant and showing up earlier and earlier for releases that many locations now prohibit the act and set up special dates where people can come and be placed on a list to avoid such acts of "loitering."

While most software releases aren’t so competitive as discs are printed in a far larger number than initial game consoles are manufactured, it doesn’t stop some gamers from showing up well in advance. In the case of the Napoleon GameStop, Johnny Puckett of Napoleon was the first person in the lineup for the game, arriving at 1:30 p.m., essentially half of a day prior to the game’s launch. Having had the game reserved for him since the beginning of summer, Puckett attributed the early arrival to dedication.

“It was dedication as I am a big Halo fan,” he explained. “I wanted to be the first person in line today.”

Puckett looked forward to the release and its online play, which allows those with Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions to play against or cooperate with other Halo owners around the world. He noted Halo 3, developed by Bungie and released by Microsoft in 2007, was his favorite so far, but Puckett wants to continue the experience and be exposed to the franchise’s full story since Reach serves as a prequel to the original game in the series.

“I’m really looking forward to the campaign,” he eagerly stated. “I’m ready for the challenge of beating the game on the legend difficulty.”

Of course, Puckett wasn’t the only spectator at the event. Lined up behind him were more than 100 other fans of the series, grinding the waiting time down while socializing with other gamers that shared the same interests. A group arriving at 8 p.m. lugged a card table out on the sidewalk of the city’s last remaining active shopping plaza and invited others to participate in Magic: The Gathering collectable card game matches. Others tossed a football back and forth, used stereos to play music for others or even pulled out portable gaming devices such as mobile phones, Sony PSPs or Nintendo DS systems to pass the time. Napoleon, a small city of roughly 10,000 people, normally sees its businesses close no later than 9 p.m. through the week, so the situation creates a one-of-a-kind event that the Napoleon GameStop manager Kolt Handy labels as a “social event.”

“People get to enjoy each other’s company,” he said. “It’s really more than just picking up the game. It becomes a social event and not just a release.”

Adding to the social aspects of the event was the station set beside the store’s doors by the local branch of the United States Marines. With a red, metal bar hoisted from a frame, those in attendance were given a chance to show off their physical mettle by attempting as many pull-ups as possible. Each attempt garnered many cheers from the crowd and those closing in on the current record had everyone counting off each repetition and shouting encouragement. Those in the top 15 of the pull-up challenge were awarded with promotional material such as posters for games including Halo: Reach and Lionhead Studio’s upcoming Fable III, another critical series to Microsoft’s portfolio that only sees a release on its formats.

With so many people gathering for the release, Handy tied this aspect into why Halo is so popular.

“The multiplayer is a huge aspect to the game,” he noted. “It’s just a fun game and people get behind the story. It’s the first first-person shooter a lot of people got into with their friends and they just want to stick with it.”

While no specific sales measures have been made available after the title’s first full day on sale, many are counting on the title to be 2010’s biggest sales success. The popularity of the title has exploded since Bungie developed the original title Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox in 2001, making it the first certifiable success for Microsoft’s fledgling debut system. The series depicts futuristic warfare where players control human soldiers that wear enhanced armor through an elite squad known as Spartans as they fight off an alien race known as the Covenant. The series' gameplay uses a format known as first-person shooting where the player views the action through the eyes of their character and while single-player modes are available in each installment, the success of the franchise has stemmed from its competitive modes that essentially made console online gaming successful thanks to the release of Halo 2. Before this release, even though a number of gaming systems had online capabilities, online gaming was a feature nearly exclusive to the PC format.

Bungie estimates the series as a whole will push the franchise’s sales figures beyond $2 billion some time this year. Given the company made a Twitter statement announcing Halo: Reach has already surpassed the record for concurrent unique users on Xbox LIVE (a record previously held by Halo 3, which sold $600 million in copies in 2007), it is very likely the title will hold up to these lofty expectations.

Backed by a gargantuan marketing campaign on the part of Microsoft and padded by a critical reception averaging at 92 percent on the review aggregator Metacritic.com, it already seems like Halo: Reach has a hefty portion of gamers already sold on the title. Amazon has listed the title’s four packages on the company’s top 10 sellers, placing the standard edition of the game at number one and the limited edition package, retailing at $80 and packaged in a special case with extra items, at number 2. The Legendary Edition of the title, packaged in crate-style container with an exclusive statue crafted by McFarlane Toys, still ranked at number six even though it was produced in very limited numbers and carried a $150 price tag. Players also had the option to purchase Halo: Reach in an Xbox 360 system bundle that also included two Halo-themed controllers and a 250 gigabyte hard drive for $400 and this ranked in at number seven for Amazon. In the United Kingdom, storefronts HMV and Play are also already listing the standard and limited editions at one and two on top sales lists respectively.

Bloomburg has predicted the title will move 10 million copies of the game this year and Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan who is known for specializing in gaming industry predictions, predicts it will be 2010’s top-selling title. Even so, Pachter feels Halo: Reach won’t have quite the sales punch 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward and published by third-party giant Activision, had last year. He noted the title, billed as the single-biggest day-one entertainment release in history by Activision, pushed 15 million copies in 2009 alone.

However, in the end, all that really matters is the smiling faces of those that picked up their copy of Halo: Reach. Handy noted his previous midnight release only drew 10 people, so in his mind, the launch was a hearty success. As many people at the Napoleon launch admitted to calling off of work and school to play Halo: Reach, it seems there are at least 100-plus gamers that will definitely be getting their money’s worth out of the title.

About GemuBaka

Seeing as I will be utlizing this blog location for a class portfolio, I figured I might as well explain a few things so people know what exactly is going on here.

What is GemuBaka?
GemuBaka is a collection of works from the GemuBaka collaboration. The name is derived from the Japanese loan word for game as well as “baka,” which in one of its variants means “crazy.” In a literal sense, the phrase means “game crazy,” which would describe one who is crazy about games. Fortunately, that describes us perfectly. GemuBaka catalogs the works of the GB team and spans a wide range of video game topics to include features, previews, reviews, editorials, FAQs and more. Pretty much the only item we do not feature here is game news – a facet we see as fairly pointless considering about a million other sites would be reporting on the same thing. Our scope does not stop at current systems as we look back upon past systems from the 1980s forward. While it doesn’t always happen, we try to update the site with at least one new feature every weekday, however, at the minimum, there is at least one update every week.

Who is GemuBaka?
GemuBaka is the collaborative efforts of nestlekwik and MixMasterLar. The two authors became accquainted while working on projects through Rithum Interactive, including Rithum News, a video games-based Web site that covered video game news while producing original features and reviews on a daily basis. Although the site was scrapped in early 2008 in favor of a more ambitious project from the company, the two still saw potential in what they had to offer in their writings, forming GemuBaka nearly six months following the close of the site.

Nestlekwik (aka D.J. Tatsujin) has been writing about video games for the past seven years, being published and holding positions at sources such as Blogcritics.org and self-published materials before joining Rithum. Since then, he has spread out to work with sources such as Diehard GameFAN.com, J2Games, Video Game Collector Magazine, Arcade Heroes, Bemanistyle and more. Nestlekwik has been playing games actively since 1985 and has lightly dabbled into nearly every aspect of the video game industry, which includes app development, independent game conceptualization, journalism, public relations, marketing and more.

MixMasterLar joined up with Nestlekwik at Rithum News and has stuck with the cause since that time. A fairly well-known member of the DDR culture and a lover of the fighting game genre, Lar helped shape the J2Games segment The Nestlekwik Happy Hour and launched the Objective Tangent line of editorials for GemuBaka. Also a video game reviewer, Lar has contributed to sources such as J2Games and Video Game Collector Magazine.

Haven’t I seen some of your work on “x site?”
Most likely. As stated earlier, GemuBaka is an active contributor to a handful of other gaming sites past and present and the GB site serves as a sort of HQ or portfolio for our works, along with any original musings we decide to craft exclusively for the site.

Just to clarify, so there are no confusions, we are not a scraper site. We do not just pull someone else's work from another site and report it as news. GemuBaka only reprints work when a member of the site creates an original work for another site and we are given permission to reprint it on our site. Thus, you should know any article posted on this site comes from its original author. The site is more than a collection of works from other sites as we do produce original materials for the site as well. You can view any site-exclusive material on our GemuBaka Exclusive Feature page over at www.gemubaka.com.

Interview with Nana-OnSha's Masaya Matsuura

We really shouldn't have to introduce Masaya Matsuura as his work on 1997's Playstation hit PaRappa the Rapper is the reason why a good chunk of us are here today, writing on a Web site dedicated solely to music video gaming. Over the course of a decade, the team of NanaOn-Sha has brought us two PaRappa games, Um Jammer Lammy, Vib-Ribbon, Mojib-Ribbon, Tuninglue and Rhyme Rider Keroican and outside of music-based video games, the company has released numerous Tamogatchi games for the Nintendo DS, handled the audio features for the robotic AIBO pet, participated in a 2004 educational project and more. Matsuura is essentially the pioneer of music gaming as we know it today and his newest game finally hit in April as he once again teamed up with renowned artist Rodney Greenblat.

Just before the release of Major Minor's Majestic March for the Nintendo Wii, Masaya Matsuura graciously agreed to answer a short list of questions for us. While the translation process and holidays celebrated over in Japan brings us the interview a month after the game's release, we were also able to pick Matsuura's mind a little on the general status of music video gaming as well.

Bemanistyle: First off, what was it that inspired you to create NanaOn-Sha's newest title, Major Minor’s Majestic March?

Masaya Matsuura: A strong request from the publisher was the main drive behind the choice. But in any case, whenever a new technology comes out, I'm curious to give it a try.

BMS: What are your thoughts on the experience you had in developing a music game using the Nintendo Wii’s motion controls? How different was this experience for you as opposed to the button-based music titles you’ve created in the past?

MM: The difficult thing when we plan a game for Wii is any action with a Wii Remote users play has to be the same as action they actually do in their daily life otherwise it wouldn’t be realistic for the users. On the other hand, if you only focus on that issue, your creativity would be limited! I had a hard time planning this title to solving this issue.

BMS: How was your experience in working along with Rodney Greenblat on yet another title? What was it like creating an entire cast of characters from scratch in your newest title? Is there a certain inspiration behind any of the characters or themes from the game?

MM: I've occasionally worked with Rodney for 15 years since PaRappa the Rapper came out.

We had already decided that the band members would be various animals right from the start. From there we bounced various ideas around until we came up with the final cast. In particular, we tried many different animal designs for the main character, Major Minor. Whilst this is a fairly routine process in game development, it would be fair to say that it was filled with elements that were at times hard, mysterious and yet always fun.

BMS: Did you have a certain goal you were working for in the development of the title? Since many of the Wii’s games aim to have players interact with the controls and make them active, was this a main motivation for you in creating a game on the system?

MM: I think that it is very important for a player to communicate with other band members through the marching and to lead the band as a leader.

BMS: Was there ever a consideration in taking the game to another interactive interface such as the Nintendo DS (with its touch screen) or the PS3 (with its SixAxis controls)? Would you have any interest in releasing music games using such formats?

MM: I'm not sure if it could be fixed easily but I think it's possible.

BMS: Many of your titles come with the ease of use in not having to purchase peripherals. What are your thoughts on the recent batch of music games that include such controllers? Have you ever considered trying to produce a music game title which requires a special controller?

MM: Perhaps it's due to my background as a musician, but whilst the game peripheral at first feels like it's very similar to an actual guitar, for example, it's a little different for me. I really want to feel as if I'm playing the actual guitar ... of course, the game controller and the real guitar, there are very big differences between them, but if I can overcome these kinds of differences by making good software ... maybe that is what's interesting to me. I really want to make the appeal of the experience derive from playing the software. It's a very potent thing.

BMS: What does it feel like to be the person who pioneered the music gaming genre as we know it now? What are your thoughts on the fact that other companies, such as Activision and Harmonix, have taken the music game concept and are now quite successful?

MM: A long time ago, I really implored the Harmonix guys that they really should be making games. I'm pretty sure that they got similar advice from elsewhere, but looking back it was definitely the right advice. The success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band therefore fills me with pride as if they were my own creations.

BMS: Can you offer any insight on the design philosophies Eastern developers have for their music game titles versus Western developers, which seem to develop music games on the basis of appeal and social game play? Are there any bands or artists from North America that you really enjoy?

MM: I don't think that there is much system design difference between Western music games and Japanese ones so far. However, I would be happy if M4 could inspire other designers as a brand new example of music game design. On the other hand, there are different views of music to those of Western culture. We all know that rock music is familiar and close to a large group of people, and this resonates with the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Rock music is popular in Japan too but it's not as widely common as it is in western culture.

As it happens, I got inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band for M4.

BMS: Are you interested in working on new titles for the Parappa or Um Jammer Lammy franchises or do you feel you’ve done all there is to do in those titles?

MM: We currently do not have any specific plans to make a new one, but I cannot rule out any future possibilities.

BMS: We thank you very much for your time. Is there anything you would like to say to the many music game fans of Bemanistyle.com?

MM: Enjoy M4!

Naoki Maeda: Latin America "Is a Hopeful Market" for Konami, DDR

Back when news of this year’s brand new DanceDanceRevolution titles surfaced during July’s E3 event, Konami of America went out of its way to state it was going to feature “major licensed master Latin tracks.” While we were initially ignorant about the impact these Latin tunes would have on the final product, DanceDanceRevolution X2 released in North America on Oct. 27 and it became clear exactly how far Konami was looking to go in featuring Latin-style music in the title. Of the title’s 60 songs, nearly 17 percent of the list features Latin songs and/or artists and it seemed as if the company purposely went out of its way to reproduce Konami originals in this styling in bringing revival songs from previous entries into the mix. It’s hard to deny DanceDanceRevolution is as global as it has ever been, originating from its humble, nine Konami original songs on the original DDR arcade cabinet, evolving to later include European influence with the company’s Toshiba EMI partnership and, finally, breaking out into recognizable tunes made popular in America. While Latin-style songs are hardly nothing new to series, what attributed this focus to load almost one-fifth of DDR X2 with this music genre?

“We believed that the PS2 market in Central America is relatively large, so we decided to implement Latin/Spanish-influenced licensed and Konami original songs that might be better accepted in that region and for the residents in North America who enjoy this type of music,” stated series producer Naoki Maeda in a recent e-mail interview with Bemanistyle.com. Looking at recent events that have unfolded in 2009 between Central America and Sony, perhaps saying the previously untapped video game market in the territory is large could be an understatement.

A February announcement made by Sony Computer Entertainment America officially put the company’s consoles and services available to the territory for the first time(1). Prior to this point, residents of the area had to either swallow heavy-hitting price tags for systems and games thanks to customs taxes and import tariffs or take part in playing pirated copies of games titles. In fact, a 2008 editorial by Pascal Clarysse, who was formerly a marketing manager for Lik Sang, commented on Edge Online that a popular title such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl could cost as much as $110 U.S. at retail in Columbia – a real slap to the wallet when you take into account that Clarysse states the minimum and average wage in the country is $260-280. Because of these limitations, he states the Game Boy Advance and Playstation 2 continue to be the best-selling systems in Central America(5) and when you factor in the huge install base the PS2 has in Brazil – the largest in the territory - it becomes easier to understand SCEA’s decision to officially enter the market(2).

“The significance of the Latin America market is huge. Obviously from a population standpoint I don’t think it’s a big secret that this is a huge opportunity. We will put a number of resources in place to cater to that market,” stated Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Vice President of Sales Ian Jackson one year ago at a BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference. “… We’ve identified the Brazilian market as probably the biggest market opportunity for us, and that will be the third part of our launch which will take place over Spring 2009."(3)

Thanks to the official distribution of Sony product in Central America, the distribution has made the prices of official games a bit easier to swallow for the 13 countries within reach of Sony Latin America, even though the territory has some fierce competition in the form of the regional Zeebo console and pirated discs that provide games at a lower price. Regardless of where players are receiving their games, it can’t be denied that gaming is a huge hobby in Central America and the Playstation 2 is a common system, much as it is worldwide, where it has been cut to a $99.99 U.S. price tag. Konami’s efforts to market DanceDanceRevolution to this territory rolled off of Sony’s momentum in the region as X2 and Hottest Party 3 made appearances the weekend prior to the titles’ release at Latin America’s largest video game event, the eighth-annual Electronic Games Show in Mexico City, which saw more than 30,000 attendees(4). As such, Konami certainly isn’t ready to give up on the system, which still has a full year to follow Sony’s intention to give the Playstation 2 format a 10-year life cycle.

“We still look at the PS2 as a competitive platform in today's global market but the so-called next generation consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 have great possibility of permeating throughout the world even more,” noted Konami's Naoki Maeda. “Our goal is to foresee the needs of the market and provide titles with the hardware that best suits these needs.”

Before the attempted penetration of DDR into the Central American territory, however, local players had long been accustomed to Andamiro’s Pump It Up series, a cheaper arcade alternative that served as the go-to dancing title for this territory along with Korea. In 2005, Mastiff CEO Bill Swartz, who was at the time preparing Pump It Up Exceed for a home console release in North America, told Edge Online, “It's insanely popular in Latin America and Korea. Every year in Mexico City there are tournaments. This year's drew more than 15,000 people and they had to open the doors an hour early to avoid a riot. " Interestingly enough, the same interview has Swartz stating the release features “lots of Latin music,” showing the dancing game market has in some form catered to the territory for a number of years(6). According to Maeda, the global appeal of DanceDanceRevolution stems from the art of dance being a global language that is enjoyed by everyone across the world, however, cultural differences are what tend to bring such “market targeting” into play.

“The global appeal of DanceDanceRevolution lies in the fact that the main idea of the game is ‘dancing,’ which is a method used to express oneself that can be seen throughout the world,” he explained. “However, there are several different types of dancing which can come from elements such as the characteristics of a country or what they deem beautiful. We believe that holds great importance in that the recorded music fitting the dance type of a specific region is essential.”

Of course, targeting the Latin music market isn’t an unfamiliar endeavor, with Konami of Japan releasing Mambo a Go Go (which, unfortunately, missed the U.S. market with an intended, but cancelled, release under the name Mambo King) and SEGA developing Samba de Amigo during the Latin pop craze that hit at the turn of the century. Even though neither title had a huge impact, if any, on North America, Maeda noted Konami hasn’t given up on the theme as long as its games are openly available to the region.

“Yes, depending on the location of where we release our titles and the characteristics of the people in the country, we would like to provide content that is geared more toward that region,” he stated. “Music in Southern America has its own characteristics with a very unique history and developing games with these themes are in one of our best interests.”

Will the adjusted focus help Konami and its DanceDanceRevolution series in the long run? Only time will tell in the long run, but, currently, the company is keeping a positive focus on the market for now.

“Our view of Central America is that there are several unknown elements in the market, but features such as their national trait where they look at things objectively and with the way ‘dancing’ is positioned in their lifestyle, we believe that it is a very hopeful market,” concluded Maeda.

[1] Official SCEA Press Release, “Sony Computer Entertainment America Expands into Latin America” - GameSpy
[2] Theo Azevedo, “Produção do PlayStation 2 e jogos no Brasil é aprovada” – UOL Jogos
[3] Staff, “SCEA: Latin America is a Huge Opportunity for PS2” – Playstation Universe
[4] Official Michael Meyers Public Relations press release – “Eighth-Annual Electronic Game Show Draws 30,000” – (received internally by Bemanistyle.com)
[5] Pascal Clarysse, “Gaming in Latin America” – Edge Online
[6] Staff, “Pump it Up” – Edge Online

Galloping Ghost Arcade

Jesse Attard of Tactics Studios Discusses Latest Project

Tactic Studios has been hard at work in 2010, publicly releasing Immortal Empire, a multiplayer strategy RPG that can be played on the PC straight out of your Web browser with no downloads. Although the title is multiplayer, Immortal Empire still features a fully fleshed-out story that puts players in the role of an immortal that can eventually summon up to five combatants that have a variety of strengths and skills that can be used strategically to take out the opposition. As players connect with others online, they can tackle the quests in co-op mode or, once the player reaches a certain overall level, they can engage in head-to-head battle in versus or teamplay modes.

Immortal Empire, at its core, features a very standard setup: each character has its own action meter, which depletes every time that character carries out an action. Once a player is finished with their characters, the enemies or other players are then given a turn. However, the title strays from the traditional RPG path a little in the fact the player does not have to place five party members into their lineup, and experience levels up the player’s personal immortal. Each level of progression adds a skill point into a pool of skill points each party member has to share. This allows the game to be as easy or difficult as the player would like, but given the number of options available, this also plays heavily into the strategy of the title. As players run through stages, of course, enemies will drop a good number of items, weapons, and equipment for the player to use and elemental crystals allow players to construct and customize weapons.

Immortal Empire is free to play in its basic format. However, a one-time fee of $9.99 can be paid to unlock the entire feature set of the game. As the game receives regular updates and expansions, more content and other alternatives to the one-time fee are gradually being implemented and fans of the game can be happy knowing more content is on the way, as promised by Tactic Studios’ founder, Jesse Attard.


If the name of Tactic Studios’ head developer and producer Jesse Attard looks familiar to you, it’s because we had him featured in our rather large BioShock 2 preview, just prior to its launch. What many gamers might not know, however, is Attard has been hard at work with his personal studio, and after a marathon of work that has encompassed a few years’ time, he is beginning the promotions of his newest self-released work, Immortal Empire. We were recently lucky enough to get a few moments of Attard’s time as he talked about his education, the former titles he has had a hand in, working on BioShock 2, how Immortal Empire was created and, of course, what it is like to form and run your own independent gaming studio.

Attard’s foray into games development originated after graduating from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, with a degree in computer science. From there, he has had a hand in developing titles such as Open Season on the Playstation 2 and Xbox, Dark Sector, some of Capcom’s mobile titles including Street Fighter II, Resident Evil, Dead Rising, and Lost Planet. With his involvement with the BioShock series, not only was he involved with the multiplayer of BioShock 2 (with Digital Extremes, where he is still on the team), he also worked on the Playstation 3 port of the original BioShock. Attard was coming fresh off the release of BioShock 2 when I was able to speak to him, and he had nothing but positive statements about the development and its performance.

“It was awesome,” he said. “BioShock 2 was a great project for Digital Extremes and me. Having played the first one, it had great critical reception and it was a great franchise so there were big shoes to fill and everyone felt it. It was such a unique and interesting IP and adding in the multiplayer, which was my main responsibility, was a really risky thing to add on to BioShock.”

Even so, Attard said he felt the risk paid off, telling me, “My friends say they like it and the critics seem to be positive, so, on the whole, people seem to like it. We went for a faster-paced game, like a Quake or Unreal-style gameplay. It wasn’t just a one-shot kill thing and I was always a fan of that style. It ended up being cool and fills out a category that isn’t predominant nowadays.”


Wrapping up on our discussion of BioShock 2 and his experience, Attard noted the final release was as complete as his team was able to make it, citing no specific desire to change anything implemented in the final release. While some gamers will no doubt disagree that nothing could be changed or added, from a developer standpoint, he backed his stance with the concept of time. Under the pressures of time, a developer has to realistically cut its line of features and implementation off somewhere, and Attard felt Digital Extremes did the best job possible within the timeframe it was given.

“It would always be nice to have more time, but a game has to come out eventually,” he noted. “We added more community support than what was in the original and we did make a full game. Then, we got an extension [when the game was pushed back from 2009 to 2010] and this allowed us to add more modes and content. So, that was a huge bonus. It allowed us to polish the game and all developers can do more with more time. With the time we had, the result was a finished project.”

While BioShock 2 will no doubt be the work on Attard’s list of works that grabs most gamers’ attentions, he had actually formed his very own studio a few years back called Tactic Studios, at which he developed Immortal Empire. With a full-time development load from some of the projects detailed in Attard’s background, the launch was a spare time endeavor and the current build of Immortal Empire is actually a culmination of years of work.

“I always like making games and I had the experience with developing mobile games,” he recalled. “I was used to 2-D casual games, so it was totally natural and I wanted to do something that was my own. I wanted to see my own ideas come into fruition, so I guess the motivation to open the studio was for selfish reasons. I kept the development up for years and, eventually, it looked like it would materialize into a real game. There were graphics and a game was present, so I let people play it and it just happened, coincidentally, during the BioShock [2] launch.”

Gamers tend to hear a lot of stories about developers moving on from successful titles to their own studios. While, as stated earlier, Attard is still employed at Digital Extremes, these occurrences no doubt lead gamers to believe having their own studio is a pretty sweet deal. While Tactic Studios is a part-time commitment for him, Attard says there are pros and cons to the setup, however, for his personal situation, his pros are outweighing the cons at this point.

“It’s completely different,” he explained. “I’m not collaborating between multiple studios now and there aren’t tons of people at my office. Sure, that can make it a little lonely, but, at times it is very rewarding. At first you are just adding stuff and you’re the only one playing, but once others play it and you find other people that enjoy it, it’s a cool feeling. It’s already been worth the risk for me. It’s been awesome, but it’s been a lot of effort. It’s really easy to say it was worth it when the effort is behind you. Still, I’m constantly working and improving on the game. For me, it’s more of a personally satisfying thing as opposed to a revenue-generating machine, but you never know what will happen. It’s more of a personal accomplishment that I feel happy about.”

It isn’t always easy being your own boss, though, and, of course, a startup studio will need its own equipment and resources. Attard was able to break down the process a little bit and describe some of the hardships of developing a title.


“I’m sure everyone envisions it,” he said. “You envision an idea, flesh it out and develop it into a game. I dreamed of it as a kid playing Atari, but the hardest part is stepping outside of yourself and finding out if the game is logical. Obviously you need a computer and a server, but experience is important. I don’t think I could do it without having made games – it’s hard. I kept looking at Immortal Empire and the game looked the same as it did a year ago and I kept asking myself ‘what did I do with that time and work?’ People get discouraged when they realize things are taking forever to develop. Also, a lot of your early feedback will most likely be from friends and colleagues and sometimes it is hard to get an honest, unbiased opinion from them.”

On top of experience and drive, Attard also noted people are a resource any aspiring developer needs to have available. He stated it was most important to have as many people as possible with diverse talents that can cover areas such as sound effects, music, art, and programming. In the case of Immortal Empire, Attard was able to discover artists for the fantasy-inspired artwork as well as pixel artists for the in-game characters and environments. Without this additional help, he admitted “there would be nothing in the game.” The game’s official Web site was also host to an open music submission contest in order to have background music featured in the game, with the call of music resulting in more than 50 submissions. In regard to working with others, Attard noted aspiring developers need to discover which disciplines they lack in and fill those positions in accordingly, adding, “While startup studios will probably find it hard to pay people to provide content, if you search hard enough, you’ll find someone eventually.”

If someone is aspiring to start up their own studio, Attard provided the following situational advice: “Once you’ve made a full game, consider it bug-free, show it to others, fix all of the additional bugs found by others and handle customer support and complaints … once you have the game under your belt, it may be time to invest in it. There are so many different ways to screw up and once you go through that, you can consider your dreams.”

Looking at Attard’s first project, Immortal Empire combines elements from a group of games that he loved playing growing up and his desire to implement these designs spurred the development of the title. Some of his ideas were inspired by games such as Baldur’s Gate, Warcraft III, Star Control II, Diablo, and X-Com and building on his desire to do an isometric game with elements of retro influences and character strategies, Immortal Empire was born. As described earlier, the leveling in the title is unique, with each passing level providing a universal skill point pool that must be used sparingly amongst the players’ group of immortals.

“It’s kind of wacky,” Attard explained. “I wanted to add a strategic element. Most games don’t let you choose how to develop your characters; they completely remove the element of choice. In Immortal Empire, though, you can have one guy at max level or five guys that are equal. You can even play the game with just one character. It’s entirely doable, but, of course, it is a challenge. I just wanted to make sure choice was available to the player.”

Although it only took Attard a couple of months to get the title into playable form, he recalled the process of adding monsters, characters, storylines, squashing bugs, optimizing the game and adding features stack on to the base of the development. Essentially, he said the title “turned out to be a year of work and another year of small touches to make it playable [in its current state].” The key to making the development easier on Attard was his development of the Immortal Engine on which the title runs.

“I knew when I was building the game, I wanted a robust engine,” he said. “That comes from my mobile game experience. When you are churning out so many games, it is necessary to have a single, dynamic engine, and I knew I needed to do the same here. The engine is a generic layer of code not tied to the game. It is a layer a programmer can use for user interface elements, widgets for panels and layout, playing audio through .WAV and .OGG formats, rendering and utilities for griding and displaying images on the screen. With it, I have a collection of utilities to use in any game, so if I were to make another RPG, huge amounts of the code are already written. There is even a map editor built in and developing the maps is really easy. Adding features on top of this dynamic engine is a heck of a lot easier than building from the ground up.”

While Attard had a huge hand in nearly everything involving the development of Immortal Empire, in the end, around 15 different people had a part in the game, including concept artist Eric Vedder and pixel artist Matt Chambers. With the results in playable form at the game’s official Web page, Attard isn’t resting entirely on the current product, with expansions already in development to double the length of the game, add additional environments such as polar and volcanic areas, a new immortal, and more. The plan is to release new content every couple of months as Attard fixes a few bugs in the current game as well as implementing a microtransaction system for those that would like to pay money in order to pick up extra in-game gold, experience point boosts and more. Since Attard can update the game dynamically, once player-versus-player gaming starts to pick up a lot more on the game, he is hoping to hear more balancing feedback, at which point he can update the game in a quick and efficient manner, so players can expect the game to be updated regularly.

Of course, Attard depends on player feedback in order to make Immortal Empire a better game.
“Player feedback is extremely important,” he said. “The more we get, the better the game gets. I love getting it. A lot of it actually gets implemented and it is incredibly useful. I’m not egomaniac – even if I disagree, I’ll still drop it in and see what happens with a test. We’ve already implemented features such as clicking controls similar to Warcraft, more dialog boxes and more tweaks. All of the feedback comes from our users and it is incredibly useful.”

With dedication going into Immortal Empire, Attard hasn’t committed to the development of future titles just yet, but he does have future plans and may even consider different formats in the future. “I’m not working on any future titles yet,” he confirmed. “I have some ideas in my head I want to do, but I can only do one game at a time. I want to give it the appropriate attention first and maintain it throughout that time. I would always consider other formats and I do know how to do it, but it is a completely different undertaking. You need massive teams and a big budget to release on a console. I might be able to do an Xbox LIVE or Playstation Network title, but that is definitely down the road. You need a bigger team in order to do that right.”

Talking With Galaxy 4 Gamers' Pro Competitors

Galaxy 4 Gamers (G4G) started its push for competitive gaming for online console gamers back in 2008 but, recently, it has added on a new cast of players for gamers to clash with. Adding in a star-studded cast of pros, the site is asking gamers who think they can tackle the top tier of games such as Street Fighter IV and Guitar Hero to partake in “Beat the Pro” challenges. The premise is simple: A pot is established as the pro begins his or her gameplay and each time a pro defeats a gamer, more cash is added to the pot. Obviously, if a gamer finally succeeds in toppling a pro, they win the competitive jackpot. Unfortunately, this won’t be a walk in the park as G4G has enlisted some pretty heavy guns to fend off gamers eager to grab the cash.

Recently, Diehard GameFAN was able to get some insight from four the site’s established pros – Ciji “StarSlay3r” Thornton, Robert “Prod1gy X” Paz, Justin Wong (“JWong”) and Alex Valle.

StarSlay3r is most known for her expertise in Guitar Hero and a competitive drive that saw her participating in the inaugural seasons of World Cyber Games’ Ultimate Gamer and The Tester, but she still has plenty of time to wreck faces in a number of popular fighting games such as Street Fighter IV as well. Prod1gy X actually won runner-up honors in the aforementioned WCG Ultimate Gamer show and while he is also a pro at Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, he also likes to partake in first-person shooting competitions including Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty. Justin Wong can be considered the number one Street Fighter IV player in the U.S., taking top honors at GameStop’s launch tournament of the game and second place in 2009′s EVO 2K tournament, but he also dominates in titles such as Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (finishing first in the 2v2 tournament at EVO this year) and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. Alex Valle is also one of the more famous fighting game competitors in major tournaments, receiving very respectable top eight finishes in the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and SFIII:3rd Strike 2v2 tournament at EVO this year and formerly holding honors such as the U.S. champion in Street Fighter Alpha 3.

These four pros took the time out of their schedule to describe how they got into gaming, how they prepared for competitive gaming and more:

DHGF: What initially drew you toward the game which you are now a certified pro at?

StarSlay3r: I initially was drawn toward Guitar Hero due to the fact that I had previously been playing a similar rhythm game called Guitar Freaks since 1999. The first time I played Guitar Hero was at a GameStop and I five-starred one of the hardest songs my first try so I knew this was a game I wanted to invest some time into perfecting.

Prod1gy X: I have been playing Guitar Hero since the day it came out. It’s a great competitive game and really fun to watch. I use to be in a band so when I picked this game up, it was pretty easy to play and I was into expert in no time. At this point, DJ Hero is my number one game of all. Hitting top 10 in all of the DJ Hero setlists made me realize I am a top player and I can take this to a pro level.

JWong: I have been playing fighting games since I was 12. I chose fighting games because I love the idea of playing against a human opponent and the best type of competitive games to do that is a fighting game such as Street Fighter, Tekken or any related games that goes under fighting games.

Alex Valle: The popularity of the Street Fighter series has always driven me to compete. With the release of Street Fighter IV, it was only natural for me to display my years of tournament experience to the competitive scene.

DHGF: What made you decide you wanted to become a professional at the title?

StarSlay3r: I competed in a series of video game tournaments known as the Midnight Gaming Championship in Dallas, Tx., in 2006, and during this time, I was competing against some of the best players in the nation, which was an inspiration to do better. After getting to top 16 for Texas state finals I knew that if I tried harder and dedicated more time into learning the game more in depth, I could step my game up to the next level. After making it to National top 10 finals at CPL in Texas for Guitar Hero II and being beat by a top-three nationally-ranked player was when I really started to kick my training into overdrive and compete for the professional gamer title.

Prod1gy X: I have to have the love for the game. If I play a game for hours just for training and I do not want to play anymore … that tells me I am really not into it. I like to pick each game from different genres so that I can maintain that high expertise and continue on to any other FPS or music games.

JWong: Well, I never chose this road. One day it just happened. I went to tournaments just because it was really fun playing new competition and meeting new people and then eventually I realized I did it every single weekend and said to myself, “Might as well try to become professional.”

Alex Valle: Street Fighter has been my strongest competitive video game ever since the ’90s and it’s about time companies like G4G are taking notice of the talented players. It was only a matter of time before our scene gets noticed and I felt inclined to prove myself on the mainstream as a true professional cyber athlete.

DHGF: What is your training like for your title?

StarSlay3r: Training for Guitar Hero used to be 50-60 hour weeks, which consisted of about three or so hours a week of watching YouTube videos to determine the best star paths and techniques for solos, reading star paths on scorehero.com, practising solos in practice mode, repeatedly playing songs over and over until I full-comboed the song and online versus mode against every opponent that would accept the challenge. Since I had this type of training for two years, I now only have to play about five hours a week or so to maintain my skills.

Prod1gy X: There are different methods of training in games. Some games have training modes that work great for your advantage to get better and so I highly suggest you take that advantage and get better. Practice makes perfect. You cannot give up if it’s too hard because eventually you will get it. For DJ Hero, I would play each song over and over until I get it. It’s as simple as that.

JWong: I use to play everyday for at least six hrs just practising and honing my skills. Now I don’t really practice (even though I should). I am older now and I am usually behind a computer answering e-mails, doing Street Fighter IV lessons, doing the Beat a Pro by G4G or talking to potential business partners.

Alex Valle: Great question. Street Fighter is a game of reaction time, physical execution and strategy. You need to master all of these elements in order to compete with the next player or you won’t stand a chance. In my youth, I used to spend eight to 12 hours daily to develop a unique, aggressive style. Bringing new and exciting elements are needed to win national tournaments. Today, I use my talents to train others worldwide, which is also a good form of training for me.

DHGF: What is your overall opinion on competitive/professional gaming?

StarSlay3r: Competitive and professional gaming is not as easy as it may seem. You must be extremely dedicated and determined to succeed in order to be successful in the field, but I love the challenge. I am happy to see that G4G enables players from all over to come and compete against the top players in this fashion because this is the best way to level up your game and take it to the professional level.

Prod1gy X: Its a very hard industry to get by in and the reason why I say that is because not many people are driven to take on the role of leadership and dedication. You need to understand the value of who you are and what you can make of it in this industry. The best advice on this … “Never give up.”

JWong: I feel that it isn’t there yet, but, eventually, it will be and I hope to be a part of that era.

Alex Valle: I believe competitive gaming is the next sports generation. There are millions of gamers out there that have exceptional skill that not many people in the world can achieve. The main difference from real sports and video games is that you can compete at any age with minimal physical requirements.

DHGF: Is there any advice you would give to anyone looking to play a game competitively?

StarSlay3r: Ensure that you have a lot of spare time on your hands before deciding to tackle a game on the competitive level because being a top player means spending many hours practising and perfecting your skills. Make sure to hunt out players that are better than you and practice with them because playing against the best will help you since you will not only see how your skills compare to a top player’s, but often times, they will give you tips/tricks/advice on your gameplay and can let you know where you went wrong and what you were doing right. Stay dedicated! Pro/competitive gaming is a lot of hard work, but it definitely pays off when you’re taking that top three ranking check to the bank.

Prod1gy X: Practice, practice, practice. Take that risk and travel to these events and get yourself noticed. All you need is the passion for gaming and dedication.

JWong: Practice makes perfect, network to get some sparring partners and travel to events and participate in online events to gain that experience you need.

Alex Valle: If you feel you deserve recognition for being the best athlete in the world, let your game do the talking!

Now that you know a little bit more about some of G4G’s pros, if you think you have what it takes to beat them, you can head over to G4G’s official page for rules and details.

Getting Fit ... The Arcade Way

I don't know how I was able to salvage this, but this is one of the very few things I have remaining from my work on Rithum.com. I guess it is pretty relevant still with the release of the Pokewalker and the huge surge of active gaming the Wii has brought upon us:

For those who like to pretend they are reading intelligently with news articles, MSN Health and Fitness has a story up that details the Top Gamers’ Workouts (http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/ar...0697>1=10412).

While the story hits up on items that us gamers have known for years and years, it goes into newer technologies being used by fitness companies to incorporate video game-like attributes to exercise equipment. It is interesting to know that in the future I will be riding a stationary cycle in front of a 17-inch screen slaying dragons instead of getting off my ass and cycling through the scenic countryside like I do from time to time. I do have to point out three key areas this article fails though:

1) Dance Dance Revolution appeared in the United States prior to the 2001 indicated in the article. DDR was introduced to U.S. arcades in 2000 alongside the Japanese release of 3rd Mix - while the domestic version is labeled Dance Dance Revolution USA and has a limited songlist, they share the same interface. I've even had people tell me the original entry released in the U.S. in extremely limited numbers, but I've yet to come across any concrete evidence for this.

2) The article claims Guitar Hero is an active game. My opinion is flicking your wrist back and forth repeatedly hardly makes a game “active.” To the article’s credit, however, this could be comparable to masterbation and I have seen some medical journals promoting that due to the nature of the blood flow involved.

3) The article does good in mentioning Wii Sports, but completely fails to point out the upcoming Wii Fit, a game on the same system completely tailored to the very reason this article was written.

However, what kind of fairness would it be if I didn’t offer my insight on active games? Check these ones out:

MoCap Boxing (arcade) - I made the mistake one time of playing this all day and then attending a lock-in for Dance Dance Revolution. Never have my legs been more cramped in my entire life. MoCap Boxing by Konami puts gamers into the virtual boxing ring by making them attach makeshift gloves and step into a motion capture area located in front of the game. Not only does the game force you to punch in front of the screen feverishly, but in order to avoid the taste of canvas, you’ll have to duck, sway and weave away from the motion sensor areas where the opponent’s punches would travel if they were real. The punching works the arms and the defense works the legs - a one-two punch to strengthening up.

World Class Track Meet (NES) - In a pretty obvious choice to anyone close to my age, the good old Nintendo Entertainment System Power Pads gave us a pretty good workout even though we knew how to cheat the long jump. Placing a mat on the floor, players competed in sprints, hurdles and jumping events by alternating left and right steps as fast as possible. You’re not human if there isn’t sweat on your brow after a matchup against the CPU character Cheetah or a heated two-player race. The floor mat even further supported activity with games such as Dance Aerobics.

Martial Beat (arcade/Playstation) - In 2002, Konami unleashed this monsterously-sized cabinet into Japanese arcades, and while it shares similar concepts to the company’s Bemani titles, many Bemani fans may very well slap you if you claim that. Once again using sensors to detect movements, the game cycles music tracks and features a full-motion video of an instructor asking you to imitate them performing simple martial arts moves and Tai Chi-type positionings. If you think it sounds a lot like Tai-Bo, well, it does. That in fact makes it a primary candidate for a full-scale workout if you can stick with it (or in today’s date, even find one of these cabinets).

Downhill Racers (arcade) - Speaking of putting game screens in front of bicycles, this arcade cabinet lets two people race each other down dangerous mountain courses by pedaling on a stationary bike. While nothing beats riding a bike for real, I wouldn’t advise sailing down steep paths located in between jagged rocks. Obviously, peddling as fast as one can, Downhill Racers provides for quite a workout. To rub it into the opponent’s face with style, there are a number of jump points where players can execute mid-air tricks, making it as fun to watch as it is to play.

Arm Champs II (arcade) - While recently arm wrestling arcade cabinets have becoming notorious for breaking arms in Japan, Jaleco’s Arm Champs II has been floating around U.S. arcades now for 15 years. The cabinet emits a large, robotic arm, which players grip in traditional arm wrestling fashion and attempt to outmuscle the computer in nine different levels of strength. The first three opponents are laughably easy, so the casual player shouldn’t blow a bicep or anything, but those looking to flex their might will find challenge in the later opponents. Those who get into the game should find the game can be almost as intimidating as the actual sport itself.

Of course there is more to be had, but anyone who is looking to get active should head out to any local arcade as active gaming has become the staple on which arcades still exist in the United States.

Cheapskate: Playing Galaga for Free

I’m a cheapskate. So it should come as no surprise that I enjoy the fact that I can “play” Galaga in the arcades without even spending a single cent.

Here’s a cute little trick you can show off if you come across a 20-Year Reunion: Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga Class of 1981 cabinet:

While the Galaga demonstration is playing, watch the game play and wait for the green ship to fly down and shoot out the tractor beam. Once this happens, start hammering on the fire button and you’ll be given control of the demo.

This glitch can allow for a few interesting things to happen that wouldn’t normally happen during game play. While your ship is spinning in the tractor beam, the demo gitch allows players to fire, sending bullets in directions they wouldn’t normally go in standard play. If you can destroy the ship abducting your fighter, you can play as normal until a third green ship flies down (about 15 seconds) and fires off its tractor beam - if either this happens or your fighter is destroyed, a test menu will pop up for moment and cycle straight into the Ms. Pac-Man demo.

If you allow your fighter to become abducted, the game play will continue as normal and you’ll have a chance to snag a double ship. If you clear the screen of ships, you’ll be able to move around and fire into space for about 15 seconds until the demo cycles back to Ms. Pac-Man.

So, there. Technically you can play Galaga in the arcade without paying - make a competition out of it with your friends to see how many ships you can destroy before time runs out without using the double ships.

The Human Game Boy

A recent power outage zapped all of my works in progress for a number of sites, so, bummed out and unmotivated to write everything back from scratch, I did the unthinkable - I went outside into society to see what there is to find outside of my house. Well, that's a real exaggeration - I'm very active at school and that's what has been sucking up some time as of late, but, recently, I was able to take a weekend to myself and head out to a local anime convention. While numerous video game cosplays were present, among the Pyramid Head, Resident Evil cast, Marios and more, one video game cosplay stood out heads and shoulders above the rest:

THE HUMAN GAME BOY!

It might not be evident by the picture, but, this gentleman, who I didn't have a real chance to speak to because I was promoting my own event and he was swamped with photo requests, took his human console one step further with wiring that turned him into a fully functional Game Boy. Yes, if you were brave enough and he didn't mind, you could play a full game of Game Boy Tetris on his person. I'm not too sure how many people are willing to admit they played Tetris on a man, but if the convention is to be believed, wearing a functional Game Boy is a great conversation piece and an excellent way to impress the ladies.

That being said, I'm currently developing a cosplay which will turn me into a human Virtual Boy.