What I've been up to (includes some shameless self-promotion)

So, I've been out of town -- but not away from games -- for a few days. I can't talk about a lot of the work I'm doing while it's in progress, but I figure I'll post some of these kind of "What I've been up to" posts every once in a while.

• Ninja Blade is shipping soon! Here's a preview video done by the folks at G4TV: http://g4tv.com/xplay/previews/36987/X-Play-Preview-Ninja-Blade.html. I did some design, production, and user experience consulting on this title on behalf of Microsoft Global Publishing Partners. Mostly I focused on core combat and initial experience (the first 2 hours of game play). Takeuchi-San is a genius and FROM Software was a great developer/publisher partner. I hope to work on more of their titles in the future. 
  
• I met with other panelists on the "Funology" talk we're giving at South by Southwest in a couple of weeks: http://sxsw.com/interactive/talks/schedule?action=show&id=IAP0900867. Interesting group of folks -- come by and check it out if you're at the conference on Fri March 13 (5PM).
• I also spent some time networking with various game and film industry folks. As much as I could never see *living* in L.A., there is a lot of energy and it is infectious. I came back refreshed, energized, and ready to push forward on several projects. 
• I'm becoming a HUGE fan of VirginAmerica as an airline to fly on. In addition to great fares and a cool club-like feel to the plane, they also provide a console in each seat that allows users to watch movies, tv, listen to music, and game. I'll talk more about the gaming in a separate post.