[Sin] Just under 48 hours to go...

At 12:00 noon CST on Wednesday, "SiN Episodes: Emergence" is going to be unlocked for the world. To say that I'm anxious and nervous is an understatement and a half.

I have faith in my abilities as a tester. I have faith in the ability of my team. But the real testing starts once the game is in the hands of the consumer. You never know what real users are going to do until they actually have their hands on the product.

Sure, you may have spent hours launching DUAG rounds into concrete ensuring that the penetration depth was correct, but a consumer will find the one area with a hidden material inside that prevents the proper amount of penetration.

Sure, you have have thought you sealed all of your map exploits, but a consumer will discover that if he stacks nineteen trash cans on end and bunny-hops in a particular pattern, that he can get outside the world.

So I'm nervous, but I'm excited as well. It's been sixteen months coming, but we'll finally get to see consumers having fun with our game.

[Industry] Oblivion Discussion

If you are wondering how some people in the industry feel about "Oblivion" being rerated, there's a thread going on at the IGDA forums here.

I made a post on page 3.

[Miscellaneous] Spammers and Shaders

Two small items... one to appease me, one to potentially help a long-time visitor and friend.

First, there are many ways to get me to visit a site. Referral spam isn't one of them.


Second, if you are someone who uses Managed DirectX and are having a hard time wrapping your head around shaders, The ZMan is going to be doing a webcast for Microsoft on writing shaders and using shaders with managed code. Should be a good time for all. If you are interested, you can go here to register for the DirectX webcast.

[Industry] ESRB Examples (May not be work-safe)

I'm trying to get approval to post the ESRB submission materials I used for the resubmission of "SiN," but in light of the "Oblivion" re-rating, I'm going over my submission materials, trying to double-check and make sure I didn't miss anything.

Violence was pretty straightforward for "SiN," but the "Sexuality" section was really funky to write, because you never know what people are going to think is suggestive or sexual in nature.

Some items are fairly straightforward...

Elexis Sinclaire, your main adversary through the game, has overly exaggerated breasts.

In the Mansion level, Elexis has turrets that look like giant metal penises. She also has a drawer in her bedroom that contains a non-interactive picture of marital aids.

Others, not so much...

In the end credits, there is a picture of one of the company owners kissing the boot of a woman dressed as Elexis. The same credit slide shows one of the other company owners taking a nap with an inflatable sheep.

Others only make sense if you can read badly pixelated text...

There is a milk carton with the badly pixelated text "100% BULL" above the word "MILK."

...or if you know what is supposed to be being said...

During the cutscene between Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, Blade is woozy from being beaten up. Elexis is taunting him, and he replies with slurred speech, "Bit meh flock ouee fargin' bit," but people can infer the actual meaning of "Bite my cock, you fucking bitch."

"Language" was another interesting one to write. I disclosed everything from...

We have one texture with the words "Fuck You" written in American Sign Language on a posting on a bulletin board.

...to...

During our opening cutscene, two criminals are talking about a policeman that they shot, saying "That's nothin' compared to last week. I shot this cop in the head…he never even saw it coming."

...to...

If you try to open a closed port-a-potty door, a voice can say, "Hey, I'm in here, wait your turn asshole."

So, for those of you who read my blog who have created these packets before? What's the strangest thing you've ever disclosed to the ESRB? My strangest:

We have several warning signs scattered around the world showing stick figures being injured.

[Industry] Take Two Strikes Out Again

So, let me see if I've got this right. Take Two first drives game ratings into the spotlight with hidden sexual content in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Then, about a year later, they do it again with "The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion?" And now Bethesda is using the same excuse that Rockstar did, saying that without using a mod, the content couldn't be accessed.

Ahem.

The ESRB has been telling people since last year that they were going to be rating everything on the disc, whether it could be accessed during gameplay normally or not. When in doubt, disclose, edit or remove. That's it. There are no other choices. Blocking off or covering up used to be a viable strategy, but it isn't anymore.

Bah...I don't have the energy right now to worry about this shit...