PlayFirst Grapevine
Beyond the Boundaries
2007
by applesun
OCT
26
As I've said in a previous post, I love behind-the-scenes stuff. The next best thing to that is seeing the little fictional universe I know expand outside its original boundaries. Take Flo and Quinn, for example. We know them for their restaurants and resplendent receptions. But what do they do outside of work? Get a glimpse into Flo and Quinn's home life in the latest comic on DinerDash.com!
Two new games this week: Take a swashbuckling adventer with Pirateville or be a hero in action-packed Supercow. You know what they say, save the farm, save the world!
Mondays Scare Me
2007
by XtL_
OCT
22
Hello all,
It's been quite some time since I last blogged. PlayFirst has been keeping me busy. Since then, Diner Dash: Hometown Hero has been released, Halo 3 has taken over our lunch time, and the NBA preseason has started - eventful month indeed. Oh, and I had to move seats again. I no longer sit near KismetPF: now I sit by Applesun. I think I'm being punished.
What is everyone being for Halloween? I'm considering being the Invisible Man and not showing up for work - kidding. My boss might kung fu me if I did that. I've also considered being PlayFirstCody, but that might require me to helpful, and I'm not quite so sure I'm up to that task (PlayFirstCody is the most behaved PlayFirst employee by the way). Ah the possibilities.
Also, for anyone out here that gives kids apples or pennies for Halloween, please don't. Those are not fun. Haha. Oh and don't leave a sign that says "Take one." I can assure you, that older kids will not take just one.
Well, I'm done procrastinating. If I don't post again before the 31st, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween, and for those of you out to do more tricking than treating (which I publicly don't condone *smirk*) - don't get caught.
Til next!
P.S. I almost forgot, for those that haven't seen... check out Heather89's blog. It's well written and has some pretty cool stuff.
New games, new items, new interview
2007
by applesun
OCT
18
Have you ever come across a story that captures your attention from the first moment and doesn't let you go until it's done? That's how I felt when I started playing The Blackwell Legacy, one of our new games this week. If you're more about the game action, try the sequel to the hunt-and-seek hit, Little Shop of Treasures.
Diner Dash: Hometown Hero fanatics, listen up: we've got more Halloween items available for you! In addition to setting the mood with the Crypt Cafe, have your waiters dress the part with mysterious masks, bewitching dresses and pointy hats. Share your waiter and get a chance to be featured!
Sorbet's got another bewitching interview up on DinerDash.com. Come and meet the lovely ab_21!
A Day at PlayFirst, Inc.
2007
by PlayFirstCody
OCT
11
I take the BART into work every morning after a nice run in one of two neighborhood parks. From the Montgomery BART station, it's only a two block walk to the building, but I'm kind of afraid of those really big city buses--you know, the ones with the really loud air brakes?--so sometimes the walk makes me nervous. By the time I get in the elevator to head up to the 13th floor, though, I'm relaxed again and smiling at everyone.
I usually get in between 8:55 and 9:10 and trot right into the office. I get some water, say hi to all my friends, and then settle in under Nemone's desk for a quick nap. I say quick because around ten-thirty, we usually head over to the kitchen so Nemone can get some breakfast or coffee. Her favorite thing in the morning is ice tea, but I like it best when someone makes toast or waffles with peanut butter. I love peanut butter.
After cleaning the kitchen floor and offering to help everyone finish their breakfast, I check on a few more friends for pets and cuddles and then follow Nemone back to our office. Then I pretty much have to just wait for lunch, when we walk to Union Square. So maybe I chew on a bone for a little while, but mostly it's time for another nap. If Nemone needs me, I'll wake up, of course, to let her know there's too much insulin in her system-I can smell that, even in my sleep. When it happens, I've been taught to jump on her to get her attention, and she's been taught to give me a cookie. When her blood sugar's too high, sometimes I try licking her on her arm or shoe. They didn't teach me that in school, but I just figured she'd want to know, and sometimes I get a cookie for that, too. I love cookies. Not as much as tennis balls, but a lot. Monkeys seem to know how to get tennis balls, peanut butter and cookies any time they want them, but I guess they can't smell when someone's blood chemistry is changing. So I try to help.
Oh, did I mention I'm a dog? Yeah, my name's Cody, and I'm a two and a half-year-old Golden Retriever Medical Service Canine specializing in hypoglycemic alert. I was trained at a fantastic school in Concord called Dogs4Diabetics, and eventually partnered with Nemone, my diabetic alpha-monkey. Nemone takes me everywhere she goes (including to work at PlayFirst! I love PlayFirst!), gives me a comfy bed next to hers to sleep in at night (I love my bed!), feeds, grooms, cuddles and throw tennis balls for me, and every so often gives me cheese as a special treat (I love cheese!). In turn, I wear a vest that designates me as a service dog and always use my very best manners in public, alert her every time I smell her blood glucose levels dropping dangerously out of range (even if that means waking her up in the middle of the night), and give her and all of our friends lots of tail-wags and kisses and opportunities to go outside and play fetch.
Nemone likes to tell people I save her life, but I'm just one of thousands of working dogs. My mom was a show dog and my dad was a model, but I wanted to get out in the world and really do something. I have canine friends on the police force and in Search and Rescue, friends protecting people with seizures and friends helping doctor's detect cancer. I have friends who go into schools to help kids learn how to read (I love kids!) and friends who go into hospitals to cheer people up. I have friends who work with blind people, deaf people, and ability-challenged people of all kinds. Friends who do bomb detection and drug detection and even corpse detection. I help Nemone with her diabetes, and at PlayFirst I am also in charge of licking crumbs off the kitchen floor, catching tennis balls when they suddenly go hurling down the hallways, and making sure everyone has help, if they need it, finishing their lunch. I also do some mascot work, and dabble in office morale.
And I'm the only one at PlayFirst that ever naps under the desks. So far.
Creepular Cafe
2007
by applesun
OCT
9
Learn a little about caring for your own bundle of joy in this week's new game, Baby Luv!
Feeling up for something a little less cute and a little more scary? We've got that too - in fact, we have a whole new creepular restaurant in Diner Dash: Hometown Hero called Crypt Cafe.
While you're at it, come over to DinerDash.com to meet one of the engineers of the game, jigidyjim , then tip toe to the extras section and grab the October calendar. Flo is looking dashing in her pirate costume while Quinn still looks elegant in a pointy hat and broom.
A couple of us at PlayFirst are thinking of dressing up for Halloween too. What about you? What would you be if you were?
On Staying Young (Part 2/2)
2007
by unknown_blogger
OCT
4
I've discovered the secret of youth. You can peruse the first part of the secret here.
If you're standing on the shoulder like I do and you see all the kids zipping by on their Twitterbikes and their WoWgons and their IMVUpeds and you think: there is no way I am getting on one of those or even trying to get across that lane of traffic, I will be SQUISHED flat if I try then that is what getting old feels like.
But the good news is that if you hate that feeling, if you are disgusted by IM, and flirtual reality and everybody seems to be typing like lazy little scat flinging monkeys but you can still manage to try it out before you pronounce it hopelessly stupid, if you can get yourself an account on one of those new-fangled sites or try out a gadget which blinks and beeps and purrs alarmingly when someone buys a new cat somewhere on the internet, you may find what I have: you get younger.
The bad news is that being young the second time is a lot like being young the first time was. It's frustrating, you feel ignorant and isolated and everything has a steeper learning curve than you wish it did. But those are small prices to pay for eternal youth.
I gotta go take a break from my second childhood and retreat into my cave and finger-paint myself a new cell-phone on the wall. I'm thinking something with a shaggy pelt to keep me warm and a thick skin so it can take a couple spears and still get the SOS messages or whatever it is kids keep babbling about.
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PlayFirst is the creator of Diner Dash, Chocolatier, Dream Chronicles and other award-winning casual games.
