GDC Europe & Gamescom 2010

Me interviewing Jason Vandenberghe while waiting for my producer to set up the camera to do a separate interview, also with Jason Vandenberghe.

Being based in France this year has meant that I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do things that I normally would not have had the chance to do if I was back in Sydney. I’ve been on numerous press trips to Paris, spoken with the likes of Jon Shafer and Dorian Newcomb during the European press tour of Civilization 5, and more recently I was lucky enough to join Warren Spector on a tour of Euro Disney during the press tour for Epic Mickey, as well as squeeze in some interview time with him and the lovely Paul Weaver. On this same press trip I met and befriended a Disney artist, who has since given me a drawing lesson and allowed me into his Paris studio for an interview. None of this could have possibly happened if I was in Sydney, because no one would have sent a young journalist overseas to cover so many cool things when there are more senior writers waiting in line. Well, actually, I do know of a few young writers who have been sent overseas to cover some fairly big events, but whatever. I’m a girl, so the opportunity was never going to be there. So yeah, coming to France = an excellent decision. Good one, Tracey.

The funny thing is that I came to France for the purpose of not working. When I hopped on that plane from Kingsford Smith airport, I’d decided that this would be my year to be a silly, drunk student and, for a while, I did embrace that. But now the smell of mint leaves and limes reminds me not so much of Vietnamese cuisine as much as it does of mojitos, and that weirds me out a bit (read: it makes me feel like a filthy drunk). So in August of this year I decided I needed more structured activities in my life (since full-time study just wasn’t cutting it, especially when by “full-time”, they really meant “Okay, welcome to France, you have four months of summer holidays and there will be constant university strikes during second semester!”), and work has always been my favourite structured activity, so I decided to do that! I racked up some commissions from Good Game, Games.On.Net, and Gamasutra, my producer back at the ABC helped me get a press pass for GDC Europe and Gamescom, and I hopped on a train to Köln, Germany. I think a return plane ticket from Sydney to Köln would have cost me one mirrion dorrars, but given that I was coming from Paris, it only set me back 200€.

I’d like to go into more depth about what it was like being at GDC Europe and Gamescom, but I’m not sure if anything I say would be particularly interesting or new. Both events were fascinating, and the former was also particularly inspiring. I ate a bockwurst from the cafeteria, and that was kind of disgusting. My dictaphone died in the middle of my interview with Ken Levine, and I did not know this until I left the 2K booth. Luckily I took some shorthand notes, but it was still fairly disheartening. My producer and I ran after Warren Spector’s PR lady, and after lots of nagging we managed to snag 10 minutes with him. I was given the ugliest Mortal Kombat t-shirt ever (or, more accurately, the ugliest t-shirt ever. Period.).  I met Brandon Sheffield in the talk on Limbo and he asked me for a lock of my hair to give to Tim Rogers. We’re now Facebook friends! All of us! Highlight of my fucking life, I says.

Anyway, rather than have me crap on about crap, here are photos from both events. If you have any questions about GDC Europe or Gamescom, feel free to ask in the comments! I will probably be of little help, but that’s not exactly news.

Time Traveller

So. Videogames, eh?

Caturday Excursion!

ACHAT? More like A CAT! LOLOLOLOLOLOL. Umm yeah.

Saw this bad boy on the noticeboard of a supermarket. I know what I’ll be checking out this Samedi entre 13h00 à 19h00!

Good Game SP for MANIA

It's the lighting, not jaundice. OR IS IT?

While I was working at Good Game and Mania magazine, I’d always wanted to do a photo feature on the show but refrained from doing so because of the conflict of interest. It was frustrating because here I had access to the set of Good Game, its presenters, and a tonne of props to produce a really fun feature for kids but I had to keep putting it off for obvious reasons. Even when my contract with the ABC expired, I was still apprehensive about doing a feature on Good Game because I was concerned that there would still be a conflict of interest, so I ran it past my editors and the people at the ABC and only proceeded when I got the green light. The feature I ended up producing was for Good Game Spawn Point and basically introduced Bajo and Hex to Mania’s readership. I did a short Q&A  and then did a photoshoot with the two presenters.

So was it weird interviewing the people I work with? Not really. Both were used to being interviewed and I was used to asking silly questions for Mania, so it wasn’t that big a deal for either of us. I got them into the studio and they sat in their usual chairs, joking with each other and texting on their iPhones (they’re both a bit attached to their phones – if they’re not texting, they’re Tweeting or checking Facebook). When it came time to photograph them, I think being friends with them was an advantage inasmuch that I could tell them exactly what I wanted them to do without worrying that I was asking for too much. I’m sure I said “Ok Hex, now can you facepalm Bajo? Yep, a little more violent please” a few times and asked for an excessive amount of enthusiasm from both hosts. They were both great sports and Bajo seemed fine with copping a number of palms to the face.

I think the issue of Mania with my feature in it is on sale now, although I’m not entirely sure because I left for France before the issue went to print. *shrug*

PICTURES AFTER LINK.

National Tournament On A Purple Bus

Gaming bus in Place de la Victoire

Prior to coming to France I was told that the country had a really large gaming scene; significantly larger than Australia’s, which excited me muchly. But since my arrival, I haven’t really been keeping my eye out for games at all – in between adjusting to living in a foreign country, enrolling into university, dealing with the French bureaucracy, and trying to conserve body heat by sitting in positions that make me really small, games haven’t exactly been hot on my mind. That is, of course, until today.

GRAND NATIONAL VIDEOGAME TOURNAMENT PHWAAAR

A large purple bus was parked in Place de la Victoire this afternoon when I got off the tram with a spruiker standing beside it going on about some tournament and luring unsuspecting passers-by onto the bus to play Xbox 360 games. I approached the bus to see what it was all about. My French isn’t very good and I still get incredibly nervous whenever someone speaks to me in French, so as soon as the spruiker saw me approach, he tried to get me to sign up to compete and asked me which game I wanted to compete in. What I wanted to say to him was “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” (What is this?), a line which I have used many times before and normally rolls off my tongue with ease. But in my moment of nervousness, I said “Je vais réfléchir” (I will reflect).

Yeah. What the shitting fuck, Tracey? I will reflect? What the butt does that even mean?

He laughed, gave me an entry form, and sent me off on my way.

So I’m In France…

I actually bought a bunch of these toast plush toys in bulk and brought one with me to France.

Hey kidlets!

So I’ve hopped on a plane and flown to France where I’ll be studying for a year. If you’re interested in my French adventures, you can wander over to my silly little travel blog, which can be found here.

I don’t have internet in my studio apartment at the moment and am mooching off internet off a friend, so posts will come through extra slow. In the coming days/weeks I’ll be posting up things that I’ve been meaning to post for ages, namely photos and bits and pieces from Good Game.

Also, before I forget, I have an article on the fall of Red Ant Enterprises that is in the upcoming issue of Hyper magazine, so keep your eyes peeled. PEELED LIKE POTATOES. And then go and buy it (and proceed to rub it all over yourself).

Assassin’s Creed II In The Herald’s “S” Supplement

Further down, in a picture that got cut out when I photographed this page, there’s a guy wearing an old-man-beret-ish-type hat. He looks like a tosser. I think this is worthy of note.

Hey Kate, they weren’t breathing down the necks of girls because they’re not used to being around the ladeez. They were just trying to absorb the other guests’ T-Energy.

I Met The Voice Of Mario – Charles Martinet!

Charles Martinet and I in the GG office. Giant question mark proudly brought to you by rad production coordinators who work within the ABC. Neato Mario brooch by some lady with big, red curly hair who I once met outside of Sydney. She was making bibs or something.

Ohai, internets! It has been a while since I last updated, and with good reason! You see, maintaining a blog is a bit like using Tamilee Webb’s Abs Of Steel (from the same series as Buns Of Steel, but with an abdominal focus). The moment you take even the shortest of breaks from doing it, it becomes too easy to not do it, and before you know it you’ve left so much time in between steely workout sessions that you become intimidated by the workout itself and are scared to go back to it. So here I am with abs no steelier than before and a blog that hasn’t been updated in weeks. But whatever. LIKE ANYONE CARES.

So, aside from not doing Abs Of Steel or updating Zero Light Seeds, what have I been doing? Well, I’m glad you asked, Internets! I’ve been fulfilling my role as news editor at Hyper magazine, writing for a few other publications (there’s a Pixel Hunt review that I’ll post soon, as well as a review for Official Nintendo which I’ll post when the magazine comes out), interning, enrolling in French boot camp (I’m serious), drawing cars with faces on them (also serious), and interviewing the likes of Charles Martinet, the voice behind Mario, Luigi, Wario, and a squillion other videogame characters. He was heaps rad – perhaps one of the sweetest, most energetic, funny, and lively people I have interviewed for Good Game, or any outlet for that matter.

Anyway, this update was just to let you all know that the blog is still alive and I still have abs of flab. Because you all care, of course*.

*Not really. I apologise for the interruption. Please go back to your regular lives and I’ll ring a cow bell to get your attention when I think I’ve got something amusing to say.

COMPETITION: Three Days To Go!

Colombo's 'skeletal structure' (a.k.a this pink balloon) is as sturdy as they come!

There are three days to go until the totally radcore LocoRoco competition closes. Monsieur Pencil and I have seen 26 entries so far and, while they have all been good, we are puzzled by why so few people seem to be interested in winning a round, yellow god full of expensive sweets. Do people just not dig piñatas? Should we have painted Colombo a different colour? Are you all raging diabetics?

It’s not too late to enter, guys. Just head over to Jeremy Pencil’s blog and post a comment letting us know what gaming-themed piñata you’d like to see us make next. The winner gets sent Colombo — the piñata of my heart.

Speaking of piñatas, Jeremy Pencil donated his own LocoRoco piñata — Steve (although Pencil refers to him as ‘Horus’ for some bizarre reason) — to the Good Game set. So the next time you tune into the show, keep an eye out for a bouncing, yellow god.

Win A LocoRoco Piñata!

The one on the left is named Colombo Magneus Julius Picardian III. The one on the right is Steve. That is my hand and nose.

Remember how Jeremy Pencil and I made LocoRoco piñatas a few weeks ago? Well, we made two yellow blobs of joy and neither got smashed to pieces because we both grew too attached to them. (I was referring to the LocoRoco, btw, not my fat cousins. Although they, too, are yellow blobs of joy.)

Realising that this is an unhealthy attachment, we have both decided to give my piñata — Colombo Magneus Julius Picardian III — away.  Mr. Pencil will be hanging onto his own piñata because he has major dependency issues, but I’d like to see little Colombo go to a nice home where he will be hung from a broomstick for a few hours before getting the shit smacked out of him by a bunch of rowdy,  festive folk.

Right, so onto the point of this post. Pencil and I are running a competition, and the best entry will win Colombo. It doesn’t matter where you live in the world — if you have a postal service in your area and your country isn’t run by communists (sorry, Vietnam), you are eligible to enter and, if you win, we will wrap Colombo up in bubblewrap, carefully place him in a box, and ship him to your humble abode.

Here’s the competition:

Comment on Mr. Pencil’s competition blog entry with your suggestion on what kind of gaming-related piñata we should make next.

The reason why I direct you over to Terminal Atrocity is because Mr. Pencil spends all his time sitting at his desk waiting for people to give him love via comments, which means he checks them more frequently than I do.

If you want to see what’s IN Colombo, read on.

I Am So Clever

Shit game, amazing package (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID, LOLZORZ!)

I had to share this because it was my proudest achievement today. Part of my job at the super badical kids’ magazine I work for involves me sending out prizes to children who win the competitions we run. In this case, we’d organised a Sonic Unleashed comp with Sega, and today was the time for me to do the mailing. The prize included:

- a Sonic hoodie

- a Sonic t-shirt

- Sonic/Werehog figurine

-a Sonic key ring

- Sonic Unleashed for the Wii

- a beach ball (naturally)

Rather than try and shove all this into an envelope, I used the hoodie as a packaging device and wrapped all the goods in the hoodie. And then I shoved it all in an envelope. So, kids, there’s some craptastic shit amazing prizes coming your way!

How To Make A LocoRoco Piñata

If we had hands, we'd do the mannerism!

There are many reasons why one would make a LocoRoco piñata. Perhaps you’re a Mexican who likes the game. Perhaps you’re a Mexican who hates the game. Perhaps you’re a massive nerd holding a Mexican-themed party. Or maybe you’re trying to erase bad childhood memories of your grandfather filling piñatas with coins so that, upon smashing said piñata, bits of metal would come flying at your face. Yes, perhaps you are trying to replace those memories with new ones, ones where candy would come hurling in your general direction rather than, say, shrapnel.

Whatever your reason may be, you may or may not want to read this guide to making your own piñata. Jeremy Pencil of Terminal Atrocity and I collaborated on this craft-tastic project, painstakingly documenting every step of the way. We were so industrious, we made two!

The following guide will teach you how to make the piñata. If you would like to read about the experience from someone else’s perspective, then Mr. Pencil has done his own little write-up about our LocoRoco adventure. Anyway, enough with the jibber-jabber. LET’S DO IT!

PICTURE POST: I Met Spongebob, For Real.

This was supposedly what we were there for.

I don’t like the beach, I don’t like sunshine, and I’m not a fan of Bondi and its perfectly tanned and toned individuals. But I do like Spongebob. I do like him quite a lot. In fact, I like him enough to haul my shade-loving arse to Sydney’s painfully sunny Bondi Beach, all in the name of a Nickelodeon media event where I was promised I’d get to meet Spongey and Patrick Star. So, with my sunscreen, sunnies, hat, jeans, enclosed shoes with socks, cardigan, and backpack full of hand-held consoles on me, that’s exactly what I did this morning.

Will A PS2 Keep You Warm At Night?

I was going to use a photo of Sophie and I from our last winter holiday, but then I found this in my album. It features two of my friends playing Twister. So I'm using it.

My dear friend Sophie is currently on exchange in Europe, learning all sorts of crazy things like Swedish, or something.  At the time of writing, she was learning Swedish in-jokes. She recently sent a message to my circle of friends — all of whom have significant others; I being an exception — telling us about all the wonderful things she’s been getting up to.  The final paragraph of her long message read like this:

In summary: everything is beautiful. Hey, how would you chooks like to go on a short holiday this winter? We could bring the boyfriends and girlfriends and so on. Tracey, you could bring a PS2. Oh and board games, of course. Thoughts?

FML.

A Month Of Exciting Events! (Sort Of.)

Image courtesy of Fat Chicks In Party Hats.

I didn’t look forward to March for about a bajillion reasons. One such reason was that my calendar was awfully blank — no exciting game launches, no big industry nights, no fun dates, and no truly mind-blowing game releases that I could actually afford. You see, I get paid in beans and, while they’re a fantastic source of folate and fibre, I’ve been told that they’re not a valid form of currency in Australia. Anyway, as it turns out, my calendar lied. While there were indeed no fun dates or game releases I could afford, I did find myself in the company of a brand-spanking new, white DSi…