Change is the only thing we can be certain of. With that thought, I’m changing the site theme to “The Morning After”. Feel free to comment.
Monthly Archives: May 2008
Grimm Outdoors
Flickr friend Static Eddie kindly sent along this photo of a Grimm outdoor billboard. This was spotted in Atlanta, near the Gametap offices. Nice to see Grimm getting some spotlight in the “real world”.
EA CEO: PC Gaming Growing
I’ve written a few times regarding my feelings about the “death of PC” as a gaming platform. It seems that every other interview I do I’m asked to comment on the health and future of PC gaming, and the PC as a gaming platform. Tired question. The math is simple. There are more PCs and more PCs connected to the Internet than combined consoles – so it follows that the PC is a viable entertainment platform.
Today I read on Game Daily that EA’s Chief Executive reminded the press and the industry of the same:
During the Q&A session with analysts and investors on EA’s earnings conference call, Chief Executive John Riccitiello pointed out that the PC games industry is actually doing just fine when you look at the total picture rather than isolating “soft” retail sales.
“I certainly recognize that the box side of PC is soft. It’s been soft for some time. Frankly, if it were not for The Sims and World of Warcraft PC box sales, it’d be a pretty dismal sector,” he acknowledged.
Thankfully for the PC market, retail is just one very small slice of the complete picture. “I would point, out, however, that one of the fastest growing parts of this industry is the subscription and micro-transaction [business] and casual games, much of which is centered on the PC,” Riccitiello continued. “So one of the things we try to look at at EA is the total business… and we’re seeing a growth business there. In fact, it’s been growing for several years. It’s just been categorized wrongly by simply looking at the box side of the equation.”
Yay! “…retail is just one small slice of the complete picture.” Preach on brother! Retail, box-product is in fact a dreadful place for the sort of entertainment products PC’s are best suited towards: Innovative, online, mass-market (dare I say casual?) games.
Not to toot their horn too much, but Gametap gets this. In fact, they are banking on the weakness of the “shelf-space driven box-product” model to drive their profits. Their unique offering is the equivalent of a mile long “shelf”, with minimal “rent”, and a “shop” that never closes. Where a retail PC game MUST sell strong in the first days/weeks, MUST fit into some pre-defined genre-category/slot, and MUST be driven by copious amounts of pre-awareness (translation, marketing $$$) – digital distribution allows the model to be turned upside down. All those “musts” become “eh, whatever”. To some degree, if the product is good, the audience will eventually come – and better yet, new audiences can continue to discover the product years after the equivalent box-product would have been tossed into the “discount bin”.
Grimm is going to be an interesting test of the model. I think we have good content. Gametap has the right distribution mechanism in place. All it takes is for the right audience to discover what’s on offer…
Speaking of, be sure to check out:
Gametap’s Grimm Teaser Site
My Flickr Collection of Grimm Images
More cool stuff will be coming soon!
Bone Boy
The general rule for showing Grimm concept artwork to the world is to show images only when there’s a light/dark version side-by-side. But with this image I’m willing to make an exception:
This is “Bone Boy”. He appears in a number of Grimm episodes, usually as the darkened state for child NPCs. He’s one of my favorite characters in the game. The animators gave him a jerky, rickety sort of walk/run. The result is quite amusing.
I think Bone Boy would make a cool stand-alone game character. Maybe after Grimm…
Polish McGee Interview
If you’ve ever wanted to read an interview with me in Polish, here’s your chance:
American McGee’s Grimm – wywiad
Poprawne politycznie bajki muszÄ… odejść! American McGee w ekskluzywnym wywiadzie przedstawia nam Grimm, nadchodzÄ…cÄ… grÄ™ epizodycznÄ… studia Spicy Horse. Znany projektant zamierza zachÄ™cić graczy do przeksztaÅ‚cania podczas zabawy Å‚agodnych opowieÅ›ci w przerażajÄ…ce koszmary.Andrzej “Klecha” Klimczuk (Gry.o2.pl): Na wstÄ™pie powiedz nam kilka słów o sobie i o swojej roli w zespole pracujÄ…cym nad American McGee’s Grimm.
American McGee (Spicy Horse): Obecnie jestem dyrektorem kreatywnym firmy, którą założyłem ponad rok temu, firmy zwanej Spicy Horse. Przy projekcie Grimm pełnię funkcję głównego projektanta i naczelnego “reżysera†całości. Oznacza to, że zajmuje się takimi rzeczami jak tworzenie wyglądu gry, ustalenie zasad funkcjonowania skryptów, jak również kierowaniem procesem kreacji treści i poziomów.
If you can’t read Polish and/or aren’t Tomasz, then the site also features an English version of the interview. Speaking of Poland, isn’t that where the Wolfman came from? Either way, I needed an excuse to introduce this next bit of concept artwork:
This character concept artwork comes from a special episode of Grimm that’s going through the concept phase now. A whole series of characters who transform into monsters is being produced. Wolfman is just one of them.
Awwwoooooooo!!! (Or as they say in Polish Twznkzzzzzzzzzzj!!!)
You’re A Brat
And that’s all I have to say about that.