The lastest issue of Game Developer has the latest annual salary survey, and it’s a little depressing (and enlightening) for those of us outside the industry.

See, I run this blog, and the podcast, because it’s about a hobby I am passionate about. And somewhere, somehow, I have a deep down goal to turn my hobby into my profession. Although I like what I do, I love my hobby more, and I want more time to do the things that make me happy. It’s as simple as that. But it seems if I want to play, I’ll have to pay.

If I were to enter the industry as a game designer, that means I’d be making on average $43k. A game writer or project lead slightly more at $51k. But here’s the depressing part – after six years as a game designer, my salary would only increase to $69k. As a lead designer or project lead I’d fare slightly better at a salary in the $80k’s. Of course, there’s additional compensation in the form of bonuses and benefits, but I’m not factoring them into the equation because they are generally the same across the board with those positions, as well as with the industry I’m in currently.

And poor Geoff Keighley. His profile in the latest EGM says that game journalists get around $55k. And that’s at the high end of the range. He’s probably the face of game journalism, so undoubtedly he gets more from his ancillary gigs like television shows and such. But to be honest, I haven’t made less than $55k for about seven years now. That means, if I had to live off my hobby, I’d probably be divorced, living in a crap apartment in the San Fransisco area and driving a ten year-old Toyota Corolla. I wonder what Geoff drives…

To break down those figures more, I would have to spend considerably more than I do now on my hobby in order to justify the salary gap. As it stands now, I might spend $200 a month on games, anime, DVDs, etc. That doesn’t even come close to the difference in pay. And it’s definitely not enough to raise a family with.

So there’s the rub. Play more, make less. Or make more, play less. It all comes out to what it would do to my quality of life. Would I be happier spending more time on my hobby? Or would I enjoy life less because I didn’t have the money to spend on the nice house, the nice car, the nice vacations. It all depends.

So I wrote in a previous post to keep an eye out on Nintendo during the next console war. And either Microsoft had the same thought, or J Allard is reading my blog, because Viva Pinata is more than what it seems.

If anyone heard our first spotradio broadcast, the would have remembered me mocking Microsoft’s “big” counter-announcement to Sony’s PS3 news. But after listening to Major Nelson’s weekly lovefest, I finally put it together.

Viva Pinata is Microsoft’s Animal Crossing. It’s a clone, albeit of a great game, coming from a developer – Rare – who specializes in family games. One, like me, would initially say, “who cares?” But then it hit me. Sony is coming at high-end consumers with their PS3. Kids need not apply. It’s going to be all shooting, all killing on a $500 console. They are marketing toward sophisticated, mature consumers with money. The Revolution, meanwhile, will be targeting the general gamer with its innovative yet simplistic control scheme, low price, and family-oriented games. So does Microsoft want to risk losing the battle to Sony at the high-end while getting sucker-punched by Nintendo? No way. Enter Viva Pinata.

Viva Pinata is a defense against the Revolution. It is being released at an opportune time, strategically placed just in time for Nintendo’s big launch. In addition, the marketing blitz associated with the game – including a cartoon program and toy line – will be flooding the market along with the back-to-school crowd, traditionally a strong time for a product launch. This way Viva Pinata will be force-fed to kids all around the globe. It will be on every television, every school notebook, in every classroom, bedroom, etc. And the goal is it will divert attention from the Revolution launch.

I’m sure Microsoft has more surprises up their sleeve to defend against the PS3 launch later this year, and it will be interesting to see what those exactly are. But at least they have Nintendo pegged.

Introducing spotanime.com’s first spotradio broadcast!

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Tonight’s discussion is entitled: Sony, Sony, SONY!!! Jeremy (SpotAnime), Tim (Azeledge), Lisa (zaats) and Ted (Ding Chavez vGv) discuss the recent announcements on the PSP and PS3.

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This is a pretty simple one – one that I won’t claim to have initially “discovered”, but one that I will single-out, and even enhance, as something that every multiplayer Xbox Live Arcade title should not be without. That one thing is:

The Quarter Mode.

Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting was announced earlier this year as an XBL Arcade title with online multiplayer and would feature “quarter matches” that would enable players to join their friends in a lobby and play in “winner-stays” tournaments. In otherwords, they join a game, put up their “quarter”, and everyone plays the winner in that order.

This is a brilliant concept, one that I would consider a system seller as much as XBL Arcade itself. But how cool would it be to join in a group of, say, eight friends who all go round-robin on Geometry Wars? Full chat capabilities in-game, and everyone is a spectator on the current game until it is their turn. Just like our arcade experiences during our youth. This would be the ultimate party game.

Taking it one step further, a multiplayer option could be a “bank” of quarters. So say everyone who joins the “arcade” (lobby) would start with a roll of quarters. They would use a quarter, maybe two, per credit. This could be fully customizable by the arcade host, to determine the length of each arcade match. When they lose, they would have to put up quarters for another credit. Just like in a real arcade. When they are out of quarters, they can only spectate and chat during matches.

This concept would fit well in the Achievements model. Obviously a party would play until there is only one person standing. An Achievement could be given for X amount of times a person comes out on top. What about an Achievement for X amount of times going undefeated; or the opposite of that, losing the entire roll of quarters? Or maybe an “Underdog” Achievement, where you consistently knocked off the winner?

In addition, for each lobby, stats would be recorded much like Halo 2, so you can look at every lobby you played in and see the stats for each – games won, highest score, etc.

If future games would offer this multiplayer and party functionality, Xbox Live Arcade would be even more addictive. Beware!