My apologies then to the ladies and gay guys reading this review, this is a product aimed squarely at the straighter than straight lad’s lads. Coming from the small team over at WET Productions, My Virtual Girlfriend is nothing if not open with what it pertains to be. This is a lifestyle product, a badge of masculinity – if you will – as much as it is a video game. It’s the type of iPhone app that some sections of the male public will whip out down the pub for a titter amongst his mates. ‘ere Gaz, look what I got!’ they will say, ‘there’s a bird in her crackers on me iPhone’ they will exclaim.

Decisions, decisions...

And as a marker of sexuality amongst peers it’s a fine, well produced, throwaway little toy. The game boots and responds quickly, is intelligently laid out in terms of menus and the Unity 3D engine renders animation fairly well. There’s no super naughty content in the game, the furthest you’ll get in your digital dalliances will be a ‘flirty spank’ or ‘sexy dance’, but it has a cheeky – if slightly bawdy – sense of humour that tends to be based on subtle-as-a-brick-through-a-window word play.

‘Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only…’ and so on…

Where My Virtual Girlfriend falls apart though is in the ‘playing’ of it. Tasked with getting a girl to fall in love with you, you might have thought you’d be expected to go through a lengthy process of building up relationships with complex AI characters, each with their own desires, morals and unique personality. Perhaps you thought you’d be required to role play the type of man each of the women want to fall in love with, to steal their hearts forever. Perhaps you thought that this would be the equivalent of Façade for iPhone.

Well you thought wrong.

It is based on an unsophisticated turn based system, being asked a question, agreeing with whatever your good lady says, buying them presents, giving them kisses and repeating this process identically until you’ve ground your way through 20 levels of affection. To say that My Virtual Girlfriend becomes a question of mathematical human conditioning is an understatement, the actions you’ll take over the hour and a half it takes to hit the maximum love level border on the sociopathic.

The women too are not much to look at. The art design is good, if a little flat, but the engine just isn’t able to produce a sexy human being. Perhaps most off putting though is the temperament of the ladies in the game, which is not only utterly predictable but almost offensive in how shallow 99% of the girls in the game seem to be. Is your new lady not happy that you’ve been out recycling and earning money? Just buy her some new shoes or give her a mixed drink, that’ll get her back in your good books! Just like real life, right? Right?

Your results may vary...

I really like the guts of what WET Productions have done here, they clearly know a thing or two about getting the most from a touch-screen interface, their approach to design is solid and its a competent product all round on a technical level. But for the entirety of my time I was wondering why WET hadn’t either gone all out and produced an accessible western equivalent of a Japanese dating sim, or used the tech in a ‘proper’ game, a jaunty but methodically paced adventure game – for example – would be a perfect fit for this team’s tech talents and aesthetic direction.

For those looking to spend loose change on a cheap gag then; it’s perfect. Unfortunately the game  surrounding the app is tiresome for anyone with even a modicum of interest in a quality entertainment experience. Core gamers and those without a lot of spare time to kill can easily pass over this app, safe in the knowledge that they’re not missing much, but for those millions of people who purchase fart button and beer detector apps for their smart phone? Well they could do a lot worse than check out My Virtual Girlfriend.

But not my Virtual Girlfriend.

Obviously.

MLG Rating: 6/10

Platform: iPhone  Release Date: 12/05/2010

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of My Virtual Girlfriend for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of four days on a iPhone 3G.

Xero: Firstly, can you tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?

Mike Amerson: I’m Mike Amerson, I’ve been a game developer for 10 years as a 3D artist/ animator and I’ve worked on top franchises such as Star Wars and Call Of Duty – PC and console games.  My latest (and personal) creation is an iPhone game called: My Virtual Girlfriend. I co-founded a company called WET Productions with my partner William to make this iPhone game.  I live in the US and he lives in the UK. We never have met in real life, all of our collaboration to create this game has been through the internet and using tools like SVN, Google docs and (RIP) Google wave. We developed my virtual girlfriend using Unity 3D, A 3rd party dev engine.

X: Our next question is one we ask every person we speak to here at Midlife Gamer, what is your favourite beverage and what is your favourite biscuit (or cookie outside of the UK)?

MA: My favourite beverage is from Starbucks.  A Venti white mocha with 3 pumps of white mocha and 1 pump of sugar free cinnamon dolce + add a shot of espresso. My favourite cookies are: Mother’s circus animal cookies (Pink and white, with the sprinkles).

X: How did WET Productions start out? Why start an independent game studio?

MA: Good, this allows me to elaborate on the first question.  I met William online in a game developer forum in 2003. He was working on a Tetris like clone and I am an artist. He posted a request for an artist to help him make some simple graphics and I answered the call.  I did it for free and after he finished the game I told him about a game idea I had (a sexy female fighting game for PC called  “Girlfight”)  we worked to develop a prototype with the intent to secure a publisher so we could hire a full development team and create the game for Xbox (at that time) and PC. Since we both work for developers, we would only be able to work on this during after work hours, which is few in game development. Using an in house engine that William created (It used to have it’s own website but we made it available for free here). We made a prototype of the game with 2 girls that could fight in a nightclub level, a bit like rumble roses. After 2 years, in 2007, I was unable to obtain financing and due to constant crunch modes at my regular work – the future was looking bleak for “Girlfight”.  We both had lost a lot of our momentum and things moved at a snails pace or not at all. In 2008, after I posted a Craigslist ad for software developer for hire – another company contacted us and wanted us to write custom software for casino gaming (I live in Las Vegas – it’s a big industry here).  So we made a game for them and that was our first paid assignment.  Because we were cheap and the company that hired us loved what we did they hired us to make a couple more, so a few more paid assignments happened that year… In late 2008, I heard of the iPhone and thought- low barrier to entry, minimal developer cost.  Why not make Girlfight for iPhone?  I contacted William and started drawing up some design docs. After about a month into pre-production and after some research, we anticipated that our game would not be allowed on the iTunes store due to the content being a bit on the “mature” side of things.  At this time my mind is racing – what can we develop that would be fun and entertaining – that there is not much competition for in the app store? Then it came to me: a girlfriend sim game!  I contacted William, he liked the idea and agreed. A year and ¼ (and many low sleep nights) later My Virtual Girlfriend hit the app store in may of 2010.  Although we made this iPhone game we both continue to remain employed by other development studios and work on this in our spare time (that’s why it took a year and a quarter – our schedules are always busy so extra time was very limited). I continue to be employed as a Senior 3D Artist and William a programmer.

X: How big is your team, how is the work divided and what are your industry backgrounds?

MA: The team consists of myself:  Mike Amerson – Art / Animation /design / producer / business manager / PR and marketing. My partner William (last name is kept secret for anonymity) – coding. My wife Angelina – came in on the tail end as an associate producer and marketing. We used a few Mixamo animations and I contracted a friend of mine: John Hutchinson for a couple of animations as well.

X: Your first title My Virtual Girlfriend has been out for a while now, what has the reaction from the public been like and has it been a commercial success?

MA: The biggest thing we’ve run up against is that people take the game way too seriously or think it’s porn.  We’ve been in a few flame wars on forums defending our game and explaining to them that apple doesn’t allow for objectionable adult material.

X: Why did you choose to make a title like MVG as your inaugural effort under the WET banner? Is there a big appeal to this kind of title?

MA: The path that led us to making this game has been a long road, as noted above in an earlier response. As for why this type of game? Well, I have a lot of experience at character modelling, texturing and I wanted to make something that would be a commercial success. My strength lies in art, especially characters, so making something visually appealing was a top priority.  I wanted to make something that there was nothing else close to in the app store, and it had to be manageable in scope due to our schedules (boy I blew that one!).

X: How difficult is it to balance tongue-in-cheek pastiche with the out-and-out offensive? How well do you feel you achieved this in My Virtual Girlfriend?

MA: I did a LOT of research for MVG. I went on forums for alpha females to MySpace comebacks for the urban girl and searched for interesting dialogue and quotes. There are over 1500 lines of dialogue in the game. Each piece of dialogue can be distilled down to 1 of 6 categories. Average, Urban, Diva, Hippie, Alpha and Prude. Each girl is a mix of Average and one of the other categories. The percentage of each is generated randomly and at the start of the game – which is also based off of player input.

X: We’ve seen plenty of dating sims and girlfriend games released in Japan, yet whenever this type of game has come to home consoles or portable platforms, reaction from press and games has tended to be fairly poor and coverage minimal. Why do you feel we don’t see more of this type of game in the west?

MA: Now you’ve opened up Pandora’s box. This is one of my biggest pet peeve’s with Western culture and gaming, in that it’s absolutely ok to slit someone’s throat in a game but when it comes to anything even mildly sexual (such as seeing breasts) it’s completely taboo, well, until Rockstar did it… But PC and console gaming has come a long way now with allowing for more mature content. Apple however, is very conservative with their views, so we have to push the boundary but not go over the limit with them or risk our game being pulled from the app store.

X: Do you feel that, with digital download platforms, games are more open to explore themes such as sexuality (even if it is within a light hearted context as seen in MVG) or have the restrictions of platform holders meant that this type of game can ONLY be made on iOS?

MA: Yes, by nature of a digital download it is more “private” and therefore one can purchase it without embarrassment and these type of games are usually single player, so its even more so. As for the OS, it’s easier to self publish mature material on a computer than it is a console or the app store. Apple reserves (and exercises) the right to deny games with sexuality, so the developers must work within their rules. I think they should open up a little bit more, but that’s my personal take. However, I do respect that it is their store after all and they can say what goes in it.

X: Where next for WET Productions? Updating MVG? A sequel? Or perhaps a new title altogether?

MA: First thing, we continue to develop MVG with updates that help improve it. Once we get it to a point where we feel we’ve done as much as we can for it (1 more update), then we begin on the iPad version. And a lite version. After that – We’ve been getting a lot of requests lately for the “male” counterpart.  So after the formula for gameplay is solid we will reskin the game for the ladies and create a “MVB” game (My Virtual Boyfriend). It is my hope that one day my partner and I will be able to develop apps /games full time and have the option to be independent from having to work for others, if I should someday choose to go full Indie. I do work with some really awesome people, the long hours can be a grind over time and with the instability of game companies these days, its good to have a backup plan.

For more information on My Virtual Girlfriend and WET Productions, check out their official website.

Xero: Could you introduce yourselves to the Midlife Gamer community, who are you and what do you do?

Matt Small: My name is Matt Small. I’m the Creative Director at Vector Unit, which at our company is kind of a hybrid between a Lead Designer and an Art Director.  For Hydro Thunder Hurricane, I designed all the tracks, built the 3D models for several tracks and boats, and art directed the game.

X: The next question is one we always ask everyone we interview here at Midlife Gamer, what is your favourite beverage and what is your favourite biscuit (also called cookies outside the UK)?

MS: Favorite beverage is unquestionably beer.  (Do you ever get any answers other than that?)  Specifically IPA – although I’m partial to smooth frothy cask ales like Boddington’s too.  Favorite cookie is either peanut butter or ginger snaps – I can’t decide!

X: Your latest project was Hydro Thunder Hurricane, can you tell us a bit more about the title?

MS: Hydro Thunder Hurricane just shipped on Xbox Live Arcade this last week. It’s a return to the classic arcade racers of yore – colorful, fun, fast with crazy shortcuts and ridiculous set pieces like dinosaurs and giant Norse gods that attack the track. The kind of racing games they don’t make enough of any more, IMHO. HTH is an accessible game – it’s not a realistic simulation like Gran Turismo – but there’s a hard core racing mechanic there for players who want to try and shave tenths of seconds off their best time.

X: Are you treating this title as more of a sequel or a remake to the first Hydro Thunder? In addition, which elements from the original did you feel were essential when first designing the title?

MS: It’s a proper sequel. Our goal was to create a game which captures the spirit of the original while providing the depth, controls, and graphics you would expect from a modern console title. To do that, we had to rewrite everything from scratch, and then play test the hell out of it to make sure we kept the stuff that made the original game great.

One of the first things we did was to make a list of what people remembered most favorably from the original. Obviously this included the crazy fast transforming rocket boats, the giant drops off cliffs and waterfalls, the over-the-top “theme park” environments, the secret shortcuts, the announcer, etc. The list is actually pretty long, but we were able to include just about all of these elements that made the original game what it was.

But we didn’t want the game to be just a graphic upgrade of the original. All of the tracks in Hurricane are new, for instance.  We also added a few new game modes as well, such as the Ring Master slalom game and the Gauntlet event, which is a time trial with exploding barrels. The most important new thing is the water physics engine. It’s completely interactive, and constantly changing as boats drive through it, or giant avalanches splash into it. The water is really the star of the show – every race feels a little bit unpredictable.

X: Can you tell us a little more about the multiplayer?

MS: Multiplayer is a very important feature for us.  We support up to 8 players over Xbox LIVE, and the implementation is silky-smooth, if I do say so myself. You won’t see boats jumping all over the place. I think we got that part really right. We also support 4 player split screen, and you can play split screen online, so you can have 2 friends playing locally against 6 other people online.

I think the Multiplayer is really one of the most fun features in the game. We spent a lot of time balancing the boats, and tuning the boost system so that races always feel close and competitive. Plus the tracks are designed to be played quickly – maybe 2-3 minutes per race – so if you lose one, no big deal, you can just jump back in and try to win the next.

X: Are there plans for supporting the title long-term with DLC?

MS: Yes. I can’t say too much about it yet, but there definitely will be new tracks and new boats.

X: Have you had much input from the original Midway team on the project?

MS: Not a ton. Midway gave us their assets from the original game to look at, and we studied them closely but didn’t directly use any of it. Also one of the producers from the original game was able to play it and give us the thumbs-up. He really liked it, which was great for us to hear.

X: We’ve seen a recent resurgence in interest in racing games, racing games with an action heavy edge especially (Blur, Split/Second Velocity, Modnation Racers etc). Why do you feel this is?

MS: Racing games will never go away – they’re like the essence of competition. That said, you can only go so far with a sim, in my opinion. All you can do is make it more and more realistic, and pile on tons of options. If racing games are going to attract new fans from outside the hard core racing gamer base, they need to make the games accessible and add some kind of flashy hook. The trick is balancing that so you don’t lose sight of the pure racing principles, or you’ll make it too casual and lose the core audience.

X: What’s next for Vector Unit after the release of Hydro Thunder Hurricane? Are there any plans to take on other Thunder properties in the near future?

MS: We don’t currently have plans for any more Thunder properties, although we’ve had a lot of requests for a revamped Arctic Thunder. We’re just focused on creating and tuning the DLC, and pitching new ideas to publishers.

For more information on Vector Unit and Hydro Thunder, visit their website.

In our interview with a member of the team behind one of the largest simulation communities in the World, we discover that the social and political landscape of Truck sim fans is far from a quaint group of individuals mutually co-habiting the same online space; it’s a world of rampant plagiarism and competition, limited budgets and company closures. But it’s also one of passion and dedication, of like minded gamers that really aren’t all to different from their core gaming cousins.

So if you’ve ever wondered what the biggest debates in simulators are, what the best title to get started with this unique hobby is or why Truck sim players are really just big kids at heart, you’ve come to the right article!

Xero: First question for you, who are you and what do you do?

Waldi: Well, my name is Michał, but everybody call me Waldi. I am 24 years old and I am the editor of HardTruckSite. I am a big fan of trucks and narrow-gauge railways but unfortunately girls don’t understand my passions, so I’m still single :-). A few weeks ago I left my job and now I can spend much more time extending our website about truck sims. Of course it can’t endure forever so  I am still looking for a new job.

X: Next, is something we ask each person we talk to here at Midlife Gamer, it’s a subject very near and dear to all our hearts; what is your favourite beverage and what is your favourite biscuit (or “cookie” to those outside the UK)?

W: Unfortunately many people in Europe use invidious stereotypes thinking what Polish people like to drink. They think that citizens of our country are alcoholics who never sober up… It’s not true. As many adult people in Poland I like to drink something from time to time but I cannot tell you that any type of alcohol is my favourite beverage.  To be honest, my favourite beverage is the mineral water bottled in one of the most beautiful Polish spas – Muszyna.

I don’t like the taste of sweet biscuits but I used to eat them when I was much younger. My favourite ones were waffles with toffee filling.

X: So I suppose one of the most important questions I should ask is, why do you love Truck sims? What is it about the genre that piqued your interest to begin with?

W: I think that every truck sims fan has his own history and his own reasons for being interested in that genre. There are a few main reasons. Probably every small boy dreamt about being a truck driver. These games give people the possibility to be one for a moment. Some people are simply fans of simulators and big machines like trucks, trains, planes. They are people who prefer imitating real life and real machines than running through a virtual map with an AK-47. The third group are people who want to be a real driver, and it’s their plan, not  just a dream. Most of them have a truck driver in their families and want to follow in this tradition.

I’m a mixture of both. It’s obvious that I was dreaming about being a truck driver when I was very young, but my serious interest began many years ago when I found one of the oldest truck sims in a local shop. I thought ‘the price is low, it would be nice to pretend to be a truck driver’.  Now I am a typical truck fan :-)

X: The community surrounding truck sims seems to be really passionate, certainly a lot more so than many other fan bases out there. What is it about the genre, do you think, that facilitates this enthusiasm?

W: Unfortunately only a few of the truck fans will be allowed to drive them for real in the future. These sims give them possibility to try it. You must know that when you sit in front of truck’s steering wheel you can feel like the king of the road, you can experience that beautiful feeling and emotion of uninhibited freedom and independence. Probably every small boy dreamt about being a truck driver. You will understand what I mean only if you try it!

Most of the truck sims are produced by the Czech developer – SCS Software. Their games have one enormous advantage: they are easily edited. Players can easily make their own trucks, trailers and maps. Polish truck fans prepared two big maps of Poland for 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal and 18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin. This group of enthusiasts is preparing now one for German Truck Simulator. To be honest this Polish map for GTS looks much better than maps prepared by the developer.

These games are not the ones which finish in 20 or even 50 hours and then put back on the shelf. Every day you can download new trucks prepared by fans, you can download new maps. You can also prepare your own paint jobs.

To sum up, people are passionate because they are truck fans and because SCS games have a kind of life after life.

X: What was it that motivated you to begin a website specialising in this fairly niche area of games?

W: HardTruckSite was founded in November 2003 by one of my best friends. It was a completely different time, intermittent areas with access to broadband and web domains were very expensive, consequently there were no sites offering free web forums. Now everybody can set up his own site for free. In 2003 our decision was quite clever. We all were playing Hard Truck 2 and King of the Road. We wanted to show player’s point of view about those games and create a social place for all Truck sims fans. A few months later we decided to try our hands as game modifiers. We made Polish Pack for 18 Wheels of Steel: Pedal to the Metal. It was a revolutionary and pioneering project which became popular across Europe.

X: Are there any particular challenges that you face in the day to day running of the site? What are the rewards?

W: Every day we take part in a market share gamble with opponents who prefer quantity, not quality. Now most sites are only forum based, on one of most common engines when they create a download section. They put add-ons shared on well known, free file hosting services and many up linkers are not checking them, they are simply copying them from other sites.

We are going against the flow. We focus on editorial activity. We search for interesting news, we prepare articles about games, and we write manuals on how to modify truck simulators. Unfortunately there are next-to-nothing-people in Poland, who are copying our work. We must fight therefore fight this plague of plagiarism as every week we find our news copied word for word without any reference given. Sometimes we find our articles and manuals accredited to someone else! Once we found a site with an owner who was copying all of his news from our site. Unfortunately he hadn’t seen that there is a “read more” button in most of them. He had therefore only copied half articles…

Now we must challenge the difficulty of rebuilding our portal. It doesn’t mean only changing engines and themes. We are also re-organising our team and preparing next surprises for our guests.

Rewards? The only one is satisfaction. We are doing all of this because of our passion.

X: Are you in contact with the main sim developers? Are they particularly communicative to fan sites?

W: The best known market player is SCS Software. They are a tiny company so they don’t have a big marketing department but I tip my hat to Pavel Sebor, their Managing Director. He is in charge of finances, marketing, negotiations with publishers and contacts with fans. He is very dedicated to his work and when it’s necessary he is geared to answer emails long into the night. Our marketing specialist works with him frequently.

We were also cooperating with TopWare Poland, SCS’s games publisher in Poland. Truck simulators were their main base of existence. Actually, one of our people was working for them as a kind of “fan base relations manager” but unfortunately the company collapsed a few weeks ago. At the moment we are also working with Cenega, the polish publisher of Rig’n’Roll.

X: Simulator games, in wider press at least, tend to have certain stigmas automatically pressed on them and their surrounding communities. Why do you feel this is, are any of these stereotypes particularly true, and is it something that you are concerned with at all?

W: I don’t think that there are stigmas. On the other hand simulators are extremely boring for most players. Typical gamers will spend a maximum of two or three evenings playing core games. Then he will put it back on the shelf, and never come back. Only simulator fans and children can feel pleasure shuttling through Europe with different cargo loads. Unfortunately many players are growing out of the genre very fast.  It’s why truck sims are an extremely niche area.

X: How far do fans go to replicate the authentic Truck driving experience? Would you say the hobby is expensive?

W: In my opinion it isn’t an expensive hobby. It’s connected with buying a steering wheel, which is useful in all racing games. The rest could be done for free. People drive observing Polish law, they listen to country music or use internet versions of CB-radio.

X: After speaking with Pavel Sebor from SCS Software, he noted that his company and Truck sim fans in general, have a very large presence in Eastern Europe. Being a Polish orientated site, why do you feel the genre had taken off in a big way in your part of the world as opposed to others?

W: One of the biggest reasons may be piracy. Despite low prices of truck sims, many people are downloading them from the web. Fortunately, a few weeks later, some of them are going to shops and buying original copies. Most of the buyers are from those three groups that I described before. What is more our part of Europe has big traditions in modifying these games. People play them because they know that after a few days there will be the first add-ons released and a few months later the first maps. SCS had an easier beginning in Poland because their first game had the “Hard Truck” brand in the title.

X: As a defining voice in the community, which titles would you say are the best in the field? Are there any that you would strongly recommend to beginners or those interested in getting involved?

W: I can recommend all of the games developed by SCS Software. Each of them has special features unseen in the next titles. Everybody can find something suitable for themselves among their titles. It’s extremely difficult to say which one is the best in the field. We suggest Rig’n’Roll developed by 1C Software as the best choice for beginners.

X: Finally, what would you say were the biggest disagreements or points of contention for truck sim fans? Are there any Sonic Vs Mario style debates for example?

W: With the release of each next game people argue as to which one is the best. But the biggest debate is about the future of truck sims. People discuss if they should become more and more realistic (in the way that an instructional fighter simulator for army use is a simulator) or become more like arcade games (such as 18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy).

In the first case fans will be delighted, but they will be the only buyers. In the second, the demand will be much bigger, but the fan base will be disappointed.

Enter then Vector Unit, the developers of Hydro Thunder Hurricane – a full fledged sequel to the speed boat racing original released on home consoles towards the very tail end of the 20th century – who seemingly felt that there was life left in this old (sea)horse yet. Coming to market as an Xbox exclusive, as the next release in this year’s Summer Of Arcade, following up the art-house indie gem Limbo with a more… traditional… approach to games design and this being their first release, the odds were always going to be stacked against the team at Vector Unit to create a memorable downloadable title.

Yet somehow, HTH has managed to come out of seemingly nowhere to be one of the most fun and compelling racers in recent memory, providing a fitting homage to the original Hydro Thunder, yet updating the admittedly simple formula far enough to seem relevant in a market place that is, rather fittingly, flooded with arguably more sophisticated arcade racers right now.

Incorporating standard races, gate challenges dubbed ‘Ring Master’ mode and a ‘Gauntlet’ mode (wherein the player is required to make it to the end of the track without hitting too many explosive barrels), plus local and online multiplayer, in terms of framing Hydro Thunder Hurricane is nothing to write home about, though these varied methods of play do enable some elegant recycling of the title’s eight tracks. However this simple structure (and the game’s exceptionally fast load times) gets you into the right games for the right mood quickly. Fancy utilising the full capabilities of your vehicle and learning the riskier routes? Get straight into the Ring Master mode. Want a frenetic race to the finish? A standard race is the order of the day. Want to be a little more thoughtful in your racing? Gauntlet mode. Need to take on all comers and prove yourself? Online. From a limited set of mechanics then, this arcade racer covers a lot of bases.

Whereas the original Hydro Thunder outing could, if we were being cynical, have been accused at the time of being a Wipeout clone, Hurricane has a lot more verticality and more routes through its colourful world than Sony‘s flagship future rave racer. The waves for instance are much more integral to the game this time round, much in the same way Wave Race 64 has players taking into account how they enter a corner in relation to the surf around them. That said, HTH isn’t nearly as tricky as Wave Race and average players will only start to become truly challenged late into the game, by which point they’ll probably have unlocked most of the really important content. And – OH MY GOSH – the-unlocks! Perfectly paced, the game rewards you after almost every race with a new boat, paint job, avatar item, challenge, achievement or track to race on, providing that much needed impetus to continue when you’re twenty races into a session.

Racing is fluid (see what I did there?) and has a lot more nuances to it than its fairly simple accelerate, brake, jump, boost and steer would bely, with knowing when and how to boost being key to improving track times. The feeling of speed, height and weight has been captured well here, making for an adrenaline fuelled ride each time you start up the on-board motor.

It’s a shame then that the audio never quite matches up to the action on screen, the original soundtrack being a little middle of the road and the overly excited announcer starting to grate on occasion. It’s fine in the arcade to hear a context sensitive audio clip on a specific part of a track, because your interaction with that title is likely to be much less often than a home release, but hearing the same FX each time you go past an area in an environment, just feels a little lazy on the part of the audio team, as does the rest of the aural presentation.

If you loved the original Hydro Thunder, Hurricane is a tremendous return to form for the franchise, and if you’re looking for a slightly more old school (read: straightforward) arcade racer, this comes highly recommended. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is excellent and though it doesn’t break any new ground, it’s a thoroughly accomplished title and a fine – albeit polemic – release to follow up Limbo in this second week of the XBL Summer of Arcade.

MLG Rating: 8/10

Platform: Xbox Release Date: 28/07/2010

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of Hydro Thunder Hurricane for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of five days on an Xbox 360 Pro. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Xero: Can you explain to our readership who are you and what you do?

Tom Champion: Hi there! My name is Tom Champion and I’m the Community & Gaming Manager for the Eurogamer Expo. It’s a vague job title, but I’ll try and explain a bit further. Basically I look after the social media aspect of the expo. I man our Twitter and Facebook accounts, talk about the expo on the Eurogamer forum and other forums all over the internet and reply to the many enquiries we get. Additionally I help put together the floorplan, make sure we have the correct number and type of consoles and make sure nothing is on fire during the expo. If you want to locate me during the show, I’ll be the guy looking very tired and somewhat stressed. :) It’s all good fun.

X: Next, a question we ask everyone we speak to here at Midlife Gamer: What is your favourite biscuit and beverage?

TC: Favourite biscuit is easy. Chocolate caramel digestives – I can rip through a packet of these in an hour or two. Ask my waistline. Alcoholic or non? Rum if it’s the first, real lemonade if it’s the latter.

X: For those that haven’t been to it, what is Eurogamer Expo and what can gamers expect when they walk through the door?

TC: If you haven’t been before, where were you?! Expect games, a lot of them. The vast majority will be titles that haven’t yet been released so it’s a great opportunity to try out new stuff that very few people will have played before.

As well as the games we have the Developer Sessions where a number of high profile developers will be giving presentations about their games. We also have the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair which will feature exhibitors from developers, publishers, universities and recruiters. It’s a great place to get some tips on joining the industry.

As well as all this we have the Indie Games Arcade. This is great for checking out some indie games on PCs. Last year we had some great stuff including Joe Danger. We’re also working on some additional bits and pieces including a tournament / challenge area where you’ll be able to win prizes for gaming feats. In short, there’s a lot to do.

X: What is the expo’s overall aim? Are you shooting to be an E3 for Europe, or are you focussing efforts on being a Gamescom for the UK?

TC: I don’t think we’re necessarily trying to be like either of those events. Both E3 and Gamescom are trade shows. They’re mostly aimed at the gaming press and industry as a whole rather than gamers. Our aim with the Eurogamer Expo is quite simple. Put the best games in front of gamers. With trade shows you tend to get a lot of very flashy set ups with publishers and platform holders trying to outdo each other with the size of their stands.

Our show is very different. We want to fill the space with more consoles rather than elaborate stages etc. That way more people get to try out more games while cutting down on the queue times. I’d say the closest event to what we’re trying to achieve is PAX in the US.

X: Being held at the beginning of Q4, many of the games for the lucrative holiday period shown here will already be available to the public or are just months away from release. Is this a help or a hindrance when attracting gamers and games press?

TC: The key thing for us is being able to secure the biggest games in a playable form. That means trying to strike a balance. If the show is put on too early in the year then the publishers won’t have any playable code to give us, too late and the games are already out and that limits interest.

I think our balance is spot on this year. We’ve moved the expo from the end of October to the beginning and that means more unreleased games for attendees to play. An example of this; we recently announced Sony’s lineup for the show and in fact it’s very likely that none of those core titles will be out by the time we kick off on the 1st October. 3 of them aren’t released until 2011. Sony are also bringing along some 3D games which the vast majority of people won’t have experienced 1st hand.

What we don’t want is to end up in a situation where we’re showing video of games rather than playable code. Videos are no good to us, you can get those on the internet, we want people playing the games.

X: You’re partnered with HMV for sponsorship, what do they bring to the show in real terms and why did you choose to go with them as opposed to dedicated games retailers, such as the Game group?

TC: On the day they’ll have a mini shop set up within the hall where you’ll be able to purchase games. I believe they’re also working on having special offers which will only be available to people attending the expo. In general I think HMV have demonstrated great commitment to games in the last few years. They’re now offering second hand titles to consumers and with things like Gamerbase I think they’re really keen to exceed the services that many specialists offer. They share our passion for games and I think that was key when we were looking for a partner.

X: The show always seems to attract some very big names in the industry, do you feel games companies take events like this as seriously as they should? In addition, are these sessions popular with the general public or are they more focussed on the journalists attending?

TC: I think publishers love the show, to be honest. It costs them a fraction of what it costs them to do a huge event like E3 and in return their games get played by thousands of genuine gamers rather than just press and industry folk. It’s brilliant for them to gather that feedback as well.

In terms of the Developer Sessions, as with the games these are aimed at everyone rather than just press. Anyone is free to join the queue and watch the presentation. It’s really the same ethos as the games – they’re there for everybody to enjoy. I think that’s important when attracting big names for the presentations. Developers enjoy being able to address gamers directly for a change, rather than press and their peers.

X: For you personally, what’s the most challenging part of organising EGX?

TC: All of it! But mostly the work we do actually on the day and in the couple of days leading up to the show.

Last year was really tough as we had two locations, Leeds and London, and had to travel up to Leeds, do the show and then go down to London and set up etc all with a 1 day gap. It was manic and I think I probably had about 10 hours sleep all week. My feet were a total mess!

I should also point out that it isn’t just me working on the show. Our Business Development Manager, David Lilley and our MD, Rupert Loman do a great job of securing the best games for our event. And once the event is underway most of the Eurogamer team (sales, tech and editorial) get involved on the show floor making sure that everything is running smoothly.

X: Europe – and especially Great Britain – is one of the biggest consumers of video games hardware and media in the world, yet Eurogamer Expo is one of just a handful of dedicated games shows. Why do you feel this is?

TC: Good question! Well, it’s a pretty tough gig putting on an event like this. The advantage we have at Eurogamer is that although this is just the 3rd year of the expo, we’ve been around as a website for over 10 years. During that time we’ve built up great relationships with all the publishers and platform holders and gained the respect of millions of readers. This puts us in a great position to be able to secure games for the show and actually have people want to attend it. I don’t think there are many other companies in the UK that can boast that kind of credibility amongst both the industry and gamers.

X: We’ve seen that Sony will be in attendance and bringing many of their marquee titles with them. Are there any hints as to who else we can expect to see exhibiting at the show? Any teases on the speakers who will be hosting their own sessions?

TC: Yep, it was great to be able to announce Sony’s lineup. They’ve always been great supporters of the expo and the games they’re bringing this year are truly remarkable. Gran Turismo 5 for gods’ sake!

Sorry, can’t give out any hints at the moment! The good thing is that you won’t have to wait too much longer to find out. We’re planning on making further announcements very soon. Rest assured we’re working hard to get the best games at the expo. Check out what’s due for release between October and the first half of 2011 and you’ll get a good idea about what we’re aiming for!

For more information on Eurogamer Expo, and to book tickets, visit expo.eurogamer.net

Ultima

Arguably the most important Role Playing Game series ever made and its initial release from Origin Systems in 1981 is widely regarded as one of the very first commercially available RPGs. The leaps in technology, game design and visual presentation that the series would come to see has been crucial in the development of the dice rolling genre and the DNA of the series is still evident in the biggest names of modern gaming. After all, no Ultima Online: no World of Warcraft.

Ultima is that important.

Fundamental to this stunning series’ creation is Richard Garriott – referred to fondly by fans as Lord British – who has not only been a key figure in the development of the games industry, but is a wildly successful entrepreneur, geocacher and space adventurer. Midlife Gamer secured a rare opportunity to speak with the great man himself, who talks to us about his upbringing and first commercial computer game, his time with Ultima including his interaction with players as Lord British, his experience of life on the International Space Station and what the future holds with Portalarium.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes & leave us a sexy review… or listen here.

A founding member and driving force behind Sensible Software the makers of Mega Lo Mania, Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder, he talks exclusively to Midlife Gamer about the full history of the company, gives us the reasons behind the Codemasters buyout and goes into detail about the making of the biggest Sensible titles.

He explains the reasoning behind their focus on humour and music in their games, his personal approach to video game design, rocks our world with the knowledge that Mega Lo Mania was originally set in space and gives us a little more information on his much hyped but ultimately canned project Sex ‘n’ Drugs ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Never one to avoid controversy, John also gives us his opinion on why modern gamers are being given ‘dumbed down’ products, why iterative console design and firmware upgrades harm the industry, we discuss his take on motion control and he tells us about his exciting new project Me Stars. All this, plus lots more on this special edition of the Midlife Gamer podcast.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes & leave us a sexy review… or listen here.

Xero: First question from us, who are you and what do you do?

Adam Stewart: My name is Adam Stewart, and I’m responsible for the graphics and writing for One Man Left Studios.

X: Next thing is extremely important to us, and is something we ask everyone we meet here at Midlife Gamer, what is your favourite beverage and what is your favourite biscuit?

AS: My favorite beverage is beer, of which I don’t know if I have a favorite. Beer isn’t fun if you drink the same kind all the time. My favorite biscuits are the Girl Scout Caramel DeLites? Are biscuits cookies? This question was not properly localized.

X: For those readers who don’t know, what is Tilt To Live and why should they download it?

AS: Tilt to Live is an accelerometer-based iDevice game with tight controls, neat weapons, and a sense of humor. They should download it after reading some reviews, because people seem to dig it.

X: TTL is your first title for iPhone, but is it your first title altogether or had you worked on previous projects before this?

AS: Before Tilt to Live, and as we were making it, I was a web designer and Alex (our programmer) was a software engineer. We went to high school together, and used to goof around making games for Flash and PC. We’ve never been involved with a game sold for money before, though.

X: Can you talk to us about the new Frostbite scenario and what it will be adding to the game?

AS: Frostbite mode involves a blizzard of frozen dots falling toward a hot spring. Weapons are sparse, so you’ve got to shatter as many enemies as possible before they can reach the hot spring and reanimate. Your primary weapon will be a new one called the burnicade, which is, intuitively enough, a burning barricade you “draw” by hitting the weapon orb and tilting. So you can essentially create a safety net with it, which burns any thawed dots chasing you while it eats the frozen enemies falling into it.

X: Where did the idea for Tilt To Live come from, were you inspired by any specific games or other forms of media?

AS: Tilt to Live began as a reimagining of Geometry Wars’ Pacifism mode. Accessibility is important for mobile devices, and games just don’t get more straightforward than that. Developing the weapons, we were really surprised at the variety of offensive strategies you could arrive at from weapons you just run into.

X: What was the motivation behind the striking visual design?

AS: The tone was more serious, sci-fi in the beginning, but I guess we had a hard time taking that seriously. It’s got an interesting contrast now, having abstractions for the characters and backgrounds vs. literal visuals in the weapons. Watching an arrow zip around triggering weapons of mass destruction is strangely charming. Basically, we settled on the name and it all got goofier.

X: Was there a reason behind handling all of the controls via motion sensing? Why not go for an on-screen control for instance?

AS: The tilt was the first thing we tried. I guess we were just working with the tools the hardware gave us. The tilt controls felt great and didn’t clutter the screen, so we had no desire to try a joystick. I also have sort of a pet peeve about phantom thumbsticks. I can’t stand not physically feeling where I am in relation to the center position, or whether I’ve reached the point where I can’t push it any farther.

X: Why did you choose to go with AGON Online as opposed to OpenFeint or another social platform for your high score and achievement functions?

AS: We liked the way it integrated. Openfeint can be a little heavy handed when you first start a game up (“ENABLE ME!”). It was also a paid service at the time we were choosing, where AGON was free. We’re still happy with the decision, though.

X: In real terms, how successful has the game been commercially and does the economy of the iTunes store work for smaller developers?

AS: All we have to cover is expenses and two guy’s salaries, so we really aren’t asking for much. We expected to need like 5 titles a year to be viable, and now it’s looking more like two. Apple has been generous about plugging TtL into featured lists, so that’s definitely helped.

X: Tilt To Live went free for a short period of time, were the download numbers drastically different, and does the free-to-play, ad-supported model appeal to you at all?

AS: They were exponentially different. FAAD gets a lot of eyeballs, and it was great to get into the hands of so many people. At the moment, free-to-play is appealing to us when it’s supported by in-app purchases and expansions. At that point, it’s basically an integrated lite version people can try out before they commit to a purchase. Advertising is only appealing if it’s WAY out of the way (More Games buttons) and not hurting the experience.

X: Is the boom of the indie game industry that we saw starting a couple of years ago, beginning to tail off with larger companies and higher budgets muscling in more heavily on the mobile platform?

AS: Our artwork and programming is all in-house, which saves a ton of overhead and helps us stay competitive. It’s pretty risky for someone who spent a lot of money making a game to try and meet us at our price point. Worst case scenario, I imagine it’s like the rest of the entertainment industry. The big guys will spend more time on flash than substance, so there’s always an appetite for fresh ideas.

X: What can we expect to see from One Man Left in the near future? What new titles are on the way and what can we expect from them?

AS: We’ve been sprinkling hints for a while that Tilt to Live is coming to the iPad, and that’s what we’re developing alongside Frostbite right now. I’m excited about the HD version. Resolution upgrades are boring, so we’ve been playing with new graphics and effects to really make this one stand out as “the badass Tilt to Live”. Another title will likely be released this year, but we haven’t got anything to show for it just yet.

For more information on One Man Left Studios and the supremely addictive Tilt To Live check out onemanleft.com

Xero: Could you introduce yourself to the readers of Midlife Gamer, who are you and what do you do?

Masaya Matsuura: My name is Masaya Matsuura and I am the president of NanaOn-Sha co., ltd. Managing the company, planning and producing video games, and composing and performing music are the main pillars of what I do.

X: The second question we ask each and every person we interview here at Midlife Gamer, what is your favourite beverage and what is your favourite biscuit? (called ‘cookies’ outside of the UK)

MM: Since I am Japanese, I’m not going to be picky about biscuits, but perhaps McVitie’s are my favourite although I do not see them quite as often as I used to in Japan these days. Regarding my favourite beverage, recently I’m into drinking Japanese tea at work. I enjoy the subtle taste differences resulting from how I brew my favourite tea leaves. One day, I offered a cup of tea that I brewed to one of my staff from the UK, but unfortunately he said, “I don’t like it,” so perhaps it means that I need to do a better job on brewing…

X: Your latest title – WINtA – is due out later this year. Could you tell us a bit more about the game, and how the title plays?

MM: WINtA is a rhythm game that has puzzle game elements for iPhone and iPad. On the screen, there are a group of aligned buttons and a white-shadow like box expands from the centre of the buttons to the edge and you need to tap it with accurate timing. This is how you play. Musical sounds are assigned to each button so if you don’t tap it on time, the music being played gets messy as well. An important point of WINtA is that this is part of a charity project by One Big Game. I think there will gradually be more and more variations of music and screen design too.

X: You’re developing the game with Triangle Studios for the iPhone and iPod Touch, what is it about Apple’s platform that appeals to you and are you interested in porting WINtA to other devices?

MM: The number one reason is its relative low risk and open environment. Then the next reason is that we believe that with WINtA’s bite-sized gameplay it’s feasible to make more viral buzz in a community-based platform like iPhone compared to other platforms that tend to have a more private focus.

X: A lot of your work, until the last couple of years, had been predominantly featured on Sony hardware. What were the reasons for largely moving away from the Playstation brand since Vib-Ripple in 2004?

MM: The main reason was that we couldn’t produce any successful games for PS2, which had spread to core gamers as a game console, but to casual gamers as a DVD player. We should have known better, but we were unable to fill in the gap. Regardless, it was a good opportunity to take on some fresh challenges that worked out really well for us.

X: Is this your first game developed for charitable causes, and what was it about OneBigGame’s approach to publishing that made you want to create WINtA for them?

MM: Although it was quite a while ago when OBG approached to us initially, we had been unsuccessful coming up with a thriving idea for a few years and things were not going anywhere. While we were having a tough time coming up with an idea, iPhone spread throughout the world, and the situation for the OBG project started to change. One day I happened to recall a song that I once wrote to remember the 9.11 tragedy and had not let virtually anybody listen to; this song was called, WINtA (War Is Not the Answer). I immediately told myself to make a game out of it. To me a charity is a new challenge, but I was not motivated differently in spite of the fact that money come from customers will be spent for someone else’s good. In addition, even if this is for a charity, I consider that it is no different from a regular economic activity that I make and thus I do not feel any less responsible for the project.

X: You’ve been described as the ‘godfather of music games’ and most people point to your games as really popularising the rhythm action genre. Are you proud of this accolade, and how far do you feel the genre has moved on since Parappa The Rapper launched in 1996?

MM: Whether it is called a rhythm game or music game, it does not really bother me, but at least I was able to create unprecedented success within a genre that people including Sony said was impossible to achieve before PaRappa The Rapper. This particular category of game took more than 10 years in the US and the EU to become successful and I strongly feel that music games are still like a baby needing care and encouragement.

X: It’s been a fair few years since we last saw Parappa, UmJammer Lammy, Vibri et al, are there any plans for new instalments of those titles in the near future? What about re-releases for downloadable services?

MM: A PSP version of PaRappa came out a few years back, and as for UJL, there is a PSN version but chances are that it hasn’t been released in certain parts of the EU. As far as Vib-Ribbon is concerned, due to an audio access problem, at this point in time it has not been adapted to modern standards, but there is definitely a possibility to do so.

WINtA is released later this year, for more information, check out wintagame.com