[eMa] Elephants Dream

Elephants Dream ist ein 3D-Animations-Kurzfilm ueber eine Maschinen-Welt. Der Film wurde mit Open Source Software entwickelt - sprich: auch jeder, der keine Special Effects Studio Ranch sein Eigen nennt, kann mit dieser Software solch einen Film erstellen - und ist (mitsamt der Produktionsdateien zu Lernzwecken) im iNet frei verfuegbar gemacht worden. [click]

Es gibt ausserdem noch einen Artikel ueber diesen Film und dieses Projekt auf Wikipedia (2oo6-o7-31).
sent by Mika77

[Vid] Human Space Invaders & Webcam-Fun

Space Invaders fuer's Kino - aber jetzt nicht, was ihr denkt ;^D [click]
Kein Kinofilm - nein, die Zuschauer sind die Hauptakteure. [...]
sent by Mika77

(show me also the webcam-vids)(don't show me the webcam-vids)

[·:·] Webcam 1:
Stripping with unexpected ending [click] Ich will auch so eine Mutter ;^)
sent by Hentaifan

[:·:] Webcam 2:
"I really miss you" - jaja, und wer steht da in der Tuer? [click]
sent by WarToyZ2k

Borat Trailer

Seht euch diesen geilen Trailer zum Film "Borat" an - ich schmeiss mich weg [click]
sent by Gavin77

[Vid] Fun With Coins & Stunts

Der Typ hier kennt einen ganz tollen Trick mit einer Muenze und einem Schnapsglas. Und seine Freundin unterstuetzt ihn auch noch eifrig beim Vorfuehren: [click].
found it myself

Der hier hingegen kennt den Trick mit der Muenze nicht (^^ ) [click]
sent by Jtranz

Und dieser Herr springt gerne herum. Jaja, Real Life Stunts werden heutzutage auch immer beliebter ... [click]
sent by Gman

[Vid] Crazy Arab Cardriver, Sex-Schildkroeten & jap. Toilet Prank

Heute habe ich drei lustige Videos anzubieten, gleich drei auf einen Streich. Ich hoffe, das kompensiert, dass ich fast 'ne Woche so schweigsam war [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

[·:·] Hier sehen wir einen sehr beeindruckenden Autofahrer aus Arabien. Ich habe selten jemanden gesehen, der im Real Life ein Auto so gut beherrscht wie er. [click] der soll mal Action-Filme drehen (*__* )

[·:·] Beobachten Sie nun zwei aeusserst hochmotivierte Schildkroeten beim Sex-Akt - sowie einen genialen Einfall des Herrchens, um diesen etwas aufzupeppen ;^) [click]

[·:·] Und zu guter letzt: japanische Toiletten-Streiche. Boah, das ist so fies ... [click]. aber das zum schluss ist so scheisse, dass es wieder lustig ist *lol*
all sent by crazy lemming

btw: ich hab gerade mal einen neuen Header eingefuehrt: [Vid] fuer Videos, lustig, technologisch, Trailer-esque oder einfach nur doof, von video.google.com, YouTube und konsorten.

ごめんね

m(_ _ )m

Ja, ich weiss, es ist schon etwas laenger her, seit ich was gepsotet hab ... aber es ist alles so verdammt langweilig ...

jedenfalls arbeite ich schon an einem neuen look. bald kann ich ja das einjaehrige hier feiern ...

"Fuck" Movies

Seht euch bei Wikipedia eine Liste der Filme an, in denen das Wort "Fuck" vorkommt - sortiert nach Haeufigkeit. Weil man auch sonst nichts zu tun hat [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

Ich hab mir erlaubt, nur die ersten 5o Filme zu nehmen. Ausserdem habe ich keine Lust, da jetzt eine Tabelle drumzubasteln, also nehmt es mir nicht uebel, dass ich die Liste einfach so hin schmiere ...

<<
List of films that most frequently use the word fuck
This is a list of the films that most frequently use the word ordered by the number of times the word "fuck" or one of its derivatives is used, containing only movies that use the word fuck over a 100 times.

The data in this list can be derived from various sources, but the statistics from the Family Media Guide (FMG) are considered the most reliable. FMG derives its statistics from the independent film revenue organization PSVratings. Each statistic from PSVratings was compiled by a panel of three reviewers.

Movie Year Fuck count Minutes FPM
Casino 1995 398 178 2.24
Jarhead 2005 335 123 2.72
Goodfellas 1990 300 145 2.07
Narc 2002 297 105 2.83
Made 2001 291 94 3.10
Dirty 2006 280 97 2.89
Running Scared 2006 275 122 2.28
Bully 2001 274 113 2.42
Reservoir Dogs 1992 269 99 2.69
Pulp Fiction 1994 265 154 1.72
The Big Lebowski 1998 260 117 2.22
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2001 248 104 2.38
The Boondock Saints 1999 246 110 2.17
Empire 2002 236 90 2.62
True Romance 1993 234 120 1.95
State of Grace 1990 230 134 1.72
The Devil's Rejects 2005 224 109 2.06
Eddie Murphy Raw 1987 223 90 2.48
Suicide Kings 1997 222 106 2.10
American History X 1998 214 119 1.80
The Original Kings Of Comedy 2000 213 115 1.85
Layer Cake 2004 210 105 2.00
Scarface 1983 207 170 1.22
Spun 2002 203 101 2.01
Tigerland 2000 202 100 2.02
A Bronx Tale 1993 200 122 1.64
Born on the Fourth of July 1989 196 145 1.35
Overnight 2003 191 82 2.33
Magnolia 1999 190 188 1.01
Monster 2003 187 109 1.71
Hustle and Flow 2005 186 115 1.62
Get Rich or Die Tryin' 2005 185 134 1.38
Formula 51 2001 180 93 1.94
Flawless 1999 178 112 1.59
Bad Santa 2003 173 98 1.77
Donnie Brasco 1997 172 127 1.35
The Commitments 1991 169 118 1.43
Four Rooms 1995 168 98 1.71
Boogie Nights 1997 164 155 1.06
Snatch 2000 159 102 1.56
Platoon 1986 159 120 1.33
Colors 1988 157 120 1.31
Intermission 2003 155 106 1.46
The Blair Witch Project 1999 154 86 1.79
Good Will Hunting 1997 154 126 1.22
Bad Boys II 2003 153 147 1.04
Smokin' Stogies 2001 151 102 1.48
In the Name of the Father 1993 151 127 1.19
Ash Wednesday 2002 151 99 1.53
Hoffa 1992 150 140 1.07 

>> # top # | Q: Wikipedia.en (2oo6-o7-21)
sent by albaholic

Plus some Trivia on the Wiki-Site.

Jongleur-Video & Online Mario Game

Ein richtig nettes Jongleur-Video fiel mir kuerzlich in die Haende. Mir gefallen die Diabolo-Kuenstler am besten.
sent by absinthOpfer

ausserdem hab ich noch was fuer die Nostalgiker unter den Videospiel-Freunden und fuer die, die sich mit dem Warten auf das Nintendo Wii schwertun: ein kleines, vereinfach gehaltenes, online spielbares Super Mario Spiel im Stil von New Super Mario Bros. fuer den Nintendo DS. Laedt lange und ist mit 2o Leveln recht kurz, ausserdem nerven mich die sich bewegenden Plattformen etwas, aber trotzdem macht es einen Heidenspass. Have fun.
sent by Jtranz

btw: hab ich eigentlich schon Portal erwaehnt? ;^)

[VGN] Portal

watch the trailer for the upcoming, very innovative game named "Portal" by Valve, the developers of Half-Life and Half-Life 2: stream it or download the torrent of the avi-file.

In this game you will be able to create portals - for example, in order to cross a gap. You will not only be able to use this ability, you have to use it. Then the problems to solve increase in its complexity ... looks highly addictable.
sent by THE_EYE

Videos: Hockey Fight & Lebowski

Two funny Videos: the most horrible and most thrilling Ice Hockey Fight I've ever seen and The Big Lebowski - F*cking Short Version.
sent by redeemer & neanderthaler

Pimp My Moped

Hier haben wir ein Video von jemandem, der wohl kuerzlich bei "Pimp My Moped" gewesen zu sein scheint, denn in seinem fahrbaren Untersatz ist eine laute Stereo-Anlage eingebaut - die auch von ihm und seinen Freunden genutzt wird: [click]. Ich bin zwar kein grosser Koenner auf dem Gebiet, aber ich rate, als naechstes "Pimp My Tanzstil" aufzusuchen ...
sent by absinthOpfer

Parknastics

Lust, mal wieder auf den nahe gelegenen Spielplatz zu gehen? Einige alte Erinnerungen auffrischen. Mal sehen, was die jetzige Generation dort treibt ... oder sie alle mit halsbrecherischen Stunts beeindrucken?! [click]
sent by Jtranz

George Lucas In Love

*rotflol* das ist mal endlich mal wieder eine geile Star Wars Parodie. Ein Kurz-Film, der zeigt, wie George Lucas, der Erfinder und Vater von Star Wars, auf die Idee dieses grossartigen Meisterwerkes kam. [click]

David Hasselhoff - Jump In My Car

David Hasselhoff singt wieder! In diesem lustigen Videoclip zumindest: [click]. Er scheint sich jedenfalls ziemlich Muehe beim Singen zu geben - wenn ich diese lustigen Grimassen richtig deute. Und er verarscht sich auch noch selber, wie geiel. (^^ )
aber bei Amazon laesst sich ein dazu passendes, seit April vorhandenes, kaeuflich erwerbbares Produkt bestaunen - doch kein reines Fun-Video?
sent by webonkel75

BluRay & HD-DVD in Einem

sehr schoen, eine neue Technologie ist herausgekommen, die - meines Erachtens - dafuer sorgen kann, dass der Release der PS3 noch weiter nach hinten verschoben wird: ein neuartiges Laufwerk von Ricoh (das meines Wissens erstmal rein gar nichts mit der PS3 oder Sony zu tun hat) wird angeblich in der Lage sein, sowohl BluRay Discs als auch HD-DVD Discs problemlos abzuspielen. Vermutlich wird es tatsaechlich nicht eintreffen, dass Sony dieses Laufwerk jetzt schon in die Konsole einbaut. Wahrscheinlich wird Sony in dieser nun kommenden Konsolengeneration gar nicht darauf eingehen, und meine Alarmglocken klingeln bloss aus Paranoia oder Langeweile. Aber moeglich ist es. [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

<<
11.07.2006 16:15 - News
"Gebeugter" Laser: Ricoh-Laufwerk liest Blu-Ray, (HD-)DVD & CD
(Stephan) HD-DVD oder Blu-Ray?!? Das ist für Ricoh keine Frage... Dem Hardware-Hersteller soll es gelungen sein ein Laufwerk zu entwickeln, das beide Formate erkennt.

Möglich wird dies durch ein verstellbares Plättchen zwischen Linse und Laser, das den Lichtstrahl passend zum eingelegten Datenträger beugt. Nach Angaben von Nikkei Net Interactive sollen außerdem CDs gelesen werden können.

In einer Pressemitteilung von Ricoh UK heißt es, die Technik des verstellbaren Lasers werde auf Dauer die preisgünstigere sein und könne auch in künftigen Brennergenerationen eingesetzt werden.

Wer sich bisher nicht zwischen Blu-Ray oder HD-DVD entscheiden konnte, der sollte also die neuesten Entwicklungen abwarten - wir halten Euch auf dem Laufenden.
Quelle: Trustdreviews.com
>> # top # | Q: GIGA.de

Urlaub In Bolivien

na? endlich mal wieder Urlaub? und wohin soll's gehen? darf ich das gemuetliche Bolivien vorstellen? es hat eine garantiert unvergessliche Infrastruktur ... [click]
sent by albaholic

Zidane-Moorhuhnjagd

reiten wir weiter auf der Welle der "let's all make fun of Zinedine Zidane"-Clipchen: [click]
sent by absinthOpfer

Bonte Room & White Room

Wer erinnert sich nicht an den ober-coolen Viridian Room, sowie seinen Nachfolger, den Crimson Room? Ein kleines (online spielbares) Flash Game im Adventure-Genre, bei dem man in die Rolle eines Unbekannten schluepft, der in einen merkwuerdigen Raum eingesperrt ist, aus dem es auszubrechen gilt. [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

Jedenfalls gibt es jetzt den (fuer mich) ersten Ableger: Bonte Room heisst er und kommt auch schon in zwei Levels daher. Den ersten hab ich schon geknackt - hat mich aber auch ein paar Stunden (ueber mehrere Tage verteilt) Gehirnschmalz-Massage gekostet. Den zweiten finde ich etwas einfacher, weil ich da recht schnell recht weit gekommen bin - aber draussen bin ich noch nicht.
Bonte Room 1 | Bonte Room 2

btw: das Original hat inzwischen einen neuen Nachfolger: den White Room! Es lohnt sich doch mal regelmaessig bei Takagism vorbeizuschauen.
# top #
sent by Jtranz

Bruno, der Baer - *Yummy!*

Einige trauern um Bruno, den Baren, andere tun's nicht - und wieder andere essen ihn fuer zwischendurch. [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

<<
«Bruno Braunbär» zum Kauen
04. Jul 12:40
Die Leiche von Braunbär «Bruno» war wahrscheinlich noch nicht mal kalt, da wurden bereits Marketingkonzepte erarbeitet. Eines davon gibt es nun in der Dose.

Gerade einmal einen Tag nachdem der herumstreunende Braunbär «Bruno» von Jägern erschossen worden war, hatte die Firma Steiff bereits geschäftige Initiative ergriffen und den Plüsch-Bruno «so richtig zum Knuddeln» angekündigt. Nach dem Stofftier kommt nun das Kau-Tier.

Die Firma Haribo nutzte die Aufregung, um den Bären als Inspiration für ein «Schaumzuckerprodukt in den Geschmacksrichtungen Schoko und Karamell». «Wahre Bruno-Sympathisanten dürfen sich dieses einmalige Nascherlebnis nicht entgehen lassen!», so die Werbung.

Und damit es nicht einfach nur das Geschäft mit Brunos Tod ist, wurde der Verkauf der «Runddose à 150 Stück» an eine Spendenaktion gekoppelt: Von jeder verkauften Runddose «Bruno Braunbär» würden «20 Cent dem WWF Deutschland für 'Bärenprojekte in den Alpen'» gespendet, heißt es in der Ankündigung - was bei 7,50 Euro pro Dose allerdings nicht so richtig viel ist.

Der Kaubär wird ab Ende Juli 2006 überall im Handel erhältlich sein. (nz)
>> # top # | Q: Net Zeitung.de
sent by Jtranz

Lustiges zur Fussball WM 2oo6: Spickzettel & Peter Crouch

kuerzlich fielen mir zwei lustige Fundstuecke in die Haende, die sich auf die Fussball WM 2oo6 beziehen. [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

[·] Zum Einstieg erstmal ein eBay-Funstueck der besonderen Art (um den Witz zu checken, muesste man schon von den Spickzettel-Geruechten bzgl. des Elfmeterschiessens zwischen Deutschland und Argentinien gehoert haben, naeheres dazu bei ZDF.de): Spickzettel von Cambiasso - Elfmeter gegen Lehmann (^^ )
Screenshot, wenn down, bzw. als Alternative: [click]
sent by absinthOpfer


[··] Daneben kann ich noch einen Thread eines Forums halten, in dem ein ohnehin schon lustiges Bild von dem englischen Stuermer Peter Crouch in Aktion in einer Fotomontage-Kollektion immer und immer wieder verarscht wird.

Hier gibt es sogar noch mehr von der Sorte: Peter Crouch Can Do Anything.co.uk
sent by raiL

[VG News] Interview with Ron Gilbert

A super new and super interesting Interview with Ron Gilbert, creator of such successful videogame series like Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island and many more. [...]
(read article)(don't read article)

<<
By Chase Murdey, Gamasutra · June 30, 2006
The Grumpy Gamer Speaks: Ron Gilbert On His Post-Guybrush Universe
Veteran developer Ron Gilbert was the driving force behind perennial favorites Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and other titles using the versatile SCUMM engine.

Currently shopping around a new project, Ron took some time to speak with Gamasutra on the ins and outs of storytelling, the struggle of small developers, and the state of the game industry today.

Gamasutra: so you're the driving force behind the SCUMM engine, Humongous Entertainment, Cavedog... are you rich yet?

Ron Gilbert: No, definitely not yet.

GS: Is it true that you've been working out of DoubleFine?

RG: I was working at Tim's office... I guess it was last summer, but not anymore.

GS: So you're working independently now?

RG: Yeah, I do work out my house.

GS: So, I've been talking to a lot of people about interactive storytelling lately. As a veteran of interactive storytelling, how do you feel the current industry is embracing or defying the concept of telling a story in a game?

RG: I think generally they're not doing a very good job of it. I think that story in games is really way down on the list of people's priorities. It seems like most games that claim to have story really have scenarios. It's the scenario of, you know "aliens try to take over the world and you have to shoot everybody to win." That's not a story, that's a scenario. Most games are just scenarios. They have opening cut scenes which kind of set everything up and maybe there's some kind of intermittent cut scenes that happen in the middle, but real interactive storytelling is more about the flow. It's the flow of the game around the story or the story flowing around the game. There's such a rigid structure right now in gaming, and I don't think anybody is really exploring what that can mean. It's a little bit disappointing to me.

GS: Is there anyone in particular that you would single out as doing the right things?

RG: Honestly, I have not played anything in a long time that I thought was doing a particularly good job at telling a story.

GS: From the development side, how would you say crafting a story for a game is different than writing a traditional story? Is this disparity possibly one of the reasons why games are getting it wrong?

RG: You can go about it in a couple ways, and this leads to a lot of argument between developers. Some of them are on one side and some are on the other. I'm a very firm believer that a story is something that is told by an author and other people think that story has to be something that... these organic things that are created by the player. You know, "you can play Grand Theft Auto and you're making your own story." And I don't necessarily agree with that. I think, you certainly can play Grand Theft Auto and come away from it with a story. But I think most of the time people play games they come away with a really bad, boring story.

You know, a good analogy is something like watching a baseball game. There are baseball games that are just amazing stories, you know, a duel between the pitcher and the batters and the way that the game ebbs and flows and you walk away from watching that baseball game, and you're going "wow, that was a great baseball game. The story worked and it had all the drama, everything was great." But the fact is, 92% of all baseball games are pretty boring. And I think a lot of this kind of sandbox-style gameplay like Grand Theft Auto and others... I think that's what they're like, they're like baseball games. Yes, you do come away with this incredible story occasionally, but most of the time it's just boring, and I'm more of the belief that the correct way is to really sit down and tell a story.

It doesn't mean that the player can't modify the story and interact with the story or kind of push the story around, but you know, a story is a story. The reason stories are so important to us is that they are a description of the human condition, and it's important for us to have it put together by a person. When I go to a great movie, one of the reasons I'm going to pay money to see a great movie is because it has a great storyteller behind it, telling me his story. They know how to pace their story and they know all these great things about it and I'm going to have a good time.

And if I'm playing a game that is built around a story, (and it's not like games have to have story by any means,) but if I'm playing a game that is about the story, I have to know that story was crafted by somebody. I want to know that story means something. And I think one of the problems that a lot of developers get into is that... I think people don't have a really good understanding of how to pace an interactive story. So you get into these situations where you've got a series of events that make up the story, but they're not paced very well. Things don't flow correctly through them, and you see these weird kinds of jerky starts and stops in the drama. I think that's what can makes interactive storytelling really not appeal to a lot of people. If you kind of unravel it all, it's just bad storytelling.

GS: Is that something you think could be handled by developer? Or is it a trend in the gaming audience, that they're just not willing to accept this kind of game?

RG: No, I think this is definitely a developer issue. I think the developers are just not doing a good job at it. I think if they did a good job at it I think you'd find a lot more popularity in story games. But you look at story games and now they're just not very good, they're not paced very well and frankly, they're not that interesting of a story. So of course people are not interested in story games.

GS: Do you think there is validity to the statement that perhaps audiences want something that an interactive story can't deliver? Things like action, or fast-paced, frenetic gameplay?

RG: I think there are certain types of games that certain people play for certain reasons. There are definitely times when I sit down in the game and I just want to blow stuff up. I don't really care about the story. Give me a good pretext, give me a big gun and let me blow things up, that's what I'm interested in. There are other times when I'm way more interested in the story, and I think that's one of the times... I think you could do a really good story game, you know, have a really good adventure type game. I think you could appeal to a much broader audience. I think there are a lot of people out there who are just not willing to play games that involve a lot of twitching and a lot of action. But if there was more of a slower-paced game like an adventure game, or a kind of light role-playing game, I think these people would be a lot more interested and I think one of the things that would really attract these people who are not hardcore gamers are really engaging stories. I think that's what adventure games had, and I think that's what they did to attract a different audience, a different type of person, then you're getting playing games today.

GS: When you personally create a character or a storyline, what kind of elements do you take into account? What would you say is the number one thing you need to have in creating an engaging story?

RG: All stories have to have conflict. Without conflict, there's no drama. And the conflict doesn't necessarily have to be violent conflict. When you're building a really good story, I think what you're looking for is "what's the conflict here?" And hopefully you're not just dropping in some stereotype of some "evil wizard taking over the land." But you can have the conflict be just a little more intricate or a little more sophisticated, and the question with the lead characters is "what is their role in that conflict?" The character should be different at the end of the story than they were at the beginning of the story. And that transformation should matter somehow to the conflict that's going on and so the things I think about are: "what is the conflict, who is this character and what is the transformation they're going to go through throughout the course of the story?"

GS: When you take into account the early success back in the day of adventure games, do you think that could be recaptured in today's industry? Do you feel that the industry is ready to accept an adventure game with a character-driven story if someone could produce a good one?

RG: I think it could, but, you know, it's not going to be successful on the Xbox 360. I think there could be a very good market for adventure games on the PC, or maybe handheld machines like the Nintendo DS or the PSP. Certainly on the PC. I think you've got to figure out how you're selling them to people. I don't think you can necessarily put them on the shelves at CompUSA or EB. I think there's probably a pretty good market for that stuff through online distribution. And then those are the areas where you might be able to capture an audience with a storytelling style. I think if you can build the games for a reasonable amount of money, yes, I think there's a good market there.

GS: In that vein, do you personally have any new projects you're working on? You mentioned in some other interviews that you had a new project in the works.

RG: I do have a kind of very story-heavy, story-based kind of RPG game that I'm currently designing, but I'm still looking for a publisher willing to publish it. So I continue to work on it until I find somebody, but there's a lot of what you talk about here, you know, very heavily story-based, a lot of sensibilities of adventure games mixed with some of the action fun RPG elements.

GS: What are some of the hardships you face as someone with an idea shopping around a story? The things that you imagine would be faced by independent developers or anyone who wants to get their word out.

RG: It's actually kind of frightening, you know. You sit down with a publisher and the minute you mention anything like an adventure game or something story-based or adventure-game-like in any way, the meeting's basically over. So the publishers do have a huge resistance to this. And I think a lot of it is that they cannot point to anything like this that is successful in the market today. So it's very difficult for them to put anything behind it. It's a very difficult process.

GS: So would you say it's a self-perpetuating cycle? Like at some point the adventure game died off and now, no one wants to pick it up because they can't do a comparison and say "this will sell well," because there's nothing like on the market?

RG: They really can't. There are very few good adventure games out there. You know, though, Europe is a little different. There are actually a fair number of adventure games out in Europe that do relatively well, given that market. So I think there is still some interest in Europe with adventure games, but they're made very, very cheaply, so they don't have to sell a lot of units to break even. Publishers today, if you look at any of the mainstream publishers, they get so fixated on these very large budgets. It's kind of amazing. For instance, the budget for my game is actually quite modest compared to most, and that's actually a red flag for them. If you don't come in wanting to spend $10 or $15 million, it's like they don't take you seriously at some level, and I think that's a real problem. I think games just cost way too much money to make and I think it's really preventing a lot of experimentation from going on.

GS: I've actually spoken to other people who share a similar sentiment; that the games industry moved incredibly fast in terms of budget when compared to other industries like the motion picture industry.

RG: I think they're basically just tripping over themselves. They blew up too fast, and now they don't really know how to deal with the creative aspect of it. Look at the movie business. Sure, there are movies that cost $10, $20, maybe $30 million to make, but there are also a lot of movies that cost a million to $2 million to make. So I think what you have in the movie business is this... the movie industry has a system and a pipeline for independent film that can not cost as much money and the movie studios know how to market that stuff. The movie studios understand that they're not going to make, you know, $400 million off an independent film, but that's OK with them because they only spent $1 million to fund it and the games industry does not understand that. If you go to any of these publishers, they're like baseball players that only want to hit home runs. They're not interested in hitting singles or hitting doubles. Everything has to be a home run or they're not interested, and I think the industry is a little more sophisticated than that. If you're willing to spend a little money to make a little more money, you can do that in the movie industry and the games industry is not willing to do that. I think that's a huge detriment to the whole industry.

GS: Now, is this a trend that you see a reversing at any time? Is there anything that could be done, in your opinion?

RG: I think a couple of things could happen. If a low-cost game came out that actually did incredibly well, I think that would cause a lot of people to turn their heads. I think some kind of collapse of the whole console business would cause that to happen. You get all these next-gen consoles and games cost more and the whole industry just kind of collapses. Then I think there could be an interesting rebirth there, when people are sort of forced to do cheaper games. I don't know if that's necessarily going to happen, though.

I mean again, if you look at the movie business. There's a lot of interesting things that happened in the 1960s in terms of the independent film coming out. Movies like Easy Rider showed up that cost virtually nothing to make and just did huge, huge box office numbers that kind of got the movie industry to look at that stuff a little differently than they had before. So I think if somebody does make a small independent game that actually does really well... you know, the big publishers, they're looking to make more money. It's hard for them to look at it as an interesting art form like designers and developers do.

GS: Not asking you to toot your own horn, but do you think that could be you? Do you think what you've got cooking right now could be something that could breathe new life into the adventure game industry?

RG: Yeah, I do, it was really kind of my goal as I set out. I thought about the design and I said, "here's a game that's got an interesting art style that I can produce relatively cheaply and relatively quickly, but it's got a lot of really good elements that people like with the action stuff in a strong story." That's really why I went out and did this whole thing. I thought "here's something that could be made relatively cheaply compared to everything else. It's not going to sell like Halo, but that doesn't matter, given how much it costs, or at least it shouldn't."

GS: Now, with your pedigree, if you're having this much trouble picking up a publisher, do you think that could be seen as disheartening to independent game makers or people who are just entering the industry? Let's say they're saying "somebody who created these quite frankly legendary games is having trouble, how am I going to do it?" What would you say to someone like that?

RG: I don't know that that should discourage anybody. I think the advantage that I have is that I can call a publisher, and I get my phone calls returned. But that's really about the only advantage I have. Publishers are looking for these kind of big high-profile, high-budget games, and it doesn't matter who you are, if you're not bringing them one of those they're really not going to be that interested. So I think it is kind of disheartening, but I don't think people should be worried.

GS: Have you been keeping up with the recent goings-on at Humongous entertainment?

RG: No, I really don't follow what goes on with them anymore.

GS: What happened with them? Why, in short, are you working out of your house?

RG: Well, I'm working out of my house because I'm working on my own projects. While I've got this game in development, and I'm shopping it around to publishers, there is no real point in, you know, setting up an office and hiring people. I just don't think it's time for that yet.

GS: Have you been keeping up with the continued success of SCUMM in terms of the ScummVM emulator being ported to handhelds and so on? It's on the DS, it's on the PSP, people have it on their Palm pilots, and they're playing Maniac Mansion, the old Monkey Island games, whatever they can get the fit on there. Is that inspiring? Does that give you some hope for the future of adventure gaming?

RG: What it tells me is what I really believe: that there's a market out there. People continually talk about the old adventure games, not just Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, but the Sierra stuff and all that. People write emulators. I get a lot of email from people who have played Monkey Island and they were not playing this game when it was first released. Some of them weren't even alive when the game was first released, but they find it and they play it and they really like it. And I think, to me, that says there is a market out there for this stuff. It's figuring out how to get into it, figuring out how to make it inexpensively enough. You're not going to make a successful adventure game for $10 million. But you can certainly make successful one for one or $2 million. So that's kind of trying to convince the publishers that "look, there's all these people out there who are just obsessed with this stuff, and if you can crack the image right and the scope and the pacing right, there is a good market out there for this."

GS: I guess that's something I still don't understand about the games industry. How do you think these companies can ignore this large number of fans clamoring for something and telling them in no uncertain terms that we will buy a game if you make it in this style we love. "We will buy whatever it is because we love this kind of game" and it's still not happening?

RG: Well, if you pay too much attention to your fans it's really easy to kind of ruin your idea, but that's a little bit different than paying attention to the market and what you're talking about is really paying attention to the market. There are people out there who want to play these games, and they don't care what game it is. They just want to play the style of game and I think that's kind of paying attention to the market and understanding that there's a market out there.

GS: And publishers just aren't doing that?

RG: It's mostly publishers, yes. There's lots of developers out there who would love to be doing this kind of stuff, or more of it, if there were deals out there that would help fund it. The publishers need a multi-tiered approach to games where they have a portfolio of the big blockbusters, then the kind of medium games, and then they have a couple of smaller games. A company like Electronic Arts makes billions of dollars every year. Why can't they set aside, you know, $5 million a year to fund a couple of small projects? I don't see why they can do that. They wouldn't even be noticed. And I think if a company like EA created a little studio whose job it was to fund smaller games for alternate markets, I think they could do pretty well there and I think it would really benefit them, because it would allow them to find new developers and new talent and test it out on smaller things, which is a lot of what the movie studios do. You know, these smaller labels... like when Miramax started out, it was to fund the smaller independent films. And Miramax is owned by Disney: huge, huge company, but Miramax had their focus, which was small independent films. They were separate from the whole Disney infrastructure, and if EA just had a separate label, and they gave them 5 or $10 million a year to develop new talent in new ideas and fund this stuff, I think it could be a big win for them.

GS: How important do you think the idea of a name is to a publisher? Something like "we're EA, we don't do that kind of thing" or "we're Midway, we put out Mortal Kombat, we're not going to put out Monkey Island 6" or something like that?

RG: And that's exactly why a company like Disney created a separate studio like Miramax. They had that exact same issue for them. It was a little different because they were known for their wholesome family entertainment. So you know, they don't want to come out with Pulp Fiction under the Disney label, but Pulp Fiction under the Miramax label is just fine. That's why if I was running Electronic Arts, I would create another label that wasn't Electronic Arts, that wasn't that name. It was some other name, but it woud be funded by EA and have the same resources behind it that Electronic Arts has, the production resources and the marketing resources. But yeah, it is a different brand because people do really respond to brands. You wouldn't want to lump everything under EA.

GS: Isn't that actually what happened with Cavedog branching out from Humongous? Because you didn't want it to be "from the publisher of Pajama Sam comes Total Annihilation?"

RG: Very much so, and that's exactly why we did Cavedog. It was essentially the same group of people and we were in the same building, but it was a different brand. So we could kind of focus on a very different type of game. We weren't crossing messages and branding issues in any so that is why we did it.

GS: If a game company were to do something like that, if they were to support an independent studio or have a label for something like that, do you think you would see people from the old days from Sierra or from the old LucasArts days sort of coming out of the woodwork with ideas? Do you know that you're not alone here with having an adventure game you like to see published?

RG: Yes, possibly. I think you wouldn't do very well to come out with an adventure game that was exactly like the structure of Monkey Island. I think things have changed and they have evolved and people do have different sensibilities and things. I think as long as people are willing to evolve with the market in some sense. I think that could be an interesting resurgence of people. There certainly are some people back then who had a certain talent for a certain type of game. And you just don't see them or that type of game anymore.

GS: And what would you say the next evolution will be? Where would you take something like a Maniac Mansion or a Monkey Island in order to bring it into the mainstream, assuming all these other financial issues were in place?

RG: The thing I'm trying to do with the game right now is kind of meld it with an RPG. So what you've got is the kind of large world exploration that you have in an RPG that you don't really have with an adventure game. You've got the action, some light combat, you know, Diablo-style combat going on with it, but it is also infused with really good adventure-game-style puzzles and adventure-style sensibilities to the storytelling. So what you can do there is take those puzzles and that storytelling that really appeal to people on a certain level, but you can fuse it with the kind of action and mindless play mixed in. I think you can really broaden that audience, and really get to the people who are buying and playing games today.
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T-Shirt to Ninja Mask Instruction

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