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CISCO Film Making Competition

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Are you a filmmaker who knows someone using digital technology in their home in an amazing way? Want to tell the world about it – in your native language? Cisco and Filmaka want you to make a film about a "Digital Crib" - a home that uses digital technology - and send it to us. 10 winners will receive $7500 USD and another 10 will win $5000. Winning Digital Crib clips will be placed on over 200 sites across the internet, for the whole planet to see! Submissions should be 3 minutes each, and in your native language and are due October 13 - go to www.filmaka.com/ciscodigitalcribs for more information!

The Feature Film contest's theme for September is "The First Day". Submissions must be 1 to 3 minutes long and must be uploaded by October 5, 24:00 PST. For more info visit www.filmaka.com/firstday

Get into the games industry workshop

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I'm organising a workshop on getting into the games industry. This workshop will be run in Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne in November 2008. It will be hosted by three senior games industry professionals, giving tips on applying for jobs, creating resumes and portfolios, and presenting yourself as best you can to potential employers. Online registration will be available for the workshop in the next few days.

Please visit the website for more information on the workshop and to register your interest if you would like to come along: www.levelup.com.au

Submitted by StephenWade on Sun, 14/09/08 - 2:42 PM Permalink

Sounds great - I can't make it to any of them though :( I suppose it's unavoidable that this is the case, but it does seem pricey ? A lot of people wanting to get into the games industry, by definition, haven't got jobs in the game industry (not to say that they don't have money or other jobs)...

Have you run any workshops like this before ? feedback from anyone who has attended would be good too ?

Submitted by compactjerry on Sun, 14/09/08 - 7:52 PM Permalink

It's a great idea but it does seem awfully pricey. I wouldn't consider attending such an expensive workshop unless you provided a fairly detailed run down on who the industry professionals are and what specifically each has to offer.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 14/09/08 - 9:38 PM Permalink

It may just be me, but wouldn't it be more pragmatic to set the Brisbane date closer to GCAP, where out-of-towners may be considering coming for the same reason?

There may be overlap, so like others have said - you would want to detail more specifically the benefits of coming to this course in the most honest way possible. Overinflation will ensure there's no year 2.

Submitted by OzGamesInsider on Mon, 15/09/08 - 9:57 AM Permalink

If this workshop does what it claims I don't think it's overpriced, it's good value if anything as it includes lunch and refreshments (personally I'd let people bring or find their own meal to keep the price down for students, and places like ACMI might give you free venue hire). Just an honest review of your portfolio from someone who knows what they are talking about is worth the price of entry, there are far too many grads/students out there who think they are God's gift because they have never heard a word of honest criticism in their life. However I am always very skeptical when people talk about their "experienced teams" but don't mention a single person by name. The web site talks about "a variety of workshops and seminar" but this seems to be the first and only one, so it really doesn't look very reputable... WhoIs says the site was registered by Penny Sweetser, and LinkedIn will tell you that a Penny Sweetser is (or was?) a Senior Game Designer at 2K as well as having a games-related PhD. I understand that you can't announce speakers until they confirm their availability but you really couldn't make this look more dodgy if you tried. Just bad timing on the announcement?

Submitted by OzGamesInsider on Mon, 15/09/08 - 10:01 AM Permalink

And, as I just noticed, Penny does say who she is if you look at her Tsumea profile - so I retract some of my comments! It would have been good to include that information in the post though, for unobservant people like me ;)

Submitted by levelup on Tue, 16/09/08 - 2:26 PM Permalink

Hi Guys!

Thanks for your feedback and questions. This is the first time we have run this workshop, so my apologies for not providing more specific details up-front. The workshop will be run by:

Penny Sweetser (Senior Designer)
Martin Slater (Lead Programmer)
Lorne Brooks (Senior Animator)

Unfortunately, the Brisbane workshop will not run this year, but we hope to run it early next year. The Melbourne workshop will run as part of IDEF and E-Games Expo, so hopefully that will make it more accessible to some of you.

I will post more details to the website soon and put up a post here to let you know that it is updated.

Thanks!
Penny.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 16/09/08 - 9:06 PM Permalink

Hi Penny.

I've haven't heard of the people you have listed I'm sorry. Could you please give a little bit more information on their background, the games they have worked on and the companies they have worked at and are currently working for. I'm sure they are talented people but that kind of information will help me in deciding whether or not I sacrifice food for the next month and live on MiGoreng noodles to hear what they have to teach me.

Cheers

Submitted by Murcho on Tue, 16/09/08 - 9:58 PM Permalink

Popping those names into google will tell you exactly where all the speakers are from, 2K Australia.

Penny has a book out called "Emergence in Games" which is all about designing games with emergent gameplay, and I've been to a talk of her's at AIE, so I can say on her count alone it's worth going to. From memory of her talk, she also used to work at "The Creative Assembly", where she worked on Medieval Total War 2, doing a wide range of things.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2007/11/21/2k_australias_martin_slater_d…

Here's a good article about the Bioshock Post-Mortem done by Martin Slater.

Oh and Lorne Brooks has his name all over the Bioshock credits, so I think all in all a solid team to give a talk on anything game related. :)

Submitted by levelup on Sun, 12/10/08 - 11:26 AM Permalink

Registrations for the Get in the Game! Workshops to be held at Canberra and Sydney will be closing this Friday, October 17.

Registrations for the Melbourne workshop will close on Friday, October 31.

Please visit the website to register: www.levelup.com.au

Submitted by levelup on Sat, 18/10/08 - 3:23 PM Permalink

The closing date for registering for the Get in the Game! workshop to be held at AIE Canberra on November 1 has been extended until October 27. Please visit the website for online registration: www.levelup.com.au

The Get in the Game! workshop to be held at AIE Sydney on November 8 has been cancelled.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 19/10/08 - 8:58 AM Permalink

Depends on the event I imagine.

On the right hand side is a list of different events, under a blue background section. Click on the event and it'll show you more info.

For example for the melbourne event the costs are :
* $125 for AIE students
* $175 for all other students
* $250 for everyone else

Want to help playtest my TF2 level?

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Hi folks!

A while ago I made a post with a similar request, that all went arse up as I ended up around Europe for a couple of months before I could get my work to a quality I was happy with. So, without further delay...!

Here are some Work in Progress shots of my level, cp_great_heights.

CP_Great_Heights is a one round, CP map. Setup in Gravel Pit fashion with 2 primary CP's to capture before the last. As the name implies, it's an uphill battle for Blu from the very beginning, but to alleviate that uphill march, there are some bonuses awarded to them for capturing A and B!

Due to most of my TF2 "life" being spent in Canada, I don't have many friends on my steam account who're from Australia - so I'm looking for people who may be interested in playtesting this weekend (preferably Saturday night). I'm trying to garner as much interest as possible, to establish whether it's worth renting a server for a month. So...

Are you interested in playing? If so, please post here or preferably: Add me to Steam!

Even though it's WIP, I hope it interests you!

Great Heights 001

Great Heights 002

Submitted by StephenWade on Sun, 14/09/08 - 2:42 PM Permalink

I would .... if I played TF2 ....

I think i remember playing the original quake team fortress back in the late 90's/early naughties when i had more spare time :D

level does look interesting though, did/do you have a specific method for your design, was it shaped/characterised by the nature of play of TF2 or done ad hoc ? Sadly i'm a bit of an academic, so i always want to know what ppl think and how they go about doing things ...

Submitted by Kris on Tue, 16/09/08 - 3:49 PM Permalink

Always designing for the game at hand, but wanted to add some element to differentiate it from the rest of the levels, so in came the vertical aspect. It's primarily ad-hoc, paper designs can only help to a certain extent :)

Playtest on Saturday was excellent, around 20 people showed up. There will be continual playtests every Wednesday and Saturday evenings so if anyone is interested, there's still time to jump in.

Submitted by Bittman on Mon, 29/09/08 - 4:59 PM Permalink

Hey Kris, looks very pretty. I'd love to give it a try (add me in case I forget to add you - "bittman")

I'm also trying to use the Hammer editor to get up a map or two for my portfolio, I'd love to see the source files out of interest while I'm still learning.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 30/09/08 - 5:29 PM Permalink

Cheers Bittman,

We have a playtest tonight, 9pm EST - come check out the new Payload version of the map. I restarted the level from scratch - we tested it last Wednesday for around 3 hours (14 people) and it went really well.

More info here: http://triggerthis.net/preplayinfo.html

Here's a snippet from the latest additions to the level...

CRANKING THE VALVE

This new gameplay element to Great Heights, gives Blu not only a second path to cross over the Icy Bridge, but also gives them a second means of pushing the Cart. Once the Cart starts its path up the Icy Bridge, Blu will be able to crank the valve positioned underneath the bridge. This valve acts in the same way standing around the Cart would do: the more players present, the faster it cranks (thus the faster the Cart moves!)

Red team will need to defend both the Icy Bridge and its underpass, currently the visual cue is minimal but effective: there is a large red cog at the start of the Icy Bridge, if you see this moving, Blu players are underneath the bridge cranking the valve.

3D printing Website

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http://www.shapeways.com/

A great little site that allows you to upload your own 3D models to be printed into real life versions !
They charge by how much material is used so it may be wise to hollow out the interior of it to save money. Also all meshes must be water tight no gaps in the mesh at all.

Here is a promotional video on how its done http://gizmodo.com/5041836/shapeways-allows-you-to-materialize-any-3d-o…

Here are some really interesting designs people have printed.
Flexiable mesh http://www.shapeways.com/model/3302/flexmesh.html
Interlocking sphere http://www.shapeways.com/model/776/starfish_orb.html

OR

a Teapot that neffy had printed her self for $19.94 (many lawls)
http://www.shapeways.com/model/3966/utah_teapot.html
I choose the transparent material and another in a solid material ($13.46) is in the post right now. The lid was too thin and warped a little during printing but it still sits on top nicely.
It has a bottom but the material is really really see through in that part =D

Its so cute ^_^

Submitted by Johnn on Thu, 11/09/08 - 3:08 PM Permalink

What an awesome service! Thanks for posting the link Neffy. Your teapot made it onto their front page too :D

Hug a developer today

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Submitted by redwyre on Wed, 10/09/08 - 5:34 PM Permalink

I'm disappointed. I thought this was going to be about hugging game developers, like Neffy. :(

Submitted by souri on Wed, 10/09/08 - 7:15 PM Permalink

As a web designer / developer, I've had my fair share of "meetings".

There was this time when our project manager grabbed a few of the team for yet another meeting, and one of the asp / database programmers who was a bit fed up with it all told us beforehand to "just nod, don't say anything, otherwise it's going to draw out the meeting for hours", since that particular project manager had a tendency to question everything or request an explanation for even the most simple or mundane things.

So that's what we did. We answered in shrugs and nods, or a one word response if we couldn't help it, all in the midst of chuckles and death stares (to each other in case someone broke the rule - especially after the project manager would ask a question that needed a long explanation). The project manager caught on, but hey, we did get out a lot earlier :D

Submitted by souri on Wed, 10/09/08 - 8:42 PM Permalink

I'm sure there's plenty of male developers that you can hug instead. Doesn't Kezza work just over your shoulder? XD

You know what you need to do now.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 10/09/08 - 8:51 PM Permalink

Every place has their dramas. Anyone who's worked in an office knows that office dramas happen all the time. It's the reason why The Office and the Office Space movie is so popular!

Submitted by souri on Mon, 15/09/08 - 11:46 PM Permalink

I had a workmate who used to have nap times in the office, just like George Costanza! He'd curl under the desk and tell me to wake him up in another hour. XD

Not sure how anyone can get a nap in a busy office, but he did fine.

Submitted by Bittman on Mon, 29/09/08 - 4:56 PM Permalink

Holy crap, welcome to my job! D=

I'm using Adobe Flex this week...still don't know why, I JUST AM!

Come onnnnnnnn Game job...oh wait, this'll probably/definately happen there too...

Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games

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Ok, this seems to be doing the rounds on various news sites, so I'll post it here if anyone hasn't seen it. It looks pretty spectacular, but what they're sorta not telling you in that article is that only the facial area is computer generated. They filmed an actress, scanned her facial expressions, and plonked it straight back on her face.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article455793…

Higher-res video here:
http://www.awntv.com/videos/image-metrics-emily-project

They claim it's a leap over the uncanny valley problem, but it's a sort of a cop-out solution I think, since they're basically scanning a face and rendering it again.

It reminds me, Team Bondi has some facial scanning technology that they've patented (revealed in a job news item). Would be curious to see that when L.A Noire sees its release.

Submitted by StephenWade on Tue, 19/08/08 - 8:10 PM Permalink

Well, it's not as 'non-trivial' as you might expect.

Detecting common features from a 'transient' image (like video) and then using those features as 'markers' from one frame to a next, then mapping both the geometric data and then the texture data onto the geometry (rather than motion capture, which has physical markers present in the image data to do all this) is a pretty cool little application of transform methods and signal processing. What benefits this has would depend on the system of capture used, how much data you can collect and process etc etc

I'm certain it has been covered in research already. However, obviously there are many ways to implement it an 'image metrics' is simply one system devised for this purpose. I really would have to take a closer look at it to work out whether it gets my tick of approval or not.

Submitted by Johnn on Thu, 21/08/08 - 9:53 AM Permalink

I just had a quick look a the footage. Her face looks heavily botoxed or something! Especially on the cheeks when the face smiles. Not Quite there yet i think.

Submitted by DaneORoo on Thu, 21/08/08 - 3:20 PM Permalink

God dammit, why are Pixar the only people who seem to be able to do eyes properly?

Her face smiles, but her eyes don't. It's missing all those slight varied tiny movements our eyes make that we don't notice. You do however notice those movements once they're gone.

The material and the render is actually epic though, just the eyes and the lips really ruin the animation for me.

Dane Brennand - Texture Artist

Submitted by StephenWade on Fri, 22/08/08 - 5:15 PM Permalink

They are saying that this is what the technology is supposed to capture; a more 'continual' and subtle control over the movements and expressions - that is eyelids, lips, etc. I think as far as digital processes go it's a leap forward. It's not very realistic, (try watching it with the sound turned off!) however the speed and cost with which they can produce the quality shown is pretty awesome.

Digital solutions become cheaper and cheaper as time goes on, so this method of image capture and processing is going to be the status quo soon, even if it might be considered non-comparable to some other current methods that require more human/analogue control at the moment. What we *should* compare it to is the old methods of capture and purely digital-recreation ... which are pretty crap.

You Can Teach Yourself Animation

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Hey all! I've recently set up some thoughts of mine on Learning Animation and Breaking into the industry. I grew up in Australia and taught myself to animate. I'm currently a Senior Animator at LucasFilm Animation (working on the Clone Wars) and felt this was a good time to share my experiences.

www.thebeesneezeanimation.com

Thanks for taking a look! Hopefully its helpful to anyone trying to break into animation!

Shawn (o o)

LivePlace - photo realistic virtual world rendered in the cloud

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Anyone checked this out yet? Seems pretty interesting. It looks like the virtual space is heating up with Google trying their hand at Google Lively, Sony with Home, and now LivePlace (which seems to have been started up by Myspace co-founder, Brad Greenspan).

What's even more interesting, other than the pretty graphics, is that it'll all be rendered in the cloud. The plan is for it to stream right into your browser - you don't need to download any file or even a plugin. It sure is going to be a bandwidth killer though!

More info here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/11/liveplace-to-launch-photo-realisti…

IGDA Perth: GO3 Social Event

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Time / Date: 6:15pm - 8:30PM; Saturday, 2nd August, 2008
Location: Metro Bar, Medina Hotel - Opposite the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre

The IGDA Perth Chapter is hosting a social event to coincide with the end of the GO3 Conference. Come and mingle with conference delegates, sponsors and exhibitors from the GO3 Electronic & Entertainment Expo and Conference. We will be serving some cocktail food and there will be a cash bar.

For information on future and past IGDA Perth events, visit: http://www.igda.org/perth/
Subscribe to our mailing list on the website to be notified of future events.

IGDA Perth: Jayeson Lee-Steere, Technical Director - EA Florida

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Time / Date: 7:00pm 'til late; Tuesday, 29th July, 2008
Location: The Velvet Lounge, 639 Beaufort St Mt Lawley (behind The Flying Scotsman)

This is another IGDA meeting not to be missed! We have Jayeson Lee-Steere, Technical Director from EA Florida flying into Perth to present exclusively for the IGDA. Jayeson will be presenting "The Challenges of Next Generation Hardware" which will cover the key insights he has learned in his 4 years at Electronic Arts, working on EA's next-generaton AAA sports games. As usual, the event will feature a raffle for some incredible prizes from our good friends at GameTraders, countless networking opportunities, and a fully stocked bar. Jayeson's career is full of highlights. After studying for some time at UWA, he set up a small studio in Perth porting some high-profile titles to Dreamcast but was then lured by the bright lights of Electronic Arts, where he has held a number of roles including Senior Lead, R&D Software Engineer and currently Technical Director.

"Max Payne" movie trailer released

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Submitted by StephenWade on Sun, 27/07/08 - 2:07 PM Permalink

There's three bad things about this I can come up with off the top of my head.

I've never really been a big fan of Mark Wahlberg in action flicks. Secondly, it has some R'n'B dude in the cast, which is never a good sign. Thirdly the only writing credit Sam Lake got was for characters (the guy who write max payne the game).

I can only hope that by some miracle this movie can buck the trend of the often poor execution of a game-film medium crossover

Submitted by souri on Mon, 28/07/08 - 12:38 PM Permalink

It looks ok. I thought the plot and premise of the Max Payne games were ok, but never thought it would make the translation to an exciting movie. Will have to see how the reviews pan out.

Submitted by StephenWade on Fri, 08/08/08 - 8:40 PM Permalink

plot and premise were 'ok' ?

crikey that's a bit harsh! Admittedly, you could tell that they were really pushing the narrative and making it a focal point, and hence it's easy to be overly critical of it, ESPECIALLY given how hyped it was at the time...

but merely 'ok' ?

man Souri, you must've got more cynical since I last saw ya in 2003 (i think hehe)

The Dark Knight *spoilers*

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So who's seen it, and what did you think?

Submitted by Bittman on Mon, 21/07/08 - 3:48 PM Permalink

Don't need to see anything else for the rest of the year. Thanks Batman for being awesome! =D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 21/07/08 - 4:21 PM Permalink

Heath did a great job. It's unfortunate that he will not be able to reprise the role.

and the 'Magic Trick' He did was awesome!

Submitted by souri on Mon, 21/07/08 - 4:43 PM Permalink

I think one thing that I needed to get used to straight away was the fast editing that was happening throughout the entire movie. Did anyone else notice this or was it just me? It felt like watching an MTV music video clip for a whole movie.

Many scenes just never had the chance to rest. No time for a rolling camera sequence to show we're jumping to a new location, no time for a shot of that actor reflecting and whatnot, it was straight onto the next scene, then the next. I'm not a director or even know anything about directing, but it felt they were really trying to squeeze things down as much as they could, to the detriment of the movie I think. There was a scene where they were on a luxury boat, and I think that honestly lasted for about 6 seconds total.

I know the movie was two and a half hours long, and if they could take their time with scenes, it could have easily went over 3 hours, but perhaps there were sections of the movie that could've got the chop instead.

Anyway, I loved it. I came in with high expectations, and came away satisfied. Heath was great - the first bit that majorly impressed me was the first camcorder tape that they showed with him and that hostage. His voice acting and laugh was just damn perfect. The guy that played Two Face was also excellent too.

Oh, I had one gripe about the movie. I wish I didn't see the damn trailer where the joker says "Evening, Commissioner". I had assumed that was to Gordon, but in the movie he was dead but I kept wondering why the Joker would say that later on unless he was still alive. :/ So yeah, that surprise was sorta ruined. Oh, another gripe was these godamn teens about 6 rows back making stupid noises and being general asshats. If only they were a bit closer, I woulda got up and yelled at them or something :/

Submitted by StephenWade on Sun, 27/07/08 - 2:12 PM Permalink

haha - I suffered the same problem with teens the row right behind me.

And Aaron Eckhart played two-face ... did a good job considering I can't think of a single bit of work he's done that is memorable/likeable.

I agree, it felt like there was way too much crammed into a small time, maybe because it was trying to tell a batman story, and a harvey dent story in the same movie, but separately?

... Who knows, it was damn good anyway !

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 27/07/08 - 8:46 PM Permalink

I found it really good.
It was quite long though.
But it didn't suffer from a stretched out story IMO.

I had a kid in the row behind me. He was about 10 from what I could tell.

It makes me think about what age should kids be able to watch these kinds of shows?
I suppose I was watching the same kind of things at his age though :)

Submitted by ScottS on Mon, 28/07/08 - 1:47 PM Permalink

I just saw this at IMAX, damn good movie, the Joker was excellent. At first I thought people were just praising Heath Ledgers performance out of sympathy, turns out he really was brilliant. I loved the Jokers mannerisms and sense of humor (The disappearing pencil).

Submitted by MrEeMan on Fri, 08/08/08 - 3:38 PM Permalink

It was pretty bad.
The Joker was great, but I didn't enjoy all the superhero cliches. I had watched Batman Begins the previous night, and that was very grounded for a superhero movie. I could tell that The Dark Knight was trying to be grounded, while 'taking it up a notch'. The bat cycle was stupid, as were many of the chase sequences. How can Batman fall from a building while holding a woman, land on a car and just get up?

Where did all that explosive come from in order to blow up the hospital?

The ferry scene was a bit of a letdown and the last half seemed very rushed. Dont even get me started on the stupid phone sonars, and Bale's guttural growl, even when it was not warranted.

I'm sorry, if you want your movie to be gritty and realistic, do it that way. This just ended up being a step toward Batman and Robin.

It was just an average superhero movie, I rate Ironman much higher (purely because it wasn't trying to be anything rather than a fun movie with an interesting 'hero').

I am eagerly awaiting Watchmen.

The End.

Submitted by Kanga on Sat, 09/08/08 - 11:59 AM Permalink

Looks like the movie company purchased an old building (scheduled for demolition?) and blew it up with a lot of camera angles.

Also, seeing the Joker dressed up in the nurses uniform was freaky. lol.

Submitted by Soul on Sat, 09/08/08 - 8:23 PM Permalink

Can't say I'm looking forward to Watchmen - Zack Snyder (the director) hasn't exactly got a great record of character dramas... 300? Dawn of the Dead?? This is not a good thing.

Although I will confess that the *look* of the movie, from the trailers, is spot on.

-Soul

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

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http://www.drhorrible.com

Watch it now, before it goes away!

Submitted by MrEeMan on Fri, 08/08/08 - 3:45 PM Permalink

It is great :)

I might have to get the DVD when it comes out. I loved the at the end of the second act.

The ending was a bit odd though, he didnt seem to have much remorse, though I suppose he IS Dr. Horrible (PhD).

The End.

Flagship Studios closes up?

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Just saw this on various news sites. wow, what a bummer. It seems like the shit has really hit the fan though. I mean, when a company goes down, this is probably one of the worst case scenarios. Legal battles, loss of all I.Ps, entire staff let go, and a promising title (Mythos) is up in the air.

http://www.flagshipped.com/2008/07/11/flagship-has-been-flagshipped

Flagships's Community Manager, Taylor Balbi, has revealed, through sources, that all Ping0 and Flagship Studios staff have been made redundant. Employees were notified at a company meeting and subsequently informed that the offices will be officially closed on Saturday. Balbi went on to reveal that three of the studio's top brass dug into their own pockets to provide 30 days of pay to all employees.

So disgruntled ex-Blizzard guys leave to forge a new company to hopefully gain the same heights, but after one decent albiet flawed game, have gone belly up. There's no doubt they've gone some really talented people there, but heck, even I've heard about the problems and glitches that game has been having since launch. The GDAA had Dave Glenn (Art Director at Flagship) down for Game Connect: Asia Pacific who did a great presentation on Hellgate: London, and he used to do art on Diablo, so it's a shame to know that he's probably out of a job right now. I'm sure he'll find another studio to work for without a problem, though.

I haven't played the game, however. RPG's and all that aren't really my thing.

Submitted by StephenWade on Mon, 14/07/08 - 11:19 AM Permalink

Well I hadn't played Hellgate : London but from what I saw it didn't look too bad, and I had thought that it was unlikely such an experienced group of people would make such a great mess. Shows that it can happen to anyone though, which is kind of scary in some ways, and kind of re-assuring in another :)

Obviously though, this still points to there being some serious issues with the funding model and what kind of wealth and security a fledgling developer can build.

Submitted by MrEeMan on Fri, 08/08/08 - 3:49 PM Permalink

The gameplay was very lackluster. I participated in the beta and even a week before the game was to be released, it wasn't exactly fun to play. It was pretty much Diablo without as much variation.

The game really excited me initially, and the potential was there, but I think the setting and gameplay were too bland. Another example that grey games are boring.

I also think the Halloween release date was too soon for the game, but was chosen for the marketing appeal.

The End.

Stephan Conroy on Q&A next week.

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Hi All,

I've just been watching Q&A on ABC and it appears that Stephan Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, will be on the panel next week. I think this is a fantastic opportunity to hound him with questions regarding tax breaks for the Australian game industry.

You can:
Email questions to the show on the front page of http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/
SMS the question to 197 55 222
Find some way to get into the studio audience!

Lets hope for the best!

Diablo III

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I'm surprised no one is talking about it here, but hot damn, Diablo III sure looks pretty nifty.

I never got into Diablo II much at all, and probably won't get this game (Hack 'n slash RPG's are really not my type of game), but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the artwork and detail that Blizzard put into this game. Just watching this 20 minute gameplay footage, you get to see some of really small details which are really cool (like things falling off the ledge when you hit the wall hard etc). The art style and 3D is amazing. I thought Blizzard had a mass exodus of key people a few years ago? It certainly hasn't hurt them.

Submitted by ScottS on Wed, 02/07/08 - 12:59 PM Permalink

Yeah this looks great, I do play Diablo and Diablo2 occasionally and a few other Hack and slash rpgs like Dungeon siege so I'll definitely give this a try.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 02/07/08 - 5:30 PM Permalink

What the? They're saying it looks too colourful and cartoonish (like World of Warcraft) and not dark enough like Diablo II :/

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/07/diablo_fans_petition_against_dia…

I'm a bit perplexed, since I am totally diggin the art style. WOW is pretty cartoony with hand painted textures and the design of the models, but I wouldn't say this game is in that style at all.

This probably goes back to the "where's the colour" issue, but I'm starting to think that gamers really do just want dark games in shades of brown and grey.

Here are some photoshops from the petition..

http://i32.tinypic.com/2zqr9yx.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/2jexp1x.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/vep6ix.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/frostwake/Diablo32.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/frostwake/Diablo31.jpg
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/1681/1214657022122wu5oq6.jpg
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7807/itshouldrh5.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/my.php?image=makeluvnotwarcraftzs3.jpg
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6065/howitshouldlooklikevx5.jpg

To me it looks like they just wanna do away with all the coloured lighting, increase the contrast, decrease the saturation a heck of a lot, and then throw in some grainy video processing on top.

Submitted by Adromaw on Wed, 02/07/08 - 7:39 PM Permalink

For what it is as it is, we need games with their own style and direction to offset the strive for photo-realism herd.

And I have no interest in what some noob does with 5 seconds of sharpen + noise. Photomanip and I'd possibly listen, but they didn't really re-texture the screenshots in any real way.

I like the fact that they didn't hype up the game in the presentation of gameplay and gave a good this is simply it, how we are taking diablo further, hope you like it honest guy approach.

The community needs to shut up on this one and appreciate its beauty. This comes from a critical gamer who usually finds ways of being readily bored with the majority of titles and sees nothing but faults. >.> I particularly grew to despise WoW rapidly and most of the titles I own from other companies are gathering dust and scratches.

But this peaked my interest.

Submitted by ScottS on Thu, 03/07/08 - 3:48 PM Permalink

These people are morons, as if the colour is going to somehow effect gameplay. Half the reason the original Diablo's looked so gritty was due to low res graphics and low colour depth. I'm starting to think people really dont want anything slightly different, just the same crap over and over.
I bet developers find it depressing when this is the sort of shit their community comes up with, whiny nit-picking. I suppose to placate the whingers they could just add some sort of colour-desaturation post process effect and let whoever wants it, switch it on.

Submitted by compactjerry on Thu, 03/07/08 - 6:09 PM Permalink

I'm totally pumped for this game. Big d2 fan and think d3 looks really good. The art style is great, honestly I don't get what all the whining is about. One of the advantages of blizzard games is they've always run very well on low end pc's, when you consider how few polygons go into each WoW model it looks pretty darn impressive. This one will be no differnt.

Can't wait :D

Submitted by souri on Fri, 04/07/08 - 6:39 AM Permalink

Kotaku had a recent news item showing some new screens from "This is Vegas" which shows off some colours in a real world game.

http://kotaku.com/5021662/new-this-is-vegas-screen-shots-display-a-dist…

Granted, the game is based in Vegas, so they pretty much really need to have things bright and colourful, but it's good to see some colour around! I mean really, do Diablo fans really want this??

http://i27.tinypic.com/2jexp1x.jpg

To me, the after picture is pretty much just monochrome. Anyway, the murmurs and guesstimates around the internets are that the levels shown off in the demo are one of the earlier levels in the game. The more hellish levels and darker levels are presumably less colourful and more drab.

Speaking of things that are colourful..

Submitted by StephenWade on Thu, 10/07/08 - 10:42 AM Permalink

I remember a similar uproar about a game's art design not that long ago, but I'm struggling to recall what it was. Oh that's right - the Duke Nukem Forever teaser thingo that came out last year ... granted it did look rather drab. I wonder if it's becoming a problem for developers that supposed 'fans' (read : army of whingers) are very willing to generate negative press before a game has even been released.

Submitted by tojo on Tue, 15/07/08 - 9:50 PM Permalink

i bought the diable battle chest last week (diablo,diablo2,diablo lord of destruction expansion)... and although i think diablo 3 looks f***ing awsome .. i was one of those whingey dudes.. who voted it should be a tad darker... and be more in tune with older versions...

i really liked the whole lighting around the character thing ...

i dont really care that much though.... would only be a lighting change... not like it would set them back 2 years in production or anything..

i think it looks awesome and cant wait to play it..

Submitted by MrEeMan on Fri, 08/08/08 - 3:43 PM Permalink

I think it looks great as it is. Any attempt to darken it will only serve to make it more generic. I agree with the designers at Blizzard, dull looking games are boring to play.

That said, they did say in an interview that there would be a large variety of areas in the game, including some darker areas.

The End.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 08/08/08 - 3:49 PM Permalink

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/08/diablo_iii_art_director_quits_ga…
http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/08/blizzard_looking_for_new_diablo_…

The Art Director has quit, but it looks like he was interested in pursuing his own (non-game related) start up rather than because of fan based backlash on the Diablo III art style. Previous to this, Blizzard said they're happy with the colourful art style and don't plan on changing it.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 26/11/08 - 4:32 PM Permalink

Folks should just get over themselves. The game world looks amazing and unbelievably detailed. Totally works for me as a Diablo Fanboi

where is EA games Melbourne

Forum

Does anybody know anything about the Melbourne studio for EA games? I could be completely mental, but there doesn't seem to be any information regarding the studio on the EA website.
Any contact details would be fantastic, a phone number or an email address if anybody knows them? Or even just some general information like location, how long they've been around etc.
Thanks!

Submitted by souri on Sun, 29/06/08 - 8:23 PM Permalink

They had the odd job opening in 2006, and then a dozen or so openings late last year. I don't think I've ever came across their business address details - if you wanted to apply, you'd use their job form.

They're sponsors of Sumea / tsumea, and I do have their phone and HR contact details although I'm not sure if I can pass that along (some studios don't like being called up about job applications etc). I've been meaning to do an interview with them for a long while now (I've got a huge list of things that need doin :( ), so hopefully I can get that done soon.

What do you need to contact them for?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 30/06/08 - 12:52 AM Permalink

They are located next door to Krome on Queens Rd.

jobs are applied for through the EA Website.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 30/06/08 - 9:36 AM Permalink

There were a lot of jobs listed for EA Melbourne at jobs.ea.com around February/March but there doesn't seem to be any up there now.

Submitted by Pandah on Mon, 30/06/08 - 7:11 PM Permalink

I have applied for a job recently, but received no notification of them receiving it, not even an auto-mated response.
I would be most interested in having an email address, because I appreciate that contacting them by phone in reference to an application, before they've contacted me, isn't professional. It's such a perfect job which is advertised I'm very keen to find out if the ad is still relevant and if my application has been received, before I accept a position elsewhere. I know some companies are fairly relaxed about the employment opportunties they advertise and keeping them relevant. Is it fair to assume that EA being highly professional would not have out of date ads?

Of course I'm mostly interested in finding out more about the studio. Isn't it unusual that they don't have their own web portal? Pandemic's website makes only a small reference to the Melbourne studio and there's no information (as far as I'm aware, I could be wrong) on the EA jobs website. Do you know which titles have they developed in the past?

Also on the same sort of mystery developer topic, I had a friend tell me that they knew someone doing QA testing work at Nintendo in Melbourne. There isn't a Nintendo dev studio here is there? Could it have been localization testing perhaps? I am probably going to ask my friend about their potential drug habits, because it sounds like crazy talk to me.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/07/08 - 9:36 AM Permalink

Hey, is it so strange that they may have filled their jobs? They attract unsolicited inquiry from professionals globally. Go for the other jobs.
If they wanted to talk to you, you know they would have called you. Maybe another opportunity with them may come up but don't sit around holding your breath on the off chance. Geez, this is like dating advice. Its like those american teen movies where a girl has a crush on the football jock and won't look at anyone else...

Submitted by Pandah on Wed, 02/07/08 - 11:44 AM Permalink

hahah I've had three interviews and a job offer in this week? I was merely inquiring what state their Melbourne studio is in, since there's no information available online. Where's the harm in doing all you can when applying for a position, or at least learning as much about the place as possible?
One of the golden rules of job searching is the follow up call, not only does it attach a real person to the application they also get to hear my sexy voice.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Submitted by Pandah on Thu, 17/07/08 - 12:08 AM Permalink

No it wasn't EA, but thank you. I'm looking forward to starting my new job next week!
For future reference I have finally received an automated notification email, almost a month after applying, stating that there are reasons for the delay in the process. I still don't know anything about the studio other than it's location though... it's all very mysterious

Submitted by bonusuk on Thu, 17/07/08 - 12:46 AM Permalink

There didn't seem anything mysterious about it when I applied.

They offered me a job and I fly out from the UK on the 25th to start there.

Obviously I wont be able to say anything about it either having not started yet though. That's not to say I could or would be allowed to say anything about it even after I start either, but there's nothing suspicious as far as I could tell.

Developer desktops are comin back

Forum

Ok, a long time ago, we tried to get a new thing happening on Sumea called Developer Desktops.

http://www.tsumea.com/australasia/australia/news/050807/developer-deskt…

I'll be bringing them back and making them a fortnightly thing on tsumea. They'll have their own section on the site, but they'll be something interesting for the site. If any developer here wants to volunteer a picture of their desktop (800px × 524px jpg), then shoot me a private message.. otherwise I'll just go hound your workplace management >:D

some interesting links

Forum

Just posting some links to some interesting articles I've bookmarked recently..

"Tecmo seems fucked".
Hard to imagine such a high profile developer doing that to its employees, but I guess it happens even to the best of them. But when you have the entire development company (minus management) kicking a huge stink, that Kotaku title seems appropriate. http://kotaku.com/5017065/tecmo-employees-sue-tecmo-tecmo-seems-fucked

"Who stole all the colours from games?"
This is an article which David Hewitt would appreciate more developers start reading about.

The article writer has the opinion that it's all because of teenage boys.. "I think that publishers have convinced developers that the game buying public is composed almost entirely of teenage boys.

...(they) want "mature" titles and someone told them that mature meant dark, dank and bloody." http://www.quietbabylon.com/2008/05/30/who-stole-all-the-colours

"We were torturing Vancouver studio"
EA CEO admits that the Vancouver Need For Speed team has been working for eight consecutive years on a 12 month development cycle. O_O I wonder if anyone managed to stay on there for the eight years :D It reminds me of the time I looked through some game developer's portfolio who had worked on Madden NFL for yonks. He had picture after picture of Madden NFL game covers in his portfolio page.

I've been following the Need for Speed games for a long while, and it's obvious that the team behind the series is a damn talented one. The Underground series was really good, Most Wanted was brilliant, but Carbon and Pro Street? They looked great, but it didn't appeal to me as much as Most Wanted. Anyway, they're going to try a two year development cycle. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/riccitiello-we-were-torturing-van…

"UK Games Industry Over the Hill?"
The UK is falling behind in coding skills because Universities aren't up to scratch, and because the youngins aren't being brought up coding / hitting the hardware like they used to with computers like Amiga / Atari ST. I had this exact conversation with a programmer friend of mine years ago. It explains why so many have difficulty with programming the PS3, he says, whereas people who coded on the Amiga/ST find PS3 programming a breeze. Anyway, a great read.
http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/06/19/1719206.shtml

Submitted by Adromaw on Sat, 21/06/08 - 11:39 AM Permalink

I was reading the who stole the colours one. Not all the points given are agreeable or seemingly strong from a general reader and casual market customer point of view. The real conflict is between drab and bright. Then, smackus uses screenshots of Super Mario 64 to show us what a colourful game could look like. As if that was the last example of bright palettes in gameplay. As if Super Mario Galaxy didn’t just come out.-Tim Maley


I'd say that Mario Galaxy was a weak point due to the fact that both titles are developed by Nintendo EAD - a stronger point would have put forward a title from a different developer to illustrate that colourful titles are being made across the industry in present times. But that might just be because I was reading it as an article and not a conversational.

Certainly he redeemed it by supplying a bunch of links to examples after, but after is a little late in the mind of a reader. Definitely when talking about the gaming industry where they often say that you have to hold your customers attention span (n) seconds (not minutes) and provide the next hit or it's bust. Plenty of gamers read reviews and even opinions these days as they want to know what hints are to the next big thing.

I'd also not consider the Metroid example as entirely valid. Just my personal opinion, as there was really only 4 or 5 identifiable significant colours and or values. The palette was quite limited looking, the world was I must observe rather bland, but the point of the use of colour in that game I do realise was to draw the players attention to what mattered. Though solely from the presented footage, not from actually ever playing it.

And sins of a solar empire, while it has colour, again is rather muted and washed out with highlights for that spark of interest here and there.

Gears of War and Jerico were pretty depressing in the colour department, but then again that actually suited the game. As boring as it looked, colour can be a spoken language and I'd wager that the happy go lucky I love everyone rainbows wouldn't fit in a serious it is do or die story. Then again, I love games with comedic appeal and humour so perhaps it wouldn't be all that bad to brighten a few things up - but developers tend to make their products solid to their design. There are design reasons I would guess that determine the 'lack of colour' we are witnessing and I am not entirely concerned about it. As not everyone I know lives in a gingerbread and candy house ever so sweet.

There are still games being made out there with cutesy colours and graphics, Domo, Dofus, Perfect World, RO and Maple Story are titles that draw the attention spans of some of the market with globally bright and sometimes varying colours (though I'd suspect if one looks hard enough, limitations in the palette could likely be found in almost any title). Heck lets throw in Geometry Wars evolved on xbox live arcade, cause I like it and it's bright though colour numbers are limited.

Ultimately I'd gather that the colour choices would rest with an echo of the core message of a game rather than the desire to sugar coat the experience. And the three areas regarding the palette, hue, saturation and value will be bent to convey the message.

So perhaps the solution isn't to consider the colour palette first, but to think if the message your game revolves around is the same as the next. Perhaps you need a new message, instead of following the other developers.

Still I'm just a customer like the next gamer, what would my opinion matter? Then again, would my wallet? ;)

Spore is reasonably colourful and I've already mentioned to you Souri, I'm flat out buying it.

I'm curious as to what your casual opinion on game look and feel might be.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 24/06/08 - 4:09 AM Permalink

was released ages ago and coders have rummaged through the code and extended the engine with all the snazzy features. I think they even managed to get dynamic lights in before Doom3 came out?

Spore creature editor

Forum

Ok, uh.... I'm not sure why I'm posting this at 4:30 in the morning, but it made me laugh a little. People are getting pretty creative with the Spore creature editor, and darn it... some evil genius made this disturbing creature. View at your own risk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvbyzvXOOc

Submitted by Adromaw on Thu, 19/06/08 - 3:38 PM Permalink

Yeah I'm not going to click that, but I'll say some class mates spent some time making all the inappropriate and not so proportionally correct creatures you could imagine. Admittedly it was pretty funny some of the stuff you could get away with.

But I got serious. And now I want to make it my goal to make this guy with some changes here and there, in max. D:

Submitted by souri on Thu, 19/06/08 - 4:01 PM Permalink

It seems youTube removed it because it violated some terms of use agreement. That's hilarious!!

Hey, that looks awesome, Adromaw. It's inspired me to download the editor now to see what I can tinker up.

Submitted by Adromaw on Thu, 19/06/08 - 4:26 PM Permalink

I haven't personally ran into problems with the demo either, not only is the creature creating flexible but it seems to be impressively stable for a demo.

I've had countless finished products and beta's alike crash, blue screen and even restart or shutdown my computer. But this thing ran like a charm for me.

Props to maxis on a well polished demo. I'm totally going to save up for this baby. I mean, it's just a demo :D - wow!

Submitted by souri on Fri, 20/06/08 - 5:06 AM Permalink

How did you get pictures of your creature? I made some snapshots, and sent them to myself via the creature editor, but the links return a 404 error :/

Submitted by Adromaw on Fri, 20/06/08 - 8:33 AM Permalink

in My Documents there's a folder: "My Spore Creations" Everything is in there, even the creature it self is stored as a .png file, which on another computer can be dragged into the spore creature creators editor to rip your creations and modify them by someone else.

That's the directory to look for the snapshots you made. No need to send them.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 24/06/08 - 4:04 AM Permalink

I refrained from doing any penis monsters and came up with this thing. I dunno, I'm finding it hard to do anything really creative without it turning into a freak monster. The editing tool is top notch and the process of experimenting is heaps fun though. I'm amazed that creatures still walk and animated pretty convincingly no matter how far experimental you go with your creature

The one of the left is having a Homer moment.

Metal Gear Solid 4 cutscenes

Forum

Anyone interested in awesome art and animation? Some guy on youtube has uploaded *all* the ingame cutscenes from Metal Gear Solid 4 up on youTube at: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0F7A8CAEC655A668

I read in some news posts from various gaming sites that Konami didn't want journalists mentioning the 90 minute cutscenes, but having watched all the videos up there (some 54 videos, each lasting 10 minute each), it sure is much, much more than 90 minutes! Not that I'm complaining though, those developers at Konami have done an awesome job with the art, aesthetics, cinematics etc

Just a tip: If you want to save all those videos for later viewing, post their links at http://keepvid.com, and save the *high quality* .mp4 version. The difference in quality is huge.

Brisbane Gamers Meetup

Forum
Submitted by souri on Mon, 16/06/08 - 12:01 AM Permalink

I might actually be able to make this one :O

I'm gonna be in Brissie in early July.

How open is this party, Yug? Aren't you afraid of being the next Corey? XD

Submitted by Yug on Mon, 16/06/08 - 7:04 AM Permalink

About time you came to one of our shindigs :P

Well, it's open enough that I put my address and phone number on the internet!

My apartment is also in a very secure complex, so the only way to get in is to be let in by me - which means I get to screen and introduce all the people coming in. Considering the size and craziness of some of the NON-gamer related parties I've thrown, these gamer meetups are a walk in the park :)

Submitted by Yug on Mon, 16/06/08 - 11:14 AM Permalink

True ... it usually ends up everyone lets everyone else in :)

But I've never had any negative incidents at these get togethers so far, and I tend to believe that people are fairly decent at house parties.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 16/06/08 - 4:48 PM Permalink

If I were based in Brisbane, I'd be going to the Supanova expos, IGDA Brisbane events (if they're happening anymore), Game Connect, and all the stuff that Truna organises. I'd definitely be up for AustralianGamer shindigs! I really wanted to go to that THQ Australia open studio thing too..

If I were based in Melbourne, I'd be going along to all the Dissecta events, every exhibition at ACMI (hit's of the 80's, Game On etc), Free Play (although I've been to two), Game Connect (I've been to one), Ballerat: Get into Gaming, heck, even that Urban Screens 08 Conference looks pretty damn cool.

And, well.. Sydney's got the Digital Media Exhibitions and some film related stuff, but yeh.. not much in the way of game events.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/07/08 - 2:35 AM Permalink

Just a reminder that the party is on this Saturday.

To answer a few questions, there will be a Plasma setup downstairs with Guitar Hero and probably Singstar, while the Projector upstairs will probably have Wii Sports, Smash Bros and Mario Kart Wii.

We're also running a live poker tournament downstairs during the party too (on a real table, not in a video game!!).

We're also giving away some free merch, 50 GTA IV collector plastic cups (click here) and 50 Guitar Hero T-Shirts (click here) ...

Plus, we've confirmed a live magician who will be wandering around performing card tricks on the night!

Submitted by Yug on Thu, 03/07/08 - 2:36 AM Permalink

Damn anonymous posting, that was me above ... :S

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 07/07/08 - 1:21 PM Permalink

Hey Guys.

I've uploaded a video of the party that has Yug taking you on a guided tour. It was a really great night, except for the lowlifes who ended up stealing a few of Yug and Laurens personal belongings from their house. :( Heres hoping everyones geek powers combine and we track the little shits down.

You can check out the video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScVt0oQsKok

Cheers
Mik

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 07/07/08 - 4:19 PM Permalink

What the hell? Who steals someone's shit?

Great night though guys. A++ would visit again.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 08/07/08 - 9:10 AM Permalink

My mate who was going to provide the car for the drive up there dropped out, so I couldn't make it :( We were planning to have a drunken shenanigan full weekend in Brisbane.

PC game steals art assets

Forum

I found this rather interesting. A PC game titled "Limbo of the Lost" has been found out big time for stealing art assets from several big name games and movies. At the time of writing, so far it has been discovered that the game blatantly ripped off material from: The Elder Scrolls III and IV, UT2k3 and 2k4, Diablo II, RTCW, WOW, Silent Hill III, Painkiller, Crysis and movies Spawn and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The developer, Majestic Studios apparently consists of only 3 people and the game interestingly has been in development for 10 years.

The original article linking the game to The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion from GamePlasma can be found here: http://www.gameplasma.com/limbo_of_the_lost_or_oblivion/

Further discussion of comparisons to other games here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310683

Submitted by Kezza on Fri, 13/06/08 - 3:17 PM Permalink

Yeah, heard about this at work. They must have realized how many cases of copyright infringement they were publishing by taking assets from other games and trying to publish a game using them.

... I'm just astounded the publisher actually put it out the door to be honest.

Submitted by threedninja on Fri, 13/06/08 - 4:00 PM Permalink

Did they think people wouldn't realise what they have done? It looks like a clear rip-off poly for poly. Didn't even try to move any of the props either.

(to quote Grandpa Simpson), For shame!

Submitted by souri on Fri, 13/06/08 - 4:21 PM Permalink

There've been claims before of developers using assets from other games, and I think the Ukrainian devs who did STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl were accused of that in recent times (some of the assets in Stalker were identical to stuff in id software and Valve games), but I think it turned out that they used the same commercial texture packs that any developer can license.

But this is in a whole different level. Did any of those three guys honestly think they'd get away with lifting entire scenes from other games? Honestly, they have to be the biggest morons in the industry!

Submitted by bozza on Fri, 13/06/08 - 4:22 PM Permalink

Yeah i read about this on Kotaku, the stupidity of some people amazes me, im not sure how they didnt expect anyone to make the connections when they take them from such successful games/movies.

Submitted by souri on Fri, 13/06/08 - 4:35 PM Permalink

You'd think a developer that'd do this is from some far off non-western country.. but these guys heralded from the motherland! They definitely knew better.

"Majestic Studios is composed of three long time pub friends--Steve Bovis, Tim Croucher, and Laurence Francis--in Maidstone, England. The actual idea for Lost of the Limbo originated roughly 10 years ago, nearly eight years before Oblivion released, when the friends decided to turn their loved hobby into a serious endeavor. The group spent three years making the game at home."

http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/881/881435p1.html

The pub usually is a great place for coming up with ideas too :[

Submitted by compactjerry on Sat, 14/06/08 - 2:51 PM Permalink

Yeah it is pretty amazing that this even got published. Hats off to the publisher for showing faith in an indie dev team, but I mean seriously now, their website is hosted on geocities lol!

The sad thing is though this is just going to make it harder for small dev teams to get their work published.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 18/06/08 - 11:27 PM Permalink

"Our hope, if everything goes well with the sales, is that within a year we will all be stopping the day jobs and doing this full time."

Unfortunately, I don't think that's about to happen...

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 19/06/08 - 1:04 AM Permalink

People on other forums keep going on about the publisher. Seriously, what publisher is going to recognise portions of different games? Not many I would think.

I also read that they just basically took screenshots of the games and used a scaling 3d object for their characters. That's why they're so precise...

Submitted by souri on Tue, 24/06/08 - 10:43 PM Permalink

Please be assured that we do not condone in anyway the use of unauthorised copyrighted materials and if we had been made aware earlier, we would of course have ceased development of the product and rectified the issue prior to the publication process.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/06/limbo_of_the_lost_devs_protest_i…

Unfortunately for them, here's an interview where the Creative Director said he created all the visuals.. oh, he handled the coding, sounds, models, and marketing as well.

http://www.justadventure.com/Interviews/Limbo/SteveBovis.shtm

iPhone 3G

Forum

Anyone planning to get the iPhone come July 11? I've been eagerly waiting for iPhone 2.0 and was considering buying one, but was a bit disappointed by a few things. No 32 gig, it has the same 2 megapixel camera, and you're locked into a contract with a vendor. I'd rather just buy the phone out right for under a grand or something.

All the other stuff is very exciting, the application store, gps, 3G etc.. but the fake stuff that was getting submitted to mac news sites like video conferencing sounded pretty cool too. It seems like the perfect iPhone is just *almost* there.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 08/07/08 - 9:16 AM Permalink

Here's a pretty interesting picture of the iPhone 3G and data plans in different countries. Australia, not surprisingly, doesn't do too well in both regards..