Raymond Padilla

Junichi Masuda Reveals How New Pokemon Are Born

Eurogamer posted an excellent interview with Game Freak director Junichi Masuda, who has been working on the Pokemon series since the very beginning. Masuda covers many topics, including how new Pokemon are created. Here’s an excerpt:

At first I think of ideas about what kind of play I can include. I consider playing content at first, and then what kinds of new elements I can bring in, and the world and communication aspects.

I bring up all the ideas at first. Then I start to think about what the world will be like. Which region? What town should we have? What type of gym should we have? I start to map the world next.

Once those are fixed I can start to think, so, this gym should have this type of trainer, so we should have this type of Pokemon. Then we start to think about the Pokemon characters.

You might think we always start to think from the Pokemon first, but actually we don’t. We do it in this order.

Now you know how new Pokemon are “born”! Seriously though, Masuda is a very cool guy and I highly recommend checking out this interview.

Source

Chris Taylor Talks Mobile and Social Games

It’s always great catching up with Gas Powered Games founder and CEO Chris Taylor. He’s hilarious, fun, smart, and interesting. Although he wasn’t able to talk about his upcoming games just yet, it was fascinating to get his take on mobile, social, and casual games. He seems truly excited by that segment of the gaming industry, comparing it to old-school PC game development.

Check out my chat with the excellent Chris Taylor and let me know what you think (please)!

Coffee Talk #307: The RPad.tv Videogame Book Club

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, MacBook Pro refresh rumors, the NY Knicks finally landing Carmelo Anthony, or the myth that the Knicks are now a playoff threat, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I need to read more. That is to say, I need to read more books. I devour thousands of Internet words every day, with comic-book sessions thrown in a few times a week. Reading some books would be good for my writing and sanity. I have a bunch of biographies, political books, and sports books on my Kindle, but I feel like reading a videogame book. That’s where you come in! I’d love to hear your videogame book recommendations, as well as any videogame books that you’re interested in.

As a BioWare and R.A. Salvatore nerd, I really enjoyed the Dragon Age books. I’ve heard good things about the Halo books and Mass Effect books too, but I’m not in a sci-fi mood at the moment.

Have you enjoyed any videogame books? Are you even interested in videogame books? Do you find it odd that there are works of linear entertainment based off of interactive entertainment? I’m looking forward to any book recommendations you have!

Bing Gordon Receives the AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award

Here’s a video of gaming industry legend Bing Gordon talking about being honored with the lifetime achievement award by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Gordon worked at Electronic Arts from 1982 to 2008 — including 10 years as chief creative officer — helping grow the company to the juggernaut that it is today. He’s currently on the board of directors for Amazon, Ngmoco, and Zynga. Although he’s on the business side of games, he has helped the business grow creatively as well as financially — an exceedingly rare thing with executives these days.

Cerny Games Mark Cerny, Blizzard’s Paul Sams and Frank Pearce, the AIAS’ Martin Rae, and Microsoft’s Don Mattrick share their thoughts on Gordon.

Thanks RPadholics N8R (filming, editing) and Big Blak (music) for their help with this one!

Undertaker and Triple H Return, Will Meet at WrestleMania

Here’s a video of The Undertaker’s (expected) return, as well as Triple H’s (surprise) return. It looks like they’ll be facing off at WretleMania XXVII. As I mentioned to RPadholic RROD, Taker’s pop wasn’t huge because most people knew it was him featured in the teaser videos for 2/21/11. Hunter got a bigger pop since that surprised most fans. In addition to the Triple H surprise, I love how the two of them told a story without words.

‘Taker will be trying to extend his WrestleMania undefeated streak. Hunter can be the face by trying at avenge Shawn Michaels’ loss to The Undertaker at last year’s WrestleMania. He could also go heel and try to prove he’s better than Shawn — while pissing on HBK’s hall of fame induction on WrestleMania weekend — by ending The Undertaker’s streak. Either way, I see The Undertaker adding another notch.

Please let me know what you think of the setup and share your prediction for the angle/match.

King of Kong Arcade (Orlando) Video Tour

During a break on my Orlando work trip, I shot some quick footage of Billy Mitchell’s King of Kong Arcade, nestled in Orlando International Airport (MCO). It’s a small arcade with some games and a merchandise stand…and not a single Donkey Kong cabinet in sight. Despite its size, I’m thrilled that there’s an arcade in a major airport. I miss them.

Anyway, check out the clip and let me know what you think (please!).

Free Streaming Video on Amazon Prime is a Go!

The rumors were true! Amazon has kicked off unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows for its Amazon Prime customers. In addition to free two-day shipping and $3.99 next-day shipping on goods shipped and sold by Amazon, Prime customers now have access to “5,000 movies and TV programs”.

I strongly encourage you to consider Amazon Prime. I’ve been a customer since launch and love the service. You get great shipping rates and a decent library of videos to stream…and any purchases you make through this site help keep it going a bit longer. Honestly and selfishly, I think it’s a great value at $79. Plus, it’s cool to get free two-day shipping on really heavy items.

Nintendo Reveals American 3DS Launch Lineup

Getting more specific than its generously broad “launch window”, Nintendo of America has announced the day-one launch-lineup for the American release of the Nintendo 3DS. The games include…

Getting more specific than its generously broad “launch window”, Nintendo of America has announced the day-one launch-lineup for the American release of the Nintendo 3DS. The games include:

For those of you that were planning to by the system, which of these games are on your 3DS wish list? For those that are on the fence, do you see any of these games pushing you to buy a 3DS? Those of you not interested in the 3DS, please tell me why you’re reading this story.

What’s Your Favorite Zelda Moment?

25 years ago yesterday, The Legend of Zelda was released in Japan. The game was an instant classic and spawned numerous sequels that have sold millions of copies. It’s arguably the most popular and influential series in adventure games. Similar to how we all discussed our favorite Mario moments for his 25th anniversary, I’d love to hear about your favorite Zelda moments.

As for me, I’m going to go with The Wind Waker knocking it out of the park. So many jaded videogame journalists hated the game’s graphics and unfairly dismissed it based off of its art style. I thought that the art was charming and had no doubt that The Wind Waker would contain classic Zelda gameplay. It also gave me one of my favorite videogame tracks ever (embedded below). I enjoyed watching several of my peers eat crow on this game.

Now it’s your turn. What was your favorite Zelda moment?

Coffee Talk #306: Your 2011 Dream Phone

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Justin Bieber’s new haircut, Nonito Donaire’s brutal knockout of Fernando Montiel, or overnight trips to Orlando, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

During my weekend work trip that took me from LAX to SFO to ORD to MCO to LAX, I brought several mobile devices with me for a video feature. This caused visions of my next phone to dance in my head. As much as I love my T-Mobile G2, I’ve been dreaming about a new phone since CES 2011. Taking bits and pieces from each device, I’ve imagined my 2011 dream phone. It would be something like this.

Dual Core Processor: The power of dual core is awesome, but the real kicker is efficiency. Dual core chips offer improved performance and battery life.

Four-Inch Screen or Larger: After using an Evo 4G, Droid X, Fascinate, and Epic 4G last year, the 3.7-inch on my G2 took some getting used to. I’m fine with it now, but I miss the extra real estate from those larger screens. I want my next phone to have a screen that’s at least four inches. It can be Super LCD or Super AMOLED — there are pros and cons to both technologies. What I’d really like is the killer pixel density of the iPhone 4. The real estate of a large screen coupled with the readability of Retina Display sounds brilliant.

LTE: You’ll see some numbers in my upcoming 4G shootout video feature, but for now I’ll tell you that I was floored by the performance of Verizon’s LTE network. Sure, I expect those numbers to go down as more LTE phones become available, but even slightly decreased numbers beat the crap out of the test results I got on Sprint’s WiMax and T-Mobile’s HSPA+ networks.

Heavy Metal: I want my next phone to have a body that’s primarily metal and glass. I hate plastic. The plastic Samsung Fascinate felt flimsy compared to the mostly metal Droid X and G2. Compared to the beautifully constructed iPhone 4, it felt like a toy. I wish more phone manufacturers did a better job at ripping off the industrial design of the iPhone or Nokia’s high-end phones.

Dockable: Motorola’s Atrix 4G is one of the most unique phones on the market due to its laptop docking option. It’s just smart and clever. I’d love to see more phones do this. I don’t see that happening, but it’s my stupid dream so I’ll throw out any feature I want.

Operating System…Undecided: I love Google Android from a productivity standpoint. The Gmail and Google Voice integration are close to perfect. Those apps are so important for my work that Android is the best mobile operating system for me, in terms of getting stuff done. The gaming and entertainment options are still a frickin’ joke compared to what iOS offers. I’m getting tired of waiting and Google has improved its iOS products a great deal…though not quite enough. If iOS 5 is more interesting than the next major release of Android then there’s a good chance that I’ll switch to an iPhone as my primary device.

WebOS and Windows Phone 7 have some great features, but I don’t see developers flocking to either platform. A Windows Phone 7 on Nokia hardware with Nokia’s (terribly underrated, terribly explained, and terribly named) Ovi Internet services is potentially awesome, but I’m not yet convinced that these two companies will bring out the best in each other. Right now I’d say there’s a 45 percent chance of me sticking with Android, a 40 percent chance of me going with iOS, and a 15 percent chance that a NokiSoft 7 device will win me over. Then again, I’m still pissed at Google for canceling my AdSense account and, more recently, a PR snub. Maybe I’ll switch to iOS out of spite (unfortunately, I’d still use all of Google’s apps).

Anyway, those are some of the ingredients to my 2011 dream phone. Now tell me about yours (please)! If you could buy a new phone in 2011, what features would it have?