Gaming is Stupid

GTA 4 Media: Yes!
Teas’ Tea: Yes!
Mass Effect Planet Exploration: No!
DNF Teaser: Maybe
Dallas Business Journal: Yes
Xenomorphs with normal maps: Yes!
Industry wide Team Fortress 2 tournament: Yes!
Lego Indiana Jones: Maybe!

Superbowl 42: Yes
Juno: Yes!
Cloverfield: Yes
AvP2: No
Mass Effect: Yes
Blacksite Area 51: No
CoD4: Yes!
CoD4 Multiplayer: Yes!

This is a story I wrote on another site in response to someone wanting me to elaborate more on a “chair story” I had referred to that happened during my time at 3DR. It’s not something I wanted to lose to the shifty waters of the Internet though, so I’m re-posting here. It’s left as is except for some typo cleanups and other minor details. Enjoy.

Chem posted:
Chair story! Now!

I’m going to regret writing this and probably get myself into trouble but here it goes. (more…)

The answer is very little.

I’m referring to an article I came across titled “What do these atheists understand of religion?” during my sometimes painful, yet almost daily habit of seeing what the other side has to say when it comes to religion. This article in particular is one of the worst I’ve come across and typically wouldn’t even be worth mentioning. It repeats a lot of the same faulty arguments thrown towards atheists (and some shockingly terrible outright fabrications) but all in all it’s a bit of fluff that goes nowhere.

There was one quote that I found interesting though, as it demonstrated just how distorted her world view really is, and I think it’s a view shared by a great number of people:

“Of the most awesome creations made my man, most were inspired by God – the pyramids, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the temples of India, St Paul’s Cathedral and the works of Michelangelo.”

To that I say: Spirit and Opportunity.

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Kyle and I are watching White Ghost Shivers perform right this minute at the Granada on Greenville… and I was reading up on them on Wikipedia and some reviews on my phone while listening to them and it occurred to me how bizarre it is that this is possible… yet so cool. Then I realized I can write about it at the same time and the absurdity combined with cool factor was too much.

And thus this post was born. Human technology is just simply awe inspiring.

Especially compared to what was possible in the 20’s when the style of music we are listening to was popular.

We’re still growing the Aliens team here at Gearbox, and one of the main things we’re looking for right now are level designers. We’ve got a few slots set aside specifically for first timers or guys who have only been in the industry a short time. A good chunk of this team got started in the gaming community, so it’s cool to be able to have stuff targeted at helping get someone’s foot in the door.

The design team is made up of 80% guys who have 10+ years of first person shooter experience (and it shows in their work) and 20% who are newer but already match the other guys in quality of work and know-how. You’d be working with and learning directly from these guys.

We’re also looking for experienced designers as well, but this message is reaching out to those who might be looking for a chance to prove themselves. Even if you live outside the US, we’ll listen. :) If you are interested… leave a comment or send an email to me (charliew, hopefully you can figure out the rest) and I’ll get you in touch with the people who setup the reviews / interviews, or go to the Gearbox HR page and contact us that way.

Even if you aren’t sure whether you’d be considered or not, doesn’t hurt to try. Awesome work will always trump anything a help wanted page has to say. On a personal level… I was turned down twice before I finally got everything figured out and was accepted to my first “real” industry job, so you’ve got to try!

Feel free to pass this along.

Oh, and yes… the game is shaping up to be a totally kickass Aliens experience.

Oh, and second yes… the game is going to ship in a reasonable time frame. ;)

I spent the past week downloading just about everything from E3 that was available on my 360 and PS3. The items I was most interested in were the press conferences since I’m confident these (or something similar) are going to be decently major mainstream events at some point in the near future and I like seeing how they develop over the years.

Up front I’ll say Microsoft put on the best show and managed to be the console that makes me say “I want to see Aliens promoted there“. While I got a chuckle at watching some of the developers struggling to read from the teleprompter yet act natural… and I wish they would have chosen a better song for Rock Star… overall they got me excited about the console and the games coming out for it. Even when I was looking at the man behind the curtain and playing “let’s translate what these statistics really mean” with Kyle.

Honestly, they just seem to be having the most fun.

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Keith, Daniel, Kyle, and I are going to Video Games Live tonight in Dallas. Should be fun, and it’s hard to go wrong with a symphony playing video game music you love. We got one of the private Loge boxes so Keith and I can stretch out properly with our long legs. I’m doing the developer Meet and Greet afterwards which should be interesting.

 They asked for your top 5 game credits. Hmm….

That’s a tough one to explain when you’ve been in the industry for 10+ years and your most recent real credit is almost 10 years ago. *sigh*

Update: It was pretty fun… though I do have some feedback I think I’ll be sharing with them. They need to embrace the “Live” aspect of Video Games Live more. Much of the time I felt like I was just watching promotional videos for video games and could totally forget I was with a live orchestra.

Here are a few pictures from the Meet and Greet afterwards.