Intern for a Day, Vol. 2: Insomniac Games
At the birthplace of a lombax, a droll robot and Nathan Hale, does fun ever really sleep? Our intern finds out...
11/14/2008 6:30 PM | 3 Comments | Page 1 of 7
Scott Jones
Status: Coffee makes me feel 4-percent sexier.
[Welcome to Volume 2 of our Intern for a Day series. As you can see from the title, Insomniac Games was gracious enough to allow me to spend the day poking around the offices, sipping Dr. Peppers and loitering in the halls. During my visit, I learned that CEO Ted Price plans to celebrate the company's upcoming 15-year anniversary of the company by treating the entire staff and their significant others to a luxury cruise. (I asked, but interns, unfortunately, are not invited.)
Fact: At a recent
Resistance 2 launch event in San Francisco, a follicly-challenged fan asked Ted to autograph the inside of his toupee for him. Yes, this is the kind of fanaticism that Ted inspires. So did Ted sign it? "I did," he admitted sheepishly. Ted is so revered by his fans, the industry and his employees that you half expect him to spend his days saving kittens from trees and escorting blind nuns across busy roads. Will I uncover Ted's -- and Insomniac's -- darker side? Read on, dear reader. -S. Jones]
Home: Burbank, California (with a sister office opening soon in North Carolina).
Online Home: www.insomniacgames.com
Number of Employees: Around 180.
Best Known For: Ratchet & Clank series and Resistance series.
But They Also Developed: The original three Spyro The Dragon games, and the PlayStation's acclaimed
Disruptor (Google it).
Current "Buy It Now" Disruptor eBay Price: About $3.99.
The Backbone: The incomparable Ted Price.
The Office: Literally steps away from the Burbank Airport in California.
Voted one of the Top 10 Best Small Companies to Work For: Three years in a row.
Perks: Frag-fest Fridays, Yoga sessions and gratis in-office massages twice a week.
Time of Visit: A couple of days after the
Resistance 2 launch.
9:59 a.m. The Insomniac offices, I've been told, are located "right behind" the Marriott at the Burbank Airport, where I'm staying. And they are indeed right behind the Marriott. But what no one has told me is that they are on the far side of several parking lots and fences. I contemplate scaling a fence, but then decide that I'll probably pull a muscle, or several muscles, and maybe get shot at or attacked by a German shepherd. I take the long way around, and start searching for an entrance.
10:17 a.m. I'm lost. A plane takes off from the nearby airport. The plane is so close I can practically reach up and touch the retracting landing gear. The California sun is really beating down on me now. Sweat is beading up on my brow. I pass by a monolithic building covered with mirrored windows that has the word "YAHOO!" on the front. (I wonder what they do there...) Once the plane passes, the street gets so eerily quiet that I can hear the power lines humming. Then I see a dead weasel in the road. At least, I think it's a weasel. I wonder if this is a bad omen.
These elevators will whisk you to the parking garage. Or, in my case, the delivery entrance.
I'm supposed to be in the office by 10:30, but damned if I still can't figure out how to get to the goddamn building. I can see it (it's that nice-looking tan building in the distance); I just can't get to it. There are plenty of entrances for vehicles, with gates that go up and down, etc. But there are no entrances for people. Of course there are no people entrances. This is L.A.
