Though many of you already suspected as much, I can finally reveal that I'm working on a game called skate 3. The press release went out this week.

While the press release did mention some key and new features we've added this time around, there are a few things we're keeping under wraps for now. There will be some interesting items to be revealed in the months to come.

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A few weeks ago I was on my way to my parents' place for dinner. I happened to be traveling along North Road in Coquitlam when I noticed a new business in a strip mall. The name of the business was "Chicken Party". Now if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know I love chicken in all its culinary forms.

I didn't have time to stop by to check the place out but I'd like to. As I thought more about it, the name "Chicken Party" seemed kinda familiar. It was only when I got home later did I find out what "Chicken Party" meant in another context. According to popular rumours, a "chicken party" is a gathering where young women perform oral sex on several men at the party. I believe this type of party was discussed on Oprah but it was never confirmed that teenagers were doing this at all.

In any case, I am unsure if the owners and proprietors of "Chicken Party" on North Road are aware of the double meaning. I am also unsure if this double meaning makes me more or less inclined to try the chicken at "Chicken Party".

If you want to check out the place yourself, here's the listing for it.

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A few days ago I went downtown. For poops and tee-hees, I decided to take Skytrain and got off at Waterfront station, thus mimicking my old commute. Upon exiting the station, I was at 250 Howe Street, where my whole team used to work. I saw a young couple, tourists, who had a video camera out. They were pointing the camera towards one of the smaller EA signs that was still there. I didn't have the heart to tell them we no longer had a presence downtown and that we had retreated back into the wilds of Burnaby. Out front, the large metallic EA sign that was beautifully neon back-lit at night was now gone. I half expected to see some faded paint where signed used to be but you couldn't even tell it was once there.

To really drive home the point, I then headed over to Yaletown. My destination was the Yaletown Brewpub or more specifically what was on top of it. The top of that building is now the home of United Front Games. Now it wasn't supposed to be like this. About a year and a half ago, when the world was a much, much happier place, the skate team was told we were going to move to that space. Then the world economy took a bad stumble and EA's finances followed suit. To make a long story short, I'm now working in the 'burbs and UFG is in that prime location in Yaletown.

Now UFG has only been there for a few short months. The addition to the Yaletown Brewpub building only got finished recently. In fact, I had not been to Yaletown since UFG moved in. So as I walked down Helmecken, I was not prepared to see what was to come. As I got to the corner at Mainland, I looked up and saw, in all its glory, two big United Front Games signs, towering over everything in the immediate area.

I was impressed and then overcome with envy. In an alternate universe, those signs would have read "Black Box" and I would have been working upstairs somewhere in that building. Instead, I had to settle for a few drinks at the bar at the brew pub. My bartender was even nice enough to tell me the beer that they named after UFG was a pilsner. Yep, a pilsner.

So for all you UFGers out there be thankful for what you have.

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When did video games get so expensive? In the past two years or so, the top end of a console game was usually $60. I'm now seeing games at $65 and in some cases $69. I know first-hand that budgets for games have been steadily rising for many years now but it seems odd that in this type of economy, games have gotten more expensive.

The majority of the people who work on a game have absolutely no say in how much people should be paying for it. At least where I work, it's up to the marketing guys to decide price tag to slap on the box. I remember when I was working on skate., I was in a team meeting when the marketing people told us our title would be priced at a premium which back then was $60. We were told it was because the work we were doing was worth it. I maybe biased but it was hard to argue that point.

PC games are indeed cheaper and sometimes by 50%. Unfortunately, playing a PC game means playing it my 24" monitor versus my 50" TV. It also means there's no community involvement since the game isn't on Xbox Live or PSN. So while it is cheaper, it's not exactly the same experience.

I should go ask the marketing peeps why the top end pricing has creeped up lately.

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When I was a kid, doctors were nothing but total authority figures to me. They were super smart people who helped others recover from or prevent illnesses. My parents also told me doctors made a lot of money, which was probably a hint from my Mom that she would not have disagreed had I chosen to become a doctor.

Anyways, once I was in undergrad and more so while I was in grad school, I started to meet a lot of med students. These were exceptional young men and women who had the intelligence and tenacity to tackle the work required to become a medical doctor. Now that a few years have passed since I left grad school, most of my med school friends are now finishing up their training or are just starting their careers in doctorology as a doctorologist.

Now that everyone has had some experience in seeing and treating patients, I've been privy to some really interesting stories. Keep in mind, in all cases, doctor-patient confidentiality has been upheld. My doctor friends never give out any details that would allow me to identify a patient directly or indirectly.

With that in mind, let me relay to you a story one of my doctor friends told me. My friend, let's call him "Rajneesh", has a private practice and sees patients in his own office. I won't give away what type of practice he has but Raj sees both males and females in work. For some of the males, it's unavoidable that he needs to examine their testicles.

He is, of course, very professional about it. He asks the dudes to drop them pants and underwear so he can have a look and yes, so he can have a manual inspection as well (with gloves on). Now most of the time, the males are very good patients. Once their junk is exposed and ready for inspection, they just wait for my friend Raj to do what he needs to do. Unfortunately, there have been a few dudes who stray from the standard operating procedure.

Some dudes, start manipulating their twig and berries with their hands for whatever reason. Raj can't figure out if they think they're actually helping by moving their junk around or if they're just nervous. In any case, it's of course no help to Raj. Personally, if I were in that situation, I'd think the doc would know more about the examination so why the hell would I go start messing with stuff? You don't see me sticking my hands in the engine of my car while my mechanic is doing work on it!

So while the junk manipulation is just a small annoyance before the actual examination, the bigger problem is that these dudes now have junk residue on their hands. Raj tells me that only one of the ball touchers he's had in his office has ever asked to wash their hands once the exam was over. The rest just carry on as if they didn't just touch their penis and testicles in front of another man. Raj said that some even go to shake his hand when the appointment is over.

The problem doesn't end there. Because these dudes now have junk residue on their hands, they must be tracked as they leave Raj's medical office. Raj keeps an eye on everything a ball toucher touches in the exam room. Once a ball toucher starts to go back to the waiting area to exit, Raj will quickly instant message his receptionist with "ball toucher". This is a signal for the receptionist to keep an eye out for everything the ball toucher makes contact with in the front of the office. Once the ball toucher leaves, the receptionist then knows what to go and disinfect.

Let this be a lesson to all of us. If you must touch your own genitals at the doctor's office, at least ask to wash your hands before leaving or you'll be labeled a "ball toucher".

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