Welcome to Wrestling Gamers United Newsletter #359
1) iPWX 2) Twitter 3) Propaganda, too 4) Hockey is Fake 5) I don't feel tardy
1) iPWX *************************** I spent a great day in Calgary yesterday working on this side project. One of the people involved mentioned that we could get funding to make the project bigger if there was a mobile phone element and pointed out the iPhone and and iPod Touch market. I thought about it and realized that if we could get this project running and distributed on the iPlatform then we could potentially port over a version of Uprising as well. It wouldn't be the easiest thing to do because the engine we used doesn't exactly support the iPlatform directly but with a little scaling back on the graphics it could work.
I dunno. I haven't done any gaming on an iPhone so I can't say if it would be worth the effort. Eric, our only crew member who owns an iPhone, is leery as well. In any case, let's just try and get a PC game out first eh?
And on a semi-related note, this side project demands that we design a major upgrade to our camera system. It needs to do a few important things that wrestling game cameras don't usually do. The good news? The camera upgrades can be seamlessly ported over to the next PWX release. I can't spill the beans just yet, but it has to do with user customization of camera angles while the game is paused.
2) Twitter *********** Our lack of website updates sucks monkey nuts. However, there are things to report on almost every day lately so Eric talked me into setting up a Twitter account for PWX related activities. If you go to this link you can get real-time updates on all the big and exciting (as well as small and boring) events leading up to Uprising's release and every other corn-ball thing we've got going on:
http://twitter.com/prowrestlingx/
Eric has been working hard on our website lately and improving the ease with which it can be updated.
3) Propaganda, too **************************** Will it ever end? In a move that shook the foundations of the Vancouver game industry yet again Propoganda Games had their Turok 2 project canceled and a rumored 70 people or more lost their jobs. This is just another in a stream of closures and lay offs and the general feeling is that it isn't over yet. I have friends in the industry who lost their jobs recently and I feel for them. But I truly believe that those who excelled in the industry due to their hard work, creativity, and professionalism will be safe in the long run. However, those who coasted in their careers simply because the industry was booming will not be so lucky. There are way more qualified people available for far fewer jobs. Hell, I was recently approached by an artist who worked on three Xbox 360 titles. He used to make over $80k a year and he offered to work for me for less than I paid my lowest paid junior artist. Times are tough but on the positive side at least we'll see who truly loves this industry and which are the rats quick to desert it when they no longer have their rock star perks.
Makes we wonder what happened to that one programmer I interviewed last year. He scoffed at what I offered to pay him and even though he was fresh out of game school with zero shipped titles he said his "services are in demand and worth at least $70k a year." I wonder how that attitude is serving him today?
The smug sense of entitlement I witnessed among so many greedy job applicants just a short time ago is long gone. Replaced by a sad sense of desperation.
I wish nothing but the best for my friends and hardworking people affected by the layoffs and closures. Hang in there. This is where your work ethic in the past pays off.
4) Hockey is Fake ********************************* I'd like to introduce you to the blog entry that will either make Vance Nevada famous or get him blackballed for life: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/note.php?note_id=48640205027&ref=nf
5) I don't feel tardy ************************** Gee, thanks Eric: http://shitbagz.com/gameZ/assteroidZDDEbeta
In the meantime and in between time, that's it, another edition of Wrestling Gamers United.