Michael McDonald - I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)
Quite a revelation from my last SingStar acquisition: SingStar Legends. The song might be 27 years old, I think it's brilliant.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Playtest time.................NOT!
This week was going to be awesome. Both Ubisoft and Electronic Arts contacted me to go try out some new game they were working on. Playtesting is pretty cool, you get to give feedback on games nobody else played yet. Gives you the impression you can help the game suck less, you know? Plus, they give you a free game for all your “hard” work.
Well, it didn’t quite work out the way I thought it would. It started with a call from Ubisoft. They had to ask me a few questions to see if corresponded to their target group. The conversation went along these lines:
Ubisoft guy – I’m going to name you a few games, tell me if you played them.
Me – Alright.
Ubisoft guy – Prince of Persia?
Me – Yup.
Ubisoft guy – Splinter’s Cell?
Me – Yeah.
Ubisoft guy – God of War?
Me – Oh yeah.
Ubisoft guy – Tomb Raider?
Me – No...uhhh...well, like just the older ones, PS1 era.
Ubisoft guy – Uncharted?
Me – Nope.
Ubisoft guy – Assassin’s Creed?
Me – Yeah.
Ubisoft guy – Um, you played Assassin’s Creed for how much time?
Me – Well, I beat it pretty quickly, so about 20-22 hours.
Ubisoft guy – Oh. You beat it. Okay. Well, that focus group is already full, so...tell you what, we’ll put you on top of the list for next time, alright?
Me – Yeah, no problem, bye.
And so the first deception was over, but I said to myself “hey, at least you have another playtest with EA tomorrow, right?” Right... So the next day, I go to the place, had to get there early to get my monthly pass for public transportation. As I came up to the lady to buy my pass, she looks up to me, as I ask for a specific one. Then she kinda started yelling at me for some reason. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, because she had this huge accent. I ended up showing her some ID. That seemed to calm her a little bit. I ended up buying the damn thing, finally.
On my way to the building, I passed by a few stores, and since I was early, decided to check out some of them. SingStar bundles are 30 bucks at La Source, might have to get one of those, as one of my microphones is dead (yeah, I sing a lot, got a problem with that?). Checked GameBuzz, saw used copies of Bust a Move 2, Bust a Move 4, Resident Evil 2 and a few others priced between 200 and 300 bucks each. Ridiculous. I took a mental note to never buy games there.
Arriving at EA’s suite, I took a seat, waiting for them to come and take me to the testing room. Well that never happened. A guy came up, told the secretary they had some computer problems and to refuse people who came for the focus group. Great, they were supposed to give us pizza. There goes my dinner! I went back home talking to this other guy about how lame the situation was. We were told we’d be called first for the next playtest though. Like that compensates for getting us to travel all the way there.
DENIED. Twice. Dammit.
Well, it didn’t quite work out the way I thought it would. It started with a call from Ubisoft. They had to ask me a few questions to see if corresponded to their target group. The conversation went along these lines:
Ubisoft guy – I’m going to name you a few games, tell me if you played them.
Me – Alright.
Ubisoft guy – Prince of Persia?
Me – Yup.
Ubisoft guy – Splinter’s Cell?
Me – Yeah.
Ubisoft guy – God of War?
Me – Oh yeah.
Ubisoft guy – Tomb Raider?
Me – No...uhhh...well, like just the older ones, PS1 era.
Ubisoft guy – Uncharted?
Me – Nope.
Ubisoft guy – Assassin’s Creed?
Me – Yeah.
Ubisoft guy – Um, you played Assassin’s Creed for how much time?
Me – Well, I beat it pretty quickly, so about 20-22 hours.
Ubisoft guy – Oh. You beat it. Okay. Well, that focus group is already full, so...tell you what, we’ll put you on top of the list for next time, alright?
Me – Yeah, no problem, bye.
And so the first deception was over, but I said to myself “hey, at least you have another playtest with EA tomorrow, right?” Right... So the next day, I go to the place, had to get there early to get my monthly pass for public transportation. As I came up to the lady to buy my pass, she looks up to me, as I ask for a specific one. Then she kinda started yelling at me for some reason. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, because she had this huge accent. I ended up showing her some ID. That seemed to calm her a little bit. I ended up buying the damn thing, finally.
On my way to the building, I passed by a few stores, and since I was early, decided to check out some of them. SingStar bundles are 30 bucks at La Source, might have to get one of those, as one of my microphones is dead (yeah, I sing a lot, got a problem with that?). Checked GameBuzz, saw used copies of Bust a Move 2, Bust a Move 4, Resident Evil 2 and a few others priced between 200 and 300 bucks each. Ridiculous. I took a mental note to never buy games there.
Arriving at EA’s suite, I took a seat, waiting for them to come and take me to the testing room. Well that never happened. A guy came up, told the secretary they had some computer problems and to refuse people who came for the focus group. Great, they were supposed to give us pizza. There goes my dinner! I went back home talking to this other guy about how lame the situation was. We were told we’d be called first for the next playtest though. Like that compensates for getting us to travel all the way there.
DENIED. Twice. Dammit.
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