Mobile Pie

When I was a little younger than I am today, Christmas was really about videogames. Sure there’s family, friends, food, the baby Jesus, trees, carols, snow, but for an awkward pre-teen boy the main event was less brussel sprouts and more the magical pixel forms of Sonic, Ryu and Pac-Man.

These days of course I’m in The Oven where we actually create that special thumb-destroying magic. And what a magical year it has been…

*Wavy dream sequence*

We’ve seen the release of two versions of our critically acclaimed word puzzle game Oh, My Word! 2 which also featured, alongside a couple of fantastic jumpers, in ustwo’s Christmas romp Crazo.

We announced our partnership with iPhone publishing premiers Tag Games to bring B-Boy Brawl to your iPod touches and iPhones in early 2010.

Myself and Matt Aranha joined the pie, adding a delicious creative aroma and robust C++ flavours (respectively).

I was all over the media with two appearances on local radio and a cutting edge article on videogame design techniques at the industry website, Gamasutra. Oh, and there was also the handful of YouTube videos, Richard was on this podcast and the whole team got interviewed by Pocket Gamer!

We announced Bristol’s first and only Global Games Jam.

All the way back in September we had a brilliant time at igfest ’09 and early still in the year Rich and Tom rocked SXSW and the GSMA Mobile World Congress.

Our much hyped and loved business cards arrived in August.

We moved to our spanking new eco office and stuck I Am 8-bit Bliks everywhere.

And just last week the team were pap’ed for Heat magazine whilst enjoying the festive cheer at the Mobile Pie christmas party:

From left: Will, Matt and Tom D relax after a feast of Christmasy proportions

2009 was a great year, but look out 2010 because we’re heading right at you, full steam ahead with great games and entertainment for your mobile. You’ll never be bored again.

But until then:

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and your family!

With love,

Mobile Pie x

“If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it” – William Shakespeare

In The Oven we’re more likely to say “if music be the food of love, how far is it and what are the portions like?”

Gastronomy gets a fair share of big talk here in the office and even more so now foodie Matt Aranha is on board (we recommend you visit his edifying food blog). But being on the doorstep to St. Nicholas Market and a world of titillating cuisine often makes a group sustenance decision difficult to reach.

On occasion arguments will erupt over the particular merits of Sausage Man’s delectable portions when compared to the bountiful value offered by the Italian. So, in order to calm all ill feeling, we’ve turned to a beloved mutual friend. She’s called Science.

As you can see from the above venue-value cluster-stacked column chart or ‘lunchometer’ (click it for a clearer view) each venue has four variable properties: cost, portion, distance and quality. Each subject was awarded up to a maximum of ten for each property derived purely by objective formal logic and was subject to full peer review.

As you can see Bristol Sausage Shop has a whopping 30 out of 40 or is 75% the ideal outlet, while the frankly awful Taste of India struggles with an appalling 22.5% presenting an idealism range of 52.5% across all venues. Fascinating results, I’m sure you’ll agree.

We offer our findings to the wider scientific and central Bristol lunch eating community where we’re sure it will offer public value and a basis for further research. We hope that by 2016 a near ideal lunch venue can be artificially synthesised under laboratory conditions.

Enjoy your weekends!

It’s a common dilemma: You need to discuss a big pitch, but all the meeting rooms in your office are in use and you don’t want to disturb anyone. What do you do?

Well, we aren’t ones to flounder here in The Oven, so figured out a simple solution: Get yourselves in a phonebox. It’s sheltered, has excellent teleconferencing facilities (a phone) and can be used as a toilet. Unfortunately, however, most lack even the most rudimentary tea and coffee making facilities.

This one was just around the corner from our office. The smell was overpowering.