In November of 2007, I was trolling the dredges of craigslist looking for my latest fix of tranny for males. I had found a few promising leads but felt nothing fit my "down and dirty" nature I like to keep in the bedroom. There was the overweight lady who wanted to try and have sex while I played the NES version of Super Mario Bros. She would change her style according to how I was playing, and absolutely ABSOLUTELY no use of the warp zones. If you so much as use those its over, lights cum on, your done......get out! No finishing for you.
I found a section that I hadn't looked at before in the employment part called "gigs". Now, these are different types of things ranging from full-fledged jobs to just little things like movie extra work and things that can be done for little to no pay. What I found next changed the next 6 weeks of my life. I found a craigslist ad for a gaming company focus tester. They wanted just a small amount of information about the games you play and the type of gamer you are. I had recently gotten a PS3 on top of the Wii so I got to add that to my growing list of games.
I got an email back within a few hours from a guy at the company telling me I had been accepted to come and play the game for a few hours and give feedback on it. There were a few shifts that I could take, most of them being during the work day where I couldn't get away from my real job. I saw that they had a 5-7pm slot and figured I could leave work early and head up to Lewisville for the evening before Happy Hour. This was approaching Thanksgiving and the first day of my testing fell on the Tuesday I was supposed to leave out for Nashville to visit with family. I emailed back to reschedule and hoped I could still get in on the focus testing seeing as I didn't know when the game was going to be released. Oh, did I mention this was an all new Ghostbusters game? The one that was dropped by Activision/Blizzard and picked up by Atari? The one that was originally scheduled to be out before Christmas last year? Yeah, its that game. Here is a pretty good article about the birth, death, and re-birth of the game:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/ghostbusters-history.ars
So, upon realizing that I was a little confused the game company rep told me, "You do realize you will be playing the game in two hour sessions until you beat the game right?" To which my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe I would be able to play Ghostbusters before anyone gets their hand on it in June.
On my first visit, I did have to sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) to not talk about anything I have seen or heard, so I can't tell you about the story or any details about the game. What I CAN do though is tell you about my experience there and what I went through. Basically I felt like a test rat. I have a mic in front of my face, they are video taping me while I play, and they want me to talk about my experience non-stop as I play through the game. If you have ever gamed with me or around me, I usually don't talk at all unless I am dead, dying, or frustrated. I don't sit there and go, "Okay, I'm gonna walk around this corner and see what I can find, oh, there is a switch, lets press that........" and everything else that goes on in my head. I'm a relatively quiet gamer. So this was going to be tough, plus, you've got a guy in there 2 feet away from you on the computer who probably worked on the game and is listening to your every word and every critique. Someone you don't know, you are talking around and they don't talk back. Talk about creepy.
I play the game and give feedback on what I liked and didn't like about the levels, etc. Really hope I gave them some good feedback on everything. I was trying to talk as much as I could about different aspects of the game while I played, but probably got a little repetitive with the, "Let's go see over here," and "I think I need to do this," etc.
After my initial awe of getting through the opening of the game, and hearing all of the original cast (minus Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis) back in their proton pack jumpsuits, I smiled and got to be one of the original guys. Although I am not at liberty to talk about anything, I can tell you that it is very fun, and do plan on picking this puppy up for myself. I am not hoping for a free copy of the game, maybe my name in the credits? That would be sweet..... I recommend to all of you to go pick this guy up. If you have a Wii, get it for the Wii, it will still be along the same lines and story arc and will kinda feel like that kick ass 80's cartoon show called the "Real Ghostbusters". Even if they do give me a free copy (don't know yet) I will still buy this just to add to their sales numbers. That means one of my lucky friends will get a copy of the game........:P Or I will keep it celophaned for centimental purposes.
My focus testing comes to an end next week before the Tuesday night Stars vs. Thrashers game. And I will be stoked for the game (both of them). Ghostbusters has a special place in my heart, from the movies, to the crappy NES game that was murder, to the cartoon and now the extension of the Ghostbuster saga. If they ever decide to make another movie it will have to be AFTER the game. To hear Bill Murray give those silky smooth pick-up lines and one liners is worth the 60 bucks.
I signed up to play the new Aliens: Colonial Marines game at the Gearbox Studios in Plano I believe, but their testing schedule was all during the day, and probably better suited for 16 year old kids in the afternoon. I had a lot of fun testing the game, but probably won't do something like this again. It's been different to say the least, I just hope I did a good job giving feedback to them so they can make a great game. I know they will, I just hope I did a good job at focus testing? If there is such a thing? To be a good focus tester, because I like doing things all the way, and I like to be good at them. So sign me up Super Mario girl, I'm gonna rock your Warp tube (i.e. VAGINA! )........
