Summary: Activision's Blessing of the Cars Meet

By: INT SuiCyco

What the heck was it?: The Blessing of the Cars was a combination of two things; A hotrod meet, and an I'82 Alpha demonstration. Well, actually it was all about the hotrod show, and I'82 developers just happened to be into it, and brought a few networked PC's with them to the event to show everyone what's up with the game.

So I guess that's enough background info. What this paper is about is what the I'82 team presented to the poeple that showed up. Though the game was very very alpha, it was looking cool, some new lighting abilities are possible, courtesey of the native 3D effects. Handling will be more realistic, but despite some of the Activision claims, I seriously doubt it can compete with the Playstations "Gran Turismo" abiltiies. Anyways...

After meeting up with my friends we went down to the show and checked out the fine rides, and man they were FINE. Well some at least, almost made me think about trading in a Z for some V-8 muscle... :)

Where is the Nitro Patch?

Well I popped that question to Daiva, and the answer she gave me went something like this, "Though a patch is in progress, in between our programmers other activites, the actual Nitro '76 team has been disbanded, and the members have since moved onto other projects, some to the I'82 team, some not. So it could be some time before the patch is complete."

What's that all mean? Well, remember how long it took for the MechWarrior patch to come out? Yep, don't hold your breath...

-Sui



THE TEAM: I guess to me, an important thing is how the people who make the game act, and I can assure you, that after meeting them, it's plain to see they make games because they love to make games.

ED WOOD ON CRACK: Zack Norman, the ever in the spotlight dude, is like a modern interpetation of Ed Wood. He's very energetic, very creative, an idea guy, kind of out there. But hey to think up the I'76 storyline, you'd have to be. :)

AUTHORITARIAN: If Zack were a 400 HP V-8 engine, Daiva would be the transmission. Her job is to turn his ideas into functioning parts of the game. She's the boss!

ANGRY ARTIST: Then there is Patrick, the 'angry artist'. This guy was fascinating to watch. Throughout the whole event he was fixated upon snapping pictures to get textures, or car ideas, or just get good publicity shots. He was so INTO it, it made me feel good to see he cared about doing his job so well you know? I was even afraid to disturb him, for fear of interrupting his train of thought. He reminded me a bit of a mad scientist, abosrbed in his creation (or in this case, taking photos).

SCAPEGOAT: Though everyone was cool, I thought Charlie Hill, the marketing guy, was the easiest to talk with. He had a real low profile way of handling things and a good attitude. He reminded me of a pseudo Zen Buddhist in a sea of madness (the Activision Booth).

IN CONCLUSION...: A team of freaks, is a good, diverse team. And this is a great team. :) Glad to have met you all, and for those who didn't make it this year, make it next year!

- Sui