The game is on

Memory is now officially jogged.

As documented on these digital pages, I've been spending a great deal of time decluttering my house and going over the accumulated detritus in my garage. While rummaging through the flat files and the  ancient remnants of my print work I came across this...

Not the best print ad John Shirley and I ever did, but it was for PlayStation and all their gaming ads were required to show game footage. On the plus side, the headline was a secret homage to The Simpsons. And in the late 90's, that's all that really mattered to us. 

That and bacon. Mmmm, bacon.

Little did I realize that the print ad was a significant clue. 

You see we had also produced a TV spot that went with the launch of the game. These days my cranium is clogged with more cobwebs than an overzealous Halloween home decorator. And there was no way I could ever remember that spot without the aid of this less-than-stellar print ad which revealed the long forgotten game title.

Bingo, bango, a click here and a clack there and I can now share a surprisingly high-resolution version of the commercial we shot with Director Doug Liman. It was for Omega Boost, a single person shooter game. Doug had just finished SWINGERS and GO, and was in preparation to shoot his first action movie with a character named Jason Bourne, maybe you've heard of him.

Pretty sure Doug was intent on beefing up his action film cred. On our dime. 

While reminiscing about this commercial and the long night shoot (I hate night shoots), John reminded me that at one point, Doug strapped himself into the Vomit Comet, and filmed our main character while holding a steadicam and pulling 4.7 G's.

That scene didn't make the cut. And was tossed in the can like so many half-eaten, midway hot dogs and color coated cotton candy.

You can view, or mock, the 25 year old fruits of our labor here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeqnQ_QcVVA

And while neither John and I are embarrassed by these efforts, let's be forthright and completely honest. It doesn't hold a candle to this, my favorite all time gaming spot created by our former colleagues, the extremely talented Gary Pascoe and John Payne.

I still love this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzo0n528yhE

Kids...in case you're wondering, this JetMoto spot is how it's done.