HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Well, that's a wrap ya'll.

Cutting out early to get my last minute presents for the kids and then it's off to Big Bear for the holidays. I will prob. work a little here and there over the break but I am also gonna try to relax. Since blogging is fun for me, I'll prob. post before the new year. But if I don't it just means I'm relaxing on the slopes (the inner tube slopes, that is) with a cup of hot chocolate in my hands!

Thank you all so much for your interest, support, and kindness over this last year. I know it means alot to me, and I'm pretty sure it means alot to the members of the teams that are making all these games that we hope you will love.

You all be safe and have a great, great holiday! Talk to ya'll soon!


David

CALLING ALL CARS INTERVIEW

Firing Squad has just posted an interview about our new game...check it out when you get the time:

www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=13647

There were some original concept art shots I sent along with the interview but for some reason they are missing...grrr!!!

Either way, should give you a better idea of where we are with the title.

Thank you Firing Squad for the opportunity!

So, I'm swamped with work right now as there are only 3 days left till the break.

FINALLY got a consumer model PS3 yesterday! Sweet! My HDTV has not arrived from the Sony Store yet so I'm playing on my SD tv...but still, RIDGE RACER is a blast (never played the 360 version), love Ultimate Alliance as well!

I'm Indiana Jaffe if anyone wants to add me as a friend. I will accept all you folks I've gotten to know thru this blog but not strangers (sorry!)...hope to see you guys/gals online!

David

Ah One...Ah Two...Ah Three...CRUNCH!....Ah Three!

Ok, quick update but I had to share.

I am sitting in the Arizona airport right now waiting for a connecting flight back to San Diego. Dad is doing great and I've headed back home. But thank you again for all the great well wishes. I really appreciate it.

So I'm in the gift shop, grabbing a magazine (Discover), a book (Digging For The Truth...some book on Archaeology from a guy who has a show- which I've never heard of- on The History Channel), and a tube of cherry flavored Mentos. And I get up to the check out counter and what do I see? Man, here's what I see:




For me, this is one of those OOOOOHHHHH! I WISH I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT! moments! How COOL and NASTY and SWEET and GROSS is this?!?! Have any of you tried these? They seem pretty popular given how few there are left in the box there. I'm thinking I should go back and get one...not sure what I'd do with it...freak out my kids when they get older maybe? Shoot...I think I may have to go get one!

And it's the REAL deal, folks. At least I think it is. Cheaply produced candy could not get a fake bug that looks that real in there...I mean, it looks totally real. That would be expensive to reproduce. PLUS I checked the nutrition label and there it is, right after sugar (the #1 ingredient)...right on the wrapping it says: Sugar, SCORPION, Flavor #4,etc...

Amazing...

So that's a nice surprise....I love stuff like that.

Ok, gonna go call my wife then surf the net till my plane boards.

See ya!

David

ps. So I sat next to some kids on the way out from Bham. We got to talking and they learnt what I did and thought it was all cool and stuff. I told them I would send them a few Playstation 2 games for free and they got all excited. I gave them the number and told them to have their parents call and ask for me. But now I'm freaked out a bit cause the world in which we live, I could see the parents calling me and being all like: what the hell are you doing talking to my kids!?!?! Man, I was just trying to spread some holiday cheer! I dunno what is worse. The fact that we live in a world where people are so suspicious of kind acts or the fact that we live in a world where- at least sometimes- it makes good sense to be suspicious of kind acts! Can't win! Ah well! Ok, see ya'll!

CALLING ALL CARS GIVEAWAY!!!

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EDIT: Many folks have been sending in their email address....if you want the swag we need your real life address as we are sending physical swag out...thanks!
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If you are old enough to remeber playing the Atari 2600, you probably also remember the ultra cool patches that Activision used to send out. When players sent in pics of their televisions showing that they had achieved a really great score, or an impressive time on one of the Activision games, Activision would send them a little sew on patch. Check them out:




Man, I loved those. Never actually won one, but I loved the idea. For the most part, this sort of thing is long gone; gone the way of the dodo once the game biz got so crazy corporate.

And hey, corporate in some cases can be good. Hell, it's opened up gaming to so many more folks. And that's a great thing. But in the process, some of the magic got lost.

So here's my own, teeny-tiny way of trying to bring back some of that magic. Hell, if we're going to be making an old school arcade style game (which is how we see Calling All Cars), we may as well try to give players the whole old school experience!

So the first 80 readers to send their snail-mail address to CallingAllCars@playstation.sony.com will get a little, cheap-ass surprise.

And when I say cheap-ass and little, I mean it. Don't be expecting a game, or a system, or even a patch. Cause it's not that cool. It's just a little something we cooked up to give out to those who are thinking of giving our little downloadable game a shot.

Hell, I'll just tell you. It's a holiday card with Calling All Cars artwork done by our very own John Wu. It's sweet looking...but it's just a card. But still, it's really cool and hey, if CAC ends up being the next big thing- or even CLOSE to being the next big thing- you could end up with a nice bit of gaming memorabillia on your hands!

So drop us a line and we'll send you a card!

Ok, I'm still in Alabama. My dad is doing well- thanks for all the well wishers- and I should be back working in sunny San Diego on Monday!

Have a great weekend ya'll, and get those emails in if you want a card...our cut off day is Wednesday of next week so we can get them sent before we take off for the break!

David

SWEET HOME ALABAMA!

Hey guys, had to fly to Alabama on short request as we had a bit of a medical emergency with the family. All looks ok but I'm here in the B'ham for at least a few days. Nice news is that I will have lots of quiet time sitting in the waiting room with nothing to do but sit and work on some design issues, answer emails,etc. So silver lining and all that, right?

Anyway, I won't be able to update this week but I thought I'd link to the VERY LONG audio interview I did the other night with the great website neogaf.com! It was fun to do as I just stood out on my deck, looked up at the stars, and gabbed. Not very explosive for those looking for the usual Jaffe bullshit. But it is lots of talking about games, so if you are into such stuff, please check out the link. And if you have yet to go to neogaf, especially the forums, check those out while you are there...one of my fave websites on the net!

Ok, heading off to the hospital. I will talk with you ya'll soon! Here's the link:

http://www.neogaf.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=32


David

From The Mixed Up Files...

One of the benefits of never deleting email is you end up with a crap-ton of history sitting on the server.

I was gonna do a big post tonite but ended up spending most of the nite doing an interview with the great website neogaf.com. Not sure when that interview will hit but keep an eye (ear?) out for it...

...so I was going thru my old emails (dating back to 1999!) and was looking to see if I had anything cool in there I could post. And man, I got LOTS of stuff from way back when.

Here's some of it...I hope you find this half as neat as I do. These are old Twisted Metal:Black character designs. Cecil Kim did these; Cecil is still with Sony and was/is a key contributor to the concept art and look of the whole God of War series. Thanks for all the great work over the years Cecil and thanks for these! I had forgotten all about them! Check them out ya'll:






I dig these; they have a creepy sadness to them. Ahh, I miss the world of Twisted Metal! No plans to go back right now, just thinking how much I dig that world.

Ok, gonna try to do some XMAS shopping online till I fall asleep at my keyboard. We'll see how far I get. And is it odd it's December and I'm already starting to get excited for Comic-Con in July?!?! I'm a freak, I know.

Ok, good night ya'll!

David

SICK NO MORE!

I've been sick for the last 6 days. Viral Bronchitis!

As I write this- at 5:45 on Sunday morning- I'm feeling much,much better. I got up to have some tea and was going to go back to bed, but the house is so warm, the tea is so good, and it occurs to me that I have not stopped by to say hey in almost a week. I hate non updated blogs! :)

But...yeah, this is about the worst I've been since I got mono back in college in like...what was that?...92? But I've been close a few other times this year. Had strep in July, some viral stomach thing about 4 months back. Crazy.

My doc tells me it's a mix of having 2 kids (who bring home every germ under the sun) and simply not getting enough sleep; so my immune system is not as tough as it should be. So, more sleep for me I guess (says the guy who is up at 5:45am surfing the net!)

I know this is even more rambly than my other posts...sorry about that. I'm just coming off the Tylenol/Codine high from last night.

So...

....SO...

...let's close that door and get the prom queen impre-...ah never mind :)

So:

This week, most of all I did was sleep and cough so hard and often that my throat is now nice and razor-blade raw. I did also manage to piss my boss off a bit via a poorly timed, poorly written bad-fever dreamed email rant. But he's cool. At least I think! I like to pretend that I'm like Axel Foley and he's like the Detroit police chief and even tho I can go off and get cocky and loud and break the rules, he knows that my heart is in the right place and all I care about it catching the bad guys. Serious, I like to pretend that. Really.

But so, while sick and lying in bed, I did get a change to catch up on some tv, comics, and a few web sites. So, if you don't mind too much, here's some cool things I found over the week:

COOL THING I DISCOVERED WHILE SICK #1- OUR PROUDEST MOMENT?

Out of all the accolates and awards GOD OF WAR has been given, this one- to me- may rank as the MOST important. A court in Illinois shot down a law which would have forced video games with sexual content to be labeled and displayed in much the same way as pornography. While I am 1000% behind protecting kids and even adults from potentially offensive material via labelling, I think the problem is that games need to have the same opportunities of expression as other media. And since the ESRB says itself that their ratings are more conservative than motion picture ratings, it means that- if a bill like this were to pass- games that contain movie-like content of the PG-13 and R rated vareity would be treated as if they were XXX rated films. For someone like myself, who think some games should be designed for teens and adults (and not kids), this law would have been a very bad thing. So not only was I thrilled when the law was shot down, I was even more thrilled when it was OUR game that was cited as a core reason the court had for not keeping the proposed law alive. Check it out, from a write up on the ruling:

An integral part of the court's analysis was its concern that the statute would criminalize the sale of material "without concern for the game considered in its entirety or for the game's social value for minors." As a case in point, the court looked to the game God of War, which tracks the Homeric epic Odyssey in content and theme. Although that game shows exposed breasts, the court held that "there is serious reason to believe that a statute sweeps too broadly when it prohibits a game that is essentially an interactive, digital version of the Odyssey."

That is from the Internet Cases website and you can read the whole thing here: http://www.internetcases.com/archives/2006/11/seventh_circuit_1.html

Isn't that cool?

COOL THING I DISCOVERED WHILE BEING SICK #2- MOTIVATIONAL GAME POSTERS-
The guys over at neogaf (aka gaming age forum.com) are running a great thread on video game motivational posters. Here's my- naturally- favorite one so far:



I want this full sized so I can hang it in my office at Sony!

COOL THING I DISCOVERED WHILE BEING SICK #3-ALL PRESS IS NOT BAD PRESS!

Over the week, two bits of press that I did hit the net. One was an audio track from last year's GDC; a panel I did with Lorne Lanning from Oddworld. You can listen to it- if you are so inclined- here:

http://cmpmedia.vo.llnwd.net/o1/gdcradio-net/GDCR/gdcr_015.mp3

The other bit of press is from last month's Playboy Mansion Party. This is the video I thought would kill my career as I did it while shit-faced. I also did it at the URGING of Jeff Reese, the marketing guy I share the scene with in this clip. But gametrailers did a nice editing job and made me look- I think- not like an ass! Thanks GameTrailers! :)

Here's a link: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=3455

Oh, by the way, and because some folks have asked: yes I am short. 5'6 to be exact. BUT those two guys you see me with are also TALL as all get out...as in Frankenstein-style! So it really does make me look like some participant in some forced perspective hobbit bullshit.

COOL THING I DISCOVERED WHILE BEING SICK #4- FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE

I've had this flic sitting on my Tivo for months. I watched the first 10 minutes back in August and was like: ehh, this is pretty lame. But something kept me from deleting it. I'm really glad cause I got to watch the whole thing this week and now it ranks as one of my fave superhero movies ever! I know, I know. It's a B movie AT BEST! I get it, I'm no dork. It lacks all kinds of things that make films like XMEN 2 and SUPERMAN 1/2 the kings of the genre...I give you that; no doubt. No argument.

BUT I still really enjoyed the hell out of this movie once it got going. Just like I thought XMEN 3 was the MUCH, MUCH better Superhero Movie this summer (when compared to Superman Returns).

Clearly Superman Returns is a richer, meatier film. Same goes for Xmen 2 over Xmen3. And yes, I admit Fantastic Four is a real stinker in some areas. But you know what? For me, it was really fun to watch!

I think it's the same reason- for you comic geeks out there- I love the easy, breezy, no-one-gets-THAT-hurt Spidey stories by Todd Dezago much more than the current fan fave stories penned by J.M.S. Sure, the JMS stories are more ambitiouys have more of a mature theme, but I like my comics (and comic movies) to be 80-90% fun and 10% angst and dark. But the comic movies these days tend to glom on to the dark, dreary part of comics and the fun stuff tends to get the shaft. So while I do love some of the current fan-fave hero flicks (Batman Begins is a fave of mine), I gotta say, Fantastic Four rocked for me...and has me even more excited now about a film like GHOST RIDER....not to mention FF2..

And speaking of FF2, while I was sick, Fox put out an image of the Fantasticar from part 2. And this thrills me because they got the flying car, they got the Silver Surfer, hell, I hear they even got Galactus. I love it when the movie guys stop being 100% terrified of being a bit silly and embrace the source material. I mean, sure, they gotta be smart, they can't make a panel for panel translation. SOME of the recent hero movies are RIGHT to step even further away from the source material to attract a wide audience. BUT, it's nice to know there are SOME movies that embrace the source material like a 10 year old kid with an 80 million dollar budget!



Gotta run! Take care ya'll!

David