HiAsh.com

2008-06-10T20:30:00.002+01:00

My Xbox 360 came back ages ago, but it has been almost two months since I updated this blog. Seems to be working fine. I've been playing lots of GTA4 and finished the story mode last week. I have dabbled with a little Battlefield: Bad Company too, which has my name in the credits! DICE sent over a care package with a few free copies to say thanks for helping, which was nice of them.
Since the last update I have been to the Wii Summit 08 and Sony DevStation 08 conferences. I have a ticket booked for the XNA Gamefest 08 in two weeks time as well. It will be interesting to compare swag, especially since the attendance fees differ so wildly. Nintendo's was free and main gift was a laptop bag. Sony's was €50 and I got a PlayStation Eye and Spiderman Trilogy Blu-Ray gift set. Microsoft's is around £200, so that may get me a free Xbox 360?
I have been away to Tennessee for Louise's mum's 50th. It was actually a lot of fun and something I would probably never have done otherwise. We went to see Graceland, Jack Daniel's Distillery and the Grand Ole Opry, amongst other things, (like shopping.)
I started up a new project of playing a new game demo each workday, (that I can,) and recording my impressions on a website cleverly titled Demo per Day. It is a quick way for me to expose myself to new gaming experiences, catch up with old games that passed me by, (even if it is just a taste,) and perhaps gain a useful knowledge into a gaming industry niche.
It is my 25th birthday this weekend. I need to deal with my early mid-life crisis.

2008-05-25T20:06:00.000+01:00

If anyone out there was getting spam supposedly sent from HiAsh.com I apologize. It seems to mostly be coming from Russia, but I've worked with my host to try and prevent it in future. I was getting hundreds of bounced mails back to me each day which was my main clue into what was going on. So, sorry for any spam but it wasn't me and was just as annoying on this end!
I've been having a lot more ideas for new websites, other projects and potential products recently. Limited amounts of time mean I can't do all of them unfortunately. I'm still slowly working on one and have now started another that I hope to work on each day at lunch times. I'll post more when they are further along.
One idea that struck me a couple of months ago thought is "why not have a Guitar Hero controller as a real instrument?" Right now it could be achieved through software. We already have Frets on Fire, which I guess has an editor, (Guitar Hero 4 was announced this week with a built in band jam-session mode,) but why not have an instrument that is basically the same as a Guitar Hero/Rock Band controller but works in the same way as an electric keyboard? Also, sheet music has been around for hundreds of years and there must be good reason why that is so, but surely there must have been other ways of noting down music before now? Why not have Guitar Hero-like tabs be the new documentation format for music on real instruments, such as drums? There is no reason we need to have sheets for music any more. We could just as easily build an LCD screen into a piano these days, for instance.
I was interviewed and got a mention on the Full Sail graduate news website. I also got myself a nice little promotion at work this week!
Louise and I went to Paris for the weekend last month. It was actually much better than I thought and we had a great time. We went over on the Eurostar and grabbed tickets for an open top bus tour, jumping on and off wen we saw something interesting. We also spent one day at Euro Disney and the Disney Studios which I surprisingly enjoyed.
Louise's sister, working on the Oriana, docked in Southampton a few weeks ago so we went down to visit and had a quick tour of the ship. I was on the maiden voyage of it years ago, so it seems much smaller and tattier now. Makes me interested in doing another cruise though since it has been a few years since the last one.
This weekend we have been visiting more of Louise's family and got lucky with the weather. I'm a little sunburnt though. If it is still nice tomorrow, seeing as how it is a bank holiday, I might pop over to the driving range I visited last weekend. It was nice to hit a few balls again.
My Xbox 360 made it to EA in San Francisco but then sat in their mailroom for more than a week since they couldn't see a name on it to deliver it to. After chasing that up it has been sent on and was with Microsoft at the end of this week. Word is I may have it back sooner than I thought, (which is great, but annoying that a week was wasted already.)

2008-05-11T11:10:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday I suffered the death of a friend... my launch day Xbox 360. I wanted to capture the process I went through with getting it replaced since its a slightly different case to most. I have a US 360 from my time living there, but right now I'm back in the UK with it. Would I totally blow Microsoft's mind?
I called the UK MS helpdesk about my Xbox the day it was dying, (system would hard lock after a min or two with graphical glitches on the screen. It may or may not restart, depending on how long I left it to cool.) First thing they said was it wasn't in warranty because it wasn't a RRoD, even though it was clearly heading that way, so I would have to pay, but they couldn't say how much it was because it depended on what was wrong. I made it clear that I had a US 360 and I expected a US 360 returned to me, (since I doubt I'm getting the same Xenon back. I expect a new model.) Anyway, he makes me go through the process of removing all the cables and putting it back together etc. and it then booted, (but then it was doing that before, you just needed to wait a min...) so he said call back if I was still having problems. It was clearly broken but I left it for the night.
The next day I tried it and it was an instant RRoD, which is pretty lucky really. I went to work and asked if there were any way I could speed this up through EA. They told me they call the same number I would. Fine, so I called the helpline again with the reference number they gave me the night before. I go through all the bullshit of getting the return setup and just before they hit OK I say, "You know this is a US system and I expect a US system back, right?". "Err, we'll take it and fix it but you'll get a PAL system back, OK?" No its not fucking ok, what use is that to me? So they cancel everything and I'm told to call the US. One thing to note is that they were going to email me a postage label, then I would have to package up the Xbox myself and call UPS to come and collect it.
So I wait a few hours for the US line to open and call them. Their automated line robot is a piece of crap but luckily I had seen an article a couple of days before with a different number to call to get straight to a human, as long as you had a case reference number. So I call that and they tell me they will fix it, and its all free now that it is RRoD, but they need a US address. Their process is to mail out a pre-paid postage box for me to put the Xbox in and mail out. Then when it is fixed they mail it back to that address. That obviously isn't going to work for me and the guy understands the situation so tries to help out. I ask if I can save some time and just mail it to them myself and then I'll find a US address of someone that can return it to me in the UK when it is done. They say that is fine but I'll be covering the postage myself. OK, thats cool, but let me check how much that postage is. It ends up at around £80 with UPS, just to send it one way. Great, so I need a US address and will be paying ~$300 to mail it both ways. That's not far short of a new 360.
I ended up using one of the admins in the Redwood Shores office as a US address. I mailed the Xbox to them on Friday and Microsoft have sent their box to the same person. Let see how long this all takes. The repair time was estimated at 2 to 3 weeks by the UK helpdesk. Add a week either side for mailing to/from the US and another week for mailing within the US and I would say that means mid-June.
So, a mixed start. I hate being told one thing that ends up being a total lie. What if I had sent it to get fixed in the UK because that first bloke said it would be fine? But then the assistant in the US tried to be as helpful as possible.

2008-04-06T15:48:00.002+01:00

It has been a couple of months since the last post, but I put that down to being fairly busy. Louise and I have been trying to arrange the wedding and so far have close to 70 people confirmed coming away with us to Barbados for the ceremony. It is amazing how quickly time passes though, (it will only be a year away soon.)
I flew out to Vancouver for an Online Summit, internal to EA, and had to present a summary of some of the more interesting products EA had shipped with online functionality this year. Most of the rest of the time was spent listening to what other groups within the company have been working on and it was interesting to hear. At the weekend a few of us went up to Whistler which was a great place to ski. Unfortunately I only had one day of it due to illness, so I'll have to go back one day.
Easter weekend Louise and I flew out to Portugal to meet up with my parents to try and catch some sun. We got a little, but it was cold in the evenings.
I went back to DICE again on Friday and had a good trip. We flew out of the brand new Heathrow Terminal 5 which opened with many problems last week. It seemed fine to me now after a settling period. The odd unfinished lamp post, some staff that didn't know what they were talking about and some odd layout decisions, but pretty nice overall. As for DICE itself, the projects coming out of there look great. Battlefield Heroes looked especially impressive and will be launching to a closed beta very shortly. I've been playing the Battlefield: Bad Company beta on Xbox 360 too, and I think its pretty fun. It has definitely raised my interested and impressions of the game so will be picking that up when it appears.
I've filed my US taxes but had them returned to me because I forgot a form. Hopefully that will all be sorted quickly so I can get my nice little rebate payment sent to me.
It is performance review season again right now at work and I think I have done well again this year. I have submitted my review and I'm hoping for good things from the meeting with my manager in a few weeks.
Chris is back from his Asia tour soon, which has now included a month in the US. I think he is in San Francisco at the moment and I would love to be there with him right now to catch up with him and my friends. I'm hoping for a trip out there soon, but there has been no mention.
Thanks to my Dad and Dagenham & Redbridge I went to the Carling Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium in which Tottenham beat Chelsea. After seeing things from a regular punter's point of view at the England game it was quite a contrast to see the fancy part of the stadium. I was fed in a fancy hall along with the players from both teams that were not playing that day and had a cushioned seat. Not bad at all.
I'm trying to finish up some games so I can get to others. I'm rushing through Mario Galaxy right now and want to get to Burnout Paradise next before GTA4 comes out.
I finally got my tools out and laid a new floor in our hallway. Its too much like hard work... all that bending and kneeling. My frail computer geek physique can't take it.
Randomly it is snowing here today. Crazy English weather.

2007-12-30T16:43:00.000Z

Sometimes I make notes for myself on what to write for then next update for my blog. I haven't done that this time, so I totally forget what has happened.
Obviously it is Christmas at the moment. I decided to finally propose to Louise on Christmas Eve, so it will be non-stop planning for the next 18 months or so.
As for other stuff, I know I have been back to Stockholm to help out at DICE. I know we had our Christmas party, (boring after last year... just a lunch.) I know that EVERYONE loves to play the Wii, so much that even my Dad and Mother-in-law-to-be now have one. I went to see I Am Legend and went away impressed. Chris got us tickets to go and see Jimmy Carr at the Hammersmith Apollo which was pretty good, (I had heard a fair amount of the act but a lot of audience participation made it funnier.) Chris has gone off to Asia for a few months now, but we'll see how long his money lasts :)
After listening to others playing loudly near my desk for three days straight, I tried out Rock Band at work and it is a lot of fun. The drums were tough, but whatever instrument you play you have a great time. Although you are just making crappy clicking noises you are hit with the great sound of the real track so it makes you feel like a bad-ass, really playing.
I can't think of much else, so I'm going to get back to working on one of my projects.

2007-11-04T11:36:00.000Z

I've been on a trip back to EA in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. It was great to catch up with people there and, more importantly, I also found out that I have my first ever credit in a game! Take a look at this image from Medal of Honor: Airborne:

I picked up a copy for the PC, but so far I've pretty much only been to the credits section. I've got too many games to play at the moment and nowhere near enough time. I've been told I'll also have my name in Need for Speed: ProStreet, due this month.
I can't think of much else worth mentioning that has happened in the past few weeks. I did get to go to the England vs Estonia Euro 2008 qualifier at the new Wembley Stadium which was pretty cool. I didn't get to see the plush part of the stadium with the bars and restaurants though so in some ways it was underwhelming. The view when you step out of Wembley Park station is something special though. Luckily we were sitting at the end where all the goals were scored in the first half, though it was probably all for naught since we are unlikely to qualify for the tournament now.
I am supposed to be going back to DICE in a couple of weeks so it looks like I really am going to be doing a fair bit of traveling in this job.

2007-09-17T21:10:00.000+01:00

Another long gap, but oh well. Louise and I are now back in the UK and have setup our little house. We've not explored Guildford too much yet since we keep going back and forward to Essex for various reasons.
Work is going ok. It's a little quieter here since most of the action is in the US, so I get to concentrate on what I'm doing a bit more, though new stuff gets dumped on me over night.
I got to go to DICE, who work on the Battlefield franchise, based in Stockholm two weeks ago. That was a pretty cool trip and I got to see the new games coming up and help out, (a little,) in planning them.
Just before I went it was Louise's birthday and I bought us both tickets to We Will Rock You. To be honest, I wasn't very impressed but it was something I wanted to try and can tick off my list.
I was given a copy of Bioshock from Mum which I managed to finish in three sessions. It was that good a game, I only stopped each time because something else came up :) Louise was in Paris visiting DisneyLand, so I made the most of the alone time with the computer. I also caught up with some buddies from Plymouth at a house warming over the weekend too. It was good to see them.
Nothing else jumps to mind, so I'm just going to throw up a few links here:
-Facebook
-LinkedIn
-MySpace

2007-07-24T23:09:00.000+01:00

Wow, this has been a long gap and much has happened. I'm just going to quickly rattle some of these things off:
It seems like ages ago, but was only about a month since Louise and I went back to England for a weekend. I saw my mates, made a visit to EA UK, (nice office, good meeting,) and went house hunting. We found a place and completed the purchase last week, so now we are Homeowners!
We've had a few other trips too. We went to Sonoma Valley, the wine country a little north of San Francisco. Unbelievably I actually liked some of the wines and I learnt what to look for.
We went to go and see Jersey Boys at the theatre which was surprisingly good. It means that I'm more likely to check out some other shows that I would otherwise skip when we get back.
We were here for July 4th and went to watch the fireworks over the bay by the Golden Gate Bridge.
This past weekend the two of us flew out to Vegas. I spent most of the time with my friends from Full Sail who all converged to meet up for a few days on the beer. While we were there Louise and I took a wander around the Bodies exhibit which was a very strange thing to see, but very interesting too, (FYI: if you go, skip the audio tour; its rubbish.)
We have seen Live Free or Die Hard which was a brilliant action movie, (though way over the top, where the other Die Hards were a bit more believable.) We also got free tickets to an early screening of Harry Potter: OotP since EA makes the game of the movie. It was OK, but was an obvious middling movie since there was no real end... just stuff that happens that leads towards the final movie/book. On Friday we get free tickets to see the Simpsons movie too!
Friday is also my last day in the office here and we head back next week. Wow, that year went fast!

2007-06-04T06:59:00.000+01:00

Dad and Chris flew back to England over the weekend after being here for two weeks. The four of us, (including Louise,) went to the Hawaiian island of Oahu for Memorial Day weekend, (Honolulu, Waikiki beach.) It was a fun trip; Chris and I tried surfing, we went snorkeling with sea turtles and took a helicopter flight around the island where we saw the valleys they filmed Lost and Jurassic Park. We also saw Shrek 3, which turned out to not be as funny as previous installments. It needed more Donkey :)
Louise and I have still been playing golf. We have finished our lessons now so we have just been going out on a 9-hole course to practice. Neither of us can drive very far so I've ended up double bogeying on each hole, but thats not a bad target after only a couple of games.
Work is going OK. I went on the trip to Canada and learnt a lot there. I've gone through my first annual review and gotten a nice little raise. Its only two months now before I am back home working out of the UK.
Speaking of which, we are both flying home next weekend, (15th June,) because of an issue with Louise's visa which came up when she came to visit me in Canada. Make sure the red carpet is rolled out. Hopefully it will give us a chance to check out the Guildford area so we know where we will be living once we get back.
Finally, congratulations to Steve who managed to tie with me in the Fantasy Premiership game. It is pretty unbelievable that we got all the way through the season and ended up on the same score.

2007-03-27T07:01:00.001+01:00

I am now officially a Field Engineer which, counter-intuitively, puts me more on the production side of games than the programming. I'll still be coding, but it will be more in the form of samples for our customers to show them how to use our systems or proof-of-concept. I'll also be much more involved in the game design phase for the online features which gets me much more hands on with the game teams. In a couple of weeks I am heading up to EA in Canada to learn about some of the online stuff I haven't had any contact with as yet. I have a lot to get through before heading back to the UK to support all of the European game teams.
I think I may be getting a little fitter. I have been riding my bike to/from work a few times a week and have still been playing basketball. There is only one game left that I can attend this season and we will no doubt get thrashed, but I have scored a 2 and 3 point shot so I must be getting better each game. Louise and I have started our golf lessons too. She did really well during the first one but I was disappointed. Today I was much better and happier about the results. We will probably buy some clubs at some point before coming home. EA are covering the relocation costs, so I might as well stock up on stuff to bring back.
Rachael arrived on her cruise ship and the five of us, (Louise's parents were here visiting,) went over to visit Alcatraz. I remember little bits from when I was younger but I thought it was really interesting.
It has pretty much died a death already but I have put some posts up on a satirical gaming news website The Game Onion that a buddy of mine started. I'm not sure that anyone else would find it funny though.
Command and Conquer 3 was released, but being a GameSpy title my name wasn't in it, just a special thank you to Plasma, which is our team.
Louise and I went to see the TMNT movie. Interesting style, but not that great a film. We've also just bought Super Paper Mario for the Wii which is great. Louise just said she thinks it is "brilliant." She likes the cute graphics and I have to agree.
Congratulations to the mighty Dagenham and Redbridge FC on your promotion to the (Vauxhall? Nationwide?) Conference. Digger Dagger! And also to me for leading the way in the Fantasy Premiership as we run out the last few games.

2007-03-23T02:50:00.000Z

My brother Chris had his 21st birthday this month so, in something of a tradition, he flew out to Las Vegas for a week. He stopped here in San Francisco with Mum for a couple of days before taking Louise and meeting some of his friends in Vegas. I obviously had to work so I flew out last weekend to catch the tail end of the party.
Chris made an animation a few months ago for a BBC competition and has been selected as a finalist. When they finally get their act together and post them up for a public vote I'll ask you all to hit their site and vote on it.
Louise's parents are coming out next Tuesday so it will be a busy month for visitors. The three of them are heading to Los Angeles for the weekend and her sister Rachael is coming into town on Monday on the cruise ship she works on.
In extremely exciting news I filed taxes! Woo! ...well, its exciting for me since I got a fat rebate to blow on something fun. I'm about to book some golf lessons for April.
Work is going great. I feel like I have been taking more and more on. I'm being taught more and being involved in more game team conversations and meetings now in preparation for my move back to the UK, now that I've decided to take a new job over there late this Summer. I was really torn about whether to stay in the US or not but I hoping this will be a good career move.
Command and Conquer 3 is released next Friday for PC with more platforms and other games all following soon. Hopefully this one will have my name in it.
I've developed a bit of a pot belly so I've signed up for a basketball league at work to get rid of my baby. The problem is I have no idea what I am doing when we play so I am complete rubbish. I'm still shattered and sweating once I'm done from all the running around though which is the main reason I signed up... to get up off my bum and move around a bit.
Oh, and I love Louise.

2007-02-06T01:31:00.000Z

It has been almost two months since the last post so I can't really remember everything that has gone on. The main points though: I have been home to the UK for Christmas, come back to San Francisco with Louise to keep my company and been on a couple of weekends away. We've both just gotten back from skiing in Lake Tahoe at Heavenly. It could have used some more snow but it was fun. I have officially retired from snow boarding though and will stick to skis from now on.
Work is going well and I actually got my hands on some real game code to help the team debug a problem. I'm not sure when it or any other game I'm working on is coming out though.
I'll post more as I remember it or more happens.

*Update* Things I had left sitting around in a draft note and forgot to post:

I finally fixed my broken site due to an idiot hacker.

I got a new PC at work - Dell Precision 690. Awesome and so is playing 2142 on it.

We had a small team Christmas party and I was given build-your-own-Pong and Madden '07 for Wii. I re-gifted Pong to my brother, but Madden is pretty good actually.

2006-12-10T21:37:00.000Z

Another month goes by without posting. The intention is there, just not the execution.
Anyway, Thanksgiving has just come and gone during which I spent the week in Jamaica with my family, Louise and family, and a big crowd of others. It rained or was overcast pretty much the whole time. I think we had about two hours of sun one morning and I still managed to get sun burnt. Regardless, I had fun and it was good to see everyone and I'm looking forward to coming home to England for Christmas in less than two weeks.
The day before going away the Nintendo Wii launched in the US. I tried to pick one up but couldn't find one anywhere. I was in line at Circuit City when it opened and they had 39 units. I was 41 in the queue. After getting back to work I had an email waiting saying I had one a Wii, (well, the chance to buy one,) in the company lottery so I did end up with one anyway. I've only got the Wii Sports game that comes with the system so far and it seems like a fun diversion, but I've only played for about 2 hours total. I've been letting other people play it more than I have myself, (I left it at work for two days to let people try it out.) I'm waiting to get Zelda for Christmas since it is the only game I really want for the system at the moment.
Gears of War finally turned up on Friday so I was playing that alot yesterday. The graphics are amazing. I first tried it at work on a small standard-def TV and it looked good even on that, but now I get to play in HD glory at home. I've been having problems connecting to online games for some reason, unless I pick sessions with low populations. I can guess why, but it is annoying.
Work is still going well and I'm still enjoying it. Friday was our company Christmas Party and they had converted a few areas into a Jazz Club / Casino. I had a laugh playing poker but ended up losing it all, but it was only for fun anyway, (though the two chip leaders won Wiis and third got a signed Ali boxing glove!)

2006-11-12T00:24:00.000Z

This week a truck load of PS3 test kits turned up at work. I now have a shiney new PS3 sitting on my desk along with 3 games. I'm not going to incriminate myself by saying anything about the it.
In unrelated news, I won't be buying one. Certainly not in the first year at least.
Other trivia:

Blu-Ray-R's are a dark gold color.

PS3s are big and heavy, but there is no power brick

The controller is a little light but its ok. It feels ok to play with until you press certain buttons. L2/R2 triggers are not straight buttons anymore, but act like the Xbox 360 triggers, (curving.) It feels weird though since the "turning radius" is so tight. The X button really needs to be pushed to get it to work. I guess the face buttons must be analogue again, but perhaps a little better than the PS2 ones.

2006-11-06T04:17:00.000Z

So after just three months of working here at EA I've shipped my first title: Need for Speed: Carbon.

My name isn't actually in the credits of this one, but hey I know I worked on it. It will just make me more excited about the game that finally does.
Other than that, things have pretty much been going along as normal. I've been told I'm doing well at work and I am definitely enjoying it.
I got myself a copy of NFS and it is pretty good. I'm not a fan of such arcade style racing usually, (except in an arcade,) but this is put together quite well with a great visual style. I also picked up a copy of FIFA 07 which has been a bit annoying. Probably best to save that for multiplayer. I was given a copy of Battlefield 2142 for free and that game is great. It's a lot like playing Onslaught mode in Unreal Tournament 2004. I'm really into my gaming at the moment and I can think of three games I would like to get next month just off the top of my head.
Out of nowhere I won a free golf lesson. I've been meaning to take some for a while now but it has never worked out. We had a health fair at work and one of the stalls was from a nearby course. I spoke to them and was ready to take them up on their offer that weekend. They mentioned a prize draw so I put my name down and ended up winning. Exactly what I was after.
I couldn't use it last weekend however since I had to fly out to Orlando to help my brother move out. He has just graduated from the Computer Animation degree at Full Sail, (his demo reel is great,) but because the car was in my name apparently I had to be there to sell it. A bit of a pain being so short notice but I got to see my family for the weekend so it was ok.
All in all things are good. I'm looking forward to coming home for Christmas now.

2006-10-01T04:50:00.000+01:00

I went to go and see Snow Patrol last weekend in San Francisco and it was a great show. I didn't have a ticket and took my chances getting one on the door. I would have booked one but a) I didn't have anyone to go with and b) I wasn't sure I could go. I could have been working over the weekend since I've been on-call a couple of times in case Need For Speed needs help as it gets close to launch. As for having no one to go with, well I figured I had to try and meet people some how, and I really wanted to see the show.
Anyway, I've decided SF is the weirdo/tramp capital of the world though. There were a lot of them around during GDC two years ago, but standing in line outside the Warfield Theatre made us sitting ducks for them to keep coming up. Haha, as I'm typing this I've just remembered seeing a guy fall off his motorbike while we were waiting. He was only going slow and must have been drunk or something, but he was fine. His bike was a piece of crap and one of the tires must have gotten caught in the tram tracks.
I'll leave you with the fact that I almost won a copy of Dead Rising, (mine was the first honorable mention, featuring Michael Jackson,) but no dice.

2006-09-16T23:08:00.000+01:00

So I've been working at EA now for about six weeks, (and it has been almost as long since my last post.) I think I've settled into the job pretty well now. I've been working hard and getting along just fine. I don't want to say too much about the specifics, just in case, but my work is going into actual-real-life games, including a port of one of my all time favourites. My first credited game looks like it will be either The Godfather for Xbox 360, out on Tuesday I believe, or Need For Speed: Carbon, multi-platform, due in the next few weeks. I think it is more likely to be NFS, but I'll wait and see. As soon as I find out, I'll buy myself a copy and try and get a screenshot of my name :)
Our Full Sail Final Project group put together Urban Annihilation v1.1 for the IGF Main Competition. Looking at the list of entries our chances are slim. Some of the games have been in production for four years, but we were ineligible for the Student competition because we were given help with some of our assets. Oh well, it was worth a go after the effort we put in, (and the time I spent putting together our entry.)

2006-08-05T06:19:00.000+01:00

What a week. First, I start work and all is fine. I'm shown around, told the benefits, blah, blah, setup all the software I need etc.
Then on my second day I start reading over the documentation I need to know. But then in the afternoon I'm told I have to go home since my work permit hadn't arrived yet. And no one had any idea when it would turn up. Checking online made it seem like it would be weeks, (mid July they were processing late April applications and mine was files 22nd May.)
So Wednesday I'm sat at home reading printouts and recommended books after picking up my Social Security Number. Oh, and there was a 4.4 earthquake that afternoon. I didn't feel it at home, (I just thought my neighbors were stomping about,) but apparently people at work did since we are on the sixth floor so you feel it more.
Thursday I wake up and find out that my work permit was approved over night! Unbelievable, so I headed back to work that day. Work, work, work, found a bug in the code all by myself, and fixed it, but didn't know how to report or check it in, so left it for the morning. I try to leave to go home and my car won't start. At all. I'm not happy. After spending about two hours phoning people, trying to get jump-starts and everything, I end up just walking home.
So that brings me to today. I walked in, actually got some work done and fixed two bugs, working on two more. My car was picked up by the dealer to be fixed and I was given a loaner.
Tomorrow I think requires a golf lesson, followed by a few beers to calm down and relax. What a week.

2006-08-01T04:24:00.000+01:00

I am officially a game developer! I just finished my first day at EA and there was a lot to take in. I can't be sure what I can talk about, so I'm basically going to say nothing, but it looks like I'm getting thrown in pretty quick. Now I need to learn the ropes, then get my name on a game!

2006-07-29T02:37:00.000+01:00

Its the day after my 23rd Birthday and I have been a busy boy. My last post was on the last day of school, so it should be pretty obvious a lot has happened.
First, I graduated from Full Sail, top of my class, (valedictorian,) no less! I also won class awards for DirectX, AI and Structure of Game Production, so I did pretty well!
The day after that I went home to the UK for a break and to sort out my passport and Visa for coming back to the US. During that I went off to Italy for a week with Louise and had a great time. We decided to travel about by train so that we could see a few different places. Rome had the most to see, Pisa was a one trick pony, Venice was beautiful and Lake Garda gave us a chance to chill out by the pool. I was hoping for more from the food though. Italy went and won the World Cup the day we arrived so it was good to see that while we were there. At first the reaction was muted, (although we were in the Hard Rock Cafe, Rome, surrounded by Americans...) but as we made our way back to the main square, the whole of Italy turned up. After a few minutes of feeling happy for them, thoughts turned to getting home and the nightmare that would be with all the roads blocked with traffic and people. Somehow, after an hours walk, we ended up getting in the back of a passing car and were given a lift back to the hotel. I can't say how grateful I was to the couple that picked us up! Also worth mentioning, I won the Fantasy World Cup with my friends from Coopers, which may be my greatest sporting achievement :)
After another week at home I moved here to California. It has been a hectic few days setting up here from scratch, but I had help from my parents and I think we are done now. Got myself a nice place, a little flat screen HDTV and a Jeep Grand Cherokee!
All I have to do now is wait to start work at EA on Monday. That's when the real fun should start!

2006-06-23T00:08:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was our final day of Full Sail. Called Archive Day we were basically charged with having to create an installer, a CD label, compile our design and technical documents into a single file to be printed as a book etc. and turn it all in. That all went fine and the game is now done, (as far as Full Sail are concerned.)
I have been working on the website for the game and it is open for business. Visit www.UA-Game.com and you can now download a copy of the game to play. We may be updating the installer from time to time, or maybe patches since we are working on getting better network play.
The Independent Games Festival website has been updated for the 2007 competition today and I have been reading the rules to see what we are eligible for. It looks like we cannot go for the student competition since we got some help with our character and weapon models and animations. We can however enter the main competition, so I think we will be doing that. The music may need to be replaced however, since I think it may be copyright infringement to use what we have if the game is no longer considered a student project. I may have to call and clarify if we can't get anything else easily.
After all of that I went to go and see Dave Chappelle live last night. Even the support acts were funny, but towards the end of the show the heckling Chappelle was getting, ("Yeeeeah!", "What?", etc.) was ridiculous and he seemed to be getting a bit pissed off. Things got more serious after that as he was talking more about why he ran off to Africa, (corruption and "The Game",) and that made me leave with a more uncomfortable feeling than I was expecting from a comedy show. But still, glad I went.

2006-06-17T22:32:00.000+01:00

So all went well with final presentation, and you can now see for yourself. My brother recorded us from the audience and I got the footage up onto Google Video for all to enjoy. They lower the quality to reduce the file size/download time, but you should still get the idea. We are actually sitting here polishing out some bugs right now, after which I'll throw a copy up to download.

2006-06-08T14:11:00.000+01:00

We need to turn-in our game on Monday for our Final Presentation to the school, friends, family etc. While we still have a little bit to do in terms of polishing out some of the bugs, swapping out some of the sounds and textures and what have you, I am really proud of what our group has managed to produce. Not only that, but without any major crunching or big worries. I'll get a copy online after our last turn-in in a couple of weeks.
I must have a lot on my mind at the moment since I've been having some trouble sleeping, (the project, graduating, moving, visas, starting work...) But hey, its going to give me time to add some help screens to the game right now. And from tomorrow I'll be able to watch the World Cup, (come on England!)

2006-05-25T16:35:00.000+01:00

Our Beta presentation was yesterday and it went really well. We don't get feedback until next Wednesday since Monday is Memorial Day out here. At first the test machine we were all using to present from was playing up so none of the games anyone had produced would run properly, but everyone seemed to handle the situation well. Our build is pretty stable and really just needs some little things worked on like units getting stuck on each other and some HUD tweaks.
I managed to find a place to live in California for when I move, but it has been a stressful week trying to sort all of that out, and now it turns out getting my Visa is a nightmare in terms of timing, but I'm sure everything will work out.
The IGDA have finally put up the GDC reports from us scholarship winners, so you can go and read mine if you fancy it.

2006-05-17T16:18:00.000+01:00

I didn't realise it had been so long since I last posted on here. Things have been going well. Final Project is rocking along nicely but Beta turn-in happens on Monday. Problem is I have to take a few days off to head out to California to find a place to live since I signed my contract with EA and will start the first week of August.
Other things I have seen and done include a load of movies, ("Lucky Number Slevin", "The Sentinel" and "M:I:III",) a rocket launch here on the coast, and seeing Mum and Louise during spring break. Other than that it is mostly work, and I need to get back to it.