Category Archives: Interviews

The newsmakers of Central Florida’s video game scene have some deep stories to tell. Not only does it include those who build the games here. There are also alumni of schools that now work on some of the biggest titles in the industry.

Full Sail grad, ‘Ratchet & Clank’ vet Shaun McCabe sought chance to explore amazing worlds, characters

When Shaun McCabe joined Insomniac Games near the end of 2003, shortly after he earned a degree from Full Sail University, he jumped into a game that the company hoped would recapture the magic it had discovered with its popular “Spyro the Dragon” series.

McCabe became the sound programmer on the adventure game “Ratchet & Clank,” the story of a Lombax named Ratchet who traveled around with a robot companion named Clank.

Several “Ratchet & Clank” titles later, McCabe continues to build video games for the studio as its head of technology.

“On the technical side, our good friends at Naughty Dog offered to let us use components of the ‘Jak & Daxter’ engine as a foundation for a demo,” he said. “The rest, as they say, is history. It speaks to the true nature of creativity. Great products are often the result of constraints and culture rather than resources and strategy.”

McCabe was recently named to Full Sail University’s Hall of Fame and granted The OVG an interview to talk about his career and his time in Orlando.

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From Atari 2600 to rapping about Final Fantasy VII. A chat with Mega Ran.

It started with the Atari 2600.

A young Raheem Jarbo sat in his living room in Philadelphia, gobbling up pellets in Pac Man and jumping pits and running the jungles of Pitfall.

That became an obsession with the Super Nintendo and then PlayStation, which ultimately led to Final Fantasy VII, as it often did.

Now, Raheem Jarbo, AKA Mega Ran, travels the country performing his rap songs based on the giant video game franchise.

In a far-reaching interview, we talked about his obsession with the game and some of his rap influences.

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Mega Ran to bring video game rap to The Abbey

Performing in Orlando will be nothing new to Raheem Jarbo, the Philly-born rapper who goes by the stage name “Mega Ran.” The 41-year-old has been spitting his video game-related rhymes to Central Florida audiences for nearly a decade.

During that time, he has seen the genre of so-called nerdcore music expand.

“We have an interesting thing going on,” Mega Ran said in an email interview with The OVG. “We’re too experienced to be called a new genre, yet not accepted or noticed by the mainstream, but I’m able to come to cities like Orlando and see packed houses for our concerts. It’s pretty amazing. (It’s) very special to return and see old and new faces rocking out.”

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