Happy Mother’s Day! I hope your kids were nice to you. If not, post here and we’ll see that they’re taught a lesson.

I love you, Mom!

Just a reminder that next week I’ll be moderating a panel at the ION Game Conference in Seattle called “Taking Your Community from Pre-Launch to Live.” The session is on Thursday, May 15, at 2pm, so swing by and say hello if you happen to be there. I’ll also be on Jason Roberts’ panel called “Changing a Live Game: Lessons Learned and Techniques Applied” in which I will explain how to make people love you while you nerf their classes. That panel is Wednesday, May 14, at 9am (way too early, I know).

Moderating a panel is ideal, because I get to disguise my ineptitude by asking questions of smart people. And if it goes well, I still take all the credit! Muahahahaahaa!!11!! Guess I’ll just have to fake competence on Dymus’ panel.

Anyway, I will find a way to talk a bit about the importance of community at 38 Studios and all that stuff.

Episode two of Massive Guys on Massive Games has been posted for your enjoyment and/or beratement. Recorded once more in the sweaty funk of Shwayder’s spare bedroom, we thankfully managed to hold to our promise of a ten-minute podcast.

• Download it here.
• Subscribe to the podcast feed.
• If you like it and want to give us money, find out how.

Keep the feedback coming! If you’re really lucky, you may find yourself quoted in episode three.

Iron Man is pretty much everything you’d want in a superhero movie. Great action, cool hero, hot babe, and really smart humor that doesn’t get stupid or campy.

It’s not perfect, but most people will be able to look past the script’s logical flaws thanks to the sheer amount of fun eye candy the movie provides. It ranks right up there with Spider-Man 2 in terms of great translations of comic book characters to film.

I’ve never been all that fond of Tony Stark, but Robert Downey Jr. changes all that. You can’t help but like him, even when he’s being a self-involved prick. Favreau did an awesome job with this movie and better damn well come back to direct the sequel. Clearly this film was made by a true fan, packed with smart inside references that would make any geek smile.

Oh, by the way, DON’T LEAVE THE THEATER UNTIL THE CREDITS ARE DONE! Great cameo at the end which sets up the future of Marvel moviedom.

I had an absolute blast at New York Comic Con. It wasn’t has hectic as the San Diego version, which made it quite a bit easier to get around while still having a ton of cool stuff to see. There were some great costumes, as well as some really unfortunate ones–some of which I still see in my nightmares. Hopefully the therapy kicks in soon and I can sleep through the night again.

I hadn’t been to a fan convention in quite a while, and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy them. Industry shows are full of people trying to convince you how smart they are or how they have all the answers; fans conventions are full of people who want to have a good time. The thing that energizes me is that these are people who want to believe in something bigger than themselves. They dream of larger-than-life heroes and villains who live in fantastic worlds somehow grander or more perilous than our own. I get such a charge out of being at shows like this, whether the main focus is comics or video games.

As for what I was actually there for, you can watch the video recap of our panel on 38 Studios’ first year, or read an interview I did with MMORPG.com. Sorry, no sneak peaks at the game just yet, but we did showcase our love of pastries. And really, isn’t that just as good?

P.S. Thanks for the steak, Paul!

I’m catching a train bright and early tomorrow morning to attend New York Comic Con. The 38 Studios crew will be on a panel Sunday at 3pm titled “Starting a Video Game Company: Year One.” We’ll talk a bit about what it’s like to go from a bunch of messy dudes around a conference table to a full-fledged game developer. There will even be a cool little slide show from highlights from the past year.

Be sure to stop by and say hello if you’re attending. I’ll be the guy in the Spidey Underoos.

So yeah, I watch American Idol. The show is funny at the start of the season, and you end up getting wrapped up in how the contestants do each week. Top 40 isn’t my thing, but you have to admire the talent of a lot of these people.

That said, the show is just a TV show to me. I haven’t bought any Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken records (honest!), and I pretty much forget who was on previous seasons. But for the first time, there are people on the show this season whose albums I would actually buy: Jason Castro, David Cook, and Brooke White.

Castro has the exact kind of voice and manner I usually buy, so as long as he holds to a singer-songwriter vibe I’m there. Cook is ready to be a rock star right now, and as long as he doesn’t get saddled with some 100-year-old producer who tries to drag him into pop hell he should make a great record. And Brooke’s voice is just startlingly beautiful; she could sing the instruction manual for a cake decorating kit and put tears in your eyes.

I’ve already bought a few songs via their in-studio iTunes performances: Castro’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” Cook’s “Billie Jean” and “Eleanor Rigby,” and Brooke’s “Jolene.” That cross-marketing thing has to be a goldmine for them.

In other TV news, Hell’s Kitchen continues to be the best thing ever. I try to model my management style after Gordon Ramsay, as Shwayder will attest.

So I’m chatting with my old buddy Kohath the other day, and he asks how things are going at 38 Studios. I tell him it’s great fun and we’re all really positive about what we’re doing. Kohath, glass half empty sort that he is, tells me that he worries about the future of MMOs. Specifically:

“You guys have an uphill battle differentiating yourselves from all the other MMOs that no one cares about.”

At first I laughed his comment off, because I usually spend more time considering all the good games that we will one day have to compete against. But after thinking about it, I wonder if he’s right: Could the prevalence of crappy MMOs turn people away from the genre so that they never end up seeing the good ones? Continue Reading »

Usually I know better than to listen to Shwayder’s stupid ideas, but he somehow managed to convince me to work together on a podcast. The first episode is up now. Called Massive Guys on Massive Games (the title being the only clever thing about it), its saving grace is that we will keep our episodes to ten minutes or less. So while it’s a waste of your life to listen to it, it’s only a very small chunk of your life that you probably won’t miss anyway.

The broadcast is hosted over on Nerfbat. Subscribe to future episodes (which, on the bright side, can only get better) via the feed. Or just download the damned thing here.

Thought I would let folks know about a couple upcoming appearances by yours truly, in case anyone attending would care to buy me drinks and/or throw stuff at me.

On Sunday, April 20, I’ll be on a panel at NYC Comic Con with several other folks from 38 Studios. No, we won’t be spilling the beans on Copernicus; the panel, arranged by the good folks at Ten Ton Hammer, focuses on the crazy stuff that goes on during the first year of a new game dev studio’s existence, and what it’s like to build an MMO based on the vision of people like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane.

May 13 to 15, I’ll be in Seattle for the ION Conference, where I’ll be moderating my own panel and speaking on another that was organized by my design cohort, Jason “Dymus” Roberts. My panel focuses on taking a community from pre-launch to a live game, while Jason’s is about lessons learned from making major changes to a live MMO.

I’ve never been to either New York City or Seattle, so these should be exciting trips. If you’re at either or both shows, be sure to swing by and say hello. Just leave the rotten vegetables at home, please.