Return of the Mack

Hey ya’ll- feeling like blogging again. I imagine I’ll be doing a mix of twittering and blogging for a bit as the game gets- and stays- crazy busy. So if you follow me on Twiter- and if you don't, what the FUCK is the matter with you?!?! :) - I'll twitter when I do a new blog post as I don't imagine the blogs will be as regular as they use to be (at least not till the game announce happens)...but who knows. I'm digging blogging again so maybe I'll just go back to a regular sked. I will let ya'll know.

So I figured I’d ramble a bit, if you don’t mind:

RAMBLE TOPIC #1: RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

This is me, right now:

Kids are at the grandparents so I got to sleep in and am now about to blog, read the LA TIMES, and enjoy that wonderful blend of Diet Coke, Starbucks black coffee, and just a touch of peanut butter on a cinnamon raisin bagel. Ahhh, the simple things in life do indeed rock much.

RAMBLE TOPIC #2: SONY GREENLITE VIDEO COMPLETE! AND IT'S SWELL!

Well, I have to say, I’m pretty darn happy with our video for the Sony greenlite meeting next week. The gang at Sony San Diego Post Production did an amazing job of cutting and producing a great video. They did an even better job of putting up with my perfectionist tendencies ☺ . So thanks guys! And while the game is still kind of early (the graphics on the video range anywhere from 85% complete to 35% complete) I think the spirit of the game is front and center and anyone who watches it should be able to get a good idea of the kind of game we're making. And that’s why I’m so happy- cause I LOVE the game we’re making! I think it’s really cool and really fun. Will the folks in the meeting this Wednesday feel the same? Hope so! But all you can do is put the vision that you and the team love out there and hope for the best. But for me, I’m real happy with the video and real proud of the team. Will let you know how it goes.

RAMBLE TOPIC #3: BONUS MATERIAL ON OUR NEW GAME...

I think we’ll try to put these greenlite videos on the actual Blu Ray as bonus content so folks can see how far the game has come and as a neat behind the scenes look into the process that goes into ‘selling’ the game to the various worldwide Playstation divisions. I've been doing some thinking lately about our bonus features on the disc and I think there’s TONS of stuff we could put on there for folks who dig that sort of thing.

RAMBLE TOPIC #4: VICTORY!
Holy Hell...Entourage returns in just 8 days!!! Fuck Smoke Jumpers...Vinnie Chase is back! By the way, the game ain't great, but I think it's pretty cool that HBO.COM has a VIKING QUEST hack n' slash Flash game you can play!

RAMBLE TOPIC #5: FUCK HUNG!

As a soon to be 40 year old (2 years away) who is newly separated, the show HUNG on HBO- while well made- is depressing as fuck. I don't think I'll be watching anymore of that, thanks very much.

RAMBLE TOPIC #6: WHEN MARRIAGE 'EXPERTS' GET DIVORCED...

When the ex and I were trying to ‘save’ our marriage, we read a number of books on the subject. If you’ve been married- or are married- you may know the type of books I’m talking about: how to spice up/fix the marriage, how to get the spark back,yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, this morning I read where a woman who wrote one of the books we had read- which if I recall seemed pretty good at the time- is now going thru a divorce of her own. While I feel for her (she’s blogging about her experience and she’s clearly going thru a tough time), this also makes me very happy. I’m not happy that she is in any sort of emotional pain. But I’m thrilled to continue to find out that in relationships- as in the movie biz- ‘nobody knows anything’. Because SO MANY people like to put up this front of 'my relationship is great! Aren't we a healthy and normal family?!?" when- it turns out more and more- that a normal relationship/family is nowhere close to the fairy tale version. And the more the idea that 'normal does not equal perfect' gets out there, the healthier our society will be.

RAMBLE TOPIC #7: KINDLE in the house! Well, it's actually in the neighbor's house...

I finally know someone who has a Kindle! Our across the road neighbor just got one for her birthday! She’s out of town for a few weeks but when she gets back I’m making a point to go over there and check it out. Amazon really needs to partner with Best Buy or some other retailer so folks can get these things in their hands! I hear, once you get one in your hands and mess with it, you HAVE to have one. But alas, Kindle has been out for over a year and I've STILL yet to lay my eyes on a real one. I will still probably hold off on getting one of my own till they do color and they have magazines and more newspapers (that’s the stuff I love to read, versus books). But I’m sure in the next few years I will be a proud member of the Kindle nation...or the Apple version, which- if rumors are true- is coming sooner than later.

RAMBLE TOPIC #8 CURRENT PLAYLIST

Games I’m playing:

HOTEL DUSK- started slow but growing on me.

TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD- LOVE IT! Late to a party that I realize was never much of a party as most folks kind of poo-poo’d this game but I’m really, really digging it. Some amazing looking environments and classic Tomb Raider play...along with classic Tomb Raider problems but those don't bug me too much.

INDY JONES AND STAFF OF KINGS- I’m sorry to my friends at LucasArts but this is a pretty poor game and a sad excuse for such a strong license. No one sets out to make a bad game and- to be fair- there are some great touches in the title that really- in some ways- feel more Indy than Crystal Skull ever did. But the gameplay is dull and repetitive and doesn’t come close to giving the source material the kind of respect it deserves. Come on LucasArts…get with the fucking program and start making games worthy of your amazing talent and amazing IP. And yes, perhaps soon, that will happen...if you know what I mean :)

KLONOA- Just picked this up…eager to get some playtime in today.

PIXEL RANGER-

Holy FUCK! This Facebook app is amazingly addictive! PLAY THIS NOW! Hell, play all the games from METROGAMES on Facebook. They are all fucking great! Although I have to admit, Pixel Ranger was crazy fun when me and a Facebook buddy were jostling for top score. But my top score is 110,000 and then he goes off and scores lke 350,000 and now- great as the game is- I think I'm kind of done as the competition was a huge motivator to keep playing and I have NO IDEA how I could ever get close to that score. Help me Billy Mitchell...you're my only hope!

Ok, enough for now. I think me, the Ex, and possibly her father are gonna go try to find a showing of Food Inc. today before the whole family settles in for the fireworks tonite! We are real lucky that, from a single spot just up the street from our house, we can see 3-5 different firework shows from places all over San Diego!

Have a very safe and very fun 4th for all those who celebrate such things.

Talk soon-

David