Before you do not taste this video ...

So I was having a look at the link stats for the video I put up where we win Best Online Game at Leipzig, and noticed that a couple of French sites were linking to it: mondewarhammer.com; and mondespersistants.com.

Both of them used the same following text (I've taken out the accents):

"Elvish Parsley, Membre de Mythic, developpeur de Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, nous livre son resume en video de l'edition 2008, de la Games Convention de Leipzig.
Une seul chose a dire, avant que vous ne degustiez cette video: Quel dehanche M. Barnett."

Now, its been about 20 years since I scraped through my French GCSE with a "C" grade, so I'm pretty rusty, but I think that the two web sites in question actually think my real name is Elvish Parsley.

I'm sitting here giggling mischeviously just thinking about whether the French reporter gave the name a second thought, and why they thought it was more likely than the name Justin Webb, which is a perfectly good name btw. Someone on the BBC also has it, so it must be approved by the Queen or something.

That aside, I still wanted to know what they wrote, so, since the current extent of my French is "Je voudrais un Orangina s'il vous plait", I ran the text through Babel Fish and got:

"Elvish Parsely, member of Mythic, developer of Warhammer Online: Old Off Reckoning, delivers to us his summary in video of l'edition 2008, of the Ranges Convention of Leipzig.
One only thing to be said, before you do not taste this video: Which dehanche Mr Barnett."

As well as confirming that they did think that Elvish Parsley exists, clearly some of the words came out wonky - there's no need to translate Age or Reckoning, for example, but what really intrigues me (in an all-your-base-are-belong-to-us type of way) is the last sentence.

I really really want to know what dehanche means, and why I shouldn't taste it. A proper translation of the last sentence would be awesome too. Are there any native French speakers out there who can lend a hand?

Warhammer Online wins Best Online Game at Leipzig GC 2008

As you've probably heard, EA picked up a bunch of awards at Leipzig GC.

Here's Paul and Jeff picking up the award for Best Online Game. Of course they did it in their own glorious manic way. 

It's a bit longer than most of the other videos I've posted here, but it gives a pretty good behind-the-scenes look at the EA lounge and the award presentation.

Plus there is dancing.

Here's the link to the Youtube vid.

Justin Goes to Leipzig - The Kate-apult

As you probably know, Warhammer Online has a fantastic Realm vs Realm (RvR) combat system. Part of that system involves storming enemy keeps and fortresses in an attempt to control zones to push the campaign farther toward your enemy's capital city. Each race has access to its own unique set of siege weaponry: ballistas, bolt-throwers, battering rams, boiling oil, etc.

At a typical Con, we give out boxes and boxes of T-Shirts and schwag to fans who come to see our presentations. However, throwing T-shirts is hard. So, we locked a bunch of interns in a room and whipped them until they came up with a solution. Luckily, most of our interns spend copious amounts of time playing on beta. Before their welts become completely scabrous, they came up with an idea for a new T-shirt Delivery System (TDS).

To the untrained eye, the TDS looks like an enormous hand catapult.

Deputy Content Manager Kate Flack manned (womaned?) the TDS, or "Kate-apult", at Leipzig with fantastic results. Using the device, she could deliver a T-shirt to any person in the main hall within a matter of seconds - often by knocking them unconscious. 

Here's a Youtube link.

Also, as you can see, most of the front-row fans are wearing spiffing WAR white sunglasses. Make sure you grab a pair off Paul or Jeff at PAX this weekend.

So to clarify, during Saturday's presentation, no convention spotlights were destroyed by the TDS. If you attended Leipzig GC on Saturday and found small crystalline shards in your hair afterwards, those shards were definitely not bits of glass. Perhaps you have developed a new form of disgusting Con dandruff . 

Justin Goes to Leipzig - Girls Gone Waaagh!

GOA's booth for WAR was amazing this year. As always, the GOA girls did an amazing job at wrangling the 200,000 visitors. They even found time during their busy schedule to do a quick Waaagh!

And, if you prefer, here's the Youtube link.

Justin Goes to Leipzig - War Tats

One of the fun things to do at Leipzig is to wander around the giant exhibition halls looking for weird stuff. This year, just behind the EA booth was an artist who was doing free air-brush tattoos of all of EA's upcoming games. Obviously I chose the WAR symbol.

Behind me in line was Ian (our community manager for England) and Steffi (one of the GOA booth girls). Luckily I had my video camera with me.

Here's the Youtube link.

The Road to Leipzig - Enormous Pants

So, we're heading out to Leipzig GC over the weekend, to show off the game to the Europeans.
I've never been to GC before, so I'm not really sure what to expect. It's clearly huge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Convention) -- two-hundred thousand sweaty Germans in an aircraft hanger in East Germany. GOA definitely have their hands full. Luckily, the game looks, and plays, great.

I've tried packing. This trip, I'm trying not to check any bags. As a result everything has to fit into one carry-on bag. Packing light in this way is easy if you're a girl, because all their bits and bobs are small. When you're 6'2'', it's really hard -- everything is bigger. For example, my pants are enormous.

Also, will anything electrical work in Germany. Can anything be plugged in without fear of explosion?

On a lighter note, I did a podcast interview with the guys from the Destruction guild Soylent Greenskins (awesome name btw) earlier in the week (It's people!). It should be up on their web site pretty soon. They're getting ready to start putting out some regular podcasts, so make sure to check them out. (soylentgreenskins.com).

I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Toothbrush ... Passport .... ??