gewgaw

A big congratulations to Rumiko and her entire team for shipping MaBoShi on Wii Ware! She’s translated an interview with the president of her company – which presents and interesting perspective on Japanese development – one more aligned with the “box of chocolates” talk I gave at TGS last year:

Around the time I was seeing more and more games focusing on “more and bigger.” But I was against the trend. I thought:

• We can’t continue faking qualitative change just by adding more and more contents. Players will see the truth in time, and they will get bored of such games.
• Striving for more and bigger won’t make people happy.

Have you ever heard of this Japanese word: Karōshi? It means “death from overwork.” I had to witness such cases. Shocking events for a high school boy to face, don’t you think? I knew without improving the work environment, these things would happen again and again. However, people around me did nothing to stop it, and crammed employees with more works.

In the end, I made a company myself. This was mainly because I couldn’t find any other company that would try to change the situation.

It’s nice to see Japanese developers speaking publically about the need for scope and a focus on the aesthetics of game experiences. Really cool – and I hope the game is a success!

Crazy week – so much going on that at times I can actually feel my brain growing muli-tasking neurons. In addition a couple of projects I’m helping Lou teach a game design class at USC! First demos will happen on Thursday – very much looking forward to what the students turn out.

Also wanted to give a shout to our friends down in Austin and welcome them to the Blueprint lable!

PS: They’re hiring!!!

My new house is full of spiders!!

They are everywhere. They are in the entryway, in the wells that lead to the crawlspaces under the house. They are in the back garden, the side yard – the porch eaves and the laundry room. It is impossible to go anywhere, or do much of anything, without a near web experience.

Today – one of the bigger ones had babies – dozens of them climbing all over my kitchen! Juli made milkshakes today while we were watching (!!!) football (PS: OMG she is going to teach me how to play Craps!!)- and by the time we went back into the kitchen, the babie spidaz (it’s a gang, we think) had colonized the blender!!

We are under attack.
Here are 3 from this weekend – two from TODAY!

*shiver*

While in Bhutan, I had started to come to terms with spiders, and bugs, in general. I considered myself nearly over what is probalby an irrational fear of those with 8 legs. But now – my inner peace is seriously being challenged. Perhaps meditation is in order?

On that note: to clear the mind of creepy crawlies and other bad thoughts: pictures of the darling young Mika, who has grown alomst 2 inches in length since I last looked. She is the most adorable SPAZ in the house by far (no offense, Jules).

SO CUTE.

Now if only she would stop biting my toes at 4 am – and go for the spiders!!!

Could I have asked for a cuter, better, more wonderful cat?

I don’t think so.