Games Convention Unleashed

The Games Convention is starting today and actually I have planed to go there this year, but as sometimes with plans they don`t work out. So yeah, instead I will be in the office and work, but I guess I will check the news quite often to see whats going on there. I really hope they show a new Heavy Rain trailer (they should select Dublin as setting it`s raining almost every day here) or even better some gameplay footage. The worst thing will be, that I still couldn't`t get my hands on Little Big Planet and as it looks right now, I will have to wait until the launch day to play this really nice looking game. Also I was looking forward to meet people I didn`t see since ages. I was in LA when the E3 was there, but also at this time I was in the office working. They really should make those Events during weekends and not during the week to make it easier to go there :D

Well at least one good thing is that the Star Wars The Force Unleashed demo will be out tomorrow. I already finished the full game several times due to working reasons, but I guess I will still download the demo to play at least a part of the game relaxed without checking always if somewhere is a bug and just enjoy the game and unleashe the force. Plus I usualy play the finished version of the games at home once I get a retail version just to enjoy it at least once.

It`s not like that it wouldn`t be fun to work on them or they are bad games, but after all it`s work and you are stuck with one single game day after day for quite some time. It`s sometimes a bit tricky, on the one hand you would really like to work on the game, maybe even help to improve it besides of the text and say to friends the first time “I did that.”. On the other side if you work on a game series or franchise you really like, may it be Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, God of War, Silent Hill, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero or whatever other game, at the end you can be a little dissapointed. Especialy when it comes to franchise you loved and liked for years. As example. For me FF12 is not a bad game, but I could think about a lot of things that could have been better, like the story and character development. In that case I would think about the way parts of the story in FF8 where explained by going back in time and playing actually there (more or less in a dream sequenze), while in FF12 it`s only text and dialogue in the present. For me personaly after finishing the game at least 7-10 times that would have given the characters and the story at all more depth, if the game really shows the previous history of the characters. For me having something to do with games that are new or where I hardly know the previous games, like Kung Fu Panda, Kingdom Hearts 2 or Guitar Hero, is somehow different even if in both cases the developers are doing a great job.

Also I know people who are usualy like "You get paid for playing games, that`s the best job in the world". Actually it is, for me, while it might not be that way for a lot of other people even if they don`t know it. As technical tester you might start at 9 or 10 am and finish several hours after midnigth and that for several days. Weeks, months in a row, while testing day after day the same game. The industry needs new an fresh people and I don`t want to discourage someone, but it is all to often that I meet people who think that any job in that business would be a walk in the park and that includes people I meet at different workplaces so far.

And for new Level Designer or people who want to become one, I guess Little Big Planet should be a good start :)

And I`m not responsible for grammar issues, typos and so on. Responsible for this is my laptop with US keyboard and I`m only used to desktop keyboards, plus they are usualy in German and it`s late and dark :D