The fanboy shit storm this week is originating from id software’s lead designer Tim Willits confessing at a discussion at Austin Game Developers Conference that several entire wastelands had to be cut in order to fit it all on a DVD. This affects not just the Xbox 360 port, but all versions of the game.

We all knew this was going to be a problem for Microsoft and the 360 sometime in the future, and first hearing it from id software, who always is on the cutting edge if technology, is by no means a surprise.

Will Microsoft’s alleged full commitment to digital distribution come with the next Xbox? Will this force Microsoft to cram out the next Xbox sooner than later? Or will broadband connections not quite meet the power that is necessary even by 2010?

It will only get worse from here, but so far id is the only company making a public statement about the storage limitations on the 360 affecting the game design and content. When more developers join the pack, Microsoft and the Xbox 360 will have a tougher hill to climb in 2009 and most certainly 2010.

written by Jesper Sellerberg

[UPDATE! Valve's Doug Lombardi has told Kotaku, 1Up and MTV that this is just a rumor and "a bit of fiction"]

The Inquirer has “well placed sources” telling them that Google, yes, Google, are going to be owning Valve any moment now.

Valve’s Gabe Newell have expressed possibilities for Valve to be acquired before, so this really comes as no surprise. The surprise would be that it is actually Google. The main reason would be, of course; Steam.

In just a few years Steam has become the most prominent digital distribution service on the PC. Many have their own alternative, like Stardock’s Impulse and EA’s own digital distribution platform EA Downloader, but Steam have somehow managed to become something more. Building up a strong community around it seems to have been the key success, and with the announcement of Steam Clouds, this digital distribution platform is only going to get more popular.

We will see this week if the rumors are true, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Stay tuned for more updates!

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: digital distribution, Gabe Newell, Google, Steam, Valve

Gamestop is trying to spice all things Guitar Hero up with a competition that involves you sending in a photo of your family, or mom in particular, to them for a chance at wining grand prizes.

We try hard here at kezins.com to present a sane point of view on gender issues in the gaming industry. Kotaku takes the whole thing in a “milf” direction and only feeds the misogyny. I’m overstating it for dramatic effect, of course, but after a few years of participating in the online gaming community one can’t help but feel that people need different perspectives on these sort of things.

This isn’t of course just concerning gaming. This is about the music industry as well, and if we were going to talk about that… well, this just wouldn’t end now would it?

So, to keep this short, think about these things from a different perspective than the normal “dude she’s a total milf”-perspective, that’s all we ask of you. No need to pick sides or anything, just try to acknowledge that these things are present in our culture.

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Gamestop, Guitar-Hero, Kotaku, milf

…with Microsoft!

Microsoft has just released a new commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. Where’s Windows, or any other product for that matter? It doesn’t matter, says the PR expert. In this day and age, you only need to be smart and out there.

Microsoft reportedly paid Seinfeld $11.47 million to boost Vista. They sure need a boost, but is an $11.47 million Seinfeld the solution? After Bee Movie, I guess I’m not surprised with what Jerry Seinfeld does nowadays. Ah well, we still got nine seasons of his TV show “Seinfeld”, only the best sit com ever made, to remember him by. Edit: Apparently, Sony Pictures Television thinks the show still has legs and have launched a “Seinfeld Campus Tour”.

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld, Microsoft, Vista, Windows

With two games getting a semi-sequel/prequel, Crytek and GSC try to breathe new life into their 2007 FPS hits. Both companies seem to be trying to fulfill some things that weren’t realized in the original iterations, but what should actually be addressed and what do we hope the games turn out to be?

I have more authority on Crysis, because I actually played through that game. I simply couldn’t get through Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl, and here’s why.

The fact that the difficulty only seemed to affect the amount of loot, and good loot, you could snatch from dead bodies was extremely frustrating. I am a pussy and not the best shooter, even if FPS is my favorite genre. You absolutely had to make that head shot every single time or you were going get in serious trouble, and completely drained of health packs. You get to know your Quick Save/Quick Load bindings pretty quick in Stalker.

It plays, however, an important part in the feeling and atmosphere in the game, which is second to none in this genre. Bioshock did a great job, but the action took control over it too often. In Stalker, the atmosphere IS the game. You do actually live in this world and you have to survive in it. It is for real. So, sure, the game is allowed to be harder than most FPS’.

But, there is one thing that is absolutely crucial to a shooter, and something that never clicked for me with Stalker: the actual shooting. It was never any fun to blow two shotgun blasts, snipe someone or play Rambo with a machinegun. I never got any sense of inertia. The feedback just wasn’t there for me. I remember dying for the 50th time or something one night and quickly switched to Unreal Tournament 3. I got so much more engrossed in that game than in Stalker, simply because of the shooting mechanics. Call of Duty 4 and Half-Life 2 are other great examples of how I like my FPS’ to feel.

This is a heartache for me, because the game did so many things right and was so unique and unconventional, so for me not being able to play it through is a damn shame. What I don’t want to see changed, is the world. Houses just being there; maybe there’s something inside maybe it ain’t. Bandits robbing you of all your stuff and that’s it, no way you’re getting it back. Just traversing the world. Simply beautiful, as Lynch might have said.

Crysis was absolutely amazing. Until it just stopped being amazing. This, to a pretty large extent, open island could be approached in numerous ways. You decided who you wanted to be through gameplay. Do you take the car? Do you set up an ambush? Do you snipe ‘em all? The nano-suite also defined what kind of gamer you are by either choosing to play it safe, or go Rambo and jump on top of buildings or lying cloaked in the grass.

All of a sudden, the game becomes the most linear shooter with poor level design and absolutely embarrassing script and set-pieces. It takes a turn for the ridiculous, to say the least. I also am inherently allergic to vehicle combat. I’d rather use my avatar’s body than some clunky machine, that indeed can reek some havoc, but ultimately I feel constrained and I never am intrigued to get to master the controls. So, when the game introduces long parts with vehicular combat I, eerie reminiscent of Quake 4, start to dread the experience. My only motivation at this point is to see the next graphical showcase that will satisfy my graphic whore-needs.

All I want my Crysis to have is more open world and less vehicular combat. It looks as if though I might get one wish granted, but it remains to see. A better script wouldn’t hurt either…

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Clear Sky, Crysis, Crytek, FPS, GSC, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, shooter, Warhead

Just a few observations made by quickly browsing through the web for gaming content. It will undeniably lead you to places dominated (no pun intended) by boobs and babes.

PCGH has all the best booth babes from the Games Convention in Leipzig!

That Gaming Site has collected the best girls that promote consoles well. I’m buying a PS3!

Gametrailers and Spike decided they should create an entire site dedicated to the beauty of gaming!

Games Radar needs no introduction when it comes to depicting women in questionable ways. But it is great to hear how much this editor loves women despite what the Internet says about his site.

So, these are just a few observations that might be wise to take into consideration the next time you proud and rightfully proclaim gaming as a matured art form on the rise. Remember, we are as much of the culture as the products, objects and experiences we consume. It is an ever spinning spiral of give and take between consumers and producers; just don’t let it become a downward spiral.

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Booth Babes, Games Radar, GameTrailers, Leipzig, Misogynistic, PCGH, Spike

There was an idea of Slipknot being something more than metal. With two extra percussionists, a sampler and a DJ, they stuck their head out the crowd and presented a sick, twisted world of hypnotic, adolescent music that fueled millions of teenage hearts, “maggots”, with angst worldwide in the late 90s and early 00s. That idea seemed somewhat suffocated on Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses. Now, with their fourth studio release, All Hope Is Gone, the idea seems as though it never even was meant to be. However, we were always told we would never know what the band would do next, and so far Slipknot has been true to their words, for better or for worse.

In recent years there has been a renaissance in the metal community in form of a return to the heavy, thrashy, still radio friendly melodic song structures. “Wait and Bleed” and “Left Behind” are both melodic tracks, but the melodic themes used in those tracks were so original and never heard of before. Now, and also four years ago, Slipknot’s melodies have succumbed to the conventional.

Everything also seems to struggle to always keep it heavy in an attempt to sound “real” and appeal to the exponentially growing hardcore metal crowd. Slipknot departed into this style somewhat on Vol.3, but on All Hope Is Gone that style completely dominates the album.

All Hope Is Gone is thrash metal. The sound (the overall sonic sound of the album) is raw yet clear. You can hear every spit out of Taylor’s mouth, every scratch from the guitars and every skin or metal crate being beat by either a drum stick or baseball bat. This is in stark contrast to the more mushy Ross Robinson sound of their self titled debut and Iowa.

Unfortunately, the two percussionists Chris Fehn and Shawn Crahan get drowned in Jordison’s relentless drumming; he is undeniably the star of the show. Sampler Chris Jones and DJ Sid Wilson, although still presenting some eerie and interesting sounds, are almost lost like Fehn and Crahan in the relentless mix of guitars and drums.

Even their entire sound tends to get lost in this day and age. It is heavy, yes, it is relentless, of course; but the darkness and sickness is gone from the early days. Technical riffs never become more than just that; technically impressive, and the passion seems gone.

In an interview with Live Daily, guitarist Jim Root expressed feelings about the recording session being rushed, and that sure does echo throughout the album. You can almost feel the effort that is put in to making it heavy and sound a certain way, instead of tormented hearts being poured out onto tape, as was the case with their debut album and Iowa.

What also resonates with that statement are Cory Taylor’s lyrics that sometime seem to introduce a tad more syllables than needed. Perhaps because of time constraints or simply because of lack of opportunity to do something more interesting with the song structures; something that, again, Root discussed in the Live Daily interview (the producer Dave Fortman’s inability to bring all the nine members together). Yet, Taylor manages to successfully structure this album’s lyrical content around the songs with social and political themes, letting the personal therapy, although still apparent, take a few steps back. There are times, more than a few, when the lyrics seem to be the most outstanding part of the album. Pointing his finger at politicians this time find Taylor treading into fields of oil and war conspiracies, public deception and mass revolution.

This is also the first Slipknot album I have heard with so many influences on at the same time. The most apparent is the frenetic thrashing of the late 80s bands like Testament, Slayer and Megadeath. But what stands out the most is the undeniable Alice In Chains influence felt on a number of tracks. I can’t even help myself but to think of Marilyn Manson in the chorus to “Vendetta” and post-chorus of “Snuff”.

All hope is, however, not quite gone yet. There are moments on the record that are heartfelt and truly artistic. There is an underlying theme here, somewhat buried under all the constraints and efforts of appealing to the modern melodic thrash/dead metal crowd, that unfortunately doesn’t come to fruition. In almost every song you will get flanked by unexpected and interesting melodies or structural paths, only to come back to the same formula again and again.

For every Slipknot album there has been an evolution in sound, theme and structure. For every album up until now, that is. All Hope Is Gone draws more than a few similarities with Vol. 3 and, to some extent, Iowa, but never really manages to be that revolution of maturity and musical growth that often seem to be the case with artists in their fourth iteration. Wasted potential perhaps even more than ever before; All Hope Is Gone is heavy and technically impressive, but hauntingly empty of substance and originality.

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Alice In Chains, All Hope Is Gone, Chris Fehn, Chris Jones, Dave Fortman, Heavy, Iowa, Jim Root, Joey Jordison, Marilyn Manson, Metal, Ross Robinsson, Shawn Crahan, Sid Wilson, Slipknot, Taylor

It is said that “journalists” in the music industry, movie business or gaming community are just failed artists who never really succeeded with their own work. I fall into that category regarding music, but games I have never attempted to explore artistically and don’t plan to in the near future. However, playing games, watching movies or listening to music automatically makes you a critic, and you just can’t help but think about the things that you might have done differently.

Seeing the first actual gameplay of Heavy Rain disappointed me. The extensive use of QTE (quick time events), that so heavily burdened my experience of Fahrenheit, made a triumphant return in what could be considered the latter’s “spiritual successor”, albeit in a much more elegant presentation.

The QTE’s in Fahrenheit got extremely bloated about half way through the game when the story also took more and more turns for the worse. I actually dreaded the experience by the end and uttered a helpless sigh when the text “Get Ready!” appeared on the screen. Seeing that Heavy Rain employs the exact same gameplay mechanics leaves me distressful.

Reading Matt Leone’s preview of the game on 1Up made me think about how you could implement contextualized QTE’s, using the same elegant presentation they appear in. The game is about choice, according the director David Cage. You impact the story by making meaningful, moral choices. Leone describes, “…tap Triangle to run down stairs, tap Square to hurdle a ledge, jam on Triangle to try to open the garage door, etc.” The first time I read that as there actually were contextualized options for the QTE’s. If you want to hurdle a ledge, you tap Triangle. However, in my fantasy version, you can here choose to either hurdle the ledge with Triangle, or, for example, slide under the table instead, putting you in direct control over your actions, in the action sequences.

Of course, this presents tremendous difficulty to “level” design and combat situations. The player needs to be perfectly aware of his/hers surroundings, and be able to make the right choice at the right time. Not every “wrong” step will send you into danger, but some will and others will put you in quite different situations. My impression of Matt Leone’s impression is that Heavy Rain will very much control and behave like Fahrenheit, and not in the manner I just described, as something that could be interesting to explore.

QTE’s (please count the use of that abbreviation, because I won’t bother anymore) puts the player and his/hers avatar in the safe-zone, and to me they have yet to be notably implemented in games to evoke that sense of accomplishment (God of War got close, but still employed the natural disconnect between the player and his/hers avatar that comes with using the technique) that the very definition of a game nowadays so heavily rely on.

David Cage and his presentation of Heavy Rain made me, however, even more excited for the title. Even before its release, Heavy Rain has stirred a lot of questions regarding the very nature of interactive art, and that more than well merits excitement.

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written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: David Cage, Fahrenheit, God of War, Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy, QTE, quick time events

“Tune Racer”? Audiosurf on consoles? Metal Gear Solid or Half-Life? We talk to Audiosurf creator Dylan Fitterer about what spawned Audiosurf, why interactivity is so beautiful and ask why cutscenes are still around in the industry.

What was your main inspiration for the concept of the game? What made you want to do it?

Well, it mostly just sort of grew out of other things I was trying. The idea stuck around because I loved the concept of a music visualizer that was worth giving your whole attention to for an entire album. One where you could really focus on the music and the experience instead of just having it on in the background.

Back when Audiosurf was Tune Racer (an early prototype) there was very little gameplay. It was then a big challenge to come up with a game that enhanced the musical experience instead of just getting in the
way.

Yes, but gameplay evokes different emotions than music. That’s part of the reason they go together so well.

Playing a little MGS2 was enough to convince me that I didn’t need any more of that. It’s surprising to me that cinema games are still popular at all. I expected them to die with 7th Guest. Comparing that to Half Life 2 (one of my favorite games) is completely unfair

Yes, but to me this question is too broad. Can games evoke emotions in players? Yes. Can creators express themselves through games? Yes. Can playing a game change how you look at a real-life situation? Yes.

I think that’s already happening and will continue as our populations shift to younger generations. Also, maybe we’ll find better ways to overlap the skills you learn in games with the skills you need everyday.

Yes, I think there’s some interesting possibilities there for manual edits to generated rides. The more players can make the experience their own the better.

It does take a lot of time so it can be hard to keep up, but it’s well worth it. There’s no better way to stay in touch with what players want. I’ve even learned new strategies from the players who outscore me.

I don’t see growth in casual games as detrimental to core games. It’s just growth for games. It turns out there’s a lot of people who like to play games, but have no interest in combat, camera control, cinematics, or framerates. I doubt casual games will ever be as large on XBLA or PSN as they are on PC. Strictly casual players probably have a PC for other reasons, but why would they have a console?

Have you been in talks with Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo to bring Audiosurf to consoles? Why would/wouldn’t it work on consoles?

Consoles are definitely a possibility, but as music platforms they’re not as strong as PC.

Is there a sequel planned?

We’ll see. I’m open to a lot of possibilities and am taking some time to experiment.

I’ve got a lot of ideas. The ones where I can mentally see the finished game aren’t very interesting to me though. I’d rather start on something that seems to have promise and eventually find the fun.

Team Fortress 2: Accessibility to get you going and depth to keep you there. I didn’t think any game would get me interested in playing a shooter with random people again, but it did.

Heroscape: A tabletop wargame with simple rules, custom armies, and high amounts of both skill and luck. Everybody has a good time whenever we play.

Name a couple of your favorite songs to play Audiosurf to.

Now That’s Sacred: Jack Conte
Sunspots: Nine Inch Nails
Galvanize: The Chemical Brothers
Eternal Life: Jeff Buckley

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Audiosurf, Dylan Fitterer, game, interactivity, Music, PC, Tune Racer

Here’s how I found out about Mint Royale. And I don’t know much else about them. A UK based, big beat dance act that remixes and uses samples extensively, Mint Royale has skyrocketed to success because of their remix of “Singing In The Rain”, on 2003’s Dancehall Places.

You have to pick your darlings with Mint Royale, because not everything is everyone. The pendulum swings heavily back and forth between styles and tones, which forces you to do a best-of playlist every time you turn them on. But what a playlist it can be.

“Anything”, also from Dancehall…, is practically made for Audiosurf. “54″, from the same album, and “Wait For You” are slightly more monotonous, but damn fine tracks to surf to nonetheless.

written by Jesper Sellerberg \\ tags: Audiosurf, Mint Royale, remix, Singing In The Rain, UK