Kathunter's Personal Space

You know those days where you need to get out of your own way? Just shut it down, take a Xanax go to bed and start again tomorrow? Today has kinda been one of those days for me. Of course it does not help I was up playing Socom II until 6 in the morning, but you get where I am coming from.

A game mag asked Seanbaby if they could print a condensed version of his Dream Date article published on Ziff's 1up.com. It sounded like an innocuous idea at the time, so I agreed. Then he suggested we change most of the article and make it more of a story about me to which I angrily replied, "I am not a story. The girls are a story, but I am the last one someone should write an article about it. No way can we do that; I will look like an idiot. Why can't we stick to the original plan and trim the dating tips story?" So he, being the level headed one out of the two of us (which really frightens me), politely agreed, trimmed the dating story to be "Tips on Dating a Gamer" but for some reason the mag did not want to use the photo we gave them and asked for a photoshoot.


(said given photo which I liked)

Now there is nothing I hate worse than having my photo taken, so I immediately freak out. The first suggestion from the mag was me in a mini-skirt. Last I saw Hell was still above freezing so that idea was nixed. I don't wear miniskirts. I don't wear skirts for that matter unless someone is dead, getting married or the dinner bill is over $100. I proceeded to take out everything on that poor kid today, and since he does not realize my "I'm frustrated" voice sounds very close to "I fucking hate your guts" voice, I have some apologizing to do.

I want to ensure I represent the girls, as well as myself in the best possible light at all times (except for when I am drunk at a Karaoke Bar at which point I go by the foreign alias "Fu Guei Treun"). The reality is, you do the best you can, but no one is perfect. Which brings me to my current hang up...

While I may not always be the best at everything I do, I have come damn near close on many occasions. OK, so not in the global sense, but at least in the medium sized fish bowl I swim in. Now the tables are completely turned. I'm not the best shooter on our team in competitions. I'm not the "cute" one sent for media appearances. I am not even close to being one of the few successful freelancers in San Francisco after 9 months on the job. For the first time in a long time I am the very small fish is a very big pond and it feels like I forgot how to swim.

Everyone says "if you work hard you will succeed" but in this case, I am not sure they are right. But I really hope they are.

"(Slashdot) passed on your questions to Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade a while back, and today we have their answers. Tycho primarily answered the questions with consultation from Gabe and discusses the PA comic creation process, their views on the industry, and the possibility of an animated Penny Arcade venture. As usual, they do so with wit and verve: 'I am not an industry analyst, so I dont feel like I'm qualified to talk about ebb and flow of hojillion dollar industries. However, it is easy to imagine a universe where small developers don't huddle in blasted out wreckage, waiting to be vivisected by the the next wave of EA Scion-class sawbots.'"

[via Slashdot ]

"McGee will write the script for the first film and an outline for its two sequels, which will conclude with the land of Oz returned to its condition as fans of the book and the popular MGM movie know it. While this will be McGee's first commissioned Hollywood script, he's very familiar with the material. He and writer Camden Joy already have completed a generously illustrated 500-page novelization of the game, which Warner Books is on board to publish."

[via: Hollywood Reporter]

btw - has anyone played Scrapland yet?

"Infinium Labs, the company working to release a PC-as-console called the Phantom as well as a proprietary content-distribution network, filed statements with the Securities and Exchange commission confirming its current capital difficulties. The company's filings indicate a working capital deficiency of $10,611,532. If Infinium can't raise additional funds, it will be unable to continue functioning let alone release a console. The management discussion section of the documents indicate the company needs $11.5 million to launch the Phantom Game Service and sell the first 10,000 Phantom consoles. SG Capital is working to help the company raise additional funds."

[via: GameTab]

"Citing a plotline that goes 'way too far', South Korea's Media Rating Board has rejected approval of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2, according to American military newspaper Stars and Stripes. This (obviously) forced the game's Korean publisher to abandon its plans for a localization of the squad-based shooter."

[via: GameSpot]

G4techTV Video showing the making of Red vs. Blue.

" Normally such spiritual junctions require deep introspection, an intense inner look at one's wants, goals and capabilities - in short, I need to evaluate exactly how much I have accomplished in my life, the experiences I've accumulated, all that I've learned and deduce just how high my metaphysical ceiling is.
So, you can probably see why I'm insanely envious of The Prince. "

[via The New Gamer]

a few questions, and my very long answers.
[via SFist: Bay Blogger, Erm, Friday]

andone: jeesha bijak wa ni jaku karu.
andone: wa shu ni wa "Half-Life II" orum
andone: koro yi chi wa ni dow hai "vienna sausage" ni "gummybears"
andone: marchu jaku wa ni "Kat is an enormous geek."
andone: wacha wacha ni jaku! :)

Please send: Jak 3, Paper Mario 2, Half-Life 2, CS Source, and Everquest 2 and a TV that is larger than 14" :( .

In case you did not know, I am a little obsessive compulsive. When I decide I am interested in something, I bury myself in my room, order in food, and block out everything else in my entire life. Luckily, I had the weekend alone, because I decided to write a story on ilovebees.

I've been thinking about bees
Last week was the final event in San Fran, New York, Chicago and Austin where 3 months of game play culminated in a (yet another) preview event of Halo 2.

I had started with ilovebees in the beginning, but never had the time to dedicate to it, tried to pick it up after PAX but did not have GPS at the time, so I let it go again until Gus IMed me about the "Training Missions" (by the way RvB ep41 is posted).

Being broke, I figured I could sell the story of the SF event, and started tapping my address book. I got lucky first time out, and set out to research the story. Since November 4th's event at the Lowes Metreon I have not lifted my nose from this story. It is midnight on Saturday, and I am listening to the audio for the 3rd time. These guys are fucking genius. I have read through every word of every message, dozens of forums, a gaggle if sites, wikis, audio journals, and I can't get enough. Tomorrow I am doing phone interviews with Dana and various beekeepers, as well joining an IRC chat with the puppetmasters - and I can't get enough.

In case you were born last week, ilovebees is an Alternative Reality Game (ARG) where real world communication, character actors, and multimedia communication come together to bring a game to life (think The Game with Michael Douglas). This particular spectacle was orchestrated by 4ourty2wo, the same creative animals behind the ARG "The Beast" which surrounded the launch of Spielberg's AI. My next move is to find some way to get an interview with them.

...and about Gurls
The bees distraction was welcome after the entire Frag Dolls buzz last week. In case you missed our latest forum splash, it seems a few people did not know we were sponsored by Ubisoft (I am going to make you work for the links if you want them; Google loves me too much), and started a string of negative stories - feeding a string of negative forum postings, feeding my long-seeded desire to have everyone like me. Why won't everyone just like me?

Amazingly enough, I think I have finally extinguished this desire with tequila induced urine over this past week. After enough people calling you an airhead or bimbo the internet gossip starts to harden your skin and you realize it is a complement that anyone even cares. It was best put by 'anyuzer' when he said

Anyways, you girls should actually be congratulating yourselves for everything that has been written about you in the last week, good and bad. And I swear, that’s not being trite. Already, by simply causing a stir for one week, you have had more influence on the ‘gaming community’ than most other corporate sponsored gaming groups could ever dream of, not to mention individuals themselves.
You’ve raised important questions about the gaming culture and the gaming industry, made statements, and have had your name passed between probably a million or more lips. Not bad for a weeks work in my opinion.

I would prefer to be the one answering the questions but I will have to be happy with being the one to pose them for now (but only for now).

An amusing thing about internet gossip this week was that I was surprised to find out I was engaged to seanbaby.

I had to be the one to break the news:
miss eniac: btw, the editor of Game***** reported in his forums that you were engaged to one of the frag dolls
miss eniac: i hate to be the one to break the news
miss eniac: can Jinx and Rhoulette be my brides maids?
miss eniac: Oh, and the wedding will be in all pink and black
miss eniac: you will need to re-die your mohawk

By the end of it all, I was sick of hearing about "what women gamers really want" and ready to jump off the community bridge, until Sean came up with a brilliant comedy take on an article we were using to get free skydiving. The story is somewhere around here.

...but mostly me
And so it is all coming to an end and Sunday is on the way after what has proven to be an important week, and I find myself tying the two events together inside the dialog of the first.

"For a quality experience the girl has to be real."
- Jersey (ilovebees future)

"For fans of Kevin Siembieda and his pen-and-paper role-playing game Rifts, the dream of a video game based on the popular franchise has long been unfulfilled. For 14 years, Kevin refused all licensing requests for a video game, but that has finally changed. "

[via 1UP.com]