ericellenberg

“We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:35:37 -0500

“We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation,” said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. “The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360.

Valve to Deliver Steam & Steam on the Mac

Thanks to John Gruber of Daring Fireball for the link to the Wired story that includes a great quote from Dan Connors of Telltale Games:

“We have games that run on the Mac and we have games that run on Steam, so our goal is to be there,” Connors said. “We think they’re going to do a great job with getting the Steam client over there and we want to continue to be a part of it.”

I imagine a lot of other game developers are going to be saying the same thing.

Recently I walked by the Ala Moana Mac cosmetic store and...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:45:00 -0500

Recently I walked by the Ala Moana Mac cosmetic store and noticed a crowd of Japanese tourists gawking and snapping pics. Amazingly, a model in full body paint was posing against a set. She was a darn good simulation of a late 19th century oil painting.

Makeup Girl • Ala Moana Shopping Center - “Ceci n’est pas un tableau.” This is not a painting—it’s a photograph. Absolutely amazing.

Via Kottke.

herzog and de meuron: vitrahaus exterior

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:09:34 -0500

herzog and de meuron: vitrahaus exterior

Based on the teaser images, it seems likely that all of these...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:01:00 -0500

Based on the teaser images, it seems likely that all of these titles will also make their way to the Mac. This leads us to believe that Valve has ported their Source game engine over to the Mac, which would allow any future games based on this engine to be easily launched for the Mac. Alternative [sic], Valve could be using Transgaming/Cider for the translation.

The Significance of Steam and Valve’s Games for Mac - Mac Rumors

This is a big deal for gaming on the Mac. If Valve has indeed ported or rewritten their Source game engine for the Mac, it’s an even bigger deal. Not only would Mac users have access to a great game distribution platform, but game developers would also have access to a game engine that could easily target Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and OS X. It would make the case for developing Source-based games for the Mac a no-duh proposition.

Plus, I don’t see how Valve could justify this hype if all they’re doing is using Cider to act as a graphics translation layer. That’s nothing new, and anyway, who would want to base an entire business venture on another company’s inelegant graphics translation product? I hope Valve sees it the same way.

Update 3/8/2010: They do.

sidkan: Throne of weapons Made by Kester, Maputo, Mozambique,...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:34:43 -0500

sidkan:

Throne of weapons

Made by Kester, Maputo, Mozambique, 2001

The throne was made by the Mozambican artist Cristovao Canhavato (Kester) from decommissioned weapons collected since the end of the civil war in 1992.

So I’m searching bestbuy.com for “enclosure,”...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:22:45 -0500

So I’m searching bestbuy.com for “enclosure,” and then I see this. And I think, “Wait. That’s not a computer case. Is it? IS IT??!”

Yep. For real. Um, yikes?

sidkan: Nuit Blanche Beautiful short film. Excellant...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:13:44 -0500

sidkan:

Nuit Blanche

Beautiful short film.

Excellant cinematography, compositing, art direction, music

welikehowtheytaste: thevelvetknife: stagemom: daniellefaith ...

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:25:50 -0500

welikehowtheytaste:

thevelvetknife:

stagemom:

daniellefaith

i think i need to rewatch this soon.

I’ve got the Blu-ray!

Credits of old movies vs. credits from Lord of the Rings: Return...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:49:00 -0500

Credits of old movies vs. credits from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. We live in a polarized age in cinema: mega-budget blockbusters and miniscule-budget independent productions. This graphic is the perfect representation of why that’s the case. (via NYTimes.com)

The creator of this map has had the interesting idea to break...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:09:00 -0500

The creator of this map has had the interesting idea to break down that gigantic US GDP into the GDPs of individual states, and compare those to other countries’ GDP.

131 – US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs « Strange Maps - The whole site is packed with interesting maps.

"Perhaps that’s not the same as truly driving us toward faith. But perhaps more’s going..."

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:34:00 -0500

“Perhaps that’s not the same as truly driving us toward faith. But perhaps more’s going on in modern, big-name games than I’ve given them credit for. Assassin’s Creed II (despite Ubisoft’s reluctance to talk about it) tackles real issues of religion and faith, even if I may not like the conclusions. Heroic fantasies like Dragon Age: Origins challenge me to be the hero, and perhaps as Wyatt suggests, I can carry that sense of heroism into the little things in my life — being a better parent, a better friend, and yes, a better believer. And maybe that’s enough.”

- GameSpy: God’s PR Problem: The Role of Religion in Videogames - I am genuinely surprised, and impressed, by this article’s exploration into the role religion plays in video games. Surprised that it’s asking serious questions (on a level I haven’t seen since Next Generation magazine, the best gaming publication ever), and impressed at the quality of the article and the designers’ responses.

This is good gaming journalism, folks. Good job, GameSpy, and thanks to Julian Murdoch for looking for meaning in today’s games.

Folks, I’m concerned. I’m concerned because this...

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:46:00 -0500

Folks, I’m concerned. I’m concerned because this screenshot is from Nintendo’s upcoming Metroid: Other M.

Does this excite you? No? Okay, how about this one.

…still no?

Me either. I’ll be the first to tell you that a game isn’t about how it looks; it’s about how it plays. And from what this, um, guy at Kotaku says (seriously, did this guy write this with his elbows and thumbs?), and from what Matt Casamassina and Craig Harris at IGN have to say, the game is going to be fantastic. I really do trust Matt Casamassina (been reading his stuff since N64.com!), and here’s what he’s got to say about it:

I was skeptic, but now I’m a believer. People, this works. It’s fresh. It’s fun. It’s stunning. We’ve waited decades for a few tasty morsels about Aran’s history and now we’ll get to watch it all unfold in cinematic glory as we take out the Space Pirate trash and explore an immense, lush world — all with blazing fast controls. I will be counting the days until June because Other M has leaped to the top of my must-have list.

I’d characterize that as glowing praise. But I’m still concerned.

What’s the deal with the neon color palette? Where’s the atmosphere that made the Metroid Prime games so memorable? I don’t see any of that in these screens. It looks plastic and boring, frankly.

I’m more than pleased to hear Nintendo is trying to infuse this universe with a richer story, but how about pairing that story with visuals that engage us?

Why is everything so shiny?!

Am I alone in thinking these screens are actually quite bland and forgettable? Let me know, Metroid fans.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Video Game, Nintendo Media Summit Trailer...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:41:00 -0500

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Video Game, Nintendo Media Summit Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com - Awesomeness!

Revised Font Stack | A Way Back - A thorough assessment of font...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:35:06 -0500

Revised Font Stack | A Way Back - A thorough assessment of font stacks around the web with suggestions for improvement. Fantastic article. Beautiful website, too.

"The only problem with these new Vista typefaces is that they’re only distributed with Vista. So, I..."

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:15:09 -0500

“

The only problem with these new Vista typefaces is that they’re only distributed with Vista. So, I have two simple requests:

Microsoft, please distribute these new Vista typefaces for older versions of Windows, especially XP. Perhaps include them with the release of Internet Explorer 7 and future Office updates?
Apple, please license this set of fonts from Microsoft and include them with Mac OS X.

Making good on these two simple requests would go an incredibly long way towards improving the state of typography on the web — and should cost each company next to nothing.”

- JeffCroft.com: An open letter to Apple and Microsoft - This letter is three and a half years old now, but it’s never too late to stop hoping Microsoft and Apple will arrange an agreement to provide Microsoft’s ClearType Font Collection to OS X users for free (similar to the Core fonts for the Web).

"Jason Garrett-Glaser, currently lead developer of x264, on the state of Internet video. Thoughtful,..."

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:25:00 -0500

“Jason Garrett-Glaser, currently lead developer of x264, on the state of Internet video. Thoughtful, detailed, insightful analysis.”

- Daring Fireball Linked List: Flash, Google, VP8, and the Future of Internet Video - I’d venture to add “thorough” to the list of adjectives for Jason’s piece.

Sweden's high court rules against ad breaks

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:17:29 -0500

Sweden's high court rules against ad breaks :

sidkan:

The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that when pubcast TV4 took commercial breaks during the most thrilling moments of films “Leon” and “Clear and Present Deanger,” [sic] it violated the “integrity and the value” of the films.

The article could just as well be headlined, “Swedish high court outlaws tastelessness”. It’ll be a cold day in hell when America comes around to something like this.

"Dear Google, With your purchase of On2, you now own both the world’s largest video site..."

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:32:35 -0500

“Dear Google, With your purchase of On2, you now own both the world’s largest video site (YouTube) and all the patents behind a new high performance video codec — VP8. Just think what you can achieve by releasing the VP8 codec under an irrevocable royalty-free license and pushing it out to users on YouTube? You can end the web’s dependence on patent-encumbered video formats and proprietary software (Flash).”

- Open letter to Google: free VP8, and use it on YouTube - Free Software Foundation - If Google heeds this letter’s advice, the web would change for the better overnight.

"The deckle edge dates back to a time when you used to need a knife to read a book. Those rough edges..."

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:06:37 -0500

“The deckle edge dates back to a time when you used to need a knife to read a book. Those rough edges simulate the look of pages that have been sliced open by the reader. The printing happened on large sheets of paper which were then folded into rectangles the size of the finished pages and bound. The reader then sliced open the folds.”

- The Millions: Deckle Edge in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction - Interesting.

Wooden Churches in the Russian North « arkinet - Thanks to...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:47:57 -0500

Wooden Churches in the Russian North « arkinet - Thanks to Coudal.