G’day!
Dear Aussies, Kiwis and other fine Oceanic Folk:
That is all (for now).
- Josh
P.S. Call off the drop bear invasion!
P.P.S. We even know it’s pronounced “Ozzie” and not “Aw-see.”
Name calling.
I need to start keeping a list of ways that my name is misspelled in articles. In the past month I’ve seen:
John Drescher
Josh Dresher
Josch Drescher
Jason Drescher
Josh Dressner
Jane Drescher (My favorite - though it was quickly corrected.)
I think I need clearer business cards and a GIANT name tag.
EA Games Spring Break.
Destin Bales and I just got back from the EA Spring Break press event out in San Francisco. This event officially kicked off the EA Games label’s summer press season, so look for more and more coverage in the coming months. As a note, any video interviews that pop up probably feature me SCREAMING UNNECESSARILY LOUDLY. I’m used to doing interviews with tiny digital cameras that have terrible mics, so when the Big Boys arrive with crazy boom mics, I sometimes forget that the top-of-the-lungs shouting isn’t needed. So be nice and give me a pass on that.
Also, while I didn’t get to try it myself, there was a WAR-themed drink available at the open bar during the event. According to the recipe sheet I stole borrowed, the “Warhammer Online” is:
Oronoco rum, freshly squeezed lime, simple syrup and muddled cucumbers, shaken hard poured over ice.
Which sounds a bit like a Mojito - minus the mint. And with cucumber goo. Your homework this week is to make one and tell me if it’s any good. Bonus points to anyone brave enough to film themselves making and consuming it. EXTRA bonus points if you paint yourself green first.
Five years of WHAT?
A bunch of folks have picked up the recent blurb that GameIndustry.biz posted from our conference call last week and there seems to be some confusion on what, exactly, was being said there. The confusion seems to be the result of the use of the term “content” in the actual link-label, as the article itself seems pretty straightforward to me.
Nevertheless, plenty of folks seem to think I was saying that we’ve built half a decade’s worth of excess content (art, quests, additional geography, etc.). Obviously, we haven’t developed five years worth of CONTENT for WAR at the moment. We’ll do that over the next five years (and then beyond!).
The quoted answer was a response to a question about balance - specifically, the boring under-the-hood stuff like experience curves, level progression, etc. that are critical to the game but that are super-dull to read about. Our designers really DO have projections in place for that side of things that lead us well into the future of WAR.
So feel free to correct anybody you see out there in Internetland who’s been confused by the article.
Fan site hunting.
I’m trying to make sure that as many of the WAR fan sites out there as possible are on my radar. If you run a WAR-specific fan site, blog, Paul Barnett slash fiction archive, etc. please post a link to it in the comments so I can be sure to check it out.
Peel those eyes, folks.
Jeff, Paul, Adam, Destin and I did a conference call last night with a large number of fan sites, news sites, etc. As usual, we behaved terribly, driving our poor PR liaison Eddiemae insane and rambling for five minutes at a time, but I think the reporters enjoyed it.
I’m not sure when or how exactly it’ll all come out, but be on the look out for coverage in the coming days.
[EDIT] Vid (wisely) asked for a list of sites that were in attendance. I may have missed one or two, but this is the list I jotted down during the roll-call last night:
High praise from legends.
It’s hard to explain just how much it means to have the immortal John Blanche say nice things about WAR. I imagine only The True Faithful can even hope to understand.
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.
The high point of my week is…
Absolutely fantastic. The Hickman loves it too!