Gameplay producer Jay Balmer is down in Santa Monica representing the skate team at E3. I think Jay does a great job at interviews. In this interview he even addresses our direct "competition", the Tony Hawk games and why there's room for two skateboarding games in the market. Go Jay!
Are you familiar with video game conference/convention E3? Do you remember the over-the-top displays, throngs of scantily-clad booth babes, and full-scale assaults on your senses? Yeah, all that's gone now.
E3, which stands for something new now, has been toned and scaled down. Now it takes place in Santa Monica rather than Los Angeles. The focus is back on the games. They also moved the date from May to July, this week in fact.
If you remember my post over a year ago, I was happy to be part of E3 as a developer via the game I was currently working on. That game was Shadow-Born for the N-Gage, reportedly the most expensive cell phone game in history. Even while I was writing that post, I knew I was flogging a dead horse in a manner of speaking. I already knew the chances of Shadow-Born ever appearing in the marketplace and being actually played by people were almost nil. The N-Gage turned out to be a pretty bad failure for Nokia. As a result, Shadow-Born will never see the light of day.
More than a year later, I'm working for a new company and on a new game. skate will be at this year's E3. Unlike Shadow-Born, there will be genuine interest in skate from both journalists and regular gamers alike. Also, unlike Shadow-Born, skate will be definitely be released.
We sent out a pretty solid build for E3. I'm hoping we make some great impressions with people this week! Stay tuned for coverage!
I have never been much of a car guy. I have yet to own a car. When I drive, I'm just content to have a car that can take me somewhere. If I ever move downtown, I'll probably just join a car co-op like Zipcar. Since I was 16, I probably have spent enough on computers, video game consoles, and games equal to the cost of a new economy car. If you consider the cost of my education, what it took to get two degrees, you're looking at a new, luxury sedan right there. So yeah, I've never put a whole lot of value on owning a car.
Last night, I was bored and I typed "Porsche" into the search box on Wikipedia. A few minutes of reading and then clicking brought me to the Porsche Cayman, the new entry-level sports car model offered by Porsche. It replaces the popular Boxster model which debuted at the turn of the century.
I'm not a huge fan of sports cars but this model is beautiful. It's a great looking vehicle. They did an awesome job of designing it. Then I thought, there's a lot of dumb things I could do with my money right now and one of them is to buy one of these cars.
The base model Cayman is approx. $70 000 CDN before taxes and all those other wonderful charges. In just cash alone though, I'd have enough for a substantial downpayment. Add in my RRSPs and I'd have about half the car paid off before I even drove it off the lot. Considering that Porsche is comfortable selling their vehicles to people with zero downpayment, there's no way they'd turn down my offer to by a Cayman. Given my current financial situation, I could probably pay off the car in about three years. Think of it! I could be driving a brand new Porsche Cayman!
So while the above is true, let's turn common sense back on right now. At this point in my life, I should be saving money for retirement and/or the possible purchase for real estate. My money should grow, not devalue the instant I drive it off the lot (no matter how freaking hot the car looks). Let us not forget I have no where to park the car. I'd have to put it outside in a semi-private lane outside the townhouse complex I live in. What kind of person can afford a Porsche but can't park it indoors? Also, consider what my driving habits are. I tend to drive a car to go to the movies, the mall, and to buy groceries. Do I need Cayman to do that? No. I suppose that once I had such a nice ride, it'd be a waste not to just go on a Sunday drive once in a while. That would probably be a lot of fun, especially in the summer time. Plus, it would be interesting to start dating a girl that just liked me for my car, I've never had that happen before. Seriously though, this car would probably sit idle at least five days of the week. I might take it out only on the weekends.
In reality, it would be impractical for me to buy a Porsche Cayman but in some really egotistical and self-indulgent way, I'll have to be satisfied that I could buy one if I wanted to.
Lots of people have seen the movie Transformers in the last few days. I was, unfortunately, not one of them. I just didn't get around to it this weekend. It's probably made enough money already that a sequel is inevitable.
I'll probably see it next weekend. By the way, if you're wondering, the above still is actually from the movie. When I was deciding pics for this post, it was down to that one and a pic of Optimus. I flipped a coin. Sorry Prime.
