HOW I SPENT MY THANSKGIVING VACATION

Hope you all had a great holiday. I sure did.

But now I'm sick at home with the flu, tho. So my 4 day weekend has become a 5 day weekend. Feel bad as I was going to head to Utah tomorrow for a marathon tweak session. Oh well, we'll do what we can with video chat and net play and I'll try to head out next week.

So yeah, the holiday was great. Saw a few flicks with my wife and brother (who came down from Los Angeles). One of my favorite parts about Thanksgiving and Xmas holidays is seeing movies. I could not talk my wife into checking out Bond, which is what I really wanted to see. But as you married folks out there understand, sometimes you gotta give up a bit to get alot :)

So instead of Bond and The Fountain (both of which I will see sometime this week if I feel up to it), we saw:

Bobby was a good movie but it was also an odd movie. It was well made and kept me interested the whole time. BUT I really wanted to see a film about the life and/or impact of Robery Kennedy. I know little about him as he was killed before I was born and I was eager to get an entertaining history lesson. Sadly, Bobby ain't that. 95% of the stories that lead up to the shooting of Bobby Kennedy seem to have nothing to do with Kennedy. The stories told are about folks who were in the hotel the night he was shot, yes. But you struggle to figure out what most of those stories have to do with Bobby Kennedy. Sure, if you really dig deep you can connect a few of the stories to the ideals and ideas that Kennedy preached about, but that's only for a few of the sub plots and even then, you're digging semi-deep to make those connections. Still, good flick. Interesting and Entertaining the whole time thru. Catch it on video. And hey, it made me and the wife tivo a bunch of Bobby Kennedy docs coming on this month as we DO want to know more about him.

We also saw:



The Queen was also entertaining but left you with a sort of 'meh' feeling. Maybe if you give a shit about the Royals it would have more impact. But as the whole film seemed to be a question on the validity of the Royal Family in modern times, and since I have always thought the Royals- as an institution in our modern times- are pointless at best, and arrogant at worst, it was hard for me to care about the film's struggling with this very issue. My mind about the Royals has been made up since my mom- who does dig the Royal Family- woke us up at 5am to watch the Princess Di wedding some 20 something years ago. It was neat I guess but even as a kid, the Royals just seemed a concept that did not fit with modern times. That said, there IS something cool about an institution that has been around for over 1000 years. The film does make you at least respect that aspect of tradition.

Anyway, what else did I see? Oh yeah, I saw this:


For you younger readers out there, that's Geroge Burns as GOD in the movie OH GOD!

Ahem...anyway!

So the point is, me and my brother took some stuff into our lungs over the holiday that shifted the way I saw the world. I don't do it all that often and when I do do it, I take alot of the stuff in as I want to see how far I can go. But this time, I'm totaly out of my mind, time is shifting all over the place ('temporal hallucinations' is what my brother called it) and I'm standing on my deck looking up at the stars and suddenly I become aware of God. As an agnostic, this is a rare thing to be sure. So I also become aware that the reason I can see/sense him is because of the shift my mind has taken. And I ask him:

How come you are in here? How come you make us go thru this shift in order to see you? Why do you hide from us?

And I hear a voice in my head that says: I'm not hiding from you. It is you who is hiding from me.

And then I see a shooting start.

I shit you now.

Wow, that was some good shit!

Ok, speaking of shit, that's what I feel like. Gonna go lay down and try to sleep this thing off.

Talk to you guys soon. Hope you all had a great holiday too!

David

ps. thanks for the heads up on the Wikepedia entry. I have deleted that last paragraph only because it simply was not truthful. I am 1000% ok with people ragging on me thru the entry but I'm not cool at all when they post stuff that is not true. For the record, I was never fired off GOD OF WAR 2 and while some members of the team may find me hard to work with- as I find some members of the team hard to work with as well-I think we all respect each other and what we each bring to the table. So the working relationship with the team was never the reason I did not direct GOD OF WAR 2. The reason I did not direct GOD OF WAR 2 was that my personal life was suffering in a significant way because I was never home. And my health was suffering as I was never at the gym. As much as I love my work, I love my wife and kids more and was not going to sacrifice them again. And the PSP project died because it was just not a good match with the developer (who was slammed with the epic that is WarHawk). So we did something me and Scott are passionate about anyway, which is the small games space.

HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY!

Hey guys...as is the case these days, been swamped.

Just wanted to say: HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!

Enjoy all the great things you have...I know I will!

And WHATEVER systems you've got, find a great game and dig in. One of the great pleasures of Thanksgiving is all the great games that hit the weeks/days prior to the long weekend.

In the past, my Thanksgiving games have been:

Diddy Kong Racing
Bajoo Kazooie
Rygar


Now it's all about me deciding if I am gonna try to finish GEARS OF WAR or jump into OKAMI, FF, or BULLY!

Gotta run, be safe, have fun, and I'll chat with you guys after the break (i.e. start of next week)!

David

PARTY AT THE MANSION!

Just woke up...last nite Gametrailers.com held a great party at the Playboy Mansion and me and a bunch of Sony folks made the trip.

Overall it was a really fun party and a great time. I had never been to the mansion and knew I'd kick myself if I didn't take the opportunity. I almost didn't go as it was raining in San Diego yesterday and the freeway was jammed and I was almost like: screw it.

But something in the back of my head was like: dude, in 50 years someone will ask if you ever went to the mansion and you'll kick yourself if you have to say: nope, missed my chance.

So I turned up my Ipod (new Dixie Chicks, new John Mayer, some new podcasts) and headed north.

Glad I did as man, it was lots of fun.



Here's me and Scott Campbell (Incognito) chomoping on some stogies and having a total Entourage moment. Save for the fact that we don't have an entourage...but what the hell.



Here is me with some bunnies:



So they really do have the bunnies around the party, taking pics, giving tours, and in general being very nice and friendly. It's pretty clear they are 'doing a job', much like the E3 booth models but it's still pretty cool.

Ok, so the GROTTO really does exist. And they really do have naked women swimming around in there. I don't want to think about all the sex that has gone on in that pool over the years. I sure as shit would not jump in. Well...ok, maybe I would. I don't know...I'm torn :)

The POINT is: naked playboy playmates in the water! Very neat! Here are some blurry, hard to make out pictures I took with my cell:





This one above is hard to make out...naked woman with a beach ball and a drink...man I need a new phone!


So THIS one above is my fave...two very beautiful women swimming together. They were hamming it up for the crowd, making out together. It was sweet. But there was something very HARD ROCK CAFE about it all, as well. It was like the whole thing is a bit more like a tourist trap than the REAL DEAL...I mean Hef does still live there (not that we saw him)and there are bunnies around and stuff...but it felt...like the energy you associate with Playboy, the sexual charge, the hedonistic lifestyle...it all felt manufactured. Fun, but not real. It was like the real debauchery was happening in some hidden underground club in Mid-Wilshire; or at some movie director's house hidden deep in the Hollywood Hills.

But what do you expect? If there really was a wild and crazy party spot, it's not like game biz folks would even know where it was! At least MOST of us. It's not like we- in the biz- are known for lavish, wild, out of control parties....or lifestyles, for that matter. You may not have heard, but quite a few of us are nerds (and proud of it, thanks very much).

But hell/still, maybe we should recruit an industry person to be the keeper of the one, totally crazy ass party that gets held every year. Where coke is being snorted off the bodies of $10,000 a night hookers, people are crashing exotic sports cars...that kind of stuff. I have some folks in mind who would be perfect to hold such a shindig...but I ain't telling you who!

Hell, maybe there already IS such a party and I just never get invited?!?! Oh, the shame!

Ah well...what else happened?

So I get drunk and Jeff 'let's fuck with Jaffe's career' Resse- who is a MARKETING guy- brings me in front of the gametrailers.com cameras and we just go at it, tossing insults, doing a totally drunk interview, screaming at the camera (I think at one point I told EGM to fuck off for calling me THE KING OF BULLSHIT in this month's Q-MAN!)...it was total fun and I'm sure I've just made like 100 more people on the message boards hate me because of it. Ah well :) Watch for it....I hope they do some editing! Be nice, Gametrailers!

But overall it was a great, great party. I met tons of nice folks, saw a number of old friends, and just dug having a guys nite out (smokes, drinks, naked women all around, and lots of laughs). I also met a good number of people who are fans of the work we've done over the years and that is always nice. It's always nice to know that our work has really meant something to people...how cool is that?

Ok, so I gotta get going with the day. Let me leave you with this last pic which I think- for so many reasons- has to go down as the creepiest picture I've ever been involved with. I look just strange...the woman behind me- who was really nice and sweet- looks freaky...is she scared? Confused? Mischevious? I have no clue...and the whole composition is just odd...whatever.I hate this pic....but I hate it so much I wanted to share!

Here it is:


What the fuck, right?

Anyway, talk to you guys later!

And thanks again GAMETRAILERS.COM for the great party...

David


ps. gametrailers.com has put up a new CALLING ALL CARS trailer...It's not my fave as I still don't like the video footage captured...but it's decent. The next one I am gonna make sure we get some better footage in...whatever. Check it out and let me know what you think! Thanks!

DOWN AND DIRTY POST

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EDIT: Oh COOL! I just signed into the Playstation Network for the first time so Adam and I could go online with CALLING ALL CARS! and do multiplayer on ps3 (we've been doing net games on PC for awhile). So ANYWAY, since I'm one of the first people IN THE WORLD to sign up, I got my pick of ANY FUCKING user name I want! No more of this SPIDERMAN432 or INDIANAJONES324! Fuck that! Bad news is, before I realized it, I entered sweettooth....which is ok, but I want INDIANAJONES!!! Now I just gotta figure out how to change it before I am stuck with sweettooth...which I would not mind, but hey, I got all the choices in the world!!!
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Swamped at work these days, not much time to post.

So some quick, quick hits:

DEMS WIN: Thank God, man! That's all I have to say. I'm no Democrat but hell, it's time for change in this country (and the world) and so sweet to see alot of the corrupt neocon Republicans get the boot. And no more Rumsfeld! Sweet! I'd like to see the Dems keep both houses and then get a smart pres in for 08...I'd go for Mcain or Obama at this point. Anyway...sweet!

RUMSFELD: I have NO issues LOOKING INTO impeaching Bush and no issues LOOKING INTO bringing Rumsfeld up on charges for some of how he ran the war (and Abu Ghraib)...but there is something odd and just wrong- to me- about GERMANY bringing Rumsfeld up on charges...To very badly paraphrase Bill Maher: he may very well be a criminal but he's OUR criminal...let us deal with him.

XMAS MUSIC: I know, I know it's November 10th but hell, I just can't stop listening to it. I went to get my wife some stuff at BATH AND BODY WORKS the other day and the store was already decked out and blasting the Xmas tunes and hell, I went and caught the fever. Walk into my office these days and there's a 95% chance I'll be listening to this:


GEARS OF WAR: Have not gone online yet (I hear online is where it's at)...but the first 15 minutes of the single player I was like: meh...what's the big deal? But then something happened, but now I LOVE it. At first I was like: eh, it's a souped up, sweet looking Kill.Switch. But then- after they got the training out of the way- it really takes off! It really is a blast and a testament to the idea of how great it is- in a game design- where you drill down to one core idea and make that one core idea better than anyone else ever has. Amazing game and again, I have not even tried multi-player!

OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO- Anyone been? Taking my wife tomorrow on our weekly date and I was wondering what to see, where to eat, etc...or is it just too toursity to bother?

CONCEPT ART- Hey, here's some more sweet John Wu concept art from CALLING ALL CARS! I love this stuff! Check it out:




HIGH FIVE!

Ok, I know Borat is in line to be almost as over quoted as Napoleon Dynamite and Austin Powers but hell...I can't help it. I've loved him since the HBO show...

Anyone, gotta go. Got a new build of the game coming and we gotta get to playing!

Have a great weekend ya'll!

See ya!

David

BOBA FETT?!? BOBA FETT?!?! WHERE!?!

Me and some of the guys from Incognito went ATV riding in the dunes last week. I had never done it before and had a freaking blast! Just a great, great time. Thanks Incognito!

So hey, I am glad I don't own an ATV as I would be out riding the dunes 2-3 times/month. It's that much fun...even tho I was sore as hell the day after, I still wanted to get right back on the thing the very next morning!

But man, I flipped the dam 600 pound thing my first time out, I just don't trust myself on them. So I don't see this being a full time hobby cause I know I'd hit a rock just wrong or take a slope too fast and do some serious damage to myself. But man, was it fun!

Here's some shots!



Here's me and some of the key folks from Incognito. Scott Campbell- who runs the joint- is taking the pic. That's his son, Jake, there on the far right- in the yellow. Keep an eye on him...he's gonna be a superstar game designer one day.




Me and Kellan Hatch (where the pilot in Warhawk got his name) and Michael Jackson (different one) with the ATV's behind us.

Here's just some riding shots of the day:














And here are some shots of me and Kellan after we flipped our ATVS! Man, we got lucky...people do some serious damage on these things....someone was looking out for us that day, that is for sure!




Ok, just wanted to share! See, game making ain't all long hours and crazy stress! Sometimes it's really fun!!!

See ya!

David