Dumbledore is gay

I’m loving it. Not because of any publicity that this might generating right now, but because of how matter-of-factly Rowling is treating Dumbledore’s sexual orientation. Dumbledore is gay. It’s part of his character; and now that we know it kinda makes sense. But so what, it’s no big deal! This fact was never essential to the story, the books work 100% without this knowledge. It just shows two things:

1. Dumbledore’s potentially controversial sexual orientation (at least in some backward circles) is 100% natural to Rowling, as it should be. And she’s promoting that “it’s no big deal!” attitude towards children, which is great.
2. Rowling really does have a deep understanding of her characters and there’s tons of backstory that we, as the readers, have (and never will) know(n) about. It turns each person into a fully realized, three-dimensional character. A memorable one, no less – and one that we automatically treat with respect when reading/watching/playing his story.

It speaks for the strength of the Harry Potter series that news like these make it onto the front pages of all major news sources, even after the last book has been released. But really, if we all follow JK Rowling’s lead this should be a “So what?” moment and not even be news-worthy. Maybe in a few years…

I wanna be inverted!

I’ve finally had some time to try out the Ratched & Clank: Tools of Destruction demo on the Playstation 3, and it’s exactly what I expected. And hoped for: a great-looking iteration of the established franchise for the PS3. Not much more I can say about it that hasn’t already been said – Ratchet & Clank has always been great, and the new game is no exception. It’s fun. It’s addictive. It works. Well done, Insomniac!

Except…

Where in Quark’s name is the option to invert the camera’s Y axis? I can’t believe that this isn’t included in the demo! If you’ve worked on a 3rd person control schemes (and who in this industry hasn’t?) you know that this issue splits games right down the middle: 50% of the development staff wants to push the stick forward to look up, 50% wants to pull the stick backward. So where in this demo is the option? Unfortunately Ratchet does exactly the opposite of my preference (I’m a “stick-puller”), and it’s screwing with my head big time. I keep looking down instead of up.

This isn’t the first high-profile title that does this kind of stuff. I remember almost quitting KOTOR because the camera controls were backwards for me. My brain/hands just couldn’t grok the controls, and the fact that the inversion option seemed like such an easy thing to do only made matters worse. I’m hoping this this was just an oversight for the Ratched Demo – and that the final game will fix the problem. It would be a shame if it didn’t.

I’m married!

Victoria and I got married last night! And it was the happiest day in my life – I don’t think I’ve ever smiled that much before Word can’t describe how much I love Vicky.

But it’s a lot.

An awful lot.

She’s awesome like a hot dog. Consequently, Victoria put on an awesome wedding (I helped here and there, but she did most of it), and I think everybody had a great time.

One more week of vacation, which I’ll try to spend without thinking too much about work and other “stuff”. My family and friends are still in town, so we’ll try to use the time to relax and show them around.

BTW, the first Friday the 13th that our anniversary falls on will be in 10 years. I take that as a good omen, I’ve never been superstitious about numbers

Music Associations

I’ve often thought that music is the only form of expression that transcends its original purpose – and influences many other forms of art. Every other form of entertainment is usually absorbed in isolation, but music is complementary. You listen to it when writing, when making levels…when working on any piece of art. Every couple has “their song” that reminds them of a emontional time. Crafts are the same, and the music that you listened to gets forever associated with what you were creating at the time.

I can think of several music albums that have a connection with something I was working on:

Depeche Mode – Violator
The good old days. I was working on my Burg Schreckenstein level in the 3D Construction Kit (and in particular the hills to the lake and the boat house) at the time.

Deine Lakaien – Winter Fish Testosterone
I was working on The Troopers’ Playground, and in particular level 05 (the Underground Temple) when listening to this album.

Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
I really got into Marilyn Manson when making Beyond Belief – really the only Marilyn Manson album I ever got into (more for a lack of trying than for dislike of his music, though). I also listened to Depeche Mode’s “Ultra” a lot during this time.

Toto – Dune Soundtrack
I started he Armageddon 3 level for Quake when I was visiting Ritual Entertainment in Dallas for Quakecon 97. Something of a prolonged job interview, I stayed an additional week in the office afterwards and got to use the computer of Joe Selinske (who was on vacation) to make some Quake levels. I also got to listen to Joe’s CD collection – and the Dune soundtrack was prominently featured.

Ace of Base – Cruel Summer
Yes, I know – it’s Ace of Base. But just having moved from Europe to Texas I was looking for anything that reminded me of home, and the new (and AFAIK final) album by Ace of Base fit that bill. I was listening to it a lot when working on my Sin levels, particularly cleanup work on the chase through the abandoned buildings (2nd mission – started by Mike Wardwell).

Smashmouth – Astrolounge
Another guilty pleasure album. But what can I say, it sticks out in my mind. That album was actually a lot of fun to listen to, and I particularly remember creating the fireball traps in The Vault under the White Tower listening to the first track (“Who’s There?”)

Depeche Mode – Exciter
This is probably the weakest Depeche Mode album of recent times, but it’s Depeche Mode! So I played it a lot when working on Unreal 2. Particularly Mission_04, a set of levels that never got finished and didn’t make the final game. Mission_04 was a mining planet similar to Total Recall with a surface bases and some deep underground tunnels.

These days, I don’t have a favorite albums anymore – because the iPod shuffle has replaced the CD player. Whatever new albums I buy go straight into the shuffle and are rarely listened to as a whole. That’s kind of sad when you think about it…but kind of cool at the same time as well! The shuffle keeps digging up songs that I’d almost forgotten. Like the song Fighting TheGreen (from “Winter Fish Testosterone”), which played as was driving home tonight.The music reminded me of making TTP – and inspired me to write this post.

Got any music albums that remind you of a certain time in your life? Post them in the comments!

P.S.: For our wedding this Saturday, we’ll play Vanessa Carlton’s “San Francisco”. That’s the song that Victoria and I associate with good times

Video Awards

My Indy Car video has been nominated for the (probably-not-so) prestigious WeShow Awards. It won the first round and is now running in the Auto Sports category. It’s an interesting experiment, I wanna see if I can get enough votes to get this video on top of the main Sports channel.

Please take a second and vote for my video! Just find the “Motorola Indy 300 Test Session” video, move it to the top of the chain and submit you vote (you have to register first, but it’s a minor hassle). All the other nominated stuff is lame TV captures, it would be nice to see some original content win this thing!