SiN

Anyone want to go into more detail about *why* the animation looks awful? I thought it looked "off" while watching the video, but I think that's because it's so smooth. Upon closer inspection the actual motion looks pretty good (maybe a bit stiff here and there). Are we just change-averse, or is it an uncanny valley effect? Also I kinda liked BS3. As an adventure game it was ... mediocre (to be generous), but I enjoyed the story/cutscenes/dialogue.

I like that CLOP is, in a weird kinda way, a rather logical successor to QWOP. How do you make a sequel? Take the good bits of the original and ADD MORE OF IT. Two legs? FOUR LEGS!! Add a story! Tighten the graphics! etc, etc. Of course, the resulting game is anything but logical. I got around 1/4 of the way through, on to the first incline, but not too much further. It is a lot more forgiving than QWOP. My strategy for getting out of a rut was to alternate between the fore- and hind-legs. "Frustrating" is one way of describing it, but I found "tedious" to be more accurate. When I fail I attribute it more to luck and (a lack of) patience, rather than skill. Then again, that's what a mediocre player would say, right? GIRP, my favourite of the lot, feels like the opposite. When I fail, it's because I chose the wrong stone, or hit the wrong key, or moved the wrong finger, etc.

MUST YOU RUIN EVERYTHING WITH FACTS?!! Helpful, thanks. I ask because I've got a BCS, and I'm good at/enjoy the comp sci stuff at work, but I'd like to take on more UX work as well. I've done enough design work on the side (and yeah, a lot of essay reading) that I feel comfortable calling myself an interaction designer, but I'm not sure how that translates into a getting-a-real-job scenario.

You and I both, sir.

Basically what toblix said.

Yeah, The Master trailers are my favourite kind: enough to give you a rough idea of the plot, but not enough to give anything away. I'm still not quite sure what to expect, but I'm intrigued. Excited even.

Architecture.

Very cool, that's a lot of trades! My day job is mostly C/C++, but my other job is UX/UI/IA, Obj-C (which I first despised, but now totally love) a lot of C/C++ & OpenGL for Video games. When I was looking for a job (right out of university, mind you) I had a website with, basically, everything I've ever written (even all the embarrassing shit when I was 10 years old ). I'm pretty sure none of my prospective employers ever downloaded any of them, but they browsed through, looked at screenshots and asked questions. In my experience, they aren't so much interested in the end result, but they want to know about your process. Finished projects are definitely a plus though. A portfolio for a dev is more of a starting point for a conversation, rather than a be-all/end-all decision maker (like I suspect it is for a graphic designer). QUESTION BECAUSE I'M CURIOUS: Your "UX/UI/IA diva" title ... did you go to school for this or was it self-taught?

Also exciting! http://www.joystiq.c...playstation-mo/ Boldness added to express further excitement.

I'm not sure what you do, so I'm going to assume you're a web designer, and just run with it. Whenever I visit designer's websites, they always have screenshots of the work they've done previously. Everything on the net gets replaced eventually... do prospective employers really expect to see live, working websites? If you want to take the screenshot approach, consider using The Wayback Machine to get your internets back. (or heck, this may actually work for hosting a clone too).

Holy shit, this looks ingenious! Passing Time http://vimeo.com/47591747 As lazy description would be "Sensi Soccer is back", but I feel that sells it short. Yes it's a soccer game, but mechanically, it looks like a strategy game mixed in with NBA Jam-esque arcade silliness. Secretly hoping an iPhone release happens, but between this and Tearaway a PS Vita is looking mighty tempting. Also worth noting that this "PS Mobile" stuff is pretty close to the "no bullshit gaming" stuff I was rambling on about earlier. So kudos to Sony on the software side of things. If only we could get smaller hardware with double-digit battery life (or at least something approaching that!) it'd be perfect.

You're just unreasonably aggressive at times, that's all. It's not like I'm the first person to point this out. It's especially annoying because you obviously make insightful comments, so I can't outright ignore you in my good conscious either. As for The Greatest Company in the Universe: dude, I work in software. If I held a grudge over every Apple related argument I've participated in, I'd pretty much have zero friends left. It's really not something I get bend out of shape over ... but I'd rather not get personally insulted in the process, you know?

I too did not find Meat Circus to be challenging, but I feel that was likely down to luck and/or unwittingly having the right psy powers, as opposed to having any sort of skills.

That's our Thunderpeel! (he's sometimes an unreasonable knob, but I'm convinced he's warm and fuzzy on the insides)

This: "horrible mess to find anything", where "anything" = Video games I own and want to play, or would otherwise like to purchase. This is not a ideal for a Video game console.

That's because Microsoft is going to automatically renew your subscription at the end of the free month. Make sure you go to Xbox.com and disable Auto-renew "feature".

"Active Wallpapers" used to be a thing in ... Windows 98? You could insert an html page as your wallpaper. Pretty sure THE EU RUINED EVERYTHING THOUGH!!!!

FIRST SENTENCE: Our goal with this project is to make available for free a serious game that we think has great educational and civic value. (just teasing)

Wouldn't an atomic write work? It doesn't matter how long the write takes, since the only stage that can cause a file corruption is the Rename Switcharoo (technical term). If the storage device is removed during the temp file write, you have a corrupt temp file, the last save is still in place, and the OS can clean up the unused temp file at a later point. I think the above covers this stuff too... except limited space, that's a good point! Still, could the OS not reserve, say, 50 MB for cache or something? Or even just 10 MB, so games with save files smaller than 10 MB (most games, I think) can omit the "autosaving" message. Oh man, don't even get me started on XBIG. Totally agree with you, the "Evil Checklist" is total a dick move by members of the community who (as you said) should know better. Stuff like "oh guess what your saves don't work on corrupt memory cards, fail lol!" infuriated me more than even the lack of discoverability. (in my defence: the first game I did was a launch title for XBIG. I had no intention of doing much else, but then I had a game done in XNA that was just better on console (4 player) so just submitted for the hell of it) But I think you misunderstood my point. I'm saying that even if it's not a requirement, if you're designing a 2D game being conscious of the title safe region is important. See: every Pixeljunk game, Braid, etc. Microsoft and Sony know this, and 2D games are quite popular, so why not build it into the OS? The first time you launch a game that requires an accurate title-safe region, bring up this config screen, and remember it for every game after. Easier for developers, easier for users. Loading takes that long, I suppose? That's optical media for you. But even with XBLA games, where loading should be fast, skipping a half-dozen logos every time is tedious. If the compliance requirements were really geared toward user experience, they'd make it a requirement to be able to skip over these after watching them once. Before, or after, it's still annoying. I understand the importance of the autosave message, but an atomic save would mitigate most of the risk. The only real risk would be yanking the coord, and that's a really tiny and silly edge case (even turning off the console via the power button is a software operation, so it could wait for file ops to finish) Regarding all of the above: I realise this stuff isn't trivial, but it's not impossible either. There are always edge cases, but I don't think that's an excuse to have everyone suffer through a worse user experience. Nail the 99% case, do an okay job with the 1% case, not the other way around. Blow probably didn't mention them because he didn't take issue with those requirements. Totally agree here too, btw! Read the QA bit of my last post. I think there's value in Platform Holder QA, but I also think there's lots of room to streamline some aspects of it.

Here is iOS, "solving" the save problem: - (BOOL)writeToFile:(NSString *)path atomically:(BOOL)flag Set atomically to true/YES, and you're done. More detail: I say "solved" with a hint of sarcasm, because the idea of atomic writes (or a transactional model) has been around forever. It's not a matter of Sony/Microsoft being incapable of doing this, it's just that they won't, for whatever reason. --- I'm actually cool with platform holders doing QA... remember that leaving QA in the hands of the developer can produce buggy results (I'm looking at you, every East European PC game). But why not just on the initial release? Or maybe a simplified/cheaper QA for patches? Again, the problem isn't that there aren't solutions, it's that Sony/Microsoft aren't willing to look into them. --- The examples Blow uses are very smartly chosen: these are issues that aren't just an annoyance from a developer perspective, but from a user perspective too. I *hate* having to skip passed the stupid "This game uses an autosave system..." for every game, every time. Similar with configuring the title safe region*. (* I can understand why it's not a requirement, but for a 2D game it pretty much is. For both the 2D games I developed for XBIG, title safe was a big deal.) It's telling that these days, when I boot up the Xbox, I have my iPad sitting right next to me, to keep me occupied while I wait to start playing the game. Laugh or whatever, but the competition (iPad, smartphones, etc) boot up in seconds. I've had to wait upto 20 minutes to play a new Xbox game. And on average, I'd say 2-5 minutes before I'm actually in the game. Usability and user experience *really* matter. I worry that Blow is right in his conclusion: It would not surprise me to see an app-based Apple TV (if that ever happens) take significant market share from the successors to the PS3/Xbox. It sounds crazy, but so did "the iPhone/iPod touch will take market share from the DS". People did not believe that would happen (myself included!) but it kinda crept up on the gaming industry. I'm worried because the industry keeps ignoring user experience (or at least misunderstands it), but the consumer electronics market is making it clear that it is the most important part of the package.

Holy shit dude, how'd you find this? Looks incredible! Especially that list at the end, it's basically a who's who of the industry. This has *got* to be organised by a well-known name in the industry, I'm not sure how else you'd get all those guys in a room to interview. Also, loved Kojima's quote: "I'm not trying to tell a story."

I've been lost in Consoleland for the past few months, so I bought, errr, a "little" too much stuff. Rayman Origins Crusader Kings II Bioshock 2 Qube The Walking Dead Spec Ops The Line (ROW) Alan Wake Bundle (Summer 2012) Driver: San Francisco Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Prince of Persia Complete Pack Age of Empires III: Complete Collection Kane and Lynch 2 - Dog Days Blocks That Matter Offspring Fling! $140. And this was me trying not to go overboard.

Played through it again... Noticed & loved the staircase repairing itself.

I visited (from Seattle) on the day Canada won the gold in hockey. It was an incredible night. Being able to go home after that made it okay. I'm sure it was hell for those living in Vancouver.

As it was always intended