When I was working at Zipper Interactive on M.A.G. I was maybe 5 months in on the job; was getting the hang of the engine and really starting to make a name for myself among the team. Speaking to my lead I heard him mention they'd need to hire more level architect artists like myself. I mentioned a really great friend of mine that had been my lead at Nintendo when we worked on Metroid for the DS. My boss at Zipper asked about him and thought the name sounded familiar. Turns out they had interviewed him for the spot I had taken, because they decided to pass on him. I guess he didn't have a solid interview and they had decided to continue looking at more candidates. I was surprised by their decision, and then I told them he's probably one of the most talented level artists I know; and what he lacked in interviewing skills he more than made up for in his level designing and artistic ability.
They reconsidered and gave him another interview. With some pointers I provided and a better updated and presented portfolio, they hired him!
His first day on the job he insisted he take me to lunch to say thank you for getting him in for the second chance interview. We had a great lunch and caught up since we hadn't seen each other for a year or so. He told me about the awful crunch he had endured at Airtight games working on Dark Void. He was so happy to be away from that game and onto something like M.A.G. - he also said he had received a pretty substantial boost in pay with his new job coming to Sony. He thought the door was closed at Zipper and he knew my recommendation really gave him a second shot at it.
We get back from lunch and we're getting out of his car- he says, "oh hold up a sec, I just need to grab something from the back"....next thing I know he hands me a brand new Metal Gear Solid 4 edition (Fatty bw compatible) PS3!!! He holds it out and says "here". "I was like cool man!!! Ya picked one of these up!? You gonna put it in your office?" "....no dude, it's yours!" I was dumbfounded, gobsmacked, speechless, I couldn't believe the gesture, nor the fact that those systems were almost $700 dollars at the time. I told him it was too much, that he didn't have to; he wouldn't take it back and said he was on a lot better career path, and he was in love with the idea of M.A.G. - and was excited to be working together again.
Probably one of the best gifts I had ever received, and we had a blast working together, and later playing M.A.G. when it released; as well as many late nights playing Uncharted 2 multiplayer together. Such a great chapter of my life. Miss that guy, he's over at 343 now tearing it up on Halo Infinite. I should try and meet up for lunch, it's been too long.
