March 2, 2007
MySims
Speaking of prolific Northwestern grad students, recent industry-hire and friend of GTxA, Robin Hunicke, is already a game designer at EA/Maxis and 
leading the finally-announced MySims project for the Wii and DS. You’ll have to try to find additional adjectives for the term “super-cute” to describe its look and animation. Congrats Robin!
Robin’s been blogging over the past few months here and there about the process of being a game designer, gave a presentation last week at Microsoft’s Game Cruise, and will again next week at GDC.
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
The whole microsoft game cruise on the disney boat just creeps me out for reasons that I can’t fully explain. No offense to Robin, or anyone involved. The avatars are supercute, don’t get me wrong, and also really nothing against the game cruise generally. But I studied the itinerary, and something about the mandatory life boat drill, followed by dinner, followed by living the dream, in this context, just disturbs me no end.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
I was at the Microsoft Game Cruise last week – I presented a paper that Jim Whitehead and I wrote about the issues of designing an undergraduate game degree. I must confess that the game cruise was a surprisingly good time, and quite valuable as a forum for discussing game education. While I was IMing with Nick a few weeks ago about the game cruise, he called the conference Micro Mouse; and I certainly understand how the conjunction of two giants of global capitalism might make one uneasy. But I have to say that the Microsoft Game Cruise is shaping up to be the venue for the discussion of game education. And kudos to them for creating a family friendly conference forum. For those of us with families, the conference travel gauntlet is remarkably unfriendly towards family life (I know, we’re all supposed to be maried to our ideas). So, the combination of great game education venue (admittedly for CS-centric programs, not game studies), family friendly, and networking on beaches in the Bahamas, taking time out to sip froofy drinks and swim in the crystalline ocean – I’m sold.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Ha. Ah, but don’t forget our Facade collaboration was borne as we strolled away from an outdoor hottub with views of the mountains in Snowbird, Utah in 1998 or so, at Microsoft’s Lifelike Characters Conference. (8 years later we’d return to Snowbird to win Slamdance, across town.)
Not that I’m a big Microsoft fan, or a recipient of a free laptop for being a blogger, but the Vista was pretty good from that hottub and presumably from the cruise boat. ;-)
March 11th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
AWWWWW! I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS GAME! IT IS THE BEST EVA!
March 13th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
[…] ork to it, and how they evolved the game design to appeal to the Nintendo Wii audience for MySims. They finally got rid of managing if your Sims need to pee! Thank goodness. Michael […]
March 18th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
This game is sooo cute looking! When you see it it’s like it’s a whole other game than the other Sims games, but the characters act the same! It’s pretty cool… EA’s really outdone itself this time!
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 pm
[…] omputer science meets arts-and-entertainment lab whose members included Robin Hunicke (now MySims design lead) and Rob Zubek (of Breakup Conversation fame), and administrator of a progr […]