HMXJohnlok’s Profile

any chance of lostprophets dlc soon :P

Sunday, November 9, 2008

You **** ****.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Hey all,

As some of you may have noticed, my presence here has dwindled over the last few weeks. The community team has been busy tying up loose ends, traveling, talking about Rock Band, and generally just busting ass throughout the last quaking moments before the Rock Band 2 launch.

Let's get right into the blog, then, eh?

1. PAX was an amazing experience. I highly suggest that everybody with the means to get there attend next year's expo! The Penny Arcade guys put on a hell of a show, and I was thrilled to share Rock Band 2 with all of our fans (there were a couple of converted haters, as well!). I'm sure the community team will be following up w/ some PAX goodies and oddities when they actually get a chance to stop and rest at the office over the next few weeks.

2. I hope everyone gave the PAX pack a try - if you haven't, please do - I don't think you'll be disappointed. We don't make any money off of the pack, so there's no conflict of interest there. For the few of you out there whose icy-cold veins couldn't be warmed by the fire and verve of the PAX tracks, you can still donate to Child's Play without downloading the songs. Please visit http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ for more details, or to make a direct donation

3. I will be leaving the community team - never fear, however, for I will be busting some new moves with the audio production team (the team responsible for assembling the DLC packs and tracks you all so covet!). You've all been a hoot and a hollah' for sure. Please do try not to give Sean, Henry, and Alex any heart attacks?

Please feel free to PM me w/ your comments in the future, but be advised that I no longer work for the community team in an official capacity. For any customer support requests, comments about release dates, DLC and the like, please hit up the rest of the guys on the community team.

Best,
HMXJohnlok

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

E3 was great. Parts of the convention were attended a little sparsely, but spending time in the MTV/Harmonix booth, you'd have never known. We entertained a constant stream of press and visitors with hands on demos of Rock Band 2. Our floor space was almost always packed - my apologies to the other booths in the area... we were loud.

Many of us showed up on Monday, although a few hardy souls (Sean, John D, and some MTV folks) arrived in LA before the weekend to attend VH1's Rock Honors - yes, that means Sean saw The Who live twice in one week. Wtf, right? After some Monday set up, we had a late night dinner followed by some time relaxing at the hotel bar, where we met Blizzard VP of Design, Rob Pardo. Cool, eh? Yeah, I had a bit of a nerd-out, although Dan and Helen did most of the talking.

Tuesday was when the action begun. Lots of hands-on demos were held in our amazing Rock Band 2 room. There are pics and videos of it out there somewhere, which I'll add to the bottom if I have time later. We did a live Gamespot broadcast as well, and totally kicked Everlong's butt, even though I dropped a stick halfway through the song. Late Tuesday, after all of the E3 fun, was followed up by a private party at Alex's suite downtown. I got to meet a ton of the MTV folks (most of whom I knew only by name on e-mails and such). It's always great to put personalities and faces to names.

Wednesday was a day to remember. If anything else happened that day, it is inconsequential, unworthy to be discussed, since it was entirely eclipsed by the legendary The Who show at The Orpheum. The Who came to play, and they totally brought the house down. I am still trying to figure out how I managed to get a job where attending a concert of such proportion is considered "working."

I don't mean to gloat, but the show was simply astounding. Check out some of the reviews of the show (the ArsTechnica blog and Jeff Green's blog were particularly well-written... plus I used to read Jeff Green's stuff all the time back when I had a Computer Gaming World subscription). There are some pictures and videos floating around, as well as a few choice Daltrey/Townshend quotes.

Thursday wrap-up meant lots of packing, prepping for shipments, and that sort of thing. We managed to get 90-95% of the work done, so we had the rest of the evening to relax and have fun, and I even got to sleep in until 9:30 on Friday! It's a good, thing, too, since we were out late carousing with a few of the good LA folks we met.

It is really nice to be back, and I must say it is an absolute pleasure and relief to finally be able to talk about all of the features now. The setlist is incredible, and the game looks and feels incredibly polished right now. I can't wait to start unveiling the rest of this year's DLC. There are some epic weeks in your future. Be patient.

-HMXJohnlok

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Not to sound like a broken record, but I should emphasize once again how super busy everyone over here is right now. The gaming industry is infamous for its nearly universal "crunch" periods. However, this is a bit misconceived. While it's true that most studios build in a "crunch" period to their development cycles, it's much the same in other industries: film, business, etc. Crunch periods are not uncommon in any industry that has to pump out a product. So why is it that the game industry crunch became so infamous?

Some conjecture on my part: first, we're still a relatively new industry. Many of the first video game companies were independent start-ups. Places like Infocom, Bioware, and Harmonix were started by innovative, creative people. Notice that "business-oriented" (I should note, however, that Alex and Eran are some of the keenest businessmen I've ever met...) was not listed as an attribute. Many of the folks who started up and continue to start up gaming companies have a vision, something to say, and a product to build, but not necessarily the business-savvy to back it up - read up a little bit on the history of the guys over at Penny Arcade to see what I mean. The longevity of the companies themselves hinges on the ability to transform and adopt business and marketing strategies. Without this adaptability, gaming companies can't survive for long.

What has been interesting for me - I've been alive almost as long as the industry - is watching the various companies start, develop, merge, and even sometimes falter. The industry itself is learning how to do business, and I think that, ultimately, strong gaming companies run strong businesses. Video game companies that make it big are in an interesting position, too. The businesses looking to acquire them aren't terribly interested in changing things about the way those companies make video games. Alternately, the companies acquired aren't interested in the finer business details. They just want to do what they've always done - make great games.

Everyone grows - the companies that make games, and the games themselves. Ten years ago, a game that was a labor of love among a core group of dedicated folks is now a game that's part of a well-oiled machine. Some of my favorite games of all time were some of the buggiest and least polished. Industry standards have changed with the demands of the industry. What was once a niche hobby is now a mainstream activity. Production value has gone up, so it has become important to make efficient every step of the process.

How does crunch fit in? How is it different now than it was? I would argue that, on the whole, video game companies have matured. Crunch is a calculated step - it's no longer a desperate necessity. Video game developers are, oddly enough (I only say that because most of us grew up playing video games and avoiding work), some of the most dedicated workers of any industry. But not even they want to pull in 90+ hour weeks for the rest of their lives.

Monday, July 7, 2008