May 30, 4:03 pm
Phew! It’s been a fantastically busy week, and it’s great to put my feet up and reflect on all that has been.
Last Monday Kitt and I found ourselves stepping off a Eurostar train at Gard du Nord in Paris. We were in the land of croissants to check out UbiDays 2007, and learn of all the Ubi gaming goodness hitting consoles and PCs over the next few months. It was Ubisoft’s answer to the down-scaling of E3, and I was incredibly excited to see what lay in store.
First of all, UbiDays was big. It seemed like every games journo in Europe had been invited to the event, held within the Carrousel du Louvre - yes, that’s right, the Louvre. It’s one of the largest museums in the world, with over 35,000 pieces of art housed inside the 60,000 square foot building. Of course, they weren’t mixing Rayman with Rembrandt - we were in the massive conference area - but it was impressive nonetheless.
The event kicked off with a bang, as everyone gathered around presentation stage whilst French presenter Alexandra Kazan talked through Ubisoft’s 2007 titles with the help of their developers. Whilst there weren’t any suprise announcements, it was nice to see a few familiar faces and catch a few choice titbits (such as the new Assassin’s Creed trailer! YAY!) Plus everything had a curious Eurovision vibe, which suited me just fine.
Dave Doak of Free Radical talks Haze
Then it was time to party - Paris style! Sadly this included Kitt and I wandering from food booth to food booth desperately trying to pillage as much sustenance as possible. What can I say? Parisians clearly have tiny stomachs.
But day two was when the action really kicked off. We managed to work our way through the cream of the Ubisoft crop, recording video interviews. I don’t want to spoil things by blurting all the gossip here, as we’ll soon be airing the footage we gathered. I can’t wait for everyone to see it. You can check out some of the photographs we took in our gallery.
One of my personal highlights was meeting three of the French Frag Dolls - Mya, Arwen and Meiko. They are so tiny! I felt like a giant amongst Fraggies. Whilst Kitt and I bumbled about trying to remember high school French, Arwen proved the expert translator. Being a Frag Doll is a pretty unusual job, and it’s great when you’re able to talk with people who have experienced the same things as you.
I was also shocked that we were able to chat with the big guy himself, Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft. Even Kitt was humbled. And that’s something you don’t get to see everyday ...
Yves Guillemot - a rose between two thorns
After a very busy day, we boarded the plane home tired but satisfied. I babbled nonsensical gibberish whilst Kitt ignored me and played Puzzle Quest on the DS.
But that’s not all I’ve been up to! Far from it. Days after I’d recovered from Ubidays I was off on Frag Doll duty again, this time to BBC Radio in London. I was there to meet a bunch of excitable school kids for Go 4 It, a weekly children’s program airing on BBC Radio 4. We were discussing the role of stories in computer games and books, with the legendary Steve Jackson. If you’ve never heard of Steve, shame on you! He co-founded Games Workshop with Ian Livingstone and is also the author of a series of successful interactive game books called Fighting Fantasy. He also co-founded Lionhead Studios, and is currently an Associate Professor at Brunel University, teaching Digital Games Theory and Design. That’s quite a CV!
Secretly I was scared witless of being asked questions by kids. They can be extremely smart and savvy. But fortunately everybody was super nice, and I’m looking forward to hearing the show on air. If you fancy listening to the interview, tune into 92 - 95 FM at 7.15pm on the 10th of June.
Right, that’s it! I’m off to bed now, but I’ll be back for Frag Doll Friday on June 8th on Rainbow Six: Vegas, and after that I’ll be attending the metal-tastic Download Festival at Donnington Park with Sarin and Kitt. It’s a busy life being a Frag Doll, I tell ye! I wouldn’t have it any other way.
