…I know you’ve all seen this, but it’s so f***ing amazing! This (5-year-old?) wiz kid seem to have channeled all the agility and coordination of the world into his own body. W.I.C.K.E.D.

We got an early Christmas present from Santa/Bernard at Pole Position yesterday - more car sound for Power Racing! This time for one of the “American” cars (the design, properties etc is inspired by a variety of cars from over there…)

Sounds fantastic, as always, and I’m still amazed with the impact great sound has on the entire gaming experience.

So there was a Christmas party yesterday. We drank, we played, we Spotified, we cheered, we ate, we drank some more, we danced… And here we are, looking awfully bright and perky if I might say so myself. (thank God there is Helena Rubinstein Magic Concealer to cover up the tiredness. makeup is my best friend)

One of the events was a PS cup that Powdersnow - of course - won.

(Sipwell might claim he would have won had he only been invited, but that’s a different story.)

Proud winner of the office Power Racing tournament was… Erik H! Power to the racingteam! My guys truly are the best… And they’re happy too!

(notice the mega cool five of a kind t-shirt that Per S m-a-d-e for the event)

Then there was some Guitar Hero action and for the first time ever I beat Erik in a game, something I guess will never happen again.

(I actually beat Josef too, come to think of it…)

Here follows some random evidence of friendship, joy and beer:

Then we left the office and went to Platå, a restaurant/night club in Linköping where we had some food,  glögg, beer and cocktails.

Quality dude meets code dude.

Code dude happened to grab Emperor of Fun’s nose

Chancellor of Surreal vs. Per “Tropic Thunder” L.

From all of us, to all of you - a very, merry Christmas!

…the office and it’s production is shutting down for the day. For the rest of the afternoon, evening and night as well. It’s time for the annual Christmas party with a mighty kick-start somewhere around 3 o clock. Let’s bring out the Hof people!

Per S - as sharply dressed as ever. Tomas U and Erik W with their brand spanking new/old second hand bargains from today’s shopping experience. Tomas A with his pointy shoes and high hair. And the rest of us just trying to keep up! My guess is I shouldn’t be taking any photos tonight… or should I?

/ L

If I could ask for just one car…just the one, today it would most definetely be one of those. And just maybe a light blue one. Fine, British racing green is a classic, I know, but I have a weakness for tiny well shaped light blue cars.

When I have enough money I’ll buy me one of those. Never mind the insurance. Or the fact that the kids won’t fit in it. Or the safety aspect. Never mind a lot of things. That’s not a car you NEED, it’s a car you WANT.

Well, this has got nothing to do with games or parties or caves, but more to do with metal and rats …guess who’s daughter the cute little freckled girl is? I bet her mum is really proud!

…can’t be bothered to go fetch the camera and take a picture of our office cosiness, just take my word for it. At 8 o clock in the morning, at least today, it’s all peace and quiet and we refuse to light those horrifyingly sharp luminous tube-lamps that hang from the ceiling…no no no. This is The Quiet Place (as In Flames would have put it) (yes I’m a sucker for them) and it’s accompanied by soft light from our curvy -paper- floor lamps and, of course, the electric advent lights.

I feel like I’m in a cave. Music in my ears. Slight darkness around me. Tranquility comes to mind…

So - if Santa only brings you ONE thing this year - what would it be? And yes, I know you all wish for peace on earth more than anything, but apart from that. If we stay true to that material soul of ours…what game/thing/gadget/car/jewellery/clothes/ is on top of your list this merry season?

And what is your favourite give-away-gift this year? Have you managed to come up with that totally awesome, perfect present for someone? I love it when that happens. Personally, I’m still very much behind on my Christmas shopping. I was clever enough to order as much as possible from t-h-e- I-n-t-e-r-n-e-t which saves me some time and mental health.

And as the year is almost ending, we have to contemplate, look back, review the past 12 months. Some game critic/reviewer/journalist came up with her top three list for 2008:

1. Metal Gear Solid 4
2. Grand Theft Auto 4
3. Fallout 3

Do you agree? Do you consider her being a simpleton? What would YOUR top three list look like, games or otherwise?

What was the (three) coolest thing(s) to hit you in 2008?

Completely forgot to tell you, we had our weekly demo yesterday (part of the sprint review: demo, retrospective and impediment backlog) where everyone (external stakeholders, other teams etc) gets to see what’s been worked on during the sprint. Or rather, what’s been worked on and finished = what stories are “done done”. Done done means, according to our definition of done, that the code is deployed to next release environment, comitted to sprint branch, tested and bug free and we’ve not added to the technical dept.

So, there’s been much sound work done lately. As you know we’re working with the Supernaturally Talented guys at Pole Position. Erik and Bernard are working hard to get the tools and program adjusted, tuned and just like Pole want them to be. And at yesterday’s demo  we could “show” some new sounds! Updated curbs, environment and transmission sounds if I’m not mistaking. And there are plenty more to come during the next couple of months.

One don’t always realize the importance of sound, until it’s removed. Sound has a magical impact on our perception of presence. Add that wind, vague noice from the gravel or curbs etc etc and suddenly you’re THERE. You’re actually in the car, on the track, going like a billion km per hour hopefully in the wrong direction (adds that extra sense of recklessness that is SO much fun)

Whether it’s environmental sounds or music, it’s superior when it comes to adding nerve, atmosphere and …well presence. Imagine that tear filled ending in any rom com without the violins, the stabbings in Psycho with the sound muted, Silent Hill with a mix-tape soundtrack consisting of all the greatest hits by Vanilla Ice, 2 Unlimited, Britney Spears and Ace of Base… it simply wouldn’t be the same.

Sound matters. And to sort of prove my point I activate the classic Powerslave album, anno 1984, now transformed into a spotify playlist. I couldn’t be happier if I was twins. 

We have meetings. We plan. We discuss. We talk. We consider. We reconsider. We design. We draw. We write. We agree. We disgree. We stand up daily. We retrospect.

We’re finally getting close to having all the bits and pieces we need to get the work done and the game out. Not saying it’s gonna be easy or be done in the flashes of flashes, but we have a Plan and a Product Manager. And extremely talented developers, just waiting to get the green light on Power Racing.

So. We’re one week from Christmas holiday and the focus factor is sort of aiming for zero. Well, that actually depends on how you look at it. We’re all 100 % occupied with thinking/talking/dreaming of racing, it’s just not that easy to focus on the tasks magnetically taped to the whiteboard. We couldn’t be more eager to get going than a whippet on a race track.

We won’t have any spectacular news before Christmas, but trust me, tons of work is being done even as we speak and come January I’ll definetely be able to tell you more on the details of the development.

So - keep your fingers crossed and be nice and Santa just might bring you some excellent presents this year.