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Event
Nintendo Holiday Preview – Super Mario 3D Land

I have a confession to make: I didn’t really enjoy New Super Mario Brothers Wii. I felt the controls were not nearly as precise as they should be; everything was so floaty and slow. I was pretty disappointed, especially after playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 (the greatest game ever made). But you know, as adults we put bad experiences behind us and move on, right? No! it all came flooding back after I went hands-on with Super Mario 3D Land. It was like Vietnam flashbacks of slight annoyance.

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Nothing is True
Everything is Permitted

We were invited to a pre-launch event for one of the most anticipated games of the year: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Held at the Berkeley, this celebration of one of Ubisoft’s most successful franchises was most awesome and informative. Not only were there game stations upon which to play the multi-player mode of the soon-to-be released title (the games were powered by Microsoft; the people were powered by NOS energy beverages); there were people from the development team for the game, as well as someone from UbiWorkshop who was there to talk about the upcoming short film Assassin’s Creed: Embers.

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Not Long Now…
DIG 2011

There have been so many neat conferences and seminars that involve the gaming industry so far this year; we feel very grateful to have been invited to them. There are still a few events left in the year, and one of them is DIG London 2011. As mentioned at FanExpo by Mark Mikulec, the London Gaming scene is actually a lot bigger than most people think.

DIG is a place where leading game developers, web developers, publishers, tech companies, and service providers get together for big nexus of idea-exchanging goodness. Our own Ricky Lima is going to London to check it out and report on some of the goodness that he finds there. I encourage any of you with the bandwidth to go check out the site. Explore the DIG London web page and see what tickles your fancy – because there is something there for everyone!

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Event
X-Summit: Brand & Entertainment Partnerships

This session, while not directly about gaming, was quite interesting and had some great lessons that could apply to those of you who are thinking about pushing your games. The participants of this chat on brand and entertainment partnerships are listed below:

• Chris Advansun – Moderator and Director of Marketing at Viafoura.
• Kerri Cockrill – Director of Brand Entertainment at Research in Motion
• Scott Weitz – CEO of Digital River
• Matt Wexler – Executive Producer at Spin Master Entertainment

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Event
X-Summit: Cross-Media Synergy

This panel discussion addressed a slippery eel of a topic. Basically, when developing IP that has TV as a key foundation, what do you develop first: the show or an online plan or both? Here is a list of the folks who participated on stage:

• Ken Faier – Moderator and El Presidente of Nerd Corps. Entertainment – He has worked on some some very cool original series’.
• Paul Bennun – Chief Creative Officer of Somethin’ Else – Background in broadcast; works on content design and creativity; takes linear properties and makes them interactive.
• Leah Hoyer – Creative Producer at Levity Entertainment – Developed cartoons for Disney; now works at Levity on all kinds of comedy and television development; bridges gap between talent and television.
• Beth Stevenson – Founder of Brain Power Studio – Formerly at Alliance in the kids and family space; currently in the same space at Brain Power, across many platforms.
• Mark Bishop – Co-Founder/Executive Producer at marblemedia – Works on cross-platform storytelling on whichever platform is appropriate to the audience.

All of the panelists were great speakers, and it was a very engaging session. I have captured what I consider to be some of the more pertinent points and will share them with you after the break.

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Event
PS Holiday Preview – Silent Hill: Downpour

Since the release of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Space 2 and the audio-only Deep Sea, we haven’t really seen the release of a legitimately scary game. We have had our share of suspenseful thrillers, but the intense anxiety and helplessness you get from playing horror games is beyond anything else imaginable. Because of this, horror games are probably one of the most unique genres: instilling feelings that become more interactive than usual; feelings that linger for days – perhaps even years. Many gamers will tell you that the Silent Hill series has consistently proven itself to be a charter member of this genre, time and time again. While Silent Hill: Shattered Memories failed in its pursuit to inspire true helplessness, Konami has since realized that the only way to instill that same sense of fear is to go back to the roots. Welcome to Silent Hill: Downpour.

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Event
X-Summit: Biophilia: Birth of a Medium

One of the keynote speakers for X-Summit 2011 was a man named Scott Snibbe. Scott, the founder of Scott Snibbe Studio and Snibbe Interactive, is a quiet gentleman with a wide smile and an appreciation of all things musical (and musical appreciation of all things). As someone who visualizes music, Scott seems to be very much in touch with the subtle layers of the world around him, and seems to be able to key in to patterns in nature and show us what they are.

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Posted in Events, Music | 1 Comment »

Upcoming Event
X-Summit: Chatting with Yves

The title of this article may sound like a very boring dramatic film; really it’s about how I was hanging out in a bar with Yves Bordeleau, from Cyanide Studio. I’m not sure if you have heard of them, but if you are a fan of Game of Thrones, you soon will. While I am not at liberty to discuss exactly what we talked about, I would like to share a few snippets of what we talked about that have increased my excitement for the next two days at X-Summit.

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Posted in Awesome, Events, Indie, Previews | No Comments »

Event
PS Holiday Preview – Uncharted 3

If there’s one video game series that remains consistently exciting, charming and offers the same visual spectacle as a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s Uncharted. Since its inception in 2007, the action-adventure/third-person shooter has maintained its place in the vast gaming library as one of the best and brightest, challenging other blockbusters and always coming away with outstanding results. Naughty Dog, the developer of the series, clearly knows just how to astound its audience. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, the next chapter in the series, proves no to be different than its predecessors.

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Upcoming Event
X-Summit

X-Summit is fast approaching and I am very much looking forward to it. When creative and talented people from different (yet somewhat related) sectors get together, the result is an infectious energy that spreads – synergies are discovered and ideas are shared.

Last year, at IN10 (the predecessor of X-Summit) I attended a number of interesting sessions; this year, I will be attending both days and the schedule is packed full of interesting things. It is always challenging trying to pick what is most relevant to our readers; it is also exhausting – given the amount of information that is dispensed.

However, it is definitely worth the time – more than worth it, really. Where else can you get so many different types of people in the same place? If you are interested in going, you can still register.

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