Dos clasificaciones he visto hoy sobre el tema del agua.

La primera es un vídeo.



El segundo es una evolución gráfica del líquido elemento realizado por Games Radar, de menos a más.

Treasure Island Dizzy (1987, Spectrum/C64)



California Games (1987, C64 version)



Micro Machines (1991, NES version)



Sonic The Hedgehog (1991 - Master System version)



Tomb Raider (1996 onwards, Saturn to Xbox360)



Soul Blade (1996, PSone)



Wave Race 64 (1997 UK/1996 US, N64)



Ecco: Defender of the Future (2000, Dreamcast/PS2)



Splashdown (2001, PS2/Xbox)



Lair (2007, PS3)



BioShock (2007, Xbox 360/PC)



Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007, PS3)

Leía ayer en El País un nuevo reportaje (y a toda página, cosa rara para no estar situado en una sección fija de videojuegos) una nueva entrega de críticas hacia Sombras de Guerra. ¿Sombras de Guerra? Si, si, ese juego de estrategia sobre la Guerra Civil que probablemente habría quedado olvidado en los kioscos cogiendo polvo como la mayoría (y escasa) cantidad de títulos made in Spain. Por suerte, la polémica (que el Ciberpaís empezó hace un mes) parece que está haciendo que la gente se fije en él y lo compre. Yo he oído incluso spots en la radio, cosa que desde los Commandos no había hecho.



El juego en sí es lo de típico: estrategia con dos campañas (los dos bandos) y la posibilidad de realizar más o menos los hechos históricos que ocurrieron desde los Nacionales, o vivir batallas reales y en ciertos puntos cambiar la historia y hacer victorioso a los Republicanos.

Miedo me da pensar que un medio de la competencia próximamente absorbido por Prisa se vea infectado de esa tendenciosidad gratuita que incluso puede ir contra videojuegos simplemente por razones extralúdicas (¿existe esta palabra?) como es que en un videojuego puedas realizar cambios en los hechos o que existan algunas libertades históricas. Porque tras las primeras quejas de hace un tiempo (por llamar Nacional al bando franquista, o por incluir vídeos de documentales) ahora el País afilaba sus críticas por no ser poco menos que un juego educativo fiel a la historia. Como han dicho sus creadores, "sabíamos que habría criticas, puesto que siempre habrá quien quiera ver reflejada su historia" y es evidente que si aún hay discrepancias de lo que pasó en temas delicados en algunas batallas o el levantamiento, poco podría aclarar un videojuego.



De todas formas, esta crítica del periódico es más bien política y poco tiene que ver con lo que yo aún espero (solo lo hemos visto en versión light) de cara a esta campaña navideña que las jugueteras preparan. Puede que me esté columpiando, pero recuerdo que desde hace años (desde que los videojuegos ya no son esa maquinita de dos o tres frikis) por estas fechas aparecen varias noticias relacionadas con la violencia de las consolas, el peligro de la adicción, etc... Creo que la primera vez que fui consciente de ello fue con un comentario en Game 40 de los analistas Pin y Pon allá por el ´97, en el que se dijo que "ya está Mattel con su campaña de desprestigio hacia los videojuegos". No es muy descabellado, la industria juguetera ha visto como pierde muchas, muchas ventas año tras año, y normalmente invierte en publicidad mucho más que los videojuegos (si, aún hoy es más fácil ver anuncios de Scalestric o de muñecas que de consolas), y eso se quiera o no es un lobby de presión sobre todo para la televisión. Hay que jugar con Pin y Pon (aquí si me refiero al juguete, no a Game 40).

Lo del chiste de El Roto en El País hace unos días, o lo de colocar escenas de Call of Duty 4 de forma casi subliminal en una noticia de violencia en colegios sin venir a cuento (cortesía de Antena 3, por supuesto), espero que no sean lo último, me sentiría decepcionado y significaría que Famosa y las muñecas chochonas estarían perdiendo punch.

Creo que hoy día nadie se sorprende cuando encuentra publicidad en los videojuegos. Si, me refiero sobre todo a esos deportivos repletos de logos, marcas de ropa, anuncios de telefonía o lo que sea en estadios virtuales que por copiar a la realidad, copian esa forma de financiación de los clubs.

AdSense (ya sabéis, Google) ha opinado en una entrevista sobre el tema de la publicidad en los videojuegos, y parece que va en serio. Publicidad en tiempo real, actualizada, que mueve dinero, y que puede ayudar a financiar grandes proyectos. Es inevitable que tarde o temprano llegue, y si tenemos en cuenta que actualmente ya es casi o más poderosa que la industria del cine, lo raro es que no haya ocurrido antes en grandes dosis.

Algunas frases destacadas de la entrevista.

Remember, the game industry started in the '70s. Now games are from the cradle to the grave. It's no longer [about] your 15 year-old. It's no longer your 18-to-32 year-old. The median player of a PlayStation is 29 years-old. The demographics have changed. So the rules have changed.

La edad de los jugadores ha crecido (el usuario medio de PlayStations es de 29 años). "Las reglas han cambiado". Parece que ahora que los videojuegos ya no son ese juego de matar marcianitos para niños, el sector es interesante...

The last game that I did at Sega cost USD 25 million. When PlayStation One started, the games were costing anywhere from USD 600,000 to a million. That's not the case [with] PlayStation 3 - you can't do a Triple-A game for under USD 20 million.

Datos del coste actual de los videojuegos, al menos las grandes superproducciones.



The whole casual game category has opened up in a huge way for this. I would say 80 percent of games [will have] advertising in them by 2010.

Estima que el 80% de los juegos tendrán publicidad en 2010. Temblad. Snake, Zelda, Kratos, usaréis pantalones Levi´s.

Let's say you're playing Tiger Woods: I'm using the Nike [branded] driver in the game. I can pause the game, ping on the driver, [and] it takes me to the Nike site. I can buy the driver and also get an idea of what that club is about. At the same time, I can ping my friend on his mobile and say I hit the ball 300 yards and it shows the Nike [logo]. I just showed advertising on two different platforms. That's really different than any other way of communicating advertising.

Un ejemplo de como sería un juego de golf con publicidad. Para ser sincero, en estos juegos deportivos no lo veo demasiado intrusivo, será quizá que ya estoy acostumbrado a relacionar Nike o Addidas con deporte, o por supuesto marcas de coches en juegos de conducción.



We're working with the [ad] agencies. We're working with the developers. We're working with the publishers to make sure that ads are placed in the appropriate places. A lot of companies cannot do that.

Publicidad apropiada para cada juego. Por supuesto, productos como Coca Cola seguramente los acabaremos teniendo en un Final Fantasy como sustituto de una poción. Que digo poción, ¡cola de fénix!.



The industry is going online. The whole thing of putting boxes on shelves is changing. There are close to 10 million people on Xbox Live. As soon as Sony straightens out their [online gaming] act, they're going to get to the same place. As a matter of fact, they've already said that all the games they want to do are online games. Yes, we can put games on the shelf that have advertising, but those are going to wind up being static [ads]. The whole thing is going to come to dynamic.

La publicidad ya existe (muy pequeña) en los juegos. El futuro es el dinamismo. ¿Que es eso de anunciar un Nokia anticuado en tu FIFA 2010? Aunque sigas jugando a ese juego en el 2011, la publicidad siempre estará actualizada con el último teléfono.

¿Bueno, malo?. Ya veremos. Si es útil para que juegos costosos no se queden solo en proyectos, creo que salimos ganando. Si se queda en anuncios para pantallas de carga, podría ser hasta admisible. Pero esperemos que no invadan esa línea que separaba los mundos aparentemente "inocentes" con el real, y pasemos a hablar en plan "oye, la armadura Reebok solo aumenta +130 la vitalidad, compra la de oferta en Zara que además te multiplica los efectos beneficiosos de la poción Red Bull".

Una interesante entrevista a Matthew Jeffery, jefe de European Talent Acquisition for Electronic Arts, algo así como el encargado de buscar talentos para EA en Europa.

Está en inglés, aquí lo reproduzco íntegramente.


You are very outspoken that creative talent should make gaming their career destination and not film. Why?

Absolutely. I am very passionate about this. Just look back a few years when the games industry was seen as the awkward cousin of the film industry, equivalent to the spotty, geeky nerd that everyone avoided in the school playground. Work in film with cutting edge VFX or on a 'blocky graphic' videogame with little story telling or emotional hooks to allow suspension of disbelief? Pretty clear-cut choice. Fast forward to today, how things have changed.

Games graphics are improving but aren’t comparable with film as yet?

The visual difference between live action, CG films and video games is getting perceptibly smaller. The 'wow' moments in film visuals are lessening and marginal as people are now used to the wizards and trickery of the effects houses. Moving forward, gaming has the biggest 'wow' moments still to come. Just consider how far the games industry has come, from the visually simple ‘Pac-Man,’ to today's graphical tour de force ‘Crysis.’

The games industry's advancement is stunning. But interestingly, film CG and VFX are plateauing. We will always love film as it takes us through a controlled linear roller coaster of emotions, as we suspend our disbelief to enjoy the ride that the film director dictates us to see.However, the challenges now lie in gaming for creative talent as they get the chance to work their magic in real time in online worlds, which the audience control what they want to do and what they see, not the film director. That's creative freedom. That’s entertainment.



You are not saying that gaming will replace film as people’s favourite form of entertainment?

It’s already happening. People will always love film for its escapism. Whether they will go to the cinema in the future to view the latest blockbuster is a different matter, with people’s desire for home entertainment in HI-Def insatiably increasing. The games industry is driving forward in what it offers as a form of entertainment. It is critically important to recognize that consumers want to be in control of how and what entertains them.

A sports fan can play as Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in an online game, with players in the USA, China, Canada and Germany in real time. That’s an awesome form of entertainment for a golf fan. Then you have games like ‘FIFA,’ again where you can play as your favourite team online and gain a world ranking.

What I am illustrating here is that in film, the film director is in total control of everything you see. In games you are in control and that is really immersive. I love films like ‘The Fast & The Furious’ but I want to be in control, so games like the awesome ‘Burnout,’ allows me to control a fast car and race through streets of traffic at breakneck speeds and crash with the car splintering and crumpling on impact, in the safety of my lounge.

Games like ‘Harry Potter’ give the games player the opportunity to fully explore Hogwarts, seeing every room of the magnificent school at your leisure. Film does not have the time to show Hogwarts in its glory and when we developed the game we had to work from blueprints designed of Hogwarts, of which very few rooms have been seen in the film. That is real immersion and extension of interactive entertainment. Giving people the chance to play a film and immerse into different worlds is utterly compelling.



So, how is entertainment changing?

Technology is the driving force impacting the way we are entertained. The internet and broadband is driving video and music adoption and social networking through FaceBook & MySpace is the trend of drawing together a global community of different people and cultures. TV is changing through new distribution models like TiVo, PPV and downloads are increasing. In music, iPod and iTunes create a cost effective ‘soundtrack of one’s life’. In film, home theatre, HD and media PC’s make viewing an improved experience.

In gaming, Next Gen consoles and new platforms are extending audiences and range. In mobile phones 3G makes phones a portable all-purpose appliance, eg iPhone. So technology is driving the way we want to be entertained. Combined into this, consumers want to be in control. Personalisation and customization are critical for consumers.

Look at mobile ring-tones, a $3Bn market. Self-expression and user generated content sees sites like YouTube storming ahead with content. Social networking sees over 109 million MySpace users. These are huge consumer trends we have to react to.

Do games encourage violence?

This boils down to how impressionable someone is. Film has the same challenges. Take ‘SAW III,’ a very violent and graphic film but I can recognize it’s a story at the end of the day. Gaming is the same. Yes there is interactivity with the characters, which some argue make gaming more realistic than film and hence can prey on impressionable minds. There are age limits adhered to by the games industry through the ESRB. If there is a game that is too graphic and violent, then the ESRB won’t classify it, hence effectively banning the game from sale in this territory.

This recently happened with ‘Manhunt 2.’ If a game gets an 18 rating then shops and more critically parents should adhere to this. Parents must take a closer interest into what their children are playing. Younger minds are more impressionable and can be influenced by a game or a film, and that’s why there is an 18 age rating to protect them. The ‘SIMs’ the biggest selling game of all time. Gaming is not about violence; its about entertainment.



What other challenges would someone in film considering working in gaming face?

There are many exciting challenges that gaming brings to film industry professionals. We have mentioned the advance in CG and VFX capabilities. I would add bringing their knowledge and experience to tapping into people's emotions. Can a game make you cry? Not yet but its coming.

Gaming's big challenge is to create emotionally believable characters, easy in film as the viewer immerses into a linear experience and the director can play with emotions at whim. Gaming in real time in open worlds with the audience in control has more challenges. Game characters need to be emotionally believable but many are becoming increasingly anthropomorphic, leading developers into the barren land of 'Uncanny Valley' – where characters look real, without the matching subtleties of behavior. But photo-realism does not mean believability.

Gaming mustn't fall into the 'more polygon' trap and create great looking characters but they move like zombies with no intelligence or perception of reality. Motion fidelity has to be better than modeling. UCAP, (Universal Motion Capture), has helped the industry achieve both motion and modeling fidelity but video games now face new problems unique to interactive real time graphics. Video games have to create the illusion of interactive life. To connect with a character, audiences must believe what characters: Do; Think; and Feel. This takes gaming beyond the Uncanny Valley.

Awareness, Animation plus AI are critical to the suspension of disbelief. The challenge for interactive video games is how characters ingame respond to new unpredictable inputs; for example, if a character in a game stands next to an exploding bomb and does not react realistically, this breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Gaming also has the challenge of how to relate the audience to the character through how they interact with the games controller. Controllers need to possess a personality.

Many companies say they are struggling to recruit. Some even say there is a talent crisis, what’s your view?

No. When the likes of companies like Pixar, Dreamworks and EA recruit talent from Europe for America that highlights the quality of our talent pool. Lets be clear, in the world today, Europe has the finest talent pool to select from. We have three of the finest art/animation schools in the world in Gobelins, Supinfocom and FilmAkademie. Yes there are some real challenges for recruiters but nothing that isn’t easy to overcome with creativity in attracting talent. Why am I so confident? EA’s UK Studio has recruited 350 permanent staff and 400 contractors in the past two years.

720 of which came from direct recruitment, not through recruitment agencies. But recruitment is not easy for EA, we have our own brand challenges including the perception of churning out sequels, been seen as a large corporate borg of a company and of course, following the ‘EA spouse,’ episode, issues surrounding work/life balance. Yes, the experienced talent pool is shrinking and all companies in entertainment are fighting for talent, including games, film, TV, toys, mobile and IT. With candidates now demanding to work on the best films and games, that means they are happy to relocate their lives and are globally mobile.



Can gaming produce realistic environments and worlds?

The first CG worlds, seen in movies such as ‘Star Trek 2’ and ‘Tron,’ were awe-inspiring. Today, gaming successfully creates visually stunning worlds but it is no longer enough for environments just to look stunning – they must behave realistically, and be fully responsive to character and user input.

Crysis ensures that every part of nature that can respond, does respond. It includes simulated foliage and ricocheting bullets, dynamically generated ocean waves, volume rendered clouds, a dynamic HDR sky, and dozens of additional real-time graphical elements. Gaming is just scratching the surface of interactive film-like effects.

The challenge for gaming is creating real time dynamic effects in worlds and placing interactive environments at the control of the gamer. Gamers demand natural forces at their control and environments that respond.

Is retention of staff a big thing in gaming?

The biggest challenge facing games companies today is workers are not as loyal as they have been in the past. I remember the day when no one would leave a game team when a project was near completion. That's not the case today. Companies have to work daily to recruit their existing staff to stay with them. Leaders have to ask themselves if their staff are challenged, if they are well remunerated, if they have a good work/life balance, if their staff work on world class games, if they can work towards promotion, if they receive enough training and development and whether their ideas are listened to. If not then they are prey to a head-hunter and will lose their staff.

‘Crunch’ and work life balance are huge issues in gaming, is crunch inevitable?

The ‘EA spouse’ episode was a painful wake up call to not only EA but the games industry. Any industry with a project deadline, be it film, game, IT, even school course work, will face higher working hours at the end of the project. Our job is to ensure that crunch is reduced by an effective preproduction process by locking down game design at the start of development and then ensuring project schedulers can distribute work equitably over a projects. We also have to recognise that games teams are perfectionists and want to add new cool content right up until the last minute. Crunch will always be a challenge for gaming, it is getting better but peaked hours at the end of a project are inevitable.

Pero de los de calidad, ¿eh?. Por orden, Assasin´s Creed, Cloud de FF VII AC, Crysis, Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo, Kingdom Hearts 2, Prince of Persia, Metroid, Shadow of the Colossus y Army of Two.

Algunos mensajes en el foro de estos días me han recordado a esta viñeta.

¿Conocíais todas?. Yo lo encontré por casualidad.

   * Alice (2007)
   * Alone in the Dark 2 (2009)
   * BloodRayne II: Deliverance (2007)
   * Castlevania (2007)
   * Citizen Siege (2009)
   * Clannad (2007)
   * Clock Tower (2008)
   * Cold Fear (2008)
   * Death, Jr. (TBA)
   * Devil May Cry (2010)
   * Doom 2 (TBA)
   * Driver (2008)
   * EverQuest (TBA)
   * Far Cry (2008)
   * Fear Effect (2008)
   * Gears of War (2009)
   * God of War (2007)
   * Halo (2008)
   * Hitman (2007)
   * In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007)
   * Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (2009)
   * Kameo (2007)
   * Max Payne (2007)
   * MechWarrior (TBA)
   * Metal Gear Solid (2009)
   * Mortal Kombat: Devastation (2010)
   * Onimusha (2008)
   * Postal (2007)
   * Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2008)
   * Rainbow Six (2008)
   * Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
   * Silent Hill 2 (2008)
   * Siren (2007)
   * Soul Calibur (2007)
   * Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run (2007)
   * Splinter Cell (2010)
   * Street Fighter (2008)
   * The Suffering (2007)
   * Tekken (2007)
   * Tomb Raider III (TBA)
   * The Unforgettable (2008)
   * Warcraft (2008)

Podéis ver más trabajos de este artista en ropie.com/.

He decidido recopilar en un rar toda una buena colección de música de videojuegos de una misma temática. En esta ocasión, todas las que os presento son temas muy orquestales, llenos de coros y que os elevarán el espíritu XDDDDD. La elección de unos u otros temas la he hecho simplemente por mis gustos, quizás alguien encuentre juegos demasiados repetidos en lugar de haber añadido más variedad, pero prefería hacer la selección por la calidad de los temas más que por los juegos en sí, y este ha sido el resultado. La mayoría de juegos son de la última generación salvo dos indispensables, Soul Blade y Vagrant Story, ambos de PSX.

Dado que no está permitido linkear directamente el sitio donde está el disco, tendreis que pedírmelo en demon15@gmail.com y os responderé lo más pronto posible (ocupa 140 megas indispensables para cualquiera que disfrute mínimamente con la buena música).

Son músicas selectas de grandes bandas sonoras, podeis dar un vistazo y si no habeis escuchado la mayoría, no dudeis en pedírme el disco, que merece la pena, de verdad.

PD: he optado por usar este sistema porque en el foro está permitido, si aún asi hay alguien que encuentre algo que incumpla las normas, por favor, decídmelo y borraré inmediatamente el post y dejaré de dar el link.

PD 2: en un futuro, y si tiene éxito (si nadie me lo pide, se acabó el invento XDDD) recopilaría de otras temáticas, música cañera, música electrónica, canciones pop, etc...

PD 3: Si, me olvidé Liberi Fatali, la intro de FF VIII, me acabo de dar cuenta ahora :-(