We recently had the chance to talk to Jennifer Leigh, known in the professional poker world as Jennicide. In 
addition to ruling the poker tables both online and in Las Vegas, Leigh is also an avid gamer - currently playing World of Warcraft - and has been featured earlier this year in spreads in both Playboy and FHM.
Allakhazam : Tell us about yourself, and your background.
Jennifer : I'm from Delaware, Wilmington actually. Little tiny state! I'm back in Delaware with my family and friends. I have a west coast soul, free spirited and everything, but when you travel around playing poker, but not a sponsored player... it gets a little rough. You're buying yourself into tournaments, and having to travel and everything, it's nice to take a break now and then. I was introduced to poker at UD. I was pretty diligent about wanting to go into a legal career, but poker... afterwards, I just didn't see myself going through a whole path and whole career of being an attorney. I just got tired of it. I didn't want to go to school and then work for years paying off loans. So poker was the path for me. I got lucky, and started winning right away online. When I'm having a good time in Delaware, I want to stay here, and I get choked up about leaving. But to be honest, there are more opportunities out west for me. Next time I go out there, I need to play a lot smarter. You can run into a lot of scummy people in the poker industry. I want to go back, but with a much clearer and smarter head about things.
Reif also has a background in motion pictures and television, including senior positions with International Creative Management (ICM) and Paramount Pictures:
Allakhazam: First off, could you please state you name and position at the CGS, and give us a brief background of you for our readers?
Andy: I am Andy Reif, Commissioner and CEO of Championship Gaming Series. I joined CGS from the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour where I served as Chief Operating Officer.
Allakhazam: For those that don't know, the CGS is the Championship Gaming Series. Many people would just shrug and say "Oh, another gaming nerd gathering". But it's so much more! In you words, what exactly is the CGS and why is it such a highlight each year?
Andy: Not unlike skateboarding before ESPN created the X-Games, we believe competitive gaming is the next great sports property. Therefore, Championship Gaming Series was designed to make gaming engaging, compelling TV entertainment that will excite audiences of gamers and non-gamers alike. It is the first and only worldwide professional gaming league and it’s structured no differently than any other professional sports league, with contracted professional gamers that represent 18 city-based teams from around the world and TV broadcast partners that bring CGS competitions to more than 425 million potential viewers across five continents.
AutumnKiss: First off, thank you so much for taking time out to chat with us! To start with, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background, so that our readers can get to know you a little better?
Joe: Sure! My name is Joe Alread and I’ve been a designer at SOE Denver for almost 6 months now. Before coming to SOE I worked on a number of other MMOs and TCGs including the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trading card games. I’ve been playing Legends of Norrath for quite awhile now and am delighted that I now have the opportunity to have an impact on its future.
AutumnKiss: With the Legends of Norrath, there is an immersive story being told here, spanning the sets and the lore behind both EverQuest and EverQuest II. How difficult is it to put this story into a TCG like this, and what has been your greatest challenge so far in this aspect?
Joe: The biggest challenge in my mind is maintaining a balance between both games, as we want to give both groups of players content to be excited about. At the same time though, having lore from both EverQuest and EverQuest II as a resource gives us an amazing amount of freedom in how we create our stories, and I think it really shows. In Oathbreaker for example you’ll find out that the Oathbound are not all that you think them to be. You must join the forsworn and convince other Oathbound to join your new plight.
AutumnKiss: With the release of Inquisitor, some in the community felt there was a weakening of certain classes in the cards. Can we expect to see the same here for more balance?
With so many changes in Jess's world, it was a great time to check in with him again and see just what he is up to!
Maggie: Greetings, Jess! So nice of you to take time out of your busy schedule once again. To start off, could you just briefly give us a bit of background for those that aren't as familiar with you?
Jess: Hi, Maggie. It's my pleasure.
My career in the game industry started at Wizards of the Coast, where I guided the story for the Magic: The Gathering novel line. From there I started writing novels myself, and my fifth book, Obsidian Ridge, just came out in April. I moved, as they say, from paper to pixels, when I took a job at ArenaNet, writing the story for Guild Wars and Guild Wars Factions. More recently, I was with Flying Lab Software leading up the content on the Pirates of the Burning Sea MMO, and just within the last couple of months I've moved to southern California to become the Lead Quest Designer for Carbine Studios on an as-yet-unannounced MMO.
Allakhazam: What was your very first thought when hearing that you will be working on a Warhammer Online MMO?
Josh: Shock and excitement.
Mark had been working his magic in acquiring the Warhammer license without most of the team being aware, so when he announced it to the studio a lot of us were caught off guard and - understandably - REALLY excited. Warhammer is one of the monolithic entities in gaming that EVERYONE is familiar with and a lot of us were fans of the tabletop game going back years and years, so it was really amazing when Mark just showed up and announced to us that we'd all be working on what is - quite literally - a dream project.
Allakhazam: Being the Associate Producer for one of the most highly anticipated MMO of 2008, what are some of the ways you will ensure that the game stays fresh both at release and well into eventual expansions and free content updates?
Josh: Philosophically, we're totally committed to having a constant, serious dialogue with our players. We view them as an integral part of development (which is why we conduct our beta tests in the way we do) and then also as the best possible measurement for our performance and success once the product is launched.
We recently had an opportunity to chat with Thom Terrazas about the state of Vanguard, the improvements made, and still being made, and his own personal view of how things are going...
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Allakhazam : Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us! To start off, would you please give us your name, position on the Vanguard team, and some background information? Thom: My name is Thom Terrazas, Producer on the Vanguard team. For SOE, I began working as a Project Manager (PM) and functioning as a liaison between SOE and Sigil Games from October 2006 to May 2007. After the launch of Vanguard in January 2007, I continued on as the PM for SOE and joined the team full time in May 2007 when SOE acquired the assets of Sigil Games Online and more importantly, Vanguard and the awesome team working on the game. In October of 2007, I took over as Producer and continue to manage both Vanguard and PlanetSide. |
With Warhammer: Age of Reckoning generating quite the buzz in the MMO community, we thought it was high time we asked some pertinent questions of the team. Here we have our very own Becky "Tovin" Simpson chatting with Mark Jacobs, GM/VP of EA Mythic, about WAR:
Tovin: The last extension of release came about because it was felt that additional time and effort to make WAR the game that it needed to be was needed. Do you feel that the original extension created a need for further polishing and work across the world, or did it take longer then expected to accomplish the goal?
Mark: After going through this past phase of beta, while the team was meeting the requirements of the various milestones it was taking us a little longer to complete them than we had planned. The extra time that was being used had initially been allocated for iterating on and polishing the game. So, we had a choice, lose the iteration and polish time and release in June or extend the release date. Obviously, we chose the later.
Tovin: Have the RvR implementations and changes posed more of a design issue then was originally intended, causing the extension to be necessary?
Mark: No, though I wish I could say that was true. Being able to go to the fans and say that "Everything was perfect except we need a little more time working on RvR to make that system really great" would have been a really strong and even more positive message than the one we just delivered. Unfortunately, it would not have been true so...
| I know that typically you won't see an interview with a rock band on a MMO media site, but in this case I think we're okay. The Sword is a "heavy metal" style rock band that is making its way onto the scene with lyrics and a sound that fits right in with our entertainment. Sending their message using terms like "to mourn the death of our ancient queen" ("How Heavy This Axe ") and "Imprisoned by wizards to sing for a serpent" ("Under the Boughs "), The Sword is a music group after our very own hearts. Hailing from Austin, Texas, John D. Cronise took a few minutes to chat with us about their music, his viewpoints, and ninjas! |
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Allakhazam: Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Could you please tell us who you are, what you do, and a bit about yourself for our readers?
John: I am John D. Cronise of heavy metal band The Sword. I sing and play the guitar. I'm a Gemini.
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Everyone has heard of The Sims . The international sensation that has spanned generations of players since 2000. You have the opportunity to "Be Somebody. Else." or just be yourself in a world created and built by the players. In 2002, The Sims Online ("TSO")was released and the Simnation as we know it was reborn into a phenomenon that has lasted - although at times it seemed it was on its last legs - with a steady and sturdy following.
The Sims Online used to be a "glorified chat room", where players would build homes and then gather in them to skill or share emotes with each other. There were job tracks to follow, new abilities to gain through friendship links or learned skills, and Top 100 lists to achieve. Over time, the title became a little stagnant in that there was only so much a person could do, and players soon became almost manic in their search for new ideas, new toys, and - as in all games of this type - their demand for custom content. |
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The Frag Dolls are a group of women recruited and promoted by Ubisoft to bring the presence of women in gaming to the industry's attention. At least, that's what they started out to be. However, they are really a bunch of really cool gamers who can kick some serious ass on the PC - and they just happen to be women.
Our top notch network news reporter, Becky "Tovin" Simpson, caught up with the Frag Dolls recently for some interviews, and here is the last of the series. Today's section is with Renelly " Psyche " Morel , who is also a psychology major and co-hosts Level Up on Sirius radio. As the youngest member of the team, Renelly shows us that experience doesn't always come with age; sometimes you just need drive, dedication, and determination to make it to the top. In keeping with understanding the "psyche", this Doll is a big proponent of communication, constantly relaying to the rest of her team her status and that of those around her.