gaming

Aug 22 2008   5:54AM GMT

XNA Game Studio offers opportunities for developers — what about the gamers?

Posted by: Ivy Wigmore
Uncategorized, programming, Development, gaming

Ah, Pong. I pretty much understood that game. You may gather I’m not up to speed on the whole area. When it comes to gaming, I feel like Marge Simpson, asked what music she likes: Gaming is none of my business. Still, I think Microsoft’s move towards end-user programming is interesting. I’ll just leave it to wiser minds to evaluate the situation.

On Let’s Kill Dave, Dave Weller discusses what’s good and bad about Microsoft’s approach with XNA Game Studio:

Being an ex-XNA member, I can still say, without a shadow of doubt, that Microsoft is offering a groundbreaking game channel, and that some people stand a chance to make great money from the system. It’s an exciting opportunity, but the danger for consumers lies in Microsoft’s deliberate steps to avoid discussions regarding game quality, even during peer review. I firmly believe that avoiding commentary/ratings on game quality will result in frustrated consumers, who will have no way to discern the quality of a game among (ultimately) thousands.

Jun 27 2008   8:42AM GMT

Have you got your avatar yet? Gartner says you will.

Posted by: Ivy Wigmore
business, Web 2.0, new media, multimedia, culture, futurism, participation, interactive media, social networking, virtual reality, gaming, immersive 3D worlds, virtual worlds, predictions

It’s 2008. Do you know where your avatar is?

Only three years to get your avatar unless you want to be lumped in with the bottom 20% — by 2011, Gartner says that the vast majority of Internet users will have avatars to represent them online in various gaming and non-game virtual environments. Which, I guess, are expected to proliferate. The clock’s ticking — Gartner predicted that last year at their Symposium/ITxpo 2007 Emerging Trends.

And they aren’t talking about the 2D image that pops up beside your posts in forums. I mean, even I have one of those. And she’s cute, if a little on the flat side. But she’s no Lara Croft — her ass-kicking ability is extremely limited. And I can’t see the world from her perspective, in a 3-D immersive world.

I have friends in virtual worlds, have had invitations extended — but so far, I haven’t wandered into one. I completely understand the appeal. Wow — talk about a rich fantasy life! My stock response, though, is that I don’t have time for my first life, let alone a second one.

I guess I’m going to have to make time. According to Gartner and near-futurists such as Gerri Sinclair, more and more of our online activities will move to virtual environments and our interactions will be conducted by 3D representatives with all the capabilities we and others possess in the real world — and then some. Sinclair is executive director of the master’s degree program for digital media at the Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver and her students are creating a parallel virtual university.

Here’s an interview on MSDN’s Channel 10.

Apparently, the future of online interaction is going to be pretty much conducted by avatars, in 3-D surround everything. I was thinking about that — my worklife avatar would be plunked in front of a computer looking at a computer screen and my online leisure time avatar would best represent me by sitting around chatting in book store cafes. But then, I guess, “I” could wander over to the shelves and find something to read or go get some sprinkles on my latte…

Maybe it’s just a failure of imagination on my part. In a 3-D immersive world I can be and do — virtually — anything… Hmmm… Well, it looks like I’m going to get sprinkles on my latte. Then… on the way to the counter I feel inspired to… do a triple backflip. Hey! Perfectly executed — and not a drop spilled! Now I’m going to drink my coffee. For real.

~ Ivy Wigmore

Apr 11 2008   8:14AM GMT

Video: Internet addiction, measured with the K-scale

Posted by: Alexander Howard
video, YouTube, Internet, culture, trend, blogging, gaming

If you’re online for more than 30 hours of non-work surfing every week, experience withdrawal symptoms and find your relationships with friends, family and coworkers suffering, you might be an Internet addict. This video, hosted by Kimberly S. Young, introduces netaddiction.com. Young is the  founder of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. Take their Internet addiction test to see where your own usage rates.

Today’s Word of the Day, K-scale, or “Korean scale,” is a checklist used for diagnosing and evaluating Internet addiction.

Mar 14 2008   11:39AM GMT

Video: Scott Forstall demonstrates Touch Fighter at the Apple SDK launch

Posted by: Alexander Howard
Mobile, applications, news, programming, Apple, fun, video, YouTube, multimedia, cool, design, invention, event, downloads, Development, code, gadgets, buzz, interface, software development, display, geek, gaming

Two weeks and less than 10,000 lines of code result in this demonstration of a starfighter action game on an iPhone that takes advantage of the device’s accelerometer, touch screen and high contrast display. This is a great use of the interface and should inspire some creative thinking the software development community.

My immediate thought upon seeing Steve Forstall’s demo is that there could be a lot of flying iPhones, similar to the stories we’ve heard about the Wiimote. Remember those videos of plasma screens when the Wii debuted?

Now just imagine it’s a device that costs more than $500 direct from Apple in the U.S. and often much more than that in Europe.

That being said, I’m excited to see how software designers take advantage of that new Apple iPhone SDK.

That and Spore. Given more than two weeks to work on this game, I think this could be a killer gaming app for the device.