perhaps not the best note on which to start...

Well, this is my first; first blog, and first post thereon. A festive occasion perhaps?

well not really. Today, an old friend has died: Pandemic studios have finally been churned through the EA digestive tract from fresh, promising acquisition through to discarded toy.

It's nothing new, this horrid life-cycle - Large publishers particularly have been doing this to so many and so often now, it's accepted as a common by-product of the game industry that most developers will sigh a little but won't rage against the dying of Pandemic's light. I remember Hasbro and Vivendi doing this to countless others over the years and I've only been in the biz for roughly a decade.

Still, it's a sad moment for me.

The end of my time at Pandemic was far from auspicious, but it doesn't still this feeling of sadness for Pandemic's loss. When I arrived at their Australian studios, the place was like... well, I've described it to friends as Camelot. Schedules were rigorous but not constricting, personalities were in check but not checkmate. External publisher relations were brilliant. I was surrounded by more talented people than I had ever been in any previous studio, and everyone was, well... just great.

If this was a Disney movie, we'd have had birds and butterflies in the building perpetually in graceful flight, with a song in their hearts (OK, so I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the idea).

but like all mythical, magical kingdoms, they come to an end; so it is too with Pandemic.

Goodbye old friend.