May 16, 2012
I followed the whole Happy Meal crackdown with mild interest, but somehow didn’t really believe that our town would be affected. I figured it was just another weird California thing. Obviously, we haven’t been to a McDonald’s in a while, but when we ordered up our Happy Meals and got to the car, I opened the boxes to fetch the toys for the kids and couldn’t help but notice the french fries.
What the what is that? I put it up to a large fries to show the comparison. All I could think of is that McDonalds finally perfected Wonkavision. The box size is bad enough, but of course, the servers can’t take the normal-sized scooper and get any fries to actually fall into the box, so there were about 8 fries total in there, and only two of them were long enough to actually peek over the edge. I actually ordered that large fry in the picture because I took pity on the kids, who deserved a decent pile of perfectly cut potatoes.
I have this whole long rant about how this stupidly small fry is a symbol of what’s wrong with our country, but I think my daughter summed it up best when she said that it was so ridiculous, it needed to be on the show Ridiculousness. If only we could get someone to make a video of a tiny fry plunging head over heels down a hill on a skateboard. That would be perfect.
Sorry Mickey D’s. I grew up on you. I used to wait for up to a half hour in the drive through in High School to get your McDLT and awesome fries, but you’re ruining it for my kids, so we probably won’t be back again soon.
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May 15, 2012
…is that we’ll never know the real name of Project Copernicus.
Seriously though, I’m sad that things aren’t looking good for the studio, and I hope there’s some miracle solution to the whole thing. I admired Curt Schilling for putting his money where his mouth is, and trying his hand at making an MMO, something that most of us dream about doing on a daily basis, and something that we all think we can do better than the studios whose games we play. He did it exactly as you’d expect a Big Game, World Series MVP pitcher to do it too, by going big or going home. He hired the best talent in R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane, grabbed lots of experienced game industry vets from other games like Steve Danhuser and Jennifer MacLean. When anyone from 38 talked about the project, the two things that tended to come up were the vast scope of the project, across many types of media, and that the company was focused and terrific to work for. Heck, just a few weeks ago, I did an interview for Massively with two new additions to the staff: Senior Vice President of Development John Blakely, and Senior Vice President of Business Operations Mark Hanson.
Now, we’re hearing that 38 Studios defaulted on its May 1st loan payment of $1.125 million. From what I recall reading, their loan payments are due on May and September, and apparently the Kingdoms of Amalur box sales were not enough to cover the spring payment. With nothing to show at E3, and little concrete information about Copernicus for some time, that means even if they work out something for the May payment, things are looking bleak for the fall.
So if 38 Studios really does go under, what could be the reason? Was it the fact that the company branched out too far, too fast? Was the purchase of the Azeroth Advisor, and the potential data that came from it, worth the investment? Even more crucial, was the purchase of Big Huge Games, and the decision to put Kingdoms of Amalur (Project Mercury) on the frontburner a move that ended up putting them deeper into the hole and behind the 8 ball? And the lingering question, of course, is whether it was wise responsible to take a $75 million dollar loan from the state of Rhode Island if there might have been hints that this was a diceroll at best.
Whatever the reason, it’s a shame that the studio might be shutting its doors. I was on the bandwagon from the very start — I wasted time watching Munch eat my cursor, jumped on the dribs and drabs of concept art when it came out a few years ago, and got genuinely excited about their motto, “wouldn’t it be cool if…”
I was looking back at some of the posts I had made back in 2008 when 38 Studios had made quite a bit of buzz with Copernicus, and it’s eye-opening to see some of the other titles that I was writing about: Stargate Worlds, Tabula Rasa, Lego Universe, The Agency, Metaplace, Red 5′s game (which turned out to be Firefall), Darkfall, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online. Not exactly a barnburner list, now that we’ve had some time to see it all play out. Four years ago, the whole notion of games and studios shutting down was not very common, and it was a time when we bloggers had a pretty full plate when it came to the list of notable MMOs that had either just released or were in development. Call me pessimistic, but the landscape these days is looking a lot more like the world of the Matrix after taking the red pill.
I’m not sure I want to go down the rabbit hole when it comes to MMOs right now.
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May 1, 2012
Today officially kicks off the Newbie Blogger Initiative, which is the brainchild of Justin Olivetti, who I have the privilege of calling my co-worker over at Massively. I love reading Justin’s work because he tends to focus on two aspects of MMOs that are near and dear to my heart: the history, and the people. His regular column, The Game Archaeologist, is always a trip down memory lane for me, and I often find myself walking away knowing more about a game that I swear I knew like the back of my hand. With his latest endeavor, the Newbie Blogger Initiative, he’s attempting to open the lines of communication and encourage more gamers to roll up their sleeves and write about what they love.
I’m very excited to be a part of the project, not only because it will bring in some new and talented writers to the blogging scene, but also because it reconnects me with the old blog pack that I haven’t really stayed in touch with for a while. I still prowl the blogsosphere, but it’s been mainly on the lurker level, and I’m hoping that this new initiative will help me get back to my roots.
If you’re one of the four people that read my blog and you want to take part in the Newbie Blogger Initiative, all you need to do is head to the forums that Justin has added and register to join. After that, it’s just a matter of setting up your blog (and if you need advice that’s a great topic to throw at the veteran bloggers!), and then type away! There are dozens of longtime bloggers that have signed up as sponsors, and are more than willing to help with any questions you might have, so this is a great opportunity for anyone that’s considered taking the plunge into blogging.
The Newbie Blogger Initiative will continue through the month of May, but the sooner you join up, the more you’ll get out of it (and it’s like, free and stuff). Happy blogging!
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