Empire Earth Launch Party

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by Angel Chooch709

November 16, 2001

Myself along with a few lucky members of HeavenGames were able to attend the Empire Earth Launch Party on Friday November 16th. There was food, prizes, and a presentation by Rick Goodman about his experiences while designing Empire Earth that was absolutely hillarious. The night started out with Angel Zen, Angel Icefyre, and I meeting up at Au Bon Pain in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. Around 6:20 PM we made our way to Stainless Steel Studios, hung up our coats in the lobby and got ready for some gaming action! The night was just beginning and guests were arriving by the minute. I was handed a nametag that said "Chris McCarthy, HeavenGames", but after 20 minutes of being asked "Ooo! What’s your online handle?" I wrote "Chooch709" on it. (The devs from Stainless Steel actually know who I am by my online handle *gasp* ;) We spent the beginning of the evening talking with some of the developers, and watching some games being played.

They had a projector set up so that we could watch a game of Empire Earth on a 50 foot white wall, it was awesome. Some of the offices were torn apart and turned into gaming rooms where Empire Earth was loaded up on every machine. There was around 30 or so computers that people were playing Empire Earth on all night long. After a few hours we were all gathered into the main room to watch Ricks Presentation on "10 Game Design Lessons Learned from Empire Earth". The presentation was great, Rick had the whole room cracking up for a good 20 minutes. Then the SSSI team was introduced, from programmers to designers to artists, and even the weekend playtesting team (who were even special enough to get the tag "EE Weekend Warrior" on their nametags! ). 10 copies of Empire Earth were given out as prizes, and one even landed in the hands of our very own Angel Zen. For the rest of the night we played Empire Earth on the LAN and discussed games and gaming. Check out the pictures below for a glimpse of what things looked like that night. I’d like to thank SSSI for inviting us to the launch party, it was a blast!

Front Row: Zen, Obsidian, Tonto_Samurai. Back Row: Rick, Lord of Silla, Icefyre, Chooch

Left: Zen, Right: Tonto_Samurai Middle: Icefyre

Icefyre holding up a big EE promotional display

Icefyre and Tonto Z play EE against each other. (Icefyre is obviously whoopin' on Z)

Everyone gathers in the main room for Ricks presentation.

Dara-Lynn's little helpers choose the lucky winners of EE out of a bowl

Empire Earth projected on a huge white wall in SSSI's main room.

Everyone cheers as a nuke is dropped on an unsuspecting bunch of tanks.

One of the rooms setup to play EE over the LAN.

Same pic, different angle. ;)

Sean, GJ, and Rob reminisce of the days when the spider mechs were still in the game. Down with Samson, bring back the log guy! ;)

Another LAN room - I have no idea who these people are.

Yet another LAN room...I'm not a very good photographer am I?

Methos talks about his "uber secret" canine rush.

If you give them food, they will come.

What could be better than sitting on a leather couch and watching EE on the big screen?

...and another room for playing EE over the LAN - jeez, I must have been pretty bored.

Angel Tonto_Samurai repeatedly nukes Angel Zen

See what I mean? He's being nuked into oblivion. ;)

Angel Zen wins a copy of Empire Earth - Congrats!

Uhhh....we were so happy for him that we took 2 pictures?

The whole EEH gang (+ some) pose with a copy of EE

GJ (aka Max Power) after successfully taking out 5 of in a modern epoch game.

Is Zen surfing the forums!? Bad Zen! ;)

Promotional stuff - I couldn't talk Rick into getting me one for my dorm...darn! ;)

Icefyre once again shows her lack of tallness...errr...shows off the promo, right. ;)

One of the weekend playtesters showing off his 'skillz' on the big screen.

Same pic without the flash turned on - hows that for some EE gaming?

The single player team from SSSI. Left to right: GJ "Max Power" Snyder, Ben Schneider,Chris "Eggman" Theriault

More free copies of EE are given away.

Stefan picking out the next winner. No Stefan, you can't have a free copy. =P

Jon "Blood Donor" Alenson, one of the designers @ Stainless Steel.

Forummer Lord of Silla throws himself in front of the camera.

Tonto_Samurai plays some Empire Earth in one of the LAN rooms.

Tritian and Obsidian watch video recordings on Tritians digital camera.

One million? Pffft. EE will top that with ease. ;)

"Weekend Warrior" Adam recieves his copy of Empire Earth. As Rick said: "If you add up all the hours you spent here and divide it by the value of the game...thats like 10 cents an hour!"

The lead art guy, Steve Ashley, poses for the camera.