Monthly Archives: June 2010

A lot of times flash games have some sort of innovative, but ultimately gimmicky, central mechanic that doesn’t get used especially well. At it’s surface, Enough Plumbers would seem to be one of these games. You star as an overall wearing plumber trying to complete several levels by reaching the flag. The fun twist is that when you get a coin a clone spawns, which functions with the same keyboard controls as all the other plumbers (it feels a bit like Ninja Bros).

What’s impressive about this game is that there is actually a good level progression where the mechanic is explored nicely over 25 levels, and some of the later challenges are pretty damn difficult. It’s also got a lot of nice touches, including fun sound effects and music, cool power ups, and a terrific final boss battle. Oh, and in case it’s not obvious, the entire game is a homage to Mario, which is especially apparent in that boss battle (Miyamoto-Bowser!) Why are you still reading this? Go play it!

Incidentally, one of the guys that made this is Glen Forrester, the nut behind Gnilley.

We’ve got a new job opening for a Production Artist here at Fire Hose! Are you in the Boston area and looking for a new gig? Drop us a line! Here’s the description (also on our jobs page).

Production Artist: The ideal candidate would have some PS3 or 360 experience though that’s not required. Should be excellent at 3D modeling and texturing both characters and environments. We’re a 3DS Max house, so I hope you’re up to speed on that. Rigging and animation skills a big plus. You should be good at working in a small team and able to crank out amazing, top quality art assets.

On the second day of E3, we found a small, mysterious sticker at our booth. No one seemed to know the details of how or why this sticker was there or what the repercussions were. I was honestly a little worried it was a joke.

But now, the truth is out: Kotaku nominated Slam Bolt Scrappers for Best Gameplay Mechanic at E3 2010! We’re super excited that the good people at Kotaku enjoyed our game enough to nominate it for this awesome award. SBS got some excellent coverage, despite the 20 some odd Sony Moves next to our booth, but this is the icing on the cake. Thanks, Kotaku, you’re making us blush.

More importantly, if you liked the game at E3, your jaw is gonna hit the floor when you see our build at PAX Prime.

Alec and I spent the last week in sunny, sunny LA at E3, the video game press hoedown. And we got some press! Specifically, there is a kick ass article on Joystiq by one Alexander Sliwinski reviewing our game, and there is another awesome piece onSBS at PlayStation LifeStyle, courtesy of Josh Fernandes. Rock on!

But you already know about our game if you’re here, and this year had a heavy focus on new gaming hardware, so let’s talk about the stars of the show: the PlayStation Move, the Microsoft Kinect, and the Nintendo 3DS (by the way, how hilarious are the models pretending to use the systems in those links?). I’ve seen a lot of articles and comments around the interwebs claiming that Nintendo “won” the show (if such a thing is possible) with their 3DS, and that the Move and Kinect had a weaker showing. I personally don’t agree with this assessment, as I think that the unveiling of new hardware by Sony and Microsoft shows a shift in their marketing strategies.

Both the Kinect and Move are designed to compete with Nintendo, but in different ways. The XBox is currently a system for “hardcore” gamers, guys who have grown up playing games and still want to spend lots of time with new titles. This reputation may have caused it to do well with men but the system trails with women, especially behind the popular Wii. MS has recently been trying to broaden the scope of who the system appeals to with the addition of Netflix and Facebook to the system, and the Kinect will go even further in this direction. The games coming out on the Kinect aren’t designed for hardcore gamers, they’re designed for their girlfriends, wives, or non-gaming friends. These people think Halo and GTA4 look stupid but might be willing to give a dancing or fitness game a shot. And bridging the gap between gamer and non-gamer can be incredibly important in a home where there are such disparate views on gaming. So think of the Kinect as a “gateway controller” for older non-gamers living with hardcore gamers.

The Move, on the other hand, is designed to capture the hearts and minds of kids. It is a shiny, easily approachable controller for the PS3, complete with a beautiful colored light ball on top. Of the games I saw demoed at E3 a majority were aimed at small children and had child actors playing the games in the trailers. I think that Sony has a long term strategy in mind with the Move wherein they hook small children with the controller now and get them to be PlayStation gamers for life. Look at Nintendo – they have an insanely loyal customer base of fanatics who remembered and loved playing the NES and SNES as children. Sony wants to duplicate that loyalty with the next generation of gamers, and the Move is a salvo designed to hook these children. And with the cheap price point of the controller they just might be able to do it.

I curious how much of an impact the 3DS will ultimately have. There are a lot of DSes out there, and though the 3DS has some cool new features I wonder how quick fans will be to trade in their older version for a new one. Then again people regularly upgrade their iPods, and it doesn’t pay to bet against Nintendo so I’m going to guess that it will turn out to be a hit.

Ultimately I’m incredibly excited about all of these systems and can’t wait to play with them all. It’s going to be a good year for gamers, old and new alike.

We’ve already been showing off Slam Bolt Scrappers at E3 for almost two whole days and have yet to do a single post about it. But not anymore! Here’s the lowdown: Slam Bolt Scrappers is at E3 and the buzz is building to record levels! Gamers of all types have been crowding around our kiosk to partake in as much slamming, bolting, and scrapping as they can. It may have to do with our multiple, awesome locations in the SCEA and SOE booths, but something tells me (by something, I’m referring specifically to the gamers who come by to play) that word has been spreading among the crowd about our game. So, thank you gamers for not only playing Slam Bolt Scrappers and enjoying it, but telling your friends to come by and get in on the fun, too!

And now, here are some highlights from the trip:

- I not only saw a catwoman booth babe, but I also walked in on her changing. Sorry, catwoman!

- A zombie bled all over my Fire Hose t-shirt on day one. WTF, zombie?

- Dance Central by Harmonix looks awesome! Way to go, guys.

- Seven45 has created something incredible with Power Gig. Nice job, Boston devs.

- Random people come to our booth after strangers tell them about how awesome SBS is. Sweet!

- I forced lots of strangers to take pictures of me doing weird things. See above.

Thanks again to all the gamers who came by and played Slam Bolt Scrappers. We’ve been having an awesome time showing off the game and we wouldn’t be here without you.