Dev Box Interview: Zoë Mode’s Producer Brynley J. Gibson

It usually takes a small army to create the video games that we play, and, most of the time, all of the focus gets put on the game itself, and not on the people that came together to make it. Our Dev Box interview series takes a look at some of the unsung heroes (developers, producers, artists, etc) that have committed their lives to entertaining all of us. In this week’s Dev Box we are letting Zoë Mode’s Producer Brynley J. Gibson, who recently worked on the the charity game “Chime” for Xbox Live Arcade (which if you haven’t picked up yet, you totally should – it’s for a good cause) provide us some insight into who he is as a gamer, and how he ended up working in the game’s industry.

Name: Brynley J. Gibson
Title: Producer
Company: Zoë Mode
Job Description: Help facilitate making something beautiful with fantastic creative people.
First title worked on: “The Movies”
Most recent title worked on: “Chime” but before that “Art Academy” for Nintendo on DSi

What game has most influenced you, and why? [Continue Reading]

Dev Box Interview: Darksiders General Manager David Adams

It usually takes a small army to create the video games that we play, and, most of the time, all of the focus gets put on the game itself, and not on the people that came together to make it. Our Dev Box interview series takes a look at some of the unsung heroes that have committed their lives to entertaining all of us. In this week’s expanded Dev Box we are letting Vigil Games General Manager David Adams provide us some insight into who he is as a gamer, and how he ended up working in the game’s industry.

Name: David Adams
Title: General Manager
Company: Vigil Games
Most recent title worked on: “Darksiders” (Xbox 360, PS3)

What game has most influenced you, and why? [Continue Reading]

2009’s Best Retro Revivals: What’s Old Is New Again

2009 wasn’t just the year of big name releases; there was also a very obvious attempt to revive some of gaming’s longest running franchises. While that’s not necessarily a new idea, it seemed like in this past year developers actually attempted to keep the feeling of the original games instead of just taking the name of a franchise and slapping it on something completely new. Take a look at some of the classics that received some nostalgic love this year, and reminisce about the good old days as you cross your fingers that 2010 holds the same retro goodness. [Continue Reading]

Top 10 Most Overlooked Games of 2009: The Hidden Gems

It happens every year. Hundreds of games are released, and only a handful go on to be blockbusters. There are numerous reasons that contribute to games being overlooked; everything from little to no marketing budgets, to coming out on the same day as a much bigger title. However, as we all should know, the size of a game’s marketing budget doesn’t directly correspond to the quality of the game, which means that every year there are good games out there that go unplayed. Here are some of this year’s best: [Continue Reading]

Top Ten Most Disappointing Games Of 2009

2009 is almost gone, and, looking back, there has been numerous key moments in the gaming industry: Capcom has managed to revive the fighting genre single handily with “Street Fighter 4.” The Wii has been receiving titles that are actually marketed towards gamers with doubledigit ages. And Star Wars fans have been drooling at the many developer walkthrough videos for the upcoming Star Wars MMO by Bioware. To say the least, in term of gaming, things are looking good.

With that being said, this doesn’t necessary the gaming industry did a perfect job this year. While sale records have been broken, there have been a few games released that received a ton of hype but failed to fufill their promises. The rules for this year’s list remain the same as last year: Any game that I was personally hyped about and didn’t meet my expectations is a candidate for this list. Because I only have a Wii, 360, and my PC, don’t expect anything from the handheld consoles or the Playstation 3.

10. Madworld

I know it’s very strange to label “Madworld” as disappointing game when I’ve given the game a favorable review, there’s a logically reason behind this.

“Madworld” was developed by Platinum Games, but they didn’t always go by that name. A few years ago, they were called Clover Studios and worked under Capcom, many artistically unique games were released by them, such as “Okami” and “Vietiful Joe.” It was one of their games in particular that had me hyped about “Madworld,” “God Hand.”

“God Hand” was a visually poor beat’em up that didn’t receive great reviews. It was released on the Playstation 2, and it was the last game created under the Clover Studios name. While the mainstream public didn’t bite, those of us who wanted to challenge ourselves and enjoyed punching people in the face got one hell of a game. I won’t list the features, but you can search on Youtube to see how the game works. It might be a good idea to do so, and then compare it to videos of “Madworld.” You might see a resemeblence.

And this is where the disappointment comes in. I liked “God Hand” and when I saw “Madworld,” I was hoping for a next-gen upgrade to the underrated game. Instead what we received was a dumbed down version of it. “Madworld” is still a great game, and you should try it if you haven’t done so, but considering this game from the same guys who made “God Hand,” I was disappointed with this one. [Continue Reading]

15 Things That Have Happened Since Mario’s Last 2D Console Game

No matter how you slice it, Mario is best remembered for his 2D adventures that he first appeared in so long ago. However, for some reason, up until this week’s release of “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” he had not seen a 2D console release since 1990’s “Super Mario World.” Sure, Nintendo’s handhelds have gotten a ton of 2D love from Mario, but the consoles had been left in the dust. It’s been almost twenty years since our red plumber friend has run back and forth on a TV screen, and a lot can happen in that span of time. For example: [Continue Reading]

Video Games…We Have Sinned

Sigh Video games,
“stop playing that son why don’t you go outside what is a SNES anyway?”
“omfg Zangiefs throws are so lame”
“shit is that the time I got college I should stop playing counter strike”
“oh dude is that the time I said I would see her soon I should stop playing GTA”
“is it time for work already?! I really should leave the orange box alone” [Continue Reading]

Dev Box Interview: WayForward’s Director Sean Velasco

It usually takes a small army to create the video games that we play, and, most of the time, all of the focus gets put on the game itself, and not on the people that came together to make it. Our Dev Box interview series takes a look at some of the unsung heroes that have committed their lives to entertaining all of us. In this week’s expanded Dev Box we are letting WayForward’s Director Sean Velasco provide us some insight into who he is as a gamer, and how he ended up working in the game’s industry.

Name: Sean Velasco
Title: Director
Company: WayForward
Job Description: Designing and directing games from inception to completion. Pitching game concepts, giving feedback, creating mockups, doing level design, sketching ideas out, and generally bothering programmers and artists alike.
First title worked on: “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” (CELL)
Most recent title worked on: “Contra 4″ (DS), “A Boy and his Blob” (Wii)

What game has most influenced you, and why? [Continue Reading]

The Saboteur Developer Interview: Like GTA, With Nazis

Everyone’s played a World War II game by now, so how do you make it different? “Mercenaries” devs Pandemic are sure doing their best to make their upcoming Xbox 360 and PS3 title, “The Saboteur” feel different than anything else you’ve played before. While it may not be an entirely different take on the event, it has a completely original look and feel that should offer gamers a unique experience when it hits stores on December 8th. EA was recently in NYC showing off the game, and Unit had a chance to speak with Corey Lewis from Pandemic about what we can expect when the game drops in a few weeks. [Continue Reading]

Video Game Art From Across The Ocean: A Conversation With deviantART’s Orioto

If you guys didn’t know, TrueGameHeadz not only care about video games, we also care about art, and the creators of these games (that we like to tear apart) as well.

Browsing deviantART, one of the hotbeds for hot artists worldwide, we came across this artist who touched our hearts with the Wacom. He doesn’t design for major games yet, but he can capture what’s true about some old school titles that make us all stop and stare. Without further ado let me introduce you to Mikael Aguirre aka Orioto. I’m sure you’ll find inspiration in his work.

[Continue Reading]

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