Christian Allen's Corner

Heading off to GDC 2010

It's GDC time again this year.  I'll be giving my talk on Saturday, focusing on networking as part of the Game Career Seminar.  No big announcements from me since my current title is unannounced and Bungie has the Reach angle covered.  I'll try to snap a few more pics this year than I did last year.  Hope to see some fellow devs I haven't seen in a while and down a few beers...er, I mean attend some really interesting talks!

Kotaku misses the mark...twice in one day

Today was an interesting day reading Kotaku.  First, they led with a story on how "Why Modern Video Game Armies Lack Female Troops."

Now, I don't disagree with the general statements in the article from various developers, that female models and animation rigs cost development time, and that is why they are often left out.  Hell, in GRAW1, we wanted to include female models in MP (although they were in SP), but weren't able to until GRAW2. 

However, it's interesting that they fail to mention that both Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon have included female squad mates since their inception in 1998.  EVERY Ghost Recon has included female soldiers in combat.  In GRAW2 we made a special emphasis in allowing the creation and customization of female player models in MP (included in Ghost Recon 2 back on the Xbox but not customizable).  I guess, according to Kotaku, Battlefield, MAG, and COD are the only war games out there these days.  And since they don't include women, NO war games have.  Humph.

Of course, no surprise that seeing that lack of research, Kotaku would be so behind the times on Zombie targets.  What else would you expect?

Ghost Recon Xbox Sendoff...

Microsoft has announced that on April 14^th, they are taking down Xbox Live support for original Xbox games.  This is tough news for me, to know that I won’t ever again be able to go online and play the first games I worked on professionally.  I guess that’s the price of modern console development.  Even though GR is primarily a PTP based game, it still relies on the Xbox Live service to connect players. 

But for right now, the service is still up.  The most important thing, if you have these games, and like me, have moved on to an Xbox 360, you should go and download the DLC before the service goes down.  DLC for GR: Island Thunder, GR2, and GR2: Summit Strike is still up and is still FREE.  But you should get it now.

When we designed the game infrastructure for Ghost Recon DLC on the Xbox (starting with Island Thunder), we didn’t really plan for the day when Live would not be available.  We always assumed that anyone with a connection could get the DLC.  Thus, if AFTER the Live shutdown, any box WITH the DLC will not be able to connect to a box WITHOUT the DLC.  So, the only solution for you if one box has it and the other doesn’t, is for the box with it to delete the content.  This was not a problem back in the day when the person WITH the content would just go home, hook back up to Live, and redownload the content.  But now, if you deleted the content, it would be gone forever.

So, if you ever plan to System-Link play the game with your buddies, take the 15 minutes to get the DLC.  I did this on my 360 the other night.  Remember, the DLC for these games is not shown on Xbox Live Marketplace.  You need to boot the individual game, go to the option for downloading content, and download it.  GR: Island Thunder has a dozen or so individual map packages; Ghost Recon 2 has three variety packs, and GR2: Summit Strike has one bonus pack of weapons, game types, and maps.  Even if you don’t ever plan to play these games online, there is a lot of the content that can be used in local play.  And it’s FREE. :)

It’s a bit weird as a developer to know that content I and my team worked hard on might never be accessed again.  I mean hell, people still play Doom online. I hear there are some third party solutions out there that people can use, so I guess I can take heart in that.

Regardless of all that, I’d like to have a little Xbox Ghost Recon sendoff.  Bungie is planning their sendoff for Halo 2 on April 14^th, so I propose we enjoy some Ghost Recon the weekend before that J.  I will be logged onto Ghost Recon: Island Thunder on the evening of Saturday, April 10^th, and Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike on the evening of Sunday, April 11^th.  I invite GR fans, the gang from GR.net, and my former compatriots from Red Storm and Ubisoft to join me to send off Ghost Recon on the Xbox in style.  And yes, I’ll have the DLC installed. 

 

Ben Jones obviously hasn't played GRAW...

Ben Jones took some time out while speaking to GamerZines to call out Xbox Live gamers vs PSN games.  From Kotaku:

Jones, speaking to GamerZines at an event in London, praised PSNers for being more willing to communicate and organize to achieve a goal. Xbox Live players, he said, are a bit less sophisticated.

"I actually consider Xbox Live the more juvenile of the two," he said, on account of "the things that are being said over Xbox Live."

As for cooperative gaming on PSN, Jones says he saw it at its best during the MAG betas over the past few months. "We've got an audience that's willing to communicate and willing to organize and structure, and help other people to play the game," he said. "That's the most remarkable thing that I saw in the beta - random people helping other players along to try and familiarize themselves with this really cool experience."

I guess Jones hasn't played GRAW on XBL.  I'd take 16 GRAW co-op players against any random 32 player MAG team any day.

Max Brooks will get you killed...

Max Brooks is a great author.  His book, World War Z, is THE recent definitive work in zombie fiction.  However, after reading a recent interview, I feel it is finally time for me to speak out.  Brooks also wrote The Zombie Survival Guide, which I found an amusing take on the coming apocalypse, and at least provided the masses with some guidance on taking on the shambling undead.  I thought I could look past the inaccuracies in the book, as the intent was good.  But Brook’s recent statements have proved me wrong.

In a recent interview at The Washington Post, Brooks was asked the following:

Ashburn, Va.: My friend and I are having a heated debate here, could you help us settle it? He says that a sawed-off shotgun is the preferred shotgun to blow zombie heads off, because it is less cumbersome and not detrimental to the carrier's mobility. I say that a standard shotgun is best, because the sawed-off's range is too short to be effective. You would need to get much too close to the offending zombie in order to get a good shot off. Can you settle this once and for all?

Max Brooks: BOTH shotguns are a problem. How many 12 guage rounds can you stuff in your pants? Shotgun shells are big, heavy and give you least bang for your bug, litteraly. Better stick with a .22, or even better, something that doesn't need to be reloaded like a machete. And don't worry about shooting zombies at long range. If they're that far away, just walk in the oposite direction.

This answer is indicative of Brooks’ statements in The Zombie Survival Guide, as well as many other interviews.  The problem is; it is plain wrong.  Brooks is a great author, as World War Z shows, but he doesn’t know shit about zombie engagement, and his views are endangering the living all over the globe who buy into his gospel.

Now, on this subject, I agree, a 12 gauge isn’t the optimal round for zombie engagement.  However, to suggest that a .22 is a better choice is simply ridiculous.  Yes, a .22 round can kill a zombie.  So can a pencil.  Both are great to take down zombies if you are A) Extremely skilled with the weapon OR B) Extremely lucky.  Otherwise, get fucked. 

In the concealed carry world, where a lethal shot to the body cavity or even the femoral artery in the leg can stop an attacker, there is debate on whether a .32 ACP, .38 Special, .380, or 9mm is the minimal round for self defense.  The .22 LR doesn’t even come into the conversation, and these are situations that do not include the requirement to pierce a human skull with enough energy to destroy the function of the brain to stop the threat.

The idea that a .22 LR “bounces around” inside the skull and thus causes as much trauma as a .45 ACP in a headshot is an urban legend, one that is unfortunately propagated by Brook’s writings.  Can it happen? Yes; just as a slingshot COULD launch a ball bearing that goes through the soft spot in a zombie’s skull and drop them. But the idea of the .22 LR being that lethal in untrained hands against a zombie is, in all reality, a joke. Advocating the .22 LR as an effective zombie-stopping round is just plain irresponsible.

I mentioned earlier that I didn’t disagree that a 12 gauge round wasn’t the best anti-zombie cartridge.  Why, with all my earlier ranting, would I say this?  Simple.  It is overkill for the capacity-to-kill ratio.  Yes, 12 gauge buckshot or slug will blow the fuck out of a zombie head.  BUT…12 gauge rounds are big and heavy.  Even considering a bite-only infection vector (that is to say discounting splash fluid infection), the 12 gauge is devastatingly effective against a single or small number of zombie adversaries, but not practical over long term engagements due to the limited amount of rounds in your weapon and those that you can carry.  Also, 12 gauge buckshot rounds, while effective, have a limited range.  Now, Brooks has asserted (while at the same time advocating the superbly ineffective .30 carbine round for some reason) that you should never engage Zombies at range, but if a mob of 20 Zombies is shambling towards my house, I sure would love to be able to start picking them off reliably at a range past 20 yards.

If resupply is not a problem, I actually advocate the P90 or PS90 in 5.7x28mm, this weapon fires a high-velocity round that will easily penetrate a skull, provide enough kill energy to scramble the brain, and has a great magazine capacity and economy when it comes to carrying a large number of rounds on a person.

Unfortunately, the P90 and the associated 5.7x28mm round are rare in the US due to economics and bullshit government regulations.  It is also extremely expensive.   With this in mind, the average civilian would be better served outfitting themselves with a good 5.56x45mm or 7.62x39mm semi-automatic rifle, or even a good 9mm carbine for zombie engagement, along with of course a reliable 9mm or .45 ACP sidearm.  The standard intermediate cartridge fired from a semi-automatic rifle, along with most pistol calibers fired from carbine-class weapons in semi-automatic mode will efficiently penetrate a zombie skull and drop the undead.  All that being said; I wouldn’t throw away a 12 gauge shotgun if I had to grab it to drop shamblers.  It blows big holes in things quite efficiently.

Last, but not least, I have to argue against this idea that the machete is the ideal anti-Zombie hand-to-hand weapon.  To stop a zombie you must destroy the head, i.e. crush its skull and incapacitate the brain.  A machete just isn’t the weapon to do that task.  Don’t believe me?  Take a machete and try and hack through a coconut in single swipe.  It’s hard to do and takes a lot of practice.  A mace or even a simple hatchet serves the purpose much better.  A machete is made to cut foliage, period.  Just like Brook’s statements that a .22 or a .30 carbine is the ideal zombie defense round, his statements that a machete is the ideal close combat zombie weapon is not only flawed, it will get people killed.

Max Brooks is a great writer.  But please don’t think that this means he knows what he is talking about when it comes to tactical engagement of the undead.  He will get you killed if you buy into his bullshit.

Note to Self: Don't Get Onstar

Onstar has a new feature that allows them to disable your vehicle at the behest of the government.  Great!  I think I will pass on that feature, thank you very much!

Shootin' Zombies ain't just for video games any more...

Nothing takes the stress off of a long day of designing video games like putting a few hundred rounds of 7.62x39mm into a zombie fuck.

Thanks to the dudes that make zombie targets, now I don't have to load up the Xbox 360 to pop caps in zombie skulls!

PAX last week, GDC next week...

PAX was great again this year, it's holding it's own for me as the replacement for the "old" E3.  Still not quite as spectacular, but it has a great vibe with the fans.  Brink looked pretty hot, and I had to fight my way through the Scribblenauts to get to the WB booth.  Of course, it was great to hook up with my compadres from Bungie and Ubi.  Unfortunetly, the pics I snapped on my iphone of the various cosplay shennanigans didn't really come out.  Good new is; it looks like I avoided the Swine. ;)

GDC Austin is next week, looking forward to my panel.  Looks like I'll have some travel fun, spending a day in Burbank for some meetings on Tuesday, and flying overnight to arrive Wednesday for my panel on Wednesday afternoon.  I'm looking forward to both, but not the travel in between.  At least I'll have a few days after the panel to absorb the conference and decompress.  I'll try to take some good pics this time.  Really!

Tim Schafer got me thinking...

So I was reading Kotaku's article on Brutal Legend's achievements, including the "Six Degrees of Schafer" achievement, another example of a viral achievement, and I got to thinking...doing a bit of research, it looks like I am actually the first person to have ever had a viral achievement on Xbox Live.

According to OXM, Small Arms came out on Nov. 20th, 2006.  We launched the TU with the Assassin Achievement on October 20th, but I waited until November 14th to log on (the Achievement was hardcoded to unlock on my gamertag when it was live and I logged in).  So I guess that makes me the first "recipient" of a viral achievment.  I guess I can list that among my achievements next to my "Worst Achievement Ever" award for GRAW's World Champion (I know, I know, it was a fucking stupid thing to do).

Interestingly, the first people I played with early in the morning at RSE were in France, so the second person in the world to have a viral achievement was French... :)

Back to your regular programming.

Winds of change...

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything substantive here, so I do have a few updates.  First off, I am excited to have accepted a position at WB Games as Lead Game Designer.  WB Games has made huge strides in expanding their dedication to AAA game titles, and I’m pleased to take the design helm of one of these unannounced titles.  I am supremely confident that the crew at Bungie will continue to kick ass on Halo: Reach. It was an honor to work on a great title with some of the most talented folks in the industry; Reach will be fucking awesome.

I’m also happy that I have been accepted as a speaker at this year’s GDC Austin Game Writers Summit in September, as part of a debate on the role of narrative vs. gameplay during game development.  Should be exciting, and it means I don’t have to put together a Powerpoint this year!

That is all, carry on.