Job creation? I am not seeing it.
I am curious to know how people feel about this. We’re getting ready to be hit with massive tax increases and I am curious, in this economy, how anyone can see this as helpful to our economy? How does anything in this create jobs, help create jobs, or help KEEP jobs?
I get that the publication is obviously Republican biased based on some of the comments included, but putting that aside how does this help people like me, who own and invested in their own company, create jobs?
Have been ridiculously busy of late.
Haven’t really had an opportunity to post here much, certainly not to write anything substantial. I do like this article, which I know will get its usual flame war reaction….
Shonda’s traveling to Chicago for a book signing and an event for Asperger’s tonight, so I am daddy dearest this weekend with games and sleepovers all over the docket.
We finally had the entire company under one roof this week at 38 Studios, which was a pretty fantastic day. Threw some pics up on facebook, suffice to say I think both studios had a blast.
Both games continue to roll along, with Mercury getting farther into production every day. Copernicus is looking fantastic, huge week this past week with some major things coming online in the next few months.
With the ESPN stuff my time writing here has been severely curtailed, but I’ll get back to it ASAP.
America’s greatest generation.
This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body, he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now.
Dear President Obama,
My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor , allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.
One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.
So here goes.
I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.
I can’t figure out what country you are the president of.
You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
” We’re no longer a Christian nation”
” America is arrogant” – (Your wife even announced to the world,” America is mean-spirited. ” Please tell her to try preaching
that nonsense to 23 generations of our
war dead buried all over the globe who
died for no other reason than to free a
whole lot of strangers from tyranny and
hopelessness.)
I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.
After 9/11 you said,” America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”
Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.
I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.
Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.
Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue . You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.
And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts , who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.
One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.
You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.
You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.
And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle…
Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes
Not usually a NY fan, but this time I’ll give in….
Check out the link, and see who’s #15! Couldn’t be prouder of her and what she’s done.
Updates on 38 Studios, Copernicus, Mercury and more..
Here is a huge list of links for anyone wishing to keep up on 38 Studios and recent news. These come out of the GDC news, RA’s keynote and a few more.
MMORPG (fantastic MMO fan site)
Ten Ton Hammer (another must have site for MMO fans)
Here is some of RA’s coverage (where he reveals Copernicus stuff for the first time ever!!)
Ten Ton Hammer again!
There is tons more and most often you will see it posted at www.38studios.com from here on out. Since hiring our latest rock star in Denise Kaigler as CMO, we’re lining our ducks up faster and more efficiently than ever before.
Greatest YouTube video EVER!!!!
38 Studios…
This blog is a wonderful tool. No one has to listen, no one has to hear anything I have to say, unless they choose to. I assume there are more than a few gamers out there that drop by every now and then, and I would also assume some folks in Rhode Island and Mass are doing so as well given the news the past few weeks.
So I once again can use the forum to speak to rumors and innuendo that have ‘leaked’ about 38 Studios.
First, to be clear, 38 Studios is not looking for ‘handouts’ or ‘tax breaks’. Any responsible entrepreneur exhausts every avenue of potential funding when running a start up company, we’re no different. In fact given the talent here I’d say we’re ahead of the game. Secondly, there are over 180 some odd families who’s livelihood is based on 38 Studios. I don’t want them to read it, or hear it, from someone outside this company. It’s their lives and their families that matter most, and with that comes the responsibility as leaders to provide job security for each and every one of them. Without them none of this would matter.
About 18 months ago we received a call from some folks who worked in the government of a city not in the U.S.. They went on to tell us why their city would be the perfect venue for 38 as it prospered and grew. Obviously we talked, and afterward we explored and talked more, with more locations. This did, and still does, include Massachusetts. This is and has been my home, our home.
38 Studios (originally Green Monster Games) was founded in Maynard, Massachusetts. To be honest when the company was founded there was intense push back that doing this here, in Massachusetts, would in and of itself cause failure. “People WON’T move from San Diego, Seattle, Austin, to Boston, no way.”
My thought then, and now, is the same. If what we are offering, from culture to benefits to a long term vision, is not powerful and compelling enough to get you to ‘want in’, that’s cool. If moving to Boston stops someone from accepting a job at 38 Studios it’s not a fit anyway.
I feel every bit the same, if not stronger, about that today than I did 5 years ago. We’ve built an insanely talented and deep team, and continue to add incredibly talented and passionate new members every week.
We were founded here, in Massachusetts, and it’s where we would love to stay, and grow. But (and there’s always a but) our first responsibility and priority will always be the long term health of the company and the companies families. To not explore and pursue these conversations with other cities would be the height of negligence on our part, and that’s just not going to happen.
These people trust us to do right, and as leadership we will.
So no, we aren’t out shopping ourselves, we are doing what any business would in its early stages which is planning for the health and well being of its employees, and the long term health of the company. Given that we currently employ almost 160 people and that number is conservatively projected to grow by 2-3 times in the next 24 months, in this economy, we’ve become a desirable asset for any city trying to create jobs.
So contrary to written reports I’ve never said or will say “give us tax credits or we bolt”. I don’t work that way, and we won’t as a company work that way. The company is financially healthy, the publishing deal we recently inked with EAP means our first product (Mercury) will get to market when it’s ready, on time and on budget, and Copernicus is growing daily in ways that seemed a pipe dream just 3 short years ago.
Shonda’s book is out today!
If you click on this link you can purchase the book straight from the publisher! So proud that she shared her story and we’re hopeful parents of children with special needs know they are not alone in the world.
THIS should be how we implement legitimate health care….
People yell about posts being nothing more than links, but she’s spot on in just how simple this all COULD, or better yet, SHOULD be.
A huge thank you!
This weekend Shonda and I are hosting an event for 4 living members of Easy Company, 101st Airborne. This is a fund raiser to shoot a follow up documentary to the award winning Band of Brothers HBO mini-series.
They are flying two of the veterans up here to take part in the event and we are very grateful to them for that.
