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Kristi and I finally found some official stats from the Adidas Penalty Shootout Instant Messenger game we designed and developed last year. According to Microsoft, the game was “one of the five most successful online games in the world” with 13 million plays in the 2 months of the campaign.

With 5 million unique users playing the game, there were inevitably people like this:

“I’m going to kick him in the groin. High power! In the groin, in the groin, in the groin!”

I love how he says it’s “rather rubbish” but he does really get into the game, doesn’t he? Nice try pretending how you dislike it, Mr. Ikealord. LOL!

I had a great time at the Ion Conference last week.  What was different about this conference was that the organizers focused on the social aspect of doing business.  The speakers and sessions were good, but what stood out were the many networking opportunities integrated into the event. 

There was a half an hour space between each session.  All of the rooms were fairly close together and connected to each other by a lobby that was usually filled myriad of refreshments.  Food and drink and free time generally facilitates conversation.  That combination resulted in many conversations about the game industry, the entertainment business and otherwise with some very interesting and lovely people.    

That said, I’d like to give a shout-out to a few of the many folks I met:

• Daniel Ostenso from the Illinois Institute of Art
• Sabrina Gasson from Testronic Laboratories in the UK
• Shawn Foust, Associate at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLC in Century City, CA
• Greg Lester from Colliers Interantional in Bellevue, WA
• Tim Robinson from Krome Studios, Australia
• Radha Kotamarti, Microsoft
• Chris LeFeaver, a Canadian working for Amberlight in London
• Connie Gougler, Iovation in Portland, OR
• Nathan Emerson and Andrew Maxwell from Markee Dragon in Portland

See you guys next year, I hope! 

I’ll be at the Ion Conference right here in Seattle starting tomorrow through Thursday.  If you’re planning on attending, don’t forget to say “hello!”

Also, on Friday, Matt and I will be flying out to Burbank for a few animation events:

• Screening of “Endangered Species” at Mockfest 2008: “Endangered Species” is a film by Tony White that showcases the great and classic moments of animation’s history.
• Animation Book Look 2008: co-hosted by Van Eaton Galleries and Creative Talent Network, is a gathering of animation authors and artists as well as a number of industry insiders.  Nickelodeon reps will also be there doing portfolio reviews. 
• Ollie Johnston’s Train Station Dedication: Ollie Johnston, the very last of Walt’s “Nine Old Men”, was considered one of the world’s leading train enthusiasts.  There will be a dedication at Walt’s Barn in Griffith Park on Sunday.

We’ll be in LA from Friday, May 16th until Monday May 19th.  Give a shout if you’re in the area! 

Our latest casual game, Sushi-Me, is up for nomination this year in the Zeebys!  Sushi-Me is an online casual game created for play on PC, Mac, touch-screen and Nintendo Wii that combines fast-paced action, cute characters, hilarious animation, catchy audio, and witty writing.  It’s “winning rave reviews throughout the seven seas!”  Everything including character design, audio, and even the very witty copy for Sushi-Me was done in-house by our super talented Plexi peeps.

If you haven’t heard of them, the Zeebys are the Annual Casual Game Award with games from casual game developers of all sizes—even huge companies like Vivendi and Ubisoft!  Award winners will be announced at the Casual Connect Conference 2008 being held in Seattle this July. 

We’re in the running for:

• Best Web Game of the Year
• Best Visual Arts of the Year
• Most Innovative Game of the Year
• Best Story, Narrative or Original Character of the Year 
• Best Audio of the Year

You must be a current member of the CGA to vote.  If you’re not yet a member of the CGA, you can sign up here for free and be eligible to vote in this years awards!

You can also check out the winners from last year on the Zeeby’s website.  Happy casual gaming!

Just announced!  Microsoft is joining up with Namco Bandai (and Quiznos) for the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship. 

The top finalists from around the world will be flown to NYC for the champeeeenship.  The winner of it all will get crowned ”the big 80’s geek” by Toru Iwatani who created Pac-Man.  But that special geek will become an even BIGGER geek (in oh so many ways) once they receive the 100,000 Microsoft Points to buy content they can use on their brand-new one-of-a-kind exclusive Pac-Man Xbox and free Quiznos subs for the next 26 years!

But ask yourself this, ”Who needs to be sexy when you’re that COOL?!?”

Check out the Xbox Live Tournament Registration site for more details as they come.