Kyle Orland

If games like Halo 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl were small pushes, then consider Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet a huge shove into a content creation renaissance.

Up to this point, level design in console games has more often than not felt like a half-evolved, useless appendage — if even that. While PC gamers have for decades been able to craft complex, fully-realized experiences on top of their games, console gamers have been stuck puttering around with simplistic level creation tools that seem added as an afterthought. From the ultra-simple course editor in NES’ Excitebike to the Skatepark Editor in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, console level editors have been characterized by strictly limited set pieces, restrictive construction grids and the inability to easily share creations with the world.

It’s hard to blame crappy level creators solely on console developers: Consoles have only recently enjoyed the processing power, built-in hard drives and Internet connections that have allowed PC gamers to easily create, test, store, and share their own levels. With a game like LittleBigPlanet, we seem poised to enter a new era in which millions of console gamers can finally discover the power of their creativity.

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In August 2008, four separate versions of a single game took up four of the top 10 spaces in NPD’s monthly game sales report, including the three top spots. These sales were seemingly unaffected by the previous month, when a similar game in the same genre took two of the top 10 sales rankings spots, including the top spot. During the summer release doldrums, you’d think that such sales domination would merit blanket coverage in the gaming media — coverage of the sort seen for marquee releases like Halo 3 or Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

For one reason or another, though, the gaming press largely ignored top-sellers Madden NFL 09 and NCAA Football 09 this summer. For the most part, it focused instead on yet another fighting game sequel, a long-expected, arguably overhyped role-playing game and, of course, the upcoming holiday releases. The press’ cold shoulder for this year’s football releases is just the latest example of a consistent pattern of neglect that the big name publications routinely have for sports games. Despite better-than-healthy sales and a huge fan base, sports games, for some reason, can’t seem to get any respect from the gaming press.

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Congratulation! A video game news reader is you!

In this issue:

• Analysts agree: Console wars won’t matter in the long run
• Game journalists hold petition drive for Jack Thompson
• EA proposes “army of spybots” to settle DRM issues
• Nintendo, Sega sue Media Molecule for facilitating copyright infringement

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Back in 2004, Namco’s Katamari Damacy proved that the videogame market was still safe for a certain type of playful, nonthreatening game. Amidst the metal walls and gray skies of countless first-person shooters and Grand Theft Auto-style crime simulators, this quirky Japanese game — with its simple graphics, bright colors and basic roll-around-and-pick-up-stuff gameplay — managed to become a minor hit. But Katamari’s success didn’t really ripple across the gaming market, and the dark and gritty games it stood against continued to dominate.

Now, in 2008, de Blob injects a similarly fresh, carefree experience into a depressingly realistic gaming space. While de Blob never quite rises to the level of Katamari’s unique, intensely memorable experience, it ends up being an enjoyable way to spend some time.

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Kyle Orland takes a look at game journalism in September, just moments before he and all the other game journalists are deluged with games for this year’s fall and holiday season. Issues include

• Xbox Pure rumor reporting
• Actual, good TV coverage of Spore and Rock Band 2
• The 1UP Exodus continues as two more leave
• Nintendo hosts a PR event and no one shows up.

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All your video game news are belong to us.

In this issue:

• Harmonix reveals plans for “Symphony Orchestra” game
• Nintendo tries to ease Wii supply concerns with price increase
• King Features excited about first Sally Forth Expo
• Will Wright considering “a mini-game collection or something” to follow Spore

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I’m really glad I’m not a farmer.

There are many obvious reasons for this. Being a farmer means performing hard, manual labor for long hours in sometimes harsh conditions. Being a farmer means depending on the vicissitudes of the weather and the global food market for your livelihood. Being a farmer means facing competition from huge, multinational agri-business conglomerates. The list goes on. But, if Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness is any guide to the life of a real farmer, then I have to add one very important new reason to that list of “Reasons I’m glad I’m not a farmer”:

Being a farmer means being really bored.

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After starting at major game journalism publisher Ziff Davis in 1996, Dan “Shoe” Hsu rose through the ranks to serve for six years as editor-in-chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly before being promoted to editorial director of Ziff Davis’ Game Group in 2007. So it was a bit of a shock when, in April this year, Hsu announced that he would be ending his career at Ziff Davis, with no immediate plans other than “taking some much needed time off.”
Or maybe it wasn’t so shocking. Even as a member of the game journalism elite, “Shoe” was one of the game press’ fiercest critics, frequently using his editorial space in EGM to deride what he sees as an overly cozy relationship between game journalists and game publishers. It’s a tradition of criticism he’s continued on his Sore Thumbs blog, where he’s written a series of posts revealing insider tales of some of the more sordid wheeling and dealing that goes on behind the scenes in the game press.

Despite this openness, Hsu has been reluctant to discuss the specifics of his abrupt departure from a top position in the game journalism scene — until now. In his first in-depth interview since leaving Ziff Davis, Hsu talked with Crispy Gamer about the reasons he left, the myriad problems with the current state of game journalism and more.

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Your game news is in another castle.

• Ubisoft Announces Imagine: McDonaldz
• Local man gets Wii Fit world record with perfect “Deep Breathing” performance
• Popcap shocked that no one wants to option Peggle movie rights
• Rumor Reporter

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August is usually a slow month in the gaming press, with journalists easing down from E3 and gearing up for the impending holiday season. That hasn’t seemed true this year, with Leipzig’s Games Convention, a slew of high-profile Xbox Live Arcade titles and the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo keeping gaming newsrooms humming. The introspective month of August has also been a busy time for game journalists talking about game journalism itself. Some highlights and commentary from around the Web:

• Why game critics aren’t elitist snobs (and why this is a bad thing)
• Behind the Scenes at EGM and 1UP
• New guitar gaming mag shows signs of life in the print industry
• Movers and Shakers: Geoff Keighley promoted

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