Looks like they finally realized it was a terrible idea to throttle E3 back in the first place… E3 is back! At least, it seems to be. Hopefully they allow booth babes and loud noises again, because it was a riot (despite me cursing the name of any noisy booth near one I was working at). I suppose this means I might go to E3 again.

This month’s Boston Post Mortem game development meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, January 21st at The Skellig in Waltham. The speaker will be Looking Glass alumnus Randy Smith, most recently of EA LA. Randy was one of the people who shaped the design of the entire Thief series (my favorite series ever). He also writes a game design column in Edge Magazine. I’ll definitely be trying to make this one. More can be found on the Boston Post Mortem website.

I love defining terms. It creates controversy, but it can make things easier. How do I define the grind? “Necessary repetition.” I started off with the following definition and streamlined it: “Necessary, laborious, unvaried repetition.” The grind is mitigated with variety in an MMO, and is encouraged with the required repetition of significant content (e.g. repeating a quest, repeating a dungeon, etc.). I hate grinds, and refuse outright to do them. But, give me some variety in how I can gain faction, loot, etc., and I’m happy to work for it.

I’ll try to look at how I did with last year’s predictions a bit later (along with the 2008 Nerfbat MMO Blog Awards). I suspect they’ll be fairly accurate, if only because I didn’t take many gambles. This year, let’s see if I can throw a few predictions out there that are both more specific and a little less likely, just to see how I do. Read beyond the break for my 2009 MMO Predictions. Continue Reading »

This month’s Boston Post Mortem meeting will be at a different location. The meeting will take place Wednesday, December 17th, from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. It’s at the new Microsoft Offices @ 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA. 38 Studios’ own Jen Maclean (VP of Business Development and IGDA Chair) will be one of three talks, along with Jason Schupbach (MA Office of Business Development) and the Boston Post Mortem Committee. More details can be found at the Boston Post Mortem website.