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Speaking of how much Rock Band roxx… check out this article on how sales of songs are taking off in the 360 game!

Motley Crue: 47k downloads on RB360 – 10K on Itunes and Amazon!!

Kudos to friends at Motion Theory for the awesome work on Weezer’s new video “Pork and Beans” which is totally rad.

Souris’ post about the video lists some of the internt memes that are referenced… how long before a full list is made shot per shot?

Also, very memorable song – just like “Buddy Holly” which I have had stuck in my head since Sunday, when I was drumming to the track as part of the “Lets Haribo” world tour (ROCK BAND ROCKS!!).

:)

Stephen spent the week thinking about game reviews over at MTV.com.

This includes some interesting questions about the focus of reviewers on certain genres/audiences, where reviewers come from, how they can perfect their craft, what they might need to do this (from developers) – and what that means for gaming as a whole.

Very cool stuff!

Check it out – a really nice piece on Mark Mothersbaugh and the Mutato studio – all great guys!

I *still* hear the Boom Blox editor soundtrack in my head at times – most memorably while climbing a 14K pass in Bhutan. There I am – surrounded by ice and rocks and blue sky – with the twinkling, mellow theme coming to mind like an old friend. Quite a testament – given how many hours I have listened to that song.

:)

Jeff got the Wii Fit board on Friday, and we tried it out with a bunch of folks here at the office. I suppose it was a slightly more public setting than one might normally use it in for the first time… but even so, the overall tone of the intro application was… a bit offputting, to say the least.

Encouragement is good. Even a little goading at times will probably help people get in shape. But when a faceless, chewing-gum looking scale pokes fun at your bodyweight *right after measuring it*, or jokes that maybe you trip over your own feet when walking *minutes into your use of the device*… it isn’t very cute or funny. Not even if you give the rubbery little thing a tiny, proto-cute voice.

I’m not sure what I expected – more handholding? More of a Nike “you can do it – go on get fit and fabulous” touch? Have I been spoiled by ESPN and Cyclism Sundays??

Curious to see what myself (and others) think as they use the tech over time..

Mike’s Sketchypad blog is looking dope – focuses on street art – very cool stuff!

Also – Tiffany Bozic is opening this weekend in Culver City at Kinsey/ DesForges. There’s a a great mini-video about her process linked here (which also has one of my favorite Aphex Twin trax as the soundtrack).

Yay for tiny, arty things!

Groggy from too little sleep (went to see the midnight show of Indie w/the team!), my first mail of the day was from Lulu – who I still miss more than words can say:

I saw a little redhaired girl on my way to work this morning. She was riding an orange & black bike with a skull & crossbones on the top bar and a big banana seat. Pink & black striped capri tights, plaid punk rocker skirt, differently-striped top. Steering with one hand, eating a Brötchen with the other, chatting along with her friend riding next to her. I wish I’d taken a picture.

Subject: Wee Robin.

*heart*

Gama has posted a 20-page showcase on women in the industry, in which many awesome colleagues are featured! The list (which is alphabetical) is as follows:

• Lucy Bradshaw, Executive Producer, Electronic Arts
• Brenda Brathwaite, Chair, Interactive Design and Game Development, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Linda Currie, Producer, Blue Fang Games
• Alyssa Finley, Executive Producer, 2K Marin
• Laura Fryer, Executive Producer, Microsoft Games Studios
• Robin Hunicke, Lead Game Designer, Electronic Arts
• Perrin Kaplan, Former Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Affairs, Nintendo of America
• Heather Kelley, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Carnegie Mellon University
• Brenda Laurel, Chair, Graduate Program in Design, California College of the Arts
• Nicole Lazzaro, Founder and President, XEODesign, Inc.
• Jane McGonigal, Researcher, The Institute for the Future
• Jennifer MacLean, Vice President of Business Development, 38 Studios
• Laralyn McWilliams, Lead Designer, Sony Online Entertainment
• Susan O’Connor, Game Writer, Susan O’Connor Writing Studio
• Patricia Pizer, Senior Designer, Disney Interactive Studios
• Sheri Graner Ray, Game Design Consultant, Sirenia Consulting
• Kathy Schoback, Vice President of Global Events, Think Services
• Kim Swift, Level Designer, Valve
• Jessica Tams, Managing Director, Casual Games Association
• Kathy Vrabeck, President, Casual Entertainment Label, Electronic Arts

It is nice to see the work of so many creative women celebrated. Of course, I also look forward to the time when women appear regularly in *all* sorts of game-related press… as their contribution in a variety of fields comes to light.

I’d also like to correct a couple things – specifically, giving credit to Emmy Toyonaga, the lead character artist on MySims, for creating their awesome, Katamari-inspired block people look… and to Lou Castle, my awesome EP, for leading the Boom Blox team!

For sure, I’m happy to be recognized for my professional contributions, as well as the indie and educational outreach I’ve spent so many years cultivating. But I also think game development is a team sport, and that it is the people I’ve worked with across all disciplines that make the games – and the industry – so great!!

Congrats to you all – and all of you (guys and gals) out there who are not listed, but busting ass each day to make yet another wonderful idea come to life. ROCK ON!!

Manveer has posted a great write-up of Design Lessons from Boom Blox over on Gamasutra!

Boom Blox has a number of types of puzzles within it. Some of the puzzles require the player to topple down structures in the fewest amount of throws. Others require the player to remove blocks Jenga-style for point. There are even some shooting gallery puzzles, that focus on quick reflexes in small amounts of time.

No matter what the puzzle, a couple of things are always true. First, the player is always told exactly what conditions must be met to get a bronze, silver, or gold medal for the puzzle. Second, the puzzles usually last under five minutes. In fact, most of the puzzles take about a minute to complete.

The effect of having such short puzzles, with specific goals, is that the player is constantly aware of exactly what to do at all times. If some of the puzzles took fifteen minutes, you may get frustrated at your inability to make progress or even forget exactly what is needed for a gold medal. If you weren’t told what was necessary for a gold medal, only that it exists, you may have an even harder time reaching that goal.

Think about action games for a moment. How many times have you progressed through a level in a shooter, not knowing exactly what you are trying to do, only because forward is the only way to go? Eventually, you get to the boss or the level objective, at which point you are reminded of why you were running through this particular graveyard on this particular night shooting these particular zombies.

Boom Blox is a completely different type of game, but to me the lesson is still valid. Let the player know, at all times, exactly what to do for the next few minutes of gameplay. String that together enough times, and you are at engaging the player by giving him constant feedback as to his progress.

Of course – it isn’t *all* puppies and unicorns – there were definitely things that looking back, we could have improved upon. For example:

Boom Blox’s positive feedback results in the unlocking of more puzzles. Completing the first set of puzzles opens the second set, and so-on. One of the more frustrating parts of the game was when I had unlocked all of the single player puzzles, except for one set (“Master Challenges”). The game didn’t tell me what I needed to do to unlock this set of puzzles, so I had to guess.

In other words, I was unsure of my micro-goals that needed to be completed in order to reach my macro-goal of unlocking the “master challenges”. The game told me what I needed to do for all the other unlockable puzzles, tools, and characters, so I didn’t run into this problem until after playing the game for a long time. When it occurred, I got frustrated and looked up what I needed on the internet. It made me realize what a great job the rest of the game had done at setting small, manageable goals for the player.

Guilty as charged. The Master challenges came to the party towards the end of development, so they didn’t get the love they needed from yours truly in terms of UI followthrough. D’oh!

But at least we did get the fundamentals. And of course – the bonus:

This is the other big (and more important) reason Boom Blox is so much fun. There’s not much more to be said about this. Knocking down towers of blocks is just, at its core, enjoyable. It reminds me of being a kid and playing with Lego. More games where I can knock down towers of blocks please!

KABOOM!!!

Doing our part to include the ladies….

Sims designer Will Wright says his team deliberately tried to make the game appeal to women. “I think the main reason we were able to do that successfully was that about 40% of our development team, and my two other designers, were women,” he says.

One of the members of EA’s Sims division, passionate game designer Robin Hunicke, recently completed work on MySims and is working on a game with Steven Spielberg for EA. She believes there are many ways the industry can attract more women into development.

“You can market more games to women,” Ms Hunicke says. “You can have more women being shown in game commercials. You can have articles in women’s magazines that talk about women who are successful in the field. You can showcase women in the advisory boards for conferences.

“You can feature recent work of prominent women developers, even when they’re not in lead roles on projects, so that up-and-coming young women can be shown a little bit of attention and have a chance to (have a) dialogue with people about the process of evolving as developers themselves.”

Busy with so much Boom Blox stuff that I failed to mentione another exciting development in the world of fun, creative, family-friendly games… SimAnimals has offically been announced!

Moving to LA meant leaving the nascent SA – that was hard. So, as you can imagine, I am SUPER LOOKING FORWARD to the game. Simply put, animals + Sims = MAGIC, no matter how you slice it. I will post info here as it is available. GO GO GO Animals team!!

:)

Awesome weekend day with Team HP and the jet-set fashion crew! Drinking mimosas, playing Boom Blizzox and then going for a ride on the beach! What could be betta??

Super big ups to Carlos for bringing some of his new cute porn t-shirts – modeled here by himself and Souris. Ta-da!!

Press and reviews for Boom Blox keep rolling in, and needless to say – we are all walking on air. Not only are people playing it – they’re playing with their friends, familes, girlfriends… anyone who can toss a virtual ball or grab a virtual block! A week in, reports from all fronts are that BB can turn even the most hardcore frown…. upside down!!

The pinnacle of this commentary involves comparisons between BB and GTA4. In post after post, forum after forum – gamers are examining these two ends of the spectrum of interactivity. My favorite so far was in today’s Penny Arcade post.

We were interviewed recently by Major Nelson for the game, and when he asked what we were playing, Boom Blox came up quickly. I suggest that it plays well for a tech demo, which I meant as a joke, but it is ridiculous how much entertainment there is to be had – even in two-thousand and eight – by plucking and blasting these Goddamned rectangles. It seriously looks like something that you would install with your 3dfx card to verify proper installation. Without the remote, that’s probably where it would stop.

It broke us of Grand Theft Auto, for Christ’s sake. What is the differential on developments costs, there – a hundred to one? And yet there we were – Gabe, Scott, and myself – staring at a heap of bricks. Robert, who can probably calculate the game’s physics entirely in his head, couldn’t stay away even though he likes us to think he is immune to joy. He probably wasn’t aware that his mouth hung open the entire time he was playing, the working of his mind visible beneath his temples. It’s the antithesis of Liberty City, and it’s startling that both of these things can exist in the same dimension.

Is BB the antithesis of Liberty City? I’m not so sure. Call me a game designer… but in my mind, both of them put the player on stage. Both give you the chance to calculate risks, make plans – and go for it! Whether it’s one more mission or one more level – you are in the driver’s seat.

And that’s what games are all about!!

Today was a good day for Boom Blox! Mail has been coming in all day, as friends get the game… and we are all thrilled to see it topping charts at Metacritic, Gamestats and Amazon! It is da bomb!

More importantly: I wanted to send a special thanks out to folks (you know who you are!!) for a) checking out our game and b) taking the time to report on your play experiences (especially with kids & non-gamers!!). All your feedback is so helpful! Keep it coming!!

Also: As you play, you’ll unlock more and more of the content in the Editor – which means you’ll be able to build levels and send them to me via Wii Connect!! Want to send me a level? Write me and we’ll exchange codes!! I cannot *wait* to see what you all come up with !!!

As you all know BOOM BLOX ships today – and our first reviews are hitting as well!

How awesome to see such high scores from 1 up:

Boom Blox is simply a laundry list of great features and options wrapped around an incredibly fun, expertly designed, and well-tuned puzzle game. Sure, its cute veneer won’t do it any favors with the more intense console crowd, but I found it charming and refreshingly cheery. It’s a casual game made for a casual crowd, but it’s far and away the best one I’ve ever played. Buy this game.

and Yahoo Games

The unifying factor of all of BOOM BLOX’s many ways to play is a relatively simple physics system that combines gravity, lots of individual pieces (the eponymous Blox), and your own application of a little kinetic energy, usually administered with a flick of the Wiimote. The play style ranges from careful puzzles to freewheeling destruction — although it’s mostly the latter — and in either case, your task is to topple towers of blocks by throwing, grabbing or straight up blasting them away.

And the more you play, the more you appreciate BOOM BLOX’s uncanny insight into the psychology of children. Oh, the sweet anticipation of deliberately stacked bricks, mortarless and tottering precariously on a single load-bearing beam! Oh, the delight of knocking down carefully constructed edifices, of seeing the blocks go flying, of the tilt and tumble and clatter! Oh, the joy of chaos out of order! Electronic Arts and Steven Spielberg understand that we all have an inner boy who can’t help but delight at things falling down. The more elaborately, the better.

BOOM BLOX is so simple and its appeal so universal that we’re hard pressed to think of another Wii game that can so effectively bring a room together.

As I have written in the past, seeing people enjoy the games we build is the best feeling a developer can have. After months of refinement, tuning and angst… there’s just nothing better than watching the players light up at the controls. This game has delivered that in spades…

But the mulitplayer aspect really kicks it up a notch in ways I’d never expected. Watching families play the game these last few months has been such a joy! They’re laughing and passing controllers around as they topple tower after tower of blox…. and suddenly they’re all kids!!

It’s amazing to see this translate to print as people get to know the game. Kapow!!

Lulu is moving to Berlin for 6 months to manage a project over there, and while I know I should be happy about it – I’m just sad.

She has been a dear, dear friend to me for so long that the thought of being even just an hour away by plane was difficult to swallow when I moved down to LA in the fall. Now – she’ll be in an entirely different city, with new people, so far away. Boo!

While I know that it’s a good move for her in so many ways – I’m selfish and bad – a terrible, horrible friend. I want her close – for hugs, tears, good food, too much booze and worse. I want her near to me for conscience and comfort… and moments like this:

I want to fast forward now, to the time when she returns, all leveled up, with kick ass leather boots and a laundry list of naughty German slang.

Oh, if I had that button, I would press it right now.

More Yoga goodness – reviewed here.

14-Year old creates a trading card game about chemistry! Go go go games + science!!

And… the new BOOM BLOX website is live – with all sorts of downloads and info on the game… plus a new trailer! Only one more day till the game is out in stores – we are all so psyched to see folks over at IGN building things with the editor already!!

Best of all – the finished BB cartoon, in all it’s glory – is up on Penny Arcade!

What if… Boom Blox were real…. ??

So cool to see a drawing come to life!!! POW!

Some great BB previews over on Yahoo now – check’em out!!!