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Papo & Yo creator on risk, therapy, and future of gaming
Last Sunday's Sup Holmes (now on iTunes) was a powerful one. The subject was Papo & Yo, one of the first openly autobiographical games to hit home consoles. Vander Caballero created the game based on his relationship with his his father. Themes include love, addiction, and abuse, all explored through a dreamlike surrealism that draws parallels to Pan's Labyrinth or Life of Pi. In our long, varied discussion, Vander revealed that as a child, videogames gave him an escape from a abuse but did not give him the tools to deal with the trauma he was set to endure. With Papo & Yo, he wanted to make a game that would have the potential to provide both escape and a therapeutic outlet to those who played it, while also sharing his life and experience with the world. Vander had plenty of words of advice for developers starting out. Like Shigeru Miyamoto, he was educated in industrial design, and believes that this is a better path for budding game designers than study focused solely on game design. From there he went on to created Army of Two at EA, but after reflecting on the real-life gun violence he'd witnessed in his life, he swore off creating games about gun violence, which led to his creation of the Boogie series, his departure from EA, and the creation of Minority Media Inc. It was a huge risk, but armed with the trust that sincerity and hard work conquer all, he prevailed. There is a lot more where that came from, like Vander's story of raising 1.5 million dollars to create Papo & Yo, his goal to help dispel racial stereotypes in his gaming, David Cage, Warren Spector, the PS4, plans to port Papo & Yo to other platforms, new games he's at working on (one about love, another about bullying), and tons of other hot business. It's worth checking out. Thanks again to Vander for hanging out with us. Come back this Sunday at 1pm PST/4pm EST when we welcome Erin Robinson (Global Game Jam, Gravity Ghost) to the program. It's going to be a good 'un. Did you know? You can now get daily or weekly email notifications when humans reply to your comments.
11:40 PM on 06.18.2013 Here's The DTOID Show E3 Wrap-up!Hey everybody! We're back from E3, and boy are our arms tired. From playing video games, but also from making cartoonish flapping motions. We ran down what came out of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo's respective press conferences, as well as our personal favorites, and then listed off the Destructoid Best Of E3 winners. Now, we take naps.
1:00 PM on 06.18.2013 Destructoid's Best of E3 2013 winners!Titanfall already took home our Game of the Show award for E3 2013. So what about the rest of the categories and games? Well after some much needed rest and relaxation we've decided the rest of the winners for all our categor...
7:30 PM on 06.17.2013 What most excited you during E3 2013? - The QuestionThis has been a fairly thrilling Electronic Entertainment Expo in a lot of ways. Hard not to be when two out of the three major console competitors are showing off brand new hardware and all the new games which come along with that. But what was the most exciting aspect of this year's E3? Watch the video to hear what we think and answer The Question for yourself in the comments below.
2:00 PM on 06.17.2013 Tiny Barbarian DX is a retro soundtrack that you must ownOur top pick for this month's issue of Note Worthy is the NES-flavored soundtrack for Tiny Barbarian DX, composed by Jeff Ball. There's a variety of styles presented, but all of it is super catchy and melodic, and fans of ret...
7:00 PM on 06.16.2013 I ran around and then died at E3This was a historic year at E3. The 8th gen console wars have officially started, independent developers are infecting Sony like a disease that makes you feel awesome, the Xbone caught more heat than a Alabama volcano in the...
4:45 PM on 06.14.2013 Tower of Guns? More like Tower of Funs!I really like rogue-likes. There's something about their uncaring difficulty that appeals to the "HxC" gamer in me. With this in mind I got super-excited to check out Tower of Guns. The game's creator Joe Mirabello described...
3:30 PM on 06.14.2013 Friday Night Fights: Come learn how to play EVE Online!Tonight, on a very special episode of Dtoid's Friday Night Fights, Destructoid PC contributor Josh Derocher will teach you how to play EVE Online! Whether you're completely new to the game and looking for tips or an old hand ...
5:00 PM on 06.13.2013 Destructoid's Best of E3 2013 nominationsE3 is HUGE this year. There's a ton of buzz around next-gen games, plus consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Of course, there's still a ton of solid current-gen games on offer at the show this year. We nom...
8:30 AM on 06.13.2013 Used games and 'AAA' games are incompatible? Good!Game developer Cliff Bleszinski has never been a fan of the used game market, and he's made his feelings on the Xbox One and PS4 policies quite clear -- he supports Microsoft's decision to "redefine" the concept of videogame ...
6:15 PM on 06.12.2013 Touchin' butts and taking names in Glow TagYou know what's awesome? Wild-west style duels. You know what else is awesome? Touching butts. Fortunately for you, dear reader, Papa Spencer is here to deliver. I ran into Stephen Morris at Indiecade at E3 this year and I'm...
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