Well, due to some rather unfortunate decisions, Reset has been cancelled. It was a fun ride and you can read my real goodbye post here. Thanks for watching. Goodbye!

Sorry I've been away for so long! I've been travelling to Japan and Thailand and going on all sorts of crazy adventures. Please, please, please check out episode 16 and episode 17 of Reset!!!

Wow! DICE 2006 was pretty excellent. Ruby and Zoe met for the first time. I got to catch up with all kinds of fantastic people and had a really fun time. Here are some random thoughts.

- One of my favorite things about DICE is how small it is. It's the only event where you have a strong chance of chatting with anyone you want to. This year's show was bigger than the last few and next year is going to be even bigger considering Dick Clark Productions is putting on the awards.

- Several attendees felt that the panels were too marketing and message oriented--basically not in the spirit of DICE. While it's always cool to hear Reggie Fils-Aimes and Peter Moore, some of the attendees felt that they were the wrong messengers. One attendee said that the only panel that really felt like DICE was Lorne Lanning interviewing the Colossus/Ico creators.

- Hey! I noticed that Lorne is interviewing Jaffe at GDC. The man's going to put me out of job. Hmph. If I was tall, handsome, and charming I'd interview people all the time too. Oh wait. I'm none of those things and I do that now. Tee-hee.

- Of course, I didn't get to go to all the panels I wanted to since I had to chase down people for interviews and, uh, interview them. The ones I went to were great, but overall all I was more jazzed about the programming in 2003  and 2004 . Now, I fully admit that my opinion on this shouldn't matter at all. DICE is for creators and should totally cater to their needs.

- It really bugs the crap out of me when journalists ask questions during DICE panels. I've felt this way for years, but I can say it now since I don't really write anymore and can totally sell out my former comrades. Seriously though, DICE--in my stupid head anyway--is about game creators interacting with each other. The discourse between some of the most creative minds in the business is a magical thing and shouldn't be tarnished by writers. Save the shite for E3 or something.

- Jay Mohr has a tough time connecting with the crowd in the early goings of the awards. He was trying really hard and won enough of the crowd over at the end. Apparently he had a great time too and really wants to be involved next year.

- Favorite line of the show: when trying to get access to a private elevator with a group of people after the awards, a friend of mine said to Alan Yu, “This is harder than getting into your f*%$ing GDC party.”

- Second favorite line of the show: I had to leave a crazy drunken conversation when someone yelled this line at 3:04AM. “F*&$ing achievement points are ruining f*&$ing gaming!!!” Yeah, that was too much for me to take in at the time.

- The BioWare doctors are such excellent people and fantastic poker players as well.

- There should be a special place in heaven for Ted Price for putting up with the ridiculous songs Zoe and I write for him.

- Ditto for Reggie, for allowing to say his last name with horrible French accents. It's too much fun though. Say Fils-Aimes once with an accent and you'll do it 50 more times that day.

- It was interesting to hear Jaffe say that one of the things that motivates his creations is growing up without a lot of money and making great games so kids don't feel ripped off. It was also interesting to hear him say that he wishes more journos would write articles that challenge creators. I wish I had the chance to tell him that when I was a writer, one of the things I always kept in mind was writing for 10-year old me. I didn't grow up with a lot of money and felt horrible when my parents bought me a bad game that I thought would be good. I felt bad that they wasted their money. I felt bad about this crap game I was playing. And I felt bad that it would be a long time before I could get another one.

DICE has been my favorite event the last few years. It's just so amazing to have so many incredibly talented people at a relatively small event. I'm floored that I'm even allowed to attend. It's such an honor.

That doesn't mean I don't get involved in my fair share of silliness though. There was that one year with the incident at The Hitching Post and that other time when...never mind. Anyway, Zoe and I started an annual DICE tradition of singing songs to Insomniac's Ted Price during the event. We're trying to raise the bar this year by coming up with some truly outstanding parodies. Here's what we have so far. Let me know which one you think we should sing

"Teddy P" (to the tune of "Let it Be" by The Beatles)
When I find myself in times of trouble,
Spyro the Dragon comes to me,
He says go find some wisdom,
From Teddy P.

Teddy P, Teddy P, Teddy P, Teddy P,
He's almost part of Sony,
Teddy P

"TCP" (to the tune of "O.P.P." by Naughty by Nature)
You down with TCP?
Yeah you know me!
Who's down with TCP?
Every last lady!
You down with TCP?
Yeah you know me!
Who's down with TCP?
This whole party

"Insomniac" (to the tune of "Maniac" by Hall & Oates)

He's Insomniac, somniac on the floor,
And he's coding like he's never coded before.
He's Insomniac, somniac on the floor,
Designing games like no one's done before.