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Though there was a lot of talk and whispering about layoffs happening last week, nothing materialized. It was actually kinda anti-climatic. A few of us thought if it wasn’t the current day, then surely it had to be the next. This repeated itself all week until we finally got to the end of Friday and there was nothing to talk about.

Tomorrow is the start of another week though and the odds are good it’s gonna be this week. The results of the financial quarter will be announced on November 2, not November 8 as I previously had written. This means there will be only six working days for them to trim their costs before the end of the quarter. That does leave the Monday of the week after this but that would be cutting it real close. My bet is this week. It probably won’t be tomorrow but any day after that is a good candidate.

Stay tuned!

Hey iPhone owners, did you know about this game called Angry Birds? Just kidding, I know you guys have been playing AB since December of 2009. As an Android owner, I only just got this game last week. AB for Android is free but is ad-supported. If my phone can’t connect to the Internet it won’t show the ads so I just shut off my wi-fi. No ads!

Angry Birds is the best mobile game I’ve ever played, with my sample size being like six games. I really like the colourful art style which gives it a whimsical feel. The fact that it’s a physics-based puzzle game that requires skill and strategy is the key to the game. The whole game mechanic works very well within the mobile environment that it operates. The fact that the help or instructions in the game require no written words to get across what your objectives are is a sign that the game simple enough for everyone to understand.

Go try Angry Birds if you haven’t already!

There was some chatter earlier in the week that something would go down at work today. Nothing did happen. The intel I received on the weekend still remains the best piece of information I have so far. Everyone is somewhat anxious about all the rumours flying about. Could tomorrow be the day? The odds of something happening increase for each day as we march closer to the end of the month.

Conan O’Brien triumphantly returns to TV in less than a month. In the meantime, let’s remember some of his previous work.

When I’m not thinking about when my co-workers are going to be laid off, I actually play video games in my spare time. The game that I’m currently playing is Alan Wake. It’s billed as a “psychological action thriller” but it could  be described as a survival horror game as well.

I usually don’t like playing scary video games. The last game of this genre that I finished was Dead Space. Interestingly enough, I don’t classify zombie games in the horror genre. To me, anything to do with zombies falls into the action/adventure category. It’s certainly not light-hearted material but it doesn’t make me check underneath the bed either.

Alan Wake on the other hand, is a game I wouldn’t want to play with the lights off. So far, most of the game takes place in the forest at night where freaky dudes jump out at you out of nowhere. The game does a great job of combining beautiful graphics with rich audio to provide a suspenseful experience. I sometimes have to take a break every ten minutes or so to prepare for the next scary beat in the story. There are also times where I feel like putting the game disc in the freezer when things get too intense. At this rate, it’ll take my two months to finish this game.

Over the weekend I met up with a few of my former co-workers from the old skate team. A large part of our conversation over beers was about the rumours of impending layoffs at EA. The consensus is that there is no doubt layoffs will happen, we just don’t know who will be affected or when it the axe will fall. There were a few theories proffered and a couple scenarios discussed. All seemed somewhat plausible. The interesting thing is, a few of the people in attendance indicated they’d welcome a layoff with a fair severance package. I won’t go into the details of who those people were and why they feel that way.

Today I received one last bit of compelling “info”. I was at a supermarket which I won’t name and ran into a former co-worker whom also shall go unnamed. He indicated to me an actual date for the layoffs. He was clear to indicate this was second hand info but it wasn’t as if this was passed along from ten people down to him. It came from a credible source who told someone he knew and they told him. I will not divulge the date he mentioned because there’s no way for me to actually confirm the validity of that date. I will say, however, the date was a lot earlier than I would have guessed. I wrote in my previous post that anything could happen between now and the first week of November.

This is probably one of the worst waiting games a person can play.

Another blow was dealt to the Vancouver games industry today as Disney decided to cancel Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned which was being made at Propaganda Games. The sudden and unexpected cancellation was followed by layoffs as approximately 100 people were let go from Propaganda. I know of at least four people who were working there. As of tonight, I know three of them made it past the cuts. Unfortunately, one of them was not as lucky. I feel a kinship amongst local people who work in the games industry and because of that, it always makes me sad when I hear about these things. I hope everyone that was affected gets back on their feet very soon.

I wish I could say this was an isolated incident but I don’t think that would be true. Closer to home, I’ve been hearing some whispers and chatter about my own place of employment. I don’t have any hard facts or confirmation, so at this point I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I’ve been in the industry long enough, however, to realize that when so many people are hearing the same type of things, something is going to happen, we just don’t know the when or what. Actually, you can almost guess when something is going to happen. When game companies are publicly traded, as is the company I work for, upper management types like to get their house in order before the quarterly earnings reports. The next quarterly earnings report for us is scheduled to be one week into November. The reality is that for some people who are making sports games out in Burnaby, they have less than four weeks of employment left. I could be completely wrong of course and nothing will happen but it just doesn’t seem very likely.

So if I could be completely selfish for a minute, we can discuss where I might fit into all of this. The game I’m currently working on isn’t done yet and there’s still lots of stuff to finish. My area of responsibility still needs some effort and I’m pretty much the only person working on it. If we were being logical about it, it wouldn’t make sense to lay me off before the next earnings report. Now if we’re talking about laying me off before the financial quarter after March, that might be a different story. Unfortunately, another lesson I’ve learned is that sometimes companies don’t always make logical decisions. Anything could happen.

While today was not a good day for the local games industry, I believe we haven’t seen the last of the layoffs yet. I’m hoping I’m really wrong about this one.

The KFC Double Down “sandwich” is coming to Canada on October 18. If you’re not familiar with this new food item (which has been a big hit in the US), then you’re probably a healthy eater. The Double Down is like a regular sandwich except instead of bread, you get two fried chicken fillets. The “middle” consists of slices of bacon, two types of melted cheese, and some sort of special sauce.

A friend of mine and I have decided we’re going to try the Double Down when it makes its debut here in Canada. It’s probably not the wisest decision we’ve ever made but we’re big fans of fried chicken, so we just have to try it. I know it sounds really unhealthy but compared to other fast food, it’s really not that bad. If you were to eat a bacon cheeseburger and some fries, it’d be essentially the same thing. Now I know both those meals aren’t exactly steamed vegetables and tofu but sometimes you just have to go for the indulgences.

Just to put into context what my friend and I have eaten in the past, we once ate a 15 piece bucket of KFC between the both of us in one sitting. I was in a lot of pain after we did that and I essentially didn’t eat another meal until lunch the next day.

Welcome to another edition of “Did You Know?”!!!

Did you know there are instances where rats have their tails all tangled up together and cannot separate? The entanglement can be quite permanent and the rats are forced to live joined at the tails. This situation is called a “rat king“. Some people don’t believe such a thing could happen but there are instances in which the remains of a rat king have been found. Though rare, specimens have found their way to museums for display. X-rays of some rat king remains have shown breaks in the tails where the rats were knotted up.

The interesting thing is, there is very little historical evidence of anyone seeing a rat king while all the rats were alive.

Since the staff at et.com worked today, I’m giving everyone a day off tomorrow. We also need to air out the fridge in the lunch room anyways. I think someone forgot their egg salad sandwich in there.