Me and a series of (un)fortunate events

Batman: Arkham Asylum Collector's Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Batman: Arkham Asylum Collector's Edition comes with:

14" Batarang with stand
- Matches the Batarang’s in-game design
Arkham Doctor’s Journal
- 48 pages of notes on Arkham’s inmates
- Embossed leather dust jacket
2 Sleeve Digi-pack, including:
- Game disc
- Behind-the-scenes DVD
Code for downloadable Challenge Map
Full-color Manual

Well this is something I'll get for sure when it comes out, a must have for all Batman fans!
You can pre-order the game from here: Videogamesplus.ca

Happy Birthday Miyamoto-San!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:01:00 +0000

On the 16th of November, 1952, one of the most important figures of the entertainment industry and one of the pioneers of electronic gaming joined the world. Thank you Mr. Miyamoto for everything you've created for us! O tanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu Miyamoto-San!

Blog editor

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:33:00 +0000

I 've s ea rc h ed f or a good blog editor, something that integrates with the browser and post content from a webpage directly to my Blogspot blog.

So here's what I'm using right now:
ScribeFire - Fire Up Your Blogging!

ScribeFire,an extension of Firefox ®, enables users to easily drag and drop formatted text from the Web into their blog(s), post entries, take notes, and optimize their ad inventory, directly through the Firefox browser.

Well, let's see how it works, I'll post some feedback on this soon.

Morning music - The Fountain OST

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:55:00 +0000

Hey! Mornin' everyone! Just another day at work, writing on a game concept and doing some research...all this while enjoying (again) an excellent soundtrack: Clint Mansell - The Fountain.
For anyone who hasn't listened this yet, you can play the whole album for free on Deezer.
In other words I'm still pissed off by having the RROD on my Xbox 360 and no warranty left. I'm making all sort of plans in order to buy myself a brand new Xbox soon enough. There are more than 5 must play titles on the 360 that I didn't even tried to play so far. Need Xbox! Now!
Click here to listen to Clint Mansell - The Fountain

Online game shops

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Since finding games at good prices in Romania is an extreme sport, I've decided a long time ago to start buying games from online stores from abroad. A very good idea! Most of my games collection is composed from online ordered titles. This year I've ordered games from all sorts of online stores (checked shipping rates, packaging, delays, security, etc.) and it seems that these are the best I've tried so far:

- a Canada based store and an e-Bay Power Seller, excellent prices, good bargain bin deals and low cost shipping. The packaging is very good so your ordered games are safe on the trip. The store has a large variety of games for all the major consoles (no games for PC platform though) and since the PS3 is multisystem (PAL and NTSC) by default, you can buy any NTSC game you find for your European console.

Store link

- an UK based store with low cost shipping, just 2.25 Euros per item. Sometimes you can find better deals here instead of Videogames Plus. If your console was bought from Europe, you can freely buy Xbox 360 and Wii games from here, they will match the console's PAL standard protection. Free shipping for UK deliveries.

Store link

- also an UK based store with tons of deals and available titles. Good shipping rates for the entire Europe, updated website and good pre-order prices. Free shipping for the lucky UK residents. :)
Store link

Be sure I'll give a big shout in case I found another reliable games store.

Cheers!

Raoul

.back

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:06:00 +0000

Hi ppl, just a quick update with some major things that happened in the last year:

I quit my job at Gameloft and joined Vivendi Games Mobile as Lead Game Designer;
got a PS3 and a DS from my friends and co-workers as a birthday present, finally bought an LCD during the last year's holidays so I can enjoy some HD gaming;
started and finished developing my next project after Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles and that's: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand for mobile platforms;
finally sorted out alot of personal affairs;
just came back from the most chillin' vacation in the past years, Thassos Island in Greece, where we had a great time with our friends Alex and Dana.
didn't had time to play as much as I wanted but I've enjoyed some of last year's good titles like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed and this year's GTA IV or MGS IV;
went on a trip to Belgium during the last year's holidays, visited Amsterdam and had a bussines trip in Paris in February.
I've been in the U.K. some weeks ago for a job interview, unfortunately I wasn't the lucky one this time so... end of story. Maybe I'll post some more impressions regarding my short trip to UK or the job interview... Anyway, visited a few places this year, maybe more to come.

Not easy days at work lately. I'll let you know when the time is right.

Be back soon!

Raoul

Blah! March 25th Rebirth!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 18:56:00 +0000

Hello!
Busy as always so no such free time to post here.
Anyway, let me tell you the latest noticeable news around my gamer life.
@Home: So, I've got myself an Xbox 360 gaming console which made me very happy and busy for a certain amount of time. Unfortunately I've got no time to play since I've already started working at one of the most expected games of 2007.
So, I've played Gears Of War like an addict, finished it twice and now I'm filling my time with Lost Planet. I had bigger expectations regarding Lost Planet...but let's say it's an enjoyable game. There is no comparison between Gears Of War and Lost Planet.
I'm waiting for the next weekend so I can play God of War 2 on my PS2. By the way, I've added a bunch of PS2 games in my collection and as always I've got no time to play them... This is really frustrating anyway.
@Job: Once again, working at an undisclosed project at Gameloft, a very challenging one though. This is a new franchise in development and we're working on the Nintendo DS version of the game. I cannot tell you more about this for now. Sorry, always wanted to start a Dev Diary on my current project but it's always confidential and I can't.

Talk to you guys soon enough. I'll go watch a very hyped movie, 300. Let's hope it will match my expectations.
Cheers to you all!

Alive again...

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:26:00 +0000

Hello everybody!
Yes, I'm still alive and moving. :)
So, a lot of things really changed since my last post in ...august...damn man...august... 3 months without a post...I'm really starting to believe that I'm paying this stuff for nothing...
Anyway, a short briefing:

@ Job - working like I'm Satan's helper in Hell, very busy schedule before the Winter Holidays season, currently working on an undisclosed project (yet) on a certain gaming console. What can I say more about this....hmm...it's a god damn hard life being a game designer but it really worths the effort. I'm very satisfied from this point of view even if the crunch time has already begun and we're in such a hurry with all the tasks...and I spend about 12-14 hours/day at the office. We'll surely make an awesome game. I've got a great team formed by very talented, passioned and hard working people so we cannot fail this.

@Home - I've started watching a couple of TV-Series in my tiny bit of spare time and I'm so into "Lost" but mostly "Prison Break" TV-Series. My girlfriend, Iulia, is very fond of "Prison Break" and that means I cannot skip any episode because she'll kill me...so each week I've got to earn my share of goodies by getting that episode downloaded asap. It's a hard knock life isn't it? :)

@ Weekends - mostly occupied by small household business and also it's bills pay day, luckily we've got Internet Banking now and it's much more easier. In the evening we're just spending time with our friends by going out, playing blackjack with them (for real money, that's quite dangerous), sitting @ home and watching some movies...stuff like this...boring but that's what we can afford right now in terms of time consuming activities.

As a final thought, I really enjoy being a Game Designer, I hope to finish the current project very soon and post more often in here. :P
Let's hope I'll have some good news pretty soon. Let's just hope so....
Peace, I'm out, too busy and tomorrow it will be another hard day @ work, so....see you all around.
Cheers from Bucharest, Romania!

Game Design Philosophy Test

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 07:05:00 +0000

You're A Narratologist
Take Game Design Philosphy Test today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You believe games should tell interactive stories to immerse the player in an adventure. Lorne Lanning, Hideo Kojima and Hironobu Sakaguchi are your idols.

E3 is over, GDD submited, Gamespot rulz

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Tue, 16 May 2006 12:48:00 +0000

Hello ppl!
E3 is finally over, a lot of good stuff was showed there this year. Today's topic is about websites like Gamespot or Gamespy because they got it all covered. Check the screens, videos and interviews regarding the latest hot projects in the gaming industry.
In the meanwhile I've finished all my GDD (Game Design Document) for the Game Designer job here and I've submited it today. Wish me all: Good luck! This should be the headline today since I was struggling for so much time to finish it.
I'd like to give a lot of credit and thanks to Gabriel Stancu, he's the guy who helped me out and gave me his feedback on all the stuff from the GDD. Thanks dude, I reallly, really owe you. Let's hope that everything will be just fine and I'll join the design team asap. Also without my girlfriend Iulia, who really harassed me every day reminding me to finish the test, I couldn't really do it. Thanks a lot, love!
This is not a very good day, since morning I got this feeling of having a bad day, it's 15:51 and I still can't get over that feeling...this seems to be one of "those" days that everybody has. (I hope so, I don't wanna be the only sad person).
Everything else seems to work just fine, my PSP games collection has grown with some new titles like GTA: Liberty City Stories, Twisted Metal: Head On, Splinter Cell: Essentials, NBA Live 06, Lord of the Rings: Tactics.
You can check my full games collection at Gamespot, just created a profile there, I'm growing in that community everyday. It's a good, full of content, easy to browse and cool website resource for the latest news about games.
My username is raoulparaschiv (Check my profile) and you can add me in your friends list if you've got a Gamespot account too.
That's all for now, I'll keep you posted about any updates in my videogame industry careeer and everyday life.
Cheers to you all and have a nice day!

E3 is ON! PS3, X360, Wii... Too bad I'm not there!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Wed, 10 May 2006 18:41:00 +0000

Hi everybody!
The biggest, craziest and long awaited show in the gaming industry is on. It lasts between 8-12 May, it's held in Los Angeles and it's the gamer's dream to be there. All the major players in the industry are there so if you want to keep up check the news on E3.This is my latest opinion regarding what's happening there right now.

Sony VS Microsoft VS Nintendo

Here's my opinion on this:
Sony - saw the conference at E3, it really kicked ass...very cool game demos, we can easily see the power of the Cell in those, nice controller with tilt (it's the advantage of the last comer: analog triggers from X360, tilt sensor from Wii, same nice design which already confirmed, and NO, I don't think this is a rip, they just took what's good from the competitors), great Eye Toy functionality, WOW effect with the PSP integration. Looks awesome, can't wait to put my hands on this piece of hardware. :)
Microsoft - Very nice presentation, they've put accent on the upcoming line-up of games, good hardware, no secrets unrevealed: we already knew about the camera, HD-DVD add-on, another headset though?? Let's hope they'll integrate VoIP soon enough. Creating a hardware which allows you to connect X360 peripherals to your PC is a good idea indeed. X360 remains the best option for the best price. They have announced about 800 next-gen titles by the end of the year which sounds more than interesting.
Nintendo - Yes, they really convinced me into getting a Wii, they surely redefine the gaming experience without any powerful franchises like Sony or Microsoft. Even if Nintendo has some too. Wii looks like packed fun with your friends. It's a must buy in my opinion. :)

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 08:47:00 +0000

Happy Easter everybody!
May all your wishes come true, be healthy and happy!
It's a great moment to spend more time with your family and friends, we all have a small vacation due to this holiday so spend some quality time with your close ones!
Kiss ya' all and have a HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER!

P.S. May the rabbit bring you the cutest gifts you ever wished!

Long time...no see..

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 08:24:00 +0000

Hello ppl!
Long time, no see huh?
Yeah... I've been really busy lately...
So let me keep you posted with the latest news!

Gameloft Game Design application / test:
As I told you already, after receiving the preliminary questions on this I started working on them and submitted my documentation. Good news! Everything was ok so I've got the next task to work on.
"Making the game deisgn document for a mobile platform game"...worked at it for over a month, I still have to make some fine tuning on this and I'll submit it. I'm praying that everything will be ok and I'll get accepted as a new Game Designer there.
Even if I thought that lately everything is just fine at my job...it seems not...well there's this "character" in France, he's an HQ Producer, a very profesional one but he's having a BIIIIIG problem with attitude.
He gave us some bad feedback on a project..the studio manager also got this negative feedback and this ignited a bad atmosphere and tension in my department. How come he doesn't get any of the congrats but only the bad things? Hmmm! Anyway the rest of the producer's in France are very cool, we work very well and effective together but this guy is a pain in the ass. For real! Hoping to get my Game Designer job asap so I'll get rid of him and his attitude (that will not really happen cause I'll have to work with him again but...I'll have another rank then and it's gonna be harder to kick my ass anytime he wants).

InDebara.ro - MMOG
The game we bought some time ago is working well, the players are satisfied by the new features and we're already preparing some new goodies for the next age. The cheaters are giving us some bad headaches but we're catching them sooner or later and the game's balance is fixed. We've just moved the hosting in Romania since the speed with the server in the States was soooo low and the game often crashed due to the small bandwidth and too many simultanous connections. Now it seems to work fine. Since Vlad is on a vacation in Europe... we've kinda let it chill until his comeback. Gonna start dev it again as soon as he gets back.

Newsflash #1 - Projects status and everyday life things...

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 08:16:00 +0000

Good morning everybody!
Latest news: my KK ranking is down...entered the online code again and my account was reset. :(
I'll get on top soon grrrr! I've made my Game Designer submission on 2nd of March. I'm waiting for feedback! Let's hope it's gonna be ok!

Projects status:

InDebara.ro
We met on the game's forums the people who play the game, they're all so friendly, they look like a family since they know each other for some time. We've started working on all the features that we'll include in the next InDebara Age. Doc is working hard on the graphics, Sorin is coding all night long and me and Vlad we're breainstorming for game features to please the users of this nice community. We will match the deadline of 10th March. We have too. :) We believe we're on the right path.

X360 Blog!
Started writing on the Xbox 360 dedicated blog. Made a review of the console and games I 1st played on it. Read it all there. ;) Just finished Fifa 06 and got all the achievements for this game, so after King Kong - Fifa was 1st to go down. We now have a gamerscore above average for sure and that is 2700 Achievement Points... :D

Dominvs
Working on the new InDebara project we've discovered how advanced is the current Dominvs engine. It has so many features that it really blows your mind. Maybe it will be a shock for a 4 click player to start playing this but for the freeks it's gonna be their heaven.

Take care everybody! Talk 2 u soon!

Big step in career! Wish me good luck!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:57:00 +0000

So many posts...in one day! I forgot to make a post here on something really important that took and still takes all my time and mind this past week... I've started taking a test for the Game Designer job at Gameloft. You have a picture of "what you as a game designer" in the big gaming industry like PC and consoles. I really want to do this even if I know that it will be a job a lot more time consuming than the one I have now. It's something I've always wanted and dreamed to do and I couldn't take this decision without my close ones. It will be a job which involves more creativity and I'll have the chance to work with some of the best game designer's at Gameloft.
I'd like to give many kisses and thanks to my beautifull and caring girlfriend Iulia for all the support and understanding during this time. I love you baby! Couldn't do it without you! I'm still working on it, it will take about a week from now on or maybe more. No matter how long it takes, the important thing is to get this job. Monday I'll have to show the guys at Gameloft my first chapters from this test. Wish me all good luck! I'll keep you updated!
P.S. Also I'd like to thank one of my best friends at Gameloft for his advices, feedback and support he offered. I'll tell you all who's that guy when everything is finished. Dude if you're reading this, thanks a lot! I owe you big time! Peace! ;)

X360 - The most comprehensive resource for Xbox 360 owners in RO

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:46:00 +0000

Yo! I've told you a bit about a project, that me and Vlad started working on regarding the Xbox 360 console, so here it is: X360 Blog. You'll find there all the explanations and answers to questions like: "What's the purpose of X360 Blog?" and many others. Please feel free to check it out! We'll spend some time on that from now on and we think it's worth it. We still have the dream that consoles will be popular in Romania and we're making small steps in establishing a small Xbox 360 community there. Soon for PS2, PS3 (Hell yeah!) and other consoles.
Peace to you all!

King Kong Reward - Online Ranking- No. 2 in Romania

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:40:00 +0000

Hi there again!
Just entered my Online Code on the Ubisoft's King Kong Online Ranking system and I've discovered with pleasure that I'm on the 2nd place in the romanian rankings.
I'll play some more and go for No.1! ;) Check on "raoulica" in the rankings here King Kong Online Rankings

King Kong on Xbox 360 is down...! Next please!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:10:00 +0000

Hello again!
Back again with more news. So, what have I done in the last days...hmmm....well I've been playing and finally finished Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Original Game Of The Movie
I've played the Xbox 360 version of the game and because I've mentioned Xbox 360 platform I'd like to announce that me and Vlad we've started a new project dedicated entirely to the Xbox 360 scene.

Yeah! I'm a PSP freek now!

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:30:00 +0000

Yup! Just got an awesome present from my friend Vlad (he's a games-gadgets-tech-freek too) ! Yes, it's a PSP! Sony Playstation Portable! Since I got it it's like attached to my flesh, I take it wherever I go, it's so cool since you can enjoy all sort of things like games (multiplayer by Wi-Fi), music, movies and photos. Especially to a game freek like me. :D Anyway the only disadvantage is....yes...the price of games and accessories. A Memory Stick of about 1 GB from another producer, not Sony, is about 100$ and usually a game costs about 50$. Pretty expensive for the usual sallary package in RO. One cool feature of the PSP games is the Game Sharing. Like this you can share your game to as much as 8 PSP's so you can enjoy a real multiplayer deathmatch or race. Unfortunately not many games have this feature...so in most cases you need to own a copy of the game if you want to play against your friends. :( But it doesn't matter, believe me that Sony PSP it's worth it. So, get yourself one too and see ya around playing some Fifa, NBA, Ridge Racers, Fired Up or other titles and sooooooon Def Jam: The Takeover. Yeah bitch! Bling, Bling! ;)

Starting blog on 20.Feb.2006

noreply@blogger.com (Raoul) — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:28:00 +0000

Hello everybody and me... This is my first attempt of creating a blog. I'll just post some of my thoughts and a lot of other things, I hope this will be fun and maybe useful for some of you. Cheers!