Acid for Blood

Job News

I left my job at Xfire last month to work at a company that I couldn't speak of until today. It was my first day on the job as a Community Manager for Guild Wars. How cool is it that I've been writing about the game as a player and now I'm working at ArenaNet? Pretty damn cool, I must say.

I relocated from California to Washington last week, and the move and associated stresses have left me exhausted, a bit sleep-deprived, and not inclined to play games, so I don't have any updates on that front. Oh yeah, I played the hell out of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, and I'm looking forward to Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.

I tried to troubleshoot my computer yesterday to no avail. I'm going to try one more thing this week and if that doesn't work, I'll have to reinstall Windows. I'm irked that I'll be losing all those Guild Wars screen shots that I haven't saved somewhere on the web yet. Also, my save game files for Portal and The Longest Journey. Doh. Must back up more often.

Right now I am not sure whether I will continue to write about Guild Wars here or not.

E for All 2007

My employer is dispatching me to the E for All Expo in Los Angeles from 20th - 21st October. If you're at the con, feel free to stop by the booth.

I will be arriving on 19th October in time to attend the Video Games Live concert, though I won't actually be working on the 19th.

I'm not sure if I'll be blogging on this blog since I've decided not to bring my laptop.

I will take pictures of anything interesting and put them up later. My fingers are tightly crossed in the hopes I'll see people in embarrassing and/or questionable cosplay outfits.

We Interrupt This Blog For Awesomeness

I'm going to be busy for a while, so this blog won't be as active. That's not precisely where the awesome comes in though. The awesome bit is that I have recently been hired to do something exciting and new and game-related. A couple of weeks ago, I resigned from my somewhat dull job at one of the largest lobbying organisations in the United States, where I had been working for nearly two years. I will soon start work at a rather more interesting place, this time at a small company (related to videogames) which is owned by a large media conglomerate. I will also be moving from Northern Virginia to Northern California.

I won't be blogging as much until I get moved in and settled in California (and get the internets set up at the new flat). If I do blog, it's probably going to be short and possibly full of fluff and nonsense (not that this site is chock full of terribly cool insight that say, Terra Nova is full of). I am still alive and still reading most of my feeds and blogs when time permits.

Oh, and I won't be able to go to the Game Developers Conference this year. Depending on a bunch of factors, I might be going to PAX, though. The only con that I definitely know I will attend is Otakon because I'm going to be working there, and because a promise was extracted from me. :P

EDIT - 14th March 2007: Looks like I won't be attending Otakon this year. Due to the financial strain of moving, I'll need to tighten my belt, and this means no travel (barring family obligations).

The Life of an Ex-Game Developer

Danc from Lost Garden writes about why he's never going back to working in the games industry:

It began with a common enough tale in the game industry. The project I had worked on for the previous two years was canceled. After all those 80 hour weeks, fueled by a feverish passion to build something marvelous, I was cut loose. I never went back.

There are lots of people like me. In fact there are more lapsed game developers in the world than there are current game developers. Let's look at some back of the napkin numbers. The average career in the game industry is 5 years. With 800 mainstream games a year and an average team size of 40 developers, we have a rough population of 32,000. If 20% leave a year, that's roughly 6,000 new lapsed game developers every year. Over the past decade, that rapidly adds up to 50,000 or more lapsed game developers
...
...Those talented folks have gone out into the bigger world and seen amazing new wonders beyond even the wildest imaginings of their kept game developer brothers. They stay away, not because they are weak or ignorant. Lapsed game developers stay away because they've seen the light of quality pay, reasonable work hour, jobs with meaning, and competent management.

[Read]

Such a Good Customer

I went to GameStop last night. Objective: move my reservation for Killer 7 to some other game. Reason: I want to read some reviews for Killer 7 before purchasing it. The game looks cool and all, but I've been reading previews of its control system which are slightly unfavourable. I am still interested in it, though not enough to buy it at launch.

I decided to move the reserve to Sigma Star Saga, since a side-scrolling space shooter/RPG game sounds like the best game concept ever. I love scrolling shooters, and I love RPGs. I have read good things about this one, and it's a GBA game, so it won't cost quite as much as Killer 7 at launch.

As I was chatting to the manager-on-duty, I noticed a row of cute little plush dogs sitting on the shelf behind the register. I asked him what game it was for. He thought it was for Nintendogs, but it was for Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (also known as Harvest Moon for Girls, because it features a girl as the main character, unlike previous incarnations of the Harvest Moon series). However he told me that if I reserved Nintendogs, he'd give me the plushie. How could I resist a cute little Harvest Moon dog? My Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life plush cow would be lonely! And let's be honest: I've been so interested in Nintendogs right when I first heard about it in the middle of last year. I will buy a DS; it's only a matter of time. It also depends on what additonal colours are released in the US -- yes, I do care what colour my handheld is. So... I pre-ordered Nintendogs.

The good thing about reserving games, at least at GameStop, is that you can move the reservation to a different game, use it towards another purchase, or get your money back, whenever you want. So basically, I have store credit sitting there, waiting for me to use, even if I don't get Nintendogs at launch.

Because I know from experience how much pressure the employees are put under to secure game reservations and subscriptions to Game Informer/GameStop discount cards, it's no big deal to part with $5.00 that I can claim later. Apparently, since I quit GameStop, they're under even more pressure to sell subs and reserves. If they don't sell a certain number of subs/reserves for two or three days in a row, they will get written up. Harsh! And I don't know if people are aware of this, but GameStop employees do not earn commission. Thank goodness I don't work there anymore. I always sucked at selling subs/reserves. Great with customers, bad at selling.

Geeky Gamer Kids

When I worked at the game store, I once had had a nice conversation with a boy about Metroid games. He was cute in a way that only a pre-pubescent, blonde-haired, nerdy game geek kid taking Tae Kwon Do lessons (there's a TKD school down the hall from the store) can be cute. He was rather sweet, actually.

We talked about Metroid Prime and the copy of Metroid Fusion he and his sister were buying. It's always nice to see people who are really excited about games. I don't often get a chance to geek out about games, but when I do, sometimes I act just like that boy -- really talkative, really excited, and super enthusiastic.

A month or so later, he came by and talked about his progress in Metroid Fusion, asking me for some advice on a certain part. I couldn't remember specifically what strategies he needed, because it had been about 3 years since I've played that game, but I tried to help him, anyway.

Metroid is one of those types of games in which you reach can a part that is so frustrating, that you put it down, take a break, and then come back to it. After the break, sometimes lasting a week or more, suddenly the problem you faced before isn't as bad as you thought it was. You mentally bang your head against the wall for being so blind as to not spot the solution, but you solve it with the satisfaction that you solved it, and without a strategy guide. I just told the boy to persevere and eventually he would figure it out.

After the boy left, another customer sort of smiled at me, because he had been observing me chatting to the boy. The customer said something to the effect of, "I'm sure you must get tired of all the customers coming in and talking your head off". And I would have to say that I never got tired about talking about games, especially when I actually knew about the particular game that the customer was interested in. The manager gave me a look, as the boy headed out the door, that sort of said, "I can't believe you humoured that boy. I would have told him to shut up if I had been talking to him". I would have agreed, if the kid had been annoying like most of the kids are who wander in to the store, but this one was able to carry on a decent conversation.

I like talking to intelligent kids or kids who can talk intelligently. They're very interesting. It almost makes me vaguely interested in having one of those things, just to see if my offspring could actually have an intelligent, mature discussion with me. That is such a bad reason to have a child! Thank God I've never been (and I hope never will be) in a position to decide whether or not I should get one of those. The ironic thing is that I'm sure I would make a decent parent.

Have You Got It Yet?

At my particular GameStop, we had some regular customers from the cinema down the hall, including a former employee. When they take their breaks, then come down to the store and chat with us. All of them are fairly cool and very pleasant to talk to. They certainly know their games, that's for sure. They would tell me that sometimes they set up Halo or some other game on the cinema screen when it wasn't in use. Pretty cool, huh? Too bad I didn't work long enough at GameStop for them to invite me to play. Although, I would have gotten owned royally, since I don't have an Xbox or even play Halo. The conversations with them were always a laugh.

I think it was inevitable that all of the movie theatre people got into World of Warcraft. Now, this is a game that I promised I would never get. Indeed, I have sworn off of playing any sort of MMOG at all. I know what my personality is like, and I know, like The Sims, I would become very quickly addicted to a MMOG. I love The Sims, don't get me wrong. I also love RPGs, and I think I would love the community interaction of a MMORPG, despite the many idiots online. The fact is, playing an MMORPG would be like too much of a good thing for me. I already spend entirely too much time online.

When I expressed these thoughts to the movie theatre guys, one of them started bugging me about getting in on the World of Warcraft action, and joining them on their server. Believe me, I was sorely tempted, but I resisted. Monthly fees also helped my resistance. I mean, $15 a month is great if you play it often, but if you want a life, it might not be worth it. Even still, whenever he was on break, the first question he asked when he dropped by was, "Do you have it yet?" This was amusing, and kind of endearing.

Now there is another temptation in the form of Guild Wars. A few months before the release, we had some in-store videos playing with footage from Guild Wars. Oh my God. The music, the graphics -- it looked amazing! All the reviews, both professional and from regular gamers have been mostly positive. However! It's an MMOG! I cannot! Not only that, it has no monthly fees! I can resist, because my laptop is quite shite. However, the family's PC is able to play the newest games. Luckily (or unluckily), most of my family is quite against me using the PC to play computer games. Resisting MMOGs is not that difficult, considering these circumstances.

Now, I may have to make an exception for a certain upcoming game based upon the works of H.P. Lovecraft, however... If I do get it, I hope my family don't mind too much.

We Won’t Miss You!

In the first of several installments, I will recount some of the more memorable moments during my time working in video game retail. Since the events are unrelated, I won't be posting them in any sort of continuity order.

Like many retail workers, I was only a part-time employee. I have an office job, so I only worked at the weekend. My shift on this particular Saturday was no more exciting than usual.

In the afternoon, a man came in. He wanted to return a brand new, sealed game, however he didn't have a receipt. The store manager, who greeted the man as he came in, explained the return policy. We could not accept a return without some kind of proof that it had been bought from one of our stores.

As the manager explained, the man became progressively more annoyed and angry. He began swearing at the manager, saying how our store was horrible, and that it shouldn't treat customers this way, etc. Finally, it got so bad that the manager just asked him to leave. He was getting quite loud, and making a big scene. After the manager asked him to leave, the guy shouted, "I'm never shopping here again! You've just lost a customer!" or something to that effect. Then my manager replied, "Good, we don't miss you!" Dude! That was pretty cool. However, the guy, who was just about to exit, turned right around and started swearing and insulting the manager again. Finally, the manager told him that if he didn't leave, he would call the police. That made the guy a little angrier, and he let off another round of insults and swearing, but he did leave in the end.

Throughout this whole scene, I was just standing there, watching in a state of almost total amusement. It was quite amusing, although if I had been the manager, I would have felt just like him -- angry, insulted, and irritated at the gall and rudeness of this random guy, who could have stolen the game for all we know, and was now attempting to make a profit off of it.

Please respect the people who sell you games, because we have to put up with people like this.

Too Many Games, Too Little Time, and Yet I Buy More

I have no time to play video games. It's horrible. I have too many interests and priorities to be spending them playing games. And yet, I buy loads of them, and the backlog pile continues to rise.

I worked an 8-hour shift today at The G. This is unusual as they generally give me short shifts, even though I am only weekend help. There is a staffing shortage due to an abrupt exodus of warm bodies from the ranks of our employees. The result is that everyone must take more hours.

I put in the employee hold drawer four games: Silent Hill 3, Fatal Frame II, DDR MAX 2, and Final Fantasy X-2. All of them used, except for FFX-2. I'd have held FFX-2 used as well, except the copies we had were in bad condition and lacked instruction manuals. I'm extremely picky about the condition of my games. Perhaps it's a holdover from when I used to collect comic books, but I honestly cannot stand scratched games, bent manuals, and all that shit.

I didn't buy them because I've been spending money on other things lately. I'll just let them simmer in the drawer for a few weeks...

I'm going to have even less time to play games because I finally got a decent full time job. And I work part-time at the weekend. Money is good, but it means less time to spend on my hobbies.

Also, I just started a Dungeons & Dragons game on a forum, so that's eating up my time. Even though it hasn't fully started, I'm sorta buried in character generation. *sigh* And I still haven't talked to the DM this weekend like I said I would.

Oh well.

Killer 7 Reservation

We were hurting for subs and reserves today at the store, so I pre-ordered Killer 7. Having read up on it recently, I'm quite intrigued by the game. Considering the fact that I do tend to like so-called "arty" films, I'm interested in a game that people are calling the very "first video game art film". The concept certainly sounds interesting -- one assassin, multiple personalities, with each personality having a different expertise. Unlike other people with Multiple Personality Disorder, the main character, Harman Smith, physically changes with each shift to a different personality. How handy, because Harman Smith is a 60-year-old wheelchair-bound man. I'm looking forward to it. I hope it turns out to be good. I'm tired of being disappointed when the final release doesn't live up to the hype. Death by Degrees, anyone? Poor Nina. :-(