more action (or at least interaction) in my games. I also question whether realism is always good in games. I blogged about that topic before playing Heavy Rain, but it really proved the point, in my opinion. I don’t play games to simulate shaving, or opening a fridge, or sitting on a teeter-totter. It’s why movies don’t spend five minutes with the hero sitting on the toilet with a magazine. On my PC, I’m playing Starcraft II and I just finished Singularity. I’ve been working on an old-school 2D RPG as a personal project, so I’m also having a little RPG renaissance on my laptop with Wizardry V-VII, Lands of Lore, Anvil of Dawn, Divine Divinity, Might & Magic IV, and Stonekeep.
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the roughest cancellation I’ve been through, though, because it would have been something really special if we’d had the chance to finish it. I was with Edge of Reality in Austin—one of the great, independent thirdparty developers still out there, working hard and making games. We were working with Midway as the publisher, in a partnership with John Singleton and Snoop Dogg. Fear & Respect was a story-driven shooter, set in Los Angeles. The first part of the game took place in the late 1990s. It gave players a tutorial while also showing how gang-related decisions made by the main character, Goldie (played by Snoop Dogg) landed him in prison. The rest of the game took place in the present day, when Goldie gets out of prison and restarts his life. He discovers his little brother is making some of the same choices he did, and he has to encourage him or intervene. Everything you did in the game affected your reputation in the game world, where you could earn Fear or you could earn Respect. Fear came from backing your gang, and Respect came from backing your neighborhood. It was really important to me that the game and world be honest—we didn’t make any judgments about whether Fear or Respect was the right path. It was up to you to make decisions, see what happened, and decide how you feel about it. It was a lot like a present day Deus Ex in terms of the choices you could make. We had some really fun levels, and a great cover system that focused on assessing risk rather than taking damage. 16 gamesauce • Fall 2010
We also had fantastic art and great characters, and I was just finishing the game script with John Singleton. I still regret that we had to set it aside. 4. What are you playing now? I tend to play games almost everywhere, and I play just about anything, so my list of what I’m playing always sounds schizophrenic. Right now, I’m playing Red Dead Redemption on my Xbox, although to be honest I think
Free Realms
the game really bogs down in Mexico so I’m not sure I’ll finish it. It was a great game until Mexico though—it really reminds me of Oblivion in a wild west setting. I’m also replaying Gears of War 1 and 2 with a friend to get ready for Gears 3. I’ve got Heavy Rain in progress on the PlayStation 3, and it’s an interesting attempt to create deeper storytelling—but it’s having trouble holding my interest because I prefer
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5. How can our industry do a better job of welcoming and encouraging women? The game industry is driven by the market. Sure, to some extent it’s a chicken and egg problem—if you don’t make any games that appeal to women, no women will buy your games, and then there’s no proof that women are a viable market. That’s not the whole answer, though. I think most non-gamers just aren’t interested in the games we’re making right now, at least on traditional (non-Wii) consoles and on the PC. The industry is evolving though—you can see it in the reaction to Facebook games and to many of the announcements at this year’s E3. Hardcore gamers sometimes feel threatened or marginalized when there are announcements about family or nontraditional products, but they’ll get over it once they realize we’ll still be making just as many (if not more) traditional games. Eventually the industry will be as mature as television and film, so that it will not merely be OK but will be considered interesting and refreshing for the same developer to make a family game, then turn around and make a hardcore fantasy RPG, then start on a modern-day shooter after that. When we get to that point, the industry will be more welcoming for women simply because we’ll be making more products that have mainstream appeal.