Too much goin' on...

I don't quite know where the last couple of weeks went really, time is flying by. I know I keep writing shit like that, but it's an attempt (in a rather odd, strange way) to make a note of it and hope that in some silly way it makes it slow down - like it does when you keep watching the clock. Anyway, it doesn't bloody work.

So, the last two weeks, then... not a lot to report from where I'm sat; I finally sorted out the en-suite bathroom/shower at home, we had Tracy down from Scotland to stay (along with Sam) and then the kids had a week off - and it rained a lot - and was cold, too.

I also managed to compete in a Games Industry Poker Tourney the other day and despite playing fairly well, I succumbed to being sat between two very good players, one of whom was playing with a lot of chips which he didn't pay for - and eventually I went out. Still, I had a good time and it was all for charity.

Tomorrow I head out with John Dennis for Game Connection in Lyon, which is one month earlier than usual this year - a shame on a few counts; not only does it now lose it's "official countdown to Christmas" event (one I know is shared with a few industry buddies on the biz-dev circuit) but it also coincides with the wife's birthday on Thursday. I'm sure if your important other half values her special day half as much as mine then you can only imagine the grief I've had about me not being there on her special morning.

Still, it's made me sort something special out and I'll be whisking her away for a surprise weekend, tail firmly between my legs, fingers crossed that there's no delays getting back on Thursday...

Game wise, good-games are rattling in at the moment, almost embarrassingly so; RockBand2 arrived today (complete with an AC/DC track, the ability to import all RB1 and DLC tracks - amazing!), I've got Fable2, Fallout3 and Far Cry 2 all to play, with Gears Of War 2 on the way, Fifa09 sat there, Little Big Planet and stuff like Tiger Woods 09 just sat around gathering dust... I don't know where the hell to start - I played Fallout3 for most of the weekend before realising it's just too big and will mean that none of the ones I've listed will get airtime. Besides, I'm still giddy for the AC/DC track pack for Rockband... maybe that will be here by the time I get back from Lyon. Fingers crossed. 

I really feel for any game not quite up to the mark of that lot there since it's a very, very competitive marketplace and I'm quite glad our titles aren't held up for comparison with them... they're the real big-hitters. I kind of enjoy being a bigger fish in a smaller pond - in with those guys we're just pond bait... which is why I'm really looking forward to the reaction when we put the new Alien Breed out there, since in our pond, it's going to make quite a splash. I was super chuffed today when Jack, my eldest, who at 11 is a total Warcraft head, looked at the clip of Alien Breed running on my laptop and said "Wow! it looks just like Diablo3 with guns and aliens!" - his enthusiasm was marked, normally he has a cursory glance of what I'm up to and toddles off back to the PC, taking Sardron his Dwarf on more raids, but this time he really, actually, liked something we are doing! (For the record he was at the unveiling (as a VIP, no less) of Diablo3 at the Blizz-con in Paris this year (nice birthday surprise eh).

Leeds also started winning again and now sit 2nd in the league, which is encouraging... the only shame is that Harry, my youngest has decided to start wavering about going (I'd got season tickets for him and me) and as a result I went and changed seats and moved from the family stand to 2 adults in the Kop. Typically at the weekend he then asks if there was a match and if we were going... Argh...