A few LANNW photos - Seattle

I have no idea what i am doing in this photo, but it was awesome to have all of us together again finally. Khoo and Brian joined us as well. (thanks Khoo) 


The The Puma gear is not as warm as it looks. 


The Penny Arcade Ninja Squad! 


The Penny Arcade guys look over our shoulder at the competition... 


Brookelyn and Jaye take on the guys in FFA Slayer Pro 


the most amazing experience of the LAN was playing halo on the jumbo tron at the convention center. imagine the Halo theme rumbling through these stadiums. 


this guy has my dream case 


everyone needs a break 

Some days are better than others... 

I thought I hated sports before

I promise I am as tired of this story as you are, but I feel like I should add this to the archives, Take Two bought the rights to MLB and also the ESPN developer, Visual Concepts.
So I spent some time this weekend talking about this whole deal with someone who informed me that ESPN's market share last year grew from 5% to 11% (drunk estimations). God forbid someone else make a good sports game. So now the teams have been picked and Sega's left foot is gone, and the dodge-ball game is between Take Two and EA. How any of them will make a profit on the actual titles in question is hard to imagine. How the competition elimination will add to the said publisher's bottom line will be one of the top stories of 2005.

"Earlier, we reported that publishing giant Take-Two had signed a deal with Major League Baseball for exclusive rights to make baseball games with the real names of players and official teams. According to San Francisco Business Times, the second phase of the company's wheeling and dealing has fallen into place. After buying out Microsoft's sports concerns late last year, the company has moved on to purchase Visual Concepts--Sega's development arm for their line of sports games.

Last year's ESPN 2K5, a mainstay for Visual Concepts and a direct competitor for Electronic Arts' Madden series, was co-published by Sega and GlobalStar, a Take-Two games brand, at a budget price. Part of the publishing agreement was reputed to give Take-Two the option to purchase Visual Concepts from Sega, and now the company has apparently exercised that option for a cool $24 million."

[via: 1UP.COM]

Congratulations to two of the luckiest people in the world. - John and Farideh Magdziarz - January 23, 2004 

Kat the action figure

So two of my fabulous friends, Peter and Andrew, and a joint 40th birthday celebration where the lovely Kim decided to make standup dolls of a photo put together by kisses4cuddles in our forum (where do these kids come up with these names?)

Does the devil have a soul?

"ESPN and Electronic Arts today announced a 15-year partnership, giving EA access to ESPN's broadcast, print and online content - as well as its stable of personalities - for all of its sports titles. The integration of the two brands will begin in 2006

"[via CNN Money]

Gamers are normal people? right.

Does anyone else find it hysterical that there is a very exensive survey getting a ton of press right now that basically says gamers are normal people. The fact that we go to church and excercise has become national news. We are not reclusive non-functioning burdens on society. We actually volunteer in our community. Crazy things like that. While I do appreciate someone validating us in this way, let me step you through some problems I found with the data.

"The survey showed that gamers "spend more than three times the amount of time exercising or playing sports, volunteering in the community, reading, or engaging in religious, creative, and cultural activities than they do playing video games." Specifically, the data revealed that typical American gamers spend 23.4 hours per week on the abovementioned activities, while spending only 6.8 hours per week playing video games."
This must be the married ones of us who don't have any other choice, because they have to change diapers and bring home the bacon, and stuff.

"Moreover, the data suggests that gamers who play more regularly—11 or more hours each week—spend even more time on the other activities (34.5 hours per week)"
He must be talking about when we sleep, except we don't sleep 34 hours a week. Only normal humans sleep that long. I wonder what activity he is talking about then. Maybe school or something.

Interestingly, the Hart research indicates that typical gamers are literate, creative, appreciate culture...
and here all this time I thought the reason you could turn subtitles off was for the segment of gamers who did not know how to read.

"Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA commented, "Gamers are everywhere and they're everyone. They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids, they lead responsible and caring lives, balancing their enjoyment of interactive entertainment with many other activities important to a well-rounded lifestyle."
does anyone else think this sounds like a warning to the American people of a Zombie invasion? "They are everywhere! You may not be able to tell them apart from you neighbor; they may have even taken over your children! Run for your lives...

Seriously, it was nice to wake up and find out someone thinks I am normal, despite the obviously flawed results. But did anyone else notice the glaring hole in the data refusing to show how many of us are actually illegal space ninjas? Now that is the real story.

Great tales of the chief

in an email from a friend at 3am last night:
"It was four on four, rapid assault on Ivory Tower. My entire team left, so it was me against 4 people. I snuck in and armed the bomb. Then I got 17 kills on the next round as I completely annihilated their team."
"It was sick. I got 21 medals in the slaughter and they never got the bomb past the glass staircase. Then I snuck in and armed the bomb again. I'm such a killer I might write a song about me and how my eyes are like eyes of the tiger."

Gamestop.com - GameCube Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller

OK - I have been the first to say video games are not promoting violence, but um, this is a little weird.
"Designed with an actual Chainsaw lying in the middle of the R&D lab during brainstorming sessions, this sculpted controller is as close as you can come to the real thing! The attention to detail goes as far as having gory blood marks on the blade and the rumble feature for that realistic feel."Gamestop.com - GameCube Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller

A Conversation With the Frag Dolls

"I think that despite the initial pre-conceptions of them, they are what women gamers are all about. They all love to play a variety of games but you can get yourself fragged by them in Halo2 right now. I touted them as role models for women earlier in the conversation and I will stand by it. We may not all be exactly like them but they are in essence the epitome of what we are. They laugh while they play and at times they even stop to admire each other's in game clothes. Come ON! What woman doesn't do that?"

[via Killer Betties]

I love it when I am right

ok, so I am sunning in Mexico and don't have time at this Internet cafe to find the link where I said I could see Halo on the hand held, but more peeps at CES were surfacing the rumor. Gizmondo??? [via slashdot]

I AM OFF

I am off to Mexico. Photos and updates soon.
Kisses and Hugs
Kat