Remowned

Hell. Yes.

It is extremely rare for me to feel deeply, personally affected by the passing of public figures–certainly, it is never good news to see the death of somebody who is widely loved or respected, but it generally doesn’t strike me to my core.

I can’t say that about Tim Russert, the longtime moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” who unexpectedly passed away after a heart attack today at the age of 58.

Though I do not work in the same field of journalism as Russert, and though the field in which I do work can only barely even be called “journalism,” Tim Russert has had a massive effect on me both professionally and even to an extent personally.

Nobody defines journalistic preparedness, professionalism, and integrity to the extent that did Tim Russert. In the modern age of the 24-hour news cycle that spans print, broadcast, and online, political coverage has become more and more commoditized, factionalized, and truncated. Tim Russert was absolutely a bastion of true, stand-up, incisive but not exploitative journalism.

His “Meet the Press” was a full hour of relevant, engaging, and substantive political interviewing, and his wealth of knowledge of and passion for the subject matter was unparalleled. It is fair to say that a political figure cannot truly be considered to be part of the political discourse without having appeared on Russert’s “Meet the Press.”

Both within and beyond that news hour, Tim Russert was always remarkably even-handed and well-composed yet powerful in his insight, his commentary, and his sheer command of the political landscape. The contrast between his warm, steady demeanor and the frantic, often derisive style of so many other current-day news commentators is striking–all the more so because even without that spectacle, he always managed to unpretentiously, humbly remain the smartest, most respected person in the room.

Regardless of profession, the people in this world for whom I reserve the most respect are those who do what they do with genuine passion and with true integrity. Those people can be found in every field, but few can be found who exhibit those traits so greatly and so visibly as Tim Russert, a journalist whom I, even as a mere viewer, respect intensely and will miss enormously.

Last night, I dreamt that the major executives of Funcom were attempting to dominate the world with some kind of enormous Metal Gear-like weapon.

I was witnessing this on a highway in my car, greatly distressed, so I emailed Ragnar Tornquist, Funcom employee and designer of The Longest Journey, with a brief but impassioned plea for salvation.  The email read something like this:

“Ragnar,

I hope this message will do some good.  I don’t know if you know what’s going on, and you might even be involved since your company is behind it, but for the good of the world you need to help.”

Mr. Tornquist then flew overhead and, using a strategy similar to that of Fox’s final smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl,  dropped an enormous tank onto his coworkers’ Metal Gear, and that is how the designer of The Longest Journey saved the world in my idiotic, inexplicable dreams.

I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that BioShock–one of the most aggressively original games that has shipped recently–is so quickly becoming a full-on Franchise, with an 18-month (or so) sequel and a Hollywood sequel. It is inevitable, really–but that’s the most telling part.

Now, I have met a number of people working on BioShock 2, and honestly I think it would be difficult to find a group that is more talented and more suited to the material, so I don’t want to give the impression that I am ragging on that studio or its project, because I’m not. I can’t wait to see what they’re thinking up.

Similarly, director Gore Verbinski gave an interview that puts his enthusiasm for and knowledge of BioShock in an encouraging light. He and screenwriter John Logan have definitely skewed towards the more box office Hollywood blockbuster side of the cinematic experience, which wouldn’t be my first pick, but I can see the justification and necessity there.

Logan did write one of my favorite films of the last several years, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, so that’s a plus–and I can see some parallels between the eccentric billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes and consummate captain of industry Andrew Ryan, both larger-than-life figures consumed by larger-than-life principles. Ken Levine is said to be involved; it isn’t clear to what extent.

So it isn’t that I don’t have faith in these projects. It’s just that I find it unfortunate that the video game industry is still so relentlessly hit-driven, in a way that hit-driven Hollywood isn’t even close to being, to the point that once somebody does find a hit you can pretty much draft up a map of commodification, effective immediately, with your eyes closed.

I just wanted to preserve this snapshot of Next Generation’s current front page for the sake of posterity.

As I have alluded to briefly on this blog, and at exhausting length elsewhere, there are few things I crave more than Pikmin–particular its multiplayer incarnation as seen in Pikmin 2 on GameCube. Before we even knew what the Wii’s controller would do (and before we knew its eventually riot-inciting name), Shigeru Miyamoto hinted that the machine’s interface would be perfect for a Pikmin game, which was my main reason for being excited about the thing.

Of course, since then Miyamoto hasn’t really said much about Pikmin one way or the other. During last E3, I tried to squeeze some information out of then-Nintendo corporate communications senior director Beth Llewelyn and didn’t get very far. It’s Nintendo’s best new core-oriented franchise in ages as far as I’m concerned, so it kills me that there haven’t been any announcements of an online-enabled Pikmin 3 for Wii.

But that might change soon! (more…)

2K Games has a pretty rad promotion going on for its upcoming Civilization Revolution, a console take on the long-running game series. Shepard Fairey (you know, the guy behind the now-ubiquitous “OBEY” street art campaign) designed a badass poster featuring series standby Napoleon. Check it out at the official site in the “download” section. Credit at 2K should go to community manager extraordinaire Elizabeth Tobey.

I played Civilization Revolution a few months ago. It seems very promising to me. Civilization–the first one–was one of the games that really turned me into a hardcore gamer. I had played PC games before then (didn’t have any consoles until the mid-90s), mainly adventure games, but Civilization was the kind of consuming addiction that set off what has since become a lifetime hobby. (more…)

(Update: The rumor is that Harrison is heading over to floundering publisher Atari. Weird one.)

Sony just sent out a press release announcing Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison, who has been involved in the PlayStation brand since its inception, will resign as of the 29th. No specific reason for the move was given, not even something as general as “pursuing other interests.”

What is interesting is that Harrison was reported to have been a bit annoyed at Sony’s Japanese operations, for being so slow to see the social gaming bandwagon coming, despite his warnings. (more…)

(Update: T2 chairman Strauss Zelnick has responded negatively to EA’s offer. His stated reasoning is basically the same as mine below. “Electronic Arts’ proposal provides insufficient value to our shareholders and comes at absolutely the wrong time given the crucial initiatives underway at the Company,” he said. “Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our creative and business teams, Take-Two has made enormous strides in the past 10 months toward our common goal of being the most creative, innovative and efficient company in our industry.”)

Electronic Arts has just announced its desire to acquire publisher Take-Two Interactive–parent company of Rockstar Games and its studios, 2K Boston and 2K Australia (nee Irrational Games) and their new spinoff 2K Marin, Civilization developer Firaxis Games, 2K Sports developers Visual Concepts and Kush Games, etc.–in a $2 billion cash deal that works out to about $26 per share. This apparently is EA’s second offer, after Take-Two rebuffed a $25 per share offer, which already adds a premium of at least 60% to T2’s stock price.

It’s a worrying development. EA CEO John Riccitiello has released an open letter describing EA’s offer and its motivations, which I imagine is intended at least in part to get shareholders (who, again, would stand to earn considerably on their stock) warmed up to the idea in the hope they will encourage T2 leadership to consider accepting.

In my opinion, this would not be the time for T2 to sell, because it seems to recently have gotten something of a second wind. (more…)

Despite the games industry’s relative youth compared to other entertainment industries, it seems to have grown commodified and financially conservative pretty quickly. This is just the Way Things Are, I guess, but I came across and interesting press release that went out the other day, describing an unusual publishing venture.

OneBigGame is a non-profit publisher (hm?) that, once it has established net revenue, plans to donate all its proceeds to charities benefiting children around the world (what?), establishing itself as a charitable organization by proxy. This week the company announced its board of directors, which consists of a number of big names to those who cover the industry.

The whole thing is founded and chaired by Martin de Ronde, the founder of what is now Guerrilla Games (the Killzone people). Its board includes Kuju (Battallion Wars, Crush) CEO Ian Baverstock and Game Developers Conference director Jamil Moledina, and its advisors include Shiny (MDK, Earthworm Jim) founder Dave Perry and gaming pioneer Mark Cerny (Marble Madness, etc.).

It’s certainly hard enough getting any new publisher up and running these days, let alone one that doesn’t intend to make its executives rich. (more…)