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Ghostcrawler talks college, game design, and his path to Blizzard
In a two-part interview with The Baltimore Sun's entertainment blog, Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street (lead systems designer) sits down to talk about his days at McDaniel College, how he got started in the game design business, and what it's like being Ghostcrawler. Of particular interest to those here is that Ghostcrawler says Blizzard is a little paranoid about changing things too much, and that it doesn't want to alienate the old players in favor of the new players. Of course, some change is necessary to keep things fresh, but Ghostcrawler makes good points on how there is a balance. He also weighs in on Mass Effect 3 and all the fun players are having at the end of the game. Ghostcrawler sums up the situation nicely: When you make a two-hour movie, and people like it, but they don't like the ending, they'll say "that was disappointing." But when you make three video games where players have invested 30-plus hours each, and the ending isn't good, they're mortified. That's been an investment in their life that now feel wasted, specifically because of what they did with it really rubbed a lot of players the wrong way. Read the full interview over at The Baltimore Sun.
Baltimore mayor allegedly purchased consoles with gift cards for the needy
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has been indicted on 12 counts, including four counts of perjury and two counts of theft over $500, following a three-year probe by a state prosecutor into corruption at City Hall. According to the Baltimore Sun, among the laundry list of charges against Dixon, which cover awarding lucrative contracts to family members and general misconduct in office, she also allegedly stole from those most in need and went console shopping. According to prosecutors, a few years back Dixon used Best Buy gift cards, intended for underprivileged families, to purchase a PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and PSP -- along with other pieces of consumer electronics. Dixon says she has done nothing wrong and is confident she'll be found innocent. She better pray that Best Buy doesn't keep videos of transactions in some vault for years. Update: Dixon resigns and pleads guilty. [Via GamePolitics]
