My name is Michiel Walstra. I was born in Hilversum in The Netherlands in 1980. At age 11 I got my hands on a Game Boy, and immediately realized what I wanted to do when I grew up: I wanted to make videogames!

And so I did… and programming my own games was a good place to start, making games in Visual Basic during my high school days, and switching to C++ in college, even becoming an Independent Games Festival finalist (2003 student showcase) in the process.

I started developing games professionally when I joined Streamline Studios as an intern in 2003, working on Hoopworld for Xbox Live Arcade. In 2006 I joined another startup called W!Games, where I worked on Atari’s My Horse & Me for Nintendo Wii and PC and an unpublished next-gen AAA-title.

In 2009 I was recruited by Ubisoft Montreal, where I worked on James Cameron's Avatar for Nintendo Wii and PlayStation Portable, and Shaun White Skateboarding for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I'm currently working on the most awesome project at our studio.

What I enjoy most about the games industry is not the glitter and glamour (which I actually think, doesn’t really exist in the industry) or pushing hardware to it’s limits, it’s the people. I get to work with highly motivated and talented people all day, who share the same passion that I do. Which is making videogames that a lot of people will enjoy. Well… hopefully…

Of course, I still play a game now and then. I have a pretty diverse taste, playing small indie titles such as fl0w and Castle Crashers as well as big epic games, like God of War III and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.