TGS 2009--Notes From Day One

Here are a couple of odds and ends from the first day of the 2009 Tokyo Game Show that didn't fit anywhere else.

Which Came First: The Monkey or the Ball?

During an interview today with Super Monkey Ball creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, I asked him where he got the idea to put a monkey in a ball and call it a video game. In the case of which came first--the "monkey" or the "ball"--Nagoshi-san told me the answer is "neither."

"I liked the name 'Monkey Ball'...[I originally wanted the game to be called] '"Something" Ball,' Nagoshi said. "We thought of a few different animals, but thought that the name "monkey ball" was easy to say in Japan and probably abroad as well and was kind of catchy. So it came from the name."

As it turned out, the monkey served not just as a cute mascot, but also helped gameplay.

"It started first with the ball [without the monkey], but it proved to be difficult because it was hard to tell which direction you were going in. They tried to put patterns on the ball, but it was still not easy to tell which direction you were going in. So the idea came up that maybe we should put something in the ball that you could actually see moving around, and you could more easily tell the direction that [the ball] is headed. That also will maybe add some attraction to the game or a little bit of added taste."

Check out our preview of Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll.

The "Montreal Studios Kill"

It's no secret that game development teams share ideas. Whether it's the Madden NFL team at EA Sports borrowing an idea for its football game from its compatriots on the NCAA Football team or the folks at Codemasters sharing technology between Dirt 2 and the upcoming Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (both games use Codemasters' EGO engine).

While speaking today with Ubisoft Montreal's Patrice Desilets, creative director on the studio's upcoming Assassin's Creed, I learned about yet another example--the so-called "Montreal Studios Kill." In the game, AC2's protagonist Evio can hang off the ledge of a building, sneak up on an enemy target near the edge of the roof, and then make an assassination by quickly moving up, stabbing the target in the gut, and tossing him over the ledge.

Why did Desilets jokingly refer to this killer move as the "Montreal Studios Kill?" Simple: Sam Fisher has the exact same move available to him in the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction, which is also in development at Ubisoft Montreal.

Check out our previews of Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction.