As you may not have noticed, Sumea hit a small milestone just two months ago. Yes, this site has been around for five years now! To celebrate the occasion, I thought it would be great to contact a few people behind the websites that I admire most and find out a bit more about them. You see, being a webmaster myself, I can understand the time, effort, and dedication that these people put in to serve the communuty, and for the most part, the long hours and sleepless nights are rewarded with little monetary compensation. Each of these guys have made major contributions to the gaming stratosphere that every Australian game enthusiast will appreciate, so they're very much deserving of more appraisal.
The inspiration for Sumea came from a couple of places. I wanted the creative community of Polycount (but with a focus on local talent only), the job opportunities that AustralianInfont provided (which I attribute to for getting my first job in the web design / development industry), and of course, Bigkid. Bigkid were the first to cover Australian game development in any real capacity and have been around since 1998. I remember back then firing up Alta Vista to look for any websites that had anything on the local industry and came upon only two useful results. One took me to some guy's homepage that was set up at his isp, and had a dated and very brief listing of game companies around at that time, and the other was Bigkid. That was all there was, but Bigkid would have been, for many, the first sign that there was a game industry here.
So, for the first interview, I sent off some questions to Bruce, Rob, and Ken Williamson (the founders of Bigkid) on an assortment of questions on Bigkid and games in general...
Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?
My name is Ken Williamson. I am a 42-year-old game designer with Rainbow Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. I am one of the three co-founders of the site.
So when and why did you start BigKid?
Sometime around 1997 I was reading Anandtech and thought, we need to do an Australian site. I was a keen gamer and as Australians we were all tired of not having access to local information about game ship dates, prices, availability etc. Anyone who gamed in Australia back then will remember that we often had to wait months for the big titles to get to us, and some didn't come at all. So I approached Bruce, who was already a html guru, to help me start a site offering A mustralian news. We did, and for the next 6 months I stayed up till the wee hours every morning hitting all the big news sites, grabbing anything newsworthy, and rewriting or compiling it with an Australian angle. It was a lot of work (up to 6 hours every night), and around that time the site developed its slightly offbeat sense of humour as sleep fatigue kicked in.
After a while my enthusiasm petered out. We weren't getting a lot of hits, and it didn't seem to be worth it. But Rob decided to come on board as part of a Uni assignment, and put in a lot of hours phoning Oz game companies directly to get their news. Oz companies even now are not great at promoting themselves on the web, and it turned out to be a great way to offer new and relevant news. Once I saw what Rob had done with the site, I came back on board and we really started pumping. For the next 18 months there was nothing else like BigKid, and we became a relatively successful, internationally recognised, fully independent and amateur game news site.
What is the main focus of BigKid, and what is it that you're trying to achieve better than anyone else?
As I said, we wanted to offer games news that was relevant to Australian players. As an ex-journalist, I also wanted to improve the quality of online reviewing and writing, which was horrible back then.
What kept you motivated to work on BigKid?
Both Rob and I are working in the games industry as designers now, and through a combination of overwork and burnout haven't contributed to the site for a few years. Bruce has been carrying it on his own. We keep threatening to dust off our desktops and get back into it though, and that may just happen one day.
What have been the highlights of running BigKid?
Getting linked on BluesNews and Slashdot for the first times were definitely highlights. For me, sitting with a financial analyst and being told our site and brand was valued at around $3 million was a perhaps the peak of our success. The dot com crash the next month or so screwed us, but for a few weeks there we were feeling pretty good :)
When we got recognized enough to be actually sent games from publishers for review rather depending on either of us bought or downloaded.
And what have been the downsides and turn offs?
Some local competition (I won't name names) got pretty underhanded and bitter for a while. I never really understood that as we were doing what we were doing to help the industry, and out of love. It all came down to advertising hits and money of course. We sort of distanced ourselves after that.
Also, the state of the games industry has certainly taken a lot of my interest at least. We all got into games because we loved playing them, and games used to be made because they would be fun to play. There was a golden age of gaming in the 1990's when we would literally lose sleep looking forward to the next releases. Very few games are made that way now - and I speak after 7 years working in the industry, including 3 years with a publisher. I'm not just whinging, this is fact. Games are made for money, first and last. That means they are created to fill marketing and demographic holes, not because they are good ideas in themselves. And it shows. Games are now corporate and multinational. The day of the good idea is gone, pretty much.
Although lots of voices within the industry are talking about breaking off and going back to the basics. I'm not sure how successful that will be, because with consoles taking over from PC's as the core platforms, the price of entry is prohibitive for independents (actually it's more complicated than that, and distribution and first party deals all but kill the possibility of small startups doing anything). It's really crazy. Mind you, I still think the only way forward will be on PC for the simple reason that the hardware is not proprietary, and games can now be digitally delivered via the internet. We will see :)
Have there been any controversies that BigKid has been involved with?
We kept our noses clean for the most part, and did it all for love. At least, I don't remember anything :) If anything, we worked very hard to prevent schisms and controversy, and foster coooperation, especially in the earlier days with the AGDC and some of the silly political shenanigans that went on. There were certainly times we acted as defacto ambassadors to help smooth things over.
ROB : After a while when we became recognized there was an expectation from some Aussie Developers that our sole purpose was to promote Australian games. This wasn't the case of course. We reported on all titles objectively. I do remember getting a call from an irate Aussie developer who was not impressed with my preview of their upcoming title. His words were "I thought you guys were supposed to be supporting the local game development industry". What can I say, the game just wasn't that great.
What is happening with Bigkid at the moment? It seems pretty quiet!!
See above.
What websites do you visit regularly, and what thoughts in general do you have on Australian gaming websites?
I only ever hit Sumea and AusGamers. I think between them they have the local industry very well covered.
What's your opinion of the Australian games development industry and the games they produce?
For years Australia has been a cheap farm for second rate titles. Until recently there really hasn't been a hit "gamer's" game to come out of the country since Auran's Dark Reign - and notice that was taken from Auran and the sequel produced overseas. It's simple economics and logistics. There is more money, and a much bigger pool of industry talent overseas, because Australia has a relatively small population. So any really important title will be produced where the perceived "best" development houses are. And that usually means North America.
However, companies like Pandemic and Creative are changing that and have produced respected and worthy "gamer" games, and continue to do so. Australia has a lot of really good talent now, as does New Zealand, but unfortunately the size of the populations and the strengthening dollar means the cards will probably always be stacked against them, at least in the next few years.
Can you give us your history as a game enthusiast? When did you start playing games, and games have been most memorable over the years?
I started playing games on the TRS-80 sometime around 1979 or 1980. Scott Adams adventures remain one of the pinnacles of my gaming career, partly because they were my first experience, and partly because they were so pure. It was just text, a blinking cursor, an imaginary world, and you, trying to keep your eyes open at 4 in the morning.
However there have been some truly great games over the years including XWing, Wizardry 7, Diablo, Duke Nukem 3D, and an old graphic adventure called BioForge. The absolute zenith of gaming for me occurred when I began playing Everquest during the Velious expansion. That just blew my mind, and I doubt I will ever experience a similar level of gaming joy as I did then. I would go back if I could - cheesy graphics and all - but the nature of MMO's is that the game as I played it no longer exists. So all I can do is wait for a successor. DAoC didn't do it. WoW is ok, but is not in the same league. Vanguard: SOH failed. EVE Online is ... well, a behemoth of time sinks. So we will see what the future holds.
What consoles do you currently own, and what gets played the most?
As I recently moved countries, I don't own anything. However I have both a 360 dev kit and a retail box on my desk at work, easy access to pS2's and PS3's, and any of the handhelds. I quite like the 360, and it is easily the best console in my opinion. I recently finished Crackdown on it, and that was surprisingly good.
I'm still a PC gamer at heart though, and always will be. I just much prefer the controls and style of game that PC facilitates.
What issues need serious attention or What do you find disappointing as an Australian game consumer?
Living in the US now, I can't really comment, but Oz still suffers from isolation and an artificially high cost of games, and gaming equipment. It's only when you come to the US that you realize how much you were getting ripped off.
What games are you playing at the moment, and what are you most looking forward to and why?
I'm playing lots of racing games (R&D), and as I said, I just finished Crackdown. Unfortunately I'm not looking forward to anything really. There is too much white noise coming out of marketing, and I've been disappointed too many times. The industry is also suffering from artistic and creative cannibalism and there hasn't really been anything really droolworthy for me for a while. But that is what happens when you put money first. Of course, I could be jaded :)
Because this interview is part of our belated celebrations on the 5th birthday of Sumea, are there any comments you'd like to make for Sumea?
Congratulations, well done, and keep going! You're doing great.
Finally, thank you very much for answering our questions. If there's anything you'd like to say to finish off the interview, that would be fantastic!
I wrote to Souri a few years ago and told him his site was everything we had tried to do with BigKid and more. In some ways perhaps that is a legacy of things BigKid began, and I have always been impressed and happy for Sumea's success. Souri has a great attitude and is positive and helpful to a fault. The Oz industry is a better place because of his work. I think that is the best thing anyone can say :)
Our second interviewee needs no introduction. He's Jason Hill from the highly popular Screenplay blog, and it's popular for a very good reason. It's a shining example of what gaming journalism is, and the difference is very notable to those who regularly troll the web scouring local gaming news and updates. He won The Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Award in the cateogry of "Best Gaming Journalist" in 2006, and we're fortunate to have him here to see what drives his passion for games...
Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?
My name is Jason Hill, I'm 35 and write about games for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers, including a blog on both websites called Screen Play. In a young industry, I'm one of the veterans of Australian games journalism. As a cadet working at the Herald Sun 15 years ago, I badgered the Technology editor persistently until he would let me write Amiga reviews for the paper's fledging technology lift out. Since then I've written for many Australian newspapers and magazines across all popular formats.
So when and why did you start Screen Play?
Fairfax has been one of the pioneers of mainstream media blogs, and early last year I started talking to them about the possibility of a games blog. We started to do some occasional games content on a general technology blog called MashUp and the response was terrific. The clincher for Screen Play getting the green light was the massive response to the banning of Marc Ecko's Getting Up. It was clear that The Age and Sydney Morning Herald readers really wanted a forum for serious discussion of games and gaming culture. Screen Play officially kicked off in May 2006 to coincide with the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
What is the main focus of Screen Play, and what is it that you're trying to achieve better than anyone else?
To provide a uniquely Australian forum for discussion of all aspects of interactive entertainment, including software, hardware, industry news and culture. My aim is to make people think and encourage debate. Variety is also really important, so Screen Play features a mix of serious analysis, rants, interviews, light entertainment, news, Top 20 or Top 100 lists, quick observations of the latest games, predictions, thoughts on the issues of the day, and anything else that tickles my fancy.
What keeps you motivated to work on Screen Play?
The passionate, intelligent and knowledgeable audience that Screen Play seems to have attracted. I'm really fortunate to have such a loyal core group who I can rely on to add real value to each post. And because they are such a discerning audience, when these guys say that they are being educated, informed or entertained by Screen Play, it really means a lot. Some of the fanboy rants are fun, too!
What have been the highlights of running Screen Play?
Again, it's definitely the community that has been built. Also, I think the blog is enormously helpful to me as a games journo. I can very quickly gauge what topics are of interest to both gamers and the wider public via the amount of comments we receive and the daily traffic statistics.
And what have been the downsides and turn offs?
There's the occasional visitor who rather than simply criticise a particular argument will instead hurl abuse. You've got to have a thick skin at times. Sometimes people are critical because they misunderstand what the blog is, which is understandable because it's a new medium and under The Age banner. Screen Play columns are usually opinion-based, it's rarely (if ever!) balanced investigative journalism. I love the passion that people have for gaming and in particular for their favourite console or developer, but unfortunately that can sometimes get ugly. I've probably been accused of deliberately bashing or deliberately favouring just about everything under the sun. I think when you get criticised by both sides of the fence in any debate, you'll probably being fair and balanced. And many of my readers will often spring to my defense these days, which I really appreciate.
Have there been any controversies that Screen Play has been involved with?
There's been a few Screen Play blogs over the past year that have made news around the world, but probably the biggest one that people from the Australian development community will remember is last July when I wrote a piece that (I thought fairly innocuously) speculated on the future of Melbourne House. It wasn't anything new, I just wanted to highlight the studio's achievements and perilous position. Unfortunately, some staffers were upset, but I really respected the studio (particularly Adam) and the last thing anyone would want was for people to lose their jobs and the studio close. Anyway, the real controversy started when ex-staff members started to use what is obviously a very public forum to air their grievances about their former employer. It got a bit ugly and some of the comments had to be censored, which I never like to do. It wasn't the best advertisement for the Australian development community, which otherwise has a well-earned reputation for co-operation and a great spirit.
Where do you see Screen Play in another five years?
Online media is such a rapidly changing beast that speculating about the next 12 months is dangerous, let alone five years. More broadly, my hope is that Screen Play will help all newspaper editors around the country realise that interactive entertainment is worthy of serious analysis and debate in their publications, just like film, television, books, art and other media. The volume of traffic will help: Screen Play is consistently one of The Age's most popular blogs, regularly knocking off what are considered more "mainstream" broad-interest (and very well-written) columns. But I hope it's also the quality and range of the discussion on Screen Play that will also help change people's dated perceptions about what games are and have the potential to be.
What websites do you visit regularly, and what thoughts in general do you have on Australian gaming websites?
A loaded question! I try to keep my eye on as many sites as possible. In Australia, there are some sites which do a good job considering their tiny resources. Kudos to them, it's a very tough business fighting for readers and advertising. But despite the handicaps we have, we really need to fight to lift overall standards in the quality of writing, in ethical behaviour and transparency, and in offering a uniquely Australian voice and perspective. I often feel frustrated that the quality of my output is compromised by economic realities and I'm sure most other game writers do too. But we all need to keep trying to do better, improve our standards and the quality of our work, better serve readers. It's only if we lift our game that will we will ensure our future. I also think too many gaming websites are just trying to emulate what print magazines have always done. They need to be a lot more bold and innovative with their content and how they deliver it.
What's your opinion of the Australian games development industry and the games they produce?
I've had plenty of involvement with the local development community over the years, not just through writing about their games and visiting their studios as a journo, but also with working with Film Victoria on the Digital Media Fund and helping out with the now-defunct Australian Games Developers Conference. The strengths are well-known: most Australian game developers are smart, highly educated, hard-working, creative and innovative. Local studios punch well-above their weight on the world stage in an incredibly competitive business. Of course, as a reviewer I've played plenty of average-quality Australian-made games, and a few really great ones. But I think criticism that local studios have under-achieved or lack ambition would be very unfair from an outsider given the handicaps Aussie developers face. Its great that the industry has in the past, and is continuing to, put pressure on governments to try and combat some of those handicaps, while spending most time keeping its head down and getting on with the job of building and strengthening the industry.
Can you give us your history as a game enthusiast? When did you start playing games, and games have been most memorable over the years?
I've always had a fascination with games. I was shattered when Dad proudly walked in one night with a Dick Smith Pong console instead of an Atari 2600, but he more than made up for his blunder a couple of years later when he somehow convinced Mum that buying a Commodore 64 would be educational. I'm sure many Sumeans will empathise with the impact of that wonderful machine on their lives, and acknowledge the amazing range and quality of games it offered. Far too many to mention. As an adult, my fondest memories are sharing the joys of games with others. Playing through Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time with my wife (and more recently getting her hooked on Animal Crossing). Playing Lego Star Wars with my two boys. Or introducing the delights of SingStar at my 35th birthday bash via my ear-splitting version of Blondie's Heart of Glass.
What consoles do you currently own, and what gets played the most?
I review two games a week across all formats, so all the machines get a good workout from me. We've now got three DS consoles in the family and they probably get the most action at the moment from the other family members.
What do you find disappointing as an Australian game consumer?
I think Australian consumers have a right to feel grumpy about arbitrary delays in game release dates compared to the US and, even more significantly, in software and hardware pricing. The Australian distributors really should be pushing harder for a better deal because they are just driving more and more Australians to buy from overseas. I also think Aussie consumers have a right to demand better gaming content from the Australian magazines, websites and newspapers they read. We can do better. I'll also keep fighting for the introduction of a R18+ classification. The lack of an R classification sends the wrong message to the non-game playing community, perpetuating the dangerous myth that games are only played by children and all games are suitable for minors. I'll also continue to argue for an R classification on behalf of Australian adult gamers. While most of the games refused classification in Australia have not been worth playing, we should fight for the right to choose to play whatever we wish, offered the same freedom as consumers of other media. The introduction of an R classification would be a long-overdue recognition that gaming is a legitimate form of entertainment for both children and adults alike, deserving the same treatment as films and printed publications.
What games are you playing at the moment, and what are you most looking forward to and why?
As well as the usual reviewing duties, I'm helping my sons get through the latest Pokemon games and increase their house size in Animal Crossing. That's my excuse, anyway. I'm glad Animal Crossing doesn't have a timer to measure playtime like Pokemon. Other games most likely to get dragged out for some family fun include Guitar Hero, SingStar, Buzz and Lego Star Wars. Because I have to play so much for "work", it's not often I'll play a game for fun when alone, despite my best intentions to go back and finish something I sadly had to stop playing because work beckoned. Games I'm really looking forward to include Spore, Rock Band, Bioshock, Little Big Planet, GTA IV and MySims.
Because this interview is part of our belated celebrations on the 5th birthday of Sumea, are there any comments you'd like to make for Sumea?
Congratulations to Souri and the team, it's a real milestone worthy of celebration. It's great how the site has been used to keep the Australian games development community really tight and community-focused, as well as educate and inform those interested about making the jump themselves. And thanks for all the Screen Play plugs and support, much appreciated!
At the time of this article, the guys at AustralianGamer have produced a whopping 80 game related podcasts, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I have listened to every single one of them. Being an avid listener of many gaming podcasts, what drew me most to AustralianGamer's podcast was that it was very casual, didn't take itself too seriously, full of humour, and had a local focus. There are countless game podcasts with much higher production values, but where AustralianGamer shines is where it counts most. The banter and humour between the two hosts, Matt and Yug, is a winning formula that cannot simply be manufactured or reproduced. To me, they're the Roy and H.G of Australian gaming, and produce not only the best local gaming podcast around, but is up there with the best the rest of the world has to offer.
Can you give us a brief introduction to yourselves?
Yug: My real name is Guy Blomberg, although I am affectionately known as Yug. 26 years of age, I co-founded AustralianGamer.com with Matt Burgess and am responsible for the ?pretty' element of the website - i.e. comics, graphics, layout, etc.
Matt: Matt Burgess. I do? everything except that. Programming and editorial mostly.
So when and why did you start AustralianGamer?
Yug: We launched AustralianGamer.com on the 7th of March 2005. Initially we created the site to try and generate enough publicity to get our voices heard by the major publishers so we could get answers to questions such as why Australia continually got shafted when it came to games being released here. Specifically, at the time, Dance Dance Revolution on the Xbox (don't laugh, it's true).
Matt: We felt the market deserved a site that spoke to and from gamers. Also Yug mistakenly thought he could draw and I wanted a place I could write scintillating editorial ranting content.
What is the main focus of AustralianGamer, and what is it that you're trying to achieve better than anyone else?
Yug: We are a 100% personality driven website. We wear our opinions on our sleeves, and don't let anyone tell us what we can and can't say. We are topical and uncensored, and we like to think we are the voice of the typical Australian gamer. Not to mention our hugely successful podcast and cartoons set us apart.
Matt: One thing that's really important to us is the stats that show time and time again that gamers are NOT callow teens with no lives. They're mature, intelligent adults, and we treat them as such, and I think that works in our favour.
What keeps you motivated to work on AustralianGamer?
Yug: We've been doing it for so long now it would seem like a waste of time if we just stopped :) Actually, what keeps us going is the support we get from our readers. The fact that people ENJOY what we write, what we say, and what we do, is pretty much what keeps us doing it.
Matt: While there isn't a lot of financial reward, the crowds of groupies more than make up for it.
What have been the highlights of running AustralianGamer?
Yug: Definitely hearing from people who read and enjoy the site, and really give us the inspiration to continue doing what we do. Also, being caught up in the local gaming industry, from MC'ing up on stage at events like eGames and GO3, to personally visiting local game developers and meeting the really great people who work there.
Matt: Meeting cool people in the industry as a "peer" rather than just a fan, and also the travel, I've really enjoyed that. And the groupies.
And what have been the downsides and turn offs?
Yug: When you run a site that makes no money, it can be hard to get motivated.
Matt: Even though it makes no money it still does cost money to run. Everything from postage to business cards costs cash. Aside from that, the time involved in regularly updating, maintaining, developing, etc? ack.
Have there been any controversies that AustralianGamer has been involved with?
Yug: Practically every cartoon and update that myself and Matt create tends to be controversial. We have certainly been contacted by a lot of local publishers and companies over the years who have taken offense to our opinions. At the end of the day though, most realise that our site is satirical, and can see the humorous intentions, even if they do tend to be harsh and true :)
We also pick on topical issues and contact the relevant people directly, case in point just recently was our man AJ's questioning of Craig Middleton from BigPond about the Terms & Conditions of Project Joystick.
Matt: Not really that controversial, though we try our best! People we have a go at tend to just laugh it off. Damn the power of humour!
Where do you see AustralianGamer in another five years?
Yug: We never want to become a 'one stop shop' kind of site. Places like Gamestop, IGN and PALGN have that covered. We want to continue to be individual, and probably focus more on personality driven content, such as video casts, event coverage, and helping to promote the local industry. I'm personally looking forward to becoming famous, checking myself into rehab, then releasing my biography detailing what REALLY went on behind the scenes of AustralianGamer.com.
Matt: I actually anticipate we'll have been taken over by Newscorp by then, at a massive price. I've already picked out my Ferarri.
What websites do you visit regularly, and what thoughts in general do you have on Australian gaming websites?
Yug: Australian gaming sites? PALGN is probably the other major Australian gaming website I check daily, as they tend to cover pretty much every piece of local news, from the big events to the tiny press releases. Sumea.com.au I read regularly to find out what's happening in the local gaming industry.
It's hard for local websites to make a mark, realistically most either try to be an ?Australian Gamespot/Gamespy/IGN' or they focus on one particular console. The major reason any of them do well is due to their communities, which tend to form and support the website and will stick with them through thick and thin.
Matt: I'm going to assume you mean "gaming websites" and skip all the porn sites. I'm a big fan of Kotaku, as their news is a little more offbeat, much like our own. Gamepolitics.com is also a favourite, as it covers the socio-political side of gaming, a big interest for me.
What's your opinion of the Australian games development industry and the games they produce?
Yug: I'm amazed at the amount of talent that exists within the local Australian industry. Most of us don't even realise the quality of games that are produced in our own backyard. I do find it funny how at any given developer studio you can go in and find at least half of the people there have worked for some other local game developer at one point or another. There's a lot of bouncing between companies that goes on.
From personal experience though, a lot of the games are hit and miss. I loved Dark Reign back in the day, and Destroy all Humans was genuinely funny, but a lot of other titles tend to get lost in the generic market of games or are aimed at a different demographic to me. That doesn't make them any less impressive, but when compared to international games, Australia hasn't exactly been responsible for any huge internationally recognised number one hits.
Matt: Australia is a small country, relatively, and we can't support the pool of talent required for a good development industry. Most of the developers we've talked to import some of their staff at great cost. That being said, there HAVE been some big hits. The Brisbane studios, especially, have made some great games.
Can you give us your history as a game enthusiast? When did you start playing games, and games have been most memorable over the years?
Yug: I cut my teeth on the Atari 5200, but the first console I ever really played to death was the NES. My parents actually used to leave me in the toy department at the local shopping centre, along with all the other kids whose parents left them there, and we would play Super Mario Bros for hours. Eventually, even though I'd finished the game hundreds of times alongside my fellow neglected shopping centre friends, my folks bought me an NES pack for Christmas.
My favourite time in gaming was during golden era of SNES and MegaDrive games. The gameplay was so pure, the graphics were pixel perfect, and the stories and characters were so powerful that they continue to be remade over and over again on subsequent consoles. Super Mario, Sonic, Legend of Zelda, ToeJam & Earl, Mario Kart, Super Metroid ... the list could go on forever.
Matt: The first console I owned was actually a VIC-20, the forerunner to the C-64. It had some great games on it. Generic, but fun. Then the venerable Sega Master System (Alex Kidd rules) and I managed to skip much of the Nintendo Golden Age. I've been a big arcade fan for a long time, though, and got much more into gaming around the PS1 heyday. The games that will always stick in my head are some of the arcade beat-em-ups like Double Dragon or Alien Vs Predator, or arcade games like R-Type and Bionic Commander, on consoles, Final Fantasy VII really amazed me. FFVIII was rubbish, though. PC - Deus Ex changed my world, and Civilisation, Dune II, Command and Conquer and others took waaaay too much time away from me.
What consoles do you currently own, and what gets played the most?
Yug: A PC, Snes, MegaDrive, Dreamcast, Xbox, Playstation 2, GameCube, Xbox 360, and I co-own a PS3. The PC gets the most regular workout to be honest, and has always been a reliable source of gaming, closely followed by the Xbox 360 until it recently got hit by the 3 red rings of death. The Playstation 2 also continues to be a much used console, but mainly because Singstar goes down such a treat during house parties.
Matt: I have a PSP, a DS, Xbox (old skool) and a PS2 that's basically a Guitar Hero machine. I'm saving for a PS3 at the moment. I expect it will be retro by the time I have the money.
What issues need serious attention or What do you find disappointing as an Australian game consumer?
Yug: Definitely the lack of an R rating would be highest on the list. Australia is trailing behind the rest of the world in this respect, and for no decent reason other than our out of touch governors who refuse to let it happen.
Matt: I can't talk about the lack of an R-rating without needing a lie down. It makes me that angry. It's essentially saying "all gamers are children", and forcing the religious views of a minority onto adults. That's not only immoral but it should be illegal. That being said the other issue with the games industry is itself. Did we really need another Manhunt game at the moment? We need mature games, but not "mature" because they're disgusting. Mature because they're intelligent, thought provoking, and contain powerful themes and dialogue, dealing with genuine issues and emotions. People often say the games industry is like the movie industry, but if that's true the games industry needs to stop making nothing but movies at the "Fast and the Furious" level, the "Stealth" maturity level. Start making games for people that are not teenaged boys.
What games are you playing at the moment, and what are you most looking forward to and why?
Yug: I'm almost finished Command & Conquer 3, and I was in the middle of playing Virtual Tennis 3 on the Xbox 360 before it died. I'm most looking forward to Starcraft 2, the sequel to what is probably my most favourite game of all time.
Matt: World of Warcraft. Too much. Tekken: Dark Resurrection on PSP. Guitar Hero 2. I'm looking forward to more Guitar Hero (3 and 80s) and to Spore. The game I'm most excited about is Little Big Planet. It looks like a lot of fun, and something really innovative and exciting. Also, Home for the PS3 could be awesome if Sony get it right.
Because this interview is part of our belated celebrations on the 5th birthday of Sumea, are there any comments you'd like to make for Sumea?
Yug: Sumea is, quite frankly, the only place you can go to find out what's happening in the local gaming industry. Of all the gaming forums I've been a part of, the Sumea one I most enjoy reading, thanks to the fact there are no bullshit newbie posts made for no reason. My only complaint is that Souri hasn't come out drinking with any of the AustralianGamer.com crew yet, a tragedy that needs to be rectified asap.
Matt: Congrats on supporting and building the Australian game developers industry. Your site provides a focal point for the industry here, and that's to be commended.
Finally, thank you very much for answering our questions. If there's anything you'd like to say to finish off the interview, that would be fantastic!
Yug: Thanks for the support, and keep reading AustralianGamer.com!
Matt: New groupie positions are now available.
James from PALGN is someone I can relate most to when it comes to doing what I do. Developing and maintaining a website is an endless task in itself, but when you have a site that covers the whole gamut of gaming, including articles, game reviews, and daily news reports, it's hard not to be impressed by what he's been able to achieve....
Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself?
My name's James Gay, I'm 22 and up until a couple of months ago I was the General Manager of PALGN. I founded the site and I've since been involved with many aspects of it, from development (90% of the code running the site is mine), to marketing and even writing the occasional article. I've recently been cutting back on my time so I can work on some other projects. Luke Van Leuveren, our PR Director, has been picking up my slack, although I still seem to visit PALGN 5 times a day and I can't stop interfering with management decisions.
So when and why did you start PALGN?
PALGN started back in 2001 from group of Australians and Europeans who used to frequent the IGN Boards. Someone started a thread that lamented the lack of a news source that was dedicated to Australian gamers (particularly for release dates and the like), so I suggested in the thread that as a group, the forum members should create one. Everyone thought this was a great idea. Since I was just in the process of teaching myself HTML, I started up a small (poorly designed) website under the name of PALCUBE. We used the IGN Boards and a place to collaborate and publish stories that were copied over to this website.
As the site grew, I wanted to purchase a domain name. However, being 16, the cost of a domain seemed like a huge expense. I wanted something the site could "grow into", so a multiplatform name was needed. PALGN was chosen through a vote by the IGN board members and the rest is history.
What is the main focus of PALGN, and what is it that you're trying to achieve better than anyone else?
PALGN has always been dedicated to providing the best Australian gaming content possible. We mean this in terms of both quality and quantity. We've had some very good editors who have worked on this. While I think we've mastered the right quantity over the years, quality has always been a challenge. None of our writers have any professional writing qualifications. Since we can't afford to pay people very much, they need do it for the love of it. While this used to be a problem, now that we have such a large audience, when we send out a call for applications we're spoilt for choice. We currently have a phenomenally creative and talented team of people on our "staff". I believe that because our writers don't treating writing for the site as a job, this adds to their quality and gives PALGN a unique voice. Professional writers often become jaded and lose their love of games. Publishers have told us how refreshing it is when staff from PALGN are invited to press events and are genuinely excited about seeing new games.
I've talked to you briefly about the profitability of running a website before, and I've found out that you do what you do for little financial return. So why do you invest the amount of time and energy that you do for PALGN? What keeps you motivated to work on PALGN?
I've never considered PALGN to be work. I've always treated the site as a hobby. While the site does have a turn-over, I put all the money (and some of my own) back into the site - paying for a fast Australian server, offering some small remuneration to our writers and even paying for trips to conferences (like eGames, GO3 and E3) for some staff members. While I could run PALGN much more like a business, it's never been an opportune time to take that leap. PALGN's competition are now IGN AU, Gamespot AU and Gamearena (the last of which we're now pretty equal with, if not larger than). All of these are backed up huge corporations. It would be corporate suicide to challenge these companies head-on, without genuinely having the upper hand (that is, more traffic). Will that happen? I hope so. If you want to help, remember to tell your friends about PALGN ;)
As for what keeps me motivated - in some respects I'm watching the site grow and waiting until it reaches a critical mass, but largely I'm just enjoying the time I spend on PALGN. Recently I've been taking some time away to work on other (hopefully more profitable) projects, but I think it would be impossible to give up the experience of PALGN entirely.
What have been the highlights of running PALGN?
Running the site has been a life-changing experience. Through years of volunteer work by so many people, it has been exciting to see the site grow and flourish as a whole. I genuinely get choked up when I read all the positive comments on our annual reader surveys. I really feel humbled to have been a part of the site for so long.
The other really exciting aspect has been having an inside perspective on the games industry. Taking a look at games months, or even years before release is still pretty damn cool. While I've become a little jaded, I'm never going to forget going to E3 last year. It was such an amazing spectacle - one that I don't think you can see in any other industry. It was totally useless from a work point-of-view, but an amazing experience to be part of, none-the-less. It's going to be really interesting to see how this year's E3 turns out.
And what have been the downsides and turn offs?
Having to run PALGN on a semi-commercial model is very difficult. It means experiencing all the negatives of balancing a commercial company (managing profit / loss, selling to advertisers) without the benefits (you know, keeping some money). If I thought the site would be better for our readers and community without ads, I'd do it in a second. However, the truth is that readers don't really mind a reasonable amount of ads and we can do so much more with the limited money we have coming in. We keep our ad rates pretty low, which helps them to sell themselves, but it still requires a lot of time.
Have there been any controversies that PALGN has been involved with?
Last year I became involved in an email exchange with Jack Thompson. The conversation was rather insane, but it revolved around one of our reviews that lauded a violent video game, while still describing some of the more morally dubious actions you could perform in it. After several back-and-forths, I became worried that Jack might actually use our review as ammunition for his campaign against the game. After consulting with the author of the review, I decided to retract the article and cease communication with Jack before things got out of our control. Nothing ever resulted from the incident, although I still question if I made the right decision.
Where do you see PALGN in another five years?
Maybe we'll have expanded into the rest of the PAL part of PALGN, by opening up a European site. However, five years is a long time on the internet. I try to avoid planning more than a few months. This helps to let the site react as the world changes.
What websites do you visit regularly, and what thoughts in general do you have on Australian gaming websites?
What websites do I visit regularly? That's impossible to say! I've got feeds from some 50 website on my Google homepage (many of which are aggregate feeds from other websites), so it's a huge number. I love the access to information that the internet brings. One of my newest gems is http://xkcd.com/ There are not enough good comics for programmers in this world.
As for Australian gaming websites, I think we all have a bit of maturing to do. Very few people are asking the hard questions or taking risks - mainly due to the small number of players in the industry. How do you reconcile journalism with sponsorship from those companies you are reporting on? PALGN has always been very strict about separating sponsorship from content, but it's very hard when there's an expectation in the industry that subverts that. Things have got better, but I still don't think they are good enough. Everyone needs much more transparency.
What's your opinion of the Australian games development industry and the games they produce?
Australian game developers have been involved with a lot of amazing projects. Having Irrational play such major role with Bioshock is incredibly exciting. On the whole though, I'm rather disappointed that in recent times Australia doesn't have an exclusive blockbusters title to hold out and show to the world what it can achieve on its own. In Europe, the public rallies behind locally produced games, but that just doesn't happen in Australia. I think a chart-toping Australian title could go a long way to changing that (although I understand how impossible it would be to finance it).
Can you give us your history as a game enthusiast? When did you start playing games, and games have been most memorable over the years?
I started off with Sonic on the Sega Master System II, however it was the Sierra adventure games in the mid 90s that really got me hooked. I'd still say that nothing has come close to the experience I had with Space Quest IV. Since then my two most memorable titles have been (boringly) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Shadow of the Colossus.
What consoles do you currently own, and what gets played the most?
Surprisingly, I still haven't moved far into the next-gen era. With consoles I'm currently stuck on my PS2 and Wii. Since I don't review games for PALGN, I have the luxury of not having to rush through anything I play. I have such a huge stack of unfinished titles that I can't bring myself to buy anything else for the time-being. I expect Bioshock might change that for the Xbox 360, as will Home for the PS3 (I'm fascinated by virtual worlds).
I've got 1 hour commute each way to my "real job" (the one that lets me work on PALGN and other projects for free) three or four days a week, so my PSP is what gets played the most. I also have a DS, but I've never been able to get into any games on the system. I don't know why, but it just doesn't do it for me. I absolutely adore my PSP, though. I recently picked up Crush and I can't get it out of my head. I see folding walls everywhere!
What issues need serious attention or what do you find disappointing as an Australian game consumer?
The lack of an R rating is certainly something that's very disappointing. It highlights that those who control the rating policies have a terrible misunderstanding of the nature of the industry. Despite the average age of an Australian gamer being 28, we're still treated as if games are solely purchased by children or their parents.
On the whole though, I'm not too worried about this. I think it's just a case of waiting for a cultural change. By the time the average age of a gamer reaches the average age of the population (which the IEAA says it will by 2014), then gamers will be integrated with the politicians who decide what processes are used to rate games.
What games are you playing at the moment, and what are you most looking forward to and why?
I'm currently working my way through Crush on the PSP. It's a great game - part platformer and part puzzle. It really suits the system.
Bioshock is my most anticipated title. I have fond memories of System Shock 2 and it looks like Bioshock is shaping up to contain much the same level of immersion. I love games with a good storyline.
Because this interview is part of our belated celebrations on the 5th birthday of Sumea, are there any comments you'd like to make for Sumea?
Happy Birthday!
I've been regularly visiting Sumea since late 2002. I think you're doing a great job and I love how involved the community is with the site. Keep it up!
Finally, thank you very much for answering our questions. If there's anything you'd like to say to finish off the interview, that would be fantastic!
I'd just like to encourage everyone involved in the industry to take some time out and think about how much enjoyment they bring to so many people. The games industry is fun, so make sure you're having a good time working in it.
Thank you Souri.
I hope you've found the insight to these guys as fascinating as I did. A huge thanks must go to everyone for sparing their time in answering my questions, and be sure to visit each of their sites regularly! - Souri
Great job Souri. An excellent article to celebrate the terrific milestone.