DEMO TIME!!!

The day has finally arrived!!! I got word the demos are in the office (yes…later than expected…thank you for pointing that out) so I am going in tomorrow morning and getting everything signed and set up. They should all go out by the end of the week. I am going to send NTSC demos to the PAL peeps and then send a PAL demo out when they get out of manufacturing. So those of you who did not get them from the Gamestops or EB’s will have one…those of you lucky enough to get one will now have two. Not sure what the hell you can do with two but knock yourself out!

Let’s see what else is new? I have a meeting tomorrow to discuss some of the early story ideas and work on fleshing it out a bit more. I still have a long road ahead of me before I am happy with everything, but it is a small step in the right direction.

OH! When I went to have dinner with the designers last week I got a pretty damn sweet surprise. They all chipped in and bought me a Wii!!! Pretty fucking sweet huh? Needless to say I was quite shocked…and though it may sound sappy…very moved by that. A lot of people have been asking me when I will feel like I have accomplished something. Will it be when the game is on store shelves and many are playing it? When the gamespot review goes live? Those will most definitely be great milestones but to be honest it was last week at Banderas, (the restaurant we ate at) when I realized how damned lucky I am to be doing what I do. We worked our asses off and we made a game we are all proud of…and I feel like…in some way I have been fully accepted into this team…into this role. That felt good. I don’t get many experiences like that in my life so I am relishing it a bit I guess.

I went down for a meeting with one of our external developers working on a project with us. It was a good time, got to talk shop with everyone and check out the latest progress on the game. It is looking good. I think it is really going to take a lot out of me to keep focus on two games at once, but in the end it will be pretty rewarding…plus I have total confidence in these guys, they are total pros. It made me miss doing animation though. I was chatting with their lead animator about some stuff and just that brief conversation took me back to the days where I just came in the office and put my headphones on and animated for like 9 hours straight. Those were very uncomplicated days. Though I guess if I honestly look back on it I think I actually made them much more complicated than they needed to be. I know I have a tendency to this…it is something I really need to work on. I stress myself out way too much. But such is the nature of the creative beast.

Anyway…it is late and I have to get up for a meeting tomorrow so I will sign off now. Thank you again to everyone for supporting this game and giving all your feedback. I love it, I really do hope you continue to provide it since you are the people we make the games for.

Here are some pics of the sweet wii…though I must be honest it was not everything I had hoped it would be. It was fun…but the wow factor wore off fairly quick. The one game I wanted to play, Trauma Center, was definitely a bit of a let down. The wiimote was woefully inaccurate and sapped the fun of the game. The Wii sports golf and bowling was cool…the boxing is freaking terrible though. In the end I hope to see some cool games come out of it, though it has me worried that the whole “what new thing can you do with the controller” fad will wear off after awhile and I will have left is a much slimmer wireless gamecube. Though the gamecuvbe gave me some great gaming moments so I am not all that bummed. I am still happier playing Zelda on my Gamecube…maybe I am just a luddite like that. Who knows?
















The unopened box...it was like christmas without the time off that I don't get to take. :)















It's a very petite machine with very petite components. Feels like something mac would make...maybe they will...they will make the ultimate gaming/ipod/phone/coffeemaker/toenail clipper that you absolutely can't live without. Thought it will be even smaller...and directly link to your brain, and steve job's brain. It will be the best...and I will buy one.














Very petite...I kind of like that since there really is no space left in my home theater cabinet. Big ups on that one nintendo!














Had a little drama getting the second wiimote to work. I did not figure you had to go in and set the machine to look for it. Maybe you don't have to, but I did. I changed the battery like 10 times thinking I was just an idiot. Turned I am an idiot, just not about the battery. go figure.

Thanks again guys, this was a really really cool gift!

Cory

UPDATE:

I got through signing and organizing of all the demos today so the mailing should start tomorrow. It took a little longer than I expected but it is all done now. Soon those without demos should be enjoying the sugery sweet goodness of the colossus level! And the game copmes out in 19 more days...kind of sucky it took so long for the demos to get to everyone..sorry about that...but better late than never I guess.

We are doing a Launch event at the Metreon in SF on March 12th..well midnight on march 13th I guess...so if anyone who reads ther blog lives near there you should come out and check it out and say hello. I will be there with a bunch of the team members and some of the celeb voice actors and such. Should be a good time.