Baldur's Gate II Announcement
When people weren't being shown the demos, the entire arcade was available. There was a bucket of tokens available to play the shooters, video and pinball machines. Kevin Martens (co-Lead Designer), James Ohlen, Dean Andersen and I had a four-way game of Gauntlet. I think I died first. I also had a go at the Battletech simulators in a eight-way death match, scoring 3 kills and 7 deaths, but finishing last. The winner was Michael Wolf of PCGamer with 13 kills and 5 deaths. The game center closed around midnight but the party continued at other venues. That evening, Dean Andersen provided much insight into the life of Terrain Artist.
The next day, my flight was not until 11 pm. Although it was raining, I wandered around the University District and the University of Washington, stopping in at the Henry Art Gallery and Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum. At 3:30, we left from the hotel to the Museum of Flight. Interplay was launching the North American version of MiG Alley from Empire Interactive (it has been out in England for a few months) and was previewing F/A-18E Super Hornet by Digital Integration and Titus Interactive. A retired gentleman gave us a guided tour of the museum which features a M/D-21 Blackbird, an F86 Sabre, a MiG-15, an Apollo lunar vehicle, and many other aircraft and space vehicles. We also went on a simulator of a carrier-based fighter mission in Desert Storm and examined a Star Wars Pod Racer. We then retired to a meeting room for dinner.
After dinner, Air Force Major General F. C. "Boots" Blesse spoke about his service and what MiG Alley was, a corridor in Northern Korea where the MiG's from China attacked the United Nations forces during the Korean War. The highly decorated General Blesse had four combat tours, two in Korea and two in Vietnam and is the US's sixth-ranking jet ace. The event coincided with Veteran's Day and "Boots" recounted his first day in combat in Korea, which had occurred 49 years earlier on that day: he made an auspicious debut by flipping his plane into a gas truck on a small, improvised field at night. He recounts this and many other tales in his autobiography "Check Six, A Fighter Pilot Looks Back" and his reflections provided an interesting context for the game.
People could then try these flight simulators which are from very different eras. The Korean war, with such aircraft as the F-80 and F-86, is prior to the invention and wide use of missiles on fighters, while the F/A-18 is probably the most sophisticated fighter currently in service. Shortly thereafter, I went to the airport and caught my flight back home.
I'd like to thank Interplay and BioWare for the opportunity to attend these events and it was a pleasure finally meeting everyone I had only known electronically.
Official Photo
BioWare has put up a picture from the group that travelled to Seattle for the announcement of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Fifteen of the developers are from BioWare while three are from Black Isle Studios.
Left to right:
Back: Mark Darrah (Lead Programmer), Trent Oster (Producer, NWN), Dave Hibbeln (Animation Director), Luke Kristjanson (Senior Writer), Dr. Ray Muzyka (co-Executive Producer and joint CEO), Ben Smedstad (Producer), John Gallagher (Director of Conceptual Art).
Squashed in: Kevin Martens (co-Lead Designer), Chris Parker (Producer, BIS).
Middle: James Ohlen (Director of Writing and Design, and co-Lead Designer), Marcia Tofer (Art Director), Dean Andersen (Senior Artist), Steve Gilmour (Senior Animator), Doug Avery (Assistant Producer, BIS).
Front: Feargus Urquhart (Director, BIS), Greg Zeschuk (co-Executive Producer and joint CEO), Matt Goldman (Artist), David Gaider (Designer).
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