Car Design News has posted news from the Center for Creative Studies regarding student projects done in collaboration with the American Iron and Steel Institute. As odd as it might seem, I could imagine some really creative work springing from a sincere re-evaluation of these traditional materials (which haven’t exactly been getting great press for the last couple decades). Unfortunately there are only three concepts shown, and those didn’t seem particularly impressive from the descriptions provided. Truth is, the write up flat-out made me wince (e.g. “Aside from the peripheral criteria, it is the ‘extreme’ theme that sticks, the brief satisfyingly encouraging students to really provoke with their imaginations” – uh, right). I don’t know what’s happened over there; CDN used to be such a dependable site. But I guess you take what you can get. So look at the pictures and maybe do some surfing elsewhere for more information. I know I will.

I almost mentioned competitive videogame champion Fatal1ty in a couple of recent posts: the one where gameplay is tied to something like a dance pad, and the one about people making money. But to be honest, I didn’t feel like explaining who he was. Now I don’t have to. Boing Boing has an entry discussing the well-known, well-compensated gamer – with links so you can learn more. Next up: some big-money videogame tournament organized by Mark Cuban and shown at one of his digital theaters, and starring… who else?

Having worked on an ill-fated indy videogame, I’ve spent some time bouncing around the indy game community. For anyone who’s even remotely considered working on an independent videogame, one molehill stands out like a mountain: Garage Games. And today, BusinessWeek has posted a Next Generation article on the company; where they came from, what they’re all about, and what they try to be within the realm of the niche videogame market. From the article:

“There really isn’t any soul left in a lot of the games out there. Whether they’re sequels or Hollywood IP, there really isn’t any creativity going into these games. This is partly because of the schedules that they have to get done on and the feature lists that they have to hit. Basically, we recognize that these are the forces of the market. These are the economic factors. We say that we want to change the game. Online distribution is one of the solutions.”

Just like the reclusive urban vinyl toy segment and the niche handbag market, indy videogames are a part of a much broader movement; a morphing of the Long Tail/ecoToroid. So besides being fun, there’s good reason to take an interest in both Garage Games and the independent videogame scene. As they go, so goes the future economy.

This concept for the Mariinsky Cultural Center in St. Petersburg, Russia caught my eye as it reminds me of something I mentioned earlier: virtual constructs in real world 3D maps. Even if this image were a real photo and not a cg render, it’d still feel like something I’d expect to see inside a videogame. That mix of glass and brick is probably the reason. In any event, it’s a funky concept. Read more about it here.

via Dexigner

{Image source: Eric Owen Moss Architects}

Just yesterday I read an interesting post over on Blog Maverick. Mark Cuban basically lays out a way to create a self-policing environment for some forms of online content (specifically written content). I’ve had similar ideas for some time and even emailed some of them to Stephen King years ago when he was attempting to go straight to consumers with his online, chapter-by-chapter novel (which, btw, failed). From my perspective, the bottom line has always been: people are selfish and creators have to make it worth everyone’s while – especially fans – to not “share” virtual content. In King’s case, I recommended things like assigning a “lottery” code to a legitimate download; something that could later be used in some way. For example, including a fan’s name and details into a future novel. Or meeting and having dinner with a small group of fans during a book tour. Stuff like that. More than one entry (say, from someone who received an illegally-shared download) negated all submissions from that one lottery number. Tie that download to something they might want later, and watch fans guard that content tooth and nail.

Now I’ve just read about Google’s new service over on C|Net that seems to tie right into Cuban’s idea. From the C|Net article:

Google is set to launch on Monday a free Web analytics service that will let companies see exactly how visitors interact with their Web site and how their advertising campaigns are faring.

Google Analytics will let Web site owners see exactly where visitors to their site are coming from, what links on the site are getting the most traffic, what pages visitors are viewing, how long people stay on the site, which products on merchant sites are being sold and where people give up in multistep checkout processes, said Paul Muret, an engineering director at Google and one of the founders of Urchin.

It doesn’t end there. Read both Cuban’s post and the news article and let’s see if self-serving self-policing does the trick. I hope so.