A Hoot of a Fun Time in Shanghai

In conjunction with the Gamebryo Seminar we held in Shanghai at the start of this week, we threw a party at Hooters for all of the attendees. Some of the programmers were nervous in the presence of RW women, as opposed to those of the 3D polygonal variety, but everybody had a good time.

This Asia General Manager even got talked in to getting up and doing the "chicken dance" in front of the whole restaurant. If anybody in attendance happened to get video of that, I'm offering cash monies for my sole possession of the Goodale grooving reel. Some of the pictures we got even include me on a bar stool, doing the Y-M-C-A dance. You'll have to click through to the link to all the pictures to find that one (or more?).

We also got video of the toast that I gave (see below). Just before my toast, the Hooters girls were grooving to "Mickey." In my toast, I offered to either dance next, or give a toast, instead. THANK YOU, Val, for leading the crowd in a chant of "Dance! Dance! Dance!" Those of you who know me know that I can make a complete fool of myself while being completely sober. Note that the shot glass I'm holding is actually filled with Sprite, and I was able to easily one-shot it! :-)

To access all the pictures I've posted (to date) from this trip to China, please click here.

China: Gamebryo Training Seminar Kicks Off

Emergent sold its first commercial license in China in 2005. Last year (2007), we sold 15+ licenses. In the first six months of 2008, we sold 10+ licenses. China is certainly one of our strongest growth areas, and we are happy to be working in China with our distributor, Winking Entertainment. Providing outstanding local sales and support for us here, they are doing a great job!!!

Today we kicked off a two-day training seminar in Shanghai (see picture at right). We honestly had quite a few existing customers in attendance, with only a handful of folks who had never touched Gamebryo. As we has done so much recent business here, several new customers were also in attendance.

We had 32 people in attendance today, and we know that tomorrow we are slated for over 40. Considering we pulled this whole thing off in just over a week (with invitations going out only 4 days beforehand), we felt it was a great turnout.

To wrap up the evening, we had a party at Hooters. I'll have more pictures and video to post later.

Gamebryo... kickin'butt and takin' names in China!!!

Matt's a Creep, John's a Weirdo!!! (but with standards)

I just want to point out that when we travel to Asia, we work our tails off. It's absolutely, positively MISERABLE!!! Life is just absolutely awful, we're working so hard!!! Now that I'm sure all of my readers believe this, it is with calm assurance that I post this video of us having some FUN! :-)

Matt and I went to a karaoke club in Daegu, South Korea (Val is absent because he had to head up to Seoul) Friday night. We went with our host for this trip, Mr. John Kim from the Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency. In the first video clip, below, Mr. Kim is singing Radiohead's "Creep" and adapting the words to say, "You're a creep. You're a weirdo..." It was absolutely hilarious!!! This video is the inspiration for the title of this blog posting, "Matt's a Creep, John's a Weirdo." The parenthetical addition of "but with standards" will remain the personal, inside joke of those on this trip. I will reveal it's meaning only if you purchase a Gamebryo commercial license! :-)



In this second video, below, you hear me yelling in the background for Matt to shake his money maker!!! Can he shake it, or what?!?!?!

Gamebryo Descends Upon Daegu

Emergent is in Daegu, South Korea this week, conducting training sessions for game developers in this region. Our hosts are the Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency, and we appreciate their hospitality.

I am posting this "live" from the event, and aside from a couple of hiccups, things are going very well. I gave an incredibly exciting Gamebryo introduction and market trends overview presentation, and now Matt and Val (the geeks - and I mean that in a good way) are going through Gamebryo from a technical perspective. After lunch here, we will do some hands-on training.

Matthew Campbell, one of our Senior Gamebryo Engineers, and Valery Carpentier, our Gamebryo Technical Expert, are guiding the group through the use of Gamebryo. We have two simultaneous interpreters in a booth at the back of the room. It's a highly technical event, and their job is incredibly difficult. I feel for them.

Most of the game development community in Korea is concentrated in Seoul, and we focus a lot of our efforts there in Seoul. Therefore, it's nice to get some exposure down here. We have 26 people in attendance, representing a number of different entities. Only ONE person in attendance has any experience using Gamebryo, so it's nice to be in front of so many pre-customers. Enjoy the photos herein.

The interpreters booth at the back of the room. I did that job in my younger years - it's tough!!!

Val, Matt and I with our hosts at dinner last night.

Matt and Val on the train ride (about an hour-and-a-half) from Seoul to Daegu yesterday.

Powerleader / Innovation

Photos are beginning to trickle in from DB's continued tour of China. Areil just sent these to me, and especially as they contain pictures of a cleaned-up, sharp-looking DB, I'm thrilled to put them up on the blog.

The first two photos are of the meeting with Powerleader. This was a particularly fun meeting, because they actually signed the license agreement at the meeting. This agreement execution meeting on June 30th certainly contributed to our record quarter in Asia.

The next two photos are taken while our team was visiting the Xiamen Software Innovation Park, a magnet for developers. We had more than ten developers represented at the meeting, to whom we introduced Gamebryo 2.5. Ahhh... more pre-customers.

Keep up the good work, DB, and take comfort in the fact that you can sleep in your own bed (or bedroll at the office, whichever you choose), in a week!

Special thanks, too, to our wonderful integration partner, ScaleForm. Their China guru, Ben Mowry, has been attending nearly all of these meetings with us, and I'm sure our combined presence has lead to more sales of both Gamebryo and GFx.

Upcoming Events in Asia

Mainly because I cannot read very well and need pictures to be entertained, I feel an obligation to include a photo with each blog posting. The obligatory photo at the right is of our office in Tokyo. No... not all of the employees/computers, etc. are ours, as we share office space with a company called "ZeroDiv" (a mobile contents developer) to save costs. But to the left you see Takumi on the phone, working away. So here's the relevancy to this post's title: we have a lot going on in Asia.

The day before our Head of Sales for Asia heads home after a nearly-six-week tour through the region, myself and two other Emergent team members hit the ground again next week in Asia, for yet more events there. We're continuing to support customers there, build pipeline, and become the de facto standard in the region. Our calendar of events in Asia over the next couple of months is as follows.

• July 10-11 (Thur-Fri). Daegu, South Korea. Gamebryo Technical Training courses. I will give an industry trends keynote that is sure to put people to sleep, then our Matthew Campbell and Valery Carpentier will give two days of technical training. This event is sponsored by the Digital Industry Promotion Agency located in Daegu, South Korea, in conjunction with their partnership with University of California, Irvine. Thus far, more than 20 developers have registered to attend (all Gamebryo pre-customers).
  Of note: In my career, I've been to Korea 30+ times, but have never been anywhere other than Seoul. I am looking forward to venturing out of Seoul, to this southern city of Daegu.
• July 14-15 (Mon-Tue). Shanghai, China. Gamebryo Technical Training courses. Again I will give a sleep-inducing keynote, followed by two days of training by Matt and Val. Additionally, Gary Chang, CEO of Winking Entertainment, our distribution partner in China, will give a brief address. And in what I'm sure will be the most thrilling event all year long, myself and Gary will be available Monday morning for press interviews, which we are lining up. Man... press!!! Unlike my blog here, I guess I need to be careful what I say! :-)
  Of note: We're working on securing the venue, but our lunch-time eatertainment should also be noteworthy. It's sure to be a hoot!
• July 17-19 (Thur-Sat). Shanghai, China. China's biggest games industry show, China Joy. Though our big June-July road show and my own personal vacation schedule prevent me from attending China Joy, Winking Entertainment will be there, showing Gamebryo and conducting customer and pre-customer meetings.
  
• August 4-5 (Mon-Tue). Shanghai, China. Gamebryo Technical/Artists Training. I will once again attempt to put people to sleep with my keynote, followed by two days of technical and artists training. In between the July and August events, attendees will be able to "play" with their eval copies of Gamebryo, and Val will once again be there to follow up with any questions people may have, and to continue some technical training. Additionally, however, our own Jeremiah Washburn will be joining us to give some artists training with Gamebryo.
• August 7-8 (Thur-Fri). Daegu, South Korea. We will follow the same program from Shanghai earlier in the week, again sponsored by the Digital Industry Promotion Agency. We'll be glad to head out of China on Wednesday, two days before the Olympics kick off there. It's bound to get a little crazy with all the extra Olympic activity!