May 2013
1 post
One Big Online Cafeteria
http://kotaku.com/how-my-game-cuts-down-on-online-gamer-obnoxiousness-493652383
Fascinating thing to try with “Monaco.” It’s almost like they’re taking Journey’s “you can only do positive things to each other” co-op nature and pushing it. Bravo.
“Ryan” posted this stellar comment in reply to the article:
This article makes me wonder why...
April 2013
5 posts
Today
I’ve got nothing.
Boston is my hometown.
:(
"Deal With It"
Yesterday reports that Adam Orth, the guy who somehow caused this shitstorm, is no longer at Microsoft.
Let’s pay attention to the wording here. Resigned. Not fired.
Now, beyond all of the use of the impact font and the “Haha let’s make an internet meme out of this guy we’ve never met” let’s also remember that what happened between Adam and his employer is now...
Shocking...part 2
I seldom blog more than once about a game, if ever, but god dammit Bioshock Infinite won’t leave my head.
SPOILERS AGAIN AHEAD
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I’m lucky in the fact that my wife is a die hard gamer. Even more so than I am sometimes. (We’re playing Bioshock Infinite on the Xbox right now because we haven’t gotten our home office finished yet and then we’re planning...
Shocking, isn't it? (BIOSHOCK SPOILERS AHEAD)
I finished Bioshock Infinite today and I’d like to burst out some thoughts while they’re still in my head.
SPOILERS AHEAD
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
ARE YOU SERIOUS CLOSE THIS TAB AND GO BACK TO THE GAME
Okay, here we go.
I’ve always been vocal of my support of Bioshock and, yes, even Bioshock 2 was a solid experience even though it wasn’t the original team. One of...
GDC, Indie games, and "Triple Hate"
I think I might have finally recovered from GDC this year. Not actually having to be at the Epic Booth by 10am allowed me to burn the midnight oil each night, imbibing with old friends, meeting new ones, and generally letting our hair down.
This about summarizes what the double dose of PAX and GDC did to my wife and I.
(Yes, we got upgraded with frequent flyer miles, no, I rarely pay for...
March 2013
14 posts
Post PAX Blues
NOTE: As of the time I’ve written this my Storytime does not appear to be online yet. As soon as it’s up I’ll post the link, I promise.
I’ve only started attending the Penny Arcade Expos as of several years ago. Working in game development you learn to love and hate conferences. They’re a ton of fun, but that fun comes at an expense. You wind up physically and...
Anonymous Internet Boy Taliban Tropes
Disclaimer: I was a key creative in what is often considered one of the more “dudebro” franchises out there, Gears of War. I’d also like to remind everyone out there that I went out of my way in working with our team, the writers, and Epic’s artists to make sure that female characters are represented well in that franchise. By the time we got around to Gears 3 the female soldiers were kicking butt...
A Quick War Story
Had dinner with Julia and her military boyfriend Brian last night. Good dude. Not sure what division of the military he is in, but I always love hearing stories from these brave fellas…if they feel inclined.
While bored in Afghanastan apparently the fellas collect critters. Scorpions and yes, the dreaded Camel Spider. They even make them fight each other and bet on the results.
He told...
"Geek and Gamer Gurlz"
So this article came up today.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/katieheaney/how-should-a-gamer-girl-be
The “GURL GAMER” debate is one that, seemingly, will never die.
EDIT: Chris Kohler pointed out that the article is calling out how silly those “rules” are. Cool. Still enjoyed talking about them. :)
——
Now, at a fundamental level I, as a man, it would seem as if I...
We unbox the crated Tomb Raider and IT GOT REAL →
You’ll never guess what was inside of it.
Yes, I just made this. →
With the popularity of zombies lately, I felt the need to remind everyone who is the real OG.
Soup DRM Debate
Quick one here.
http://tinyurl.com/auwqzc7
This guy on Reddit makes an excellent analogy about always on DRM, basically framing that EA is acting like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.
He’s largely right, however, to add to his analogy that without that DRM there’s a sous chef in the back who is siphoning off the soup and giving it away for free out of the back of the restaurant and more...
in·tel·lec·tu·al prop·er·ty
Wikipedia defines
“in·tel·lec·tu·al prop·er·ty”
as:
noun
1. “A work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc.”
Otherwise known as “IP.”
In the creative world, this is often seen as one of the most valuable things one can...
Must. Love. Dogs.
It’s a funny thing, this Western relationship we have with our dogs. In other parts of the world filthy dogs roam the streets in packs, and the insult “you lie down with dogs” is a common phrase. I remember also learning from my brother’s Mexican wife that, for them, culturally it’s pretty common to not even allow the dog in the house.
It’s weird how the internet is obsessed with cats, so I’d like...
GUYS!
Okay, while at dinner I was informed via my feed that the below quote (now edited) about PR girls, taken the wrong way, looks horrid. And man, it does - read wrong it basically said PR girls like to sleep with gophers or something.
That is certainly not the implication. It was meant to say that they’re a ton of fun because the business of PR is a very social one. It requires knowing everyone...
"I'm Just Buzzed!"
Okay, after my last two industry related posts about subjects that are quite taboo I want to talk about something else - non industry related - that drives me nuts.
Let’s start out with the way that our good nation has evolved. It used to be that there were basically two types of locations in America. Rural and Urban. You either were a farmer or you had a white collar job in the big city, or you...
Generation Free
There have been lots of terms that have been tossed around in regards to the current generation of youth. “Millenials” is one that comes to mind. Pop psych books and articles attempt to dissect this generation, as every older generation does every so often. I remember Generation X. Generation Y/Y2K. (The Greatest Generation, who saved us from the Nazi Empire, still wins.)
I was in my 20’s when the...
February 2013
17 posts
Nickels, dimes, and quarters.
The video game industry is just that.
An industry.
Which means that it exists in a capitalistic world. You know, a free market. A place where you’re welcome to spend your money on whatever you please… or to refrain from spending that money.
Those companies that put these products out? They’re for profit businesses. They exist to produce, market, and ship great games ultimately for one purpose....
The Horror...The Horror
I love horror.
I have since I was a boy.
When my eldest brother, Greg, graduated High School and later went on to get accepted to West Point on a hockey scholarship (“East Barricade Academy” making sense yet?) my parents, for the last summer he had at home, got him a VCR. You know, those old things that played giant plastic bricks, gave rise to Blockbuster video, “Be Kind,...
The Problem with Sequels
Here’s the problem with video game sequels, as opposed to linear/film ones.
In a game, the users are used to the cadence of the experience. However airtight each game mechanic is. They are, quite literally, learning a new “language” with each new game that they’ve never laid their hands on before. (Case in point: From Gears 1 to Gears 2 we changed the firing speed of the...
"Fly Safe!"
As you may or may not be aware, I’ve flown a lot in my adult life. Since I had an early start in the Videogame Biz I signed up with American Airlines and I’m at roughly 2.2 million miles on that one carrier alone. (Ask Mark Rein what he’s at … hoo boy.) I’ve learned a lot in the process, and I’d like to share a few nuggets of knowledge.
Always fly early,...
Raleighwood
When Lauren and I first started dating and I told her that Raleigh was in “The South” she giggled, as she’s from New Orleans, and she claims to know what the “real” South is.
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in New England and I lived in Southern California for a while until Tim Sweeney and co decided to set up shop here, in North Carolina, in 1998....
Hip Hop and Race by way of a White Dude
In my Twitter rant that I posted a few days ago I forgot to mention that I also happen to love hip hop.
I’m no where near as schooled in it as I should be. And it’s probably because I’m a white guy who was raised in the suburbs and it was the “cool thing” to like.
Or maybe it’s like Chris Rock said “Whatever music you were listening to when you first...
4th and Inches for Sony
So Sony showed their goods and came out swinging last night. The show started slowly and got progressively more interesting as the night went on. I’m not going to do a live blog of it (I already did a smarmy twitter rant for the first hour or so) but I will post some thoughts on what I saw.
My old friends at Epic continued with the sequence/story of their sweet tech demo. Nice to see such...
How's the water in there, Neo?
When Twitter stormed our digital world a few years ago I LOATHED the idea of it. I enjoyed Facebook for personal friends and family; seeing pictures of my nieces and nephews as they grew or checking in on old friends’ trips is always nice. Some folks think social networking makes us talk less. I’ve found the exact opposite to be true. If there’s a person I haven’t seen in...
I PUT KETCHUP ON MY KETCHUP
A friend of mine’s lovely wife posted on my Facebook feed recently about how she finally got her son to eat a total of 5 chicken nuggets and how they didn’t almost get that far because they ran out of ketchup and how he couldn’t eat it without the ketchup. Now, I’m not a parent, and I’m not posting this to take a dig at her. (Lord knows parenting is one of the...
In Space, No One Made Me Scream
I beat Dead Space 1.
I nearly beat Dead Space 2, but I got so frustrated with one section near the end in which I was trapped in a room with regenerating Necromorphs that I shelved it. (This was after the amazing “needle/eye” bit.)
I come from a long history of loving sci fi, in particular, scary, gritty sci fi. Growing up I was more about “Aliens” than “Star...
Romy & Michelle
I recently received a friend request from a person known as my high school reunion coordinator on Facebook.
Yep, it’s that time. Time for the 20th reunion in the fall.
Mind. Blown.
High school is such a weird, crazy time for all of us. Clearly most people feel this way, with pop culture’s obsession with it. I think my mid 20’s Buffy obsession stemmed from some weird High...
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m frequently asked a lot of questions on Twitter and other social sites, so I figured I’d compile this document. It’s also a great chance to clarify many things about my career, my personal life, and what I believe in general.
I’ll update this as needed.
Q. Where are you from, and where have you lived?
A. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I grew up in North Andover, Mass. At the age of...
