Over the weekend, groups started and worked on games for the Mass Game Challenge. 38 Studios sent designers, artists, and programmers over to talk to the teams, review their ideas, see what advice they could give, and provide pizza. We webcast the whole thing almost live (about a minute delay for technical reasons, not about censoring anything) which led to a strange call from Chuck Rich where he was talking to me on the phone and watching my answer about a minute in the past. He was giddy with excitement, which is always fun to be a part of.
During a lull in the excitement (aka, when everyone was actually working), I sat playing my DS and overheard Rich Gallup talking to one of the kids and suddenly it clicked (because I was just listening to him instead of talking to him directly)-- he's the Rich Gallup from Gamespot who's podcast I used to listen to! So I told him so, and we had a weird moment of not quite fan meeting, because I hadn't said I liked the podcast, only that I listened to it. And, of course, the one thing I remembered about him was that he recorded the whole thing standing up while everyone else sat down and made fun of him for standing up. Again, it wasn't exactly, "Hey, I liked your podcast," but it certainly proved that I actually listened to it. I mentioned that he left before the whole Gerstmann-gate thing blew up, and he said he was still in touch with all those guys, and then we kind of paused...
And then one of the other 38 Studio guys called him away and we never mentioned it again.
Awkward.
For the record, when Gallup left the Hotspot, it was pretty much the beginning of the end. I eventually stopped listening to it because the guys were so demoralized after Gerstmann-gate that it was a little sad to listen to, as they each got jobs elsewhere and said their goodbyes.
And Rich and all the guys were great to show up, and I know the kids thought it was great to have them there whether they were helping or distracting them.
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