blog.erwintang.com

Are you familiar with video game conference/convention E3? Do you remember the over-the-top displays, throngs of scantily-clad booth babes, and full-scale assaults on your senses? Yeah, all that’s gone now.

E3, which stands for something new now, has been toned and scaled down. Now it takes place in Santa Monica rather than Los Angeles. The focus is back on the games. They also moved the date from May to July, this week in fact.

If you remember my post over a year ago, I was happy to be part of E3 as a developer via the game I was currently working on. That game was Shadow-Born for the N-Gage, reportedly the most expensive cell phone game in history. Even while I was writing that post, I knew I was flogging a dead horse in a manner of speaking. I already knew the chances of Shadow-Born ever appearing in the marketplace and being actually played by people were almost nil. The N-Gage turned out to be a pretty bad failure for Nokia. As a result, Shadow-Born will never see the light of day.

More than a year later, I’m working for a new company and on a new game. skate will be at this year’s E3. Unlike Shadow-Born, there will be genuine interest in skate from both journalists and regular gamers alike. Also, unlike Shadow-Born, skate will be definitely be released.

We sent out a pretty solid build for E3. I’m hoping we make some great impressions with people this week! Stay tuned for coverage!

I have never been much of a car guy. I have yet to own a car. When I drive, I’m just content to have a car that can take me somewhere. If I ever move downtown, I’ll probably just join a car co-op like Zipcar. Since I was 16, I probably have spent enough on computers, video game consoles, and games equal to the cost of a new economy car. If you consider the cost of my education, what it took to get two degrees, you’re looking at a new, luxury sedan right there. So yeah, I’ve never put a whole lot of value on owning a car.

Last night, I was bored and I typed “Porsche” into the search box on Wikipedia. A few minutes of reading and then clicking brought me to the Porsche Cayman, the new entry-level sports car model offered by Porsche. It replaces the popular Boxster model which debuted at the turn of the century.

I’m not a huge fan of sports cars but this model is beautiful. It’s a great looking vehicle. They did an awesome job of designing it. Then I thought, there’s a lot of dumb things I could do with my money right now and one of them is to buy one of these cars.

The base model Cayman is approx. $70 000 CDN before taxes and all those other wonderful charges. In just cash alone though, I’d have enough for a substantial downpayment. Add in my RRSPs and I’d have about half the car paid off before I even drove it off the lot. Considering that Porsche is comfortable selling their vehicles to people with zero downpayment, there’s no way they’d turn down my offer to by a Cayman. Given my current financial situation, I could probably pay off the car in about three years. Think of it! I could be driving a brand new Porsche Cayman!

So while the above is true, let’s turn common sense back on right now. At this point in my life, I should be saving money for retirement and/or the possible purchase for real estate. My money should grow, not devalue the instant I drive it off the lot (no matter how freaking hot the car looks). Let us not forget I have no where to park the car. I’d have to put it outside in a semi-private lane outside the townhouse complex I live in. What kind of person can afford a Porsche but can’t park it indoors? Also, consider what my driving habits are. I tend to drive a car to go to the movies, the mall, and to buy groceries. Do I need Cayman to do that? No. I suppose that once I had such a nice ride, it’d be a waste not to just go on a Sunday drive once in a while. That would probably be a lot of fun, especially in the summer time. Plus, it would be interesting to start dating a girl that just liked me for my car, I’ve never had that happen before. Seriously though, this car would probably sit idle at least five days of the week. I might take it out only on the weekends.

In reality, it would be impractical for me to buy a Porsche Cayman but in some really egotistical and self-indulgent way, I’ll have to be satisfied that I could buy one if I wanted to.

Lots of people have seen the movie Transformers in the last few days. I was, unfortunately, not one of them. I just didn’t get around to it this weekend. It’s probably made enough money already that a sequel is inevitable.

I’ll probably see it next weekend. By the way, if you’re wondering, the above still is actually from the movie. When I was deciding pics for this post, it was down to that one and a pic of Optimus. I flipped a coin. Sorry Prime.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okLWiJJcGgE]

So some dude in Copenhagen recorded about ten minutes of gameplay footage from our game and then uploaded it to YouTube. The above video isn’t the best quality since it was recorded off an LCD TV. It’s the longest and most detailed video of our game currently out on the Internet. The best parts of the video are near the end.

As a developer on the team, we’re really not supposed to comment on these type of things. I will say, however, this isn’t the final game. The video doesn’t show all our cards.

I had a meeting at 11am this morning. At 10:50am, I decided I had just enough time to head off to Tim Horton’s across the street to grab a doughnut. It took me only five minutes to get my chocolate dip doughnut and I was inside elevator #5 at Pricewaterhouse Coopers Place in short order, going back up to my floor. Incidently, the building that EA leases their space from was named Vancouver’s “office building of the year” for 2006.

As the elevator rose to my floor on 12, it stopped like it normally did, except the doors did not open. I looked up. The LED display blinked off. The panel was blank. I pressed the door open button. It did nothing. I pressed for the ground floor. Nothing. I pressed for our reception floor. Nothing. Damn, I was gonna be late for that meeting.

I could hear people on my floor beeping in with their access cards, so I was definitely on 12. I looked at the panel again. There was a button for the alarm and there was a button to call someone. I’ve seen both buttons for over two decades of elevator riding. Today was the day I got to press one of those buttons.

I pushed the call button. To my surprise, someone answered in a less than a second.

“Hello?”

“I’m stuck in an elevator #5.”

“Do you know what floor you’re on?”

“Yeah, I’m on 12.”

“Is there anyone else with you?”

“Yes, there’s a supermodel with me and she’s giving me unwanted advances.”
“No, it’s just me.”

There was a flurry of chatter on the other end. Whoever I was talking to was radioing to other people. I began to eat my doughnut.

“Ok, we’re sending a security guard up to 12 to have a look.”

“Sure.”

“Are you having any medical conditions right now?”

“Um, no.”

“Can I have your name?”

“Sure, it’s Erwin.”

“What?”

“(lowly)Fuck.(/lowly) It’s Bob.”

“Ok, Bob, do you work for EA?”

“You bet.”

By now I could hear someone banging on the elevator door and yelling.

“Hello?!?!?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“What’s your name again?”

“It’s Er-it’s Bob. Bob is my name.”

“Is there someone you want us to call?”

“Is this for next of kin?”

“Oh no! Not at all!”

“You can call my Mom if you want.”

“Are you doing alright in there?”

“Yes, I’m doing fine. I’ve lived a long, full life.”

“Oh ok.”

There was a silence for about a minute. My doughnut was now consumed. Then the voice returned.

“Is there someone at EA that we can call for you?”

“Well, I am late for a meeting, so maybe you can call my manager.”

“Ok, we can do that. We’ll also need your full info so we can compensate you.”

“I’m looking forward to getting that t-shirt.”

Just then the elevator started to move and it went up to 16. The doors opened and I was emptied out into a reception area for some stuffy company. I went around the elevator bank and proceeded into the stairwell. No more elevators for now.

I made my way down to 12 and passed by the elevators to get back into our studio space. There were three security guards there on walkie-talkies.

“You should probably get #5 looked at.”

Then I ran to my meeting as fast as possible since I was ten minutes late already. Turns out the meeting was delayed, so I went back to my desk. Soon after, one of the SEs, Derek came to my desk.

“Building security wants to talk to you.”

I went back out to the elevators. They didn’t even know that the elevator went up to 16 and let me off. They insisted on my full info so they could “compensate” me. I told them my real name and phone number, which a security guard proceeded to write down as “Earwin”. What the hell lady? I corrected her with incredible indignation.

I was trapped in the elevator for approximately ten minutes during which at no time did I even feel like I was in the slightest danger. What compensation could they possibly offer me? By the end of the day and for me that was 10:30pm, I had received no offer of compensation.

That was my first time I was trapped in an elevator. It was exceedingly devoid of excitement but perhaps that’s how all such stories should turn out. Here’s a list of elevator mishaps. The worst by far are the ones where a decapitation is involved and the head is trapped in the car with other people.

I had an appointment with my dentist today. As such, I had to head way west down Robson, almost to Stanley Park. I decided to take a bus there and patiently waited along Seymour near Hastings.

While waiting, I looked across the street. There was what appeared to be a small storefront in one of the buildings. It was no more than perhaps 10 feet wide. There was a window there and it was high enough off the street level that it made me think it was some sorta take-out window for food. Then it got interesting.

Staffing the window was this young lady. Even from across the street, I could tell she was um, quite gifted in the chestral region of her body. It also helped she was wearing a tight-fitting white top that plunged down at an extreme angle, enough so that even the Grand Canyon would have been proud.

As she flittered about the window, I could see three guys lined up for food. It wasn’t even noon yet. As great as the spectacle was, I began to be intrigued at exactly what type of food this place served. I couldn’t tell as there were no large signs above the window. There were things posted near the window but I couldn’t read them from that far away.

Then my bus came and I had to be off. I’m still wondering what they serve. Maybe I’ll go find out tomorrow.

On Sunday, I saw fireworks for the first time in about two years. With the return of Canada Day fireworks to Canada Place, I decided to make use of EA’s patio on the 19th floor which overlooks the water.

Because I’m a sucker for work, I arrived at 7pm to get a few hours of work in first. By the time I got to the studio, there were lots of people in the area around Canada Place. By the time 10pm rolled around, there was a large crowd waiting for the festivities to kick off. It was then that I headed up to the patio. It was apparent I was not the only one with the same idea. Half an hour before the show started there already other EA employees and many of their friends and family lining the rail facing the water. I claimed my spot and patiently waited for the half hour to pass. They were mainly Need for Speed people and save for one other dude, no one else from skate. was there.

Finally, the moment arrived and we were treated to an excellent display of pyrotechnics. I had a great view of the whole thing and I didn’t have to jostle with an unruly crowd. That’s how fireworks should be!

With the Canada Day holiday, I am taking a much deserved day off. Our regular posts will return late Monday night where I’ll probably mention what I had for lunch or link to a story about flies emerging from some part of the human body.

Between work and celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, I forgot a rather important date last month. May signalled the 10th anniversary of the completion of my undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.

Yeah, I’m not a mechanical engineer anymore. Plus, I went on to get graduate degree as well. Nevertheless, the undergrad degree still remains the most difficult thing I’ve done to date.

Well, enough of that looking back stuff. To new adventures!

I’m getting my hair cut today which is something I’ve needed to do for many weeks now. I think it’s been almost two months since my last one. My hair has reached comical levels of afro-ness.

I was going to take a picture for all to see but I just couldn’t bring myself to capture the moment forever!