I am dying in London.
I’m in the UK doing a two day European press event. I seem to have contracted SARS while on the flight over, so any interviews you see are fueled by hefty doses of cold medication and lack of sleep. Luckily, they sell codeine over the counter here - as it’s the only thing that stops the ungodly throbbing in my head at the moment.
But enough whining!
The set up we’ve got over here is AWESOME. It’s an EA Games Label event featuring Battlefield Bad Company, Battlefield Heroes, Mass Effect PC, Left For Dead, Mercs II, Battleforge and WAR. It’s really cool to be doing a major PC-dominated show for once. EA is really dedicated to offering great games for the PC platform, which makes me happy.
We’re each set up in a section of the room, with crazy sets (we’ve got a Marshes-of-Madness set) and a GIANT rotating platform in the middle that the press sit on. The platform moves them around to look at each title in order, which is hilariously awesome to see.
Speaking of awesome. Battleforge. Seriously. You want to play this game. The Hickman came back from a corporate event a few months back absolutely RAVING about it and it did not disappoint. Sadly, their demo was not allowed to be recorded - but they let plenty of folks have hands-on time, so hopefully some bright spark will do a really detailed write up.
Also, the Mercs II guys are a hard bunch to follow when you’re doing presentations. It’s worth your time to keep an eye out for video their presentation online in the coming weeks.
Anywho, pics to follow (assuming I remember to actually take some of the venue tomorrow).
Keep your eyes peeled for even more Yurpian coverage over the next few weeks.
Stuck, stuck, stuck…
…in the airport in NYC. The con went really well. Folks had a blast at the booth, we had a lot of fun talking and hanging out with the fans and - if you don’t mind me saying - we rocked the hell out of the AM panel with a hundred screaming lunatics*.
Definitely keep your eyes peeled for videos over at Ten Ton Hammer. Speaking of whom, kudos to the TTH crew who did an absolute first-rate job setting things up. By far the smoothest large-scale presentation we’ve done in months. PLUS, Jeff, Garrett and his super-fox of a wife Padma came through with the New and Improved TTH shirts - which are (if it’s possible) EVEN BRIGHTER than the old ones. With embroidered personalization, I might add.
Ah, the perks of moderate notoriety.
Alas, we are now stuck here at the airport. Paul has disappeared. The Hickman misses his lovely wife and devoted children. Ah, the price of moderate notoriety.
Anywho, enough babbling for now.
* Dear Lunatics,You made The Hickman very happy with your awesome WAAAGHing.
Pssst…
The Hickman, Paul, yours truly AND the Travelin’ WAR Booth-o-Love - all appearing THIS WEEKEND at NY Comic Con. Play some WAR, enjoy some panels, ask some questions, beg The Hickman for an autograph.
Be there, true believers!
Blame The Hickman.
So… as it turns out, there’s a BIT more to the “Bonus Story” from Paris than I initially offered. I excluded it in the interest of my own sanity and to protect the good, decent folk of The Internet from potential mental anguish. Nevertheless, The Hickman wants the Whole Truth to be known and - as we all know - what The Hickman Wants, The Hickman Gets.
Continue reading at your own risk:
Home again, home again.
We’ve returned from Paris and the jetlag has abated (mostly).
It was a really great event - tons of attendees, lots of really detailed presentations and extended Q&A sessions, plenty of tiny, tiny food. Our partners at GOA went all-out, providing an amazing facility, GIANT Chosen and Witch Hunter statues to keep Jeff and I company on stage and plenty of excellent extra-curricular activities. So a big thanks to those guys for running an absolutely kick-ass event.
News from the front.
We’re in France. We’re getting de-jetlagged. We’ve hit the Louvre (and will be posting a Very Special Mythic Tour later) and consumed something called “Campari” which - as near as I can tell - is iced Lemon Pledge furniture polish in a glass.
As part of my plan to always eat ridiculous, stereotypical foods when visiting Foreign Lands, my first meal was escargot followed by steak tartare:
Au revoir!
I’m off to Paris for our big European press event!
I’ll be back in next Saturday (my birthday!). Have a great week!
P.S. For anyone curious about the countdown ticker on the WAR Europe site, MBJ’s laid down the facts for you here.
Ten Ton Hammer interview
As promised, here’s the write up of the interview Lance and I did with Garrett from TTH at the recent EA Press event.
Home again, home again.
Super-producer Lance Robertson and I just got back from an EA press event in New York City, so keep your eyes peeled for coverage in the coming weeks (hint: Ten Ton Hammer probably got the best interview of the entire event, since they seemed to not be distracted by the open bar OR the free food and because they’re made of liquid awesome - so relentlessly hammer their site until they cough up a report). We showed off live beta goodness the whole time, including some swanky RvR battles that lasted well over an hour as the two sides clashed again and again vying for control of a town in the early portions of the Empire and Chaos territories. So kudos to the beta testers, even though they had no idea we were watching them.
The weather was nutty and I was convinced we were going to die on our way into LaGuardia, but I think it worked out fairly well in the end. The first day it just rained in a horrible, soul-crushing fashion, but the second day was bright and cool. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art while I was there and killed the battery in my camera taking pictures of crazy armor and weaponry. I’ll have to post some shots later, as there were some AMAZING pieces that would (and I realize this is perhaps the geekiest thing I’ll ever write) be PERFECT on a Witch Hunter. In fact, there was an entire wing that I’m convinced is secretly just Witch Hunter tools and supplies with sneaky, fake labels attached to them.
Finally, homework:
Go see: Diary of the Dead
Go play: Zombie Fluxx
Have a great weekend!
Your daily dose of Barnettics*.
Paul’s taken one of his infrequent breaks from running around the office yelling strange things at people to give a speech at the Lift Conference in Switzerland. Here’s his talk:
Make sure you go and lavish him with praise and affection here when you’re done watching it (or before, if you’re a disingenuous sycophant).
* “Barnettics” is a great term shamelessly stolen from the inimitable Kate Flack. It’s only a matter of time before the cult starts up, so get in early!