Real-Time Events in Three Dimensions… at last? | MC Press Online 02/25/2008
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Software That Depicts Real-Time Events in Three Dimensions May Offer Distinct Advantages |
MC Press Online
After years–decades!– of fits and starts, the latest 3D technologies coming to market offer real promise for real-world applications. Look for more information at this blog in the coming months as we focus on 3D technologies for market leaders.
One lively post to read right now at MC Press Online (HT to Mike Sansoterra):
“For some reason, which may date back to the Spanish Inquisition and threats of expressing our deeper beliefs, we have told ourselves that two-dimensional images are just fine and, if we could just see them in color, or just see them a little sharper, then we would feel quite happy-perhaps even blessed. Well, as the has-been news anchor Howard Beale says in the 1976 movie Network (directed by Sidney Lumet), “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Two-dimensional imagery simply isn’t good enough! I want my 3-D! “
Amazon SimpleDB 101 & Why It Matters | GigaOM 12/15/2007
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Amazon SimpleDB 101 & Why It Matters – GigaOM
“If you are in the business of managing massive amounts of distributed data, you cannot gloss over the Amazon WS trifecta — data-in-the-cloud is the future and with WS, Amazon is way ahead of the pack. What about the offerings of other vendors?”
Video gaming | Chasing the dream | Economist.com: … 08/04/2005
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Video gaming | Chasing the dream | Economist.com: “The move away from linear narratives to more complex games that allow players to make moral choices, argues Mr Prensky, means that games provide an opportunity to discuss moral questions. �These are wonderful examples for us to be discussing with our kids,� he says. Indeed, perhaps the best way to address concerns over the effects of video games is to emphasise their vast potential to educate.
Even games with no educational intent require players to learn a great deal. Games are complex, adaptive and force players to make a huge number of decisions. Gamers must construct hypotheses about the in-game world, learn its rules through trial and error, solve problems and puzzles, develop strategies and get help from other players via the internet when they get stuck. The problem-solving mechanic that underlies most games is like the 90% of an iceberg below the waterline�invisible to non-gamers. But look beneath the violent veneer of �Grand Theft Auto�, and it is really no different from a swords-and-sorcery game. Instead of stealing a crystal and delivering it to a wizard so that he can cure the princess, say, you may have to intercept a consignment of drugs and deliver it to a gang boss so he can ransom a hostage. It is the pleasure of this problem-solving, not the superficial violence which sometimes accompanies it, that can make gaming such a satisfying experience.”
Japundit | More TV!: "The Teleglass, which goes on… 05/03/2005
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Japundit | More TV!: “The Teleglass, which goes on sale in June, comes with earphones and a box that connects to a portable DVD player. The wearer will see images as if watching a 14-inch television screen from a distance of one meter (yard), according to an official at Scalar Corp., the Tokyo microscope maker that developed the Teleglass.
People can slap the tiny screen with a 0.24-inch liquid crystal display and lens onto one side of their glasses or those with normal vision can choose to use a pair of sunglasses.
The sunglasses could make them look cool –or it could indicate they are being mischievous. People nearby have no way of knowing what film is being played on the Teleglass.”
Watch the video and believe… even if they are French 02/06/2005
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Watch the video and believe… even if they are French:
Slashdot | A Theory of Fun for Game Design 02/04/2005
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Slashdot | A Theory of Fun for Game Design: “If you’re planning on entering the field of game design, A Theory of Fun won’t help you to storyboard a plot, model a texture, or develop a code base: if you’re looking for the technical aspects of game design or deep academic consideration of the field, other titles will hold more for you. The intended audience of this book is quite wide, and Koster does an excellent job of making everyone feel included in the conversation that occurs between the pages. While game players and professionals new to the field alike can get a lot from what he discusses, the reader who may benefit the most from Theory of Fun is the seasoned game industry worker”
Cell Architecture Explained: Introduction 01/21/2005
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Cell Architecture Explained: Introduction: “Designed for the PlayStation 3, Sony, Toshiba and IBM’s new ‘Cell processor’ promises seemingly obscene computing capabilities for what will rapidly become a very low price. In these articles I look at what the Cell architecture is, then I go on to look at the profound implications this new chip has, not for the games market, but for the entire computer industry. Has the PC finally met it’s match?
To date the details disclosed by the STI group (Sony, Toshiba, IBM) have been very vague to say the least. Except that is for the patent application which describes the system in minute detail. Unfortunately this is very difficult to read so the details haven’t made it out into general circulation even in the technical community.”
The TrueTalk Blog: Rules Sets Create Systems; Systems Creat Outcomes 01/17/2005
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The TrueTalk Blog: Rules Sets Create Systems; Systems Create Outcomes: “At first blush, we think that rules are designed to exercise control over the actions of those subject to them. And, that’s certainly true. But think about rules in games. While they’re established to control behavior, at a deeper level they’re designed to create a world, a place within which the game can be played. Rule sets enable/encourage some actions and disable/discourage others; rule sets make some things easy, other things hard; reward some behaviors, punish others. Rule sets, then, create systems”
What is Machinima? | The Machinima FAQ: "Machinima… 01/07/2005
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What is Machinima? | The Machinima FAQ: “Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is filmmaking within a real-time, 3D virtual environment.
In an expanded definition, it is the convergence of filmmaking, animation and game development. Machinima is real world filmmaking techniques applied within an interactive virtual space where characters and events can be either controlled by humans, scripts or artificial intelligence. “
Ken Kutaragi, Cell and Playstation 3 | www.japaninc.com 01/05/2005
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http://www.japaninc.com/newsletters/index.html?list=jin&issue=275:
“Ken Kutaragi, the brains behind the PlayStation games consoles, believes that the chip — codenamed ‘cell’ — will give future video games machines the power to animate figures as realistically and smoothly as Golem in the Lord of the Rings, or the CGI hero in the recent film version of The Hulk.
The chip, he said, means that within a few years the genres of film and video games will ‘fused and become indistinguishable.’”
BBC NEWS | Technology | Gamer buys $26,500 virtual land 12/17/2004
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BBC NEWS | Technology | Gamer buys $26,500 virtual land: “‘This is a historic moment in gaming history, and this sale only goes to prove that massive multi-player online gaming has reached a new plateau,’ said Marco Behrmann, director of community relations at Mindark, the game’s developer.
ISLAND PACKAGE
A unique castle (furniture not included)
Hunting
Mining rights
Taxation rights on hunting and mining activities
Income from the sale of land lots
The virtual island includes a gigantic abandoned castle and beautiful beaches which are described as ripe for developing beachfront property. “
This is a fascinating view of the world’s premiere videogame company… 11/14/2004
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This is a fascinating view of the world’s premiere video-game company, from the perpective of a college professor.
GameDAILY BIZ, the source for game industry profes… 11/02/2004
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GameDAILY BIZ, the source for game industry professionals.:
“McKool Smith contends that these 12 companies infringed on their patent, ‘Method and Apparatus for Spherical Planning,’ or patent 4,734,690. The patent was originally filed in March 1988 for a specific method of displaying 3-D images on a”
TCS: Tech Central Station | Serious Games, Serious Questions 10/25/2004
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TCS: Tech Central Station | Serious Games, Serious Questions:
“It’s said that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the battle of Zama, in 202 BC, in which the Romans decisively defeated the Carthaginians, lasted just a few hours. So which is someone more likely to play out, the building of the Roman Empire, which lasted many centuries, or the cool key battles? And so even if America’s Army seeks to fully explicate Army life, it will always default to compressing events. Otherwise, to take a somewhat absurd example, a potential recruit might have aged beyond Army age requirements while playing out his or her future billet as, say, a quartermaster or truck driver. It’s far too tempting to squeeze down on the boring stuff in order to allow more time for squeezing the trigger. “
Wireless data gamble | Newsmakers | CNET 09/22/2004
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Wireless data gamble | Newsmakers | CNET News.com:
“U.S. cell phone service providers, including Seven customers Cingular Wireless and Sprint, are counting on wireless data services like downloading games and movies to succeed in order to offset steep declines in the price of phone calls, their core product. That makes Sexton’s mission most critical.
Sexton recently talked with CNET News.com about kick-starting mobile data use in the United States, whether Wi-Fi phones are the answer and other topics.”
Wired News | The War Room: "For decades, the enter… 08/21/2004
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Wired News | The War Room: “For decades, the entertainment industry and the military were advancing the science of simulation on widely divergent tracks. The Pentagon focused on developing high-end proprietary systems like the Close Combat Tactical Trainer – a networked tank simulator that costs about 241 million – while game developers loaded 2449 first-person shooters with enough pixelated firepower to convey the dynamics of skeletal trauma and the physics of explosions in ever-closer-to-real time.
Those tracks converged at a 1996 workshop hosted by Michael Zyda, now the head of the simulation lab at the Naval Postgraduate School. Former Disney Imagineer Danny Hillis and Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull brainstormed about ‘experiential’ computing and electronic storytelling with representatives from Darpa, Intel and Industrial Light & Magic as well as the future head of ICT– a Paramount TV exec named Richard Lindheim. The papers from that workshop persuaded the Army to launch the Institute for Creative Technologies in 1999.”
"Ideas are like children… 08/13/2004
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“Ideas are like children; your own are always wonderful.”
-Anonymous
X-box 2 strategy? | gamesindustry.biz : "There are… 06/18/2004
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X-box 2 strategy? | gamesindustry.biz : “There are a number of reasons for Microsoft’s decision to bring about a swift end to the current-generation Xbox – which will have been on the market for under four years when its new younger sibling appears to usurp its position. The company’s continuing losses on Xbox hardware sales and resultant bleeding of investment in the current generation is something it would obviously like to stem as soon as possible; after all, while Nintendo and Sony are reaping huge profits from this generation, it’s easy to see why Microsoft, bleeding cash with every Xbox sold, would be champing at the bit in its eagerness to move on.”
The Undead Zone | Why realistic graphics make huma… 06/10/2004
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The Undead Zone | Why realistic graphics make humans look creepy | Clive Thompson: “Consider Alias, the new title based on the TV show. It’s a reasonably fun action-and-puzzle game, where you maneuver Sydney Bristow through a series of spy missions. But whenever the camera zooms in on her face, you’re staring at a Jennifer Garner death mask. I nearly shrieked out loud at one point. And whenever other characters speak to you– particularly during cut-scenes, those supposedly ‘cinematic’ narrative moments– they’re even more ghastly. Mouths and eyes don’t move in synch. It’s as if all the characters have been shot up with some ungodly amount of Botox and are no longer able to make Earthlike expressions.”
Eurogamer.net | Microsoft set to offer XNA technology to consumer electronics rivals 05/20/2004
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Eurogamer.net | Microsoft set to offer XNA technology to consumer electronics rivals: “Microsoft is essentially bored with the current obsession surrounding console cycles, and the obsolescence that happens every five years. It likes the way the film industry does things – the way that grand old business manages to seamlessly project movies into every conceivable corner of the market, from the box office to the handheld and every point in between. It wants gaming to follow the lead of the movies, and coin in the bucks that having invisible standards brings. “
