From Blue’s News today:
Steam News has word on the release of an updated Source client as well as a SourceTV update: “An update for the Steam Client (and the HLDS Update Tool) has been released, along with some improvements to SourceTV. (SourceTV is for broadcasting Source games to large numbers of spectators.)
Just wait til billionaire Mark Cuban broadcasts a large game competition at one of his digital movie theaters. I’ve got to get HL2 soon. All this is too wild.
The CG Channel website has a short piece opening up a discussion on next gen digital humans. I tend to agree with the author: building virtual characters will become increasingly simple. Where I also agree (of course) is that there will be rising demand for designers. Over the past few years I’ve been watching the videogame job market and I’m finally now noticing a big jump in calls for “Environment Artists”. Translation: as game worlds become increasingly immersive, there is a need to fill them with 3D objects; not just copies of real-life products (which raises some sticky IP issues), but newly designed objects. It’s a trend I’ve been expecting for some time and it’s nice to see it finally kick in. The next ten years are going to be a blast.
Wired online is carrying a thought-provoking piece discussing accelerating increases in intelligence levels. It’s a few pages long, and didn’t seem overly relevant to what I blog here until the end. From the article:
The best example of brain-boosting media may be videogames. Mastering visual puzzles is the whole point of the exercise – whether it’s the spatial geometry of Tetris, the engineering riddles of Myst, or the urban mapping of Grand Theft Auto.
After my posting over on the SL Salon website, and some additional comments and responses to other entries, I’ve given additional thought to the potential of VR as a teaching tool. Especially because I recall so vividly how my ability to visualize concepts three-dimensionally saved my ass in college, while other students who completely outclassed me in other academic areas failed and subsequently dropped out of the engineering program altogether. I don’t suppose it’s really worth trying to explain VR’s potential as a “tool” (even a minor one) to people who can’t seem to wrap their head around the idea that just because it can’t solve the world’s worst problems (e.g. the genocide in Africa), doesn’t mean it isn’t worth pursuing. I need to try viewing the world like they do sometime: a caricature of outrageous juxtapositions that turns the world black and white. “You’re either with us, or against us”. I wonder if parts of my brain will permanently downsize…
I’d venture a 23 percent growth in online ad spending is significant, and that’s some of what this article over on C|Net discusses. I’m surprised it isn’t more considering how little the overall percentage is compared to traditional advertising. I mean, it’s going to grow to 8 percent of the total spent by 2010? That number seems low to me. Who the hell watches television anymore and why are they still throwing money at it? Kill your television.
Okay. So. Online videogames will have embedded advertising that not only customizes itself for the player, but keeps track of the player’s “eyes” (i.e. it senses when the avatar’s eye vector points at the ad in question and records a hit, time on “target”, whatever). Now comes word via Wired online of “Project Apollo”, a real-life ad tracking system. Hey, it might be a good thing. If the makers of, for example, Gas-ex ramp up sales in some city, one has to assume the audio is recording something important, and by extension that data might impact a “most livable city” standing. That follows. I mean, I have a right to odorless neighbors, don’t I?
Is this Life immitates Game?