My 12-year old daughter Charlotte (guitar) and her band “Mysturbia” make some noise on the roof of the San Francisco Art Institute! They were the opening act for headliners OK Go! at the Yahoo Block Party, a party given to North Beach as a result of winning the Yahoo Bus Stop Derby.

Follow the top link for more videos of Mysturbia and OK Go… 

Heavy Rain, IGN PS3 Game of the Year 2010

Posted by Phil on October 13, 2010 at 12:38am

Here’s a video of IGN’s PS3 Game of the Year Heavy Rain. I did the english adaptation of the script and worked again with my old buddy, the legend that is David Cage...

ACEP Disaster Hero

Posted by Phil on September 02, 2010 at 5:20am

I did some concept design for Legacy Interactive - a disaster management game for ACEP and FEMA. You can visit the website here.

Follow the link for design images and also check out the Galleries in my ‘Branding’ portfolio section.

Iron Man 2 Prologue

Posted by Phil on June 17, 2010 at 2:13am

This is the trailer I wrote for Iron Man 2. It’s a prologue, or Chapter Zero, that sets up the game and also shows a few of IM’s and War Machine’s kick-ass moves! Yes, that IS Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D…

What if the movie “Se7en” was a game like Heavy Rain?

Posted by Phil on March 18, 2010 at 4:23am

I LOVE THIS!!! Follow the link above to see the YouTube video…

Heavy Rain Review

Posted by Phil on February 25, 2010 at 4:37am

Recently I did the script adaptation for the english language version of Heavy Rain. Apart from some dodgy voice-acting, I think it turned out well - I took the basic translation from David Cage’s French script and developed “voices” and dialogue for each of the characters.
The folk over at IGN liked the way it turned out, according to their Heavy Rain review…

“On the flip side, however, is the fact that the dialog is generally spectacular. Most every line is natural and written in an unforced manner, lending a great deal more realism to the characters. While I’m not talking about elongated monologues that would give Shakespeare a run for his money, the little things that people say are damn near perfect. Again, the delivery isn’t always spot-on, but the content certainly is.”

Play.tm also agreed in their review;

“The scripting is also first rate, dialogue naturalistic and unencumbered in a way video games seldom manage. At times the story will also sweep you off in control of other characters vital to the story, but for the most part Cage and co are keen to engender empathy with the central stars - all of whom are excellently voiced, and for the most part three-dimensional.”

Designing for Tomb Raider

Posted by Phil on January 13, 2010 at 1:42am

Here is an article I wrote about the challenges of designing Tomb Raider, including a lot of tips and tricks for budding level designers. This article was included with the Tomb Raider Editor Project Guide when the tools for Tomb Raider were released to the public.

Follow the link for the article and also check out the ‘Tomb Raider’ section in my portfolio.

Liberty Mutual Driver Seat Game

Posted by Phil on September 28, 2009 at 11:06pm

Here’s some concept design I did for Shift Control Media - a driving game highlighting the difficulties senior drivers face for Liberty Mutual. You can play the game here.

Follow the link for more design images and also check out the ‘Images’ tab in my ‘Branding’ portfolio section.

Creating the Website - Skaggs Design

Posted by Phil on September 28, 2009 at 5:01pm

Skaggs Design bloggin’ on my blog…

Here’s a blog from Skaggs Design about how they designed my site. Bradley and Jonina Skaggs have been great friends of mine for many, many years, and their fab design team did a terrific job with my unruly mound of scrappy sheets and jumbly words…

Follow this link to Skaggs Design to see their blog post, and click on in my site to see some of the process and some rather appealing pictures of Bradley and Jonina!

Here’s my site showcased on the Skaggs Design main site - check out their other fantastic work! Thanks again to Elspeth, Robbie, Jonina and Bradley…

Big Brother Online

Posted by Phil on September 24, 2009 at 9:38pm

I’m just starting to fill up the ‘Brands’ section of my site and I uncovered some of my design process for Endemol and EA’s collaboration on ‘Virtual Me’. Its a concept for a social gaming site for Big Brother. Pretty topical seeing as Jordan just won the latest US Big Brother - yeah!

Hardy Boys Review

Posted by Phil on September 18, 2009 at 3:29pm

NDS Review - ‘The Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks’

by Rainier on Sept. 18, 2009 @ 5:03 a.m. PDT

Hop aboard the Royal Express as the Hardy Boys take a journey to the past on a classic steam train through some of the great capital cities of Europe in the hope of discovering the secret of a lost princess and a priceless treasure hidden from the world for nearly 100 years.

- Here’s a review from WorthPlaying.com, 8/10 - I’ll take it!

Here’s a quote I just found from the GameZone Review

The game is well-designed and engaging, and it is obvious that much care has been taken with the details of the game. The graphics do an outstanding job of conveying the historical era of the European continent in the early 20th century, and the large amount of historical data in the form of newspapers and other items adds to the effect. The puzzles are interesting and varied, and they are logically integrated in the story.

Glasvegas…

Posted by Phil on September 15, 2009 at 4:03pm

From Spinner.com;

When he’s not dropping off the face of the earth for a few days, Glasvegas frontman James Allan seems to spend a lot of time feeling guilty. The video for ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry,’ a power ballad off the band’s excellent self-titled debut, finds Allan in a studio, attempting to be interviewed, though he’s a bit too torn over wronging a lovely young lady we see in home video footage. Check out the exclusive video premiere after the jump and see if you can’t help but feel bad for the poor guy who gets his broadcast ruined.

The Fruit Guys

Posted by Phil on September 10, 2009 at 10:28pm

Here’s a concept sketch of the mural/banner design I did for The Fruit Guys - you cannot BEAT having a crate of fresh fruit delivered to your doorstep every week!!!! Fantastic company, run by my fellow Yick Wo Elementary School parent, Chris Mittelstaedt.

Preview of Hardy Boys on DS

Posted by Phil on September 05, 2009 at 8:41pm

‘The Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks” is out this month!  Here’s a link to the game website…

Also, click into this article to see a preview from AdventureGamers.com

How to design Tomb Raider, step-by-step…

Posted by Phil on July 29, 2009 at 4:55pm

Back in the day, the Tomb Raider: Lost Artifact team - Me, Rebecca Shearin, Gary LaRochelle and Mike Schmitt - were asked this question by a magazine interviewer, and here is our answer… (Seems quite straightforward, really);

...

Hooray!!! For today’s new arrivals!

Posted by Phil on July 28, 2009 at 5:48pm

This turned up today…

  ...and this…

- Got some SERIOUS Scifi to be watchin’!!! 

My friend Carol…

Posted by Phil on July 26, 2009 at 8:09pm

This is my friend Carol Hughes.  Carol is starring in my latest game, “The Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks”, out soon for the Nintendo DS. The character Carol Hughes plays is called ‘Carol Stephenson Hughes’ - I had to change the names to protect the innocent…

Carol is a fabulous author and I urge you to pick up her books. You can find her website here:

- You will ABSOLUTELY NOT find Carol at the website “wifeofthedirectorofkungfupanda.com”

...

Godfather Chart

Posted by Phil on July 24, 2009 at 7:53pm

Sometimes I feel I could chart out my life like this, the 10-year plan, or ‘Decade of Change’ as we called it in the Godfather days…

(Click the topic header link to see a closer view of this enormous drawing…)

Trailer for ‘Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks’

Posted by Phil on July 24, 2009 at 2:14am

‘The Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks” is coming out for DS in September! Follow the link to see the trailer and a few screenshots…

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

Posted by Phil on July 22, 2009 at 9:08pm

Follow the link to see some images I scanned from a photobook about Amelie - the movie. I found them really inspirational, in that they ‘extend’ the world of the movie into all this stuff, and really show the power of collage. I’m darned if I can remember the name of the book (its only in French) or where I put it - or I’d scan in some more. So much for my ‘Library System’...

James Bond Mission Totem

Posted by Phil on July 21, 2009 at 6:59pm

Here’s a look at a huge composite drawing made up of nine 11X17 sheets - it’s for a Bond Cliff mission in ‘Everything or Nothing’.

This ‘totem’ were designed to try to visually represent Bond’s actual journey up the cliff face, so all the interesting waypoints (Bond Moments) are given a kind of spatial representation and placed in the context of the physical form of the cliff. Drawings designed give a feel for what the mission might be about, drawings to stand around and look at, and hopefully to inspire. Hence ‘Totem’...

YOUHAVETOLEARNTO

Posted by Phil on July 20, 2009 at 8:07pm

Phrenology - The Prototype…

Posted by Phil on July 19, 2009 at 4:35pm

When I was trying to demonstrate this game concept for Sherlock Holmes, I thought I’d make a mock-up using a sample of magnetic whiteboard that, incidentally, my wife had used in a demo for the Maxis Studios in Emeryville…

- Its a variation on the classic ‘Pairs’ or ‘Concentration’ game, only the board is constantly moving. The idea was that the ‘shape’ could be a circle, a spiral, a figure-8, ANY flowing shape… When Vinny Carrella and I came up with the concept we thought it would be a great interpretation of the ‘grey matter’ of Sherlock Holmes brain as he solved the case. Hence the term ‘Phrenology’...

- Can you imagine EXACTLY HOW MANY boxes of magnets I had to buy to get enough of each color I needed?!? A LOT!!! The house is still coming down with magnets…

Spyro the Dragon

Posted by Phil on July 18, 2009 at 7:02pm

Here’s a small extract from a script I did for Renkewitz Studios. This was the third of three short Spyro the Dragon movies, entitled “Deep in the Forest”...

Cisco Live

Posted by Phil on July 17, 2009 at 10:22pm

Here’s some architectural concepts I did this year for Cisco Live.

Le nom est Bond. James Bond.*

Posted by Phil on July 17, 2009 at 1:47pm