Holy crap! It has been so long since I have blogged last. Mainly because I haven't had much to talk about. College keeps me quite busy, and it's the same old thing every day. But as most of you know, I have just returned from Seattle on a trip to Microsoft's Millennium campus. That's right, Xbox land!

This trip went a lot smoother than our last trip to Los Angeles. My wheelchair works! We celebrated my wheelchair still working when we got to the hotel by cracking open a few beers. :-)

One thing I noticed when we got to Seattle, the people there are extremely nice. So much so, that it was beginning to freak a lot of us out! Even the homeless people were friendly!

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon. We were not to be at Microsoft until Tuesday. We were all on break from college so we decided to take a mini vacation.

The night we got there, we decided to head on over to the Space Needle. It was already 8:00 PM, however we really wanted to see the city's skyline during the evening. I must say it was a spectacular sight. I personally enjoyed the Space Needle during the afternoon much more. You could see Mount Rainier. All the mountain ranges were absolutely beautiful. If you are ever in Seattle, the space needle is a must.

We didn't do much on Sunday. Our friend Toby, was visiting his parents in Texas and he took a flight to Seattle a day after us. So we stuck around the Airport until Toby arrived Sunday afternoon.

I really don't remember what we did on Monday haha! Don't you love those drunken hazes? Ah! I remember! We went to the Pike Street Fish Market. Unfortunately, we got there just as it closed. However, we found an elevator that took us to some observation deck/pier type thing. We took some really nice pictures that I will post below.

On to the day of reckoning! Before I go on to tell you about our experience at Xbox, I would like to explain how I got there. A guy from my college seemed to think our trip to Microsoft was a school sponsored event. He posted his anger on http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/10/03/537812.aspx . Even if this was a school sponsored event, his reaction was an embarrassment to our school, and very unprofessional. What makes him think that if he acts like that, it will get him anywhere?

But to enlighten you all on how I managed to land a grand tour of the Millennium Campus, it all started at E3 2006. Some friends and I from college wanted to attend and show off to some companies about a hands free game controller we designed for quadriplegics. I was on the Xbox forums one day and saw Trixie had a post that said, "E3 attendees, want to blog for Microsoft?" I of course, clicked on the link. I am a big fan of Trixie's. All she said to do was e-mail her my gamer tag. I did. Two days later, she emailed the back telling me welcome aboard! I was really excited. To make a long story short, I met Peter Moore at the after party. And ever since we have become good friends. Peter Moore is one of my heroes. He had a vision at Sega, that no one else saw except for Microsoft. His assistant, Lynn, has also become a good friend of mine.

I asked Peter if I could stop by and say hello to Trixie, Major Nelson, John Porcaro, Tony Hynes, and some others I know on the Xbox team. Three days later, Lynn responds with this long itinerary! You can check the itinerary here. Pretty crazy huh?

I really didn't know what to think. I was very surprised! Also very overwhelmed because Peter has given me so much already.

First thing we did when we arrived at the campus, was sign in at the front desk in building E. Lynn greeted us moments later and had us sign nondisclosure agreements before entering the premises. I must apologize ahead of time, I am not allowed to tell you exactly everything I saw, but I can tell you this, Gears of War and Halo 3 will make your heart explode! :-) That's all I'm allowed to say. We saw some cool features on the Xbox hardware that is coming up, and a first glimpse at the XNA express beta 2 release. I will get to that in a little bit.

After we got all signed in, we went to lunch with Trixie, Major Nelson, Tony Hynes, John Porcaro, Peter Moore, and Lynn Seeley. There is actually a funny story with this. One of the friends I brought along is very hyperactive. Sometimes he needs to be reminded that he is in a professional setting. Well, he and Trixie were teasing each other and giving each other crap. I really thought they were playing around. After lunch my friend starts randomly dropping the F-bomb around the campus. I had to tell him to chill out. A few days later I went out with my friend Eric, and he told me that he got a e-mail from Trixie that said my friend was mean to her. I started to think I missed something at the lunch table. No offense to my friend, but I was worried he was going to pull something like that in the first place. Because he is not really an Xbox fan. He doesn't even have a 360. So he had really no idea who Trixie was. I figured he was going to try flirting with her and things of that nature haha. But Trixie definitely doesn't need my protection! Anyway, she posted about it on her blog, and Eric seemed to be in a bit of trouble with Trixie. It really wasn't Eric's fault. Just a miscommunication. Trixie acted like I got up out of my wheelchair and beat my friends ass! Haha.. It really wasn't a big deal. If he would have pulled something like that, I probably would have! :-)

After lunch we had a long meeting with Peter Moore. We did a Q & A. Again, I can't tell you everything we talked about, in fact, there is only one question I could share with you.

Q: Do you think Microsoft will ever change their position about game's not been on the HD DVD player?

Peter Moore: Never. What separates us from the other guys, is that we offer choice. Sure, Sony can say our system is just as expensive as theirs when you include the price of the DVD player. But our point is, they don't give you a choice, we do. Not to mention we throw in King Kong HD.

Overall, it was a great meeting. I was fascinated and captivated by Peter's knowledge. I believe everyone else was too.

Moving on. Our last stop on the tour was MGS. No, I do not mean Metal Gear Solid you Sony fan boys! I'm talking about Microsoft Game Studios of course! I can't tell you about what we saw, or what we played, but I can tell you we got to hang out with the coolest game designers ever! I can't remember everyone's name right off hand, I met so many people that day. I talked to Josh, Eric, and Bob the most. They gave us some real good advice on how to make it into the industry, work as a team, and great game design tips. Most of everything they talked about, I already knew how to do. Which is why I'm considering applying at Microsoft, and finishing my degree in Seattle if I'm hired. My dream is to work for Microsoft, and be part of the Xbox Team. I may not know everything, but I am a fast learner and I live my life for this. I believe I could eventually be a great asset to their team. :-) Besides, Minnesota is too cold for me, and a major drain on my health.

While my friends stayed back and played the new games coming out, I left for Peter's office to tell him goodbye. Unfortunately, I had missed him by 10 minutes. He forgot there was an errand he needed to run. I stayed and talked to Lynn for a while. It was one of those moments where being confined to a wheelchair really sucks because I wanted to give Lynn a gigantic hug for everything she and Peter had done for us. :-)

After I said goodbye to Lynn, I went back over to MGS. We continued to hang out with Eric and Bob until about 7:30 PM. We really had a great time and I really didn't want to leave. Although I'm not working there yet, it already felt like home.

We were in Seattle for the next two days. We decided to go back to the fish market, return to the Space Needle, go on a cruise touring the harbor, and the last night we were there, we went out to eat with Chuck's family, and my good friend Eric Havir's family. He also works for Microsoft but not on the Xbox team. He was a fellow E3 Blogger like me. Enjoy the pictures everyone!