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Oh hello Sydney. Grundislav and ben304, you bloody flight is an hour late.

But Nads, You aren't attending bogans. Nonetheless, Nice bogan picture.

It begins...

Dates sound fine to me.

Interested!

Poor seamus is my favourite character.

The only thing missing from that cast list is Nolan North. I wasn't aware that you were allowed to make a talkie these days without Nolan North. I thought that was a given.

Good to see a few of the Valve stalwarts there. I hope they get John Patrick Lowrie to voice the protaganist, and make him a fake australian.

Those dates suit me

Woo! Half a million!

And it's fully funded in under 9 hours. Well done to Tim & Ron & Double Fine!

What is more amazing is that they have raised 3/4 of the required funds in about 6 hours! Let's see what Europe can do.

I'd love to attend too! I hope we can finalize the date soon, so flights are still affordable.

My votes are for the Villa Bellagio and/or the Titan boats


PS: Is this rule still valid "only game creators wanted"?
If so, I'll have to hurry to convince my wife to create an hour game, since I certainly can't spend this year's vacation all on my own.


PPS: yaay, mittens!

Hi!

Judging from past USA Mittens headcount, I don't think there will be a problem with your wife attending. Obviously priority is given to members of the AGS community, but there is no specific ruling.

That said, a few of the UK regulars won't be attending, like Mods, Davy and Kim.

I think the Villa Bellagio is a little out of the price range for some people. I will be doing a further search sometime soon (I'm currently in the process of looking for a new place for me to live) and I'll see what we can find.

I don't see us getting more than 20 people.

I too would like to get the dates set asap so I can book my leave.

While I agree that piracy is bad, I don't trust the government to do more good than harm when the get involved. People that torrent movies and games and stuff suck, IMO. I watch a ton of movies through Netflix and Amazon. I use Hulu to satisfy my craving for documentaries and older movies. Piracy sucks because it takes money away from the people who created the product and ought to be paid for it.

That being said, the government is a big, stupid, lumbering beast. Government action is akin to a club, not a scalpel. Once the government gets involved in policing the net, then all sorts of people and sites will get hit by that club. And, as others have pointed out, the pirates will not be stopped or even slowed down very much. But lots of innocent people who made video reviews of movies or games will be shut down and the government spokespeople will hold those poor saps up as an example of the pirates that have been put out of business. 

Leave my internet alone, government. Stop trying to help. 

Imagine a situation where your favourite tv show took 6 months to air on tv in your country. Where you didn't have the convenience of being able to watch reruns on Hulu. Where your Netflix equivalent was pricey and lacked any kind of decent selection.

This is what it is like in Australia and many other countries. I'd happily pay for a service that allowed these things, but big media are too interested in the problem instead of the solution.

I buy all my games on steam (or another online provider if steam doesn't have it.)

The reason steam works and is so successful is because they provide a service that is as good or superior to pirates. If other big media could provide this, then there is a good chance I would use this.

Hey gang. I've also been trying to find properties in California that are accessible and beachy, but am unlucky in finding anything that both sleeps at least 20 and is less than $10,000/week. I did find one property not seen so far that fits, but it is only available during one week in August (11-18) but is available most of September.

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p320222

Nice place! I was wondering why I hadnt seen it in my search, so I looked up the address and saw it was in Florida! Florida is not California silly!

That said, what are Oregon beaches like? When I think of Oregon I don't think of beaches. In fact, I really don't know anything about Oregon, except that at some point in time there was a trail.

I have updated! See original post!

I wouldn't worry too much about it, particularly if it is a 'historical' game. If you are worried about it call it a Hawkey Hurricane.

[***Update***]

G'day.

As all (or most at the very least) of the Mittens attendees know, it was generally decided that Mittens 2012 would be held in the USA. More specifically the west coast.

I'd like to offer my services as host for the event if nobody has any issues with that. If you do just post and we can sort something out. Most likely Francisco will serve as a co-host as it may be easier dealing with American bank to bank transactions. (even though my Mastercard is accepted world wide)

There was some discussion about the slim possibility of hosting an Australian Mittens. I'd also like to get an opinion on that. Queensland has excellent beaches and the Great Barrier Reef. My suggestion would be somewhere like Airlie Beach, in the Whitsundays:

If this were the case, I'd suggest late October. October enjoys temperatures of around 28-30 Celsius, ideal for you northern hemisphere people. There are obviously a few detractors from the Australian Mittens Prospect. Large houses are not as common, so we might have to get holiday apartments. Airfares are pricey and flights are long.

Otherwise, California (most likely LA or San Fran), mid-late August.

***Update***

Ok, so I figured that Australian Mittens was not going to be a viable possibility (and I don't mind that at all!)

So sticking with the original plan and from what everyone has said, Mittens 2012 will be in California.

Here are a few of the properties I'd like to put forward.

*prices may vary due to taxes and extras*

The Pickford House

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p285192

23+ people (Blow up mattress up to 29), good reviews. Downside is there is no beach nearby.


Villa Bellagio

http://www.vacationpalmsprings.com/home_detail.php?home_name=la-quinta-luxury-pool-vacation-rental

9 Bedrooms & up to 32 people. This is the place to get if we get a good number of people.

The rate is $9197.63, which includes tax and cleaning costs. which is 367 for 25 people or 300 for 30. If we get the numbers, this house is incredible. Right near the Salton Sea!!

Restoration Oaks Retreat

http://www.restorationoaksretreats.com/index.html

Lovely ranch setting that sleeps 20-25ish. Pick Blueberries! See the youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oDHEo2CZOs

$3990 for the Main ranch house and guest house. Close to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles

Beachfront Villas, Seal Beach

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p171375

3 villas in total with 9 bedrooms. Sleeps up to 24 people. Beachfront. Los Angeles location.

This is very pricy at 4000+ per villa. Probably out of the pricerange, but it's in a great location.

THE TITAN

http://www.houseboating.org/boat_info.cfm?id=453079412

The titan is a houseboat on Lake Shasta (northern California). It sleeps 22, has 3 levels, has a waterslide from the top level that spirals around and dumps you into the lake. It also costs a bunch at 13000 a week. Oh well, we can all dream of being on a boat.



So these are the current options I have found. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I'd love to get an idea of numbers as well, but it's probably too early for that.

In addition to the regular Mittens gathering, a number of us will be making a jaunt to San Francisco. This will most likely be the weekend after Mittens. I will be renting a car for the duration of Mittens plus the road trip. Not sure about having the car in San Francisco, but I'll decide that when I plan my trip as I'll be doing at least 3 weeks in America.

Very few os updates, windows or mac, have been revolutionary. The goal for windows 8 is admirable. Instead of having 2 separate builds like osx and iOS, Microsoft are aiming for a universal os. Drag and drop files from your desktop pc to your tablet device. Not cloud, but actually dragging and dropping. That is cool. It will have cloud using their previously established sky drive infrastructure. Search improved dramatically from xp to vista, and this is being improved on again. No need to go to the start menu, just type. Switching between live tiles and desktop is instant. And live tiles! I love the idea.

The money should go to buying CJ a Russian bride.

Greetings.

I have been watching this with great interest and have started a project that I hope will be accepted into the bake sale. I have a pretty solid plan in place and things are going along smoothly.

Only thing is, the main character is a dickman. This is the spiritual successor to the 'classic' Dickboy game.

Will having an anthropomorphic penis character be a problem with any of the bakers dozen?

Ps grundislav approves.