Journal
I was recently introduced to the world of Grand Theft Auto stunts so here are a couple of videos to introduce and entertain you as well.
Some of the tricks they do are amazing. It’s pretty obvious that these stunts are not done first time, and that it takes many hours of practice, and many many attempts before perfecting each trick.
One thing I am really amazed at is the speed, and the distance that they manage - my knowledge of GTA is fairly limited, but I’ve played it enough to know that they are moving very fast, and jumping very far.
Alice from Wonderland has recently mentioned a new piece of software by Microsoft called Boku. I have tried looking all the obvious places but can find very few references to it anywhere.
Boku’s programming model is extremely simple as it does not use a textual language or wiring diagrams. Kids use simple behavior cards to enable a small virtual robot to navigate its world and achieve specific tasks.
One of the developers on the project has a blog on Live Spaces so you can read a little more about the project there - but the information is very limited. There is also a small amount of extra info on Wired.com, along with some screenshots.
I think the idea of this system is great and would love to see if grow into something much bigger. If anybody knows any more information about Boku I’d love to hear it.
One of my work colleagues pointed out this video about the world editor for the forthcoming game Crysis - and I must say - this is incredibly impressive stuff.
I’ve made a number of editors for video games in the past and they weren’t simple to create, yet they are nowhere near the complexity of this one. Clearly the person demoing the editor is very knowledgeable but the ease with which he creates and modifies the environment is astounding, and the fact you can drop into it as a player and run around testing things would ease the development process immensely.
A couple of things to watch out for which are technically challenging, and just rather cool (at least to me), include the real time lighting and day/ night cycles, the landscape sculpting and road laying tools, and the real time physics (on the trees)
Tim over at the Indygamer blog brought this to my attention today. This guy is my new hero. I would love to have a go at this assault course event… not that I would get anywhere at all - but it looks like great fun (well - the first event does anyway!).
Makoto Nagano is a 34 year old fisherman. Recently he succeeded in completing the last phase of the Japanese game show: Ninja Warrior. Of more than 500 contestants only one other man completed it before he did
The second event looks like something out of the Prince of Persia games, and the fourth is just crazy. Just watch it and see for yourself…
Woah - I’ve played Guitar Hero 1 and, well, am an embarrassment. The game is huge fun, especially after a couple of drinks, but I suck awfully. I suspect my major downfall is my total lack of rhythm.
Anyway apparently this song, the Dragonforce one in the video below, was actually added via a “hack” that let’s people add other songs to the Guitar Hero game. This does require modding your ps2, along with a bunch of different software, so isn’t worth the time unless you’re a hardcore GH2 freak. If you’re interested you can read more on the original scoreHero forum post.
… and here’s the original. Check out the insane guitar “solo” at 3 minutes. Try doing that in a video game!
Oh - and MTV got the song name wrong - but what do they know about music right? 
Apparently this is quite old but I have never seen it before and thought it was rather cool so here it is anyway. Technically the basic stuff wouldn’t be that hard to do, but boy would you need a big living room to play this. This really takes Eye Toy and the Wii to the next level!
Kick Ass Kung-Fu is an immersive game installation that transforms computer gaming into a visual, physical performance like dance or sports. You can fight and defy gravity like kung-fu movie actors - only there’s no wires or post-production needed, thanks to the real-time embodied interaction and virtual set technology.
You can read more on the official Kick Ass Kung-Fu website.
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