After three years of development, Baja: Edge of Control is now on store shelves throughout the United States. Available for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Baja is an off-road racing game featuring hundreds of vehicles and nearly 100 tracks spread out over nine immense worlds. I am fortunate enough to have had the chance to work on this game, and it is a proud day indeed to see people playing it online through Xbox Live.

It has been quite an experience for me during the past two years at 2XL Games. My story has gone something like this:

• August 2006: Started as an intern while still in art school
• September 2006: Hired as full-time employee
• November 2006: Worked in China at our outsource studio
• December 2006: Started as outsource art lead
• February 2007: Started tools programming
• May 2007: Started art tasks
• March 2008: Graduated from art school
• April 2008: Started UI programming (I know… the irony!)
• September 2008: Baja ships!

Now that the game has gone gold and shipped on both Xbox 360 and PS3, it is time for me to move along as well. Effective late September, I will be leaving 2XL Games.

I am very thankful for the opportunities I have had in my time at 2XL. Working at a studio of fewer than 20 primarily-veteran developers, I’ve gotten to work directly with everybody on the team, and I’ve learned valuable lessons from every single employee in the office. You have all helped me grow as both a developer and a human-being. I hope to take the friendships that we have built and keep them going for the rest of our lives. I wish you all the best in the future!

As for me, it looks like I’ll be starting another journey in the not-too-distant future. All I can say for now is simply, stay tuned.

This past weekend marked the debut of the Baja demo booth that will be present at various off-road racing events in the next few months. To find out when and where you can see our game out in the wild, check bajagame.com.

A Trophy Kart model created for Baja.

- 14,000 tris, 1024×1024 diffuse, normal, spec, effects
- Video captured as 3DS Max preview (real-time) using DX9 shader

Ever see one of your Apple friends bust out that amazingly slick little remote that controls Front Row in OSX? It looks something like this:

I happened to pick up one of these little gems up some time ago in a combo pack with an Apple iPod dock, only to hook it up and find out that the remote does not control iTunes for Windows. Rather, the remote only functions when the dock is used to hook your iPod directly to a stereo. Sad.

However, there is hope.

Look no further than USB-UIRT, a programmable infrared receiver/transmitter for Windows PCs. Jon Rhees, creator of the USB-UIRT, has provided a very user-friendly API for the device. All I wanted to do was control iTunes with my nice little Apple remote, and now I can.

For those of you interested in the five-button functionality of the remote (volume up/down, track forward/back, and play/pause), you can download my USB UIRT Console app for iTunes by clicking here. (If you don’t have the USB-UIRT installed and connected, the .exe won’t do much for you, sorry). If you’d like the source code, just drop me a line via email (my contact info is available here).

A 2006 Volvo S80 vehicle model done for Principal Animation LLC.

- 7000 triangles

I’ve been working in secrecy at 2XL since 2006, but the word is finally out: We’re making an off-road racing game called Baja for Xbox 360 and PS3. If you would like to get a glimpse of our game, you can find it in both Official Xbox Magazine and Playstation: The Official Magazine April 2008 editions, on news stands now.

Or, you can click over to the official Baja website and see a few screenshots.

2008-03-25 Update: The official Baja video trailer has been released exclusively at IGN.com. New screenshots too!