This is an ENORMOUS Ask Gearbox - we're growing and we love to answer questions. Without further ado, it's time for Ask Gearbox Vol. 4!!!
What game are you most looking forward to this year?
Simon H : Bioshock (now that GTA 4 has been delayed)
Jason O : Bioshock, though Assassins Creed is really close.
Kale M : Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Kyle P : Rock Band
Ryan C : Halo 3. Assassin's Creed.
Patrick D : It's a tough choice, but I'll say Mario Galaxy.
Keith S : Halo 3
Randy P : The Legend of Zelda: The Phatom Hourglass
Scott V : Rock Band and Halo 3.
Ryan F : either Metroid Prime 3 or Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Eli L : honestly nothing this year...looking for Resident Evil in '09
Andrew W : Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Ace Combat 6, Halo 3
David C : John Woo presents STRANGLEHOLD
Brian T : It as GTAIV, but now I guess I'll go with Assassin's Creed
Pat K : I was going to say GTA IV, but since it got pushed back I am going to have to say Rock Band.
James C : Bioshock
Patrick B : Diablo 2
Graeme T : Crysis and Assassin's Creed
Don E : Puzzle Quest for XBLA
Erik A : Bioshock. August 21st, baby!
Clancy P: Guitar Hero III
Mark F : hmmmm ... Team Fortress?
Tatum T : GH3
Cynthia G : Guitar Hero 3
Mark K: Metroid Prime 3
Charlie W : It used to be GTA4. I really want to look forward to Resident Evil 5 this year as well, but no luck. I guess Rock Band now, though I know the roomies are gonna want me to be the singer all the time.
Ben W : Mario G.
Evan B : Starcraft II - Ok it's probably going to be out next year, but I want it this year.
Chase S : I'm most looking forward to Valve's Portal. It is a great idea and should be loads of fun to play.
Ennui : Bioshock, Eternal Sonata, Metroid Prime 3
What's the first console you owned?
Simon H : Atari 2600 VCS - we were the first kids on our block to get one (only time THAT ever happened)
James F : Atari 2600
Jason O : Intellivison, Dracula and Pitfall are burned into my brain.
Kale M : Atari 2600
Kyle P : NES
Ryan C : NES
Patrick D : I'm going to go old school here. I had a Telstar. http://www.gameconsoles.com/telstararcadehome.htm
Keith S : Sears Telegames (a Sears-branded Atari 2600). I had a dedicated pong console before that, too.
Randy P : Atari C-380
Scott V : Atari 2600
Ryan F : NES, although my dad had one of the original pong consoles
Eli L : a Sears clone of the Atari
Andrew W : I got a late start: Gamecube in early 2004.
David C: Pong
Brian T : NES (the cool package with the Power Pad)
Pat K : NES, I still remember the family talk about the rules of how much game time we were alloted and homework had to come first.
James C : NES
Patrick B : Atari 2600
Graeme T : Nintendo Entertainment System
Don E : I owned an Atari 800XL, it's sort of a console/computer in one
Erik A : NES. Duck Hunt was my first foray into simulated violence.
Clancy P: NES
Mark F : It was some sort of console that had round paddles for controllers and played Pong and some Pong variants. No idea what the name was.
Tatum T : Atari, but the first one I purchased with my own monies was PS2
Cynthia G : NES
Mark K: 2600
Charlie W : Atari 2600
Ben W : Atari 2600 baby
Evan B : Pong
Chase S : Nintendo Entertainment System
Ennui : Atari 2600
Have you ever worked on any mods for a game?
Simon H : Lots of Doom maps, and some Half-Life/CS stuff
Jason O : Worked on a lot of Duke3D, Quake2, and Unreal maps.
Kale M : Dangerball '77 (UT2k4), Grimoire (HL2/Source)
Kyle P : Toybox Heroes for Half-Life 2 and Element for UT2004, as well as a few embarrassingly bad map packs for Unreal 1 back in the day
Ryan C : Quake 3 mod called Hyperball.
Patrick D : Being a coder, I made one Quake code mod, and updated another. The one I made was something I called the holoclone. A player could throw it out and run around within a certain range as the clone to explore ahead. If another player shot at it, it would blink a bit so that the player shooting at it would know it was not real. Of course, the risk was that your real body was left behind unattended.
Keith S : I worked on Duke Nukem 3D Plutonium Pak, does that count? I released a couple of maps for Unreal way back when.
Randy P : Yes - Too many to list, starting with stuff like ACS and RDS.
Scott V : Duke3d, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Half-life, World of Warcraft
Eli L : nope...sorry
Andrew W : made the maps ns_eclipse and ns_veil for Natural Selection, a track for Half-Life Rally, and led the unfortunately ill-fated Nightwatch until I was hired by Raven.
David C : Nope. Started making games before the mod scene came about.
Brian T : I worked on Counterstrike and Half Life Rally
Pat K : I worked on Counterstrike, Day of Defeat, and some mods that died before ever taking off.
James C : None, but a few maps back when Quake was pretty new
Patrick B : A few mods for vairous games, none released. A few SOF2 maps, and a UT2003 map.
Graeme T : I made a map for Gloom back in the day.
Don E : I think one time I used DeHacked to make my plasma rifle shoot Commander Keens.
Erik A : Nothing big, nothing final, nothing really good enough to make public.
Clancy P: Yes, but for a Guildhall project.
Mark F : My very first (and very bad) character model was used in a western UT99 mod that I forget the name of. I also made and released a Halo CE map.
Cynthia G : I used to make WarCraft II maps back in the day. If that counts. =)
Mark K: I created sounds for GoldenEye: Source and Neverwinter Nights: Wyvern Crown of Cormyr
Charlie W : I worked on several addons for games like Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior, Blood, and Redneck Rampage. Before doing that, I wrote some cheesy programs that let people mod Duke 3D more easily than by hand.
Ben W : original UT and HL, UT2004 and HL2
Evan B : I created over 60 ships for Star Fleet Battles, and made a 3 level map for Age of Wonders. I Created Spanish, Myan, Aztec, and Incan warriors for Myth II and built a custom RTS combat map with these units. I made some mods for games I worked on professionally but that probably doesn't count.
Chase S : I've developed several gametypes for Tribes: Vengeance including Team Rabbit, LT, and Find and Retrieve. In addition, I created a number of tools and even an anti-cheat for the game. What can I say? I'm a sucker for jetpacks.
How many hours a week do you play games?
Simon H : As many as I can squeeze in! Stupid sleep keeps getting in the way!
James F : 20-30
Jason O : Only about an hour a night during the week but I try to make up for lost time on the weekends.
Kale M : Not nearly as many as I'd like...
Kyle P : Probably somewhere between 10 and 20...but maybe twice that when I'm into a good MMO
Ryan C : Way too many. But not quite enough.
Patrick D : It seems to be diminishing with various new hobbies, but I still try to get as many hours as I can. It probably works out to be 6 or 7 hours a week, but can get as high as 25.
Keith S : If I'm lucky, I'll get 2-3 hours per day in.
Randy P : 40 to 60
Scott V : I would guess 10-15 hours.
Ryan F : I raid 5 nights a week for roughly 4 hours, so that's 20 there. On top of that I put in around 5-10 hours playing other games. oh god why am I admitting this?
Eli L : 4 if i'm lucky that week
Andrew W : At least a few here and there, sometimes as high as the 20s depending on work, whether my wife and son are in town or otherwise occupied, and if there's been anything I just picked up that's super awesome.
David C : 25+
Brian T : Not counting time at work, probably only 1 to 2 hours the entire week. I try to fill my outside life with non-video game stuff as much as possible.
Pat K : I might get 1-2 a night and then depending on the weekend a couple hours more.
James C : Now that I have a gaming quality pc again, I'm pushing 20+ hours
Patrick B : 20-30
Graeme T: Fluctuates with work schedule, probably still 20 or so.
Don E : It feels like I play about 5 hours a week... but according to the clock I play about 25.
Erik A : Actually, probably only 10-15. Lame, I know, but hey, I'm busy.
Clancy P: 30+
Mark F : As many as I can squeeze in between my job and a wife and kid. I would guess probably <8 hours a week these days
Tatum T : probably about 6
Cynthia G : As many as I can, usually 12+ a week
Mark K: Lately 5 or less, not counting work. I'd prefer it to be 10 - 20.
Charlie W : What are you talking about? Being a game developer is all about playing games all day right? Must be somewhere around 42,000. Or 10. Somewhere in there.
Ben W : not near as many as I would like, but I have kids so I am working on starting my own gold farming business...get back to work boys or no dinner!
Evan B : About 7.
Chase S : Not enough, unfortunately.
Ennui : 15-25, depending on what's out and what I'm into that week
What is your favorite cartoon?
Simon H : Cowboy Bebop, if anime counts - Transformers (80's G1 version) if it doesn't
James F : Samurai Champloo
Jason O : TMNT, I grew up with it and I'm still a fan.
Kale M : Invader Zim
Kyle P : Futurama
Ryan C : G.I. Joe and Thundercats
Patrick D : Futurama
Keith S : It's hard to declare a favorite. I really liked the original El-Hazard, I guess.
Randy P : The old Bugs Bunny stuff - The one where he plays Hungarian Rhapsody with the mouse...
Ryan F : does The Simpsons count? if not, Animaniacs
Eli L : Frisky Dingo
Andrew W : Clone High!
David C : Galaxy Rangers
Brian T : Animaniacs
Pat K : Futurama, it took off when the Simpsons started to suck. Harvey Birdman is a close second.
James C : Spawn
Patrick B : Ren and Stimpy
Graeme T : Jem, I mean... Sealab
Don E : I've got a lot of modern ones, but it's hard to top Animaniacs
Erik A : The Venture Bros. Best cartoon ever.
Clancy P: Berserk (of course anime counts!)
Mark F : The Simpsons
Tatum T : Simpsons, King of the Hill, DrawnTogether but man do I loove me some old school Looney Tunes
Cynthia G : Either Family Guy or Futurama
Mark K: Thundercats
Charlie W : South Park
Ben W : old school G.I. Joe, thundercats, Voltron and the like...also family guy and futurama
Evan B : The Ant and the Ardvark. The Ardvark huts bugs, I can relate easily.
Ennui : This one. (starting about 4:15 in)
What are you wearing?
Simon H : As little as possible
Jason O : Same old stuff, I need new clothes.
Kale M : Flip-flops
Kyle P : Shorts, sandals, and a Motion City Soundtrack t-shirt
Ryan C : Shorts. T-shirt.
Patrick D : Sandals, jeans, t-shirt. Just boring stuff.
Keith S : Old Spice anti-perspirant, original scent
Randy P : Shorts
Scott V : Baseball cap, tshirt and shorts.
Ryan F : shorts and a t-shirt
Eli L : a shirt that explains how sporks are made, jeans, socks with skull and cross bones and boxers with robots on them.
Andrew W : http://store.valvesoftware.com/img/productpage/getthegear/Zoom_HL2DMShirt.jpg
David C : ummm, underpants... a pair of glasses and an artificial leg
Brian T : The last of my clean clothes since I haven't done laundry in two weeks
Pat K : Like Brian, the last of my clean clothes. I only realized last night what a pickle I was in.
James C : Texas summer stench (my car has no a/c)
Patrick B : A sock...
Graeme T : Flip flops, the rest I'll leave to your imagination.
Don E: A smile
Erik A : Shirt and pants. Wait. Yes, pants.
Clancy P: Something black
Mark F : horts, t-shirt, sneakers, grease
Tatum T : tshirt, jeans and flip flops and I must mention that they are the *coolest pair of flip flops EVER! (bottle opener on the bottom) Drinking and walking is totally acceptable. 3 rings, my watch, earrings... this is an open ended question
Cynthia G: Jeans, T-shirt, Reefs (pretty much what I wear every day)
Mark K: Black shirt, black pants
Charlie W : I'm VPNing in from home and just got out of the shower. ...I'll get dressed before I show up to work. I think.
Ben W : a smirk
Evan B : Gearbox Shirt, Gearbox Hat, normal pants, normal shoes.
Chase S : I'm wearing something very dear to me; tucked into the river's bend, was the object of my search. The Chiang Mai river market. Fabrics and spices traded under a starlit sky. It was there that I discovered the Pamplona Beret. Sizes 7 1/2 to 8 3/4. Price: $35.
Ennui : shirt featuring Don Hertzfeldt art, other things.
Well, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next exciting edition of Ask Gearbox, and don't forget to discuss this transmission on our forums !
