Short Films

Here are a few short films that I have found over the past few days.

The Ark Preview

Fallen Art

The Great Escape

Mega Man Slaying Zombies

Here's an interesting easter egg that is for the game "Dead Rising".

Game Theory and Electronic Markets

Computing Reviews is pleased to announce the release of its new Hot Topic, “Game Theory and the Design of Electronic Markets.” Hot Topics are a series of essays on emergent areas of computer science, and can only be read in the online version of Computing Reviews. To read our new Hot Topic, please click on:
http://www.reviews.com/hottopic/hottopic_essay_05.cfm

Written by Amy Greenwald of Brown University, this Hot Topic essay looks at e-commerce through the lens of game theory. Electronic markets, such as auctions, are dependent on multiple agents to achieve an outcome, and game theory studies how multiple agents make decisions. By applying game-theoretic principles to online financial transactions, the Hot Topic highlights both the shortcomings and possibilities of current electronic auctions, focusing specifically on eBay’s and Amazon’s consumer auctions, and Yahoo!’s and Google’s sponsored search auctions.

“Considering the popularity of online auctions and the revenue they generate, finding better ways of matching buyers with sellers will be vital to customers and auction sites,” says Mary-Lynn Bragg, Computing Reviews’ Community Ambassador. In the Hot Topic essay, Greenwald points to the Trading Agent Competition as a way to evaluate the strategies and designs of future electronic markets.

New artist focused community site called AREA

On August 22, 2006, Autodesk launched a community portal focused on artists and developers using Autodesk® 3D products called AREA (www.the-area.com). Initially, the site will focus on content created using Autodesk® Maya®, Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk® MotionBuilder™, or Autodesk® VIZ software products used in games, film, post production, or design visualization. Membership is free.

360 Sells out in Japan

Reports are flooding in saying that the 360 is starting to sell out in Japan. Not only does Xbox have some crazy adds, like this one...



They are also selling "World Cup" inspired 360s.

Delgine 3D Tools

Delgine just released version 1.5 of the DeleD 3D Editor A 3D modeling tool and a map builder at the same time. It also exports a Torque compatible .map file.

Mario as Never Seen Before

Here are two links of Mario as most of us have never seen.

Day in the Life of Mario
Mario Interactive

Protesting "Bully" for immorality?

With the release of "Bully", a new game from Rock Star Games, a group known as "PeaceOholics" were found in front of a Best Buy protesting the sale of this game. Not only are the parents of this organization are sending their kids to protest for them, they are also making a few demands for Rockstar.

Peaceoholics List of Demands for Rock Star Games

Not to release Bully under any circumstances

Volunteer to sell its violent and sexually explicit games in adult video stores only.

Let parents return Grand Theft Auto for a full refund until they do a national awareness campaign to educate parents of content and possible effects.

Create a fund for victims of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and car-jackings, etc.

Make a national apology for misleading and lying to children, parents, and legislators about their intentions and causing insurance premiums to sky rocket.

Give a written response within five business days of receipt of these demands.

Now I can understand their argument against selling "violent games" to minors. But why are they protesting only "Bully" and not "Halo", "Battlefield 2", and "Mario Cart Double Dash"?
Yes, I said Double Dash. Is not shooting "shells" at your target considered violent? Although this example is a very mild one, it is non-the less a violent one?
Here is the link to their protest

Halo 2 for Computer

Here is a link to game footage for the computer rendention of Halo.

Link

Oklahoma Senate OKs violent-games bill

The Oklahoma Senate on Monday unanimously approved a controversial bill that would make it a crime to sell violent video games to children under 18, according to The Oklahoman (registration required).

HB3004, by Senate Republican leader Glenn Coffee, adds violent video games to a list of products--including outdoor advertisements for sexually explicit businesses--described in Oklahoma state law as harmful to minors. Coffee said studies have shown that violent games can make kids more aggressive.

The bill passed 47-0 in the state Senate, but is being held on a motion to reconsider the vote within three legislative days before being sent back to the House to vote on Senate amendments.

Earlier this month, a federal judge overturned a Michigan law restricting the sale of violent video games, the most recent in a series of decisions that have gutted similar laws on free-speech grounds.

Link

Getting A Job In The Game Development Industry

"How do I get a job in the games industry?" I can't tell you how many times this question has crossed by desk. It's a good question, but how do you answer it? Every game developer I've met has a different story and I have yet to find two stories that are exactly alike. About the only thing that ties all of them together is a certain degree of good old-fashioned luck. Feelin' lucky? Hopefully this essay will give you some tips to help even the odds...

Audio Concentration Games

This "audio-only" version requires you to depend on your ears only. There is no text. There are no pictures.
Link

Sonic is back for Wii / PS3 / Xbox 360

Not only celebrating his 15th aniversary, Sonic is also celebrating a few new releases for the next gen consoles. Link for the Wii's and gameplay footage for the PS3 & 360.

Wii

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Super Mario Strikers Charged

GameTrailers.com gives us an extradinary look at Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii.

Brain Training Honored at EIEF

Nintendo's Brain Training not only continues to sell across the globe, but the game has been receiving accolades as well. In Europe this week the popular DS software was honored at the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival.

Having already sold more than 3 million copies in Japan and over 4 million worldwide, Nintendo's Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for the DS continues to impress. The sales pace in Europe in particular has been tremendous, where the game sold over 500,000 copies in just nine weeks (it took 16 weeks in Japan to reach 500K).

And it's in Europe that Nintendo's Brain Training (as they've labeled it there) has just put another feather in its cap. At the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) the game was bestowed the EIEF Edge Award, which is handed out by Edge magazine to a game that is truly creative and innovative.

Brain Training was voted number one from a list of just eight acclaimed titles, including Guitar Hero (PS2), Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), Electroplankton (DS), Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy here) (PC, PS2, Xbox), Amped 3 (Xbox 360), Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS), and Killer 7 (GCN, PS2).

Games for Blinds

Michael Feir is an avid gamer. He spent so much time playing games in college he created his own online gaming magazine. But Feir doesn't play the best-selling games and has never seen World of Warcraft -- he's blind.
Read more ...

PS3 & Stanford Working Together?

Stanford and Sony are teaming up for the medical industry to help fight sickness like cancer. By using the PS3's computing power, while not in use, Stanford researchers will be able to tap into the PS3's system and use its powerfully cell processors and the other resources. My only question is if Stanford and Sony will help pay my power bill.
Exactly how much will the PS3 be able to give to Stanford as far as resources go?
"100 gigaflop scale per computer"


Article Here
Resource Article Here

Miyamoto: Game Designers Have Hit a Dead End

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto (right) believes that many of today's game designers, including those at Nintendo, have hit a "dead end." He talks about how the game market "lost touch with the real world" and how that presented opportunities for Nintendo.
Read more ...

3D Camera

This is a fully functional camera that takes a real 3D image. (No, not those old school photos with the red and blue lines.) By using a laser radar camera, LADAR, the camera is able to measure the distance of the subject to accurately place the location of the pixel.

Here's a link to a photo taken by the camera.
Here's a link to the video conference presented by Google.com

GameCareerGuide.com

The editors of Gamasutra are pleased to announce the debut of a newsister site, Game Career Guide (http://www.gamecareerguide.com) -founded by the CMP Game Group (creators of Gamasutra, Game Developermagazine, and Game Developers Conference) specifically for students,aspiring students and educators in the game industry.

The site has expanded from the already successful education coverageon sister website Gamasutra, will run as a complement to the GameDeveloper magazine's annual Game Career Guide issue, and publishesdaily news and regular feature coverage on the cutting edge of gameindustry education.

GameCareerGuide.com also features an in-depth 'Getting Started' pageand a community section where students, potential students andeducators alike can discuss pertinent issues, and which will expandover the coming months to feature much greater communityinteractivity.

PSP and PS2 to go Pink?

Oh the humanity. Sony plans to do what most of us gamers never dreamed they would do, that is to go pink. Dan Hill, PS2 brand manager for Europe, had this to say "PlayStation 2 is the accessible, affordable way to enjoy new social, communal and interactive entertainment experiences, through software titles like SingStar, Buzz and EyeToy. The Pink PlayStation 2 is funky, fresh, and fashionable, and will further broaden the console's continuing popularity and relevance with a fun new twist".

Full article here

"Sony Claims PS3 Shortages are Inevitable"

"Less than three months before the scheduled tri-continent launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 console, SCEA president Kaz Hirai has stated that retail shortages in each territory are inevitable."

Full article here

Armored Core 4

GameTrailers.com provides us with a great look into the new game Armored Core 4.

Link to the previews here

Prison Break

Although this does not pertain to Simulations or Games, USA Today shows a great example of storyboarding for Fox's summer hit show, "Prison Break".



Article here

PS3 Dev Kit

Some lovely pics posted from Game Informer, showing off what the developer's kit for the PS3.
Link Here

PS3 User Interface Revealed

A lovely video was posted showing how the new PS3 user interface.
Link to the video here.

Wii to have free online game play

In a USA Today article, Reginald Fils-Aime, Nintendo's chief operating officer and president, is interviewed about the up comming release of the Wii. In the interview, not only does he mention about free online game play, he also talks about Nintendo's stand on "interactive game play" & how they are plaining to expand the Video Game industry.

Link to the article here.

BREAKING: Microsoft To Enable User-Created Xbox 360 Games

Talking on the eve of its Gamefest event in Seattle, Microsoft has revealed XNA Game Studio Express, a new product which will allow indie developers and students to develop simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PC, and share their games to others in a new Xbox 360 'Creators Club'.
Read more ...

The River City Project

As visitors to River City, students travel back in time, bringing their 21st century skills and technology to address 19th century problems. River City is a town besieged with health problems. Students work together in small research teams to help the town understand why so many residents are becoming ill. Through the affordances of the technology, students keep track of clues that hint at causes of illnesses, form and test hypotheses, develop controlled experiments to test their hypotheses, and make recommendations based on the data they collect.
Read more ...

Video Game Industry Overview 2005

Over the past two decades, the video game industry has rapidly advanced and become a valuable contributor to the entertainment consumption business. The estimated break-down of gamers in US households is 61% male and 39% female, with 47% of gamers between 13 and 24 years old, 30% between 25 and 39 years old; and 23% over 40 years old. The Industry Overview 2005 identifies the leisure time availability of gamers relative to their electronic related entertainment expenditures. The study further explorers platform ownership, and gameplay behavior through topics such as purchase behavior, genres played and preferred, gameplay volume, purchase drivers, rental and trade-in behavior.
Link

Xbox 360 Profitable in 2008

Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division President, Robbie Bach, has stated that the company expects the game division to turn a profit by the year 2008. To date, the company has lost an estimated $4 billion on the Xbox brand.
Read the Full Article

The New E3

E3 as we know it has been changed forever. While rumors of its death have been greatly exaggerated, it will no longer have the sprawling mass of people, lights and sound that come with a large trade show environment. Instead, it will be replaced by a series of focused meetings and press events. Read on for more details...
Read the Full Article