My chat with Lee Petty about his game Stacking, existentialism, and all manner of taboos has been posted on infinitecontinues. Enjoy!

I’m happy to announce that I’ve accepted a scriptwriter position at Ubisoft Montreal, working on an unannounced title (that may, or may not, debut at E3 next month). Friday was my last day at Kaos, and I leave New York today.

I want to thank everyone at Kaos Studios/THQ for their support and hard work over the years. I’m still a proud player of both Frontlines and Homefront.

Thanks to Andy, Jesse, Frank, Ramiro, Charles, and the rest of the Ariyoshi/Friend House crew for making the NYC indie scene one of the best in the world.

Thanks to all my friends in the boroughs (and New Jersey) for putting up with me for eight years. I’ll see you all again soon.

So, adieu, New York. Hello, tomorrow.

I spent most of last Tuesday sitting at the computer hitting the refresh button on Metacritic and waiting for Homefront’s aggregate review score. We started out strong — 80s and 90s — but as the embargo lifted, the real reviews came in. Most were in the 70 to 85 range, which seems fair, but the low numbers felt like repeated punches to the gut. And each one tanked the overall score.

Despite mixed critical reviews, the game sold a million copies in the first week. It will be interesting to see what the long tail looks like.

In other news:

I was interviewed by Ashley Browning for his blog, infinite continues. We discuss story-telling in games, the future of first person shooters, and different species of fish. When you’re done reading, why not pick up a video game minimalism t-shirt or a poster?

Seth Schiesel’s Homefront review ran in the March 25th issue of The New York Times. You can read it online here.

He focuses on the game’s ambition — specifically the exploration of the fall of America — rather than its execution. After repeated criticism of the campaign length, graphics, and adherence to genre conventions, it’s nice to read an article that recognizes the effort that went into the setting and subtext.

Finally, I’m now on Twitter (@cjkershner). There will be tweets.

Huzzah, there’s a new game on the site! Look for Rainforest Stunt Dozer!!! under “Play” in the sidebar or click here.

Scott Anderson and I made RSD!!! in about four hours for the 2011 Global Game Jam at NYU. This year’s theme was “extinction”.

Like ALIEN FALCON, RSD!!! is more joke than game. There are no objectives or ending, but it does feature randomly generated animal extinction events and sweet jumps.

And there’s a message hidden in the humor. The rainforest and the species that live in it are disappearing at an alarming rate. The only way to win is not to play.

You will need the latest version of Java to run the game.

“Well, the Ides of March have come”* and Homefront is finally in stores!

I trekked out to the GameStop on Graham Ave. in Brooklyn for the midnight launch. About a dozen people braved the cold to be the first to get their hands on the game.

It’s my ritual to buy a copy at retail the day of release. Though the studio usually provides free copies, there’s something magical about seeing your work on shelves and overhearing people talk about it. It’s like a director going to his or her own movie on opening night to experience the audience’s reaction.

With a copy borrowed from Kaos’ community manager, I spent the pre-launch weekend battling against the press and some Europeans who’d found stores willing to break the street date. You’d think after playing multi-player every day for two-and-a-half years I’d be sick of it, but it’s still great fun.

You can purchase the game (Xbox 360, PS3, or PC) from any of the links below:

Amazon

Best Buy

GameStop

Steam (Digital download)

THQ Store

Time will tell if Homefront is the runaway success we hope it will be. See you online!

* Quote from Julius Caesar to the seer, from Plutarch’s The Parallel Lives (63, 6)

About the same time that Battlestar Galactica fans began the hunt for the twelfth Cylon, a number of sceptical Americans began to question the president’s citizenship. Coincidence or conspiracy? You decide!

The NYU Game Center has hosted a gallery from 2010’s Global Game Jam on flickr and chosen my sticky note as the keynote image. There are also some good shots of the back of my head.

The theme of the jam was “Deception”, with bonuses awarded for incorporating “rain”, “Spain”, and “plain”. I did not end up making Barack Obama is a Cylon! (the primary mechanic would have been touch-typing the State of the Union address), but instead joined forces with Andy Nealen, Scott Anderson, and Jason Rosenstock to make ALIEN FALCON (which isn’t so much a game as an infinitely looping goose hunting simulator with a novelty death-metal soundtrack).

If you haven’t yet tried it, there’s a link on the left under the “Play” menu or you can click here (you will need to install the Unity browser plugin). The entire game can be played in five minutes and has nothing to do with deception or Spaniards, which is probably why we lost the judging round.

This year’s jam runs from 28 to 30 January. If you’re thinking of participating at the NYU site, swing by and say hello.

The above image is taken from the first chapter of Homefront – developed by Kaos Studios, published by THQ, and written by yours truly. After two-and-a-half years and fifty thousand words, it’s nearly finished.

As part of the pre-release marketing campaign, we gave the gaming press a hands-on preview and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“This is a war game that gets closer to what is awful about war, not just about what victors celebrate.” — Stephen Totilo, Kotaku

“We can happily report that Homefront really is shaping up to be something very special.” — Patrick Kolan, IGN

“From our first hands-on with the single-player campaign, we’re eager to pick up the gun again and fight for freedom.” — Dan Chiappini, GameSpot

“Its main strength and what makes it unique… is its ability to affect us emotionally.” — Neilie Johnson, AtomicGamer

“The most important thing I picked up during my visit to THQ was that the one-level demo proved that it all translates into emotional gameplay.” — Matt Swider, GamingTarget

“Homefront had us feeling a mixture of anger, sorrow and desperation within the very first few minutes.” — David Scammell, GamerZines

Achieving that balance between action and emotion has been a challenge, but also an incredible opportunity. Homefront aims to occupy a unique and underserved position within the genre by mixing the strong storytelling and characterization of Half-Life 2 with the combat mechanics and penchant for spectacle of Call of Duty. This isn’t a tale of space marines or hardened soldiers; it’s about ordinary people fighting in extraordinary circumstances.

It’s been fascinating (and more than a little frightening) to work on material so closely related to current events. The premise — that an increasingly aggressive North Korea could attack an economically weakened United States — has been called ridiculous by some, yet grows more plausible by the day.

The production has been long and, at times, difficult, but the scale is unlike anything I’ve worked on before. I’ve auditioned actors, been a mocap performer, and co-directed voice-over sessions. I interact with almost every department in the studio on a daily basis; my collaborators are some of the most talented and hard-working people in the industry.

I’m proud to have done my part and can’t wait to see how audiences react.

Homefront is out in March 2011.

A man at the bar insults my date. I insult his mother.
He hurls a drink; I throw a punch;
He breaks a bottle; I pull a knife;
He draws a pistol; I pump a shotgun;
He shoulders a rocket launcher; I call an airstrike;
He drops a nuke; I destroy the Earth.
Floating in space, my date looks impressed. She kisses my cheek.

While in Paris, I was interviewed by students from ESRA about my experience as a tumbleweed at Shakespeare & Co. Their presentation has been uploaded to YouTube.

My own piece about Shakespeare & Co. runs in the Arts & Entertainment section of the Feb. 24 issue of The Clinton Courier, and can be read online (registration required).

• His fists;
• His whip;
• His elbow;
• His foot;
• His face;
• A rock;
• A tank;
• An airplane propeller.