The Pezman

And people complain that nothing happens on the West Coast.

Anyone who knows my real name or has seen my Facebook profile can probably figure it out.

Attention dudes and ladydudes. The powers that be - God Almighty Mr. MAGFest himself - has revived the idea of a MAG "spinoff" of sorts. Definitely a camping theme, but I'm sure we could wear black ties if we wanted. This is now the place to discuss such a thing. You wanted more MAGFest? You may well get it!

Anyone want to start a pool on how long it takes for a 3DS flashcart?

Dudes! http://teknolust.org/colossus.mp3 I had been looking for a sound file of this since the last MAG!

http://www.globalgamejam.org/ Is anyone thinking of participating in this? I'm going to try and hook up with the folks at the NYU Game Center. Now that MAGFest is over I'll see if it's something I can do. However, I think people can also participate remotely. Anyone interested in any aspect of game development (art, music, website, programming, writing, etc.) should give this a try.

It was a good thing. I was in the unique position of knowing both the moderator and two of the panelists, not to mention that this sort of thing may be in my long-term interest career-wise. Since Jos had actually never heard of OCRemix before, I helped bridge the gap by writing some questions. Some she ended up using, and some she didn't, but I figured it would be interesting to post them here: What inspired the creation of this site/game? Did you ever fear being issued a Cease and Desist order (aka C&D'ed)? What separates your work from other creations which have been C&D'ed, such as Chrono Trigger remake Chrono Resurrection, Crimson Echoes and Eric Ruth's DJ Hero Demake? How would you say relationships between game creators/companies and their fans have changed as the fans have started creating this type of content en masse? Will the line blur between this sort of work and user-generated content within games? Do you feel your work benefits the games you based it off of? Do you feel it worsens them? Do you worry that reinterpreting and remixing existing material will lead to a dearth of quality original work? Do you think certain applications of this issue actually do step on the companies' toes? Do you think the policy of Fair Use in gaming should differ by the medium? For example, should machinima (which uses a lot of the actual game assets) be treated differently than fanfiction (which only uses the characters and abstract ideas)? (Jos actually wanted me to ask that, but I forgot to) Fair Use doesn't usually extend to direct copying, but many old games are freely available online in various legal and illegal contexts. Do you think there should be a statue of limitation on companies being able to charge for their games?

I was reminded of this poll while at the fest. I spoke with some dudes there about it. Initially, I balked at the idea, seeing as much of what makes MAGFest what it is (Game Room, panels, guests, comfortable hotel rooms) would be lost. But after being there this year, I began to reconsider. Because there was always so much going on, it became difficult to divide time between spending time with the community and actually seeing/playing all the stuff that was available. I think this simpler, more streamlined event would be a great buffer til the next MAG and a good way to get to know people you might not otherwise know. EDIT: Turns out the poll is closed, but I'd still be interested in talking about the idea.

Probably Facebook albums. I disagree a bit. The big problem is that there were too many people for the hotel. There's no question there needs to be a bigger one next year, hopefully in DC proper. But yes, MAGFest was great. I personally missed more events than I would have liked, but things picked up during the last night (and lunch today), so it's all good. I also had a panel I ran on educational gaming. Thanks to Prophetik and BardicKnowledge for coming out. Hopefully we'll get a better time next year. So, who's already looking to PAX East?

And now my clients (who I'm designing a game for) want to come, and I probably have to tell them no. Dammit, this is insanity. At any rate, see y'all on Thursday eve. I'll probably hightail it in with Dave and Larry from Fair Use Day.

Gaming Intellectuals panel has been confirmed for 10 AM on Saturday. Hope to see you folks there.

Oy, you Christians with your trees and your presents and your zombie saviors, you make me kvetch just thinking about it. Chag Sameach, goyim.

How did you guys meet up with Josephine anyway? She and I have worked together on a few projects now...

I was checking out the Twitter feed of a media artist/educator friend of mine when I noticed she was moderating a panel in DC. Intrigued, I looked closer. And I noticed a couple things: 1. This is happening right before a certain gaming festival just a hair south. 2. Just take a look at the panel. Were you guys planning on announcing this?

Thanks for the add, Wes.

Yo, Wes, can you put me on the "Attending" and "Looking to split room costs" lists?

There were a few physical CDs from certain album projects which were created, but the runs were very limited. I imagine that if you pointed them to the OCR store where they could buy shirts, hoodies, etc. that would be cool.

Yeah, Aaron mismanaged that shit to the nth degree. I've thought about trying to rally the others, but I think our enthusiasm died with our respect for the project leader. In other news, I've locked in with the MAG staff to speak about educational gaming on a panel and/or as a part of the "Gaming Intellectuals" group. Should be fun stuff, y'all best show up for it.

You's in trouble now, Payton.

Details updated. Livestream URL added.

Great find. Looking forward to trying some of these out. A shame not to see any of the romhacks or Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, though.

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/soundtracks-you-didnt-know-were-stolen/a-2009051312473912094 This covers a good deal of them.

http://www.meetup.com/gaming/calendar/15074895/ On November 2nd I will be headlining the New York Gaming Meetup, speaking about what makes games fun to play. This will be especially useful for educators and nonprofits, who recognize the power of gaming, but aren't very well immersed in the culture. By the same token, the other speaker will be Alan Gershenfeld, who I worked with for a while. He will speak about games with a social/educational message, and that will be good for gaming people who haven't previously worked on games of that type. I will be setting up a Livestream account so that people can watch remotely (and tweet in comments too, if they like), and I will edit this post with that information when I know what it is. I've spoken with Save Point, who will broadcast the talk on their projector. I also hope for the MAGFest crew to pimp it out. It would be great if you guys tuned in - I think there will be a lot to learn. The Livestream URL is www.livestream.com/thepezman. The festivities start tonight, November 2nd, at 7 PM.

Yeah. The songs are good, but I still feel like I've been had.

Done and done. Sorry about that, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Maybe this is just me, but I always find pictures of any merchandise put me much more at ease. What kind of hub is it? How are the ports laid out relative to one another? What kind of condition is it really in? Since it's not a lot of effort to include a photo, I feel I'd rather answer any of these potential questions right out of the gate. It makes me more trustworthy.