Sometimes we are fortunate to make an impression on pop culture and events in our lives. Sometimes for good. Sometimes for bad. But hopefully more so for the good. Here are some of the things that I have had the good fortune of being a part of.
LOTS MORE TO BE ADDED - JUST GIVE ME TIME
JUNE 2020
I am one of the leaders featured in the book - What is Augmented Reality. The book features exclusive interviews with over 100 of the top augmented reality experts, who share their insights into and predictions about the future of the AR industry and technology. The book is available on Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/What-Augmented-Reality-Everything-Interviews-ebook/dp/B07SLPR69P/
I am one of the leaders featured in the book - What is Augmented Reality. The book features exclusive interviews with over 100 of the top augmented reality experts, who share their insights into and predictions about the future of the AR industry and technology. The book is available on Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/What-Augmented-Reality-Everything-Interviews-ebook/dp/B07SLPR69P/
2014
My business partner Dale Carman and I were the team behind the VR Ticket Blaster experience deployment in over 30 Chuck E. Cheese restaurants in the U.S. market, making it the first public VR installation for consumers to enjoy.
My business partner Dale Carman and I were the team behind the VR Ticket Blaster experience deployment in over 30 Chuck E. Cheese restaurants in the U.S. market, making it the first public VR installation for consumers to enjoy.
Oculus initially was supporting the launch but eventually stopped the rollout after they were purchased by Facebook.
To the right is the commercial that ran promoting the experience.
I made it a whole family affair. Below and to the left is my daughter testing out the VR experience and to the right is my son who joined in on the fun.
JUNE 2011
We started working with Chuck E. Cheese. Below is the commercial for the custom online game we created call Chuck E. Blocks. This was a follow up to the online version Skee Ball we created for them, which became the number 1 game on their site.
We started working with Chuck E. Cheese. Below is the commercial for the custom online game we created call Chuck E. Blocks. This was a follow up to the online version Skee Ball we created for them, which became the number 1 game on their site.
Funny thing was that a few years later, we would be creating several other games (mobile and VR) for them.
January 2010
I leant my voice to the test pilot for the Adventures of Pachuko Boy. The characters were designed by Simpson's artist Phil Ortiz. The cartoon is about a shy awkward Mexican-American kid named Jose Lopez, who suddenly discovers that his lowrider bike has superpowers. My character steals it. I believe that Michael Montijo, the writer, is still trying to get the show off the ground.
I leant my voice to the test pilot for the Adventures of Pachuko Boy. The characters were designed by Simpson's artist Phil Ortiz. The cartoon is about a shy awkward Mexican-American kid named Jose Lopez, who suddenly discovers that his lowrider bike has superpowers. My character steals it. I believe that Michael Montijo, the writer, is still trying to get the show off the ground.
January 2008
Before the hit mobile multiplayer trivia game HQ was even an idea, we created the game "Now You Know Better" for the web, which gave people the chance to play and win $1,000,000. It was hosted by John O'Hurley. We ended up doing multiple versions of the game with a set of "B" list celebrities - Omarosa, Dustin Diamond and Gary Coleman. The game ran for 3 months and proved the most popular trivia game ever on MSN Games. With 1.4 million total game plays, The campaign generated a phenomenal 8.2 million minutes of sponsored game play.
Before the hit mobile multiplayer trivia game HQ was even an idea, we created the game "Now You Know Better" for the web, which gave people the chance to play and win $1,000,000. It was hosted by John O'Hurley. We ended up doing multiple versions of the game with a set of "B" list celebrities - Omarosa, Dustin Diamond and Gary Coleman. The game ran for 3 months and proved the most popular trivia game ever on MSN Games. With 1.4 million total game plays, The campaign generated a phenomenal 8.2 million minutes of sponsored game play.
May 2005
My company Blockdot had just released a game for the newest Star Wars movie. This was part of a promotion with Skittles. Conan O'Brien's team got a hold of it and had a lot of fun with the game. Skittles or "Shittles" as Conan so hilariously emphasized, we just loved the press and awareness it generated.
My company Blockdot had just released a game for the newest Star Wars movie. This was part of a promotion with Skittles. Conan O'Brien's team got a hold of it and had a lot of fun with the game. Skittles or "Shittles" as Conan so hilariously emphasized, we just loved the press and awareness it generated.
This is also the time when I personally became a part of Star Wars history. We had to submit names to LucasFilms of Jedi Knights for the game, since they were so busy with the new movie. So I submitted "Dando Urguson" as a Jedi Knight name and they approved it and added it to the official Jedi Knight list with their archivist.
March 2003
This is the date that we launched the game Flip the Mix for M&M's. It became the most popular online "Advergame" in history being played over 80 million times. The game featured Red, who would taunt you as you played.
This is the date that we launched the game Flip the Mix for M&M's. It became the most popular online "Advergame" in history being played over 80 million times. The game featured Red, who would taunt you as you played.
December 2000 - Elf Bowling 2
After selling our company Blockdot to Vectrix, Mike and I created Elf Bowling 2. We ended up selling the sponsorship rights to the game for about $200,000 to CDNOW, and online music retailer at the time.
After selling our company Blockdot to Vectrix, Mike and I created Elf Bowling 2. We ended up selling the sponsorship rights to the game for about $200,000 to CDNOW, and online music retailer at the time.
To the right is an interview with us on FOX News.
March 2000 - Most Played Games Played
1) Microsoft Solitaire 20,762,000
2) Microsoft Freecell 17,114,000
3) Microsoft Entertainment Pack 12,490,000
4) Microsoft Heart Network 9,184,000
5) Microsoft Minesweep 7,960,000
6) NVision Design Elf Bowling 7,624,000
7) Microsoft Solitaire 3,263,000
8) Microsoft Golf 2,614,000
9) Microsoft Slingo 1,998,000
10) NVision Design Frogapult 1,639,000
1) Microsoft Solitaire 20,762,000
2) Microsoft Freecell 17,114,000
3) Microsoft Entertainment Pack 12,490,000
4) Microsoft Heart Network 9,184,000
5) Microsoft Minesweep 7,960,000
6) NVision Design Elf Bowling 7,624,000
7) Microsoft Solitaire 3,263,000
8) Microsoft Golf 2,614,000
9) Microsoft Slingo 1,998,000
10) NVision Design Frogapult 1,639,000
December 2000 Elf Bowling 2
In December of 2000, TechTV had Mike and I on their show as they did a huge segment on Elf Bowling 2. Back then, TechTV was a show strictly focused on the Internet and crazy things going on.
In December of 2000, TechTV had Mike and I on their show as they did a huge segment on Elf Bowling 2. Back then, TechTV was a show strictly focused on the Internet and crazy things going on.
December 1999 - Elf Bowling
We created the game Elf Bowling as our companies holiday greeting card and it was installed 7.6 million times in one month. The phenomenal success of the game made us the first game developers to break into Media Metrix Top 10 Games whose game did not come bundled within the Microsoft operating system. Bruce Ryon of Media Metrix, which monitors the PC use of 70,000 people worldwide, calls the success of Elf Bowling "a phenomenon" - other popular non-card games, such as Myst, Doom, and Quake, "have never reached more than 2 million users in any given month."
We created the game Elf Bowling as our companies holiday greeting card and it was installed 7.6 million times in one month. The phenomenal success of the game made us the first game developers to break into Media Metrix Top 10 Games whose game did not come bundled within the Microsoft operating system. Bruce Ryon of Media Metrix, which monitors the PC use of 70,000 people worldwide, calls the success of Elf Bowling "a phenomenon" - other popular non-card games, such as Myst, Doom, and Quake, "have never reached more than 2 million users in any given month."
Summer 1999
Mike Bielinski and I made Frogapult after we did Good Willie Hunting. Frogapult was another beer fueled dev jam that we did over 2 weeks. Stupid and fun.
This was one of my favorite games. I remember when it hit, we were in discussions with doing some games for the Discovery Channel or maybe it was Animal Planet, and they said when they found out we built the game they stopped talking to us.
The twitch mechanic was the predecessor to Elf Bowling.
October 1998 - Photoshop 5.0 and I was Interviewed About the Newest Feature
Of the new features in Photoshop 5.0, five particular areas were getting unanimous praise from NAPP members: multiple undos, editable type, improved actions, live previews for creating Web graphics, and the new Layers Effects.
The long awaited multiple undos feature (via the new History palette) was perhaps the single most popular addition with members. Dallas-based multimedia designer Dan Ferguson of nVision Design said, “The History palette is simple to use, yet it’s one of the most powerful advancements ever. Being able to backstep in time floored me the first time I used it.”
August 1998 - Good Willie Hunting
When the Monica Lewinsky Scandal hit in January of 1998 and it lasted forever. When it became apparent that the republicans where going to try and impeach Clinton, it was everywhere. So we of course jumped on it and made a stupid whack a mole game staring the people involved with incident.
Article from the Washington Post
Doesn’t matter which side of the White House imbroglio you’re on, this game will make you happy. Whack, whack, yowl, belch, whack. From the NVision Design Web site. Called “Good Willie Hunting” by its creators and quickly renamed “Whack a Bimbo” by my daughter, this product of a young Texas multimedia company opens with the White House in the background, a lawn full of holes and a worried-looking Willie.
Quickly up through the holes pop Linda, Paula, Monica, Hillary, Socks, Sam, Ken – a bucket of chicken. Click on the heads and Willie whacks ‘em. They see stars, they grunt, they sigh. They’re covered with blood.
Don’t whack Socks, though. His eyes bulge, he yowls and you lose a point.
“We did it as a commercial tool,” said Dan Ferguson, cofounder of NVision Design in Irving, Tex. The first 100 copies were e-mailed April 1 to about 100 people “who send us jokes all the time. It took about a week before we noticed anything – our Web site would get maybe 50 or 60 hits a day. Then Monday we came to work and our Web site had 18,000 hits. On Tuesday it had 30,000, Wednesday and Thursday up to 40,000 and Friday 60,000.”
The sequel is planned: “Good Willie Grunting.” — Sandy Rovner
March 1988 - U.S. ARMY - BE ALL YOU CAN BE Advertising Campaign.
Yup, that is me holding up the satellite dish in the advertising campaign for the U.S. ARMY BE ALL YOU CAN BE campaign. The agency actually came down to Fort Ord and cast actual soldiers for the campaign. I was selected as one of the cast. We spent a week shooting the commercial spot in in Fort Hunter Liggett, Southern Monterey County California. The mountain range was painted in for the print ad. This was the moment that I wanted to get into the world of advertising. We were paid $1 to use our likeness in the campaign. But we did get to eat and drink as much as we wanted from craft services.