Then at the weekend i watched the trailer for the new Grand Theft Auto. And got so excited i literally could not sit still. Spore is the future perhaps, but this is where it's at now. This looks to be the first game to truly deliver a narrative as slick and compelling as film integrated with exciting and dramatic gameplay and this game looks to truly deserve the Citizen Kane mantle...
Crossing the void, a one day conference on 360 entertainment (which they seemed to be using the same way i use 'the new entertainment') to 'explore the changing commissioning landscape by bringing TV and new media indies together to discuss collaborative opportunities'
No one actually told us what the void is supposed to be, and to me the whole thing seemed more about the enormous proliferating pile of content and tools and services that crowd this 360 world where online, television, mobile and ourselves meet.
Everyone I spoke to seemed to be crushing in on the same space, like the waste crushing room on the Death Star in the original Star Wars. Everywhere the talk was of television content alongside websites video and audio - streamed and podcasted - photos mobile - messaging, content, communities - geolocational music games quiz shows reality television really good television music film voting shifting uploading downloading sideshifting rollercoasting freebasing. And all seamlessly crossing platforms and rolled into one smooothely integrated format. Of course.
But (at least in the stuff that was presented as already accomplished, rather than about to happen very soon) – most was pretty web 1.5. Great content being pushed out, and some direct engagement with the key audiences to push it. Sky for example showed some great content they had pushed out over web, mobile and email for the Hogfather series. But in this (as with much else that we saw) there was virtually nothing that provided the opportunity to respond, engage, customise, cut up and share. 360 entertainment indeed, but without the further dimension of full audience collaboration which would actually bring it to life.
What was encouraging to see was that everyone was very keen to get involved in this space. The conference sold out very quickly and I had to be quite persistent to persuade them to find me a seat that had been invisible. And everyone was very engaged and excited and filled with ideas. And not just the indies from tv and multimedia but also the network commissioners, who were there in refreshing force and with budgets to spend. Matt Locke, previously of the BBC Innovation labs and now educational commissioner for Channel 4 – talked up his £6m pot for new media, and the fact that the vast majority of it will be spent outside the channel4.com portal, and in the spaces that 14-19 year olds are actually spending their time.
And it was both really encouraging and disheartening that half of the day’s speakers were talking up ARGs. And finally starting to build them outside of the niche, with ambition and proper scalability. Look out for Resistance is British, didn’t see much at all but it smells like the future and Paul Bennun from Somethin Else was easily the most convincing speaker of the day. And if we can get something similar off the ground this year, hopefully we'll be on the roster with him for the next one…
It feels like almost all of my waking hours over the last period have been dedicated to the launch of the Championship Gaming Series. (well, apart from ten days in the Pyrenees).
The self-styled (well, Fleishman Hillard-styled) Premiership of video games is the first ongoing league for professional video gamers in the world. There are a number of big money tournaments that pre-date the CGS, but this is the first time that gamers are paid ‘annualised compensation’ (essentially a salary, only without some of the benefits) to play in the league, and have the opportunity to win much, much more.
We have been talking this up since starting work on the account in June, but it was extraordinary to see it coming to life on Friday, as the newly drafted London Mint and Birmingham Salvo teams took each-other on for the first time. Most of the players look fresh out of school, but here they are suddenly sporting a team strip and being filmed in a Gladiators style arena for broadcast on Sky in December, cheered by an army of instant fans and just starting to bond as a team. Nervous and hesitant as most of them were about the whole thing – particularly the bragging vox pops being filmed as we arrived – you could see that this is just the very beginning of their careers, and indeed stardom.
And of course, this is just the beginning of the format too. At the moment they are just playing head to head battles – fighting, shooting, football and racing. However, at some point down the line the strategic and narrative elements of video-games are going to be incorporated, and you are going to be watching not only to see the demonstration of skill, but also the evolution of a plot and character that are dependant upon the players. There will be the possibility of an emotive engagement with the gameplay the like of which neither sport nor television have ever been able to provide before. And that is going to be really exciting.
Talking of exciting, Keeley was at the show as one of the hosts, and I have to admit I got as nervous as the players speaking to her…
So, i have been incentivised by the creation of our team blog, and the fact that i am referenced on the main Fleishman site as one of our bloggers. so here we go...
Pissing it down with rain again, but at least I’m up north so it’s more expected. Feel rough – woke up at 4 this morning mind too conscious of the Scottish pitch and tried a hit of Night Nurse, which several people had recommended to me as a sleep aid. But it didn’t seem to work. I did get back to sleep again eventually, but not for an hour and a half at least, which is what it would take unaided. And then woke up this morning feeling sedated still and with a cows tongue in my mouth.
Was fortunate to be ok at the pitch - i had been lieing awake thinking about material for a comi soap about PR companies, in which an over-worked account director overslept after worrying all night about a pitch, and then missed it. Almost seemed sufficiently funny in the addled of the night, but tbh even then i was more taken with the concept of filming a comedy using the real company as the subject. The Office meets Big Brother…
So, then. Nitin Sawney. Friday night Albert Hall. Was quite simply one of the best concerts I have ever seen for the pure music. Absolutely extraordinary, every time a new person came up to lead on vocals, flute, sitar, keyboard they were extraordinary. Mesmerising. Listen to Prom 37 here if you get the chance...
And then the tracks that fully segued between solo musicians and small groups and the full swooping orchestra were mesmerising. And in particular the tracks from Heavenly Sword. Interested to both feel that the music was so good that I am tempted to buy the game (and I only buy one or two games per year), and also to see an old-timer in the next box - whom I will also pigeon-hole into an anti-gaming box – who exclaimed in disbelief when Nitin announced where the music was from, that such a musician would compose scores for a mere game. And perhaps this will have changed his mind, if only a little, about their cultural relevance. 
Which is exactly what the whole Video Games Live phenomenon is about, which i will come to talk about it in more detail very soon…
