“The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile” Announced!

Enjoy the announcement trailer for The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, releasing to Xbox LIVE Arcade “when it’s done.” You can also download your very own 720p HD copy over at VampireSmile.com. Release of press after the break.
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9 Comments February 24, 2010

Charlie Murder set to take the Xbox Live Indie Games stage this March!

Here’s a rad release of press:

SKA STUDIOS TO PRODUCE CHARLIE MURDER VIDEO GAME
Indie Punk Band Sells Out to Indie Game Developer

Schenectady, N.Y., January 14, 2010 – In a move bound to shake up the music scene, punk rock super group Charlie Murder have agreed to license their names and story for an upcoming Xbox LIVE Indie Games title on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.
Based on the band’s recent spat with rival metal rockers Gore Quaffer,

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8 Comments January 19, 2010

GameSpot Bit

GameSpot let me do a little Q & A with them.  I felt the need to say something!

From the article:

Far from a typical retail boxed product, The Dishwasher is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up with a penchant for Kill Bill-style blood geysers, shambling zombies, and maniacal robots. Inspired by equal parts jeet kune do master Bruce Lee, poseur Italian restaurants, and Ryuhei Kitamura’s epic Versus, The Dishwasher in many ways acts as a proof of concept for Microsoft’s ambitious service and gives players the chance to channel their inner butcher while bounding off walls and mashing on buttons in the process.

And then I say cool things like:

GS: In terms of ease of use, does XNA have the potential to be the magic bullet for bringing game design and development to the masses? As in, are we going to see a lot of average joes making quality, fun games?

JS: Game development is still an extremely ambitious venture, so depending on your definition of “the masses,” we may never see this type of magic bullet. Otherwise, a guy like me is probably always going to be the best you can hope for as an average joe. I went to school for computer science while working a series of crappy jobs and have always dreamed of making video games but have no industry experience or special game development education.

Then I checked the GameSpot forum on this, and found some excellent nuggets of InterWeb wisdom; some good ones:

1 of the best Arcade games out

I want to buy it now but that not a option. Dam you Microsoft, Dam you.

The one drawback to this game being so amazing

Is that every Wed. until it releases will be a disappointment no matter what comes out.

…and some not so good ones:

This is the most hot topic game in the world.

It might as well be called Johnny the Homicidal Douchebag.

There are a lot more good ones then there are not so good ones, so I’m really pleased (and I’m getting a little better at accepting criticism).  It seems like people are really hungry for some XBLA content that isn’t classic arcade games or cutesy casual games.  Not like there’s anything terrifically wrong with classic arcade games and cutesy casual games (I like a little Boom Boom Rocket and Metal Slug 3, thankyouverymuch), but I think people are pretty agreed about the desire for interesting new content, even if it is “hot topic.”

And for the record, I prefer Salvation Army for my counterculture wardrobe over Hot Topic.  Think I can afford Hot Topic?  I’m still poor, you know.

4 Comments March 13, 2008

On How I Managed to Wake Up Famous

I live in a freezing apartment in upstate NY.  Rent is $750 a month.  I buy groceries at Wal-Mart.  I buy clothes at Target.  I drive a 1994 Honda Accord that was a hand-me-down from my sister.  Yet, somehow, this happened:

MTV.com:

“The guy that made this game is nuts.”

Wired.com:

As the sole creator of the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game Dishwasher, Silva found himself the poster boy of Microsoft’s efforts to “democratize game development” at the Game Developers Conference. The Utica, NY independent gamemaker shared the stage with game design luminaries like Tomonobu Itagaki and Peter Molyneux at Microsoft’s GDC keynote.

LA Times:

The 26-year-old from Utica, N.Y., paid his way through college by scrubbing dishes at a diner. That job might help him become the Quentin Tarantino of video games: He used it as inspiration for “The Dishwasher,” in which the title character becomes a ninja and slashes his way out of a kitchen overrun by villains.

Ars Technica:

“James has quit his job… it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” James Silva quickly became one of the stars of the GDC this year, and the video Microsoft created to highlight his game and one-man-team ethic showed that it knows how cool James Silva is. Microsoft desperately wants a piece of that cool. 

For the record, Microsoft never quite came across as desperately wanting a piece of my cool, but I thought that quote was too good to leave out.  The XNA team are just about the coolest bunch of geeks I’ve ever met; it was awesome meeting up with them for classy San Francisco dining–I got to meet the team behind the tech that the Dishwasher is based on and they got to meet the guy behind the game that shows off their tech.  There was a lot of mutual gushing.

5 Comments February 28, 2008

James Silva – A Life

Short update–here’s a link to the video Microsoft made about me.

Also, a trial of The Dishwasher is available to everyone on XBLA for a very short time, here are instructions on downloading it.

7 Comments February 24, 2008

Closure and Pluggage

Well, I finally made it back home Friday morning, after two nights in O’Hare.  The Friday morning flight was even delayed twice–which is what happened with the previous two flights before they were canceled.  Nice little scare to end the trip with!

In other news:

The kind folks at xbox360fanboy.com plugged The Dishwasher again.  From the post:

High in potassium and hella’ delicious. We say good job to you Mr. (XNA all-star) Silva, Dead Samurai looks amazing and the extreme amount of blood and blurring effects makes our eyes water with happiness. We say, bring on the dish washing!

Read it!

4 Comments February 9, 2008