But fret not, because all was not lost. Even though the hard drive and all of its contents went to data heaven (or data hell), all of the files were backed up through iDrive and its magical cloud-based storage. In all honesty, cat dander may have played a roll in the hard drive failure (ahem, GATO!), but we can’t help but think that Alienware may produce junk (a sentiment echoed by our friend Kathleen).

All ended well enough. James purchased another hard drive and downloaded all 4+GBs of data from iDrive’s project-saving cloud. Life lesson learned: Always have a backup and don’t trust Alienware.

Tighten Those Graphics
Recently, I was asked “what’s going on with The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and when the heck will it release?” While I can’t exactly answer the second part of that question, I can tell you what’s going on with Vampire Smile using just three words: Tightening the graphics. James has been testing out new effects, playing with optimization techniques and has been adding a new coat of paint to the game’s old artwork.

So, Vampire Smile‘s development isn’t dead, it’s just getting prettier and prettier by the day.

It’s BLUE!
Being an indie studio, we rarely get spiffy new hardware. So, whenever new tech arrives at Ska Studios HQ, it’s a time of celebration and excitement. It’s enough joy for me to want to share the newness, especially when the newness is a BLUE Xbox 360 dev kit. Yes, blue. Blue as in the sky, the ocean and those delicious raspberry Slushies. Oh so pretty.

Click to super-duper size.

After two unsuccesful attempts, ZP2KX was again placed into peer review this past Wednesday and I’m pleased to announce, that as of a few minutes ago, the game has made it through! But hold steady, because it has only made it “through” peer review which doesn’t automatically mean ZP2KX is 100% approved. So, we have a little wait until we find out if ZP2KX gets final approval, thus landing it on Xbox LIVE Indie Games. What’s the timeframe? Well, it could release tomorrow, Sunday or it’s entirely possible that it didn’t get approved for whatever reason.

Don’t work yourself up too much because as ZP2KX makes its final decent into XBLIG airspace, I’ll be sure to plaster news of its release all over the interwebs. For now, we just wait in anticipation.

Buying A New PC? Be Sure You Get What You Paid For
Funny story. Last week James made an executive decision to purchase a rockin’ new PC to help him make even more awesome games. We found a pretty nifty Dell XPS 8100 for a nice price on BestBuy.com, so an order was spontaneously placed and in-store pickup was the chosen method of computer acquisition.

The next day, James and I hopped into the car and drove to the local Best Buy in Albany to pickup the XPS. Upon arrival, the friendly Best Buy in-store pickup dude didn’t have a clue where the computer was. He was totally clueless. I spotted a single Dell computer box sitting on the floor, which I figured had to be the computer, so I made a not so subtle hint of my findings. After a bit of searching, Mr. Best Buy dude decided that seeing as that was the only Dell box around, it must be our computer. Documents were signed, cordial goodbyes were exchanged and we proceeded out the door with giant box in hand.

That would be the end of the story if it weren’t for the fact that after navigating the parking lot, getting to our car and placing the computer in the back seat, we made a discovery: The Dell XPS 8100 that we purchased was actually a cheap Dell Inspiron-Not-Our-Computer 350. DOH! After a quick inspection of the paperwork on the box, it was concluded that the silly Best Buy dude had given us some other lady’s order. No joke.

Back into the store we go where we wait for another 10 minutes for them to track down the correct computer which we were told was hidden somewhere in the warehouse, but I personally spotted a stack of them on the show floor. Whatever. We finally left with the correct Dell XPS, but not before Mr. Best Buy dude apologized, saying something like; “Sorry for the mixup guys. I didn’t check the order tag on the computer, because it was the only one sitting here and I figured it had to be yours.” Really?

So, make sure that when you go pickup an order that you get you what you paid for. Otherwise, you’ll end up coming home with an Inspiron.

Conclusions
That be it for the week. Keep an eye out for ZP2KX , feel free to browse www.ZP2KX.com in the meantime and we’ll see you online!

The Xbox LIVE Indie Games channel is Microsoft provided, but ultimately fueled by the community. Games get life only with approval from the community who can also force a project to remain in dev limbo if the game doesn’t meet all the standards. When all goes well and a game gets community approval, it’s instantly thrust out to the gaming masses, which can be a bit of a problem when you’re planning for a release window that coincides with Indie Games Winter Uprising. So, while it was our goal to get ZP2KX out the first week of December, bugs were found late in the submission process and a few simple fixes needed to be made. The crappy bit is that each fix results in a minimum of a week delay due to a rule that forces a seven day waiting period before a re-submission can happen. Double bummer.

That’s where it stands. Random little bugs that weren’t caught earlier resulted in an extended delay. As of this very moment we’re planning on putting ZP2KX up for Peer Review next Wednesday, so there’s a chance that it’ll release late next week, but more realistically you’ll see pterodactyls flying the week after.

The half glass full perspective is that these annoying delays have made ZP2KX 24% more enjoyable, 5% more stable and 16% more entertaining. (It’s true, I crunched the numbers.) In the end, it’s a win-win for everyone … except those who desperately wanted to jump into the ZP2KX battlefield the first week of December.

Pterodactyl tears.

A Fur Ball In The System
More bad news you demand? OKAY!

If you’re reading this, then that means ska-studios.com is alive and kicking, which is a huge victory for us seeing as the site has been suffering from what we’re told is “Clogged Pipes Syndrome X-4″. I’ve deduced that the clog was more than likely caused by a softball-sized Gato fur ball that was wedged in the server. We had our tech people remove the furry nuisance and move our site to a better, more stable server which we thought would solve all of our problems. And it did, for the most part, except for the whole part of the move resulting in the loss of the site’s entire database. Instant. Website. Death.

Since then, the ska-studios.com has risen from the ashes like a beautiful Phoenix thanks, in part, to some questionable recovery methods performed by yours truly. There has been some fallout, though, because the lost database means that all previously registered accounts were also lost. So, if you are unable to login, you’ll just have to re-register. Sorry. Chin up though, because the website is alive and Gato’s fur balls have been contained … for now.

An Optimistic Goodbye
That’s it for this week. Our fingers are collectively crossed, forming a massive finger-crossed ball of hope that with any luck we’ll see ZP2KX make its way to the Xbox LIVE Indie Games channel by Christmas.

Stay optimistic and stay warm.

Days passed, Neko was still missing and she never took the time to phone home to let us know that she was okay. Very odd and very uncharacteristic of her. Interestingly enough, the famous Gato had a weird way of handling her sister’s disappearance, moping around one minute and running around joyfully the next. Truth was, both James and I missed our dear Neko and just wanted to know that she was okay and happy.

Come Tuesday, all seemed hopeless. It was agreed that Neko either hitched a ride on a Greyhound Bus (go figure) down to Nevada to became the Vegas dancer she always wanted to be or she made her journey to the golden litter box in the sky. Thankfully, we were wrong, because late Tuesday evening, after an intense thunderstorm, a ghostly white figure appeared at the screen door. It was a muddy, ragged and sad looking Neko wanting to come in. Wanting to come back to her home.

After a quick bath and a generous snack of kitty kibble, Neko was happy, healthy and extremely apologetic for running away. She never told us why she left (we didn’t ask), but she has since been forgiven and this runaway tale ends on a positive note. Gato is happy to be once again reunited with her rebel of a sister, but is suffering a minor case of jealousy due to all the attention Neko has received. Then again, she can take comfort in knowing that she’ll always be the headlining cat of Good Morning Gato.

Don’t Forget About PAX
Remember, James and I will be in Seattle from September 3rd through the 5th showing off a playable build of The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile at the Penny Arcade Expo. If you can make it (and can get your hands on a ticket), stop by booth 3010 and experience Ska Studios awesomeness.

Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy and keep your windows closed.

In the meantime, I have another guest column up up bit-tech; I wanted to name it “The One Where I Wax Philosophical” or something but those wacky British editors change the title.

Read: Halo 3 and the Art of Repetition

Update: Looks like I’m in the news again, for all the wrong reasons!

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/snowstorm.nearly.foot.2.646975.html