Well, this was a fun day. You know what’s better than visiting the Vicarious Visions studio? Nothing, that’s what. Six and a half hours flew by as we ate, played games, ate, toured, ate,  interviewed the staff, ate and played more games. And at the end of the day, Matt had to drag me away – because I could have done another day or three-hundred and sixty-five very easily (that and I ate twice my body weight and couldn’t move – but we’ll get to that later). And seeing as my good time at VV borders on unhealthy obsession, Matt has seen it fit that I give you a verbal taste of the day in my own A.D.D. riddled fashion.

So here we go!

After a meet and greet with various VV staff (all of whom were down to earth and very friendly) we started with a tour around the building. The halls are decorated with games of the company’s past (well over 150 titles) as well as hints toward future projects. The ideals and visions of the company were laid out as we were given insights of a day in the life of it’s inhabitants. Walls and ceiling are of an old industrial design showing the age of the building. But as opposed to covering it up they fused it together with a traditional business setting melded with artistic design. It’s a bit hard to describe but I spent a good time looking up and around at my surroundings. I can see how this environment nurtures creativity. N64 and Dreamcast stand-ups were around to relive stress to any weary programmers – which made me very jealous.

After this we settled in to the proverbial meat-and-potatoes of the day: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (360) and Guitar Hero 5 for the Wii (which we won a mini-tournament of by the way). Due to the sensitivity of playing an unreleased game I cannot make much mention of what made the day so special. But sufficed to say that I’m gonna do my damnedest to get my hands on both titles. And so should you, even if their previous titles weren’t your cup of tea. But Matt will cover more of these things so check his piece out.

And finally, there was the food. Now understand that the staff don’t eat like this everyday. As we entered the conference room a large pile of various bagels , cream cheeses, juices, water and coffee were sprawled out. A short while later, a veritable meat-fest formed on the table with pulled pork, BBQ chicken and a pile of beef loin sliced just so. Mashed potatoes and white pepper gravy were a nice touch. As I pat my belly and moaned, fried Ravioli, cheese/artichoke dip, cookies, sliced meats/cheeses and Focaccia garlic bread with marinara sauce reared their heads – I was too full to play videogame for god’s sake. A special thanks to Vanessa from Activision for enabling me as I enabled her in our gluttonous endeavor. And yes Vanessa, the fried ravioli was outstanding with said dip on it.

So in conclusion if you ever go to the VV studio remember not to eat for twenty-four hours and bring some comfy shoes. We want to thank Vicarious Visions and Activision for inviting us down to the studio and to check out their new games!