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No matter how long I stayed on the show floor, for some reason I always wound up returning to the Mega Enterprise booth. They, along with CRI, are the most aligned with my tastes, so I split a lot of time between playing Outrun 2 over at CRI, and bugging Jin Ok An, the PR lady at Mega Enterprise, hoping to catch her off-guard with a piece of information.
Today -- day four -- I managed to strike a chord. She was talking to (rather, being talked at by) a representative from Infinium Labs (of Phantom infame) when I walked up, and had a folder open on her laptop that I had not seen in other go-rounds. I listened to the Infinium fellow explain how ex-Xbox executive Kevin Bachus was a co-founder of the company. Untrue, untrue, and I told her so when he left.
"Be careful of those guys," I said.
"Why?"
"Just do a Google search on them before you pass their business card over to the head office."
"Oh, I see. Thanks for the advice. So, I guess you are back."
I glanced at the folder on her laptop. It was filled with Metal Slug Online concept art and movies. I had been told the day before that these were not present at the show. Perseverance pays! Unfortunately, she asked me nicely not to take pictures of them. If she had been mean about it, I might have taken them and ran, but -- you know.
I will describe what I saw: there were several animated movies of Marco's in-game motion (very early, of course). He had a running animation, and a punching motion. Both looked fluid, if MMORPG-ish.
There was some nice concept art, with some larger weapons than I have seen in the previous 2D installments.
The engine will be fully 3D; not 2D motion with polygons, but free-range 3D motion. There was an over-the-shoulder shot of Marco in a city environment to corroborate this. About that city -- it was very recognizably Metal Slug in style, so that is a relief. While the buildings had no textures yet, it was a pretty faithful recreation of the ceramic tile-roofed houses from the series. There was also a vehicle; it looked like a Metal Slug tank, but this was difficult to determine. Oddly, it was smaller than Marco himself. Early screens, remember.
Take from that what you will. At the very least, there's proof that the game is moving along.
Afterward, she asked me some questions.
"Hey. What do you think of MOOC? I think it's not your kind of game, huh."
"Yeah, not really my thing. I love the rest of the work you guys do, though."
"So, what do you know about Mega Enterprise? You said that you know Metal Slug Online, right?"
Indeed, Metal Slug Online had been semi-announced a while back, so that information was mostly public. I explained that I knew of their position as SNK NeoGeo Korea (subsidiary of Mega), that they had developed Metal Slug 4, and that they were releasing arcade games for the PC market in Korea.
She was taken aback. As I mentioned yesterday, Korean game companies tend not to expect anyone to know who they are. When I spoke to her about Gamepark, about the cancellation of KOF for the GP32 (no new info), and about Mega's dealings with Falcom, she gained a wide-eyed look, and a full-on grin.
"Who are you??"
"Didn't I give you my card? Let me find one."
"No! I know your name. Who are you?? Why do you know so much!?"
"Well, at insert credit we just happen to like unusual things."
"Oh, and you think that we are unusual, huh?"
In order to properly imagine her side of the conversation, you must think of her as a maybe-30-year-old woman with the exuberance of a late-teenager. Then realize that she is cooped up in a booth, talking to people who have never heard of Mega Enterprise, and that she has finally been given an outlet. So I say:
"You sell Korean pop stars' DNA -- that seems pretty unusual to me."
"... (blank stare) ..... HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?"
"Well, it is on the English portion of your website."
"It is? Is it?? We should take it down now!"
"Nono, I uh...I think it’s...great?"
(suddenly pointing) "HEY! You should come to Korea!"
"Well, I’d like to..."
"I think you'd find many unusual things!"
"But I don’t speak Korean."
"It's OK! You can just use English!"
We continued on like this for some time before I eventually took my leave.
Later in the day, I decided to show Eric-Jon the Metal Slug Online development images, even if we couldn't take pictures. We arrived at the Mega Enterprise booth, and there was nobody attending the laptop. We stood around befuddled for about thirty seconds -- but then Jin Ok materialized from seemingly nowhere (certainly not from anywhere near the booth), jumped in front of us and smacked her hands down on top of the laptop.
"HEY!"
(then suddenly cheery)
"How are you??"
From then on, any time I passed her booth, I gave her the sideways peace sign, or the Hollywood two-finger snap-point. She’d respond with matching mock-seriousness, but then break out into a mouth-covering infectious laugh. As a result, she became the grounding point for the IC team for the duration of the GDC.
There are two lessons to be learned here. The first one is for the game journalists. If you want to get information, know the company you're talking to. Unless, you know, they're the Big Boys or something -- then they won't care. But hey, neither should you.
The second lesson is for the game companies. If you must hire PR for expos, make sure that they are at least half as cool as Jin Ok An. If they're not, just give up and go home. Dissemination of information is nothing compared to strength of personality. Mega Enterprise, and especially Jin Ok An: we salute you.
But brandon sheffield already has a Megaqueen
[Back: Mega I: The Metal Sluggery]
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