When I was kid, I immersed myself in a lot of fictional places, worlds, and universes that came in the form of books, comics, TV shows, and movies. The best fiction always found a way to be somewhat believable, fantastic, daring, consistent, all with a pinch of crazy.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about fiction was when two separate worlds I really liked connected in the most briefest and smallest manner. The stereotypical example of this comes from comics where one superhero will have a cameo in the issue of another superhero. How many times has Spider-Man teamed up with another costumed crusader to save the city? Because this happens so much, this type of interaction is less special.
These cameos also appear in sitcoms as well. In years past, characters from Mad About You appeared on Friends. In movies, such interactions exist also. One of the most well-known examples occurred in the second Predator movie. At the end of the film, we can see a whole group of Predators in their spaceship. Among the many trophies lining the ship, one can easily discern a skull of the unmistakable species from the Alien movies. Though the skull appeared on-screen for mere seconds, it sent sci-fi fans into a tizzy at the thought of Predators engaging in combat with Aliens. The inclusion of such a prop eventually led to the Alien vs. Predator movies.
Of course, cameos can also be found in video games and this is where the story becomes personal for me. About one year ago, our brothers and sisters over at Criterion released their fantastic driving game Burnout Paradise set in the fictional setting of Paradise City. In Paradise, there's an in-game narrator of sorts named DJ Atomika. One of the stories he relates to you is how he was previously partying with the skaters of San Vanelona. Of course San Van is the fictional city setting for the original skate. This one little bit of audio was Criterion's subtle tip of the cap to us at Black Box. It also meant that the two cities existed in the same universe, whatever that happened to be.
I thought this was awesome for Criterion to do and I really wanted to return the favour. At the time though, we were in the very early stages of making skate 2, so anything I came up with had to be first cleared with production and any actual work had to wait for much later. It wasn't until very late into the summer of 2008 that I decided to get the ball rolling on this. In the interim, I had managed to have a quick discussion with our studio head about my idea and he was cool with it. By the summer, I also decided that our nod to Criterion should probably be in the form of some billboard ad. To me, it would appropriate if say the tourism council of Paradise City decided to adverstise in New San Van.
I first contacted the environments producer Shaun, who brought in the art director for the city, Caroline, for all of us to have a quick chat about what we wanted to do. I mentioned my idea but gave full creative control over to art since that's what they do best. In the end, two billboard designs were made, one tourism related and the other comparing New San Van to Paradise City. Seth, one of the FE artists on the team, created each of the billboards and he showed me the results on a fine summer day. When I saw them in-game for the first time, I was extremely pleased.
Now while we were finishing up skate 2, there was an unexpected cameo in another game. In November, the team upstairs released Need For Speed: Undercover which takes place in the fictional Tri-City area. In that driving game, there's a copious of amount of radio chatter between cops and dispatchers while you drive around. In one instance, a patrolman reports in that he's discovered an unconscious skateboarder in the road. The patrolman further goes on to say that the ID of the skater states he lives in New San Vanelona, the setting for skate 2. Wild! So now we know that Paradise City, New San Vanelona, and the Tri-City area all exist in the same universe.
Just two months later, we managed to get skate 2 out the door, with our two Paradise City billboards located in various parts of our city. At first, I wondered if anyone would notice our small nods to Criterion. Sure enough, after just a week or so, people started posting their findings on message boards. One user even posted a video. Now I only wonder if anyone at Criterion has seen the billboards.
I've had the privilege of being part of many cool things while working at EA but this ranks up there with everything else, even if it was a super tiny element of the entire game. Thanks to Shaun, Caroline, and Seth for listening to my ideas. Thanks also to Tom and the other Shaun for placing the billboards in the city.
What other secrets are there to be discovered in the EA universe?
I was advised after my home purchase not to look at mls.ca and the listings on there, lest I see something that would cause me some regret. Of course, curiosity got the best of me, so I have indeed been looking. I found an interesting listing here. It's a 3000+ square foot, 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom apartment located near Coal Harbour in downtown Vancouver. It is just blocks away from where I work (for now).
It takes up the entire 21st floor of the building its in. Just from the two pictures you see above, it is plainly clear the view is stunning. The wrap-around floor-to-ceiling windows afford you a view of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park, and the surrounding ocean waters. Now if you could turn your gaze from the windows for just a moment, one would find the apartment itself isn't too shabby. The kitchen island on its own is probably larger than my entire kitchen. I also love the light hardwood floors and the crisp white walls. I am now wondering how much it would cost to get my own place painted white and installed with hardwood.
Now you're probably wondering how much this place is listed for. The seller, whoever that might be, is asking for just under $6.4 million. To put that into perspective, even if the seller decided to lop off six million from the asking price, I'd still have trouble buying it. The monthly maintenance fee for this apartment is over $1400 which is considerably more than my entire monthly mortgage payment.
Nearly every white-collar job in modern society now requires a worker to spend some time at a computer. I am no different and unfortunately, I've discovered negative consequence to all this computer work. Is it carpal tunnel syndrome? Thankfully, it is not, though at least two of my co-workers have been affected by this. Is it strained eyes? No, but I probably am not doing my eyes any favours by staring my LCD screen all day.
What I have discovered is that I am causing tears in the elbow area of long-sleeved shirts on my right arm. Because of where I position my mouse and my body relative to the mouse, my mouse movements cause my elbow to rub against the desk surface. With short-sleeves, this is obviously not a problem. I have, however, caused irreparable damage to two button-down shirts this year, both of which I am quite fond of.
I should probably fix my body posture and/or mouse placement before I have to replace yet another shirt.
This past Friday, Conan O'Brien, hosted the last episode of his Late Night talk show. O'Brien is moving to Los Angeles to take over the reins of The Tonight Show from Jay Leno. Conan's first show in LA will be June 1, 2009. After seventeen years, I will now have a good reason to tune into The Tonight Show.
When Conan started his show way back in 1993, he had some big shoes to fill. He was at the time, an unknown, caught up the in the late night talk show drama. He was almost an afterthought, with the controversy between David Letterman and Jay Leno dominating the talk show headlines. The first two years of Late Night weren't the best and the rumours that he was nearly canned several times probably had some truth in it.
As the years passed, Conan and his staff found their own particular sense of comedic style and people responded. I will always love and appreciate Conan's devastating self-deprecating wit and sense of humour. Throughout the 1990s, Conan became extremely popular with the college-age crowd, his goofy humour resonating with the coveted 18-24 year old set.
After sixteen years, O'Brien has more than earned his seat at The Tonight Show desk, where he will bring some fresh energy and new ideas to the show.
The segment you see above is from when Conan visited the FAO Schwarz store in NYC. While entertaining, Conan has stated his all-time favourite skit is from when attended a Civil-war era baseball re-enactment. Because of embedding restrictions, I can't show it to you in this post but you may view it here. It is classic Conan at his best. Good luck Conan in LA!
If you click here, you'll see some pics from the skate 2 wrap party that was held on Friday night. Overall, it was an awesome evening. I am sure there will be a story or two to be told on Monday morning.
