sephfire

Bahamut's OCR server is pretty much the only server I play. Of course, I haven't been on much lately. Between work, school, WoW and this avalanche of fall game releases, I've been swamped. I NEED MORE HOURS IN A DAY.

I spent the first week building a level detailing me and my wife's history together, from the day we met to today, like a storybook level. She loved it.

Aww man .... I loved reading his books. Bummer.

This game is amazing. If there's any good reason to own a PS3 besides MGS4, this is it.

If Portnow wanted to write something on the issue, I'd be game for it, but man I could see that getting ugly.

I actually had another thought in regard to Slygen's post about Final Fantasy characters. Although I don't find the anime-based Final Fantasy characters "uncanny," I'm often put off by attempts to perfectly recreate the anime style in 3D. The character faces tend to look so off and lifeless. Perhaps the valley doesn't just apply to imperfect recreations of realism, but also imperfect recreations of stylization as well. Has anyone else noticed this before?

Final Fantasy characters are closer to the valley than a character like Mario. One of the reasons they avoid it, I think, is because they are more "anime" than "human." They aren't human characters with some anime behaviors and proportions thrown in. They are anime characters redesigned for 3D and given a few more human-like qualities. For an example, see this photoshop of a guy's face to mimic anime proportions: Absolutely dead center in the valley, right? Now see a final fantasy character: Even when they go for a semi-realistic look, Final Fantasy characters are firmly rooted in the anime tradition they came from. So while they may have more human-like proportions than a standard anime character, they don't register in our minds as imperfect simulations of humans. Does that make sense? It's tricky to explain and I'm still learning about this topic myself.

This is actually a really good point. Not that feedback in the review forum isn't appreciated, but it's much more helpful in the WIP stage of things. And time spent helping out in the WIP forum will give you some practice reviewing and train your ear so when you do provide criticism in the review forum, you can offer it constructively and accurately. Excellent work, Kanthos. Ten points to Gryffindor.

I'd like to do one on copyright protection and DRM eventually, but I'm not really sure what my next one will be. Portnow might have some ideas.

My real voice is in there for one line near the end. You can see why I speed it up. Haha, I wish I could put this line in the movie retroactively. Although, I guess we're used to seeing over-beautiful people in TV and film, so that wouldn't be too disorienting. And the "soulless eyes" thing is just one of the uncanny issues that animator's will sort out eventually. Still, funny line.

I had you in mind.

Just finished the fourth in my little series of game-related video lectures! Today's topic: the Uncanny Valley. This should show up on Edge.com in the next week or so joining James Portnow's article on the issue. I'm sure most of you already have a pretty good grasp on this topic, but I always like hearing OCR feedback. Extra special thanks to Joshua Morse for unwittingly providing outro music, and to CarboHydroM for providing me with an intro theme. Enjoy!

Harmonix has said in the past that their goal is to "Innovate, then refine." GH2 and RB2 both fit that bill pretty well. I don't know what they plan for the future of Rock Band, but I'm willing to bet they keep supporting it with plentiful DLC, but announce some big new project within the next year or two. I'm just hoping they don't pass the Rock Band franchise off to someone else like they did Guitar Hero.

A hint, Pezman. I know for a fact one question they ask all people they interview: "Beatles or Rolling Stones?" In a year or two, I hope they have an animation position open.

Yeah, kind of a dud episode, but I don't live in an area that would attact Peruvian street bands. Maybe other parts of the country are more familiar with them and would find it funnier. Seems like an odd story to stretch out over two episodes, but maybe part two will serve up the funny.

At least it's only a week. Earlier rumors suggested it might be a month, landing in the same release week as Wrath of the Lich King, Call of Duty 5 and Tales of Symphonia 2. That certainly wouldn't have helped sales. I'm tired of waiting for this game. I waaaaant iiiiiiiit.

Yeah, but Monster Hunter is enormous in Japan. It's not really a fair comparison.

Yeah, but the Wii hasn't been known for outstanding online play. I'm hoping this game breaks the trend. Online play is what what makes Monster Hunter so fun. The teamwork element doubles the entertainment value.

Hans Zimmer has a way of making me well up with some of his film scores. I can think of key moments in the Lion King and Pirates of the Caribbean and plenty of his other works. He has a very moving style.

I'd rent it first just to make sure it's your thing. It shouldn't take too long to decide whether or not it's the kind of game you're going to enjoy.

Oh, come one, people. I know we have a lot of Wii owners here. Don't tell me Dshu and I are the only ones who have given this game a try. Good 3rd party Wii games are too rare to pass up.

Hadn't heard much about it before renting it. Nowadays, I generally assume a Wii game will suck until I hear otherwise, so this has been a great surprise. I'm a sucker for games like Okami where the world is dead and drab and it's your job to spruce it up bit by bit, bringing it back to life. That is what this game is all about. You roll around, changing and mixing colors and re-colorize an oppressed city. It's got great style, great art direction and animation and decent controls, despite a bit of the usual unnecessary Wii "waggling." And the soundtrack is fantastic. It's like a funky Jet Set Radio Future. Plus, the music changes dynamically depending on your color and adds a bit of flair when you paint a new object. I would almost call this the Wii's Katamari Damacy, It's not perfect, a little repetitive and I wish the waggle controls could be mapped to buttons, but this is one of the better games I've seen for the Wii in a while. Here's a trailer. Anyone else tried this out?

Definitely look into creating a mod or working on a team to create one. The mod itself may not receive much attention, but it shows that you can put your ideas into action, provides a playable example of what you can do ... at the very least, it's good practice.

Re-read this post. It's as good an answer as you're going to get. Every account I read points to the same fact: there is no one route to a game design career. Having great ideas, a fundamental understanding of good design, basic sketching skills and some programming knowledge will help, but there's still going to be some luck involved. I also believe I recall hearing that almost no one starts out in the industry as a designer. They tend to start elsewhere and eventually cross over. I don't recall where I read this, so take that as you like, but getting your name out there and knowing people will swing the odds significantly in your favor. I have a feeling that "Game Designer" might be the hardest position to attain in this industry.

Tweek and I played the heck out of the first one on PS2. It had some issues, but it was still extremely fun. If the Wii entry is anywhere near as great as the PS2 game, I'm there. My only concern is that the best thing about the PS2 original was taking down a huge monster online with a team of four. I don't trust the Wii to be able to provide this. I guess we'll see.