Visit to Gearbox Software

Last Thursday I was invited to Gearbox Software, in Plano Texas, to play test one of their unannounced titles.  As you can probably guess, I can't talk about the game, but I CAN talk about my overall experience.

This was my first time in the office of a game developer so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I was greeted by a receptionist that had to be no older than 25 years old with bleach blond hair and a Monroe piercing.  Almost everyone in the office was wearing jeans and were pretty friendly. 

I was ushered into a break room where there was another room full of all types of candy/snacks and an equally large refrigerator with everything from soda, sports drinks, and energy drinks.  This couldn't have started out any better.

I was then brought into a room where there were at least 10 flat screen TV's and dev Xbox 360's.  I've heard through the grapevine that most cross-platform games are developed on the 360 and ported to the PS3/PC, and this was made even more obvious when talking to some folks at Gearbox.

I spent about 3 hours playing game X, giving feedback, playing more game X, giving more feedback, and then eventually participated in a a group discussion with the three main developers. 

When all was said and done, I was given a bag with some Gearbox swag - I was hoping for a t-shirt or a CL4P-TP action figure but settled on a Borderlands keychain and Brothers in Arms mug.  Overall, I had a great time at Gearbox and look forward to more testing in the future.

-BC-