Valve's Employee Handbook Leaked

                Earlier this week, Valve’s 56-page employee handbook leaked onto the internet. You can read it here. The handbook is given to new employees on their first day, and outlines the company’s basic business model, which is far from normal.

                The handbook outlines the company’s command structure, which is decidedly unique. The handbook states “…we don’t have any management, and nobody ‘reports to’ anybody else. We do have a founder/president, but even he isn’t your manager. This company is yours to steer—toward opportunities and away from risks. You have the power to green-light projects. You have the power to ship products.”

                This unique way of doing things has been met with skepticism in the business community. David Herrmann, business operations professor at Utah State University, said that while software companies are known for doing things a little differently, he believes that, “Somewhere there’s gotta be some central people.”

                In addition to employees being able to begin or end projects ad nauseam, salaries are based on co-workers’ ratings of each other’s performance. The handbook said “Over time, compensation gets adjusted to fit an employee’s internal peer-driven valuation. That’s what we mean by ‘correct’—paying someone what they’re worth (as best we can tell using the opinions of peers).”

                “I agree with the principle,” Herrmann said, “within some bounds. For example, how does an engineer determine the worth of a marketer? I do something similar in my class with group projects. You will get two sides, where everyone is so nice in their reviews it’s ridiculous, or they all did a great job, but they hammer on each other. Then it’s like, ‘so, who did the work then?’ I don’t see it working on a large scale.”

                Cassandra Sherwood, a graphics design student at USU, said she was unsure if she would want to work under a system like that.

                “If everyone liked me it would be great,” Sherwood said. “But imagine how bad office politics would be if promotions and salaries aren’t just in the hands of your boss, but your co-workers as well. If you disagree with someone, or make a mistake, that could have a real impact on your salary. I’m not sure I would want that.”

                

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut Announcement Met With Mixed Feelings

                On April 5, BioWare announced the creation of the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut DLC, responding to disappointment from fans over “lack of closure” in the games ending. The DLC will be a free download for anyone who purchases the game before April 12, 2014. It is scheduled to be released this summer.

                “Through additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will give fans seeking further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3 deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes,” BioWare said.

                BioWare said they will not be adding additional endings to the three available at the end of the game franchise. The DLC will expand on the endings that already exist. This is because “BioWare strongly believes in the team’s artistic vision for the end of this arc of the Mass Effect franchise.”

                The announcement was met with mixed criticism in the gaming community. Many people were hoping for an entirely new ending, not just a revision of the current ones.Andrew Quebbeman, a computer science major at Utah State University, said he wished the ending had just been done right when it was released.

                “It’s good that they are going to release it for free. But they should have designed it better to begin with,” Quebbeman said. “I know a lot of people that stopped playing because of the ending. They had a good game with good replay value that got ruined because most people got ticked off.”

                Christopher Brau, a researcher for Fisher Scientific, said that in addition to giving the community what they asked for, Bioware is rewarding those who actually buy the game, as opposed to playing a pirated copy.

                “A major issue in the industry is piracy,” Brau said. “Steam goes a long way to providing the level of security to computer games that consoles enjoy, but requires an internet connection. Free DLCs put a positive spin on actually purchasing a game.” 

Microsoft Faces Potential Import Ban on Xbox 360 Console

                On Monday, U.S. International Trade Commission judge David Shaw ruled that Microsoft was infringing on four Motorola Mobility patents. The infringements involve the wireless connectivity and video compression technologies on the Xbox 360 console. The ruling is subject to review by a six person ITC commission, which plans on delivering a decision by Aug. 23. If Shaw’s ruling is upheld, Microsoft will be forced to either pay a 2.25% royalty to Motorola on all sales of infringing products or cease U.S. import of the console.

                “Generally, imposing bans on imports is always a bad idea,” said Diana Thomas, assistant professor of economics at Utah State University. “What it essentially does is drive up the price of competing products that are still sold in the country.”

                Thomas said that if Microsoft gets cut out of the market, Sony and Nintendo will try to increase their output to fulfill consumer’s demands for a console. This will drive up the price of their products.

                “That’s bad for consumers,” Thomas said, “and good for the producers who are still allowed to sell.”

                Xbox 360 owner Andrew Quebbeman said that Microsoft really only has one option available to them if Shaw’s ruling is upheld.

                “They would have to pay. They couldn’t miss out on the huge profit of the 360,” Quebbeman said. “It would destroy the console, and give all their sales to the PS3, or so help me, the Wii.”

                Thomas said that whether Microsoft chooses to pay the royalties or accept an import ban will depend on economics.

                “It totally depends on where their profit margin is right now,” Thomas said. “If they can continue to sell the Xbox and pay the royalties and still make a profit, or at least break even, they should still sell it. It would make economic sense.”                

Norwegian Retailers Stop Selling Some Video Games

 Anders Behring Breivik told a Norwegian court Thursday that he used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to train for his attack on Oslo last July that resulted in 77 people dead. That announcement prompted Norwegian retailers Coop Norway and Platekompaniet to quit selling 51 video game titles in their stores. The titles dropped included Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

Breivik played World of Warcraft for 16 hours per day during a year-long sabbatical in 2006 because he “felt he had sacrificed a lot.”

“Because of that, I felt I deserved to take one year off to do what I wanted,” Breivik said. “Some people like to play golf, some like to sail, I played WoW. It has nothing to do with 22 July. It’s not a world you are engulfed by. It’s simply a hobby.”

However, Breivik said he used Call of Duty as a “military simulator” to familiarize himself with the use of a holographic sight which is “built up in such a way that you could have given it to your grandmother and she would have been a super marksman.”

“It’s designed to be used by anyone. In reality, it requires very little training to use it in an optimal way,” Breivik said. “But of course it does help if you’ve practiced using a simulator.”

While Breivik did admit to using Call of Duty to train for combat situations, Megan Roach, a graphic design major at Utah State University, said it was “ridiculous” that Norwegian retailers would stop selling the game.

“It’s not the responsibility of the corporation to regulate these games,” Roach said. “It’s the responsibility of the individual, or the parents. Video games don’t cause violence, and without access to video games people with violent tendencies would just read violent books, or watch violent movies.”

Kerry Jordan, a psychology professor at USU, said there is clear data that watching violence can lead to an increase in aggression, regardless of whether the violence is a video game, TV or a movie. Researchers have been unable to prove that video games cause violence due to an inability to do research in a real world environment.

“We can’t expose a group of kids to violent media,” Jordan said. “That would be unethical.”

This inability to test causes “third variable” or “directional” problems when trying to prove that video games cause violence.

“It’s a case of causation versus correlation,” said Jordan. “In [Breivik’s] case, it could be his violent temperament that led to playing violent games, not necessarily that violent video games caused his violent temperament.”

However, Jordan said that video games could be used to learn practical lessons about warfare.

“We know that video games improve visual perception,” Jordan said, “and could potentially be used to learn the logistics of war.”

Coop Norway and Platekompaniet have not announced when or if they will sell Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, or the rest of the games in the future.

DOTA 2's Free-to-Play Announcement Has Students Worried

                Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve, told Seven Day Cooldown in a podcast last week that DOTA 2 will be free-to-play “with a twist.” Newell said that Valve would not be following the free-to-play model of any previous game – including League of Legends, a Massive Online Battle Arena based on the original Defense of The Ancients, which as of November 2011 had 32 million registered users.

                “I haven’t even played League of Legends,” Newell said.

                Newell was not specific about what form the model would take, but said that they are “…trying to figure out ways so that people who are more valuable to everybody else are recognized and accommodated.”

                Some students at Utah State University said they would prefer to pay than have DOTA 2 follow a free-to-play model.

                “I would rather pay money,” said Sean Hunt, a physics major. “I know I’m gonna like it, because I like the beta.”

                Jonathan Alan, a mechanical engineering major, said he “would much rather pay $60 for it,” than have it be free-to-play.

                Many free-to-play games use a system of micro-transactions to make a profit. Both League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth – MOBA games like DOTA 2 – use such a system. Hunt said that the downside of a micro-transaction system is that “as time goes on you either spend money or fall behind.”

                “I would just like to buy it once and have all the stuff,” Hunt said, “as opposed to constantly paying to keep up with everyone else.” 

Diablo 3 Announces Open Beta Weekend

Diablo 3’s open beta weekend began today at noon. The open beta allows the game to be played by anyone with an internet connection, and will last until Monday. Designed to stress test Blizzard’s servers prior to the game’s launch, players will be able to progress any of the five characters available through the Diablo 3 story, to a level cap of 13. Of all the character classes from the previous games, only the Barbarian has made it into the third installment in the series. The other four classes are entirely new. The game’s development started in 2001, and was officially announced in 2008. It features a continuation of the previous game’s story, while bringing the game engine, graphics, and combat system to the level of other modern games.

The beta is already being played on campus by students at Utah State University, who said they have been anxiously waiting for the game’s May 15 release, and welcomed the opportunity to give it a try.

“I have been waiting since it was announced at Blizzcon in 2008,” said Wayman Stodart, a political science and physics student at USU. “I’ve already bought the game.”

Overall, Stodart has enjoyed the open beta.

“The game play was fluid, it flowed well,” Stodart said. “The implementation of health spheres kept it fast paced. The runes make for quick, easy customization. Overall, I was just pleased with the way they implemented the changes.”

Jacob Pack, a computer science major at USU, tried out the Demon Hunter class.

“The mechanics are intriguing. The characters, although static, seemed to be fun to play with,” Pack said. “Each character is completely separate from the others in terms of mechanics, creating a unique playthrough every time you play.”

Stodart also said that the classes felt unique. Having given every class a try, Stodart said his favorite was the Witch Doctor.

“I play to succeed at the game,” Stodart said. “The witch doctor seems to be the best solo grinder, which means he will be the best at the higher difficulties.”

Smithsonian's "The Art of Video Games" Exhibit

                The Smithsonian American Art Museum began an exhibition on March 16 titled “The Art of Video Games.” The exhibit, which is located on the third floor of the museum, features art from 80 games. Put together by curator Chris Melissinos, the former chief gamer for Sun Microsystems, the Smithsonian said the exhibit is “one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies.”

                Anyone who visits the exhibit is presented with an artistic walk through the evolution of art in video games. Divided into five eras of game design, the exhibit starts with the early pioneers of the gaming effort and concludes with art from contemporary designers. Art from a broad variety of genres and time periods are included, with successful titles like Mass Effect 2 and Diablo 2 being presented alongside lesser known titles like Panzer Dragoon:Zwei and StarStrike.

                Gamers are glad to see art in video games getting recognized.

                “It’s about freaking time,” said Trevor Ballard, a biochemistry student at Utah State University and avid gamer. “What took so long?”

                The Smithsonian said that while “all video games include classic components of art—striking visuals, a powerful narrative, and a strong point of view,” it has only been the recent work of contemporary games that made them decide “that this is the right moment to look at this popular global phenomenon.”

                Ballard has long admired the artwork he has seen in the games he has played. He said he can recall moments in Warhammer Online:Age of Reckoning, or Everquest, when he just stopped to look at the scenery.

                “That must have happened to me like 700 times in Skyrim,” said Jonathan Alan, a mechanical engineering major at USU.

                Alan said he would go see the exhibit in D.C. if he had the opportunity. Alan has always appreciated the art in the games he has played, and considers the games Braid and Bastion to be among the most artistic he has encountered.

The “Art of Video Games” exhibit will begin a tour of the United States in 2013 that will last until 2016.

                

TOR Legacy Patch Overview

                The Old Republic 1.2 patch has been live for over a week. The largest patch yet released for the MMO, the changes to the game have affected each of the approximately 1.7 million subscribers. The patch changed and refined each class and sub-class, streamlined the UI, fixed and expanded the legacy system, removed various bugs, updated the graphics, introduced a new server-wide event and added a new flashpoint, operation and warzone. The patch, named Legacy, was so massive that a trailer and making-of video were made to cover its release.

                The new event, Rise of the Rakghouls, immerses the Star Wars universe in a zombie-like plague. Characters can become infected with the disease and later explode, infecting anyone nearby with the plague as they do so. Daily quests are available where the character is tasked with infecting as many others as possible, gaining various rewards as they do so.

                “It is a freaking blast, it’s a very dynamic event and they are adding to it each day,” said Scott Taylor, who has been playing the game since beta. “It’s immersive. On the main hubs for both planets there are announcements of health warnings, newscast cut scenes. It’s just a very well put together, immersive event.”

                Alyssa Taylor, Scotts’ wife, has also enjoyed the event.

                “It’s fun,” Alyssa said. “I like exploding on people.”

The new flashpoint, Lost Island, has a group of players banding together to confront Dr. Lorrick, the mad scientist who created the biological weapon. The flashpoint offers a variety of rewards for completion, most notably a Rakghoul pet that will follow the player around.

The new operation, Explosive Conflict, has a larger group of players, usually around 40, come together to wrest control of the planet Denova from the warlord Kephess. A new tier of raid gear is available on the operation.

The most personal of the changes were those made to the classes, which affected how each individual plays the game. Bioware said that the changes were carefully thought out “based on player and guild feedback, focus testing, and more than two months of combat interaction data from our servers,” furthering their overall goal “to create a level playing field for our players while ensuring that classes retain their unique play styles and identities.”

Scott said that while some of the changes were inconvenient, he could see the need for a change as he played the game.

“They were necessary mechanics changes to make the gamer more enjoyable,” Scott said. “It was at the point where various abilities were broken in one way or another, either too powerful or too weak. While not homogenizing the classes, the patch made them all more viable.”

Students at USU programming game for final class project

                Computer science students at Utah State University enrolled in Dean Mathias’ game development class have begun to work on the final project of the course — programming a modernized version of the game Asteroids that will take advantage of today’s 3D rendering capabilities and multi-core processors.

                Mathias, an adjunct professor who has been teaching the class since 2008, said that the course was designed to give students practice with core computer science topics like graphics, multi-core utilization, threading, synchronization, data structures & algorithms, A.I., software engineering, optimization and specific game development techniques.

“These are all combined using the vehicle of game development,” Mathias said. “Surprisingly, the purpose of the course is not ‘to make a game’, but to focus on Computer Science topics through the vehicle of game development.”

Mathias said he chose Asteroids for the final project because, while the game is limited enough in scope for students to finish it in a little over three weeks, it still requires the students to prove competence with core programming techniques.

“In short, the game offers the ability to integrate all of the various topics that have been covered during the semester,” Mathias said.

The game development class is not the only computer science class offered at USU that teaches skills valuable to a game programmer. Scott Cannon teaches the new mobile apps class, created this year. The course, tailored to creating apps for the iPad and iPhone, also helps students with advanced programming techniques useful in creating games.

“This includes GUI operations, image display services, file storage, animation, audio capture and playing, camera services, video capture and playing, GPS maps and location services, gesture inputs, web browser services, the accelerometer, and network communications,” Cannon said.

Some of Cannon’s students have decided to program a game for their final project.

                 

Charity marathons continue in spite of difficulties

                The Omnithon:Retro marathon held last weekend in Kent, Washington, raised $410 for Child’s Play. This was not enough to meet the goal of the group of High School students who were hoping to raise a little over $2000, which would have been enough to make them gold sponsors of the charity.

                “Though it didn't raise as much money as most of our other events, it was one of the most fun marathons we've done,” said Kyle Owsen, the founder of Omnithon. “That's thanks to the people we had at the marathon, both in the house and on the chat, and that strong sense of friendship and community.”

                Omnithon will continue to raise money for Child’s Play. The group is already planning a Halo marathon to be held in August. Owsen said the group is already thinking of ways to improve the event.

                “We're going to get the word out there earlier,” Owsen said. “And we'll try to get people on our twitter and facebook so we can keep our audience instead of fighting to get them back every time.”

                Gaming2Give is also planning their next event, which will be held on April 28. The marathon hosted by the group on March 31 raised $150 for Child’s Play.

                “It went good for the first event, if nothing else we made it the full 24 hours,” said Brandon Templeton, Gaming2Give’s founder. “We didn’t get as much feedback from the community as we had hoped, but hopefully that will start to happen as we continue to get more people on the social pages.”

                April’s marathon will be similar to the marathon held in March, but the money raised will go to the Big Brothers Big Sisters charity instead of Child’s Play.

                Gaming2Give volunteer Victor Caldwell said he enjoyed the marathon in March, and wishes he didn’t have to wait three weeks for the next one.

                “I would have been sitting at home playing games if I hadn’t done the event,” Caldwell said. “At least this way I was able to do it with a purpose that allowed me to help others.”

                

High school students raise money for Child's Play

                Omnithon:Retro began today at 5 p.m. The retro gaming marathon, being held in Kent, Washington, will last until Sunday at 8 p.m.  A group of high school juniors and seniors, led by Kyle Owsen, organized the event with the hopes of raising $2180.27 for Child’s Play.

                The group needs to raise $2180.27 to become gold sponsors of the Child’s Play charity. Currently silver sponsors, the high school students started organizing gaming marathons for Child’s Play in July 2010. The group has hosted 4 events since then, raising a total of $5074.26 for Child’s Play. Owsen said that Omnithon has grown significantly since the first event.

                “When it started, we were four kids sitting in my friend's basement with a homemade microphone taken out of an old phone with a cardboard funnel for amplification, the world's worst webcam, and a ten dollar capture card,” Owsen said. “Now we're roughly ten kids sitting in another friend's basement with some near-professional level microphones, an awesome HD webcam, and still a ten dollar capture card.”

                The first event Owsen organized was a Halo marathon called Halo:Endurance Evolved. The other events all had unique names, but in February 2012, Owsen said he combined all the events into Omnithon, “to attempt to preserve the audience we built during our Fallout 3 marathon.”

                Omnithon:Retro will be focused on retro games like The Legend of Zelda and other NES and N64 games. Owsen said they are trying to reach out to gamers of all ages, not just those who have played the Xbox.

                “Unlike with the somewhat limited age demographic of the Xbox, almost everyone has had some kind of experience with gaming at some time between the NES and N64,” Owsen said. “Plus, I have all these old cartridges just rotting away in my closet. May as well put them to use.”

                Owsen said that the group had a lot of help from Child’s Play organizing their first event. He stayed in close contact with the “always awesome” Kristin Lindsay and Jamie Dillion through E-mail.

                “Child's Play does an unparalleled job at supporting community efforts, and ours was no different,” Owsen said. “Throughout our first marathon, they showed so much support and made us feel like a real part of their team.”

                Jamie Dillion has been working as a project manager at Child’s Play for a little over a year, and works closely with the press and community events.

                “Our community events make a huge impact on our fundraising total annually,” Dillion said.

                The event can be watched live on www.omnithon.com, where viewers can chat with the gamers and watch them play.  Alex Posielski is an Omnithon participant, and is happy to game for Child’s Play.

                “I think that being able to help children while doing something fun with friends is awesome,” Poseilski said.