Let’s think about the future for a second. You probably don’t understand the kids that make up the bulk of our audience, but I do. I call them the network MySpace remix 3.0 social generation. Unlike any other people before them, young people today like to interact with each other. They also like music. YouTube is the perfect example of whatever point it is I’m making. Everything should be online and customizable.

It’s short. It’s funny! It’s worth a read. As someone in the comments section said, “You just saved me so much in travel expenses.” Touché.

Five Short Video Game Industry Keynotes [Magical Wasteland via GameSetWatch]

Get your hands on the Source SDK, The Elder Scrolls Construction Set, the Neverwinter Nights toolset (either game, 1 or 2 or both!). Make lots of mods. When the time is right and you have a chance to interview for a design job, show them all your kick arse mods.

Of course, the same would apply for modding the software of pretty much any company you’d like to work for. But when you make it and publish your first title, we ask that you send us one of your two complimentary copies out of gratitude.

Breaking into Games: I want to be a Designer! [via gamingtoday]

In the last few weeks, Surfer Girl has enlightened us on the progress of Team Bondi’s LA Noire, a Resistance: Fall of Man sequel and shared a few tidbits on Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport 3.

Are these rumours tasty? Yes. Varied? Certainly. Accurate? Only one person knows, and that’s Surfer Girl herself. As such, we kindly asked the knowledgeable lass for a moment of her time:

Logan: Would you say you’re directly involved in the games industry?
Surfer Girl: I’m an insider. Insider.

Hit the jump for the full interview.

PS. If you’re wondering where exactly the name for Surfer Girl’s blog came from, she’s already done an excellent job of explaining it:

3) “Where the hell do you get a blog title like “Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars” from?”
The blog name comes from a Latvian tour guide who was on some sort of hallucinogenic and spoke random phrases.

4) “You never reviewed Star Wars, what did you think of Star Wars?”
Boring. A step down from a classic like American Graffiti. George did science fiction much better with THX 1138.

Surfer Girl also took the time to interview me during our Q&A. You can read it over at the Reviews Star Wars blog. It’s mostly about Australian culture, which was awesome for me because I’m actually a Kiwi.The interview

Logan: So, my first two questions shouldn’t come as a surprise. Do you surf, and are you a girl?
Surfer Girl: Yes and yes.

Logan: You also have a second blog going: sttnw.blogspot.com.
Surfer Girl: Yes.
Logan: What prompted you to start STTNW as a separate blog?
Surfer Girl: I’m fascinated be the sheer amount of creative things that go to waste. I don’t have any intentions to solely focus on games in that blog.
Logan: With SGRSW or STTNW?
Surfer Girl: STTNW and SGRSW. But such things that never was prompted by my interest in the masses of films that studios attach themselves to, but never happen for some reason or another.
Logan: You’ve set a bit of a precedent on SGRSW though with your posts over the last few weeks. I know I’m visiting it daily to see what you’ve put up.
Surfer Girl: Well thanks.

Logan: Have you always been privy to the information you’re posting, and only recently decided to make it public? Or is this a new development?
Surfer Girl: I’m been privy for quite some time.

Logan: So, how far does your interest in gaming extend? Would you consider yourself hardcore or casual? Do you play an MMO on a regular basis?
Surfer Girl: I have a disdain for MMOs. That study that I read on a post on Kotaku that essentially said MMOs are a waste of money and time summarises my opinion on that.
Logan: So your disdain has nothing to do with a bad experience?
Surfer Girl: Not really. I like when games are daring.
Logan: By daring, do you mean developers taking risks? Like Looking Glass back in the day?
Surfer Girl: Taking risks yes. I rarely care to play through more than a level or two of the typical franchise title.
Logan: I agree. But history shows that risk-taking rarely works in the games industry, and when it does, no money comes of it.
Surfer Girl: That is the sad thing. But I think that corporate behaviour or lack thereof is possibly the most significant effect on those risk-taking titles.

Logan: How long would you say you’ve been playing games. Or had an interest?
Surfer Girl: Oh, I’ve been playing games somewhere between fifteen-twenty years.
Logan: What have you been playing recently?
Surfer Girl: The last games I’ve played through are Skate and BioShock.
Logan: What did you think of BioShock?
Surfer Girl: It is the best first-person title I’ve played in recent memory, 2K Australia/2K Boston seemed to get everything right. It is a step I’d like to see the industry go in, where there are titles that aggregate miscellaneous works from other mediums to create something original. There is too much emphasis on licensing and too little emphasis on inspiration. I’m paying $US 60 to support a creativity, which is a reason I rarely purchase games.
Logan: In that case, it’s $US 60 well spent.
Surfer Girl: I think if people want games to be considered an artistic medium alongside films and books, something like BioShock is a necessary step. You are not seeing some young author writing The Catcher in the Rye IV, you are seeing them draw inspiration from Salinger.

Surfer Girl: I think that the trend toward an eventual demise of physical games distribution is going to help the industry grow exponentially. By next generation, someone creating a game equivalent of In Rainbows will be fairly commonplace.
Logan: Oh, online distribution is certainly a goer. But how many years it’ll take before the industry moves across as a whole? All depends on EA I’d say.

Surfer Girl: I actually played through The Getaway purely for the story. Horrible game.
Logan: [Laughs]

Surfer Girl: And Indigo Prophecy too (aside from the inane third act), non-existent gameplay. But something unique. I also liked that RPG-puzzle game on XBLA.
Logan: Puzzle Quest?
Surfer Girl: Yes.

Logan: Do RPGs interest you in general? NWN2, Baldur’s Gate… that sort of thing?
Surfer Girl: I can’t stand RPGs.
Logan: Why’s that?
Surfer Girl: Boring and typically seem uninspired. I don’t like turn-based combat either, strikes me as archaic.
Surfer Girl: In quite a number of RPGs there is what seems to be this library music that companies have had since the early nineties and have kept recycling for their games. It is the most irritating thing in video games. A lot of the music the Nintendo uses for their various titles sounds recycled too and I cannot stand that. Nintendo should not be afraid to use an actual musical score like they did on Metroid Prime 3.
Surfer Girl: However, that title seemed to have everything else about it besides controls recycled. In terms of recycling ideas, I think that is how Blizzard Entertainment makes money.
Logan: Any thoughts on Bill Roper?
Surfer Girl: I would not call him a beacon of originality either. I think Blizzard Entertainment makes the EA Sports label look original and daring in comparison. I think Blizzard should go to EA, seems like a match made in heaven. Blizzard also spends way too much time on the titles they make.
Logan: Too much development time? Who do you feel that’s in detriment to?
Surfer Girl: The gaming audience.

Surfer Girl: It wouldn’t hurt to make a Rock N’ Roll Racing update for XBLA. Hell, they could even throw orcs, aliens, and demons so that has the Blizzard signature on it.
Logan: That’s a franchise they haven’t looked at in a while. Didn’t they do something with Lost Vikings not too long ago?
Surfer Girl: I think they ported both RnR Racing and Lost Vikings get ported for GBA?
Logan: Now that sounds familiar. Not much of a Nintendo person. Kind of dropped out after the SNES.
Surfer Girl: Wii gave me a source of hope. The Wii title that I’m most excited for is Blocks, the first Spielberg/EA collaboration. I think it may just be the most important puzzle game since Tetris. In general, I like puzzle games, Q Entertainment especially seems to get things right… except for the mostly horrible music.
Logan: So you have mixed feelings over something like Rez then?
Surfer Girl: I loved Rez. I was talking more about Hoobastank being in Lumines II.
Logan: Ah. What would you have preferred to have playing in the background?
Surfer Girl: Fatboy Slim, Beck, The Go! Team is more along the lines of what I want to see more of.

Logan: Have you received any “interesting” email from the developers you’ve posted about?
Surfer Girl: The most interesting emails have been from quite random people with no clear connection to the industry.
Logan: Can you give an example?
Surfer Girl: “u r probably hot, thats y u should subscribe to my rss feed -tim”
Surfer Girl: There’s more interesting, that’s just the most recent thing in the inbox.
Logan: Go Tim. Think he has a chance?
Surfer Girl: At me subscribing to his RSS feed? Considering he did not leave me an address of any kind and has a free email account, doubtful. It is like the person who emailed me and asked “what is your email?”
Logan: Sigh.
Surfer Girl: I find these people hilarious. But I cannot say much about conversations with developers and/or publishers, which may or may not occur.

Logan: Do you think you’ll continue to post exclusive info, at least for now?
Surfer Girl: I’ll continue to do, whatever it is I do. Then I’ll reveal I actually write for Forbes like Daniel Lyons [the Fake Steve Jobs guy] and have book coming out in two months.

Logan: Would you say you’re directly involved in the games industry?
Surfer Girl: I’m an insider. Insider.
Logan: It’s not often you see people using bold so effectively.
Surfer Girl: It’s not often you are quite surprised by a compliment like that, but thank you.
Logan: You’re welcome.

Logan: Are you concerned someone might eventually figure out who you are?
Surfer Girl: No.
Logan: No because they won’t, or that it doesn’t matter if they do?
Surfer Girl: A little of both.

Logan: Has journalism ever held your interest?
Surfer Girl: College major. Not necessarily a career path.
Logan: But judging from your blog, you’re not a fan of print?
Surfer Girl: I’m a fan of print. But I don’t really care for video game or technology magazines though, to be honest. I’ll read Time, but personally I think that gaming and tech magazines will be the first to go all-digital and cease to print.

Thanks for your time Surfer Girl. Keep up the good work!

It’s a common misconception that gaming is a solitary activity, as today an increasing number of titles are for gamers to get together and play in turn. In this respect, it’s no different to golf — a game which can be a source of marital friction but is rarely accused of incitement to murder… Games like Halo are part of such a large sub-culture that people who don’t play them are likely to be seen as oddballs and excluded from many conversations — in much the same way as people who aren’t interested in football or who don’t have a television.

The piece goes on to cite a university professor who says gamers have more friends than non-gamers and mention evidence that games improve eye-hand coordination. Maybe it’s something in the air, but I get the feeling gaming’s days as the scapegoat for society’s ills are numbered. More of this level headed reporting please!
In Defense of Computer Games [BBC]

Next year’s show will include an extra track dedicated to game outsourcing, helloooooo China, and all of the usual suspects.

More than 16,000 industry types will be hitting up San Francisco during the show, if you want to be one of them you better snag a registration but quick.

THE 2008 GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE®
INVITES THE VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO FOR
FIVE DAYS OF NETWORKING, LEARNING, AND INSPIRATION FEBRUARY 18-22, 2008

Registration Opens and Website Goes Live with Enhanced Navigation and a Focus on Community Through New Pass Structure, Online Social Networking, and
Newly Expanded Lineup of Industry Relevant Summits

SAN FRANCISCO–Oct. 9, 2007–CMP Technology’s 2008 Game Developers Conference® (GDC) returns to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco to bring the videogame industry together for a week of networking, learning, and inspiration February 18-22, 2008. The world’s largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment has taken steps this year to boost its focus on community-building and networking with the expansion of its lineup of summits that take a closer look at the industry’s emerging trends, and through its myGDC initiative, which features enhanced social/professional networking capabilities on the GDC site. The conference is also simplifying the pass structure, to provide more intuitive access to the diverse experiences at the GDC. Complete details and registration for the conference are available now at www.gdconf.com.

“Now that the Game Developers Conference is the world’s largest professionals-only game industry event, it’s more essential than ever for us to foster microcommunities that will enable clusters of attendees with similar interests to share with and challenge each other,” said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. “We are taking a cue from our own content this year by broadening our trademark exploration of breakthrough game development with particular attention to the rise of casual and social online spaces. To embody these trends, we are increasing our support of focused communities through summits, and have enabled more individual profile development and professional networking on our website starting next month.”

The GDC has made some significant changes in order to bring attendees closer together and provide them with the most relevant content in 2008. The timing for the content programming cycle was adjusted forward to ensure that sessions reflect the most current trends and issues for the game development community, and feature the most cutting-edge technologies. In addition, the conference has expanded its lineup of single-track summits dedicated to specific communities. The 2008 lineup includes the return of the Serious Games Summit, the Independent Games Summit and the Casual Games Summit. New to the schedule this year are the Game Outsourcing Summit, pioneered in 2006 at the GDC’s successful standalone summit in Los Angeles, and the Worlds In Motion Summit, focusing on the intersection between games and online worlds. The standalone GDC Mobile event continues as well, as a dedicated conference with breakout sessions.

Community interaction before, during, and after the GDC is also being emphasised through new offerings including the myGDC social networking features on GDConf.com launching in early November. All registered conference attendees will be able to create, search and share profiles; connect and collaborate with other GDC attendees; and continue the networking long after the show. In addition to these virtual enhancements, conference attendees will also gain more onsite face-to-face time with this year’s new option to purchase hourly attendee meeting rooms at the conference, for a more professional and distraction-free pitch or business meeting.

More than 16,000 game industry professionals will convene during GDC and, as such, intuitive access is another priority for the conference. GDC passes are therefore now being divided into five easily navigable categories. The All Access Pass offers entry into all GDC offerings including lectures, panels, roundtables, keynotes, tutorials, summits like the Serious Games Summit, and even the standalone GDC Mobile conference. The Main Conference pass gives attendees access to the GDC’s lectures, panels, roundtables, and keynotes. The Summits and Tutorials pass allows entrance into the entire summit lineup listed above, as well as the GDC’s popular technical one- and two-day tutorials. There are also Expo Passes for those who want to peruse the expo floor only without attending any of the GDC’s editorial content, and a GDC Mobile pass for entry into that conference exclusively. Details, prices and registration for all passes are available now at www.gdconf.com.