Games for your Mom...

I wrote this article for the latest issue of CPU Magazine just after we returned from GDC. Check out the latest issue over here!

Last month in this space, I wrote about my own confusion surrounding Games for Windows. We had a meeting with Microsoft at GDC, and while they still face challenges, it does seem that they are dedicated to making good on their initiative based on what they said at the meeting. Whatever it is that Microsoft is trying to do, we’re all in agreement that the PC Gaming experience needs to be improved.

Speaking of improving PC Gaming, a group of us had an interesting meeting with the WildTangent team during GDC. As many CPU readers know, Alex St. John, the widely known “father” of DirectX, is the CEO of WildTangent and also a regular CPU columnist. I have always liked Steam’s approach to digital downloads, and their DRM system is pretty well managed. I always have thought that Gabe Newell is a genius, and when I heard that Alex St. John felt he had a good alternative to Steam, my interest piqued.

I always thought WildTangent was about making games easier for my mom to play, and as much as I like looking at Bejeweled, I can’t see myself playing it until my 50th birthday.

Well, surprise, surprise, Alex’s team has been working on a really cool core gamer module that will allow you to play AAA gaming titles (think Company of Heroes or Call of Duty 4) free with ads or on a pay-as-you-go basis. You can even choose to buy the game outright if you’d like and have it downloaded directly to your PC so you can start playing immediately.

The way it works is simple: You log in to your game software and, using a standard gamepad or mouse, you choose a game from a list of titles. If the game is already installed, you may choose to play it. Otherwise, you can cue it up for a download to play later.

Sounds a lot like Steam, right? Not quite. The cool thing about this software is you don’t have to buy the game in order to play it. You can choose to either watch an ad from a sponsor (if there is currently a sponsor) or pop a few virtual WildCoins in to play. WildCoins are the currency WildTangent developed to facilitate its pay-for-play system on casual games, and now they’re alluring to hardcore gamers, as well.

Another way to look at this is you no longer have to worry about spending $50 on a game that sucks; you can play it for $1.50 until you close the application. Or if you prefer not to spend any money you can choose to watch an ad for a particular sponsoring product prior to playing and then play. For those of you who prefer to buy the game outright, WildTangent also gives you the option just to buy it and download it to your hard drive.

So it’s cool to see dedication like this in the PC space, and it gives me big hope for the future—a future where PC gaming should be as easy as consoles, yet deliver the richness you can only get on a PC. That said, the more we try to port console content to the PC, the greater chance we have of killing the creativeness of developers.

Now, who was it who said that PC gaming is dying again? Make no mistake: PC gaming is growing. It grew last year and the only thing that’s changing is the distribution model. WildTangent is definitely doing some wild things, and as long as the gaming experience on the PC gets easier, I’m all for it.

This brings me to the PCGA (PC Gaming Alliance) announcement at GDC. I was representing HP for our PCGA “go or no-go” decision, and since the announcement, people have been asking why we chose not to become a founding member.

While we believe it’s important to make PC gaming easier, we don’t believe that PC gaming is in trouble, and perhaps once we work out our own plans in the performance PC space, we’ll revisit this initiative. For the moment, I’m still enthusiastic about the future.

First it was four, then it was three… could it be two?

I wrote this article for Custom PC Magazine in the U.K. - it's the latest issue, and it's awesome. A warning though, this article is pure speculation! There's my disclaimer before people start freaking out - this is pure "hookah smoking, sitting around with a bunch of friends and chatting" speculation...! I will write an extended version of this later.

A few months ago I wrote an article on some of my own personal thoughts about AMD’s strategic position in the market. I included some ideas around AMD potentially creating strategic partnerships with companies whose pieces fit snugly in their holes (can you guess who?). In the process of doing this they would also need to lighten up some of the assets, and scale the business back enough so profitable growth can be sustained.

Its funny how things seem to make sense when you’re involved in a business for more half your life. If you put all the pieces on the board and stare at them long enough they start to tell a story.

Going further into the potential strategies for AMD, I think they could try to spin of their CPU, chipset, and graphics technology businesses into a separate entity. At the same time they could spin the foundry business into a separate entity or division. I continue to believe that somehow they would need to be linked in order to maintain their X86 license among other things.

Now imagine if they did both of the above; their value on the foundry side would be cut, but on the technology side they may get some great valuations with higher multiples, and thus the IP side would become a great target for acquisition for Nvidia.

Now the question is who in their right mind would want to own shares in a foundry business? Perhaps they could work a deal so existing shareholders get a share of one and half of another, and perhaps if Nvidia decides to come out and play they could also offer some share benefits to existing shareholders.

In my mind it would be easier dealing with two or four giants, then the three header four armed abomination we’re currently contending with. It’s just too bloody confusing.

Sins of a Stolen Empire

From Greg:

You probably haven't heard of Brad Wardell or his company Stardock. And it's my fault. At least partially.

Brad's company developed and publishes the popular Galactic Civilizations series, just published the best-selling Sins of a Solar Empire, and also develops and publishes a robust suite of popular Windows desktop enhancement software.

Brad’s products are always PC-based, always critically acclaimed, and always profitable.

But when I ran PC Gamer magazine, I rarely gave Brad’s games as much coverage as I did other “higher-profile” AAA games – games that didn’t always score as high as Brad’s games, games that didn’t always sell as well as Brad’s games, games that I didn’t always like as much as Brad’s games.

The reason is simple but a little counterintuitive: An Editor’s job is to sell magazines, but unfortunately, games that sell magazines don’t always sell. Sometimes gamers can’t afford a new game, especially when faced with myriad options during the Holiday season. Sometimes a game doesn’t turn out the way they’d hoped. Sometimes it’s easier to pirate.

That last one is a doozy. As Michael Fitch from THQ recently said publicly in reaction to PC game developer Iron Lore’s closure, PC game piracy is so pervasive that if we could simply turn a small percentage of pirates, say 10%, into paying customers, ­some game companies could double their profits: www.quartertothree.com

Michael makes some excellent points, but Brad Wardell sees things a little differently: Piracy PC Gaming

Read what both men have to say on the subject of software piracy and the current state of PC game development and let me know what you think.

Greg Vederman

Ten things you didn't know about..................

The guys over at TGDAILY did a quick interview for a new feature they have called "10 personal questions and 10 personal answers".

10 personal questions and 10 personal answers: We are launching our new series with Rahul Sood, chief technology officer of the HP Voodoo Business Unit. Sood oversees the technical strategy and product vision for the business unit’s products, including the Voodoo Omen and Envy product lines, the award-winning HP Blackbird 002 and other products with the Voodoo DNA ingredient brand. He is also responsible for identifying intellectual property from HP and its partners for use in consumer gaming and high-performance devices. Sood joined HP in November 2006 after it acquired luxury and gaming computer manufacturer VoodooPC, a company he founded in 1991.

I couldn’t survive without … my wife. I wouldn’t be who I am today without her, she’s an amazing person.

The best advice I ever got was … from my father. He basically told me you don’t just plant a business and watch it grow. I think he said something like “it’s not an f#@!ing plant son! You have to work at it in order to make it successful!”

The person I admire most is … Bill Gates. Bill Gates understands that the process of giving away money for the betterment of society is harder than it sounds. It requires a higher level of entrepreneurialism that very few people in the world possess, and perhaps many more don’t care.

If I could go anywhere, or do anything, I would … move to India and live like a king. At the same time I would work out a way to export medical services all over the world profitably while giving it away for free to people in need.

A technology I have no use for is … voicemail. What the hell is voicemail? It’s garbage, I don’t check it, I don’t like it, and in fact we have an answering machine at home and I never check it. So, thanks to my friend Jeff, I found a solution that totally eliminates the need for voicemail.

The best idea I had was … learning how to ride a road bike so we could figure out a way to partner & merge with Hewlett-Packard (check my blog if you don’t know the story). No, but seriously, the concept of taking a high end brand and plugging it into a mainstream company was borrowed from the automotive industry. Lamborghini and Audi is probably the most successful example of this, and thus inspired some of the thinking behind this decision.

Luxury is … in the eye of the beholder. Some people would say spending $5000 on a Vertu phone or accepting an invitation for an American Express Centurion card at $7500 a year is nuts. Yet if you ask anyone who has done either, they will likely tell you that they’ll do it again. A true luxury product should have a noticeable and attributable value attached to it.

I wish I had invented … Rather than talking about what I wish I invented, I’d rather help find the cure for Autism, or at the very least, an explanation for how it happens. Right now there is no known cause or cure and a new case of autism is now found in one in every 150 births. It’s an absolutely incredible phenomenon that requires awareness, research, and compassion.

My tombstone should read … Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A person/trend/technology to watch is … Simulscribe. This company is hot. They have a great solution which eliminates the need to check your voicemail. I think they’re going places fast.

How to advertise in-game...the RIGHT way

EA learned the hard way that using the burger king "king" in Fight Night was a stupid mistake

By Kristin

In-game advertising is not something that's terribly new, nor is it something that's terribly well done.

The first instance that I can remember of in-game advertising that I saw with my own eyes was in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. These ads were all for fictional companies and spoofs on current advertising at the time. Along with the radio commercials. Who didn't love to drive around in the car and listen to the various stations? Heck, I even had an entire GTA:VC loop on in my winamp at one point in time!

The next well executed in-game advertising was in Crackdown. Again, all fictional companies, it was fun to jump around the city and see the billboards, trying to figure out what real life life company they were spoofing.

Then came Guitar Hero 3 with the blatant, over the top, real life company ads. Who REALLY wants to see that huge McDonald's logo? When I started playing and noticing the advertising in the game and how utterly OBNOXIOUS it was, it made me want to boycott those companies that paid to have their ads inserted into the game. Your advertising is on the radio (why I listen to CDs), the television (why I play games and watch movies, I catch my tv shows online), and on billboards (why I watch the cars tail lights in front of me), don't invade my private zone of "my gametime". This is where I go to escape mainstream and life.

However, I do think mainstream advertising can be done well in games. This generation hates anything that smells of marketing unless it's VERY well done, edgy, comical, and memorable.

Cat herding anyone? Yes, you remember that super bowl commercial. It was funny, it's different, it was completely unexpected. Those weird little troll-like-things that quizno did a couple years ago that sang about the moon? Yeah you remember what I'm talking about.

In game marketing can be done successfully, the best way to do it would be to make up a fictions company that is a spoof of your real life company. It makes the gamer see the ad, go oh! That's XYZ company in real life they're spoofing, and they appreciate the company poking fun at itself (although the gamer may not realize the company paid for a spoofed ad - they may think it's the game designer spoofing a company).

You get brand recognition (McDonalds could have flipped their arches to spoof themselves, and shrunk the ad, Gamers LOVE to find easter eggs in games), you get the consumer thinking about your brand, and as they go by your establishment/product on the road/in the store it'll trigger a memory of the game -> trigger memory of your brand -> if executed correctly brand loyalty and a purchase.

I saw some concept art at one point for a blackbird campaign that had in game advertising. It was AWFUL. I'm so thankful everyone that saw the concepts reacted with the same visceral distaste and disgust that I did. Guess why it sucked so bad - it wasn't designed by gamers. Notice the Voodoo laptops in Call of Duty 4? Very understated, very subtle, very sexy. Why use 1 million words when 1 will do?

It can be done people. Just don't let suits design the ads. When your designing for your demographic, ASK your demographic or even better yet; have YOUR demographic design it.



Kristin Reilly

Interview with Notebookreviews.com

I recently answered some pointed questions for the fine people at NotebookReviews.com. This site is a fantastic resource for those looking for information on new notebooks and notebook technology.

Check out the interview with yours truly by Perry Longinotti over here.

by Perry Longinotti

What happens when you combine a PC gamer, a brilliant entrepreneur, and HP's industry muscle? You get Rahul Sood, one of the biggest names in the world of PC gaming and now the man raising HP to new levels in the world of luxury and gaming computers.

Rahul Sood is the chief technology officer of the HP Voodoo Business Unit (VBU), part of HP 's emerging businesses group. Sood oversees the technical strategy and product vision for Voodoo's cutting-edge products, including the Voodoo Omen and Envy product lines, the award-winning HP Blackbird 002 and other products with the "Voodoo DNA" brand.

Sood joined HP in November 2006 after it acquired VoodooPC, a gaming computer company he founded in 1991. As founder and CTO of VoodooPC, Sood was the first to bring liquid cooling and active liquid chilling to the high-performance gaming PC market. These innovations helped VoodooPC's Omen desktop earn the coveted Ziff Davis Editors' Choice award in the Ultimate Gaming Machine competition for five years in a row.

Since joining HP, Sood was instrumental in the design and architecture of HP Blackbird 002, the VBU's flagship product.

NotebookReview.com contributor Perry Longinotti spent some time asking Sood some serious questions about notebook gaming, Voodoo, and HP's plans for the future. Here are a few highlights:

Two segments of the notebook market that seem to be generating a lot of interest right now are Gaming Notebooks and Ultra Mobile PCs.

Let's start with Gaming Notebooks first as that is a VoodooPC forte:

I had a chance to interview Ravi a couple of years ago during a factory tour article - this was before the HP acquisition. At that time, he mentioned that Voodoo was pursuing its own notebook chassis design. Can you update us on that?

Yes. One of the biggest hurdles we faced in the past was getting the ODMs to take us seriously based on our volume commitment, distribution channel, and market size. Even though almost all of them were familiar with the Voodoo brand and believed in us, they couldn't get past the other issues. So this is simply another reason why we merged with HP.

It's amazing how quickly things have changed since. People are calling on us to introduce us to new technologies on a daily basis. ODMs are no longer asking a billion questions, they are excited to work with us, and we now have a team based in Taiwan working for the Voodoo Business Unit (VBU). It seems that everyone is stoked about our future.

Several folks in the NBR forums asked questions along similar lines, how does Voodoo deal with the perception from some people that your notebooks are simply re-branded Clevos? On the desktop side you can point to extensive in-house fabrication as the differentiator, it must be a lot tougher on the notebook side.

Well, for the most part your community is right. How can I argue that? The notebook business, especially in the channel, is bloody challenging.

Prior to the acquisition Voodoo always did our best to differentiate our notebooks by modifying thermals, software, and adding different levels of personalization. In fact, we were the first to offer gaming notebooks with custom high quality automotive paint jobs. Then others came into the market and the space became very competitive and extremely stale. Let's face it; there are only so many ways you can paint a product before you ask yourself what the heck you're doing in the business.

Joining HP has taught us a ton about notebook development. The mainstream notebooks that HP have created feature some cool long lasting imprint designs, quality finishes, and quickplay innovations. Although Clevo notebooks look appealing from a feature set standpoint, from a reliability and engineering standpoint you just cannot compare them to any of the tier 1 companies.

There is a significant difference in engineering and testing that goes into HP notebooks. It's somewhat unreal to me, the development cycle tries our patience, but the results speak for themselves. The bottom line is we are in the business of selling notebooks, not hand grenades.

Comparing Voodoo pre acquisition to today is like comparing a Lamborghini from the early years to the ones of today. Audi brought in significant R&D and engineering resources to Lamborghini allowing them to create some of the best cars they have ever created including the Gallardo and Murcielago. On the flipside Lamborghini brought in some style and edge which allowed Audi to create the new award winning R8 (car of the year in Robb Report Magazines).

What's my point? Tell your community to stay tuned. We're working on some obvious holes in our portfolio.

Are there any plans to develop Voodoo notebooks using existing HP chassis as a starting point rather than more commonly available ODM units?

That's a great question. The 20" HP HDX consumer notebook (aka the Dragon) is an incredible system for gaming, yet we haven't gone ahead and used the same chassis. The fact is HP has afforded us the resources and time to dream up the ultimate portfolio which will be authentic to the Voodoo brand.

We also renamed our business unit from "The Gaming Business Unit" to "The Voodoo Business Unit". This quiet announcement, while seemingly small, has profound implications on our charter.

Mainstream notebooks makers seem to be targeting gaming-capable notebooks as a growth category with some offering high end features such as Nvidia 8800m GPUs at the $1200 price point. How does this trend affect Voodoo's pricing strategy?

In the past Voodoo branded products have never put price ahead of everything else, however "customer value" continues to be (and always has been) very important to the team. I'll say it again, value is huge, and without it we'd be nowhere today. That said, the definition of a good value always changes, and if you don't spent time to revisit it over and over again you'll never be successful at this business.

HP scale has made it possible for us to ensure that we can deliver a killer value in our systems. For example, if you compare a high end Blackbird 002 with our competition, there is no comparison. Blackbird is built better, engineered better, and includes a much better out of box experience -- and you absolutely get what you pay for. You can assume that as we fill out our portfolio we'll keep this in mind.

Why does Voodoo use AMD processors in high end notebooks when Intel products perform better?

Indeed Intel processors currently perform better in most instances. However, HP is agnostic; we offer both AMD and Intel processors in many of our machines including those that fall under the Voodoo Business Unit. That said, as we move forward into our own "grounds up" designs, you can rest assured that we'll use nothing but the best technology in our flagship devices.

On the subject of Ultra Mobile PCs:

Andrew asks: What are your thoughts on this new push for budget $300 / $400 laptops such as the Asus Eee PC and Everex Cloudbook? We know that HP is planning to enter this segment; will Voodoo bring a high end companion device to market?

Though I cannot discuss future HP product possibilities, I do think the ultra mobile is an interesting space. We are actively pursuing new attractive markets in our business unit.

Some general questions:

You are well connected in the industry, where do you see notebook technologies going in the next couple of years.

I'd love to share our vision with you; however this industry is way too competitive. Over the years (especially in the last year) we have found that our competitors look to us for leadership -- so personally, I would rather surprise them with our view of the market.


What non-Voodoo computing products are you most excited about recently? Outside of HP and Voodoo whose products do you respect the most?

Easy answer, respect Apple immensely -- I really like their complete ecosystem view. Their undivided focus on the customer should be a wakeup call for everyone in this industry. If "boutique companies" ignore Apple they might as well shut their doors now.


Is Voodoo planning any entry level products, or will the focus remain strictly high end?

This question requires a bit of background to answer.

At HP we created Blackbird 002 with Voodoo DNA. It's an HP branded product with the Voodoo DNA ingredient brand. It's build by the team at Voodoo in Calgary, and meets the stringent HP standards of engineering excellence. Borrowing from the automotive industry, a similarly tight combination of engineering and design is the creation of the Audi R8.

We really believe in what we're doing currently. That said, even though HP Blackbird is a premium performance PC, the price point in many instances is significantly less than our competition. From a value standpoint there is no comparison, you really have to see it to understand.

As far as Voodoo exclusive products, we plan to refresh our entire portfolio. You'll have to wait and see, but let's just say no matter what you buy - whether it's Compaq, HP, HP with Voodoo DNA, or Voodoo - you will receive value for your money.

As I said before, Blackbird is a start, and it's our pace car, we still have a portfolio to fill.

How has the HP acquisition impacted Voodoo sales?

We don't discuss our sales numbers externally - however, as a result of the HP acquisition we quadrupled the square footage of our facility in Calgary, hired more than 100 people, and expanded office space in Cupertino, Calgary, Taipei, and recently Houston.

We just finished scaling our Calgary facility to accommodate a much larger professional downdraft paint booth. The paint facility now includes three booths, one of which is dedicated to mixing custom colors. It features a clean room which eliminates all dust, and ensures that any personalization you order from us will remain absolutely flawless.

We also ordered some really cool equipment which we're not going to talk about just yet - but let's say that that the investment is going to put us further ahead of the competition in the high-end and performance PC space. HP is clearly committed to this space and based on our expansion on the customer care, sales, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and business side we're not stopping

I understand you have expanded your facility, is that primarily a result of the HP acquisition? Is the extra space for construction and fabrication or have you added more support and product development capacity too?

Good question. We actually put a higher proportion of resources in our customer facing departments in anticipation for our pending growth.

How has the Blackbird performed for HP? What was Voodoo's role in that project?

Blackbird has been a great success for HP, and is a product which was created from the ground up by our business unit, the Voodoo Business Unit. HP started the Blackbird 001 project prior to the Voodoo acquisition but it was canned before we joined.

All said, I have never been involved in a more successful product launch, ever. We started with Blackbird, and took some time to scale the business while we prepare to fill the portfolio around it. Now that our expansion is complete we're ready to launch new products and initiatives.

Will we see Blackbird notebooks?

Wouldn't that be the most insane thing ever?

Will there be more HP products that have Voodoo DNA contributed to them? When can we expect to see them? Any hints to what they may be?

Not only will you see products with VoodooDNA which feature our core heritage of performance gaming and second-to-none build quality and engineering from HP, but you'll also see Voodoo dedicated products which will continue to tap the luxury and highly personalized market. In the process we will still take full advantage of the engineering, scale, leverage, and quality strengths that HP has brought to the table.

Are there plans to leverage HP's presence in retail to sell more Voodoo PCs? Will we ever see your products at Best Buy?

HP is a huge company with some incredible long-standing relationships in the retail channel. We have not publicly discussed our retail strategy, but you can assume that we will continue to scale our business while delivering the best experience possible to our customer.

The HD optical format war is over, when can we expect to see Blu-Ray in Voodoo notebooks?

We will offer Blu-Ray in our notebooks sometime in 2008.

K-TRON, owner of a couple of Voodoo PCs asks: when is the Vootique is coming back, and when are the new forums supposed to be up?

I'm not sure about the Vootique, but the new community is on the way. It will be hosted by both Kristin Reilly and Greg Vederman so needless to say it should be a pretty cool place to visit. Both Greg and Kristin are currently contributing to my blog at www.rahulsood.com prior to the transition to our new community so it's definitely getting closer. Tell K-Tron I said hi.

LANs, LANs, and MORE LANs!

From Kristin:

Phew, I've had a whirlwind couple of week(ends)! In the past 3 weeks I've been to 3 different LAN's in 3 different states with our Blackbird computer. Go airline miles!

So it all started in Portland, Oregon (go Ducks!) in mid-Feburary with PDXLAN 11. It was a 4 day LAN that I only as able to attend 3 days of due to the Game Developers Conference overlapping. I had a blast after a small melt down when I realized my LCI Blackbird had been shipped to LA for the mall tour and I got the mall tours AC model. Thankfully my personal gaming computer is a Blackbird LC so I ran home and snagged that. It's nice having your own profiles and levels to play on instead of getting a fresh machine with no data on it! I didn't compete at PDXLAN but had fun running around in COD4 with friends and TF2.

I'm not sure which LAN I liked the best honestly. PDXLAN was awesome because I was in my home town and I was able to take friends from out of town to really cool restaurants and they got to see where I live.

The following weekend I went straight from San Francisco to Arkansas for a day long LAN put on by NWALan. After we finally got the power issues figured out after we tripped a circuit every 8 minutes for several games (I still hear yells of BATGIRL! in my sleep), the LAN was awesome! Everyone kept coming over to look at the Blackbird and play on it and I was consistantly a top scorer every game we played. Yay! I will say Arkansas gets a LOT colder than I thought or was expecting.

Mental note, next time pack thermals..... Everyone was so NICE in Arkansas I was pretty blown away. There were even a few other girls that were in attendance! Not once did anyone say anything negative to me or about me being a female at a LAN. I actually love playing at LAN's a lot more than playing online. Everyone is much nicer and respectable when they're not anonymous!

Finally this past weekend I was in Yspilanti, Michigan (it sounds like ip-sill-aunty) for the first annual Gamers for Giving LAN and Halo3 tournament put on by the Gamers Outreach Foundation. I was blown away by the size (250 BYOC machines and roughly 250 people on sat for the Halo3 tournament) and the efficiency of this LAN.

On top of it just being an awesome event, the proceeds all go to charity! The foundation that was chosen to be the recipient of this LAN's proceeds was a local chapter of the MS society. I honestly have never been to a tournament that ran as smoothly as this one did. And it being their first tournament, I can only wait to see what they bring to the table next year!

Michigan was fun especially Sunday night I was invited to be a guest on PWND radio. The guys over there are fun and know their games! So that's a quick recap of the crazy 3 weeks I've had and where I've been. This weekend we'll be setting up at SXSW in Austin, Texas. I for one, am looking forward to finally thawing out!!

- Kristin Reilly