Category: Six String Communications

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EA Story: Phase 2

After opening the EA Story exhibit in May (and launching a massive internal website), I spent a few weeks recharging in the desert before digging into part two of the project — bringing order to chaos in a room stuffed with an estimated 20,000 video tapes (and assorted other media).

In this room, you can find VHS and BetaCam tapes, CDs, film, and a variety of other obscure and obsolete media formats, all from forty years of making and publishing video games at Electronic Arts. The bulk of the collection features content from the late 1980s through the mid 2000s.

What’s on all of these tapes? Gameplay footage. Company meetings and presentations. Special marketing events. Wing Commander. Shockwave. Medal of Honor. Need for Speed. Dead Space. Madden, FIFA, and the rest of the EA SPORTS lineup. And tons of other game franchises and brands. Yes, even Shaq Fu!

My mission: organize and catalogue the madness and then figure out what needs to be digitized and further preserved.

If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know where to send the search hounds.

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Ten Years and Counting

Six String Communications. Ten years in business and counting. Thanks to everyone who’s played a part in keeping this little editorial engine chugging up the hill. I appreciate it. And for anyone looking for a seasoned writer, editor, ghostwriter, scriptwriter, proofreader, all-purpose-editorial-collaborator, please keep me in mind. Here’s to the next ten. Woohoo!

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EA Story Project

May 27, 2022 marked the 40th anniversary of Electronic Arts.

When I worked at EA (1997 – 2012), one of my favorite parts of our Creative Services department (besides the amazing people I worked with) was the Packaging Wall, where we placed (with Velcro) all the covers of the games we worked on. 

People who came by would stop at the wall and say something like, “I remember that game” … or “I didn’t know EA published that game” … or “I loved playing that game.” 

Fast forward about eight years since I left EA to start my own business, I was very thrilled to receive an invitation to lead the EA Story project. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a writer. But on this project, I was fortunate to serve as director, researcher, curator, podcast interviewer, asset wrangler, cat herder, treasure hunter, and, yes, writer. 

As it turns out, we made a Packaging Wall – an interactive-dancing-lightshow-extravaganza of a Packaging Wall, with a matching internal website on steroids.

I view my work on this project as a tribute to all the people throughout the last 40 years who loved working at EA like I did. And I hope EA employees today (and in the future) enjoy, learn from, and are inspired by the experience as they continue to shape and reshape the company.

We rolled out the EA Story project this week. And we’ll continue to update it as Electronic Arts releases new games and achieves new milestones. Many people contributed mightily to this project, and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.

Happy Anniversary, Electronic Arts. 

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Travel Writing

Whether writing for work or writing for fun, I’ve always felt it’s a good idea to tackle all sorts of subjects. It might be the latest craze in video games or the benefits of synthetic lubricants. Sometimes it might even be about cool travel destinations.

My latest newsletter is dedicated to my travel writing over the years. If it didn’t show up in your inbox, you can read it here.

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Quantifiable Improvement!

I just performed an editorial pass on a leadership training document for a client who said, “WOW! It’s a billion times better!”

You, too, can have documents that are a billion times better – with Six String Communications.

Good writing is good business!

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Five Things I’ve Learned in Five Years of Six String Communications

It’s been five years since I started Six String Communications.

From the beginning, I looked at Six String as an editorial adventure. I didn’t know what the journey would look like or where it would lead me, but I can say now, after five years, it’s been quite a ride. I’ve encountered grammatical twists and turns, syntactical ups and downs, and a few hairpin typos along the way. Through it all I’ve learned a lot about running a small business.

To commemorate my anniversary, I wrote about five key takeaways from being at the helm of Six String Communications. Read it here!

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Six String Update 052517

Six String Communications always keeps me on my toes … work during the last few weeks included:

– brainstorming game names
– writing a press release for a new game development tool
– editing video scripts for a synthetic engine oil firm
– writing newsletter copy for a non-profit org
– compiling writing samples for a prospective new client
– editing a sales training manual for a promotional products company
– writing marketing one-sheets for two new mobile phones
– editing three proposals for transportation construction projects.

Oh, and in my spare time I released a book of short stories and recorded an album of original music.

Anyone looking for editorial assistance, please keep me in mind.