Category Archives: At the Office

What we’re playing: “Isn’t it obvious?” edition

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As if there was any doubt, GTA IV has taken our office by storm. Many guys here (though not everyone) seem to be loving the new Liberty City. On the night after the game came out, I noticed 29 friends on Xbox Live playing it at one time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen 29 friends online…period! From what I’ve played of the game so far, I’m definitely impressed. Last night when I couldn’t find something to watch on TV, I just started watching some Liberty City channels.

Let us know what you think of the game, or anything else you’re playing. Here’s our rundown of what we’re playing…

Todd Howard: GTA IV.

Ashley Cheng, Producer: GTA IV

Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer: Fallout 3, GTA IV, LOTRO

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New Office in Tokyo

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Thought I’d mention that we put out a release today announcing the formation of an office in Tokyo that will oversee our publishing/distribution in Japan and throughout Asia. It’s being headed up by Tetsu Takahashi (on the left in the photo above, along with Kei Iwamoto, one of our producers), who handed all the heavy lifting in publishing Oblivion PS3 and 360 in Japan last year. Really smart guy with a good team around him.

In addition to publishing Bethesda titles in Japan like Star: Trek Conquest (PS2), Star Trek: Legacy (Xbox 360), and Fallout 3 , they’re also handling games for other publishers like Bully (PS2), Bully SE (Xbox 360), and Major League Baseball 2K8 (PS3/PS2/PSP/X360).

You can read the full press release here. If you can read Japanese you’ll find coverage of the announcement on sites like Famitsu and CNet Japan.

What we’re surfing: teh internets!

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Since most everyone at the office is just waiting to play GTA IV next week, I decided to ask folks what websites they check out in their free time. Looking at the submissions, I feel like I visit at least some of everyone’s favorite sites…err, that was the case until I read Fred’s submissions. I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous about clicking on Bootie Blog, but it turns out it’s work safe.

That’s it for this week. Let us know the sites you visit/what games you’re playing/etc. Have a great weekend!

Fred Zeleny, Information Junkie: A few highlights from my Google Reader list – Order of the Stick, The Steampunk Workshop, Ectoplasmosis, WebUrbanist, Avant Game, Sexy Videogame Land, Judge A Book By Its Cover , Culturizer, and Bootie Blog. All guaranteed to twist your brain and prod your oddity.

Gavin Carter, Foreign Language Hater: reader.google.com, marketwatch.com, fool.com, seekingalpha.com, penny-arcade.com, cnn.com, gametab.com, neogaf.com

Chris Esko, Systems Programmer: www.gamerswithjobs.com, www.boardgamegeek.com, Microsoft Developer Network

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What we’re playing: Already relaxing edition

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As many of you can relate, it’s not always easy getting through a Friday. With nice weather and the weekend in sight, it’s easy sometimes to lose focus. This wasn’t the case for me today. In what hopefully will become a new tradition at Bethesda HQ, today marks the second consecutive Friday where we’ve had masseuses visit the office.

Now that we’re all relaxed, it’s time to sit back and play some games. Let us know what you’ll be playing, and have a great weekend!

Fred Zeleny, Writing Fool: Rondo of Swords on DS – far harder and more complicated than it has any need to be, and yet it’s strangely compelling. And since I’ll be at CMU’s Spring Carnival, I’ll also be playing dozens of cheapo booth games, eating far too much funnel cake, and riding the highly suspect whirl-a-puke! Hooray for Spring!

Orin Tresnjak, Graphics Programmer: Warhawk, Fallout 3, Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground

Aaron Mitschelen, QA: Arcana Heart, LotRO, Lost Odyssey, maybe Army of Two.

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What we’re playing: Springtime edition!

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Technically, it has been spring for a few weeks, but it hasn’t always felt like it. Today, however, it’s been much warmer outside (though maybe too warm inside the office). Here’s hoping the weather continues to cooperate over the weekend so everyone can enjoy it.

Rain or shine, here’s the games we’ll be playing. Let us know what you have planned.

Nate Purkeypile, Whirled Artist: The Club, Army of Two, TF2, Sins of a Solar Empire and Quake Wars.

Pete Hines: CoD 4, Zelda DS, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, CoH, various and sundry other DS and PSP titles.

Orin Tresnjak, LOD Geek: Ikaruga, assuming I find any time to play games!

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Ready to Rumble: Devs prepare for the BGS Community

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It’s been about six months since the Orange Box was released, but our Team Fortress 2 experts still can’t get enough. Over the last few months, they’ve put their skills on the line against some pretty heavy hitters — including Bioware (win), EA Mythic (win), Ubisoft (loss), and the Shacknews community (loss). But tonight, they’ll take one of their greatest opponents yet: a dozen members from our very own BGS forums.

It should be interesting to see how it goes. Will it be a cordial matchup with an attitude similar to our Meet the Devs thread? Will things get ugly? We’ll find out when they meet at 7PM. If you’re not participating in the event, it sounds like there will likely be YouTube footage in the near future, and there’s sure to be some post game chat here in the forums.

Good luck to both sides!

What we’re watching: “So say we all” edition

Like many others here, I’m a big fan of Battlestar Galactica. Finally, after a long frakkin’ wait, the fourth and final season begins tonight! Who will be revealed as the 12th Cylon? Will Starbuck lead them to Earth? Will Gaius Baltar redeem himself? Here’s hoping for answers and a great final season.

Here’s what the rest of us are watching. Feel free to drop by and share what you’re watching…

Matt Grandstaff, Community Manager: Battlestar Galactica Season 4, The Final Four, In Treatment, Lost

Ashley Cheng, Producer: Lost, Battlestar, Eli Stone, Tell Me You Love Me (Season 1 on DVD), In Treatment (Season 1 – free from Amazon Unbox on Tivo!)

Pete Hines: Heroes Season 1, Battlestar Galactica Season 2, 24 Season 4 (can you tell it’s “road trip” time?)

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What we’re playing: From the home office edition

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Today’s “What we’re playing” is live from Washington, DC — where I’m sitting on my couch after a trip to the vet’s office. My cat, Chauncey Billups (named after the guy you see above), is feeling a bit under the weather. He’ll be kicking off his weekend with a sleepover with some other cats, and hopefully he’ll start feeling better tomorrow.

In the meantime, I think I’m going to get my weekend started with a few rounds of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Here’s what everyone else will be playing….feel free to let us know what you’re up to.

Chris Esko, System Programmer: Fallout 3, finally finishing Mass Effect, playing some board and card games like Race for the Galaxy.

Mike Dulany, Programmer: Smash Brothers Brawl, Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Emil Pagliarulo: Playing this awesome educational game called “Where in the World is Emil’s Immune System?”

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Inside the Vault: Jeff Gardiner

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This week’s Inside the Vault is with producer, Jeff Gardiner. If you are a fan of Oblivion’s downloadable content, Jeff is one of the folks you can thank. Besides being the producer for our designers and level designers, Jeff is instrumental in a lot of game system tweaking and prototyping. On Thursday nights (game night here at the studio), you can find Jeff getting his tabletop wargaming on.
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What We’re Playing: Just Ash edition

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Just me today at Bethblog HQ. Pete and Matt are both on vacation. So I’ve conveniently put a hold on all Fallout 3 work so that I can focus my full energies on delivering the finest corporate blog posts in the entire blogging galaxy across the intra-webs. Fortunately, most of my work day – like most producers – revolves around the care and feeding of my iPhone, and writing my white paper on the best strategies for keeping Dogmeat alive.

Let us know what you’ll be playing this weekend, too.

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