Archive for the 'Games' Category

pax08

Let it be known that I love Labor Day weekend. Every year something fun happens. It could be as simple as a Labor Day BBQ or an entire weekend of fun and craziness. There were no BBQs this year, but there was some crazy-fun and more than my fair share of R&R.

The majority of the weekend was taken up the Penny Arcade Expo. I, along with over 50k geeks and nerds, descended up the Washington State Convention Center to over-saturate ourselves with video games, toys, and all sorts of geek culture. I only attended the first two days of the three-day event, but I still feel like I got my fill. I tried out some neat game demos (Afro Samurai was my fave from the weekend). I met up with a few old co-workers from Garage Games. And — my favorite part by far — I got to see Rock Band 2 in action (I didn’t actually play, because I didn’t feel like standing in line for 30+ minutes).

As usual, I had my camera with me, but I only focused it on my friends and our immediate activities. I figured there would enough photos of PAX floating around the interwebs, so I didn’t bother shooting the show itself. Here’s a fun photo of Jason, Montine, John, and Scott playing Rock Band 2 on the Harmonix main stage:

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And here’s a shot of Rachel and her hand of cards in Zombies!!!:

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And then here’s a stupid photo of an inappropriate zombie:

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As with previous years, I had a blast at PAX. It was even better this year, since I knew more people going and could hang out with them rather than wandering around by myself. However, after two days of non-stop geekery, I needed to get away from all of the smelly nerds and bright flashing lights and just chill. The rest of the long weekend was spent enjoying the gorgeous weather, taking photos, editing photos, and playing a ton of Rock Band. I wish I could have long weekends every week.

i finally got my wii!!!

At last Saturday’s party, I met a game designer from Nintendo who said he’d hook me up with a Wii. All I had to do was give him a call, swing by Nintendo headquarters, and buy whatever I wanted from the company store. I ended up walking away with a Wii console, a Wii Play bundle that includes a Wii Remote and some mini-games, and an extra Nunchuk controller. Now I don’t have to go hunting in retail stores anymore. So happy. :)

i worked on these

In the two years that I have been at Amaze Entertainment, I have worked on two published titles: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Over The Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts. I was an animator on both games, and both had really fun animations.

On Pirates I animated all of the bad guy grunts — human pirates, zombie pirates, cannibals, and creepy human/sea creature hybrids, to name a few — as well Davy Jones himself and the Kraken in the final boss battle.

On Hedge I did a bunch of animations for Hammy, most of the animations for Stella and the baby porcupines, and a few cutscenes involving RJ and Hammy.

After almost 9 years in the game industry, I now have 11 shipped titles under my belt. Not too shabby at all. :)

wii is fun

look, it's mii!!!

We had a Wii Bowling tournament at work on Friday. We moved one of the Wii’s to the lunch room and hooked it up to a big, phat 52″ plasma TV. Virtual bowling never felt so good. Anyway, I won my first round match but lost in the 2nd round. I still had a blast, because playing games on the Wii is wicked fun. Plus, I got to see my Mii in action. :)