Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in four separate installments, from January 28th-February 1st 2008. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in four separate installments, from November 12th-November 19th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

 NanaOn-Sha founder Masaya Matsuura 

There are a number of ultra-talented game designers, but how many of them can plausibly claim to have invented an entire genre? With PaRappa the Rappa (1996), UmJammer Lammy (1999) and Vib-Ribbon (1999) to his credit, it's not a stretch to declare NanaOn-Sha founder Masaya Matsuura the father of the rhythm game, to whom the creators of such varied franchises as Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero owe a tremendous debt. Matsuura stepped away from music games for a few years, focusing instead on the Tamagotchi Connection series for Bandai Namco, before returning to the genre with the iPod game musika. More recently, the U.S. publisher Majesco announced that Matsuura would be reuniting with artist Rodney Greenblat, with whom he had collaborated on Parappa. Their purpose? To create an original rhythm game for the Wii called Major Minor's Majestic March, where players gesture with the Wii remote to control the tempo of a marching band.

Later today, Matsuura and Robot Sound president Ryo Watanabe will be giving a talk at the 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit titled "A Sense of Fun: Anybody Could Be Your Player 1." We got the jump on some of the things that Matsuura plans to discuss by speaking with him via phone last week from his native Japan. In our exclusive interview, he explains the controls for Major Minor's Majestic March, why Nintendo should ignore him rather than share any insights gained from the still-in-development Wii Music, and why he's so happy to see Harmonix succeed. For our part, we potentially influence the direction of the game with our suggestion that Matsuura explore the world of historically black college and university marching bands as a source of inspiration. Read on.

Where did the idea for Major Minor's Majestic March come from?

Let me try to remember. [Laughs] We had been thinking about the possibilities to make some new games for Wii. We were focusing on a music-based game, but he first rhythm-based game on the PlayStation from us had already been a decade ago. I wanted to make much more sophisticated and advanced types of things for the new environment. So maybe controlling the marching band and marching music sounds a little weird, but I thought that would be an interesting for everyone. This is where we started.

What was it about marching bands that you thought could work well as a game?

At the start, I thought that simply controlling the band by defining the tempo, or the BPM [beats per minute] by shaking your hands--it's like conducting a band. But after that, I started to think about much more game functions. Certain instrument players love a faster BPM and other instrument players may not like that. So the conductor has to concentrate on all of his band members and figure out what kind of BPM will be suitable for the current membership of the band. Of course, the player can control the BPM, so you can play with very slow tempo or a very fast tempo. But if you play the very slow tempo then maybe some members will disappear from your band. So these kind of things were the basic start of our game function ideas.

How would you describe the structure of the game? Where do you start and what's your goal?

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in four separate installments, from October 29th-November 2nd 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

One of the cherished traditions for people in and around the North American videogame industry is the mid-to-late month release of the previous month's sales figures for both hardware and software. Much like Hollywood with the weekend box office or the music industry with SoundScan, this data, compiled by the Port Washington, NY-based NPD Group, is the subject of much scrutiny, speculation and analysis as everyone tries to figure out What It All Means. Having engaged in many phone, email and IM back-and-forths with various people over the NPDs, as they're generally referred to, we've decided to bring some of those often unheard discussions to light with our occasional feature, Monday Morning Quarterback. As usual, our returning opponent is the Game Head (and Kotaku guest editor) himself, Geoff Keighley, pitting his BlackBerry-fueled insights against our Palm-enabled observations. Some excerpts:

N'Gai Croal: My advice, like my betting skills, is generally hit-or-miss, but looking at Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's two-month sales total (385,100) relative to its Metacritic score (90), perhaps my redesigned Wii remote could have propelled it to Wii Play status. In fact, given the Metacritic scores for the first Metroid Prime (97) and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (92), maybe Retro Studios should catch the zeitgeist, pull a Bungie and free itself from Nintendo's clutches "unleash" its creativity as part of a "natural evolution" of its relationship with its Japanese owners. Can you think of another Western first-party studio putting out games as acclaimed as the Metroid Prime series with as little to show for it in sales--or in marketing, for that matter? Even though Metroid Prime 3 got stage time at Nintendo's E3 press conference, I can't help but feel as though Retro has fallen victim to either increasing indifference from Nintendo to hardcore gamers or a ruthless focus by Nintendo's marketing department on first, the platform itself, and second, the games it believes will be guaranteed hits.

Geoff Keighley: In a way, Sony is handing the keys to the kingdom to Microsoft this holiday season. But will Microsoft fully capitalize on the opportunity? I'm not so sure. Why? It might have something to do with a Nielsen study that came out which says only 14 percent of US homes have HD-capable TVs. This is less than half what was estimated by the Consumer Electronics Association in July, and may help explain why the Wii continues to dominate relative to the 360 and PS3. I fully expect the Wii to perform well through the holidays, despite the fact that no third parties are capitalizing on the platform's success. You saw my list of the big November games up top and I didn't mention one title on the Wii. Mario Galaxy should do well, but will it cross the 500,000 unit barrier in November? I don't think that's a foregone conclusion. Metroid Prime 3 has done ok, but it certainly isn't a blockbuster hit and seems to have fallen off the radar map already.

N'Gai Croal: Sony has learned the hard way that it can't afford to launch a) 12 months after Microsoft with b) esoteric hardware, subpar tools and an incomplete online service at c) a $200 premium. Kutaragi's forced departure, the sale of Sony's semiconductor facilities to Toshiba and the fact that Sony Electronics has yet to launch any Cell-based products demonstrate loudly and clearly that the Era of the Visionary Engineer is over at Sony Computer Entertainment is over, and with it, perhaps, Sony Corp's silicon ambitions. I wonder whether Sony will make Cell 2 with IBM and Toshiba, or simply bow out and buy a CPU from Intel or AMD now that it's clear that everyone has jumped on the multicore processor bandwagon. If Sony wants to regain its former dominance, its wisest course of action may be to partially outsource its CPU and GPU design, steal the best software architects it can find, and retrench around its strengths: sales, marketing, industrial design and first-party software.

Click on the link below to read our exchange in its entirety--we've even got some exclusive scoop about NPD itself!

Clive Barker

Note: This Q&A with writer-director-painter-game creator Clive Barker originally ran on Level Up in four separate installments, from October 22nd-25th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

 

Note: This Q&A with Eat Sleep Play co-founder David Jaffe originally ran on Level Up in three separate installments, from October 16th-18th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

One of the cherished traditions for people in and around the North American videogame industry is the mid-to-late month release of the previous month's sales figures for both hardware and software. Much like Hollywood with the weekend box office or the music industry with SoundScan, this data, compiled by the Port Washington, NY-based NPD Group, is the subject of much scrutiny, speculation and analysis as everyone tries to figure out What It All Means.Having engaged in many phone, email and IM back-and-forths with various people over the NPDs, as they're generally referred to, we decided to bring some of those often unheard discussions to light with our occasional feature, Monday Morning Quarterback. Our returning opponent is the prolific journalist and TV host Geoff Keighley, pitting his BlackBerry-fueled insights against our Palm-enabled observations. But this month, we not only have a special guest who joins us as a color comentator--who could it be?--we're also introducing a new concept, sparked by an offhand comment of Keighley's: the Dead Pool. Some excerpts:

Special Guest: Xbox 360 should be killing out there, but it isn't. Nintendo is making money for Nintendo like always, and Sony is still figuring out how to start the engine. Thankfully, this holiday season is going to bring lots of fantastic games to the market, but unless Sony does something quick, Microsoft and Nintendo will reap all the rewards. Which puts Sony in a bit of a pickle, because its games already feel slightly rushed to market (see: Lair and Heavenly Sword), and it has put itself in a position to hurry titles out this holiday season to try and stay competitive (which is never the right answer in my book; make the game great, then figure out which quarter it goes in, not the other way around).

Geoff Keighley: Actually we should talk about that phrase for a second--"sent to die." I read it on a forum a few months ago when gamers were discussing which games won't be getting a fair shake because of the overcrowded market. Let me ask you: which games do you think we might need to add to our death pool for the holidays? I'm particularly worried about EA's Army of Two and Midway's BlackSite: Area 51--two games that should be fun to play, but may get lost.  And what about Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed? Is it really going to post huge sales numbers? Given the awards and number of times the trailers have been downloaded there's huge interest in the game. But will that translate into a BioShock-sized month one for the game in November? Or will Assassin's suffer the same fate as many other Ubi games that are critical grand slams but only end up delivering solid doubles in terms of sales. I thought this would be a huge year for Ubisoft, but with Splinter Cell slipping to 2008 (and the quality of Haze an open question mark), a lot is resting on Assassin's.

N'Gai Croal: You're playing it safe with such obvious choices. I'm going to go out on a limb and nominate the console versions of Half-Life 2: The Orange Box. You might think I'm crazy, but hear me out. HL2:TOB might be the most value ever packed into a single case: Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. I bet if Valve could have figured out a way to toss in a gravity gun and a crowbar, they'd have done so. But by throwing so much into the package, HL2:TOB comes across as completely unfocused, especially compared to its chief competitors like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, so positioning this product becomes a major challenge. Especially for a franchise that's still primarily identified as a PC game. I find myself wondering if Valve might have been better off removing Team Fortress 2 from the Orange Box and releasing it in January or February as a separate game, with a short "Dirty Dozen"-style campaign mode that would leverage the phenomenal character work that they've been doing in their Pixar-esque promotional trailers.

Click on the link below to uncover the identity of our first guest QB, and to read our exchange in its entirety.

 

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in four separate installments, from September 17th-20th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

Pac-Man Championship Edition screenshot

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in four separate installments, from August 13th-20th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

Hellgate: London screenshot

Note: This Q&A with Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up, in four separate installments, from September 10th-13th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

One of the cherished traditions for people in and around the North American videogame industry is the mid-to-late month release of the previous month's sales figures for both hardware and software. Much like Hollywood with the weekend box office or the music industry with SoundScan, this data, compiled by the Port Washington, NY-based NPD Group, is the subject of much scrutiny, speculation and analysis as everyone tries to figure out What It All Means.Having engaged in many phone, email and IM back-and-forths with various people over the NPDs, as they're generally referred to, we decided to bring some of those often unheard discussions to light with our occasional feature, Monday Morning Quarterback. Our returning opponent is the prolific journalist and TV host Geoff Keighley, pitting his BlackBerry-fueled insights against our Palm-enabled observations. Some excerpts:

N'Gai Croal: What's interesting is that a lot of our cohorts in the gaming press--an admittedly unrepresentative sample--aren't playing their Wiis much. Unless they have friends come to visit, they're pretty much forsaking their Wiis for Xbox 360, DS and some Playstation Network from time to time. Wii fans regularly complain that enthusiast outlets--most notably, the gang over at Ziff-Davis' 1UP Yours podcast--are paying insufficient attention to their console of choice, and in fact spend too much time mocking the Wii for what it's not (its lack of HD graphics; the fact that it's become a dumping ground for mini-games; the trend towards porting PSP games to Wii) rather than applauding what it is: a refreshing change from the way games used to be, which is attracting new people to this hobby. But with Guitar Hero III, Rock Band and SingStar PS3 coming this holiday--and, as you point out, a bizarre lack of new games to capitalize on the Wii Sports phenomenon (sorry, EA, but jamming those controls into your pro sports titles doesn't really count)--I wonder how many of us in the media will be playing Wii Sports and Wii Play when friends come to visit.

Geoff Keighley: Until third parties figure out a better Wii strategy, they will be caught in a precarious position. Let's use EA's NCAA football game, the #1 title of the month, as an example. This year the 360 version sold almost 400,000 units, up from 333,000 units last year. That's respectable growth. But the PS2 version dropped from 490,000 units last year to 236,000 this year. Without a Wii version, the PS3 sales of 156,000 (which obviously didn't exist last July) don't make up the difference. EA may have overcharged for the PS2 SKU this year ($49 when it should have been $39), but could there be a bigger issue at hand? Are PS2 gamers moving to the Wii? Or worse, are the PS2 gamers leaving the market as active consumers? They aren't buying PS2 games anymore and they aren't upgrading to new boxes either. If that is indeed the case, the Wii becomes even more vital as a lifeline for third parties. As of now, no one has cracked the code on what makes a hit Wii game.

Click on the link below to read our exchange in its entirety. 

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and MTV News' Stephen Totilo at Rockstar Games' offices in New York City on June 22, 2007

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in three separate installments, from June 25th-27th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

Halo 3 character model

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up, in three separate installments, from May 29th-31st 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

God of War II

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up, in four separate installments, from March 26th-29th 2007. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.