CABAL'S VISIT TO WESTWOOD STUDIOS PACIFIC AND TOUR WITH ATHENA MASSEY, OCTOBER 2001

Here is the report from Cabal's visit to Westwood Studios Pacific and tour with Athena Massey at the end of October 2001.

Click here for the report of the visit to Westwood Studios in Las Vegas.

Originally we had organised the tour with Athena for the friday that we arrived but there was one small problem. We were late because the scheduled flight was overbooked so we ended up being upgraded to business class for another flight via San Francisco, although I forgot to look out for the Psychic dominator on Alcatraz :) I always wanted to visit the city. I had my chance. Then there were the delays on the 405 freeway - we got to the hotel in the evening. So, I had to phone her and tell her. She said that she wasn't doing anything the following day so would meet us in the hotel lobby the following morning at 9.30. I thought great!

The next we went down to the lobby at 9.15, just in case she was early - although in Los Angeles this is usually impossible. After having a coffee I sat down on a sofa and waited for her. The question was - would I recognise her? At about 9.45 I found out that the answer was yes, because in she walked. He hair was up, like Lt. Eva in RA2 - she said this was so that I would recognise her, since I have only seen her in CnC and a small appearance on The Nutty Professor. We talked a bit about the flight and journey to the hotel, and she told us a bit about Los Angeles and the surrounding area. Then we proceeded down to the parking area to start the tour.

Athena told us that her car was at the garage at the moment so she had a rental car, which was nice anyway. I wonder what her car would have been like. Our first stop was Strabucks on Hollywood Blvd because she needs a regular latte to keep her going during the day. I didn't want one because I had just had a coffee - but she did offer. Then we continued on the tour. The first place we saw was the Magic Castle, which Athena is a member of. It is a club of some sorts for fans of magic! Then she said she would show us to the Hollywood sign because you can't come to hollywood without seeing the sign. We knew where it should have been, but finding it was the problem. The area had a lot of fog and there were no signposts. Eventually we saw it in the distance, and she was happy. Then we stopped to refill not Athena, but the car.

I could go on for ages about everything that she showed us, but I don't have that much time and I don't want to use too much bandwidth on the server so I will just mention a few. She showed us Venice Beach and a great shopping area, as well as Rodeo Drive and Sunset Blvd. Then we went off to Malibu after having lunch at a cafe. The food was great, although there was a lot. This is where Athena and her husband are having a house built. It is in a great location overlooking the see and also Cher's house. It is also next to a large plot of land owned by James Cameron. Then on to Dume point for a photo or two. See below. We also stopped for another Starbucks. This time I decided to have one of their hot chocolates - which was great. There are a few Starbucks in the UK and I know I will stop when I see one. Finally we went via a few celebrities homes to a State Park before heading to a viewpoint overlooking LA. It was great, but there was fog. I had another photo taken with her (see above). I think this is the best photo of us. Hehehe. Then we went back to the hotel because it was getting late. She showed us around for EIGHT HOURS. I didn't expect her to show us around for that long - but we enjoyed it. My parents said it was one of the best parts of our stay in Los Angeles. Thank you Athena. We enjoyed it. For more information on Athena goto her official website at athenamassey.com

Since we didn't know exactly where WS Pacific was, we only had some brief directions, we got there early. The people in the parking area did look at us strangely as we arrived, stopped and drove off again. Harvard gave good directions. So, until 11AM we stopped at a McDonalds in Irvine for breakfast.

When we went into WWP we were greeted by the person at reception (who was busy painting warhammer models) and two other people who were busy talking about a computer game they had played recently. As you can see it's all work and no play at Irvine. That reminds me - the foam balls that were thrown at people at about the RA2 shipping date are still there - exactly one year on. If you want to see them have a look at Harvard Bonin's profile in our Westwood profiles section.

After a few minutes Christine Lundgren, the office manager, came down from her office to give us the tour.

The first place that we visited was the area where the artists work. Unfortunately most of the people who work at WWP were in a closed production meeting upstairs for a future WW Secret game. As a result I didn't meet Dustin, Harvard, Mark etc. There was a lot of RA2 and YR concept art on the wall. Most of it looked familiar but I haven't played all of YR yet because I've been having computer probs, so didn't recognise some of it.

After tripping over a broken table that was on the floor I was shown to the refreshment area where there are free soda taps. According to Christine everybody at WWP loves the free soda, which is interesting. The colour scheme is also interesting - lots of green, orange and purple, which I suppose is better than the brown which it used to be. Next to the soda taps is the render farm, which is where stuff is rendered surprisingly enough. It's not as big as the one at Vegas.

Then we were shown around the remainder of the lower floor before heading upstairs. One thing I noticed on both floors was that there were a lot of boxes everywhere. I asked Christine about this and she explained that in December WW Pacific will be moving to a new facility about a mile from the current one, which is 17993 Cowan Avenue, Irvine). This is because they haven't got room to expand and so bought another place which has 3 floors, not 2. They all agree that it is better building.

The first places that we saw upstairs were the offices that most of the producers occupy. Obviously they were empty having a meeting in the conference room which is on the other side of the hallway. Obviously I wasn't allowed into this room because they were discussing the next game - my money goes on the cnc series or "Arabian Isles" - see our Westwood domains section. What I would have done to have a chance to say hi to the people in the meeting and find out what was going on :).... ok.. now back to the real world.

Also on the top floor is a 'think tank'. Basically this is a room overlooking the gardens with seats in it. It also has a large TV that is connected to a SNES?!?!? That's what Christine told me anyway. I don't know if it was - if it was a SNES... um... Harvard do you want any of my newer consoles that I don't use anymore?? lol.

We then proceeded downstairs and out into the courtyard where there were pumpkins and a barbecue. Christine told me that they have a pumpkin carving contest every year at about that time - I wonder who will win it this year. My money goes on the receptionist who was painting warhammer statues :) Sorry to everybody else who I say won't win.

And so concluded our tour of Westwood Pacific. It was great to be shown around by Christine, who until that day I never knew existed, but it would have been even better to have met Harvard, Mark, Dustin and the other RA2 crew members. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside the building since Christine didn't know what was secret - so Harvard said no pix :( Never mind. I did manage to take some pictures of the outside of the building though.

I'll have to try and get back to Irvine one day to say Hi to Harvard and the rest of the gang, although I think paying for and organising another holiday to California from here in the UK would be a problem :( If anybody else tries to visit WW Pacific in the near future - make sure it isn't on Monday. Christine and Delphi told me that this is Westwood's production day :)