Soon I Will Be Invincible
Check out my pal Austin Grossman’s DIY cinematic for his cool super villain novel, Soon I Will Be Invincible.
http://austingrossman.blogspot.com/
Loving the life sims…
Since Activision’s Little Computer People, El-fish and forward I have loved life sims. Imagine how cool it would have been for all the little fish in Deus Ex, swimming along the ‘aquatic archetype paths’ through the maps, to be imports from El-fish… Anyway, at last, Spore is coming. I played with it at E3 one year and instantly had fun as soon as I put my hands on the creature creator. I can’t wait. Civ Revolutions soon, then Spore. This is going to be a good year, with these games plus Far Cry 2, Mercs 2 and Fallout 3 coming.
“Dog Callar” ™
Leah and I are still in Australia. Walking back to the hotel, this idea hit me that I love.
Imagine an attachment for your dog’s collar that called your cell phone if your dog ever barked all crazy. (Ie, louder and longer than a specific threshhold.) After calling, the dog’s collar would stay on speakerphone mode.
This would allow you to do two things: Listen for breaking glass or thuggish voices, in case the dog is responding to a burglar. Calm your dog down by telling it to chill the fuck out over the phone.
Pure gold. TELL me that wouldn’t sell like hot cakes.
Avatars
I just gave my avatar speech at GDC (the Imago Effect). It’s like nerd/gamer culture has swept into the mainstream.
UT Video Games Archive
UT hosted a gathering for the upcoming Video Games Archive. Lots of fun, hanging out with people I used to work with, 6, 10, 14 years ago.
These might be the worst pictures I’ve ever taken. Shown here are Richard Garriot, Warren Spector and Rich Vogel.
We drank too much and had a great time. UT is collecting up video game materials for the archive. At the event, people brought stuff like design docs from 15 years ago (that became games like Wing Commander), marketing materials and music from very old games. Lord British brough a roll of yellowing teletype paper from his first game, pre Akalabeth.
MTV Interview for BLACKSITE
Our game is coming together here in Austin. It’s hard work, but I love it. This MTV interview is based on a recent conversation.
Creative Play Day
Work was canceled today as a result of the vast glacier that has crushed the city of Austin. So I just spent the day in front of the fire, working on loose ends and playing with creativity tools. This is a small study from a comic strip I did after my g/f and I both woke up at the same time in the grip of different dreams.
Whoa…weird painting
My friend Warren Spector found this. Haunting, since I had a pug for a while. (Yes, this is only a Boston Terrier, not a pug, but still…) And when I worked with Warren, I had my hair colored and cut like this.
I should get my hair done like this again, buy a Boston Terrier, hang this painting in my office, and sit stroking the little dog when people come into the office for meetings.
If someone asked, “Weird…isn’t it strange to hang a picture of you on the wall behind you like that?”
I would respond, deadpan, “That’s not me. It’s my mother.”
“Would you like some wine?”
New MTV Segment
Recently, MTV visited Austin and our studio (Midway) specifically.
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?name=games&id=1545687