Just a heads up, people: Tonight (late, late, late night for us GMT+1'ers), we'll be bringing you our annual Blogademy Awards (groan) live from my living room. (That is, if I manage to stay awake from two thirty in the morning and onwards.) Yes, it's that time of the year: The Oscars are being handed out, and in past years (2003 and 2002) I have provided my readers with a 'running' commentary of the show as it happens. Why? Because I would certainly fall asleep if I was just watching the show. So drop by tonight at 02:30 Norway-time (01:30 GMT, 7:30 PM EST, etc.), and join the fun. BYOB.  ¶ 00:06   

  Five days to go until the Tokyo trip, and, seeing as this will be my first visit to the Far East, I'm quite excited. We're staying a week, but we have yet to decide exactly what to do during that week. There will be, I'm sure, lots of walking about, and all the Sights must be Seen; if anyone out there has any specific suggestions about where to go and what to do, however, let me know.

It's been a very busy week - ergo the lack of postings - and much has been accomplished. Dreamfall is progressing as nicely as ever, with not just one but two impending deadlines leading up to E3 and the Fall of the Veil. For a game that's still a year and a half (or so) away from release, it's looking very solid, and I'm confident that everyone will be impressed. And while E3 won't offer any hands-on experience for the public (only invited press will get a showing), there will most likely be a video playing at the Funcom stand.

This week also saw things happening on the NBT front (NBT being, of course, the 'Next Big Thing'; a project that we've been working on for a good while now). I'll have to keep mum about the details for the time being, but, hopefully, we'll be able to cast some light on the game before Christmas (2004, that is). While most of my time is dedicated to Dreamfall at this point, NBT is still a high priority.  ¶ 11:38   

  My apologies for the Disappearing Website today: we've been going up and down like a manic depressive, but things finally appear to have settled down. I might even have received all of my mail - though to be absolutely sure, if you've sent me anything important today, you might want to consider sending it again.  ¶ 22:25   

  Just read you're getting bored playing Prince Of Persia. Forget this game: play Beyond Good & Evil! It features great story, graphics, characters, locations and fighting. Plus the gameplay is superb, even with mouse and keyboard on a PC!

Well, I just finished it, and it was my very first Action/Adventure. Usually I'm more into adventures without fighting, but that one completely caught me. Players who like PoP should like BG&E even more, as the saying goes. Fair enough, isn't it?

I've played Beyond Good & Evil quite a bit - on the GameCube, not the PC - and I have enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, the game has performed poorly in retail - mostly due to a crowded Christmas market - which means that you can pick it up for next to nothing in many stores.  ¶ 19:34   

  (Um, no, that ain't Zoë, guys.)

Seabiscuit was a movie that I skipped last summer, for reasons unknown. Maybe I thought it was a story about 'horsies'. Maybe they stopped showing it before I had time to see it. Whatever the truth, I finally watched it this evening, and I now think that it is one of the best movies of 2003; up there with Lost in Translation and The Return of the King. Gary Ross did a bang-up job writing and directing an emotional - though refreshingly unsentimental and understated - and 'inspirational' (in the truest meaning of the word) story, with an ensemble of some of the finest American actors around: Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, William H. Macy, and Tobey Maguire. This was as good an example of "show, don't tell" storytelling as I've seen in recent years, and the movie managed to avoid the tired clichés and remain surprisingly original even when you knew where it was going. It's out on DVD, and if you haven't seen it, there's absolutely no excuse.

This is really embarrassing, but the only game I've played lately (in the last, ooh, five weeks?) is Prince of Persia...and while I'm only 60% through that one, I have to admit that I'm getting a little bit bored. Not so much that I'll stop playing quite yet, but there are few surprises now, and I'm getting tired of: a) running along walls; b) scaling ladders; c) jumping to grab pillars; d) swinging on ropes; e) avoiding sharp blades; and f) battling resurrecting monsters. Yes, it's a good game. Yes, it controls wonderfully and looks stunning. But the lack of a decent storyline, the limited environment, and an overreliance on repetitive puzzles are all taking their toll, and the fun-factor is suffering. I can only play it in small doses now, and I doubt that I'll have the patience to sit through it until the end.  ¶ 22:53   

  Whew. Busy days.

Thanks for all the mail, everyone, and while I won't be able to answer all of it, I'll post & reply to a few letters next week. I'll be staying away from most Dreamfall: The Longest Journey related questions, however, because we're currently planning a 'first reveal' with several print magazines leading up to E3 in May. And, of course, at E3 we'll be showing off the game to invited press - so remain patient for a few more months, and you shall be rewarded.

Both IGN and GameSpot had Dreamfall related articles up yesterday; nothing you haven't read elsewhere (if you've been looking for it), but it's nice to see the two biggest gaming sites out there tracking the title. And this is just the beginning.  ¶ 23:32   

  I am a big fan of TLJ and really looking for Drømmefall. The recent news item at adventure gamers
(http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=435) brings up some questions. Maybe you could answer some of them in your journal? I'm sure I'm not the only one to ask them...

The Dagbladet article talks about "action, sneaking, climbing, swimming, and the fight against the evil forces". This is not automatically a problem for me since Broken Sword 3 had most of this stuff, too. Anyway I'd like to ask to what extent Drømmefall is going to be an adventure - I really hope (and
believe) it's not going to be a Tomb Raider style action game. Also the news item mentioned a total budget of 3.3 million kroner (about $370000), which is a big number but doesn't sound very much to me for a very large game project (about 20.000$/month for 18 months).

I think not just me but many fans would be grateful if you could comment on these topics.

I've refrained from commenting on the latest developments on the TLJ-Ne-- uh, I mean Dreamfall front, and I'll continue to do (or not do) so for the time being, but I can tell you the following:

First off, the budget is much, much, much higher than what some articles have theorised; Dreamfall is a triple-A, big budget, cross-platform title, and these things are very, very expensive. The number you've quoted is far, far, far off the mark.

Secondly, Dreamfall will be an adventure, though it will not be a traditional point-and-click adventure. Yes, there will be action elements. No, I don't think there will be any swimming, but that might change. Dreamfall will certainly not be a Tomb Raider clone, and there won't be any platform puzzles. Promise.  ¶ 18:28   

  Hey Ragnar,

I know you were a big Buffy fan, not sure if you watch Angel as well, but thought I'd let you know that Angel was cancelled yesterday. The show's going to finish out the season and that's it, no more Joss on our televisions for a good while....

find a link to the article here:
http://thewb.com/PressRelease/Index/0,8341,156980,00.html

Maybe you can make mention of this on your blog to perhaps stir up some controversy or what not.

The amount of controversy my Blog is capable of stirring up is "not so much, no". But yes, I've heard the news, and yes, it's sad - but not particularly surprising. Angel has never done well in the ratings, and keep in mind that the WB dumped Buffy a few years back; a show that had consistently performed better than its spin-off.

I'm not completely up to date with the latest Angel episodes (I watch it, but there's been precious little TV-time lately), but from what I've seen this season - up until episode eight or nine, I believe - it's 'good' but not 'great'. I love it 'cause it's Angel & Co., but I don't see it appealing much to Buffiverse rookies. Despite efforts to do self-contained storylines, the show is largely dependent on familiar characters and in-jokes.

At least Whedon has been given the opportunity to wrap things up properly, and I expect the remaining episodes to be a worthy conclusion to the saga. There is some talk of TV movies next year, but I wouldn't count on it.

I'll write more about this when I've been able to catch up and watch the latest episodes.  ¶ 22:10   

  I checked in on your website for curiosity, and then this line in your faq catched my eye: "No. I'm no longer involved with the Anarchy Online storyline, and the current writers are taking the story and the world in a different direction."

I may be very wrong on this, but you seem disappointed with how AO has developed since you resigned, if you did so on your own, from being the writer for it?

Please notice that I am not out to stain either your name, Funcom's or Anarchy Online. But I want to know what you feel about the game that had a very promising story until the introduction of Shadowlands and now the upcoming Alien Invasion.

I'm absolutely and positively not disappointed with how the Anarchy Online storyline has developed since my departure; far from it, I believe the current team is doing a bang-up job of breathing new life into the AO universe. Alien Invasion looks to be the best expansion pack yet - the premise is excellent - and while Marius & the gang are taking the story in a slightly different direction than I had anticipated when I was working on the game (a long, long time ago), that's only natural. After all, AO has evolved, the players have evolved, and everyone has learned more about what works and what doesn't. Today, AO is a better game than it has ever been - better than any other MMO out there - and it's only going to improve.

As for leaving AO, that came about because of my commitment to two new projects, both of which are now in development; one of them the sequel to The Longest Journey, a game I really had to get involved with at an early stage; the other a next-generation online game which isn't due for a few years yet.  ¶ 19:44   

  In 1937, a conglomerate of greeting card companies, florists, and chocolate manufacturers met with the Catholic Church and the US Postal Service in a private room in a Boston restaurant to concoct one of the darkest conspiracies in modern history.

Outlining a dark plan to forge historical documents reaching back to the year 270 AD, this cabal of powerful gentlemen sought a new source of revenue and a way to mold their burgeoning corporations into massive multinational empires.

It was Mr 'H' himself who proposed the radical idea of mixing religion, sex, and commerce in a devious and brilliant fashion, forming the foundation of a dominating force that would change the future of the retail industry and forever line the pockets of all involved.

His plan, quickly applauded by his co-conspirators, involved a fictional saint named 'St. Valentine', an ages-old Christian 'tradition', and a constructed timeline extending into modern times.

Using the combined resources of the US government, and the world's wealthiest church and most powerful corporations, it took the conglomerate little time to alter history as we know it, constructing a supposedly traditional holiday - centred around commerce - with ties going back to the year 498 AD.

Today, across the world, more than one billion greeting cards change hands, and the sales of roses, stuffed bears, and chocolate rise tenfold on a single day. Today, tens of billions of dollars are spent, based solely on a singular lie. Today, the conglomerate grows bigger and more powerful than ever, and its ultimate goal comes ever closer:

World domination.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  ¶ 13:15   

  Winter is as persistent as a petulent child, and even though the days are getting longer and spring is getting closer, the weather is as miserably wintry as ever. It snowed yesterday - again - and the snow is doing a bang-up job of concealing the ice which covers every inch of pavement and street. Walking, then, is a risky business; suddenly you are heels-over-head and on your way to an appointment with pain. It's cold, and there's no relief in sight. March will provide little relief; it's often both colder and snowier than February. It will be April before things begin to improve. Spring is the briefest of seasons in Norway: It starts late, blooms into summer before you have time to settle in, and then, in the blink of an eye, it's September.

All right, now I'm being overly dramatic, and the good thing about February is that spring, summer, and autumn are still ahead of us. I'm no fan of winter - in the family of seasons, winter is the petulant child who's always kicking things over, starved for attention, being a royal pain in the arse - but I'd be really bored with just one season. Summer wouldn't be as wonderful as it is without the contrasts. I just wish we could soften that contrast, and dispense with the snow and the ice and the freezing cold.

Been reading a couple of great books lately (and thus breaking my cardinal Rule of Reading: never read two books at once):

First off, the third part of George R. R. Martin's stellar fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, A Storm of Swords. While there may be a few too many characters, it's still the most entertaining and exciting fantasy series I've read since the first five novels of The Wheel of Time. It really is worth picking up. The fourth book, A Feast for Crows, is coming out this year.

Secondly, Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation is a funny and educational look at the modern use (or disuse) of punctuation - including a fascinating look back at the origin of, amongst others, the semi-colon - and if that doesn't make you go "ooh, sounds fun!", then you're not a writing-geek like me...but you should still read it, because Truss is light and funny, and everyone ought to learn how to use a damn apostrophe.

Last, but definitely not least, I've just started reading Thornton Wilder's classic The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and once I get through that one - it's not long - I'll jot down my thoughts. So far, though, it seems very intriguing.

I've also picked up more books to add to my ever-growing mountain of unread books, amongst them Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth, China Mieville's debut novel King Rat, and Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, which I thought I'd read but hadn't. At least I'll never be able to complain about not having enough to read. The only problem is finding the time to do so.  ¶ 00:30   

  A while back (if memory (and Google) serves me right, it was 'round about here), I revealed three words that in some way relate to the next chapter of The Longest Journey (and God am I tired of not being able to use the game's proper name). Those words were: 'White', 'Crow', and 'Static'. At that time, the game's working title was Static, and while that's no longer the case, the word still applies.

Now, in lieu of any new TLJ information (until we get a bit closer to E3), here are three more words, drawn from the game's script, that might shed some dim light on the story:

* Snow
* Dark
* Dream

These three words relate in some shadowy way to the three previous words - in the same order. But no, Snow-White won't pop up in our story. (Probably.)

Look for three more words before the Big Reveal - some time this spring - which again will relate to the previous six. It's like a puzzle. But don't expect to be able to piece together the whole (or even much of) the story from this. I'm merely providing a fun little teaser. No fun-spoiling spoilers here.  ¶ 20:04   

  I'm impressed with my cable company. Just before I left for Germany, my digital receiver crashed, and it refused to start up again. I unplugged it, hoping that an extended period of downtime would fix the problem. In hindsight, that was a futile hope; these things don't fix themselves, and when I got home tonight the receiver was still dead.

So I call customer support, and while the first representative sloppily promises to call me back (she never does, of course), the second performs voodoo with her keyboard and brings my set-top box back to life. From afar! Like magic!

Yes, all right, I'm easily impressed. Why? Because I'm old. I grew up with one channel and snowy reception, and I still remember playing with the antenna to get a clear signal. And while I've been around technology most of my life, and witnessed the evolution from analog to digital entertainment first hand, there are still things that make me go "whooo" - even when I know better.

Most importantly, though, I really wanted to crash on the couch and watch TV tonight, and the voodoo witch doctor made it possible. Yay.

The flight back from Frankfurt was another one of those Perfect Flights that I expounded on a few weeks ago; I guess I'm enjoying a lucky streak. On time, perfectly smooth, I slept well and had an empty seat next to me. Not only that, but from the time I got off the plane until I was back in my apartment, less than forty-five minutes had passed. Which was impressive.  ¶ 21:40   

  I'm currently in Karlsruhe, Germany, at the SAGAs narrative game design workshop, where I've held a lecture on narrative game design. I'm flying back to Norway later this afternoon, and hopefully that will be the end of all the travelling - at least until March 4th, when I'm off to Tokyo.

It's been ages since I was last in Germany - maybe as much as twelve years - but unfortunately I haven't had time to see much of it this time around. The view from train and taxi windows, the interiors of restaurants and the conference centre, and my hotel room...that's about it.

The lecture went surprisingly well, considering I don't do this sort of thing very often (it's only my second attempt; the first was a few years ago at the European GDC: Edge magazine called that one "disappointing", which was nice), and an active and intelligent audience helped considerably. It's so much easier when people challenge you and ask you Interesting Questions. My talk lasted an amazing six hours, not including breaks, lunch, and a Q&A session with Ernest Adams, who's heading up the workshop.  ¶ 11:33   

  Lots of travelling - last week New York, this week London, next week Germany - and lots of work have joined forces to keep me away from the Blog, and this will unfortunately continue until Tuesday. January has been one of the busiest months in memory, and February looks to continue the trend.

The good news is that this week's deadline, an important milestone, was met, and met splendidly. The game currently known as TLJ-Next (its official title will be revealed quite soon, I expect) is in top form, and I'm amazed by how great it looks at this point. After all, we're still far, far away from release, and it will only improve. I wish I could say more, but you'll have to wait a couple more months. It's definitely worth getting excited about, however. I am.  ¶ 23:17   

  As you all probably know by now, Pixar is severing its production and distribution ties with Disney, and moving on. This seemed to be an inevitable consequence of the drawn out negotiations, because Disney aren't known for their . What will this mean for Disney? Possibly not as much as some would imagine. After all, they hold the rights to the properties that Pixar have already made successful, Toy Story in particular, and they are setting up their own computer animation facilities to churn out, one would imagine, the requisite Disney sequels. Yes, Pixar brought Disney critical and commercial success - something they haven't been able to do on their own - but Pixar also ate half of the movies' profits. Disney was certainly not willing to give them any more, and so Steve Jobs takes his business elsewhere. He won't have any problems finding a partner, but the question remains whether or not Pixar will do as well without the Disney stamp, their massive distribution machinery, and their experienced marketing department.

That's not saying Pixar shouldn't have broken with Disney. It's the right choice, and they will most likely profit from it, but the negotiations were probably hampered by the fact that there were two huge egos involved: Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner. Some amount of humility at the table might have produced a deal that would have worked for both.  ¶ 12:27