Thank you everyone. If I get a response I’ll post something here. I’ll give it a week or two. Perhaps he is thinking about what to say … or, perhaps the message didn’t make it through the system to him.
The thing I like about the iphone is that it represents something really new. I focused on the iphone becuase it is a portable gaming platform, that is always on the internet. It has a touch screen plus tilt sensors. As has been suggested, I like the idea of some massively multiplayer game using the iphone as the front end. This said, I’d like to think of something “outside the box” to do. I really don’t want to fall into the trap of convincing myself I can do something that has been done 50 times before better than anyone else has done it. My focus will be on “what’s something that no one has thought of doing, that might be possible.” We’ve got a few ideas, but nothing really radical. If Activision says they are interested, Roberta and I will keep pushing until we come up with something fun. Our son Chris has a ton of experience working on cell phones, and is fairly negative. He doesn’t think there is a market and thinks we would be wasting our time. He might be right.. If Activision responds with a “let’s talk”, I’d spend a month or so thinking of something worth doing, that I could get excited about. Both iphone and PC products would be considered. I think anything I do would have a server component. I wouldn’t limit my thinking to just games. The goal is to find new forms of entertainment, and I’m not sure games are the only way to entertain using a internet-connected multimedia device. I wouldn’t rule out a game .. but, I’d really like to think broader than that.
Currently, I’ve got two things keeping me busy: 1) We are very active boaters. We just took our boat from Seattle to Costa Rica, over about a six month time. I’m just wrapping up a book about the trip that should be out within about two weeks. Unless your into boating, it isn’t very exciting – but, check http://www.nordhavn68.com for it to be available. 2) I have a little website maker I’ve been working on with my other son, DJ — http://www.talkspot.com It is starting to generate money, and growing quickly (nearly 25,000 websites!) I had thought it would be a one year project, and now it has stretched for five years, and still isn’t making money. It has allowed me to keep my programming skills current, and been a bunch of fun. I need to keep focused on it so that I can get it to breakeven, which should happen in the next year.
Roberta has been hard at work on a book about the Irish immigration (to the US). She’s always loved history, and has spent years researching the book. Book writing isn’t as “sexy” as building games, but it’s much more practical when you are living on a boat.
-Ken W