Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and MTV News' Stephen Totilo at Rockstar Games' offices in New York City on June 22, 2007

Does reading Level Up sometimes feel like drinking water from a fire hose? Or surfing a tsunami? Does it ever give you the sensation that you've been buried under an avalanche of words, words, words? Yes, we know that the dizzying length of certain Level Up posts can read more like a manifesto or a jeremiad than a blog entry. For you, we offer the occasional feature "Things You May Have Missed," which will cull compelling excerpts from our more voluminous posts.

In light of today's announcement that the British Board of Film Classification has once again refused to approve Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2 for commercial release, we bring you an excerpt from the June 25th-27th edition of our Vs. Mode exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo. In it, we discussed our exclusive six level playthrough of Manhunt 2, which came shortly after the Entertainment Software Ratings Board had given the game an Adults Only rating, and the British Board of Film Classification and the Irish Film Censor's banned the game from release. Our email conversation--which Level Up dubbed "The Satanic Versus"--was wide ranging, discussing everything from whether Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft's blanket bans on AO-rated games were censorious to whether the Wii controls made the Manhunt 2 more immersive. Here's a small sampling of what we discussed back in June.

To read our summary, click on the link below.

Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2

Does reading Level Up sometimes feel like drinking water from a fire hose? Or surfing a tsunami? Does it ever give you the sensation that you've been buried under an avalanche of words, words, words? Yes, we know that the dizzying length of certain Level Up posts can read more like a manifesto or a jeremiad than a blog entry. For you, we offer the occasional feature "Things You May Have Missed," which will cull compelling excerpts from our more voluminous posts.

In light of today's announcement that the British Board of Film Classification has once again refused to approve Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2 for commercial release, we bring you an excerpt from the June 25th-27th edition of our Vs. Mode exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo. In it, we discussed our exclusive six level playthrough of Manhunt 2, which came shortly after the Entertainment Software Ratings Board had given the game an Adults Only rating, and the British Board of Film Classification and the Irish Film Censor's banned the game from release. During our email conversation, Level Up made several predictions about the likely fate of Manhunt after Rockstar revised the game. And while not all of our predictions have come true, we were correct in our belief that given while the ESRB's simple, clinical, circumspect verdict gave it plenty of room to reverse itself after Rockstar made some changes, the BBFC and IFCO's outraged, moralistic statements had backed themselves into a corner such that a U.K. and Irish release would be highly unlikely, even after making changes.

To read our summary, click on the link below.

WayForward and Warner Bros Interactive's Duck Amuck

It would be an exaggeration to say that we nearly died to bring you this Q&A on Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment's DS game Duck Amuck--but only slightly. It was the eve of the 2007 E3 Media and Business Summit in Los Angeles, and we were having dinner with our debating nemesis Stephen Totilo and WBIE PR mastermind Remi Sklar, who had brought along a copy of the company's smartly original interactive cartoon Duck Amuck to show off. Perhaps overly attuned to the rapid pace of the blogosphere, the Level Up staff began to eat a bit too quickly, and a choking fit shortly ensued--one that repeated trips to the restroom failed to solve. As stubborn pride gave way to mounting panic, we alerted our dinner companions to our unresolved distress; thankfully, before L.A.'s emergency services were forced to join us at the upscale eatery, a hearty spasm cleared the obstruction without even the slightest mess. Whereupon we sat down, regained our composure, and resumed our preview of Duck Amuck.

You might think the following Q&A would be anticlimactic after this introduction, but honestly, we're just getting started. Last month, we spoke over the phone with two members of Duck Amuck's development team--lead designer Rob Buchanan and producer Jeff Pomegranate--to discuss their intriguing DS title. The project was inspired by the classic 1953 Chuck Jones cartoon in which Daffy Duck is tormented by an unseen animator, and the game cleverly allows players to do the same with the DS stylus, causing Daffy to break the fourth wall and protest his fate directly to the player, much as he did to the invisible animator all those years ago. In our interview, Buchanan and Pomegranate explain how traditional animation processes informed their workflow for Duck Amuck; discuss the future prospects of interactive cartoons; and reveal why they had to scrap their plans to parody the famous Nintendo light gun game Duck Hunt.

How did you guys get involved with Duck Amuck?

Rob Buchanan: It actually went back quite a ways. We actually pitched it to Warner Brothers probably about a year and a half before they actually gave us the green light to go ahead with it. It just seemed like with, the edge was brand new out on the market, the Nintendo DS, and it just occurred to us that what a perfect system to have a game like Duck Amuck on.

So you came up with the idea? They didn't approach you?

Buchanan: Right, right.

There's a lot of things going on in the game. Players are manipulating and engaging with a character via touch, which is reminiscent of Nintendogs in some ways. But then there's the whole idea of breaking the fourth wall. What inspired you? Where did those ideas come from?

Buchanan: This is Rob. Basically we really wanted to treat it like a Daffy sim, similar to Nintendogs, I suppose. But we really wanted to make it as much like an interactive cartoon as possible. So we didn't want to have Daffy just running around and jumping on platforms. We wanted him to be alive and allow Daffy to be Daffy.

Jeff Pomegranate: Basically most of the inspiration came from the original cartoon.

Buchanan: We were trying to channel Chuck Jones the whole time.

What did you draw on from the cartoon?

The End from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Does reading Level Up sometimes feel like drinking water from a fire hose? Or surfing a tsunami? Does it ever give you the sensation that you've been buried under an avalanche of words, words, words? Yes, we know that the dizzying length of certain Level Up posts can read more like a manifesto or a jeremiad than a blog entry. For you, we offer the occasional feature "Things You May Have Missed," which will cull compelling excerpts from our more voluminous posts.

Today's entry comes from the September 17th-20th edition of our Vs. Mode exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo, wherein we discussed the games BioShock and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. During our email conversation, we raised the question of how both games handled boss battles, and why more developers need to study Metal Gear Solid 3 to learn how to reinvent boss fights for the modern era.

To read our summary, click on the link below.

During last week's deafening gossip that Bungie and Microsoft were breaking up, we asked a high-ranking official at another company, "What do you make of all of the Bungie-Microsoft rumors? Seems as though there's enough smoke here to indicate the presence of fire." To which the person replied, "Flames! And sparks!" Last Friday, the speculation that had been burning up the Internet turned out to be four-alarm blaze of truth. Bungie, which Microsoft purchased in 2000, announced that it had regained its independence, but would continue to work closely with Microsoft and remain exclusive to Xbox 360, at least in the immediate future. Despite what our sources were telling us, it all seemed amicable-except for this explanatory note on Bungie.net, in which the use of words like "stifle" and "unleash" seemed to hint that all had not gone well during the finishing of the fight. Here's an excerpt of what the note, written by Bungie's Frank O'Connor, stated:

Bungie has long been built on creativity, originality and the freedom to pursue ideas. Microsoft agreed, and rather than stifle our imagination, they decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it. We'll continue to make Xbox 360 games, and we'll continue to make amazing games for MGS. In that regard, nothing has changed. All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner. Practically speaking, nothing has changed and you guys won't see much, if any difference, for a  while unless you come to work for us, that is--we're hiring at http://www.bungie.net/inside/jobs.aspx

Rather than stifle our curiosity, we decide that it was in both yours and our best interests to unleash it. We sent several questions to Microsoft and Bungie, separately, via email. Here's what an unnamed Microsoft spokesperson wrote back:

Discussions began about a year ago. This change is a natural evolution of our partnership, and we both believe this will result in a stronger and more powerful partnership.

What prompted these discussions in the first place? What wasn't working about the then-current relationship between the two companies?

Microsoft and Bungie had and still have a great working relationship. The developers at Bungie wanted to return to their roots as independent developers and both groups agreed early on that this was a mutually beneficial evolution of the relationship. Now that the Halo trilogy is complete, this is a natural time for our two companies to evolve our relationship in order to tackle our next projects together.

How did Microsoft "stifle" Bungie's creativity and originality?

 

During last week's deafening gossip that Bungie and Microsoft were breaking up, we asked a high-ranking official at another company, "What do you make of all of the Bungie-Microsoft rumors? Seems as though there's enough smoke here to indicate the presence of fire." To which the person replied, "Flames! And sparks!" Last Friday, the speculation that had been burning up the Internet turned out to be four-alarm blaze of truth. Bungie, which Microsoft purchased in 2000, announced that it had regained its independence, but would continue to work closely with Microsoft and remain exclusive to Xbox 360, at least in the immediate future. Despite what our sources were telling us, it all seemed amicable-except for this explanatory note on Bungie.net, in which the use of words like "stifle" and "unleash" seemed to hint that all had not gone well during the finishing of the fight. Here's an excerpt of what the note, written by Bungie's Frank O'Connor, stated:

Bungie has long been built on creativity, originality and the freedom to pursue ideas. Microsoft agreed, and rather than stifle our imagination, they decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it. We'll continue to make Xbox 360 games, and we'll continue to make amazing games for MGS. In that regard, nothing has changed. All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner. Practically speaking, nothing has changed and you guys won't see much, if any difference, for a  while unless you come to work for us, that is--we're hiring at http://www.bungie.net/inside/jobs.aspx

Rather than stifle our curiosity, we decide that it was in both yours and our best interests to unleash it. We sent several questions to Microsoft and Bungie, separately, via email. Here's what Bungie's Frank O'Connor wrote back--including the exclusive announcement that Pimps at Sea remains the property of the newly-independent studio:

When did Bungie and Microsoft begin discussions to split apart? Who initiated these talks?

Discussions about the technical independence began about a year ago, but Bungie has always, with Microsoft's blessing, maintained an independent spirit and attitude.

What prompted these discussions in the first place? What wasn't working about the then-current relationship between the two companies?

The discussions were borne of our need for greater agility and flexibility and Microsoft's recognition that it would be in both our best interests for Bungie to grow and prosper. We're still dedicated to the 360 platform and Microsoft--and hopefully our fans--will benefit from our future endeavors.

How did Microsoft "stifle" Bungie's creativity and originality? Why did Bungie need to leave Microsoft in order to "unleash" its freedom to pursue ideas?

1. EGO...trip: we like hearing ourselves talk
2. WWJ...F: Who would Jesus frag?
3. WWJ...S: Who would Jesus sue? 
4. TOO...Human trailer hits the Internet
5. VSM...Free Radical on PC vs. console
6. RND...This is the remix