Comments on: Interview with Trip Hawkins (Digital Chocolate)

By: Mike Freestone

Mike Freestone — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:27:54 +0000

Didn’t check the post times. I’m a couple years late. Im doing a project on Trip for my History of Games class at Durham College. Great interview David. Thanks

By: Mike Freestone

Mike Freestone — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:25:31 +0000

EA Hater. Have you actually worked for EA? Or are you just as your name states, an “EA Hater”.

By: EA Hater

EA Hater — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 23:00:56 +0000

EA may have been a great fore runner and one of the grandfathers of the gaming industry, but now I truly believe that EA is now an evil empire and it must be crushed. Their acquisition of game companies after after these companies made a good game, it ruining the game development industry. Not to mention that they treat their employees like crap by working them to death or working the enthusiasm out of them. Your no longer a person when you work for EA… your just a number. I spit on EA and all it stands for and I\’m not alone.

By: sameer

sameer — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:55:10 +0000

Great interview, very informative. Thanks.

By: Morgan Ramsay

Morgan Ramsay — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:41:21 +0000

Zwinky is another social avatar with a similar set of features.

By: Morgan Ramsay

Morgan Ramsay — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:43:42 +0000

We want to innovate new kinds of mobile social applications and AvaPeeps is a good example. ... We’re breaking new ground in many ways.

CBS Interactive recently partnered with Artificial Life to transform mobile phones into virtual test tubes for America's Next Top Model. In other words, we now have a game in which mobile-savvy players can create and develop fashion-frenzied characters in the palm of their hand. The interesting aspect of this game is the player-to-player feature that allows characters to "vacation" in other mobile environments. What sets AvaPeeps apart?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:51:36 +0000

Much respect to Trip, I admire the entrepenurial drive as I share it myself. Unfortunately, since you left, EA went from Hollywood-esque talent management to Siberia-esque talent mangement.

I think the big opportunity for mobile games is drama engine intergration into server-side infrastructure. Most of these engines are way too computationally expensive to run on mobile, even if the client-side app is minimal. About a year ago I ran the idea past Chris Crawford, he conceded it was an interesting prospect, but simply infeasible for his engine. I\’ve seen one, a prototype a collegue developed, that would be perfect for that platoform. The content is relatively cheap given the asset demands on mobile, and the potential diversity of the content is also staggering. The characters are all procedurally heterogeneous based on a native scripting language, making for very over-the-top but distinct virtual personalities and potentially dramatic dynamics, so episodic dramas, from the soap opera to the avante garde, is possible.

Then you could couple dramas in contemporary settings with ad-integration for a highly pervasive, free-to-play audience adoption.

By: Adrian Crook

Adrian Crook — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 07:50:56 +0000

Wow, David. Great score on the interview with Trip!

I met Trip a few times when I was pitching ModernGroove: Ministry of Sound Edition – a lifestyle PS2 product my own company developed in 2001 that was published by Ubi Soft. I had several hours total with Trip, spread out over a few pitch meetings at 3DO’s Bay Area HQ. Trip made an immediate impression on me as the most knowledgeable guy I’d met in the industry up until that point. Specifically, he knew the retail channel inside and out and seemed a “born” leader, loaded with business acumen. It’s a shame 3DO didn’t succeed, but it’s great to see him finding success with Digital Chocolate. I’d love to work with Trip again.

Adrian