I guess its that time of year again… time to reflect. What I’ve learned, what I *should* have learned, and what I thought I learned yet apparently didn’t.

        Lets start with the basics, shall we? Snow sucks. It sucked when I was growing up, it still sucks now. It’s cold, it’s wet, and it fucks things up when you have to work in it. On a plus note though, it does create it’s own work, as I’d probably be bored as fuck at work if not for all the snow removal we get to go through now.

        Next up, agreeing to projects without payment in advance. Yeah, I thought I had learned about that earlier in the year, when we had to wait from July 10th (when a price was agreed to) until November 7th (when we actually got paid, after months of “its on it’s way” “its in the mail” “We’ll get it to you tomorrow”) for our last payment, but stupidly I agreed to take on a smaller project from the same people (within days of our company finally being paid) at an agreed to price of $150. This was November 4th. I kept my end of the deal, and delivered to them what was requested. Did I get paid? Not yet, I haven’t. Same excuses as we got before, of course… except for an added bonus. They actually sent me a cheque just before Christmas for the full ammount. And the funny, it bounced worse than a rubber ball. That led to me getting fed the line “We’ll have it to you by Christmas, promise”. Uh huh. You may have noticed that Christmas has come and gone, and I just recently got another email saying that it’ll be in my bank account tomorrow. Funny how I get replies to my money requests ONLY when they have problems with their email. Now, I’m not going to name names here, because that would just be cruel, but I will point out that these people are supposed to be running a “Major” awards show… something that will obviously cost into the tens of thousands… yet they won’t pay their own bills for months at a time? There have been rumours that last years show hasn’t even been fully paid off yet… so I wonder where the sponsor fees are going this year? Again, not gonna name names… of course, it wouldn’t be OVERLY difficult to track down who it is, if you are so interested. To summerize… if you have no intention of actually paying someone for work when you say you are going to, don’t waste that person’s time. Especially if that person has control of a series of buttons that can do terribly nasty things to your website and email hosting. You know, just as a suggestion.

        Something else I learned… well, I kind of already knew it, but it’s most definately been confirmed without any shadow of a doubt. UK Rock Bands are awesome. Those of you who have not yet checked out Mendella (who played at our annual Gaming LAN Tournament in August), WHY HAVEN’T YOU??? Tom, Jay, Toby, Sam, Lewis, Luke, Dave (Dad), and Jo (Mom) are absolutely amazing people, and it was an honour and priviledge to host their visit to BC in August… I can not wait to work with them again, or even just visit with them.They’re playing a New Years eve show in Barnstaple UK, so if you are anywhere near there, you better damn well go to the show!

        And more. SIGGRAPH rocks.The Vancouver Chapter recently hosted a charity event… all proceeds went towards the food bank. The actual event featured a World Premiere screening of “The Tale Of Despereaux”, over a full week before it was actually shown in theatres. Now, how cool is that? You can read Tami’s review of it atVillage Gamer (yeah, that’s right, I’m lazy… she’s so good at writing, that I could never top it anyway). I’ve been a member of SIGGRAPH for a while, and their events always amaze me, be it the films they show, the speakers they bring in, or just the way they support the industry as a whole. The gaming and movie industry in Vancouver is huge, and SIGGRAPH is always managing to bring in the big names to dazzle us.

        Whuzzis? You’re still here? Wow… you must be bored. Anyway, that’s a pretty quick summery of some of the things I learned through 2008… at least half of which I hope to carry on through 2009. I’m certain that there were many more things that I “learned”, but they were likely so common that everyone else in the World already knew it, and I was just slow to figuring it out. So, now that you’ve made it to the end of this little clip, I can feel good knowing that I actually added some content to this graveyard, and can go downstairs to get a drink.

        Thanks for visiting, and come back soon.

Amongst the chaos of the past few weeks, we (Tami and I) were given a chance this week to escape for a few hours as we travelled South to Seattle to attend Penny Arcade Expo 2008 (henceforth to be referred to as PAX, because my typing sucks and 3 letters is harder to screw up than 19).
My overall impressions on PAX this year was somewhat of a letdown. Having attended last years event, where the panels included discussions on Penny Arcade’s debut game (which was set to come out on xBox Live) held by Hothead Games, a discussion on the History Of Guild Wars, The Future Of MMOs (which covered a lot of what Guild Wars 2 would be about), and ArenaNet Culture And Origins, I was left with a feeling that something good had happened… I had learned a lot about the gaming industry, and felt confident in it’s future.
This year… where do I start? The PAX staff were, for the most part, a letdown. While some managed to remain civil and polite (even funny in a few cases), the bad seeds ruined the entire event for me. Some of them were rude, obnoxious, and in one case, an outright bitch. “Line up here! No, you can’t line up here, you’re blocking the lane… line up there! NO! DON’T LINE UP WHERE I JUST TOLD YOU TO LINE UP, THERE ARE PEOPLE WALKING NEAR BY! GO THERE INSTEAD!!” Not to mention getting pissed at attendees for, gods forbid, sitting on the beanbag chairs where the staff had put them, only to be told that you can’t sit there, you need to move somewhere else. Hmm… it was fine last year, and I don’t really know why someone coming down an escalator would need a full 40 feet of lane space in order to be herded down the next escalator (there was actually a woman at the event who’s job was to yell at people that the down escalator was the only way down, so that was where you had to go… you know, unless you wanted to attend a panel, or get in line, or go to the OTHER down escalator on the other side of the center…). The general feeling of the panel discussions was that I was being herded like a sheep to slaughter. We had to go and sit exactly where we were told to, no exceptions… if your husband, wife, or partner was in front of you and got told to sit at the end of a chair lane, tough luck for you sitting with them… you’re in the lane behind them now, at the far end of the lane. Argue or question? Get kicked out of the panel discussion. Even the ArenaNet staff were rolling their eyes at the “Enforcers”.
The panel discussions themselves, as well as the booth occupiers, were the only saving grace for this years event. Even some of the people were a prime example of what is wrong with the World (although that is to be expected… rude staff is unacceptable). Attending the panel discussion “Female Gamer Community” this year with Tami, I found myself disgusted with what I was exposed to. Hold on, don’t read into that wrong. I am one of those types that supports girls in gaming, and believes that yep, they are quite capable of kicking the ass of anyone else that faces them in-game, irregardless of gender. What disgusted me was not what was being said on stage or in the general audience… it was what was being said at the back of the group by a few guys who felt it necessary to fall into a typical chauvinistic elitist asshole stereotype… commenting on who in the panel was, and was not “hot”, among other comments best left unpublished. Apparently there are even some on the PAX discussion forum commenting on how they had to get away from the panel quickly, lest they loose their testicles. Idiots like that are a good enough reason for me to not want to visit that community, thanks. I would think those guys would be more concerned with getting their asses kicked repeatedly in-game by these girls, since that is the threat they face. In regards to the actual Panel Discussion, I think I’ll leave Tami to write about that on her site… I unfortunately came into the discussion 15 minutes late due to my need for Tylenol and food).
The Guild Wars panel was umm… short. It was 90% a question/answer session, and didn’t touch GW2 very much due to the “secrecy” they are now operating under. While I focused on what was being said by the Panel, Tami was unfortunately forced to listen to some guy sitting on the sidelines (apparently another wonderfully trained Monkey brought on to be PAX staff) openly commenting on the responses and criticizing the panel as well as how they spoke. Nothing better to do with his time, other than bang on that keyboard hoping for Shakespeare, I guess. Chris (the Marketing Head) mentioned that they have entered into a 3 book deal for Guild Wars, which is set to focus firstly on what takes place immediately after GW1 (basically, the books are meant to fill the void of 250 years between GW1 and GW2). We got to hear a bit about the original concept art for GW (yep, every single thing we see in Guild Wars is started off as concept art), and how ArenaNet supports in-game Guild-hosted events and actually does follow them.
Wandering the floor, I was absolutely blown away by 1 game at the NCSoft booth. This game was phenomenal. Much like Guild Wars in the concept sense (although one of the staff did point out that this game is more story-driven than quest-driven), the graphics were amazing. Initial features of the game that jumped out was, of course, the graphics, but also the ability to customize your character completely. Every single facial and body detail was editable, allowing for you to finally create a full physical avatar of yourself for in game. Now, I must simply wait for release… which can’t happen until they decide HOW they plan to release it, and what sort of subscription system they plan to use, if any. So yeah, the game is amazing, but it could be a long time before we get to actually see it. What’s it called? Aion. Watch for it.
Overall, if not for the PAX staff and long lines for little fulfillment, PAX 2008 could count as a decent event. Unfortunately, those two things really ruined it for me.
And besides, why hold a panel discussion for Hothead Games (the developers of the Penny Arcade video game) 2 hours after all the exhibit booths have closed up and people have been told to get out? Where’s the logic in that?
I started this post by saying we were given the chance to escape. Unfortunately, the only escape we got on this trip was when we got out of Washington and back into our own Country.

On a side-note, I finally started to process some of the video that was shot while the Mendella crew were here visiting… with that, I give you a small sample… Mendella Invades the 2008 Abbotsford International Airshow.

UK Rock Sensation Mendella was given a taste of home yesterday, while playing a free concert to anyone choosing to seek shelter under the big blue tarp at the Aldergrove Band Shelter, next to the Museum. Even the pouring rain and threats of lightning could not keep these rockers off the stage and away from the people listening in, and only those who dared to venture out beyond the reaches of the makeshift shelter felt the fury of the weather falling upon them.

What started off as a wet morning turned rather suddenly into an outright downpour. But, thanks to some quick thinking and creativity of the sound and tech crew (Curtis and Ryan from Sonic Voodoo Productions), promoter and owner of VillageGamer Tami, and “space occupier and video camera person” Scott, a very large tarp was strung out over the field, giving the feeling of watching a concert inside a circus tent. Thus it was born, “Under The Tarp Productions: Always A Unique Show”. While the wind battered at our defenses of black poly from the sides and rear of the stage, the rain tried to bring down our shelter. Still the band played on, and in moments of true creativity, even added it into the act. Lead singer Tom “Butters” occasionally changing around lyrics of their songs to reference “the rain keeps coming down” (and down and down), while “set design and emergency water management” Scott (that’s me, people) scrambled to pop various small holes in the tarp to drain the growing lake forming overhead in the low points of the shelter. Drummer Toby Parker was even supplied some “backup beats” from the thunder in the distance, which simply added to the effect of “Rain or shine, we come to rock your (soaking wet) socks off!”.

All in all, a great time was had by all under the tarp, and the band, while braving the weather during the “breakdown” of the set and packing of the gear, had nothing by wonderful things to say about our lovely province and it’s people… although I think there may have been some mumbling in the background about how the rain finally let up for a few minutes during the very last song, only to start again once the packing started.

I think that it is a very safe bet to say that these boys are destined for super-stardom… and they are well on their way. Thank you Mendella for showing Aldergrove a great time, and we will all be watching for you in the record stores next year. Enjoy the remainder of your stay in Beautiful Sunny British Columbia, and we hope to see you here again real soon.

* NOTE * Mendella will be playing another show in Vancouver, on Wednesday August 13th at the Roxy (932 Granville St). They are set to take the Stage at 8:30 PM, so come out and show your support for this amazing band.

Mendella is:
(Bass and Supporting Vocals) Jude Davies
(Rhythm Guitar) Green Jay
(Vocals) Butters
(Lead Guitar) Chappell
(Drums) Toby Parker
(Tech) Luke Matthews
You can (and SHOULD) check out their music and profile on MYSPACE

It was an honour to work with this band, as well as with Dave and Jo while they were here in BC, and I look forward to the time when I can work with them again. Enjoy the ride to the top, boys… you’ve earned it.