Bring the PAIN – Thursday

Hey, all. My name is Jason Coker, and I am the Associate Producer on the PS3 PSN title PAIN.

When people ask me, “Hey Coker, what project are you working on?” I reluctantly tell them that it’s PAIN. I say “reluctantly” because I have found that it’s pretty much impossible to do the game justice without actually having it right in front of someone to show it to them. Sure, I tell people that it’s a crazy game in which you launch a character from a giant slingshot into a downtown area and smash him into stuff and blow stuff up and you snatch Mimes out of the air so you can slam them through plate glass windows and you blast monkeys out the side of a building in an attempt to stop another player’s character from successfully crashing into bowling pins and you can play as a dude named Ed in a cow suit and so on and so on…

[catches breath]

…but it’s actually a lot more than that. Unfortunately, I can’t really tell you exactly what because it’s too impossibly fun to put into words. You’ll have to try it for yourselves, and you definitely won’t be disappointed.

What I CAN tell you is that it has been a blast to work on. It hasn’t been easy, but it sure has been hilarious. Here are just a couple of the gems I’ve heard (or said):

* “Coker, can you write up a description of a little person hip-hop pirate right quick?” (Yeah, I had the same reaction. You’ll see.)

* “Ummmm….who did the voice-over for that? That’s nasty.”

* “Hey man, if I get you a big glass of water, can you step into the recording booth and belch for about half an hour?”

* “Check the Leaderboards, Son. Spank. The. Monkey.”

* “Dude, I just really don’t think the farts are loud enough.”

* “Did you just grab that Granny by her head? Do it again! Do it again!”

* “That’s him right there. We call him the Ooch Master. He can’t be touched.” (You know who you are at Idol Minds, and I’m coming for you. The student has become the Master, baby!)

* “OH, *&%*!! THAT *^&%*#@ DONUT!!!!!!”

And that was just in one afternoon.

Probably the most important thing I can tell you about PAIN is that the game is really what you make of it. There is sometimes this misconception that it’s this cool experiment in physics that’s fun to watch. Hardly, it’s much, much more.

Fact is, I’ve been working on this game for quite a few moons, and I’m STILL finding new things to do and new trash to talk (I’m quite the PAIN Bowler, and I EARN my trash-talking rights, thank you very much).

Check it out when it hits PSN, and if you want some multiplayer action, come see me. You bring the Kool-Aid, and I’ll bring the PAIN!

In the meantime, check out the OFFICIAL PAIN SITE to stay hip to the world of PAIN.