Electronic Arts

I was just thinking of the San Francisco trip with Ralph. Although we spent lots of time with family, we were officially there to visit the Electronic Arts campus and studio. Electronic Arts (or EA) is one of the biggest game makers in the world. What a perfect destination for a trip with Ralph.

I can't say I spend much of my personal time gaming, but I tell you, I'm such a sucker for behind-the-scenes events. I love getting to meet artists and creators, to see the creative work spaces and get a glimpse of the energy behind a company.



I am not exaggerating even slightly when I say we spent 90% of our EA time playing video games. It was pretty much awesome like that. The schedule: visit the studio where the new Spore Hero game was developed (Spore Hero will launch in the next month, so this was a sneak peak). Meet the creators. See the cool office space. Visit the crew of guys who are paid to play the game and test it out (don't you love that? it's a real job!). Then sit in a room with a dozen Wii consoles and try out Spore Hero for ourselves. For as long as wanted to.




Next on the list: let's all sit on some hip, low gaming couches and try Spore Hero Arena on Nintendo DS. Sweet! That was day one. Day two was similar but at a different location. On the schedule: Visit the EA Campus. Get a tour of their enormous facilities (which include a full-size gym with bleachers). Then meet the creators of a handful of game titles from the EA Play line. Games like Harry Potter 6, Littlest Pet Shop, Nerf and My Sims Agents. And of course, we could play the games as much as we cared to.



That was the highlight for Ralph for sure — sitting with the creator of My Sims Agents (it will be out September 29th) and just playing the game. Exploring the options. Getting tips from the actual master. Ralph was super happy about it. He still talks about it and has My Sims Agents at the top of his wishlist.




It was a relatively small group of bloggers, but we all had kids with us (some had several kids in attendance — spouses too), so the group felt quite generous. And all the kids got along swimmingly. There are lots of photos of the event (mostly photos of all the adorable children) on my flickr page.