Remember my research gig I mentioned last month? I came on at the end of a very long project, and its report just got released to the media. The NYT ran the story, which was a welcome development. Their take on the report is a good one, and presents the findings in a nice short-and-sweet style. It's a pretty short read, so check it out.
I landed a pretty sweet gig on campus. My program has an office called the Global Information Industry Center, which does research on IT stuff for a lot of companies including corporate sponsors like IBM and Cisco.
I joined that team this week, and I made myself useful already by proofreading a final report that's going out to press in the next couple of weeks. Once it's out, I'll link the finished product. It's basically a census of all the "information" that's floating around out there, whether digitally or in print or on TV.
From here on, I'll probably be focusing my research on gaming issues, which should be a lot of fun while building some valuable experience at the same time. The plans are really preliminary, but I might be looking into systems like OnLive to see if they're really feasible. In theory, I'll be starting a research blog, which will be boring and dry but might be interesting to the gamers among us.
I've always been driven by solving problems in gaming. I tried to do it as a writer and wasn't very effective, but when big companies are pouring money into your work, they tend to listen. I'm pretty psyched for the chance to really try to actually solve some problems.
It's remarkable how much career-oriented progress I'm making after just a couple of days of real-deal school. I needed an answer to the extremely frequent question "what's your career goal?" and the answer of "video games" just became habit.
Everything else is just falling into line. I'm exploring game-related work for next summer and letting it shape the work I'm doing here, from research to topics for Japanese assignments.
I was so busy doing all that that I missed the real-world culmination of what I wanna do: the Tokyo Game Show, or Japan's E3. I went back and caught up on the news this morning, and I have a few observations:
-Final Fantasy 13 will be fantastic, following the theory that every FF game on a new platform is a classic: 4, 7, 10. Wow. If you just keep counting by 3s, you get the original Final Fantasy (unarguably a classic, look what it spawned) and, of course, 13. Maybe we should update the theory.
-Hideo Kojima is Japan's best export. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker will be fantastic. See for yourself:
-Microsoft Natal came to Japan! People are playing Katamari Damacy with it, by kinda doing this retarded swimming motion, and now I understand the skeptics. Buuuuuuut...
-Natal could have some really broad implications. MS had another fantastic showing in Tokyo this year, and they had a panel where a trio of famous Japanese designers just started tossing around ideas for what you could do with the technology. Kojima was on the panel, and while he of course stated that he has some fantastic ideas for games that recognize your appearance and interact with you that way, his thoughts on the device itself were more telling: Medical imaging, or security cameras, could benefit from the tech.
That's huge. Suppose the technology works well enough to identify you from a relative distance away, say 15 feet. Tie that into the cloud, or Facebook, and you've instantly established a working surveillance society.
In short, TGS has had some really fantastic timing in terms of my life here. Professors, who I'm meeting for the first time, ask what I want to do, and now I can point a finger to this show and say "this." By which I mean "games industry + business development + exciting new technologies + big companies like MS + Japan." They may not get it themselves, but the important thing is that I'm able to answer the question.
San Diego!I committed to UCSD a couple weeks ago after visiting the campus and finding that it alone, out of my selection of four potential grad schools, had the "laid-back state school" vibe I find so familiar.Thankfully, in the last two years I came to my senses and decided against law school, and in its stead I'll be getting a Masters in international relations.Well, technically, International Relations and Pacific Studies. It's a clever mix of MBA-ish business work, working-level economics, high-level language training, and a smattering of other courses like Globalization and policy stuff. All of it's given a strong slant toward Pacific Rim countries, which includes Japan, China, Korea, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Long story short, it's much more my cup of tea than law school would ever be. My experience in Japan kind of slingshotted me into the gig, and most of the Japan specialists in the program are also ex-JETs like me. It's two years of coursework with an all-but-required summer internship between the two years. There's also a chance to study abroad, which I don't know if I'll take yet, but if I do it'd be a fantastic chance to spend a semester at the University of Tokyo, which is a school for badasses. In any case, students pick a regional specialty and a career specialty. I'll certainly be in the Japan region, but for the career stuff I'm still torn, but leaning towards International Economics. It's a pretty popular choice, and I can survive the mathematical work that seems to have plenty of people scared. Maybe I should be scared of everything else, given the lethargic pace at which I read.Of course, there's the fantasticness of San Diego, which seems to enchant people around me with a mere mention. UCSD does have some fabulous scenery, and the IR buildings actually sit right above the ocean. I've had more people than I can count promise to come visit me. Oddly, when I was there I wasn't blown away by any of the scenery or ocean proximity, but in all fairness I was exhausted from my travel and still getting over the ugly shock of a city that was Los Angeles.I take off sometime in July. In the meantime I'm doing all the playing and traveling I can, so hopefully I'll be visiting you soon!
I apologize, dear reader, if I've failed to mention it before, but:I'm starting grad school this fall.I'll be getting a Masters degree in International Relations focused on Japan. I'm signing with a school pretty soon, and I'll post the full skinny once I'm done with that.
