Holiday Season

Well it is here, it has officially arrived. Up till now it has been a wild ride, this year has flown by and I could not be happier with the outcome.

As many of you guys know, or if you don't you will soon find out. I was promoted back in February to Producer. This was an exciting time, it was the next step up that would guide me to with what I have been wanting to do. I was not expecting of it happening so fast, or would I be ready for what was ahead of me, but I have survived and I am happy with what has happened.

We have been working pretty much around the clock for the past two years, I can officially say that I have worked more in the past two years then anything that I have done in the past. This time it has been really hard work, but the game that we are all working on is taking some big strides and can't wait for it to be released in March. Time sure flies when you are working over 80 hours a week. And here is the shameless plug, you can check out www.freakycreatures.com. If you would like to be invited to our close beta which is happening now, please let me know.

A week before Thanksgiving I got the biggest thanks that I could ever wish for. I was asked to work on my very own game, something that I am very excited about. This is a huge deal and I couldn't be any happier about it. I know that it will be a lot of work, and it has already began, but it will rock this world when it gets released later next year. As it gets closer I will let you all know about it and what are plans are. Besides how cool is it to see your idea come to life? Seriously when you go wouldn't it be cool if, and that if is happening and everyone agrees that it will be cool.

We just moved offices, so we are no longer in Malibu, but we are still close to the ocean, on Sunset and PCH. This has been a lot of work trying to coordinate to get everything moved slowly and trying not to lose people's crap. I can't imagine how much crap people have. I do have my own office that is the furthest away from civilization, which is good...no one can hear the screams.

Most of my free time has been getting together with my totally amazing girlfriend. I couldn't be happier and look forward to spend every day with her. She has gotten me through some rough times here at the office, and I can't imagine where my life would be without her. In October we celebrated our 1 year of being together. We decided to go to San Diego for a few days and make a long weekend a little longer. It was such an unforgettable time, and it brought us a little closer. My boss also had a few tricks up his sleeve with our trip which made it even better, oh and we saw Shamu as well.

Well besides that I have been busy with school as well. I can happily say that I am enjoying all of my classes and look forward to finish up school shortly. I am done with all of my Business classes, which is a little sad, since I did have some great fun in them, but now it will be computer classes.

For everything else, there isn't too much to report. It has been a great year and I am hoping for the same next year.

I want to wish everyone happy holidays and have a great new year. Hopefully all of your dreams will come true next year.

Take care,
Matt

Week 11 : Feedback

On Yahoo, normally they have a section right under an ad for Feedback. If you click on it, you are taken to a survey about the ad. I thought it was interesting and was wondering how many people actually submit comments with regards to an ad.

What if more ads did this? If you went to a new website, what would happen if you could give some input. What about those full page ads that pop up?

Week 10 : What did they just say?

I am sure that everyone is familiar with the ads for new prescription drugs on TV. I think it is a little funny to hear about the added side affects that the drug may cause. I mean if they have sold you on helping you do the side affects turn you off to the product? I don't know about you but if I was going to take one of these drugs I don't think that anal leakage is high on my list.



I also enjoy greatly the "see our ad in" parts. I know that the commercials are interesting, but what would tell me more about the side affects and the product, the last time I looked at a magazine it didn't tell me all of the information that is shown on a TV commercial. I think that they should change it to maybe, "also seen in". That way if someone is interested in finding out more they can simply hunt down the magazine and see what information they were interested in. Just some food for thought.

Week 9 : N-Gaged?

I have worked in the Video Game industry for the past 6 years. During this time there has been some great products that I have worked on and have been truly happy about. One of those things was the N-Gage. Okay you can bash it all you want and believe me you have every right to. There of course was this one and it just goes on and on but none the less this was going to be the next big thing. You have had a lot of commercials that show you what I thought at the time was new and got you interested in what it was.



It was at the time going to be the one of the biggest things that was going to happen. However once it was released it turned out not to be. Who would be willing to take their battery out of the phone to change games? Well Nokia listened to it's users and released the N-Gage QD.



However it seemed like it was too late and no one was going to go with the flow. The N-Gage didn't make it and in the long run it was a great idea but not too many people were going along with it. Sure there was the Nintendo DS and the beginning of the Sony PSP, but did those have phones?



Would it be different if the Sony PSP didn't come out? Would the N-Gage would have prevailed?

Week 8: The Polls

There was an interesting video about what words you associate with each of the upcoming candidates that are running for president on yahoo today.



I thought that it was interested and how they ran through the different words and figured out which words you thought about first when you saw a picture and how you reacted. It seemed to me to be one of those things that catches your attention, something quick and eye popping that companies try to find out from the very beginning to catch your eye so you buy their product.

I think this video brings up something new as well. I don't ever remember candidates going after so many ads and thinking about new places to post them. There is a good article here about an ad that is displayed in a video game. There is also an ad here as well. I think that this is huge, especially trying to get the attention of the youth maybe not as big as rock the vote but something that they can see and think about as they are relaxing playing against their friends. I don't know what this will do for the future, but I am sure that there will be a place where it will need to stop, until that place is found I am going to be sitting and waiting.

Week 7: Caffeinated what!?!?!

The other day I was bored and figured that I would kill sometime and look at Yahoo for something to make time past. There was an article (here) about new caffeinated products. I thought that it was odd and very unique to see that they are starting to add caffeine in a variety of products, but was shocked to see that they have even added it to soap. Ironically you can find some here. Though I haven't seen this in any store as of yet, but can't wait to see the weekly special of caffeinated soap. I just hope they don't get to the point to advertise this product too much, as I can only accept a certain amount of caffeinated products per day, and I don't need to start off on a caffeinated high when I am in the shower.



I think that the Starbucks affect (a theory that I have with regards to having a store on every corner and seeing even kids with their Starbucks coffee) was large enough and don't really seem a real reason that we should start adding caffeine in every single product out there. I just don't like the way we are heading as a society and relying so much on caffeine. Sure that caffeine is considered a drug now and that many many people are addicted to it.

I can't wait to see what else happens and where else they can find places to place caffeine in. I can't wait for the scratch and sniff caffeine stickers that will be around soon.

Week 6: Money out of where?!?!

Superbowl commercials are normally the highlight of the Superbowl for a lot of people, even myself. I make sure that I am glued to the TV for the commercials and don't want to miss what everyone will be talking about the next couple of weeks. Each year they always run the greatest Superbowl commercials ever to appear and I caught this last year about this time and saw one commercial that I missed in 2000. Even though companies pay a very large sum of money for even a 30 second spot, is it worth it?



I think so, I mean how many of millions of people will be watching the TV at that moment when it is your really big moment to shine. Of course there have been some that haven't really settled to well with people, especially the GoDaddy.com commercials, but then again, it is something that we can always remember.



What will be this years big one that will stick with us for a very long time. We will have to wait and see. Hopefully it will be a good one that no one is expecting...