Opening a can of worms

It was hard to even write this post because I kind of just wanted to ignore what was going with all of the coverage. Until I got a phone call from a friend who was like dude you are drinking now, WTF!

I never imagined so many outlets would pick up the whole car story but I was so wrong. At first I thought it was kind of funny because lots of friends and co-workers were making light of it but then it all went a bit sour. Kotaku thought the story was kind of boring I guess so they decided to give it a little more spice by saying I was drunk. OK this is where I sort of draw the line because personally I have never taken a drink ever, not to say there is anything wrong with that, but for me it has just been something I stayed away from as a rule.

I am not mad at Kotaku but more puzzled as why did they felt the need to imply this falsehood, was the story too boring? I mean at least Joystiq took the time to figure out how much the bet would cost me and even went on to make speculation of the blog entry being a marketing ploy, I can assure you this not the case. Although I can see how this could be the case with the fowl up by Sony in the past which we all have a good laugh at, its like sometimes you win and sometimes you get made fun of on the internet. That being said I cannot really complain about being made fun of on the Internet, I was stupid and deserve it… hell I made the post just for that reason. In the end feel free to continue to make fun of this situation because I am laughing about it (except the drunk thing) but try to at least read the post, maybe even fact check, or ask for a comment like a journalist. It makes me wonder how much of anything I read on some of these sites is not quite accurate which really makes me not interested in reading them at all but then again it’s the internet so whatever. In writing this I am surely asking for more reticule but I’d rather set the story straight so here goes.

The bet was stupid and I will probably not honor it just because we make idiot bets like this all the time and no one ever pays up. The April fools joke comments sound like a good way out as well! Maybe I will rent the car for a day or something just to make fun of the bet itself, we can drive around Santa Monica like we are rich for a day and then return it as we return to reality. I wish game developers were paid enough to roll around in nice cars and such but the reality of it is that most game developers live in apartments with roommates or perhaps a condo with their girlfriend or boyfriend. Now this is not to say that we are not paid well, I cannot complain in the least because I do have a place to live, a car to drive, and food on the table. I mean we love what we do so we work crazy hours to bring great games to the public because honestly that is all we want as well, I love playing great games and even bad games because I know someone sat down and put a lot of effort into creating that experience.

We at Sony Santa Monica also try to put ourselves out there to the people. Everyone tries to answer questions, leave our work emails open to the fans, write blogs, etc... so when people made comments like I was trying seem all rich and snooty that made me feel bad but it was my own fault because I can see how the post could be taken that way. I would like to say I am sorry for that.

Also I am NOT really trying to persuade people from buying the game, I guess my dry humor does not come off so well in type. I just want to clear that up because I hope the game sells well because the team worked very hard to create something for the fans and hopefully new fans.

At the end of the day I am just a guy doing what he loves and hopes people love what I am doing… knowing this makes it easier to be away from friends, family, and life while you are creating these games… thanks for reading.