Tuesday, November 08, 2005

What's Going On?

Regarding this Blog lately it’s been either nothing I feel like writing about or its something I that would take some effort to write about and I’ve been too busy.  Yeah I know that is what everybody says but we’ve been gearing up for the Austin Game Conference which was the week before last. I didn’t to go, they gave me the excuse that somebody who knew what was going on had to stay in the office while they were away.  As soon as it was over me and the wife spent a week up at Brampton Island which was pretty nice.  I bought a new digital camera before we went so I might link some pictures. I also have some pictures of when we went to the Australian Zoo a few months ago (That’s Steve, the Croc-Hunter, Erwin’s zoo.)  Cricky Mate!

My other problem has been my big powerhouse computer. It’s been down forever and after doing a fresh Windows install, updating the BIOS and using every diagnostic, virus scanner and ad-aware remover program I could get my hands on I have finally given up and taken it in to work. I bought the computer from the guy who supplies computers for work and I’ve having our tech guy handle it all for me.   The scary thing is this computer has been giving me odd problems too. A couple of time on boot up I have gotten a warning message saying the hard drive is operating outside of normal parameters and that I should back up all my data and contact Dell immediately.

I am still catching up all the crap I missed while I was away.  I just found out Keith Parkinson passed away.  He was my favorite of all the old TSR (Dungeons & Dragons) artist.  I remember when we did DragonStrike I got to convert a few of his paintings into splash screens for the game.  Keith also did the box covers for Everquest before going on to become the art director for Sigil Games.  Rest in peace Keith.

Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons I saw a clip for the upcoming D&D Online game from Turbine.  Umm… what a load of crap.  Plastic models with the second worst voice over I’ve ever heard.  I work with a guy here who used to work for Turbine and I’ve heard some interesting stories about what has been going on there and I believe him. I believe him because not because I did a phone interview with Turbine and they passed on me. I believe him because they did an interview with a friend of mine who I think is one of the best technical game designers I know and they pass on him.  I remember they kept asking me about old Westwood stories instead of focusing on if could do the job I was interview for.  Anyway, I think D&D Online is going to flop bigger than Asheron’s Call 2 whose servers are being shut off next month.

As far as our game goes we got some very good response from the closed door showing at the Austin Game Conference.  I think we will be releasing a teaser trailer sometime soon.

You’ll notice I didn’t bother linking anything in this post.  That’s what Google is for, get off your lazy but and look stuff up yourself.  I really like pretending I actually have an audience that comes here and reads these ramblings.