"Our Dad Went to Seattle and All We Got Were These Lousy T-Shirts"

...Oh, and a job offer to be the new Art Director at Sucker Punch Productions.

Yes, it's true. We are moving. Again. After just nine months in England's North East, a jaw-droppingly beautiful place where we've taken full advantage of the coast, the castles, and the cathedrals, it's time to say goodbye.

Most of this blog's readers will be "in the know" to some degree or another already, but for those of you that aren't, here's a quick re-cap of events.

In August, Mike's work on Driver: San Francisco was complete and he took some time off to gear up for the next project.

In September, UbiSoft decided that the Reflections studio here in Newcastle would not be doing the sequel to Driver. Many of the contract-based employees left the studio, including many of Mike's international friends. A few of the employees relocated to other Ubi studios: namely Montreal and Raleigh. Work slowed down. A lot. Mike had earned so much comp time, that he took some more time off since the there really wasn't much work to do.

In October: More of the same, except that Mike was encouraged by his supervisors at Reflections to look for other opportunities. Meanwhile, they talked about perhaps keeping him on the payroll but offsetting his salary for a time by having him teach game art classes at a nearby college. They actually felt quite bad about not being able to deliver the subsequent project Mike had been promised when we moved out here, but it was out of their hands, really.

There were actually four options on the table during October. Go to UbiSoft's Montreal, Canada studio. Go to UbiSoft's Lyon, France studio. Join up with a four-year-old start-up company here in Newcastle making casual/mobile games. Join up with Sucker Punch Productions in Bellevue, Washington (just across the Pugot Sound from Seattle). Montreal was ruled out fairly early. Meanwhile, Mike pursued the other three options 110%, creating samples of work, having phone interviews, revising his resume (well, he had a little help with that ;), putting together a portfolio site, flying for interviews, preparing and delivering presentations, and negotiating offers. He worked his butt off in October (and he doesn't have a butt to begin with!).

Long story short: Sucker Punch really loved him (of course) and made him an offer we couldn't refuse. We are really thrilled to be joining their team and Mike's super excited about the project they'll be putting him on. It's an Art Director role for a game that promises to be a big ol' blockbuster. Go Mike!

While we hate to say goodbye to England and our European adventure, there are new adventures awaiting us in the Pacific Northwest. Our heads are spinning just a bit since he just accepted the offer on Tuesday and his first day of work will be December 12...just over a month away. There are a million details to tackle and all sorts of logistics to sort out between now and then. So, in we jump...with both feet.

The boys? They are cool. Ollie doesn't really understand, but he did so well with the move and transition from Raleigh to Newcastle, that we're sure he'll be a champ next time around. And Merrit is actually really glad to be going back to America. He says that he's liked England but that he's missed America. He's a patriotic chap, I guess.

We'll be spending our last week in England on what we're calling our "UK Bucket List Tour 2011." So stay tuned for that!