Valentine's Weekend Organizing

Last weekend we hosted a LAN party and managed to pull a few people way from the gaming to have some real life rock band fun. We had a blast but the room was pretty crowded so this weekend we reorganized!

BEFORE



AFTER



The room is a much better space now! And we have lots of room for guitar, bass and vocals. Just don't ask to see pictures of the upstairs hallway or the master bedroom...I have a lot of boxes to go through.

Defense Grid Trailer

This is low res (higher resolution available on File Planet if you're willing to deal with the download wait) but still cool. T.J.'s game!



"Coming early December 2008 for the PC, Defense Grid: The Awakening is a unique spin on tower defense gameplay that will appeal to players of all skill levels. A horde of enemies is invading, and it's up to the player to stop them by strategically building fortification towers around their base. Beautiful environments, spectacular effects, and a dynamic, engaging soundtrack bring the world to life. The controls are intuitive and the gameplay is deep - the special attacks and properties of each tower work together to provide many ways to succeed."

Pumpkin Carving

Last weekend T.J. and I drove up to Bellingham with the intention of doing a little pumpkin carving with the Simkins. What we really ended up doing is watching them carve--yes, we're totally lame. We'd both had long weeks and were happy to kick back and watch the magic be created by others. Our pumpkin is headed for a more culinary fate.



Hannah went with the classic bat theme (ewwww). I was pretty impressed with the speed and ease with which her pumpkin was carved. She has definitely put in more carving time than I have.



Lars opted for something more complex...Shodan, the villian from System Shock 2. For those of you who don't know Shodan is (I didn't):



Lars, you know we are pumpkin carving, right? We aren't using an etch-a-sketch here (that's another story entirely).



Huh. Well, this is new. Doesn't pumpkin carving require, well, carving? I guess it is a fine line.



Well then. I've never going to bother trying to carve again.



Lars may be a little too talented. Artists. Sheesh.

Pet Passing

T.J. came to me last Saturday afternoon to let me know we'd had a death in the family. Rest in peace, Dr. House...you were a really great betta. Really, I mean it. I don't know if I could handle having a more sentient pet...life spans aren't long enough! Fish dying make me sad enough!

If big things come in small packages...

...does the opposite follow? If so, Amazon Fresh is doing things right!

I love Amazon Fresh...groceries delivered to the door! I got home the last time I ordered to find six crates on my doorstep...that'd be a lot of groceries!

Exhibit 1: Unopened bin.

Exhibit 2: Opened bin. With a...folded paper bag? What the heck?


Exhibit 3: Seriously? The bin contained...a CD! (By the way, Amazon Fresh recently started offering to deliver select items from Amazon.com with your groceries...this is bad, very bad.)

One of the other bins contained a single 16-ounce carton of sour cream. That's it. Maybe they are trying to make lifting easier on their drivers? I can't really complain about the extra containers...they stack and I just leave them on my porch. Plus, they gave me the sour cream for free because they were out of the brand I requested! :0)

Defense Grid: The Awakening

Edit: Replacing embedded videos with links becaues the videos don't fit...anyone know how to fix that?

T.J. never posts anymore so I thought I'd share a new video about the game he is currently working on at Hidden Path Entertainment...

Exclusive: Defense Grid All Access

Pretty nifty, huh! And fun too (I know, I've played...perks of being the wife of one of the developers)!

Want to see more? This video interview is from GDC (Game Developers Conference) back in February of this year (Defense Grid has come far since then). Less pretty pictures but still entertaining as Hidden Path representatives Jeff Pobst (CEO), Michael Austin (CTO), and Mark Terrano (Design Director) talk about both Defense Grid and Culture (technical/game demo).

360Sync Interviews Hidden Path Entertainment

Indiana Jones Party

Playing blog catch-up!

Let me introduce two of our more creative and adventurous friends: Hannah & Lars. (I love how excited they look in this picture.)



A few months ago we received the following invitation from said individuals and you can bet it resulted in an immediate R.S.V.P.



We started the evening in the library of Yale University. Yup, that's right. Didn't you know T.J. and I are professors at Yale? In our spare time. We were called there because a letter had arrived for us from a colleague who had been seeking the lost Artifacts of Life (Yes, our friends and colleagues really are just cool.)

The night just got crazy (fun) from there. Lars and Hannah had gone all out. We had handmade messenger bags to carry our flashlights, cell phones (in case we needed to call Jungle Tech support), and all the important material clues we picked up along our way. We found skeletons, crawled through bug-filled catacombs, visited a dig site where we decoded an inscription on broken pottery, trespassed on burial ground, faced Kinich in the Temple of Doom Light, and crept through the forest of darkness towards our ultimate goal! The chalice! The Holy Grail!

We might have set off a few booty traps...I think that made Hannah more happy than it really should have. But, hey, we found way more gold coins than anyone else! We might have been maimed but at least we had the money to pay the doctor bills. :D