March 05, 2007

Ole bald Angus

If you don't read Ole Bald Angus, you're missing the point of being on the Intarweb. Read his post about Using the term "gay" and you'll get my point.

Same goes for Mad Toad as well, but for different reasons. (and he's not gay...or ghey...)

'nuff said.

Posted by SunSword at 01:33 AM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2007

I feel a Heatwave comin' on... (holy cr4p, what have I done???)

The past two or three weeks have been incredibly busy and because of the nature of that bustle, I really haven't had much opportunity to talk about what I'm up to.

Last month, I blathered on about how I was going to make some big changes and things are going to change. I was serious.

Last Friday was my last day at Codemasters. I've started a new company called "Heatwave Interactive, Inc.", as a vehicle to bring great games to the masses and "right" some of the "wrongs" in the games business. Currently, Heatwave only has a few employees, but we've already landed our first contract for a major client. What are these great games you ask? How about those wrongs? And can I really do anything about them?

I'll get to that. But first, let me give you a little context for what my life is like in this transition.

Codemasters & England. My family and I really are very sad to be leaving England so soon. We firmly expected to be there at least three years. We've had an amazing time. We've travelled all over the UK and parts of Europe. The kids have been exposed to a very different way of life, and as a family we've had to adapt to some pretty significant lifestyle changes (family of six with no car for 5 months...). The people at Codemasters are fantastic. Along with some great professional contacts, I've made what I hope are lifelong friends. In particular, the Codemasters Online Gaming (COG) division are an inspiring group of people, weathering very difficult conditions for a vision they believe in (not to mention holding up the banner for online gaming's "forgotten continent").

I'll miss you guys.

Heatwave & Austin. So, as of Friday, I've been phoneless and computerless. That's been rough. Particularly since I've been travelling quite a bit in the US. At the moment I'm in Austin, Texas doing a little house shopping and getting some fundamentals set up. Over the next month or so, I'll move the family and get into the groove with our new client. Also, we've got some corporate branding coming along, and of course a website (the current domain is purely a placeholder). I've got a great partner in a gentlemen named Donn Clendenon, who I've been working with "virtually" for a while. We've also got some very talented folks working with us on various parts of the business. I can't wait to tell you a little more about that in the near future. So far, it's been one of the coolest experiences of my creative/professional life.

Over the next week, I'll address the "rights" and "wrongs," the reason for choosing Austin as our base of operations, the motivations behind the name "Heatwave Interactive," and other various topics as they arise.

Anyway, this is just a quick update to say, I'm dead serious. I'm a man with a family of six with a good salary and I just quit my job. Serious coolness will result.

One last thing, I'm considering doing some "reality blogging" about what it's like to start a new company, or more specifically, a new game company. There are a lot of implications to consider, but very few people have an idea of what it's like to start a business, much less a game company. Am I crazy enough to let the Intarweb vote on our company logo? What about which game project we should do first? Is that pure insanity? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about that.

Peace.

Posted by SunSword at 03:19 PM | Comments (1)

January 06, 2007

5 things you probably don't know about me

Well here it is. Five things you probably don't know about me...unless of course you are close family and/or friends. I'll make the assumption that all you know about me is that I've worked on various MMORPGs and I used to be pretty active in the online space.



  1. I was a child actor. In middle school, my mom's friend was taking her kid to a commercial try-out and invited mom along. She brought me. I did very well and was quickly signed by an agency, Holden and Holden I believe. I graduated from the Weiss-Barron School of acting. In the first year I did three nationally syndicated TV commercials for Showbiz Pizza Place, a couple of advertisment shoots, and some other smaller tidbits. I then began to try out for movies and I almost landed the very first one I tried out for, a little kids sci-fi movie called "The Explorers." I was called back three times! I so thought I had that part. In the end, the studio decided they wanted a less ethnic kid (I'll try to dig up some of my headshots from those days, but I was DEFINITELY the little brown kid with the fro.) They went with River Phoenix instead. I was crushed. At the same time, my agent was diagnosed with cancer. I turned away from the whole business, and my parents being good people, didn't pressure me at all. Looking back on it, I'm pretty happy. I mean I could've ended up like River. Of course, we're very different people, and based on #2, I doubt I would've been into the drug scene.


  2. I was sober until 2006. That's right folks. Although I've had a drink here and there, I'd never been truly intoxicated until this summer. Leave it to a bunch of mates from the UK, a business trip to South Korea and the wonderful libation known as Soju to end three decades of natural highs :). I'm still not much of a drinker, I suppose I'm a bit of a control freak in that regard. That said, when I visit Seoul, I favor the mixture referred to "100 years wine" over straight Soju. I suppose I always thought I'd be an angry drunk, and as Mr. Banner is fond of saying, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."


  3. I won 3 straight MC Hammer dance contests at West Texas State Band Camp. The "type writer" was my specialty, but man I could bust a move. Band camp you say? See the next item.


  4. I was President of the Band at Vines High School in Plano Texas. I played trombone and bass trombone from middle school on.


  5. I briefly had a radio show at the University of Texas radio station. I'd always wanted to have my own show (I did some voice-over work as well as the acting above). I was a freshman and the station producer blew me off when I showed up at the station asking for my own show. I kept pestering him and he finally said that if I could come up with the funds to underwrite my show, I could have a midnight slot. Much to his surprise I showed up a week later with my proposal for an R&B show called "Making Love... with Anthony" underwritten by a local business. I also won an award for best station ID.

Hmm...whom to ping?

I'll start with these two and move on from there...


Posted by SunSword at 12:41 PM | Comments (3)

I've been "memed"

I've been infected by the "5 things you probably don't know about me" mental virus.

Now the question is, do I succumb to the desire to get more attention? Well, DUH this is a blog. What's the point if not to embrace words that have the word "me" in them more than once??

But I'm sleepy right now. So you'll have to wait until tomorrow to learn my deepest darkest secrets.

Posted by SunSword at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2006

Too close to home? Doubtful, I wasn't aiming at you...

I listed this entry under "site news," because the original post was about my site and the poor content frequency (if not quality). I feel the need to respond because someone I respect a great deal has considered taking offence (although I doubt he really takes offence).

As I didn't intend for this to become a snipe fight between myself and other people in this segment, and as I don't intend for it to devolve into such, I'm going to briefly make two points and then move on:

A) The post was about my failings on this site, and the contributing reasons. Yes, I made references to other blogs, but
I didn't call out anyone specifically because that wasn't the point. The point was that there are a lot of pressures that make posting both interesting and brutally honest articles about our industry difficult for me.

B) Scott, you only referenced one of my reasons, you left out the lack of personal time. To your point that there is room to comment on things you don't directly work on, or that are not projects your peers work on, I don't disagree, but I haven't had the time to assimilate all the data tertiary to my everyday dealings and then form a useful (and entertaining!) blog post about it. I leave that to you.

I suppose it is an interesting idea to poke the nest and see who reacts, but that wasn't my goal. Scott, I respect you perhaps above all when it comes to commenting on the universe of online games. I imagine that it is your critical nature that makes you as incisive as you are but also contributes to your own inner criticism. For anyone else tempted to take personal offense from my internal criticism, ask yourself why you assume I was talking about you. Is it because you have a popular blog? Or because you secretly suspect your site is unworthy? Either way, consider your reaction before you decide to take offense. I'm not going to get into it any further.

Posted by SunSword at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

WTF is with SunSword's Website?

I know, I almost never post. And when I do, it's either about family stuff you couldn't care less about or some boring alert related to work that you could've gotten off of a corporate news site or press release.

So, you ask, WTF? What happened to the guy who use to "tell it straight" and talk to the players like they were real people? What happened to the straight dope?

Ready for some honesty? Click to keep reading...

The first thing that happened? I worked my way up the corporate ladder to a point where my position was important enough that everything I said was under intense scrutiny, but I wasn't high enough on that ladder to be able to say what I wanted and survive.

Now, there are some people at the producer-level and up in the industry who really say what they think in their blogs, but I've found that the most active/interesting posts are by people who aren't directly responsible for the kinds of things they comment on.

Most of the really interesting blogs out there are by people who are independent of censorship, either because they're at the very top of their organizations, or because they aren't directly responsible (or aren't generally perceived to be) for the kinds of things they comment on.

And of course, some of the most popular and respected bloggers in the online game industry don't even deal in reality. Most of it is academic bullshit and spin. Which is understandable, because again, if people dealt in reality, they'd probably get censored by their organizations. Unfortunately, it means that most of the audience for this kind of material is having a very confused discussion fueled by misinformation, hype and guesswork.

The second cause of my silence is purely my availability. In the last 5 years I've had three kids, moved from Texas to California and from California to England. Life has been crazy, and I'm a family kinda guy, so I tend to prioritize family happiness over career and personal computing time. Those of you that have had kids know about the post-birth parental coma that lasts about 9 months. Those of you who haven't had kids have no idea what I'm talking about, really. I can't explain it, but I've been in it for about 4.5 years.

It is only in the last 48 hours that I've realized what a price I've paid for the hectic but amazing life I've been living. For the past 6 months, I've averaged about 5.5 hours of sleep a night. Since the holiday break, I've gotten 8-12 hours of sleep every night. I had no idea the toll lack of sleep and stress have been having on me. When I woke up on boxing day (the day after Christmas for my fellow Americans), I felt refreshed in a way that I honestly cannot recall.

It felt like waking from a dream that had lasted 6 months. All my ambition and energy returned in a rush. I realized that despite myriad crazy/cool things I've done in the last few years, I've been treading water professionally and creatively.

What the hell? It's about to be 2007? People are still rehashing the same ol' MMORPG format? Shit is about to change y'all.

So what does that mean in reference to this post? Well, sunsword.com is going to change quite a bit. I'm going to separate the personal from the professional. I'm also going to take a new tact with the professional, to be revealed in January. I'm also considering bringing the forums back, let me know what you think about that. I found forums to be a more satisfying, interactive experience than blogs and comments.

On a personal note, I'm also going to start prioritize sleep. And on that note, see you in the AM.

Posted by SunSword at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)