Changes coming soon

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I've resolved to start using this blog again. I'll be using it for the following:

Game Launch Announcements
Post-Mortems for games I've worked on
Design discussions
Industry related discussions

Talk to you guys soon. Hope everyone out there is well.

I'm alive, sorry

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:20:00 +0000

Yeah, so. My apologies on the complete silence. I've been quite busy as of late - a few new games are out the door that you can see at my website.

So, GDC is around the corner. Will you be there? Maybe. Will I be there? Yes. Want to hang out? My schedule is packed, but if you're cool, I'll make time. Just drop me an e-mail.

Happy Thanksgiving!

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 03:35:00 +0000

I know it's not Thanksgiving until Thursday, but Happy Thanksgiving anyway. I know I'll be too busy spending this entire weekend playing Mass Effect and the absolutely incredible, best-game-I've-ever-played-EVER Super Mario Galaxy to post.

So I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favorite musicians of all time, Stevie Wonder, live at Madison Square Garden last Saturday. It was his first headlining concert in 11 years, his triumphant return to the stage. My mind is still blown from how epic it was. He was in top form, and he sprung two incredibly huge guests on the sold out crowd; first was the legendary Tony Bennett himself and then, you know, Prince. I'm fairly certain I was deaf from the sheer sound of ten thousand screaming people when Prince came out on stage. Tony and Stevie reprised their duet of 'For Once in my Life' off of Bennett's Duets album, and Prince played guitar on Superstition. In the middle of the song, Prince and Wonder dueled, guitar versus keyboard. It was a performance that was beyond description. Normally, an appearance by Prince would have to be THE highlight of a show. Make no mistake - it was tremendous. However, the entire show was one highlight after another. To name that moment - or the number with Tony Bennett - as the singular moment of the evening would sell the rest of the show short. It was a phenomenal concert, the likes of which will be the standard I compare all other concerts to for the rest of my life.

Will that bar be raised again when I see Eric Clapton & Stevie Winwood this February at the Garden? It is possible. My parents, uncles, and friends - all big music buffs - have all said that seeing Clapton live was their favorite concert of all time. I have a feeling seeing him with Winwood is going to be Wonder-level mind blowing. Blind Faith, anyone?

On the game front, take a gander over here. This is a game we did for Kellogg's delightful Corn Pops cereal. It's out there, I know. I mean, I get it. You know? I get it.

Mattell and Arkadium's U.B. Funkeys in TIME Magazine

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:08:00 +0000

Hey gang, sorry for the radio silence.

So, that U.B. Funkeys thing we made with Mattel? It's sort of taken off lately, and by that I mean they're going to be the Tickle Me Elmo of Holiday Shopping 2007.

I'm pleased to announce that TIME Magazine put U.B. Funkeys down as one of the innovations in Gaming and Toys of 2007 in this year's annual 'Best Inventions' issue. I would say we're getting somewhere, wouldn't you?

I am proud to be a part of this project. We've got some great things in the works for this franchise (and others!). This is only the beginning.

Change in plans

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:26:00 +0000

Not moving to Brooklyn as originally planned. Going to stick around in Queens.

Recent happenings, in bullet points!

Arkadium went to Six Flags : Great Adventure on Monday. An amazing time was had by all.
I am the 2007 World Champion of Whack-A-Mole.
Halo 3? Actually pretty awesome. Not that I get a lot of time to play it.
Team Fortress 2? Even more awesome.

That will have to appease you for now.

Ah, and if you're coming here from Halolz, HI! I hope you enjoy my pictures there, which I'll be submitting regularly, and my lack of updates for my website!

Labor Day Weekend's already over?! / Giant Killer Robot Games officially opens, gets a real studio

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:35:00 +0000

Oh, hell. This weekend was far too short. I've been running nonstop for the last few weeks and it shows no signs of slowing down. Today was the first time I actually had to sit and relax - and I had to turn down hanging out in Prospect Park with my buddies just to get it!

Thankfully, I don't mind work at all. I love my job and love what I do. I also didn't mind the nonstop running - movies, barbecues, and late summer parties that roll into the morning have made up my last few weeks. My body's hated it (hangovers and lack of sleep, along with bad food combinations), but my mind has loved it. I just wanted to make the most of the last few weeks of Summer. Everyone's back in the swing of things now and the Fall's right ahead of us. Hopefully the weather will start getting a little cooler now, right?

So, here's some big news for you. I'm moving to the ritzy part of Brooklyn with comic book artist and good buddy Adam Frizzell and Fashion playboy Jay Something-or-other. We got a four bedroom, two and a half bathroom apartment on the top floor of some brand new building in the rich part of Bedford-Stuyvesant. The fourth bedroom is converted into a studio/work-in office that Adam's comic book company Abaraya Studios and my game company Giant Killer Robot Games will be sharing. Since I'm the editor for his comics and he's the artist for my games, it works out very well. We'll be making some major progress on everything on both of our ends. It's going to be a time of great change. The move goes down and GKRG officially opens it's doors October 1st.

In random news, I'm getting a Tempurpedic when I move because my current bed sucks. I think I'm looking forward to that more than anything.

A quick update

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:18:00 +0000

I just need to get this out there ; I'm officially endorsing Bose from now on. I just bought a pair of Bose Triport headphones last night and they're pretty much the greatest thing I've ever purchased in my entire life. Each time you put them on, your ears are cradled by soft leather that had to be sheared from baby elk from a far away land. Each cup protects you from the outside world and all you hear is your music as if it were being performed live in your ears. If I could somehow buy fourteen pairs and wear each of them all at the same time, I would. They were worth every single penny and I probably would have paid double the price for them. (Not really. 300 dollars would be a bit much for a pair of headphones, not that 150 is all that low).

Also, I picked up a copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Shark Hunt after Hunter S. Thompson became an idol of mine overnight. What an awesome guy he was. I will definitely enjoy these two novels. I just got home from the office about a half hour ago, so I'm going to go relax, cool off, have dinner and read for a while. Until next time!

Oh, one more thing - House Season Three is out next week (me=House addict), and Blue Dragon's out in a little under two!

Okay, I lied, one more thing - Happy Birthday to my boy B-Rod, who just turned 20. HAHA ENJOY BEING OLD LOL. Also I am sorry I haven't updated your site in so long. I've just been, you know, the busiest little bee in the entire land of the bees.

MiniGolf Revolution : Pirate Park First Review

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:14:00 +0000

So review number one for my first commercially published game is out over at PocketGamer.

Okay, so, I didn't design that game all by myself. Todd Lewis conceptualized the title and originally brought it to life, but the boss designs, alternate courses (along with some of the normal ones), and achievements system were my work.

Overall, for a mobile game, I'm pretty damn proud of it. It scored an 8 out of 10 which means the people over at PocketGamer liked it too.

The synopsis from PocketGamer;

"It's inevitable that you'd want to find a way to keep playing a game that's so much fun and has been put together with such evident care and attention to detail – take a look at the screenshots and you'll see what we mean. The packed and busy scenery might not have any direct influence on your score, but it does evoke a desert island spirit that's sunny enough to brighten up even Britain's summer weather....[The game] is highly competent, refreshing and more fun than digital minigolf has any right to be."

It also garnished the PocketGamer Silver award. Nice!

Long Overdue Update

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 02:14:00 +0000

So as you guys know, I started my new job at Arkadium a couple of days ago. I love, love, love it. The people I work with are absolutely a joy to be around and I love what I'm doing there. However, since I'm still getting into the swing of things (for instance, I'm going from doing pretty much whatever I want with myself to having a 9-to-whenever job and working a lot), my body's still adjusting so I'm tired quite often and my stomach's giving me trouble. In the words of Bender, my crappy body is crapping out on me.

I'm popping vitamins and Maalox like it's nobody's business, and it's keeping me running until my body adjusts.

I can't really talk about anything I'm doing yet, but once things come out, you'll know. Oh, you'll know.

And that's my awesome update.

The Story of the Crazy Old Italian Man and the Fire Hydrant

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 02:35:00 +0000

Today I had a nice bunch of errands to do, both for myself and as a favor to my mother. Jeff came with me to help out. We stopped at the NY Grill for brunch (which was, as always, delicious), and then headed over to the supermarket to get groceries. Since they were missing half of the stuff we were supposed to get, we just picked up everything at the corner store and then we were on our merry way.

About halfway down the block, this old, crazy little italian man stops us. He's in a wifebeater he shouldn't be wearing and a pair of shorts that were probably a size too small. He even had the classic 'black dress shoes and sandals' look, and he was balding.

He starts mumbling something to us in italian, but since I'm a failure to my culture, I have no idea what he's saying. I just know he's motioning to the fire hydrant. Finally he gets the idea and starts to pretend to speak English. Instead, I get a jumbled mess of consonants and vowels and noises that I'm supposed to comprehend as words.

"What?" Is all I say.

"I..euhhh, the hydrant, I wash mah car, how ... " he stops, picking a wrench that was laying next to the hydrant up off the sidewalk, shaking in my general direction as he finished, "..I do open to the hydrant? To..the top or the side?"

Now I get it. He wants to wash his car using the water from the fire hydrant. He doesn't know which of the caps to unscrew, the top or the side. Now I should have, by all means, said I couldn't help him and kept on walking. Instead, me and Jeff decided that we would show him by pointing to it on the hydrant. "That one."

"Than you, g'bye!" he says, and me and Jeff walk away, not paying the man another look until we get to our door. For a split second, a feeling of dread overcomes me, but I dismiss it quickly and the day goes on.

A few hours later, my mother comes home from grocery shopping. The first thing she says is 'Have you guys been outside lately?'

I was like "Not since I got errands done, why?"

"There's a river of water outside. Some guy destroyed the fire hydrant down the block and it's gushing water. Go out and get the groceries out of the car and you'll see what I mean."

My eyes widened as I looked to Jeff. We then headed outside and the first thing we saw was a torrent of water running down the street. It was deep enough that it went up to my ankles. The closer we got, the more water there was.

"Oh, no, Jeff. What have we done?"

"Nothing, we didn't do this. We just pointed to the fire hydrant."

I feel like we could have stopped this hilarious but wasteful occurrence from happening.

My brother went back inside and I went back out to take pictures. One of my neighbors was watching out of his window. I asked him what happened.

"Nobody saw it happen," he said. "All I heard was some guy was washing his car and then he couldn't get the water off. The fire department came and they couldn't fix it. Whatever the guy did, he fucking destroyed the whole valve. They're actually amazed he did as much damage as he did."

Wow.

In the end, the DEP (I think that's the name?) came and shut off the water main, so we're without water until they replace the whole valve. I hope that fucking happens soon. Thankfully, we had some warning, and we were able to get showers and stuff done before it happened. Good times. Gooooood times.

Cute!

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:41:00 +0000

I finally got to see my baby cousin Glenn today. My uncle Jeff flew up today from Florida with the little ball of energy and it was great getting to see him. As you can see from the picture above, he's absolutely adorable.

He's a very curious child with big, expressive eyes and a constant look of wonderment on his face. I brought my Gibson SG over and Uncle Jeff played it for him, and the minute someone starts to play guitar, the kid goes into some sort of hypnotic state. Granted, my uncle's one of the best guitar players around, but still. Even when I plucked a string or two, the kid instantly was staring right at the thing. He loves his guitars.

I can't wait to see more of this kid. He's going to be around for the rest of the week, so good times are ahead!

I've been conversing with Adam about more designs, and he's been working hard at producing the rest of the concept art for the game. As far as the design docs go, things are pretty much set to be produced. We just need the animation team to sign off on their end (after the concept art is done) and we're good to go. Once that happens, announcements ahoy.

Joe's Day Out

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 03:45:00 +0000

Every now then, I get out of my damn house and live a little. Today was one such day. I met up with B-Rod after he got out of work early (5:30PM) as opposed to normal time (never) and we went on a little city adventure.

I know the Flatiron/Financial district of Manhattan like the back of my hand, but I'm a little sketchy on some of the SoHo areas. Astor Place and the village I'm fine with, but the other streets throw me off now and then. Either way, we explored some of Bryan's favorite clothing stops, leaving each one under the pretense that we'd return to buy clothes later. We never did.

Afterwards, we hit up a sweet little bookstore, where Bryan bought some crazy children's death tome and I almost bought Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope. I decided to just get it later.

When we hit Saint Marks place, we found two hat shops situated right next to each other. I assumed that these stores were one and the same, just split into two sides, but it turns out they were, in fact, warring factions. I don't understand the difference ; both were run by a (presumably) father-son indian tag-team, and both were selling the same exact stock of hats for the same exact prices. I bought a black pinstripe fedora from one only to go to the other side and get yelled at in arabic or whatever-the-hell for not buying the hat from them. We appeased them when Bryan bought a green hat to go with a new hoodie he bought, and then we got the hell out of there.

Bryan also introduced me to the wonders of Toy Tokyo and their mystery boxes. I bought a Nintendo-series Figure and Sound collectable box and got an amazing Legend of Zelda standee depicting a scene from the game, complete with removable 3D sprite figures and a button that, when pressed, makes the mystery sound that is so prevalent in the series' dungeons.

I can see why he worries about going there. It is easily the easiest place in New York City to spend every single dime you have, ever. I was very conservative, only spending a meager eleven dollars on everything, but I'm sure that will all change once I start working at Arkadium two weeks from tomorrow.

After meeting one of the most interesting people I've ever seen, we stopped for Lemonade slushies and vanilla Black and Milds. It was an extremely tasty combination that I will have to remember for days to come. We sat around and talked about all sorts of crazy shit, and afterwards it was time for our adventure to come to a close. With my wallet much lighter and my soul cleansed of the constant barrage of warlocks and hunters and raids and PVP and whatever, we parted ways at the very F train station our journey began in - our bags full of loot, and our hearts full of (gay) smiles.

I definitely enjoyed today, it was really relaxed and much needed. I'm sure we'll do it again soon.

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:57:00 +0000

So I spent the last week designing B-Rod's online portfolio. It started out as using the ANTI template I designed when I made my own site, but it quickly started to spin out of control. Before I knew it, I was adding pop-up windows, dynamic flash galleries and all sorts of crazy shit. It was only a matter of time before I was sucked into the very same delirium that Bryan himself has spiraled down into thanks to working at Rockstar. Oh, don't get me wrong, he loves his job. He's just starting to lose his mind thanks to the lack of sleepytime.

Anyway, it wasn't until I read his real first blog post over at his shiny new blog that I realized I don't talk about my personal life at all in this thing. This is not good. Every time I post, it's like 'hey, you know, games, I'm great' and then I am gone. This changes here and now.

Since I got laid off, I've been pretty much taking full advantage of the fact that I have nothing to do with my life. Sleeping whenever I want, working on whatever I want, you get the idea. I've been off for five weeks and will be off for another two and a half before I get my ass back to work. I'm probably gonna take one of these weekends off and get away - go to some island somewhere and sit in the sun for a couple of days.

I'm a World of Warcraft addict, just so you know. No matter how many times I quit that game, it pulls me back in. There's just something about it that keeps you playing. There's always something to do. For me, I default to it when I'm bored. My guild recently tore Gruul a new one and fun was had by all. When I start working again, I know I won't be playing that game at all anymore. I pretty much only play it when I'm not holding a job, since that's really the only time I can afford to do so. But damn, does my Hunter look sweet.

Man, I can not wait to get back to work. I feel like I've been out of the industry for too long, even if it's only been a few weeks and I have done some stuff with Project R. In fact, I believe Adam sent me a finished sketch of one of the characters yesterday... AH YES, HE DID

Ain't he pretty? I'm as excited as you are to see the rest of the character designs. Awesome character designs are just step one of many. And with that, I'm going to go take a walk or something. Until next time!

New Job Ahoy

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:18:00 +0000

So right on the heels of my 21st birthday comes my next job : Game Producer at Arkadium.

Arkadium was founded in 2001 and creates game software for consumer brands, ad agencies, casino operators and online gamers. The company's growing library of over 125 game engines are developed using Adobe Flash, do not require a download, operate on 99% of all computers and can be customized to meet any client's specific needs. Arkadium's games reach millions of people across all demographics through some of the most popular online destinations and corporate branded Web sites.

I'd love to make a big happy post about this, but I'm quite hung over from a large party last night, so I'm going to be taking my leave now for some water. Perhaps I did celebrate a little too hard last night....then again, nah.

I look very forward to starting at Arkadium next month. The people I met were very cool and it looks like it's going to be a blast working with them. I can't wait!

He is more than a Vampire, he is a Rock God

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:33:00 +0000

We now join a sketch in progress. This is one of the character designs from Project R. Once this one's finished and others have been done, I'll probably wind up unveiling just what the hell this game is all about. Until then, savor this tasty little Frizzell morsel.

Virt to Compose Contra 4 soundtrack

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:00:00 +0000

I had to post this for a few reasons : One, Jake is a good friend of mine (we worked together at Gameloft). Two, Jake is an honorary, unofficial member of Giant Killer Robot and he's actually composing the soundtrack for Project R. Three, Jake is awesome and incredibly talented, and he deserves this more than any other composer I know. I couldn't be happier about hearing this. CONGRATULATIONS, JAKE!!!

"Posted Jun 28th 2007 9:00PM by John Bardinelli
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Action
Jake "Virt" Kaufman, founder of the videogame remix site VGMix, gets to add another shining star to his resume: composer for Contra 4. The freelance musician has worked on game soundtracks before, including Scurge: Hive and WayForward's own gem of a platformer Shantae. He also happens to have crafted our favorite Metroid metal megamix, Crystal Flash.

Matt Bozon of WayForward says Jake's take on Contra's tunes is "fantastic", and judging by his repertoire we can see why. To grab a few sample tunes, check out Virt's page on VGMix as well as his personal website."

article link: http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/28/freelance-musician-virt-to-compose-contra-4-soundtrack/

Onward to Bigger Things

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 03:14:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I'm officially saying farewell to Gameloft today. I enjoyed my stay at the studio and was pleased to hear that everyone was satisfied with my work there. From here there's plenty of opportunities and options, so we'll just have to see what's happening with that!

Also, I updated my site recently with a new resume, some extra stuff, and a few a revisions.

FURTHERMORE (!!!) Project R is sooo close to being announced. No kidding. The Art Director, my boy Steve Valdez of Project450, and comic book artist Adam Frizzell have been working hard on the designs for the characters. We'll be unveiling some badass work fairly soon.

Gameloft Solo Project Cancelled

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:45:00 +0000

In the game industry, not all games get made. Haha, that sounds completely disarming when I say it like that. As if you readers don't know that already.

Anyway, my solo project was cancelled due to a few reasons, none of which are really necessary to discuss here. Fear not, though, Project R is still in the works.

Radio Silence

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Mon, 21 May 2007 00:49:00 +0000

Yeah, so it's been a month since my last update. Between work and being sick (twice, awesome luck), I just haven't had the time. Things are still in motion, promise.

On the Brink of Rock, Baby

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 02:17:00 +0000

Greetings and salutations, faithful (wtf) readers.

We're pretty close to unveiling Project R. My project from over at Gameloft is another story - it probably won't be a while until you hear about it, since the NDA is pretty heavy on that.

All I can really say is that Project R will rock your socks off and that I can't wait to unveil it. The concept art so far has really gotten me excited about the title.

On Virginia Tech and Jack Thompson

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:35:00 +0000

EDIT : Ha. They called him a tool.

Let me say, first and foremost, that my heart goes out to those who lost someone yesterday in the tragic and terrifying shooting that occured at Virginia Tech.

Second off, and I like to try and contain myself when I talk about this man, I'd like to send out a colossal Fuck You to Jack Thompson, who can hardly let 24 hours pass without somehow getting on television to immediately blame video games for the entire ordeal without even knowing a single thing about the killer, Cho Seung-Hui, other than the fact that he - gasp - owned a copy of Grand Theft Auto : Vice City and Doom.

Oh, lord. Not Doom.

Let's forget the rest of the information, such as the fact that Cho was an outcast who obviously had a mental health issue and a past that was more than likely very fucked up. Cho had been living in America for 14 years. Before that? Who knows what his life was like in South Korea?

I'll tell you one thing I do know, though. These are not the works of a man corrupted by video games. Those are the works of someone who has something seriously wrong with them. Putting anything in the hands of this type of individual is going to influence him in a negative fashion. Seung-Hui was obsessed with a girl, and it was after an argument with her that this entire situation occured. Something tells me we have the reason right there.

This man did NOT leave his house planning to re-enact a video game, and the fact that Jack Thompson decided to capitalize on such a tragedy in an attempt to once again to prove his horrid theory correct is absolutely disgusting. This man should be barred from law and from having free speech.

Thompson enjoys surfing the internet and going after people who say things about him. He's done it before and I'm fairly certain he'll do it again. If you happen to be reading this, JT, you should be ashamed of yourself.

That is all. Back to work.

What are the Haps my Friends

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 18:35:00 +0000

Dropping in for a little update. You may have noticed I did a little tweaking to my Game Timeline recently. And you may have noticed that now it says I'm working on two projects, my solo project at Gameloft and an independent project titled 'Project R'. This title is being formally announced in the near future.

What I can say about it so far is that it's planned for release on the PC and then on the XBox Live Arcade. Also, the team I put together for the project is just downright sexy. Very nice. I like.

Quick Project Update

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:51:00 +0000

Just wanted to drop by and give a quick update on the projects I'm currently working on at Gameloft's NYC Studio. I can't really say anything about them in their current stages other than what I'm about to say.

The project I am the head of (listed as 'Gameloft Solo Project') is going to rock your fucking socks off. It's not like any mobile game you've ever played. Granted, mobile games are not incredible when put next to a game on the 360, but it's a casual title that will be easy to pick up and play and enjoy, and it does have depth for those who want it. You guys will enjoy it. As soon as the dark shroud of the deadly NDA rises, I will pose some stuff on it (I hope).

Pretty Damn Funny

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 07:10:00 +0000

Greatest Moment of My Life

It's pretty out of control that a meeting like that has reached the far corners of the internet. I'm the only one that got a game signed by him at that lecture, so this had to be about me. Because right after I did it, I called up my brother and told him about it, and, well, I pretty much said that.

Someone commented on the joystiq website that said I live a boring life if meeting Miyamoto was the greatest moment of my life. That guy can suck it for the rest of his life. When you meet the man that is the reason you're in the industry you're in, then you're going to say it was one of the greatest moments of your life. I don't give a crap who you are.

GDC 2007 - March 9th, 2007 - The Final Leg of the Adventure

joe.laurino@gmail.com (Joe Laurino) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:26:00 +0000

Day three kicked a lot of ass, but was scheduled a lot lighter than the other days, with only two lectures scheduled.

The Light and Dark Sides of 2D Gaming

The first was one that struck a particular chord with me due to the fact that I love 2D game design. It's what I grew up doing and it's my specialty, so I am much more at home in that field.

The lecture was given by famed Castlevania creator Koji Igarishi, in his first ever public speaking session. That being said, he did a great job. He spoke about how he develops for 2D and how there are pros and cons to these type of games. He focused solely on action games.

Of the more interesting things he said, he mentioned that the reason Castlevania is still thriving is because of the North American market. Aonuma-san said something similar the day before, stating that the reason a realistic Zelda was made was because sales were poor (by comparison) in North America.

Igarishi-san chats it up.

Afterwards, he was kind enough to talk with a few people, including myself (via translator, of course). I told him that I was behind him 110 percent and thanked him for being the front-man in keeping 2D games alive. Igarishi-san was very humble and graciously bowed his head at every little thing anyone did or said. I got him to sign the notes I took during his lecture. "Arigato, Igarishi-san," I spoke as he returned the pad and pen to me. He bowed his head again and thanked me as well, and then said something in Japanese which I will just assume was 'you're welcome'.

Badassery.

Next up was Killer7 and Contact creator, the founder of Grasshopper Manufacture, Goichi Suda. Goichi is very much a man who paves his own paths. He is good friends with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and spoke a lot about his relationship with such an important producer in Japan.

I commend Suda-san for attempting to look ultra badass in pink. And also for not knowing how to stare into a camera.

He also spoke a lot about 'Punk' games, which was something he himself coined. Punk games are games that stray from the beaten path and aren't afraid to be different.

"Hello i made killer7 lol look at my pink shirt"

It was cool hearing him talk. Afterwards, I asked him (via translator) about where he got the funding for founding his company. He said that surprisingly, it doesn't cost as much money to open your own development studio as I may think. He told me that if that was my goal, to start at it while working professionally. Sneaky!

Does anyone know what this says? Anyone at all?

With the last of my lectures done, I spent the next two hours relaxing before hitting up Video Games Live. I unfortunately have no pictures from this night because cameras were not allowed.

The show itself was spectacular. There were special guests abound, from Kondo-san, the Video Game Pianist (yes, THE Video Game Pianist), to the reunited Lucasarts music team (they fucking played Monkey Island). It was a hell of a show with four encore performances. Koji Kondo himself got up on stage and played the Super Mario Brothers theme on piano. It was like seeing Beethoven perform.

Afterwards was a place where people could mingle with sound designers and other people in the industry. I actually wound up doing a lot of networking and I even made a few new friends. I met the people behind the soundtrack for God of War I + II, along with the man behind the WoW soundtracks. I got to shake the hands of the Lucasarts music team and even signed the backstage pass of one of them at his request.

I also was very lucky to meet SEGA's Jun Senoue, who is the creator of the music for most of the newer Sonic games. He wrote and performed most of the music for the Sonic Adventure series, and was the guitarist in Sonic Adventure's theme song "Open Up Your Heart". The dude can shred pretty hardcore. Senoue-san and I hit it off, so much so that he gave me one of his actual guitar picks, a business card, and a CD with his signature on it. (Oh, he speaks English by the way). It was really cool getting to hang with him.

There was one man I recognized but couldn't put my finger on. I approached him and said so. When I asked him who he was, his reply was "It'sa me, Mariooo!". And then I proceeded to laugh my ass off. I KNEW I recognized that face. It was Charles Martinet, the voice actor for the Super Mario Brothers series. He was very kind and very awesome. It was great hearing him do some of his stuff in person.

I got to talk with conductor Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico for a few minutes - they're the co-founders of Video Games Live - and I thanked them for putting together such a great show. It is the perfect way to get game music to the masses, where it belongs.

I also met Stephen, who is a sound designer right here in New York. He met Virt the day before and I guess Virt mentioned me because once I said 'Gameloft', he said 'Oh, you must be the guy Virt was talking about. He said I had to meet you at some point during the week'. So we wound up hitting it off, being from New York and all, and he said we had to stay in touch and get together sometime back in NY. This shouldn't be hard, as I'm moving to Brooklyn sometime in August and he happens to live in Brooklyn.

I met Ken Lobb as well. He used to compose all of the music for Rare before he left. He was such an asset to the company that they named a gun in Goldeneye after him. I had a big piece of paper that I was getting everyone to sign as I met them, and I had him write 'They named the Klobb after me'. He was happy that I knew that. He was very cool, too.

Ken and I wound up taking a walk while looking for taxis to get us to our respective hotels. On the way, we spoke about which conference was better - GDC or the Dice Summit. I was saying GDC because of the amount of information you can get out of it, and Ken said that he preferred the Dice Summit because there was one track, so everyone wound up getting the same information. We wound up disagreeing on that topic, but strongly agreeing on how much ass Goldeneye kicked.

I didn't get home until close to two. Yesterday was spent being jet-lagged out of my mind thanks to Daylight Savings Time and the 3 hour difference. Imagine getting on a plane at 1:30 and landing at close to 10 at night. It was ridiculous. I didn't go to sleep until six in the morning and didn't wake up until 3. Something tells me getting adjusted is going to be a pain in my ass.

But let me talk in conclusion here. Simply put, the Game Developer's Conference is the single most important conference in our industry (even if Lobb disagrees, sorry Ken!). The wealth of knowledge an the way that professionals reach out to other professionals in such an environment is invaluable. It's really the best place we have to put our heads together to better the gaming industry. It needs a lot of work, but I believe that we're headed in the right direction.