tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116665192024-03-07T18:02:46.268+00:00PixelloveVideogame development. Filtering the most important news stories mixed with Pixel-Lab's commentary and thoughts.tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-16828361975472759912007-03-08T13:15:00.000+00:002007-03-08T15:18:21.401+00:00UncannyI'm seeing the uncanney valley everywhere right now. It's something <a href="http://func-auton.net/wrt/vga/">I wrote about</a> in the context of visual aesthetics 18 months ago, but since then I've realised it has a much wider scope. Watch the beginning of this:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3bKphYfUk-M"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3bKphYfUk-M" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />A self-righting Indy with gripping hands impresses me... but it doesn't <i>fool</i> me.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Similarly, <a href="http://www.image-metrics.com/">Image Metrics</a> have been showing some astounding work recently. Looking at the CGI head on the latest Develop cover, I am once more impressed, but once again not fooled. There are all sorts of subtle mismatches in texture and light that add up to it not quite being human.<br /><br />Likewise, when set against speech bubbles, the body language of <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/playstation-home/177020/">these avatars</a> in PSHome is reminiscent of stereotypical cult members.<br /><br />Everything that might be wrong with a digital representation of a human is also potentially wrong with a digital representation of anything else. The difference is in us: a significant amount of the human brain is specialised for evaluating human appearance and behaviour.<br /><br />As Scott McCloud pointed out in Understanding Comics, we can infer a face from a circle, two dots and a line. Put a circle with a big dot in it inside any random shape, and it will suddenly tend to resolve into a face. We can <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/02/people_are_good_at_r.html">reconise faces made of less than 100 pixels</a>.<br /><br />We intrinsically have higher standards in evaluating humans as real compared to, say, rocks and trees. If we weren't human, the level NaturalMotion and Image Metrics are at might fool us. We are though, and it doesn't, even as it makes us go "oooh".<br /><br />It will all get better of course. Simulating one component of the unconscious at a time, we're building more realistic AI. At some point though, they will stop looking like good AI and begin to look like bad actors.<br /><br />(Hello, I am TK422, otherwise known as David Hayward. I'm going to be posting here alongside Toby. There may be some crossover between this and my own blog, <a href="http://func-auton.net/blog">Functional Autonomy</a>, but overall I'll be putting different content up on each).<br /></span>Nachimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01102007403895925685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-86148605285969063252007-03-08T11:02:00.000+00:002007-03-08T11:05:54.125+00:00GDC07:2007 Game Developers Choice Awards Topped By Gears of War2007 Game Developers Choice Awards Topped By Gears of War Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios' Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War won Best Game at the Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The title also picked up awards for Visual Arts and Technology.<br /><br />The Game Developers Awards are the only peer-based, open nomination awards program in the industry. GDC Executive Director Jamil Moledina commented of the awards ceremony that it is “like no other”, adding that “by celebrating our visionaries by name, we give the audience and the public at large a chance to give credit where credit is due”. Nominations are open to all members of the International Game Developers Association, with the finalists chosen by the Choice Awards Advisory Board, before winners are finally voted on by IDGA members.<br /><br />Clover Studios and Capcom Entertainment's Okami and Nintendo's Wii Sports fared well too, picking up two awards each, for Character Design and Game Design respectively, as well as one each for Innovation. The Innovation award was also shared by Bostjan Cadez, developer of Flash title Line Rider.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br />Other major award winners included Harmonix Music Systems and RedOctane’s Guitar Hero II for Audio, Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which walked away with the Writing award and Titan Quest developer Iron Lore Entertainment, which picked up the award for New Studio.<br /><br />Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong franchises, amongst many others, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award, and Manifesto Games co-founder Greg Costikyan received the Maverick award. Composer George “The Fat Man” Sanger was given the Community Contribution award for his work to encourage interactive audio innovation, while this year’s First Penguin award, presented to industry pioneers, was awarded to Alexey Pajitnov, creator and developer of Tetris, and pioneer of the casual games industry.<br /><br />"Once again, the Game Developers Choice Awards have shown that gaming greatness can be found within every type of game,” noted Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director of the IGDA, “from the most hardcore of experiences, to those that have brought all new audiences into our industry's fan base. Each year, I am humbled by what our members can do with this great art form.” <br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-28447700174674407072007-03-08T10:55:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:59:29.418+00:00GDC07: Sony outlines new online vision<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/7/3/8/1/6/ss_preview_Home_Central_Lounge_Screenshot_009.bmp.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/7/3/8/1/6/ss_preview_Home_Central_Lounge_Screenshot_009.bmp.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Phil Harrison's GDC keynote explains plans for new PS3 Home online community network.<br />In his GDC keynote Sony Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison has told the development community that software driven by user-communities, such as as its new virtual world Home, will "empower the next decade of growth in our industry all around the world".<br /><br />Sony will actively back this strategy with a number of its own applications. The primary one is Home, a free avatar-based 3D world that lets users congregate, meet friends, 'own' a private apartment and visit virtual shop-fronts.<br /><br />Developed by London Studio, Home is a best of breed take on avatar-based environments like Second Life, but uses the PS3's capabilities to deliver a world that fills the gap between the interface on the PlayStation XMB dashboard and games themselves.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Users can customise their avatar's appearance, clothes and accessories - in time players will be able to pay for, or unlock via game achievements, the latter. The same goes for each user's own virtual private apartment, which players can invite friends to, fill with furniture and even stream music and video from their Hard Drive to.<br /><br />A 'Hall of Fame' also takes pride of place in the Home world - this lets users display new 3D trophies that are unlocked through in-game milestones in PS3 games.<br /><br />Harrison demonstrated all these features to a huge audience as part of the opening keynote for the first main day of GDC. He likened this new always-connected world to the Web 2.0 movement that has seen sites like Blogger, YouTube and MySpace succeed purely on the fact that they allow players to offer detailed customisation of their profiles and upload content. The same user-content driven strategy is what drives Home, he said.<br /><br />"Our vision of the future, Game 3.0, will continue our track record of industry advancement by leaveraging the convergence of technologies, from broadband and video chat to supercomputer-speed processors, to make gaming more interactive and dynamic than ever before."<br /><br />In an associated press announcement, corporate executive and CTO Izumi Kawanishi added: "While the 3D graphics demonstrate the power of PS3 and the PlayStation Network, the most impressive feature in Home is the variety of ways in which multiple consumers, as well as our third-party partners, can experience the next generation of communication by interacting and sharing among each other. I feel strongly that this blend of community, user-generated content, collaboration and commerce will expand the future of computer entertainment."<br /><br />Home is currently in a closed Beta test - in April Sony will launch a free public beta to the world, and the final version of the client itself will be available in the autumn. In time, Harrison said that the client will be continually upgraded and updated, like any other MMO world.<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-32407486304218881752007-03-08T10:18:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:19:45.861+00:00GDC07:Industry responsabiliitesIn what may be remembered as the best speech of this conference, Vivendi’s global director of strategic growth Nichole Bradford today called on the industry to act on its responsibility towards the education and aspirations of young people.<br /><br />Image She told an audience of developers to show leadership to young people, and excite them about their own potential. Bradford said that the United States had only produced 70,000 graduates in engineering in the last year, adding that children are failing to se the potential of learning math, science and literature. Thius, she argued, was a failure of leadership by the game industry.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Bradford spoke on this subject at a diversity round-table last year, but in 07, the message was heard by a much larger audience. She told them, “We have a leadership responsibility to excite young people about math and science and literature. We make games and so we have the best hook to address the real challenge of poor learning in schools.”<br /><br /><br />A 2003 survey of young people found that more children aspired to be athletes and entertainers than those who wanted to work in computing or gaming. By 2006, computing had risen above those professions and ranked at number 3. “More people want to be Mike Morhaime than Kobe,” she said.<br /><br />“This is hugely important and it is exploitable,” she said. “Not every child is going to make a career in gaming, but if we can inspire them, we can give them options. We can show them and their parents that underneath the action [in games] there is math, and literature and science. It’s not enough to tell children to do well in math because it is good form them. We have a responsibility as an industry to show them what it really means.”<br /><br />She concluded, “As an industry, we bitch about our reputation and the ESA lobbies against legislation on our behalf. But here’s a question. How many schools have you spoken at lately?<br /><br />“Don’t be abstract. Tell the kids and the parents what we do and watch the support grow. More that that, we have the power to effect real change. We should all grasp the scope of our influence and show children their own possibilities. We need to be leaders in our society.”<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-13986694040364509102007-03-08T10:12:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:14:06.017+00:00GDC07:June debut for London Studio's PS3 SingStar<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_QPJubMIQQLQ/Re_h1nEbaYI/AAAAAAAAAAs/4QOkT1S2GY0/s1600-h/SingStar_screenshot___SingStore_OutKast.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_QPJubMIQQLQ/Re_h1nEbaYI/AAAAAAAAAAs/4QOkT1S2GY0/s320/SingStar_screenshot___SingStore_OutKast.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039494819187747202" border="0" /></a><br />The PS3 version of SingStar will hit Europe in June and the US in the autumn.<br />The PS3 version of the game relies heavily on the PlayStation Network. The previous versions of the franchise, which were all purely disc-based, have already sold seven million worldwide with 30 songs on each disc, delivering a total of 200 million songs to players.<br /><br />For PS3, SingStar is "all about extending the experience online - downloading content and uploading content," explained Sony Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Via the SingStore players can download tracks and preview music videos, purchasing tracks to build their own tracklist for a sing along session. Using a USB camera players can upload videos or pictures of themselves singing which can be rated and scored by other players. Users can also access wallpapers and other content to customise their version of SingStar.<br /><br />"Where we are going with the integration of community and commerce blended together is a very compelling experience on PlayStation 3," added Harrison.<br /><br />"We're are working very closely with the music industry to get a very wide variety of songs up on the network."<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-36034111292225601312007-03-08T09:56:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:33:31.701+00:00GDC07: 2007 Independent Games Festival Awards Topped By Aquaria2007 Independent Games Festival Awards Topped By Aquaria Bit Blot's dreamlike 2D underwater adventure game Aquaria won top honors, collecting the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, at the 2007 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards.<br /><br />The winners were announced tonight at the 9th Annual IGF Awards ceremony, hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />The IGF awards have been described as the Sundance Festival of the videogame industry, and offer both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash prizes to the lucky winners. Other major award recipients included Queasy Games' abstract shoot-em-up, Everyday Shooter, which grabbed the awards for Design Innovation and Excellence In Audio, upcoming Xbox 360 Live Arcade title Castle Crashers, which won for Excellence In Visual Art, Three Rings' online title Bang! Howdy, which came out on top in the Technical Excellence category, and stylish Flash-based point-and-click puzzle adventure Samorost 2, which triumphed in the Best Web Game category.<br /><br />There were two other notable Main Competition awards given out on the night -- the Audience Award, adjudicated from public voting at major consumer game website GameSpot, was won by The Behemoth's Castle Crashers, and IGF Platinum Sponsor GameTap gave out $20,000 in advances for indie games to appear on its PC subscription download service, as part of its special GameTap Indie Award - with Everyday Shooter getting a $10,000 advance and $5,000 advances going to Cryptic Sea's Blast Miner and Naked Sky Entertainment's RoboBlitz.<br /><br />In addition, the IGF Student Showcase recognized ten student-designed games and, for the first time ever, awarded a $2,500 Best Student Game prize. The award went to DigiPen Institute of Technology's fast-paced capture the flag game, Toblo.<br /><br />The IGF Mod Competition, now in its second year, celebrated the best amateur mods of existing videogames with a new $5,000 award for Best Mod Game. Cut Corner Company Productions took home the Best Mod award for Weekday Warrior, their corporate office adventure mod for Half-Life 2, also the Best Singleplayer FPS Mod. <br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-58354264053019201112007-03-08T09:40:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:34:54.607+00:00GDC07: Media Molecule Premier LittleBigPlanet for Sony<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_QPJubMIQQLQ/Re_cIHEbaXI/AAAAAAAAAAk/dlsjz75gQRA/s1600-h/LittleBigPlanet_Screenshot_63.bmp.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_QPJubMIQQLQ/Re_cIHEbaXI/AAAAAAAAAAk/dlsjz75gQRA/s320/LittleBigPlanet_Screenshot_63.bmp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039488539945560434" border="0" /></a><br />At GDC today, Mark Healy and Alex Evans, part of the core team behind Sony’s new LittleBigPlanet, talked about how their company, Media Molecule, became such a prominent Sony partner. They also said why the company chose to go with the PS3...<br /><br />ImageEvans and Healy likened the founding of Media Molecule to “falling into an abyss.”<br /><br />But it’s been a pretty impressive fall so far. The small studio today revealed its first project, the unique-looking LittleBigPlanet, during Phil Harrison’s keynote at GDC this week. That’s pretty good placement on Sony’s upcoming game lineup.<br /><br />Media Molecule started in January 2006 with the idea to make the “most ambitious, fun, off-its-head game that we could [think of]--and most importantly, to get someone else to pay for it,” Healy laughed.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />“The skill that you need as a lead designer isn’t coming up with ideas… it’s communicating those ideas to people."<br />The chance to bring that game to reality came when the company found out that it had the opportunity to meet with Sony—with a week’s time to prepare. Dave Smith, the other core team member of Media Molecule, put together a relatively crude (yet still very impressive) prototype that would eventually become LittleBigPlanet. Sony was “amazing” in its reception of the game, said Evans.<br /><br />That relationship with Sony seems pretty tight-knit, so don’t expect the small team to bring its debut game to any other platforms any time soon. Evans said that Media Molecule went single platform “very consciously” because “it’s hard doing games anyway, and going cross-platform was more than I wanted to think about,” he explained.<br /><br />They picked the PS3 because of the Cell’s complexity and the challenge that it presented. “Sticking those constraints on ourselves allowed us to focus,” he claimed.<br /><br />The trials of starting a business<br /><br />Healy is the brains behind Rag Doll Kung Fu, the indie hit that he designed in his spare time when he worked at Lionhead. Wanting to move onto something new, he left the security of a larger company and the leadership of Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux. He found that life at the head of a business was much different than putting on headphones and focusing on being an artist. Now he had to deal with team conflicts and fire alarms, for example.<br /><br />Evans and Healy said that there are four things that got them through the first year of Media Molecule:<br /><br />Have a great production staff. “Peter [Molyneux] was like a guru to us,” but there wasn’t anyone to lead them but themselves this time around. A competent production staff was key to success.<br /><br />Total honesty and openness with the publisher. “We’re going to treat this [deal with Sony] like a partnership… We just told them absolutely everything… and we still do,” Evans said.<br /><br />“We didn’t want this attitude of 'them and us'... so when anything goes wrong, we can blame them, basically,” Healy joked.<br /><br />Concepting. “This is the biggest thing for us,” Evans said. Visuals are important. Put stuff on the screen, Evans insisted.<br /><br />Communication. “It wasn’t all rosy in the land of Media Molecule. We were really bad communicators initially,” Evans said.<br /><br />“The skill that you need as a lead designer isn’t coming up with ideas… it’s communicating those ideas to people,” said Healy.<br /><br />All of these things culminate into milestones that should be clearly and openly communicated with your publisher, said Evans.<br /><br />If a team works well together, the hardships are worth it, said Healy. “The joy that comes from a plan coming together and having a team love the thing that they’re working on is very rewarding. That far outweighs the nightmares” of game development.<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-34627746980358738922007-03-07T10:10:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:10:41.713+00:00GDC07: Nvidia introduces new dev platformNvidia has unveiled a new toolkit it says will help developers save money while making their projects DirectX 10 compliant - and the tools already have backing from Crytek and Rockstar San Diego.<br />The new Developer Toolkit offers instructive code samples, advanced shaders, and performance tuning. Key components include SDK 10, Texture Tools,PerfKit 5, ShaderPerf 2, FX Composer 2, and Shader Library<br /> <br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Cevat Yerli, president of Crytek - whose Crysis is made specifically for Windows Vista - said: “We use the developer tools frequently for performance analysis, optimisation, shaders, and testing. The tools have saved us a significant amount of time and money in the course of our work on Crysis.”<br /><br />Added Mark Robinson, technical director at Rockstar San Diego: “Nvidia's developer tools are some of the best in the industry. I use FX Composer regularly to quickly prototype shaders, the SDK for inspiring new techniques, and PerfKit for detailed performance analysis and debugging.”<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-67886188506663132007-03-07T10:09:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:09:49.682+00:00GDC07: Codemasters signs up Havok BehaviourHavok's new Behavior tool has debuted at GDC today, and the tech already has a licensee: Codemasters.<br />Behavior is a new element in Havok 4.5, the modular suite of artist tools and run-time tech that includes Havok Physics and Havok Animation and aims to offer complete control of character actions to developers via its hierarchical finite-state machines and procedural modifiers. Animation assets direct from Maya, Max and Softimage XSI can be aggregated straight into it.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Codemasters plans to use Behavior in a number of upcoming next-gen titles.<br /><br />"For the next generation of games platforms we really wanted to push the boundaries in terms of realism and characterisation, but we needed to do it without compromising our timescales," explained Codemasters Studios vice president, Gavin Cheshire explained.<br /><br />"Havok Behavior allows us to create a huge range of behaviors for our next generation characters and do it in a way that makes the most of both our creative and programming resources."<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-25115975086159404202007-03-07T10:02:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:11:30.240+00:00GDC07: EA licences Autodesk's HumanIKJust weeks after it confirmed a partnership with Softimage, Electronic Arts has announced it has licensed Autodesk’s HumanIK middleware.<br />HumanIK is a customised development library that enables animated game characters to interact more realistically with digital environments – it has already been used in EA’s DEF JAM: ICON, FIFA Soccer 07 and NBA STREET Homecourt titles.<br /><br />“Through our partnership with Autodesk, we were able to achieve a new level of character animation in DEF JAM: ICON, FIFA Soccer 07 and NBA STREET Homecourt,” commented Glenn Entis, EA’s chief visual and technical officer.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />“Part of the reason EA consistently delivers innovative hit game titles like these is because we rely on extensive internal and external R&D. Autodesk HumanIK middleware allowed efficient porting of game data to the various platforms on which we shipped our games. Autodesk R&D team was highly responsive, quickly providing us with customised builds of the HumanIK solution.”<br /><br />Entis continued: “With HumanIK, the character behaviors we created remained intact when exported to the video game engine. That was a huge benefit; it eliminated the usual time-consuming and costly tweaking and toggling between the development software and the game engine. Autodesk HumanIK is the ideal solution for our next-generation game development.”<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-61445657000204499772007-03-07T10:01:00.000+00:002007-03-08T10:02:57.895+00:00GDC07:Ubisoft's Adam Thiery Talks Camera TheoryGDC: Ubisoft's Adam Thiery Talks Camera Theory Adam Thiery, a designer for Ubisoft Montreal, gave a short talk today on interactive cinematography. His basic point was that game cinematography is player-driven. Simple it may sound; real application is always trickier. One of the big sticking points is that camerawork, being player-driven, is limited by current understanding of game design and player psychology.<br /><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />A modern camera knows when to change state, explained Thiery. In Far Cry, when the player is pressed against a wall, the standard tracking camera shifts from a behind-the-character perspective to show the player character left-of-center, and focus the player’s attention to the right, around the given barrier.<br /><br />Thiery said that a good game camera is a matter of functionality, rather than cinematography – yet given that, it pays to consider the visual composition within each camera state. The reason is that any action a player takes is generally guided by what he has been shown to do.<br /><br />The original Half-Life takes places in a disorienting sci-fi setting; to drive the player forward, it uses huge stripes painted on the walls, like a trail of breadcrumbs or an arrow. Though this is an artificial and somewhat clumsy application, that same principle applies to any 2D screen composition.<br /><br />When level design and camera work together, guiding lines like the edge of a table that has been pulled away from a wall – or areas of contrast, like light within dark, different levels of detail, or the difference between animation and an immobile object – tend to subconsciously guide the eye, therefore the player, in a certain direction. Thiery showed a dark scene from Splinter Cell, in which a small, white light was visible in the distance. Again, where the eye goes, so goes the player.<br /><br />All this said, not every object in a given composition has meaning. A chair that happens to be sitting along the wall may just be a chair. Still, between the camera and level design, every scene should be possible to compose toward a guaranteed point of view on the player’s end.<br /><br />A player will base decisions upon what is perceivable, and a given scene may well present a variety of options to the player. As those decisions should be predictable in a controlled environment, it may be possible to design particular consequences depending on the actions taken.<br /><br />Thiery’s third major issue involves camera transitions. Most games avoid changing views, so as not to disorient the player. The most obvious problem here is the danger of overextending a shot beyond the point where it is dramatically interesting. The simplest way of avoiding confusion is to use “controller patches,” where as long as the player keeps holding the same direction, the character will keep traveling the same direction.<br /><br />There are a couple of rules to follow here, though. One is to avoid drastic changes of view during action sequences, such as fighting or platforming. Another that Ubi is trying to incorporate is borrowed from cinema: the “180-degree shorthand”. A camera transition must not change movement direction entirely. “Left” should remain vaguely left, and “right” should remain right. Any change of 2D direction should remain within around 90 degrees, the narrower the better.<br /><br />When it comes to camerawork, Resident Evil 4 is to Thiery’s judgment probably the most advanced game to date, about which he admitted having to resist a temptation to base the entire lecture around that one work. He explained how camera cuts can, in fact, add rhythm and intensity to a sequence, and can accelerate play by removing unnecessary transitions and skipping directly to the strongest perspectives.<br /><br />In one scene, Leon approaches a window, and the view immediately cuts from a behind-the-back view to a somewhat overhead perspective, showing a ladder propped up against the side of the house and an enemy climbing upward. Leon tosses the ladder aside and steps back, and the camera cuts back to normal.<br /><br />“I want the action,” Thiery said. “Show me the action, as quickly, as cleanly as possible.” A moment later, Leon is fighting a group of enemies. When the player performs a jump-kick to an enemy’s head, the camera quickly cuts to a side view, showing the length of Leon’s leg to illustrate exactly what Leon is doing, and then cuts back. The cut is directly related to player action, so it does not seem confusing.<br /><br />Trailing off, Thiery speculated about where game cinematography might go in the future. With the added power of current and future hardware, perhaps depth-of-field or screen-in-screen will grow more important.<br /><br />The important thing to remember is that, as game cinematography is player-driven, what works in cinema is not necessarily functional in game terms; cinematography is tied to game and level design. “Whenever you design a new control, think about how it affects the camera,” and how that in turn affects the controls. <br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-62881421431738782732007-03-06T11:25:00.000+00:002007-03-08T11:26:53.866+00:00GDC07: Evan Skolnick Asks Game Writers To 'Make It Snappier'GDC: Evan Skolnick Asks Game Writers To 'Make It Snappier' Writing is one of the less discussed bits of game development; Vicarious Visions producer Evan Skolnick has been doing his best to redress the balance. Whereas last year's session dealt with dialogue, this year Skolnick chose to discuss general structure.<br /><br />Skolnick's background is in comic books, and indeed much of his game industry work has been on comic book movie licenses; his methods are generally simple, direct, and accessible to an entry-level audience.<br /><br />Up front Skolnick cautioned that the session was not for professional writers, but neither was it a debate on the essence of video game narrative, or a tutorial on "how to make players cry". Rather, it was a by-the-book overview was for game industry veterans – programmers, producers – with little experience in the mechanics of storytelling.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><br /><br />About eighty percent of the lecture, by Skolnick's measurement, was general theory – mostly in application to screenwriting, one of the more well-trodden corners of plot analysis. The last twenty percent attempted to draw parallels between that theory and familiar game structure.<br /><br />Furthermore, Skolnick suggested, the closest parallels between film and video games were probably found not in the critical darlings and more at the top of the box office – in particular, what he dubbed the "geek classics": the likes of Terminator and The Matrix. The number of Matrix parallels were, in fact, rivaled only by Star Wars references.<br /><br />Skolnick went over the typical chestnuts about cutscenes getting in the way of gameplay, and showing rather than telling. To demonstrate, he compared the opening sequences to Grand Theft Auto III – a straightforward setup for a highly simple premise – and ludological whipping boy Metal Gear Solid 2, a game that exists almost solely to poke fun at traditional game narrative.<br /><br />Whereas GTAIII sets the player off after just under three minutes of exposition, MGS2 intentionally pummels the player with cutscene after CODEC sequence, dumping a hilarious amount of useless information, for nearly thirteen full minutes. When the player is set free, the release is so abrupt that it does not immediately sink in that gameplay has begun.<br /><br />"So," Skolnick dramatized. "Holy. Fucking. Shit." He observed that, although he could have skipped the cutscenes at any moment, doing so would have meant missing potentially important story information – and yet very little of the information provided was indeed necessary, leaving the player bowled over and defeated before the game had even started. This was "very frustrating – so don't do it."<br /><br />His first big point was "Get over yourself" - that a video game audience is potentially hostile, and that nobody buys a video game intending to read. "You're not the next Hemingway," Skolnick cautioned.<br /><br />Videogame writing serves to further game play - anything further is a distraction. Depending on the type of game, the player may expect more or less story. The idea is to meet the audience expectation, then move on.<br /><br />From this point, Skolnick moved into a series of audience participation exercises, while he discussed the three-act structure, Joseph Campbell, and the old scriptwriting application Dramatica. "What is story?" Skolnick asked - the correct answer was "conflict".<br /><br />He then sketched out Aristotle's three acts (the middle – act 2 – being twice the length of the beginning or the end), and mapped over it the rising and falling tension, modulated by the revelation of archetypal plot points.<br /><br />Plot point one, the hero accepts the challenge and moves into act 2; plot point two, the hero overcomes fear or adversity, putting him on the road to accomplishing his goal and dragging him into act 3. Syd Field further breaks up the second act along a midpoint - this is the structure more typically followed by modern movies.<br /><br />Skolnick asked the audience to pick three favorite films and tell him the first pivotal plot point. The only really solid answer was in relation to the red and blue pills in The Matrix, delighting Skolnick with the postmodern signposting. Of course, Skolnick advised, although this structure still applies to most stories, it is perhaps overly simplistic and difficult to always apply with precision.<br /><br />Next up was the "Monomyth", or Hero's Journey – Joseph Campbell's blend of the above theory with Jungian archetypes, with the intent to create a psychological template for all elements of storytelling.<br /><br />The going premise is that the sum of all the characters in a given tale represents a complete human personality. Through the hero's journey, he takes on aspects of all of the other characters' personalities, in order to become a more whole person.<br /><br />Of all the archetypes – Mentor, Threshold Guardian, Herald, Shapeshifter, Shadow, Trickster – Skolnick suggested that the only one that really made sense as a player character was the hero, as the hero is typically defined by personal growth. He drew possible parallels between the other archetypes and typical game functions, though some fit better than others.<br /><br />Skolnick then went on to relate each step of the "hero's journey" to game design. Again, some of the parallels were more considered than others. Skolnick lumped the first two legs of the journey – normally around a third of a traditional narrative – into the opening cutscene (as opposed to relating it to Link's acquiring of his sword, or Gordon Freeman's donning of his power suit and crowbar).<br /><br />He bypassed the "refusal of the call" segment of the journey as there would be little point in the player refusing to play. By Skolnick's estimation, the typical video game is almost entirely an Act 2, with the other two acts reserved mostly for cutscene-related decoration.<br /><br />Skolnick again cautioned not to follow the structure too slavishly - rules are only ever guidelines. The purpose of any of these structures is not to dictate, they are only ever descriptive, and thus are mostly useful as a form of generalized advice, in the event that a script feels out of whack. The writer who understands storytelling can ignore classical structures all he likes - a novice is best suited by a mentor.<br /><br />Wrapping up before lunch, Skolnick went over seeding, planting, and foreshadowing plot events. Rather than dumping everything at the beginning – a typical mistake of beginning writers – simply give the audience what it needs to know, when it is useful or interesting to do so. Providing barely enough information can, in fact, increase drama and audience interest, leaving them curious for more. <br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-35403725830453237572007-03-06T11:09:00.000+00:002007-03-06T11:11:42.171+00:00GDC:Lego MMO<img class="imgBorderLeft" src="http://www.next-gen.biz/images/stories/Abstracts/lego.jpg" alt="Image" title="Image" border="0" height="152" hspace="6" vspace="6" width="203" />Lego is to build a MMO with American developer Netdevil,the company behind Auto Assault, which was published by NCsoft in 2006.<br /><br /><p>The MMO will be targeted towards youngsters as well as LEGO fans. “As children around the world continue to spend more time online we are developing new and engaging ways for them to interact with our brand," said LEGO’s Lisbeth Valther Pallesen. “The LEGO brand represents construction,creativity and problem solving -- values that compliment the MMOG market.”<br /><br />"Playing with LEGO bricks and developing online worlds are both creative activities. To bring them together is deeply professionally satisfying and we look forward to working with the LEGO team,” said NetDevil president Scott Brown.</p><p>Details about the actual game and publishing agreements have yet to be announced.<br /></p>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-1284619216521428202007-03-06T11:06:00.000+00:002007-03-06T11:08:46.119+00:00GDC:XNA competition"Dream-Build-Play" offers major rewards for amateur game creators says Microsoft as it announces a new game design competition.<br /><br />Microsoft has revealed details of its Dream-Build-Play contest - which aims to promote the XNA Game Studio Express tool set by offering an impressive prize bag to amateur creators.<br /><br />The firm is looking for the best game to be created using the free tool-set, and is offering to publish the winning entry on Xbox Live Arcade - as well as handing over $10,000 to its creators. Runner-up prizes have been supplied by firms including Alienware, AMD, Autodesk and Softimage, which should sweeten the deal for any potential entrants.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />XNA Game Studio Express allows you to create Windows games using a powerful toolkit incorporating various tools and pieces of middleware. It was launched late last year along with the Creators Club, which allows you to develop games using the tools which run on the Xbox 360, in return for a 99 Euro annual subscription.<br /><br />As well as promoting the tools with competitions such as Dream-Build-Play - and the less high-profile $500 prize contest currently running on the XNA Website - Microsoft is also continuing to add new tools to the package, with GarageGames' Torque engine, Softimage's XSI-3D technology and Allegorithmic ProFX's 2D texture editor all bound for XNA Game Studio in the near future.<br /><br /></span>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-1767897151151503242007-03-02T13:21:00.000+00:002007-03-02T13:30:39.293+00:00SONY:PS3Home announcement at GDCRumour reports on the web claim to spill the beans on part of Sony’s GDC announcements – five days before the format-holders’ keynote in San Francisco – saying that the PS3’s online offer will be updated into a MySpace/Second Life style hybrid called ‘PlayStation Home’.<br />A tipster talking to gamer blog Kotaku describes the updated service as follows: “you get to make an avatar for your console (like a [Nintendo Wii] Mii) and this avatar has a room. As you play games and accomplish certain tasks, you will receive items with which to adorn the room that are specific to the game (achievements).”<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><br />Xbox Live-style achievements will become key requirements for every PS3 game produced and that users will be able to visit the homes hosted on their friends' machines.<br /><br /><blockquote>Kotaku temporaily ran into trouble with Sony for posting the news, and development sources Develop has contacted today have declined to comment on this topic - one contact cited watertight non-disclosure agreements. Arguably such ‘neither deny or confirm’ statements only add fuel to a fire that proves there is some truth to the reports.<br /><br />And certainly, Sony has recently hinted at the addition of increased online functionality that incorporates virtual worlds and avatars.<br /><br />Talking to Newsweek’s games blog Level Up at February’s DICE event, Sony Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison discussed Nintendo’s Mii avatars, saying: “If you are going to have an avatar which is your representative in a virtual world, it has to stand for more of your personality than some 2-D cartoons. So while I think that millions of people would be happy with cartoony looks, the planet at large probably isn't.<br /><br />“And it's an experiment that will be played out very soon, actually.”</blockquote><br /><br />Michael French, devmag.comtk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-49413613784321481612007-03-01T10:45:00.000+00:002007-03-01T12:34:05.860+00:00Kuju rebrand as Zoe Mode<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.developmag.com//files/news/25837/zoemode.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.developmag.com//files/news/25837/zoemode.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Kuju's Brighton has rebranded itself just ahead of GDC, revealing the new name of Zoe Mode. But the new identity isn't represented by a logo: it is embodied by a person: The name and face of Zoë has been chosen by Kuju to represent the studio's focus on making lifestyle games.<br /><br />Is this the first brand represented by a person ?<br /><br />This is interesting as most games are represented by the title - Crush for example is what the target group will be buying from amazon, or tesco. But to publishers it is the brand of the developer that counts and this is a smart and somewhat brave move by a mid level developer to step over the competition.<br /><br />As time goes on, the Zoë Mode face or identity might change, but the female name will stay.<br /><br /><blockquote>Studio boss Ed Daly explained: "Zoë allows us to have some fun with the image of the studio but of course what matters most is the games we make. We have built up a great team, a really diverse crowd for a game developer, and an internal culture that reflects the fun and creative values that come through in our games.<br /><br />"By taking control of the public face of the studio we will be able to reinforce this unique identity and specialist expertise further.<br /><br />"This studio has had great success over the last three years focusing on fresh gaming experiences for new audiences. We've shipped several very successful, high quality titles and grown to 100 staff and now the time is right to rename the studio. We’ve created Zoë Mode; she is the personality that reflects our in-house philosophy of accessible, fun gaming for everyone.”</blockquote><br /><br />Ian Beverstorkc spoke to <a href="gi.biz">GI.biz</a><br /><br /><blockquote>"Everyone knows who Kuju is and what we've done, but in this age of specialisation it's been getting hard to get across the success of the Brighton studio," Kuju boss Ian Baverstock told GamesIndustry.biz.<br /><br />"As we've been more successful across multiple studios, each doing different things, it's been getting harder and harder to maintain that clear understanding with our trade partners as to what each studio does."<br /><br />"Everything about Zoë Mode as a personality is the real true essence of what the studio is. We're saying we're about making games for people like this, not just that normal, narrow, 18 - 24 year-old male age group.<br /><br />"The idea of using a single character like Zoë to represent a studio is very much this studio's idea. All of Kuju's studios are focusing on particular areas, and their ambition in each case is to be the world's best. The days when you can be a jobbing, general purpose game developer are long gone - you've got to be a specialist."<br /><br />"The studios are increasingly autonomous, and the strategy is for each studio to find a focus on a particular type of game and then become specialists," he said.<br /><br />"That's something that Brighton's done with our work with Sony on SingStar and EyeToy games in particular. It made increasing sense for the public face of the studio to be differentiated."<br /><br />Baverstock said that Kuju has long believed that operating diverse studios is a "good strategy", observing, "It's not just about spreading risk around - it allows specialisation. But it's also true that games development requires a really creative office culture, and that's really quite hard to achieve in a 300-person company.<br /><br />"Each of our studios aren't like that - they're smaller entities, with separate cultures."</blockquote><br /><br /><br />Zoë Mode is, however, still a part of the larger Kuju Studios group, which has development offices in London, Sheffield and Godalming. The team will still provide corporate support, and share technology/collaborate with the other Kuju studios, which may reveal distinctive brand identities of their own in future.<br /><br />The first game to boast the Zoë name is PSP Crush, which is being published by Sega later this year.tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-7703498159961744222007-02-28T14:43:00.000+00:002007-02-28T14:46:30.081+00:00If there’s anything overproduced by the game industry, it’s unconsidered rants.Just discovered <a href="http://www.magicalwasteland.com/">Magical Wasteland</a> a annoymous blog with some very insightful posts.<br />I will be posting some extracts here over the next few days for those who cannot be bothered to go and read the long but rewarding posts.<br /><br />On the Problems with the Manifesto of Manifesto Games<br /><blockquote>Over a year ago, a company called Manifesto Games was founded with the idea that it would aggregate and sell low-budget but innovative games and by doing so help to advance the state of the game industry. While I have yet to see a new genre of games spring from this site, I do generally like and agree with the idea of invention as an essential but under-explored component of interactive entertainment.<br /><br />Unfortunately, for all the talk of revolution (or even incremental improvement), the level of rhetoric actually displayed on the site is quite disappointing. The hyperbole in the actual Manifesto of Manifesto Games may be explained away as a stylistic choice, but the tract often crosses over into statements that are simply untrue. I believe it’s imprudent to base the foundation for a revolution, or even simply a new company, on such sloppy thinking</blockquote>Breaking down some of the details:<br /><blockquote>“The large publishers’ desperate quest to reduce risk paradoxically makes it harder for them to find the best-sellers they need.”<br /><br />Actually, the “desperate quest” is called a strategy, and it works almost disappointingly well from a business standpoint: ask Mr. Kotick of Activision, or look at their quarterly results for the past ten years. There is no evidence I am aware of that suggests otherwise.<br /><br />“Today, most games are developed in massive sweatshops by hundreds of people over three years or more.”<br /><br />As before, I don’t have data readily available, but this statement strikes me as an emotional accusation that is not exactly borne out by the true state of things. It may describe some Electronic Arts projects or a few massively multiplayer online games. But to boldly state that "most" games are developed this way plays with the truth in a rather elastic way.</blockquote>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-54606657137103710662007-02-28T14:10:00.000+00:002007-02-28T14:37:57.983+00:00Dan Marchant's mythical developer royaltyDan Marchant (Obscure) presents his formulae for getting a developer royalty (read - never !)<br /><blockquote>The myth of the developer royalty<br /><br />Pop quiz - Your game costs $1 million to develop (funded by the publisher in the form of an advance against royalties).<br /><br />Your publisher gets $10 (net sales) for every copy of your game they sell.<br />You (the developer) get 15% of net sales.<br />If your game sells 500,000 units how much money do you get in royalties?<br /><br />The math is simple. 15% of $10, multiplied by 500,000 equals zero.</blockquote>It goes on <a href="http://www.obscure.co.uk/blog/2007/02/26/the-myth-of-the-developer-royalty/">here.</a><br /><br />Dan explains the reason most developers miss the boat when it comes to royalties and repayments in a clear and quite detailed manner.<br /><br />So what’s the solution Dan?<br /><blockquote>There are various options but the simplest is to build 20% profit into your development costs and manage your project properly.</blockquote><br />But this is why most publishers try and knock 20% off the price, as they want you to only break even.<br /><br />and the most sensible advice of all...<br /><blockquote>Ensure that if the publisher requires changes that they pay for them and that you don’t spend your profit making the game better in the hope of making more in royalties.</blockquote><br />Yes, it is possible for a game to sell millions of units and for the developer to make millions, even under a recoupment deal - but how many games are released each year (in excess of 3,000) and how many make the huge numbers (one, maybe two)? You need to run your company on the assumption that it will conform to the rule and not in the hope that it will be the exception.<br /><br /><blockquote> You need to make your game based on a plan that will generate real profit, not mythical royalties.<br /></blockquote>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-61055164523348976102007-02-28T14:09:00.000+00:002007-02-28T14:10:32.715+00:00Games Journalists Style GuideGames Journalists Association has announced the forthcoming release of a new guide for writers in the games industry.<br /><br />Titled Wired Style: The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual, the book has been written by David Thomas, Kyle Orland and Scott Steinberg. It will offer guidance on spelling conventions and game criticism, plus company information and historical timelines.<br /><br />The Videogame Style Guide will be released on June 1, priced at US $6 (eBook), US $14.95 (paperback) and US $24.95 (hardback). Review copies will be available next month. It will be available free for a limited time to members of the press. To pre-order, visit <a href="GameStyleGuide.com.">GameStyleGuide.com.</a>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-11846133964083604822007-02-28T14:00:00.000+00:002007-02-28T14:03:12.010+00:00Second life gets a voiceAs PC's and consoles grow ever closer:<br /><blockquote>it was announced that Linden Lab will integrate the <a href="http://www.vivox.com/">Vivox</a> voice services into the fabric of Second Life. Second Life Residents will be able to speak with one another simply by walking up to other Residents and talking. There will be no need for a separate application, download, or login. Much like the experience of the <a href="http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/005731.html">Million Minutes program</a> run this past fall by Vivox in-world when several Residents gathered around the microphones for group conversations. But now, no need to download a separate application. Spatial audio is also a feature and will allow residents to hear each other based on their positions - on their left, right, far away or nearby. Other capabilities will include controls for both Residents and land owners to manage participation in conversations, friends lists, presence, speaking indicators and tools that will allow people to stay connected in and out of world.</blockquote><br /><br />Second Life plans to start a private Beta in the next couple of weeks.<br /><br />This is a tremendous step for Second Life and for Vivox. Real time communication gives users a lot of choice and opportunities to connect.tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-705504878954594242007-02-28T13:59:00.000+00:002007-02-28T14:00:31.709+00:00Sony release new tool set at GDC<blockquote>The internal technology teams at Sony Computer Entertainment have teamed up to deliver PlayStation 3 Edge, a new set of tools for developers working on the format-holder's new console.<br />Due for imminent release to PS3 developers, PlayStation 3 Edge has been put together by three first-party technology teams within Sony, the WWS Europe Advanced Technology Group, WWS America ICE team (a technology group based at Naughty Dog that specialises in graphics systems and tools for the PlayStation 3), and WWS America Tools and Technology group. <br /><br />Edge is described as "a set of cutting edge technologies. Rather than an overarching engine, these teams have chosen to create specialized systems that demonstrate best practices of SPU and RSX utilization" in the description of a recently announced GDC session which will formally take the wraps off the new technology.<br /><br />The GDC session, hosted by Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), Jon Olick (lead programmer, Naughty Dog) and Vince Diesi (principal programmer, SCE Worldwide Studios) looks at advanced graphics tools and technologies for PS3 development an will also show delegates "a unique tool for RSX performance analysis, extensively used in the tuning of first party titles".</blockquote><br />Devmag.comtk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-80446972080207768972007-02-28T13:56:00.000+00:002007-02-28T13:58:48.728+00:00SCI buys Rockpool (NW)Casual Games continues to be a hot purchase for global pulishers.<br />But how much did bejeweled actually make ?<br /><blockquote>Publisher SCi continues to bolster its development resources, having just acquired British casual and mobile games developer Rockpool games.<br />The 36-strong team and its two offices in London and Manchester now join the SCi/Eidos fold which includes Crystal Dynamics, Beautiful Game Studios and IO Interactive.<br /><br />Acquiring the studio means the publisher gains a foothold in the fast-growing casual games sector and also takes ownership of Rockpool's sister companies Ironstone Partners and SoGoPlay, which gives the firm access to, respectively, the Top Trumps licence and a casual games publishing portal.<br /><br />A week ago the company announced that it would open a new next-gen games studio in Canada's Montreal.<br /><br />"The global market for mobile games is set to grow considerably over the next few years," commented Jane Cavanagh, CEO of SCi, citing Juniper Research that says the sector will grow from $3bn in 2006 to $10bn in 2009.<br /><br />She added: "Rockpool's breadth of activity, including not only mobile games but casual PC games, fits well with SCi's strategy to expand the company's business in this direction and will strengthen our position in these consistently growing markets."<br /><br />Rockpool brings us a rich pool of talent along with a proven ability to deliver high-quality projects. In addition to their continued work on external projects, we look forward to bringing their experience and creativity to bear on some of our own titles over the coming months," added Simon Protheroe, director of Eidos' New Media and IT division, which Rockpool will be integrated into.<br /><br />Rockpool MD Paul Gouge commented: "Being part of the SCi family means that we can accelerate our growth and build on the great achievements we have already made in the mobile, casual and wider games market."</blockquote>DevMag.comtk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-35450192304100833322007-02-28T13:02:00.000+00:002007-02-28T13:08:53.626+00:00Dev Station 07SCEE's developer-only event DevStation returns in May with a three-day conference targetting PlayStation 3 development.<br /><br />Taking place from Wednesday May 2nd until Friday May 4th in London, UK, the event is designed to help industry development delegates "get the most out of PlayStation 3".<br /><br />The 2007 will hope to continue the sucess of previous DevStations that have packed in developers looking for the inside track on PlayStation-related software development.<br /><br />Presentations at the May event will focus around the core technologies and, in a DevStation first, provide content for disciplines in design, production, art, audio and programming. Topics up for discussion will include, says DevStation reps, "anywhere from physics, SPU optimisation and audio tricks right through to the lastest developments with the PlayStation Network".<br /><br />The event will also bring SCEE's Technology, Developer Support and Third-Party Relations groups all together with SN Systems and a number of middleware producers.<br />Those interested in attending should head over to www.devstation.scee.com and register.tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-41387224916599582852007-02-28T11:03:00.000+00:002007-02-28T11:10:42.396+00:00Rockstar sign Natural Motion for PS3, 360 ProjectRockstar Games is using NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine in its next-generation PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 titles.<BR>The two companies have revealed that work is already well underway following several months of close collaboration between the Grand Theft Auto publisher and the Oxford-based animation specialist.<BR>"In Rockstar, we have found a partner that shares this vision, and is renowned for creating some of the most ground-breaking and immersive games in the industry," commented Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. "Euphoria is about giving people an interactive experience they have never seen before. We now have the processing power to simulate humans, and the possibilities for games are endless," he said.</p>tk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666519.post-63480791057337917542007-02-23T13:58:00.000+00:002007-02-23T13:59:44.045+00:00Expanded Dare to be Digital 2007 calls for entriesThe University of Abertay's computer games design competition for students, Dare to be Digital, has launched for an eighth year with a significantly expanded schedule and a call for entries.<br /><br />Having established itself as a key event for the education and games sector, the contest returns for 2007 stronger than ever as the organisers aim to invite 80 or more young game developers from across the UK and Ireland to take part this year – almost twice as many as in 2006.<br /><br />To capture so many potential candidates, Dare to be Digital will roll out to other locations across the British Isles. Four teams from Scotland will be selected to spend the first nine weeks of the 10-week competition based at Abertay University designing and building a fully functioning prototype of their video game idea. Also, Queen’s University in Belfast will host a similar nine-week programme for students from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Dare to be Digital organisers are currently working to establish a host location in England, or to host English teams in Dundee for the competition.<br /><br />Elaine Russell, Abertay University’s project manager for Dare to be Digital, said: “There are now more reasons than ever for teams to get together and enter Dare. The track record of previous participants shows how very highly regarded it is within the computer games industry. This year, we have received many enquiries even before the application form was ready. This early sign of enthusiasm shows the increasing popularity of the competition.”<br /><br />Entrants teams receive financial support and weekly training sessions from industry specialists during the 10-week competition. Some teams from previous years have gone on to set up their own game development studios while many other entrants have gone on to work at companies such as Lionhead, Rockstar, Codemasters, BBC Scotland, Electronic Arts and Microsoft, as well as local Dundee-based developers such as Realtime Worlds and Denki.<br /><br />Added Russell: “We want to celebrate the young talent from all university courses that represent a pipeline for bringing top graduates to the video games industry. We want to do that in a way that adds value to their CVs, provides them with experience of working in interdisciplinary teams, teaches them new skills and showcases their achievements effectively. We want to ensure that there are maximum opportunities for all potential employers to evaluate the talent pool.<br /><br />“We also want to inspire, promote and celebrate creativity and originality. We want our participants to have a positive economic impact when they move on from Dare to be Digital either through employment or entrepreneurial activity. Dare’s popularity is increasing year by year and has attracted many more talented individuals to apply. We have gained much industry support and wish to see more. This is a fantastic project worth supporting."<br /><br />Applications for Dare to be Digital 2007 should be made via www.daretobedigital.comtk421http://www.blogger.com/profile/08528549043987766485noreply@blogger.com0