Redmond, Washington

As I try to catch-up with my blog entries...I forgot about a trip from last month (December) to Redmond, Washington.  Redmond is located just outside of Seattle, on the opposite side of Lake Washington.  There's really only two reasons to travel to Redmond.  One, is to visit with Nintendo, as their North American office is located there.  The second, and largest reason, is to meet with Microsoft. Their headquarter is sprawled over much of Redmond and some of the surrounding communities. Specifically, I went to visit with Microsoft Game Studios:

The Game Studios house several game development teams.  They're all working on Xbox games that range from driving games to Halo to fitness games to action/adventure titles.  On this visit, I went to talk with a team that has been working "under the radar" for almost two years.  Their product is called Project Spark:

This is one of the most unique games that I've seen in a long time.  In fact, it's hard to call it a "game".  In reality, it's a digital "sandbox" that you can use to create your very own games.  You can share these games online, and grab games that other people have created.  We all know kids (and adults) that are dying to create their own adventures.  That's most of the fun of working with Legos - the ability to make what's in your mind a little more real.

As I teach the new Game Design merit badge to Boy Scouts, or have the chance to lecture at universities on game development - this is now a part of every presentation that I'll give.  It will be available on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows tablets.  Basically, you'll be able to create and play on tons of different devices.  I'm working with them to make their software run just a little better.  Here are some pictures of some of the games created with Project Spark:

If you want to know more about this - just let me know.  It will be free to play when it launches.  They have a "beta test" program right now, that you can access at this website.

At the hotel I was staying at, they invited local schools to build gingerbread houses.  I have to say - I was impressed with many of these...I almost wanted to eat a couple of them...but I'm sure the chemicals that they used to make them look pretty, would probably have killed me ; )

It was a very, very quick trip - but I always enjoy the Pacific Northwest.  I hope I don't have to wait to year to return ; )