The nice folks at Amazon.com speedily shipped a fancy Samsung 3D TV to Ska Studios this week. James and I used said TV to test some “stuff” and we were able to play with the setup by watching Monsters vs. Aliens 3D! Basically, the experience is weird, but in an entertaining “whoa!” kind of way. And if you can get past the eye strain it’s down right awesome.

Of course, we’ll be playing, no “working” with the 3D television some more in the future and will hopefully overcome the eyeball weirdness. If not, we’ll just have to tough it out. Like men.

Giant PAX Box of Shipping Containment
Remember in past posts when I said I would talk about PAX Prime planning? Well, this is one of those times when I do just that by gloating about how proud I am to not only plan a way to ship packages across the country in an organized, yet financially responsible way, but to also BUILD the shipping container.

Basically, I built a giant box out of many, many, many little boxes and, if I do say so myself, it’s a work of cardboard patchwork art. It, along with a few other electronics will make the week long trip across the country to Seattle, at which point everything will find a home in some lonely warehouse storage facility. Then, in September, the custom cardboard container will be lifted, carted and transported to the PAX show floor where we will reunite. It’s a lovely story that will hopefully end in the beautiful cardboard box safely making its way back to New York to live in some sort of new age art museum. One can only dream.

Out
That’s it. Short and sweet. Until next week, be jolly and eat healthy.

Moving the couch down a flight of stairs nearly crushed Mr. Silva and if it wasn’t for his Gato-like reflexes and high pain tolerance, you may never have got to experience Vampire Smile in its final form. Moving day had other unexpected hurdles including rain, runaway carts, broken boxes, dropped controllers, squished limbs and freaked cats, but those stories are for another day.

Thankfully, Silva and I survived “Operation: Move” and the only lingering effects were aching muscles and the feeling of being shoved through a meat grinder. Head first. With that, I’ll leave you with this artsy photo of Silva plopped down at his new desk setup, emitting that signature creative genius vibe.

Plentiful PAX Promos
By my calculations, PAX Prime 2010 is six weeks away which means our plan’tastic plans are pretty much finalized. The Ska Studios booth is lucky number 3010 and occupies exactly 100 square feet of show floor space. I can also confirm that The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile will be playable on two gaming kiosks, complete with plenty of “mood lighting” and free giveaway items including Vampire Smile branded syringe pens. Yes … bloody red syringe pens of death, promotion and liquid-filled writing goodness. I’ll be chatting your ear off about more PAX goodness in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned.

Cat Adjustment
I would like to wrap up this week’s blog with a shout out to my favorite cat Gato. She has had a rough week of moving related stress, but has adjusted to the changes with cat grace and cat honor. Much love little Gato.

The move shouldn’t be too difficult seeing as the new homestead is just across the river, a few miles away, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our relocation effort. For now, I say goodbye old apartment studio and hello new, house-sized version of Ska Studios!

ZP2KX Got Playtested
All last week, a handful of helpful XNA Creator’s Club members downloaded the alpha build of our upcoming Xbox LIVE Indie Game ZP2KX and played the heck out of it. Now, post playtest, is the time where James takes into account all the feedback that he received, fixes a few lingering bugs and gives the entire ZP2KX package a silky smooth spit shine. And while I’m well aware that you’d love to have more information on the game, to know when it’ll make its release and if there will really be pterodactyls included, I can not yet comment. All in time, friends. All in time.

What I will say is that there’s a good chance of another playtest and further development on the title, so its release will not be anytime in the super immediate future. Oh, and yes, there will be actual pterodactyls in the game

A Z0MB1ES “Did You Know?”
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 is celebrating its birthday on August 16th and just like The Dishwasher earlier in the year, this will be its first birthday EVAR! And here at Ska Studios, we don’t take birthday celebrations lightly, especially first birthdays. That is why we have a few exciting surprises planned. Stay tuned.

A Ska Studios “Goodbye”
We have an apartment to pack up and a stressed Gato to comfort (she does not like moving.) Talk to you next week.

We’ll have way more ZP2KX information available in the weeks ahead, after the playtest is finished and after everything on our end is solidified and finalized. If you’re itching to play right this moment and have a Creator’s Club membership, you can join in on the ZP2KX playtest fun from now through July 15th via creators.xna.com. If you don’t have a membership and still want to play, don’t worry your little head off. We’ll be sharing more juicy details in the not too distant future.

Let’s Talk PAX
We’re less than two months away from PAX Prime 2010, an event that Ska Studios is referring to as “Operation Show Off Vampire Smile And Rock Seattle, Because We Can.” Currently, we’re in the planning stages which means we are getting the design and logistics worked out in hopes of things going a bit smoother than our first attempt at PAX East. Making planning a bit more difficult this time around is the fact that we have to transport ourselves and all the booth goodies across the country, from New York to Seattle. It’s a challenge, but one we’re going to kick in the face and dominate. In a totally caring and loving way, of course.

Openly Soliciting Netflix Suggestions
It is no secret that Netflix Instant Streaming is one of the cornerstones of Ska Studios’ culture. In a way, Netflix streaming keeps the studio alive by keeping its creative blood pumping and its liver running at optimal performance. It’s hard to explain exactly why Netflix is so important to Ska Studios, so just trust me when I say that it is.

With that, we’re in need of new Netflix content to watch and would like your suggestions for movies or TV shows that can be streamed via the almighty Netflix service. Any and all suggestions are accepted, but not guaranteed to be acknowledged. Ska Studios thanks you.

Check out the Z0MB1ES talk at around the 1:20 mark in the vid below. And Kevin, if you would like to chat with “the guy” who made the game – our own James Silva – just have your people get in touch with our people and we’ll show you some of our new indie hotness that will melt your face.



Milestone Status: Complete
Remember that Vampire Smile milestone that we wrote about last week? The one that was kind of a big deal and forced James to quit tinkering and get to finalizing? Well, that milestone just expired and we slid into home plate at the very last moment. Needless to say, James’ slide was called “safe!” and the crowd cheered. Major milestone number one is in the books. Complete and conquered.

That’s, Uh … About It
Gato is in need of some attention. With that, we’re out. Enjoy the sunny July weather and wear plenty of no-burn sun screen.

If you will be in Seattle or can make the trip this September, there’s still time to register for the show. We’ll be there waiting for you in a totally non-creepy and professional way. See you next week!

We will be taking a multi-multi hour airplane ride from Albany, NY to Los Angeles, CA which will be tiring, but nothing compared to the 38 days of travel it would take if we were to walk the same distance. (Thanks Google!) Obviously, aircraft transportation is the most logical method of travel across the country, but I can’t help but think that jet-packing would be way more enjoyable even if it would tack on a few days to our itinerary. Jet packs rock.

I’ll Buy That At 10% Off, Please
Breaking news that broke on Tuesday, which makes it not really all that breaking news: The entire Ska Studios store-o-merchandise has been discounted by 10%!

This offer was birthed after it was decided that we were all about celebrating E3 in some way. And, well … a month long discount on all merchandise in Ska Studios’ online store fulfilled our celebration criteria. To get 10% magically deducted from your order, use coupon code SKA_001 at checkout. June 30th is the cutoff for this offer, so get on getting and start filling your virtual cart.

Team Ska Out
As has been mentioned about 32 times since April, our entire crew will be in Los Angeles, starting this Sunday. Feel free to follow our E3 shenanigans by keeping an eye on @Jamezila and @SuperDunner on Twitter where random photos and tweets can be read all week. See you at the show!

Now, get on over to Destructoid and enter the contest, because this whole ball of wax wraps up this Sunday.

E3 Photograph Randomness
Truth be told, I have been unsuccessfully attempting to keep my E3 excitement to a quiet whisper these past few weeks. With that, you should be well aware that team Ska Studios is headed to Los Angeles for some E3 2010 happy fun times that’s sure to include sore feet and mild hangovers.

For those not be attending, we would LOVE to pack you up in our virtual luggage and bring you with for a week of gaming mayhem. To do that, just let me know what you would like us to capture at E3. Whether that be photos of the conferences, behind the scenes randomness or candid shots of Silva sound asleep in the hotel, no suggestion is too silly. Let me know and (maybe) we can set up an E3 photo gallery of fun for you to browse through in the weeks ahead.

Gone Going
That’s it for this week. Remember to jump over to Destructoid and enter that nifty Vampire Smile contest. Also, don’t forget to tell ‘em Gato sent you

Please, step inside, pull up a chair and grab a cup of complimentary punch from the back table. It’s 100% free, 90% water and 8% high fructose corn syrup.

Vampire Smile’s Gigs
You may have noticed this Tweet that was sent out into the interwebs by our very own James. You may have also been scratching your head, wondering exactly how an Xbox LIVE Arcade game such as Vampire Smile could take up 6.86GB of data and still make it to the XBLA, let alone attempt fit on a DVD. The simple explanation is that the game itself isn’t that large, silly. The 6.86 gigs of Vampire Smile data is a BUNCH of high res source imagery, uncompressed audio and other “stuff” (In fact, as far as game source goes, 6.86 gigs is light).

Come release, Vampire Smile will be thin, trim and compressed to the max. Now you know and the more you know the better. Usually.

E3 Plans: Confirmed
A few envelopes made their way into the Ska Studios mailbox (presumably delivered by the postman, but we cannot be certain) and inside each carefully sealed package were paper badges. Paper E3 badges that grant access to the event of the year! Scratch that, the video game event of the DECADE!

Can you tell that team Ska Studios is excited for the impending E3 Los Angeles trip? We are. Perhaps, too excited if that is at all possible.

Normalcy Activate!
Now that I’m back in New York, fresh from the week long Minnesota trip, things around the studio should be back to normal (or to whatever sense of “normal” we attempted to establish.) That means that James will be forced to work non-stop, but King of the Hill will remain looping on Netflix.

Until next week, good night to you and to our very own Gato.