PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE 2

This afternoon, the game I’m working on was announced to the public at E3. I’m proud to be working on Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. I really wanted to work on the first game but there wasn’t a right opportunity to do so while I was at PopCap Vancouver. I’m glad to have finally made it onto the team now. The game plays great and though this is certainly personal opinion, I think it’s the best game being developed out in Burnaby right now.

As to be expected, the public’s opinion of the reveal was mixed. Those with less than positive comments mostly come from a place of ignorance as they’ve never really played the first game nor bothered to read the strong reviews. On the other hand, there were lots of enthusiastic responses as well. We revealed a game mode that fans had been asking for since the first game and that made people happy. In general, I’m pleased to be working on a colourful, light-hearted, family friendly, third-person shooter, which is a rarity in the market these days. I’m especially stoked when I hear parents say this is the one game they can play with their younger children but both enjoy just as much. I’ve been told the telemetry shows that adults and younger folk played the first game in relatively equal numbers, a good feat for any game.

Anyways, there’s still lots to be done until the game hits shelves in the spring of 2016.

THE BIG REVEAL

Though I’ve been back at EA since March, I’ve had to be silent on what game I’m working on. I could only tell people that I was on the Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare team. You could probably guess what I’d be logically be working on but we’ve been told to keep it hush-hush, even though the CEO spilled most of the beans in May.

All of that changes tomorrow when the first press conferences start at E3 2015 in Los Angeles. Our game will be officially announced with a really entertaining trailer that the team got a sneak peek of on Friday. I’m looking forward to sharing it tomorrow. It’s my belief that the veil will be lifted during Microsoft’s event at 9:30am PST. I know I’ll be watching! The gaming public is extremely fickle and hard to please. I hope they’ll like what they see from us.

DON’T PLAY (FINANCIAL) GAMES

Always be closing!

As some of you know my current mortgage is nearing its end of term in July and I’ve been looking for a new mortgage product since April. I was happy with my current lender but their renewal terms were less than ideal. With interest rates lower than when I first negotiated my existing mortgage, the new offer was at a higher rate. That didn’t make sense. I wrote an e-mail to one of the retention dudes at the lender where I specifically told them my mortgage broker could easily find me a better deal but I was willing to see if they could improve on their initial offer. The retention dude did get back to me with a slightly better deal but only with a much more restrictive mortgage. If I wanted such mortgages, I could go even lower than what they countered with at another lender. Also important to note here is that they informed me these would be their “final” rates. To me, this seemed like they weren’t willing to go any lower or negotiate any other terms. I respected that and decided to give my broker the go-ahead to search out other mortgages with a better rate and more flexibility of terms and conditions.

It didn’t take long for my broker to find a deal that allowed me to pay less per payment and that still had flexible clauses like paying out early or converting to a fixed term. For the last several weeks, the new lender, my broker, and myself have been working to set up the new mortgage. Just today, my current lender received the request to transfer my mortgage out to another party. This would have been their first official indication that I would be leaving them as a customer. I immediately received an e-mail from the same retention dude, asking for authorization of the transfer. He also wanted to know why I was leaving. I explained to him that I got a better rate and more flexible terms with the new lender. Incredulously, he asked me if I was willing to stay with them if they matched the rate. I declined the offer almost instantly for a few reasons. First, I’ve been dealing with my broker and the new lender in good faith and I don’t renege on business matters in this fashion. Second, this last second offer when I was told the earlier offer was “final”, smacks of, well I’m not sure if the word arrogance is correct, but more like ineptitude perhaps. Why not put all the cards on the table right away? They knew I was going with a broker and shopping around! Why say that was the final offer when it really wasn’t?

Like I mentioned, I declined the offer and all the particulars are now on their way to the new lender. I found the actions of this one retention dude to be disappointing as I don’t think he conducted this whole matter in the best way possible. I’m definitely not mad or angry at him but it’s just so odd he decided to attempt to keep my business in this matter.

GROW-OP FIRE

The above video shows a house on fire in Vancouver. This happened last week. It turns out the house was a grow-op. Notice how the firefighters attempt to prevent the adjacent house from also catching on fire. I believe they were successful. I wonder how easy it is to clean off all that foam from a house?

LIKE CHRISTMAS

After work this evening I went to the post office to pick up my used PS3 that I had won in an auction. I was sorta excited to get it but I was mostly just wanting to see if it worked properly. After all, this was pre-owned console and I wasn’t sure if it was damaged during shipping.

When I opened the box, I was expecting a lot of cosmetic damage as the description said there would be scuffs and scratches. I didn’t see any of that but there were two missing rubber feet on the bottom of it, which was in the description as well.

The console powered up fine and there appeared to be no errors. I quickly checked but the previous owner had not left any homemade porn on the hard drive. The PS3 did need to be updated though as the latest software for it was released just ten days ago.

My 14-day warranty starts now though, so I decided I’d better put it through its paces now rather than later. I immediately started playing a Blu-ray disc to test the disc drive. The picture quality was great, though not that much different from my standalone player. I left the movie playing for the whole two hours or so while I made dinner, ate, and wash the dishes. I wanted to see if it would overheat or if the drive would fail. Nothing like that happened though and the movie ended.

Next, I put in a game that I had borrowed from the library at work. It also booted up fine. Though the first Uncharted game was and is still highly regarded as one of the best early PS3 games, it was easy to tell the world has moved on. I’m currently playing GTA V on the PC and there is no comparison. Alas, I got the PS3 to play the classics I missed out on so it’s ok if the games aren’t as shiny as the current generation of titles.

I’m happy to own a Sony product again as the last thing I had of theirs was a Playstation 1. I’m looking forward to 2024 when I should be just getting my PS4.

SLEEP

I’m super tired tonight so I’ll keep it short. I think in the last two days I probably should have about four more hours of sleep than I’ve had, so I guess that accounts for my fatigue. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip of a man trying to sell a plasma TV.

FRENCH FRY GUY

On the weekend, I had a craving for some McDonald’s french fries, so I gave in and had some. I’ve loved french fries all my life but have consumed them in moderation. The guy in the video above loves french fries more than I do and there is no moderate consumption.

“Eric” obviously has a few issues that has caused his obsession with french fries, which leads him to consume well over a pound of potatoes a day. I’m not sure how he’s not nutritionally deficient. He must be. I’d love to see a work-up of his blood. He also doesn’t seem to be obese. The biggest surprise? This is a man with a fiancĂ©e and children. How does he pull that off with a french fry only diet?

It’s been four years since this video was shot, I wonder how he’s doing now?

CELEBRITY CREEPER

I follow actor Kalpen Modi on Twitter. He’s got a pretty interesting feed as an entertainer and also as the former Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement for the Obama administration. He also likes to post pictures of men leaving washrooms who didn’t wash their hands.

Last week, it looks like he was taking the subway in NYC, just like a regular dude does when he caught someone trying to take an inconspicuous picture of him. Here’s how he Tweeted the situation:

Kumar!

I love how he totally called out this random woman for taking his photo in an awkward fashion and took his own photo! After seeing this Tweet, I wondered if this woman knew he had a Twitter account and would see herself. We only had to wait a day for her to step up:

Props to her for admitting to the deed and posting the actual creeper photo for all to see. Now we know what it looked like from both sides! If you want to see the full exchange, look here. I had to use screenshots of the Tweets because WordPress wasn’t embedding them properly.

PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

There are some drawbacks about being a temporary full-time employee like I am right now. For example, I don’t get the full range of benefits like RFT employees do, including stock awards, which I would love given how high EA’s stock is currently. There is one advantage of being a TFT employee though and that is I don’t have to do performance reviews. Even Conan O’Brien has to do them at his show, as shown above.

PLAYSTATION 3

PS3!

Almost a decade after it debuted, I now finally own a Playstation 3 console. If this was 2006, I’d be the envy of a lot of people when I put my PS3 next to my Xbox 360 on the shelf. Since this is 2015 though, I’m sure more than a few people are assuming I’m still jobless.

I acquired the 160 Gb Slim version of the PS3 through the Best Buy Canada employee auction web site. They give access to regular people if you’re part of their Reward Zone club, which costs nothing to be a part of. This site sells off, eBay style, items that might be slightly damaged or cosmetically imperfect. Some items are in perfect condition, while others can be missing parts, manuals, cables, and the like. The status of any item is clearly stated in the auction description.

The auction ended at 5:30pm today, while I was still at work. About a minute and a half before the auction ended, I jumped in with my bid. Unlike eBay, each time you bid, you bid the maximum amount you’re willing to pay and system bids for you. My limit was $70 before tax and shipping. To my delight, when my bid went through, it only bumped up the high bid a dollar to $42 and I was the high bidder! For about 45 seconds it stayed at $42 as I refreshed the page. I was very pleased at this point but then with 30 seconds to go, there was a flurry of bids. When it was all over, someone had pushed the high bid up to $68, just two dollars away from my limit. Those idiots cost me an extra $24. I wonder if anyone got angry they were just $3 from taking the PS3 from me. After taxes and shipping got added the total came to $92.

I’ve watched PS3 ads on Craigslist for months and the $92 price is fairly good. This particular unit has a few cosmetic scratches but has been tested as functional. It is missing some rubber feet but I think I can live with that. If it bothers me that much, I can go to the dollar store downstairs and buy some of my own to replace them. It also doesn’t come with a PS3 controller, which might be the worst thing about this deal. Fortunately, I’ve already had a few people offer to lend one of their controllers. One benefit of this sale is that it comes with a 14-day money back warranty, which a Craigslist deal might not have.

Now that I have a PS3 console, I’m looking forward to catching up on all the PS3 exclusives that I’ve never played before: Metal Gear Solid, Uncharted series, The Last of Us, just to name a few. It will also replace my standalone Blu-ray player which I can sell and perhaps recoup some of the cost as well.

I can’t wait to party like it’s 2006!