WHERE THE F*CK IS MY CO-OP?! And EGM[i] Demo Video
matt chandronaitFor those of you that didn't catch the announcement on last week's episode of CO-OP Live (and why not? Why didn't you watch? ARE YOU TRYING TO HURT MY FEELINGS?!), we're taking a break in light of OMGWTF levels of busy-ness.
Between getting together the content we need for the first episode of a show we're doing for EGM (in case you missed it, there's a preview video of the digital version of EGM up on YouTube--the video was produced by none other than those jerks at Area 5 Media), The Game Developer's Conference happening this week in our back yard and me doing a panel at next week's SXSW, there just aren't enough bodies in the office or enough ours in the week to make CO-OP Live happen. Remember, we love you and we'll be back ASAP!
As for my panel, if you're going to be at SXSW, save some time on Tuesday. Here are all the details. You all should bow-down to the awesomeness of my friend Karen Chu (now at PlayFirst) for setting up all this panel stuff. She's a force to be reckoned with.
Reader Comments (16)
That's fine by me. I'll just be playing FFXIII tomorrow anyway.
So is EGM coming soon? Both the magazine and your guys video thing, I mean. And by soon I mean in the next few months.
I think it should be coming out later this month.
One thing I'm worried about is that I thought magazines learned, I don't know, in 1998, that you don't just dump magazine pages with jumpy animations and blippy sound files and call it a compelling experience, iPads notwithstanding. If that's the sizzle reel - I hope there's a plan B.
good luck at the SXSW panel matt! i bet all the co-op live experience will help cut down on being nervous talking in front of a bunch of people haha say hi to phil and tell him to get his ass on co-op someday
EGM IS BACK!
Awesome.
Hopefully this means you guys are taking off like a rocket ship! I haven't gotten to sing Elton John in ages.
@Matt
In Austin. Actually will be covering SXSW-. Is there any chance you will be free at somepoint to meet with people?
EGM's slated to hit in April. I don't have the details on exact dates, but that's pretty soon, right? :)
@sdf ... You have to think of the context. In 1998 there was no technology to load interactive elements piecemeal and dynamically. Also, there weren't mobile devices where it makes sense to explore rich media content. Time Inc., Wired, and Sports Illustrated (Okay, I guess that counts as Time, Inc.) and all have demo reels of their plans to explore similar ideas. That being said, this will be the first of its kind and it's going to take some time to get exactly right. I think it's the case of "less is more" in that you don't want tons of audio and animation interfering with the experience. You're right to be cautious--we don't want lots of noise (the visual kind as well as the audio kind) cluttering up the digital magazine, either--but don't let looking back keep you from looking forward.
@Gerren F. ... I probably will! Email me. Matt at area five dot tee vee.
Sigh , The one time I'm around to watch live , its an old one. Get me some good content at the event!! please.
Just in case you were looking for ideas for GDC coverage, here are a few of my questions:
1. What's the latest on Natal and PS Arc controllers? Have they improved? Anything out there that you guys haven't seen?
2. What's MS plan for XNA and cross platform with PC/360/Phone? Will it make me want to wait until the Holidays to get a WP7 Phone? (I know that is redundant but that is the fault of the dumb WP7 name)
3. Will future PS3s have the ability to make toast when they occasionally become nonfunctional (in terms of games) for an entire day?
4. How many dudes will call themselves "Apollo" in the new Battlestar Galactica MMO? (A frakking lot)
"In 1998 there was no technology to load interactive elements piecemeal and dynamically."
What??? We used to do this sort of thing 25 years ago in Videoworks and then later in the upgrade to that software which was called Macromedia Director.
"That being said, this will be the first of its kind"
Oh no it isn't. There have been plenty of interactive magazines on CD from Blender to LVI (la Vague Interactive) between 1985 and 1996.
Check out wikpedia if you don't believe me.
@dibs ODDJOB ... It looks to me like there's nothing new regarding Natal unless they're showing it to Über-Elite awesome people behind closed doors. As for 2., you know, that's a great question and one I didn't think to find the answer to! 3. The answer to this is: YES. 4. I think a close second will be "Adonis" *eyeroll*
@Peter Lount ... I definitely do believe you. In one of my first jobs I worked in Director and Director did not work like that--at least not initially. The final product was completely compiled and came out as a whole, it didn't load content dynamically from a server or update itself. But I only worked on early versions of it and it would make sense if they built in that functionality later. Blender and LVI CD mags I've never even heard of, so you've definitely educated me, there. Still, this is a unique era in which WA-HAY more people have devices capable of enjoying content formatted in this way than a decade ago and that with the continuing push toward small, touch-screen devices it's prescient of the future.
"In one of my first jobs I worked in Director"
I'm sure you did like we did and worked -around- Director's bugs ;-) haha.
I can't imagine how we ever produced creative work on the early 128K Macs or Mac SE's, in black & white and on a 9 inch screen at 512 x 342. Everything from magazine layouts to print ads to interactive content (I was working at an ad agency at the time making Tv commercials). Now we have 2.5 gigahertz machines with multiple cores and HD displays and most of what people do with that hardware is surf the web.
I feel old :-D
Hey ;) You might be sick of feedback so I'll keep this short and sweet ;)
I've watched all your episodes... and I'm not a fan of the new LIVE format but I didn't just want to tell you that so I sat down and re-watched an old episode vs a new one. The one thing I've noticed is that there is too much of you guys. Usually in your edited segments there is a lot more game sequences that are relative to what you are talking about... in the live portion the game sequence becomes the focus rather than the complementing element. You start explaining whats on screen.. and we're constantly looking at the same thing.. because I'm guessing its running live? I really want to see more aspects of the game as you talk about them...
Think of it as reviewing a sports game... I want to see the highlights, not 5 straight minutes of the game. You roughly know what you'll be talking about.. pre-record the game clips to accompany that.
Keep on truckin ! and I'll keep on watchin...
Im stringing out. Bring back my CO-OP Live.....PWEEAZE :'-[