2008 Woodie Awards
A Day at the Activision Headquarters
Inferno writer gets some play at the studio of every gamer's dreams.
Alex Quevedo, Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: Entertainment
On Thursday, April 19, I had the very fortunate opportunity to visit the Activision Inc.
Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA. For those who don't know, Activision is a video game company, creating the successful Tony Hawk game series and the immensely successful Guitar Hero series. They're also the creator of the recent string of Spider-Man licensed games, both the movie series and 2005's Ultimate Spider-Man. Due to the nature of my trip (a Spider-Man contest), my focus at the studios was to play the upcoming Spider-Man 3 video game, being released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 & 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, & GBA, and PC platforms. I arrived at the studios at 9:15 AM. Framed posters for Tony Hawk's Underground, an X-Men game poster, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance decorated the silver-themed lobby. Through one of the doorways, a massive DOOM sign conquered a wall. After a few moments of gawking, I met with Michael Steiner, Associate Brand Manager for the Spider-Man 3 game, and intern Ian Brillembourg.
I was then taken to the Press Room, where a developer kit Xbox 360 and a Wii stood waiting, along with two high-definition televisions. Needless to say, my excitement at the time was shooting through the roof. My day was planned inside the room: bagels, gaming, meet & greet with a few of the developers, gaming, lunch, and-you guessed it-more gaming. My gaming started on the Xbox 360, which is what I'm most familiar with. Associate Producer Will Townsend walked in around 9:45. Mr. Townsend's
primary focus on the project was on the next-generation consoles (Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3), so clearly he was there to talk me through the game and show me multiple elements of it. Along with Mr. Townsend, I met Amy Longhi, Brand Manager for the game. After about 2 hours of gameplay, I was treated to a more-than- delicious lunch from In-N-Out Burger. Being a Southern Californian, there could have been no better lunch.
Interestingly enough, Mr. Townsend's brother-in-law is a St. John's graduate. Amongst
Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA. For those who don't know, Activision is a video game company, creating the successful Tony Hawk game series and the immensely successful Guitar Hero series. They're also the creator of the recent string of Spider-Man licensed games, both the movie series and 2005's Ultimate Spider-Man. Due to the nature of my trip (a Spider-Man contest), my focus at the studios was to play the upcoming Spider-Man 3 video game, being released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 & 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, & GBA, and PC platforms. I arrived at the studios at 9:15 AM. Framed posters for Tony Hawk's Underground, an X-Men game poster, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance decorated the silver-themed lobby. Through one of the doorways, a massive DOOM sign conquered a wall. After a few moments of gawking, I met with Michael Steiner, Associate Brand Manager for the Spider-Man 3 game, and intern Ian Brillembourg.
I was then taken to the Press Room, where a developer kit Xbox 360 and a Wii stood waiting, along with two high-definition televisions. Needless to say, my excitement at the time was shooting through the roof. My day was planned inside the room: bagels, gaming, meet & greet with a few of the developers, gaming, lunch, and-you guessed it-more gaming. My gaming started on the Xbox 360, which is what I'm most familiar with. Associate Producer Will Townsend walked in around 9:45. Mr. Townsend's
primary focus on the project was on the next-generation consoles (Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3), so clearly he was there to talk me through the game and show me multiple elements of it. Along with Mr. Townsend, I met Amy Longhi, Brand Manager for the game. After about 2 hours of gameplay, I was treated to a more-than- delicious lunch from In-N-Out Burger. Being a Southern Californian, there could have been no better lunch.
Interestingly enough, Mr. Townsend's brother-in-law is a St. John's graduate. Amongst
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