The whole bay area is crazy expensive. I don't care if you're living on the penn. or in the city, it's all going to cost you an arm and a leg, even as you get toward San Jose.
The cost of living may be crazy but hey, we're all making games for a living so it's worth it... right... right?
We're also actively looking for new team members to help us rock out original design, art and technology on PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as contribute to our PSP efforts.
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Nah it aint that Tom. We have it set up as a little Shrine to SouL. Nothing's been touched since the day he left. His little wacom pen lying there with his fingerprints still on on it. A crumpled can of mountain dew. The black card boards stickytaped as a makeshift roof for improved blackness. The crumpled up tissues. All of it. I walk past sometimes and look in, but mostly, I avoid it. It's just too painful. I was thinking we should preserve it and set it up as a museum.
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HAHAHAHA PICS!!!!!!
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Sorry mate, I just made that up. Actually there are 3 testers living in there now. I shit you not, it's kind of skanky.
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If you'd ever lived in San Francisco, you would know that you do not ever refer to it as 'San Fran'.
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Well it's easier to write, sides I'm not exactly a fan of that area of California.
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Being close to LA isn't a plus in my book, but being close to other places in Orange County is.
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Well I liked the easy access to an international airport.
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But it is very different, it's not a town, it's the largest PRE-PLANNED CITY in the country.
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Well I don't know the history, don't particularly care much either. The size of it, I'd call it a town. Just isn't really big enough to be deemed a city.
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It's tres hot for a few months out of the year. Can't function hot because although it's technically close to the ocean, it doesn't recieve any wind from the water.
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True, particularly if your moving from a much cooler area.
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if you aren't in the game industry everyone in Irvine is either a real estate agent, mortgage broker, accounting, sales or can't describe what they do in one sentence. There aren't any artists in Irvine, or musicians, etc. Straight on business and people here LOVE making money(nothing wrong with that, it's the religion in Irvine).
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There are some CGI Studios as well, it's more for the high-end companies though. Mainly those who can actually afford it. heh
I wouldn't say that 60K was the lowest wage in the area, but yeah it isn't that far off.
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I live in Campbell, just a bit south of San Jose. I could purchase 2 lamborghinis for the price of 1, 2000 square foot home out here. *weep*
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Think that's bad? You could get one Ferrari Enzo from the cash I just got from selling my old place which was a simple 3-Bedroom Semi-Detached. That was one of the first things that hit me living in the states a few years ago. People complained about the prices of houses and apartments, yet the same things here are just ridiculously expensive.
I mean especially when you compare this agains the actual going rates of jobs. In the states an entry-level art position your looking at what, $45-50k minimum.. especially in areas like SF and LA. You could bump that to $60-70k.
Places are ~$2,500 rental, bills are actually bloody cheap compared to the equivilant here. I mean I can easily be looking at spending my rent again just on food, petrol, etc.
(yeah keep complaining at $2/gallon fuel, and compare that to £4.50/gallon)
So you consider for somewhere the same size here, I'd be looking to pay ~£3,000/month. On-top of that the same job here would be worth £25-30k. Oh and let's not forget the higher tax, not just wage packet but also the goods purchased.
For the area I'm living in I should be earning double what I do. What you *should* be earning and what your *are* earning are different things. Everywhere you can always find the small apartments just bigger than a closet on a budget. Modest places a modest distance are often cheaper, by far.
Never got to know much of the route to and from work. I never drove, well except this one time.. but we ended up 30miles out of our way before I admited I was lost. Someone else took over and got us back. Was a nice side trip though.
I'm still lost to why everyone is saying SouL has lost his/her job. From what I understand it's a reallocation if you want it. If he/she decides to move on to another job that's SouL's decision, no? Not because he/she was fired.
Atleast that's how I understand it. I still think it's a good place to live, but maybe that's simply because I never got lost.
Replies
The cost of living may be crazy but hey, we're all making games for a living so it's worth it... right... right?
Well, it's dinner time...
*fights pigeons for crusts*
HOLY JESUS!!! PSP EFFORTS
Long live Blizzard.
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Nah it aint that Tom. We have it set up as a little Shrine to SouL. Nothing's been touched since the day he left. His little wacom pen lying there with his fingerprints still on on it. A crumpled can of mountain dew. The black card boards stickytaped as a makeshift roof for improved blackness. The crumpled up tissues. All of it. I walk past sometimes and look in, but mostly, I avoid it. It's just too painful. I was thinking we should preserve it and set it up as a museum.
[/ QUOTE ]
HAHAHAHA PICS!!!!!!
[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry mate, I just made that up. Actually there are 3 testers living in there now. I shit you not, it's kind of skanky.
If I ever move back stateside, I'd definately move back to Irvine. It's not that far from Los Angeles, but far enough that it can have it's own chich
If you'd ever lived in San Francisco, you would know that you do not ever refer to it as 'San Fran'.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well it's easier to write, sides I'm not exactly a fan of that area of California.
[ QUOTE ]
Being close to LA isn't a plus in my book, but being close to other places in Orange County is.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well I liked the easy access to an international airport.
[ QUOTE ]
But it is very different, it's not a town, it's the largest PRE-PLANNED CITY in the country.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well I don't know the history, don't particularly care much either. The size of it, I'd call it a town. Just isn't really big enough to be deemed a city.
[ QUOTE ]
It's tres hot for a few months out of the year. Can't function hot because although it's technically close to the ocean, it doesn't recieve any wind from the water.
[/ QUOTE ]
True, particularly if your moving from a much cooler area.
[ QUOTE ]
if you aren't in the game industry everyone in Irvine is either a real estate agent, mortgage broker, accounting, sales or can't describe what they do in one sentence. There aren't any artists in Irvine, or musicians, etc. Straight on business and people here LOVE making money(nothing wrong with that, it's the religion in Irvine).
[/ QUOTE ]
There are some CGI Studios as well, it's more for the high-end companies though. Mainly those who can actually afford it. heh
I wouldn't say that 60K was the lowest wage in the area, but yeah it isn't that far off.
[ QUOTE ]
I live in Campbell, just a bit south of San Jose. I could purchase 2 lamborghinis for the price of 1, 2000 square foot home out here. *weep*
[/ QUOTE ]
Think that's bad? You could get one Ferrari Enzo from the cash I just got from selling my old place which was a simple 3-Bedroom Semi-Detached. That was one of the first things that hit me living in the states a few years ago. People complained about the prices of houses and apartments, yet the same things here are just ridiculously expensive.
I mean especially when you compare this agains the actual going rates of jobs. In the states an entry-level art position your looking at what, $45-50k minimum.. especially in areas like SF and LA. You could bump that to $60-70k.
Places are ~$2,500 rental, bills are actually bloody cheap compared to the equivilant here. I mean I can easily be looking at spending my rent again just on food, petrol, etc.
(yeah keep complaining at $2/gallon fuel, and compare that to £4.50/gallon)
So you consider for somewhere the same size here, I'd be looking to pay ~£3,000/month. On-top of that the same job here would be worth £25-30k. Oh and let's not forget the higher tax, not just wage packet but also the goods purchased.
For the area I'm living in I should be earning double what I do. What you *should* be earning and what your *are* earning are different things. Everywhere you can always find the small apartments just bigger than a closet on a budget. Modest places a modest distance are often cheaper, by far.
Never got to know much of the route to and from work. I never drove, well except this one time.. but we ended up 30miles out of our way before I admited I was lost. Someone else took over and got us back.
I'm still lost to why everyone is saying SouL has lost his/her job. From what I understand it's a reallocation if you want it. If he/she decides to move on to another job that's SouL's decision, no? Not because he/she was fired.
Atleast that's how I understand it. I still think it's a good place to live, but maybe that's simply because I never got lost.