Amusement magazine, issue 6: BUG!

There was a time, long before the arrival of the Internet, when videogame players celebrated the inclusion of game-related topics in the smallest of columns of everyday newspapers. In time, the small footnotes became single and double-page features about fresh game releases, hints, pokes and cheats. As a consequence of the sudden growth of the computer and console business, a few dedicated publications appeared in the United States of America, the epicenter of the videogame industry revolution; yet firstly in the United Kingdom. Countless magazines were edited during the 1980's and 90's throughout the globe; some of them vanished in a matter of months; others were successful for a short while; only a few kept alive until this day.

But just as the format of the printer paper slowly capitulated to the emerging HTML format, so did the videogame magazines become a secondary choice to game players who needn't wait for the end of the month to read the latest news, now updated every second in the windows of their internet browsers. In order to oppose the costless information supply of game sites, magazines were forced to improve and to become more exclusive than ever in order to survive. AMUSEMENT magazine, a fairly recent French trimestral publication, addresses some of the larger problems of the games journalism sphere, providing the sort of educated reading that is still light-years away from the common videogame website.

A first look at any of the existing issues of AMUSEMENT is sure to cause shock and awe: apparently, even after a quick browsing through the pages, this magazine is hard to identify as being related to the subject of games. Its discerning design easily evokes the flair and elegance seen in the visual presentation of a Vogue or Vanity Fair magazines. There are no game previews, reviews or even news articles proper; each piece has an identity of its own. This radical perspective has made this magazine a new and inspiring reference in the treatment of videogame subjects, something which is clear not only in its daring imagery, but also in the selection of themes.

The latest issue of the magazine, entitled BUG, is dedicated to concept of game program bug or glitch. Through different articles, the authors provide unique assessments on how these program errors have characterized videogames for long and will continue to do so in the future. The following are some of the highlights of this sixth edition (please click the images for larger views).

Not a Game, Just a Digital Amusement is a joint venture between the magazine and the artist Pierre Vanni on the subject of game bugs. Scheduled for release on the iPhone on the 25th of December, this non-game will make use of elemental volumes and shapes. Theplayer must use the touch screen to create visual motives which can only be interpreted at a distance in an exercise that relates to the true nature of digital images - the pixels -, very much like a new aged version of Plato's cavern.

A fine example of this magazine's focus on subjects of interest to videogame players that are not directly related to the industry; this is an interview article with Xavier Veilhan, a vanguardist French artist whose recent work consists of presenting flat polygon sculptures near historical locations. This contrast between old and new architectural and scultpural techniques is well illustrated by the image above, where a purple geometric chariot being pulled by horses is placed on front of the Versailles Palace.

The celebrated creator of Konami's DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION, Naoki, is briefly enquired about his vision of the music games industry where his title played a central role in the last years.

One of the best photo shoots of this volume, Overheating depicts several objects being thrown through a wall, namely the red DS Lite, in a visually pleasing manner.

Another great visual feature, Dérapages, blends models with polygonal compositions to suggest everyday life accidents: on the picture, the suspended waiter accidentally drops the digital serving dish.

Glitchography is a small but very interesting piece on the important role of the bug hunters and game testers in the development of each new game.

Bugs come in different forms and shapes. Léo Bourdin assumes the role of Bug Hunter and catalogues them in different classes from the Fatalist to the Pathologic according to their level of threat to the game experience.

Bugs are a unique property of hardware and software systems. In Cinema, however, the absence of these errors is compensated by different occasions where fictional computers display abnormal behaviors that play an important role. Listed movies include famous computer gremlins from 2001 A Space Odyssey, Electric Dreams or Alphaville.

Reminiscent of the film District 9, this visual article combines the chaos of technology on the foreground with the superimposed CGI insects alluding to the original circumstances in which the computer term bug came to be.

A one-page mention to the game MACHINARIUM, by Brice Roy, underlines the exquisite aesthetics of Jakub Dvorský's game.

Possibly the most important article of this edition: a multi-paged interview with Tetsuya Mizuguchi in which he speaks openly about his early days at SEGA and the several experiences that motivated him to seek new grounds in game design when founding UGA or his recent studio Q? Entertainment.

Like many other Japanese game designers often credited as being artists because of their exquisite work - including Ueda or Kojima - Mizuguchi speaks honestly about his definition of what videogames are. The page highlight reads: To me videogames aren't art, they're entertainment.

In his career, Mizuguchi has developed a mastery in blending audio and video. The inclusion of the concept of synaesthesia in his games, particularly REZ, originated in Paris when visited the Kandinsky painting gallery. The highlight reads: Everything will merge in the future: Videogames, Music, Cinema.

The author speaks openly about his ambitions: I see myself as still being young. And that which interests me is what comes next, the next day, the next project.

Surprisingly, the final pages are printed in a different kind of paper. One of them shows a very amusing article about an inevitable ludic reference, given this specific issue's main theme: BUG, the Sega Saturn game, is recognized here as one of the most important chapters in the history of 3D games.

More information about this issue at the Amusement mag official site.

Without further ado: Haruhiko Shono

How hard it is to manage a website - a network of internet contents - on one's own. CoreGamers begun as a project where different sorts of articles could be inserted, from modern to retro gaming, from purely nonsensical delirium to the rigor of profile and interview articles. Of all the plans and expectations I deposited in that site, together with the absent co-founder, I have only been able to carry out the one which I think to be most important; the one where I am able to contribute with a small amount of information about creators who, in spite of their importance to the field of videogames, are not usually taken into consideration by mainstream media.

Some months ago, I advertised the rare chance I was given to interview Haruhiko Shono. As mentioned in the Profile and Interview article I publish today, his name might not be of importance to the witless videogame players of the current generation. I'm sure that even older generation players will have a certain difficulty in associating his name with an actual game title. But one single word, as if by magic, might help telling apart those who truly admire the art that exists in videogames and those who claim to the industry from inside out: and that word is GADGET.

Other relics from times past make their appearance in the article; the ethereal ALICE, one of the first interactive works to appeal to the love for Arts; and L-ZONE, in which the author expresses his matured admiration for video art, machinery and the coming of the digital age. Exceptionally, I've also prepared a long gallery of media to support the article: apart from the unreleased projects, published in the parent visual blog Pixels At An Exhibition, and the several materials I've been publishing for the last months, there will be high quality videos documenting his major creations. Given the fact that the Internet has been rather useless in the research for information concerning this admirable videogame designer, I felt the necessity to bridge the gaps and provide a substantial - while not definite - account of his career and the creations that define it.

This was by far the hardest research project I've dealt with in the last months, although it is extremely rewarding to receive such a positive reaction to the article from Shono himself. And it is at times like these that I understand more clearly that all this work is not in vain: it is an opportunity to learn and to pass that knowledge to others. Lastly, I would like to renew my acknowledgement to Sorrel Tilley whose help in the translation department has proved essential to the fulfilment of this personal goal - and to the many others, friends and strangers who have supported me in the completion of this piece.

Leaps of Faith - Eric Viennot interview with Jordan Mechner and Eric Chahi

One of the most fascinating aspects of videogame history concerns the spiritual nexus that unites Jordan Mechner and Eric Chahi. Working in completely different rhythms and proportions, not to mention in opposite sides of the Atlantic, their creative stance has resulted in fairly similar works given the context of their release, especially with the case of PRINCE OF PERSIA and ANOTHER WORLD. While Mechner's game was published two years earlier, Chahi has recently claimed that, at the time he created his masterpiece, he wasn't aware of his North-American counterpart's work. Considering Chahi's answer to this old question as a truthful retortion - and there is no plausible reason to question its integrity - then we are in the presence of a true videogame phenomenon.

The idea of uniting Mechner and Chahi was suggested on several occasions as the critical solution to this ancient conundrum that would confront and dispel all of the enduring myths. Making this long-held daydream a reality, the two creators were interviewed by Eric Viennot, the co-founder of the French studio Lexis Numérique and the creator of the cult classic IN MEMORIAM (see profile and interview by CoreGamers on February 2007).

An authority among France's most prodigious adepts of digital arts, Viennot is also very keen on videogame culture. Surprisingly, as explained in the introduction to this first part of the entire dialogue, the interview resulted from Jordan Mechner's initial request for help in establishing contact with Chahi. Seizing this exceptional opportunity in the role of an intermediate, Eric Viennot has drafted a number of stimulating enquiries regarding each of the interviewees’ perspectives and motivations through the course of their careers. Apart from providing a definite confirmation that Eric Chahi is involved in the creation of a new project, this interview is unquestionably one of the most important documents related to this peculiar chapter of videogame history.

L'Histoire de Nintendo #2 - The birth of Yokoi's Micro Game legacy

Pix'N Love Editions is a French publisher specialized in creating and editing videogame books. Among dozens of issued works, concerning different companies and systems, L'Histoire de Nintendo is without a doubt their largest and most admirable endeavor. The two existing volumes of the series consist of the unmistakable result of a thorough and obsessive investigation, possible only on account of a great investment, as well as the unofficial participation of Nintendo personalities, interviewed during the course of the project. Whereas the first tome provided an absorbing account of the earliest roots of the Kyoto based company, #2, as hinted by its title 1980-1991 L'étonannte invention: les Game & Watch, explores the rise and expansion of Nintendo's first handheld system, envisioned by the late Gunpei Yokoi.

Codenamed Micro Game during its prototype phase, the Game & Watch system used a technology similar to that of dentaku (Japanese pocket calculators). Unlike its best-selling successor, the Game Boy, the G&W did not work with interchangeable cartridges and so the creation of each new game resulted in 59 unique systems released within a period of almost ten years. The Japanese phenomenon was later brought to different countries around the world, waging a battle against the predictable appearance of numerous replicas and clones – surprisingly featured in the book - that sought to cash in the portable LCD game vogue. In spite of the earlier efforts led by North-American companies such as Atari and Milton Bradley in the foundation of a handheld console market, it was Nintendo’s name that would become the universal epitome of portable gaming, a tradition that endured until this day.

With this second volume, author Fiorent Gorges and his aid in Japanese territories, Isao Yamazaki, have composed an overwhelming and wide-ranging document: not the smallest detail was disregarded in this compilation, including Yokoi's first experiments, unseen sketches of early models, detailed information of every Game & Watch series, advertising materials, official variations, byproducts and recent re-releases. Each of the 194 pages, printed in full color and extensively illustrated with the highest quality, is a heart-felt homage to one of the supreme geniuses of the industry whose tragic death resulted in the premature conclusion of a notable career. Written in an objective and passionate style, the latest volume of this succession is, to the lack of a better expression, the ultimate resource on the history of Nintendo and a paradigm of videogame publications.

It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

One week away from its release, FATALE remains a great mystery. While briefly described by its creators as an interactive vignette, no detailed information concerning its interactive system, scheme or genre was provided yet. Presented as a project of a similar scale to their previous avant-garde 2008 work, THE GRAVEYARD, FATALE has already summoned the attention of many a videogame enthusiast after Tale of Tales announced the official participation of Takayoshi Sato, of SILENT HILL fame, in the role of Character Designer.

All efforts have been made so far in order to conceal vital information regarding this upcoming title: the release of an audio trailer today is a clear statement that Tale of Tales wishes to preserve such secrecy until the fifth of October. As a follower of the official blog and an avid reader of all posts, it seems rather suitable that the promotion is being handled in this particularly awkward fashion, given the game designer's interest of late for sound novels and other alternative game designs. Already it is possible to verify the quality of the exotic soundtrack, aptly created by Gerry de Mol, of the vibrant sound effects, designed by Kris Force, as well as the sensuous voice acting and unique musical talent of Jarboe.

Based on Salome, the 1891 Oscar Wilde play depicting the events that lead to the beheading of John the Baptist at the request of the dancing temptress, FATALE should be regarded as one of most important indie events of this year for several plausible reasons: not only it is the first work after the release of the sensational THE PATH, selected as finalist in different game award festivals, as it is a rare gathering of specialists in different areas of digital content production. What is more, the selection of such an erudite theme - a direct consequence of Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn's desire to explore mature contents in the field of digital games - altogether with the exquisite artistic skills shown in the past by the studio, will surely to bring about a controversial and equally memorable experience.

More information can be found at the official site.

Machinarium sneak preview @ ACG

Quite the masterpiece. As MACHINARIUM is nearing its completion, I've written a thorough preview article for Adventure Classic Gaming based on my personal experience with two different builds of the game. This should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with SAMOROST: Amanita Design, an exceptionally talented ensemble, has managed to create one of the single best adventure titles of all time in what is their first attempt at a full-sized production.

The regal aesthetic sensbility and exquisite visual design, undeniably one of the Czech studio's staples, are merely the first of many accomplishments: its storytelling methods confront years of adventure game design canons; Thomas Dvořák, making justice to his own name, has composed a transcending, expressive and highly atmospheric soundtrack that succeeds in intensifying the unique experience; additionally, there is something of an unprecedented poetic beauty to the very act of puzzle solving.

Contrasting with the tedious and mind-numbing spiral of reiteration and recycling that defines the recent history of the adventure genre, Amanita Design led the project with unusual creative vigor and maturity. By carefully managing its own references and inspirations, MACHINARIUM achieves a rare state of equilibrium between an alternative legacy of videogames, eastern European animation, science fiction literature, silent cinema and twentieth century plastic art. All this will become available for download somewhere in the fall of this year.

Also be sure to take a look at the exclusive sketches and artworks gallery, authored by Jakub Dvorsky and Adolf Lachman, that I published in the parent blog Pixels at an Exhibition.