The Giants of Surfing... and Game Development?

One of my all-time fave documentaries is Riding Giants, a documentary about three of the pioneers of big wave surfing. It focuses on three different 'eras' of surfing, telling the story of an innovator from each. I often recommend it to friends, and sometimes have commented that it makes a good parallel to innovation in the games industry. I'd never written up why I feel this is the case.

Recently, I recommended it to a friend, Mare Sheppard, who asked "Who is gaming's Laird Hamilton?". I figured I'd write up some thoughts as a response.

I love the documentary for many reasons. great footage and soundtrack, superb editing and pacing, etc. However, the thing I like most is that of the three innovators at the heart of the movie, each innovates in a very different way.

The film starts with coverage of Hawaii's north shore in the early 60's and Greg Noll. Noll is a big, brash tough guy with brass balls, who basically muscles his way onto waves no one else will tackle. He innovates with brute strength. In gaming, Noll's equivalent is maybe Rockstar, or Wargaming, or EA. Pick a goal, throw a pile of money and bodies at it. Take that hill.

The latter part of the movie covers Laird Hamilton. He (and to be fair, some others), invented "tow-in surfing", using zodiacs and jetskis to pull them into giant open-ocean waves at high speed - waves too big to paddle into. They innovated through the use of technology. In gaming, Hamilton's equivalent is Valve, or Epic, or Crytek.

The best part of the movie though, is the middle section, which focuses on Jeff Clark, the first person to surf Mavericks in Half-moon Bay, California. After a couple years of looking at a giant wave breaking off the coast into a death-trap of stones, Clark just decides to do it - because in his heart he knows he must. And then, after no one believes he did it, HE SURFS IT ALONE, WITH NO ONE WATCHING, FOR FIFTEEN YEARS! Clark's innovation is driven by passion. By love of the act itself.

Who is gaming's Jeff Clark? All those indies working on those perfect gems of games that have to be done the best possible way. Jon Blow, Chris Hecker, Robin Hunicke, Dan Cook, and so many others I have the privilege of knowing... including Mare Sheppard, which is why I recommended the film to her to begin with! :-)

[btw, while I recommend the film, if you haven't seen it, at least watch this clip on the Jeff Clark piece]

Good Documentary on The Silver Ball

I recently watched TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball [Official site here], a documentary about the decline of pinball, of Williams (the industry's leading manufacturer), and of the effort to save the industry through one last big R&D project.

I really liked it on a number of levels.

First off, it was really fun to see the design process behind the games themselves. Seeing footage of these guys storyboarding out designs, laying out playing fields in cad packages, considering technology tradeoffs, etc. This was all really cool. Very similar to what we see in game design, but with a tangible, physical element that we don't have (except maybe at Harmonix?)

Secondly, it was humbling - and maybe a little frightening - to see how quickly the industry declined. Many assume it was videogaming's introduction that lead to pinball's downfall. That certainly was a factor, but for several years pinball continued to grow even at the height of the arcade boom. So there are other factors we can learn from, and that have some similarity to games - concentration on few genres/themes, viewing big licenses as an excuse for poor gameplay, increasing complexity to win the hardcore consumer may have frightened off newcomers, etc. The footage of pinball trade shows at their high look an awful lot like E3 does today. Most of those attending didn't realize they'd be out of a job in a few short years.

Highly recommended for anyone in the games industry and/or those who grow up pumping quarters into Black Knight, High Speed, and others.

[Update: A friend was in town for a visit so we dropped by Ground Kontrol. Shame on me for having been here over a decade and never set foot in it before! Anyhow, I got to play Revenge from Mars, the first game based on the Pinball 2000 machine/platform. Its pretty rad but definitely not for pinball purists. The reflected video overlay is pretty neat but is distracting from the ball and playfield underneath. It feels like they could have done something like painted the playfield a dark color in order to light up just the ball, so that the ball's location would come through clearly. Anyhow, if you ever see one, give it a go. Piece of history!]

Playing Columbine

Danny Ledonne, developer of Super Columbine Massacre RPG, about which there was some controversy last year, has released an extended trailer of his upcoming documentary film 'Playing Columbine'.

He's released it on the anniversary of the school shooting that took place last year at Dawson College in Montreal (where I went to school).

It's *really* good. Pretty good cast of interviewees as well (Jason Della Rocca, Ian Bogost, Greg Costikyan, etc).

A fool and her yen...

Via the awesome TokyoMango, comes The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, a documentary about host-club workers, the hard drinkin', smokin' and hair-sprayin' young men that entertain women for money. The male equivalent of the hostess bar, a Japanese phenomema that Westerners already have a hard time understanding, it seems even more strange to many over here that women would pay for such companionship.

The documentary is great in how it peels the layers of the onion off the 'glamorous life' facade. And the twist that comes 30 or so minutes in was a complete and brilliant suprise. The closing shots of one worker drunkenly wobbling away on his bicycle in the early morning are a brilliant close to the film.

Watch documentary in full (~1hr) here.

[BTW, the movie is worth watching for the HAIR alone. This would make a list of 'top ten best hair movies', ranking alongside Saturday Night Fever, Gumball Rally, etc]