Erm...

posted by Nic @ 3:08 PM 0 comments

It's been a long time...

...we shouldn't have left you... without a dope beat to... oh you get the idea!

So there's lots to talk about. Lots of Medulla Corp news. The big one is:

We're relocating to Singapore!

Yup - this week I accepted a position at a games studio in Singapore (not sure if I can announce who yet) as a Lead Designer. Yanti, Tifa, Yuffie and me will be packing things over the next 2 months and selling everything not tide down (although I plan on taking a bunch of things like the new TV - consoles - sofas - bed etc).

I've started selling things on eBay and Amazon. I'm also weeping at the thought of throwing out all my old consoles and computers:



How about that - my damn phone is like a billion times more powerful than all that stuff put together.

You think that's bad!



Yanti's phone is also about a billion times more powerful than all that stuff AND is smaller than the mouse for the Amiga!!

Got to love technology.

I also found this old thing...



Not sure why or how I've got an old Argonaut SNES dev kit - but there it is.

Speaking of technology - I finally bought and XBox360:



Besides being a great cat pillow, I have to say - I'm really impressed. I got Crackdown and Gears of War with it. Crackdown was good but I'll never play it at any length so I sold it and bought Viva Pinata for Yanti.

I should point out that my gamer score is 400. 20 of those point are mine *blush*.

Gears is great and I'll get back to it soon - but I also picked up Dead Rising after trying the demo. AWESOME!! But I just haven't had a chance to play it much yet.

My gamer tag is: moondog90210

I should also publish my Wii code too - but I can't remember it off the top of my head.

What else!

Oh yes - I've been writing a little casual game on my journey to and from work. It's called 'Doki Doki Bloki' and looks something like this:




It's at Beta now so if you want to trial it - send me an email or leave a comment or something. It's basically a version of Picross. I couldn't find a good clone on the PC, and I needed a little project so here it is.

I'm planning on porting it to XNA and maybe flash. It's going to be my framework for learning new languages.

So anyway - more news on S'Pore when I know what I can and can't say. And more news on Doki Doki Bloki if there is any news on that.

I'll leave you with Tifa, rocking it Parappa style ;)



Nic.

posted by Nic @ 3:19 PM 6 comments

Looks like the book I contributed to is out in the US.



Wonder when I'm going to get my copy?

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 2:54 PM 1 comments

Mocap without the sexy suits...

I love mocap. I was lucky enough to do some mocap directing on the ill fated Orchid, and since then I've always wanted a cheap solution so you can just grab things as you need them instead of booking studio time.

Looks like this might be the answer.

I'm sure it's expensive right now - but if the setup is 4-6 cameras, an empty room and some software - I'm definitely sold on the idea.

Nic.

Labels: markerless, motion capture, organic motion

posted by Nic @ 1:50 PM 0 comments

Return of the cool UI...

I posted a video of this a few months ago but here's a video of a working prototype...



I think it's no use as an everyday office tool - but as a music/art/games interface I think it's got sooo much potential.

In other news - it's been snowing here. Check out my wife's blog for pictures :)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 1:06 PM 0 comments

Where news becomes whatever you want it to be...

I've been following this story on Think Progress. Very interesting...

posted by Nic @ 2:10 PM 0 comments

One... one... one one... one.. one one...

It took 10 years but it's nice to be number 1 in the charts again :)



Yup - 'Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode' is finally out on Verizon in the USA. If you have a compatible phone, check it out in all it's action shooter, story driven glory :)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 12:02 PM 1 comments

DJ Food...

Great great great human beat box vid!



Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:08 AM 1 comments

I got to try this...

...This is 1 guys Wii Sports experiment. He changed nothing about his routine, just played 30 minutes of Wii Sports every day and lost 9 pounds in 6 weeks! Nintendo is the solution to childhood obesity :)





Love my Wii, but love my wife more :)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 9:50 AM 2 comments

Me Wanteeeeeeeeeee...

This looks great!

For more read HERE!

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 9:28 AM 2 comments

Gamelan Shokbreker

At the end of last year my wife and I went to a concert by 'Gamelan Shokbreker' at the Union Chapel in Islington, London. We didn't really know what to expect. We thought it was just a Gamelan concert and we all know Nic loves Gamelan so we got tickets.

Turns out 'Gamelan Shokbreker' is a collaboration between some traditional Indonesian Gamelan musicians and some Norwegian Jazz/Electronic musicians.



I only realised this when we sat down and I saw a laptop running Ableton Live and some SPD pads.

Anyway - the concert was totally mind blowing. The best live music experience I've had. Now I noticed that when we left the building there were a bunch of BBC trucks around the venue and I was wondering if they had recorded the concert. Well - I kinda forgot about that until today!

I found real audio links to the concert. Take a listen because it's amazing.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 3:50 PM 0 comments

Videogame to Movie conversion...

Most videogames don't make good movies. Saw bits of Doom last night and it did nothing to change my opinion... then - I found this:



More HERE

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 11:36 AM 2 comments

Blogging from the WII...

Wii got its web browser today and so i thought i'd blog quickly about it from the wii. it works really well. i did crash it pretty quickly though, but sites like youtube work just fine.

anyway... got to lay wood flooring in the living room now :)

nic

posted by Nic @ 9:12 AM 0 comments

Proof that Square Enix have invented time travel...

Because if that's previewing on a PC.. it's a PC FROM THE FUTURE!!!

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:39 AM 0 comments

God Bless Henry Rollins...

I saw the Rollins Band live once and they were amazing. Always had a soft spot for Henry Rollins even if I don't always agree with EVERYTHING he says (just 99.9% of it). There's also a great track on the William Shatner album, 'Has Been' called 'I can't get behind that', which features Mr. Rollins and is a delight.

Man, I wish Rollins was the US president. Might save the nation.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:19 AM 0 comments

A wii-kend with the Wii...

As you probably know if you've read my wife's blog, we got a Wii this weekend.

I pre-ordered ages ago with utter faith that Nintendo would deliver something special. I've been close to a Wii a bunch of time but never played one (because I refused to queue for 5 hours at E3 to play for 5 minutes).

It didn't disappoint.

I unboxed the Wii in the office on Friday morning. The office party was perfectly timed to be the night before which meant that Friday was pretty much a down day.

Unplugged the Xbox 360 sat by the TV and behold a crowd.

Most of the new consoles that have come out over the last 10 or so years I've seen for the first time at work.

o Philips CD-i - remember seeing a VCD play for the first time. Was some Star Trek movie.

o Playstation 1 - the whole of Argonaut bunched over each other in awe at the graphics on Ridge Racer.

o Saturn - the same day, very disappointed with how Virtua Fighter looked.

o 3DO - erm...

o Jaguar - errrrrmmmm...

o N64 - Think I played this first in CEX in Harrow before the company bough one. Loved the look of Mario 64 but never really like the game.

o Dreamcast - Wooooooo haaaaaa... I really liked the Dreamcast and remember saying that I didn't think Power Stone could have looked any better.

o PS2 - disappointing and we'd had the dev kits for about a year.

o Xbox - better, but we'd also had the dev kits for a year or so.

Anyway - the reason I'm telling you this is because pretty much every console that has come out has been ripped apart be me and my fellow Game Industry people on the day of the Japanese launch. We'd look at how people had used the hardware, the controls, the quality of the rendering etc, etc, etc.

Wii is different. For the first time GAMES people didn't care about the technicals. All they wanted is to get their hands on the Wiimote and start playing.

Wii Sports Tennis is a big hit. So was bowling. In fact - Wii Sport pretty much stayed on all day. Finally I boxed it up and took it home.

My wife had been going crazy all day because she wanted the Wii and we were playing with it!! :)

Immediate reaction was again - incredibly positive. Spent all weekend pretty much playing Wii Sports again. Yanti can KICK MY ASS at Wii Boxing... we're talking KO'd in 20 seconds.

Messed around with the Mii's a little and now have Asuka/Emi/Amiko on my Wii.

The photo browser is nice and as I was demoing it with the card from my MDA Pro, it did a slideshow of our wedding pictures to some romantic music and we were both floored. I was better than our wedding video :)

The store is going to be interesting, but I already own most of the game that are for sale so I haven't tried the virtual console yet.

I like that fact that there's a lot of things missing. By that I mean no news or weather yet. There's also load of blank spaces for new 'channels' and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Nintendo are going to fill them with.

Nintendo are back. We used to love them - then we hated them (because they got complacent and were shitty to 3r5d parties) - they learned their lesson. DS was joy - Wii is a REVOLUTION!

Hands down winner of the best evolution of videogames since 3D.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:44 AM 0 comments

Award Win...

'Dirge of Cerberus - Lost Episode' won 'Best Mobile Game' at yesterdays 'BIMA Awards'.

Congratulations to the team.

Hopefully a few more people will be playing it now since it launched as an 'embedded app' on the new Panasonic FOMA 900iv and should soon be available on Verizon in the US (was originally just available on Amp'd due to an exclusivity deal).

You can find out more about 'Lost Episode' here:

Square Enix page
Wikipedia

and some reviews:

GameIndustry.com
IGN (obviously didn't play it/didn't 'get' is ;)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 11:07 AM 1 comments

Wandafuru ideeru...

Yup - they should build this!





Full story is HERE.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:20 AM 3 comments

Jet Set Willy - the Hamster version...

You know - I think animals have it better than us!



Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:04 AM 0 comments

Get your pre-orders in :)

The book I have contributed to is listed on Amazon.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 12:43 AM 0 comments

Yellow Fever...

...very funny.



Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:12 AM 0 comments

Forget Vista...

I've been messing around with a few Windows XP 'enhancements' and this is what my desktop (work) looks like now (click for bigger images):



Here's the main desktop. I have a couple of Icons left over from windows like the recycle bin and some links to folders (like a gmail drive and some shares). The rest of the desktop is made up of Yahoo Widgets.

Macs already have this kinda stuff - but lets face it... who wants to use a Mac. Ditto Linux. I need XP for the software I run and it's as simple as that.

Speaking of Macs - Here's my new launch bar:



This is 'RocketDock' and AGAIN it's a Mac rip off - but like I said before... I really don't want to use a Mac. RocketDock has all the stuff I run regularly on it and it pops up when I drag my mouse to the left hand side of the desktop.

Finally...



...I use 'Folder Guide' to replace the shortcuts to folders I use regularly.

Setting up windows like this has really made a big difference on productivity. Everything is now in logical and easy to find places and is much quicker to use than standard windows.

I recommend you take a look at this stuff if you're interested. Best of all - it's all freeware.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:11 AM 0 comments

Very Cool Looking 'ickle' PC...

From the every inventive Samsung...



Seems like Korea is the only country making interesting stuff these days (except the Wii)

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 10:00 AM 1 comments

Frikkkkkin Geeeeeneeeeeeeusssssss....

But only if you've seen the 'original' Office Space'.



Nic.

posted by Nic @ 9:52 AM 1 comments

Update...

I haven't blogged in a long-time, sorry. I haven't really had the time, or felt like writing recently. Busy, busy, busy. So I'll try and do a catch-up blog now while I fight the temptation to sleep on the train to work.

Lump: A couple of months ago I got really ill. I'd noticed a small lump in my neck for a while, but being a man I hadn't done anything about it. Then it got huge over the space of a weekend AND REALLY PAINFUL!

I went to the doctor who thought it might be an infected gland and put me on anti-biotics for a week. They didn't do anything and I spent a week unable to move my neck or sleep well.

Went back to see the doctor and he decided to send me to a specialist at the local hospital.

In the UK we have free health care, but it's not fast health care, so a couple weeks later I got to see the specialist. He examined me by placing giving me a disgusting tasting anesthetic ad placing his hand down my throat. Was horrible but not the end of it. He then stuck a tiny microscope up my nose and fed it down my throat. This was also deeply unpleasant. Feeling the resistance in your nose to something being shoved up there and then 'pop' it's through is really disgusting.

Anyway, this doctor sent me to see another doctor to do a biopsy (yes - haven't mentioned the C word yet, but it's was definitely floating around my, and families head).

Had to wait about another 3 weeks to see the biopsy guy. He was great. Was simple and painless. A very fine needle injected into the lump and a sample drawn.

The biopsy doctor simple said, "It's a cyst" and drained a lot of the yucky white fluid out. Was great news - and went so way towards calming the whole Cancer threat.

A few weeks later I went for an MRI scan. Don't know if you have ever had one, but I found it deeply unpleasant. I'm not afraid of small places, but I was trying to stop myself from freaking out in that thing. I had to enter an almost mediatory state and try and syncopate rhythms in my head from the deafening sound of the magnets or the MRI. Was a long 20 minutes.

Anyway - the good news is that the scans and biopsy confirmed it's a benign (non-cancerous) cyst. I'm back to see the specialist on Monday when I guess they'll take about 9 months to find an operation slot to have it taken out.

Free healthcare is a wonderful thing, but when you find a lump it almost makes you more ill with worry because you have so long to think about it. Definitely time to consider some private health insurance.

What else?

Life: Well - life is great. Still the happiest man in the world, being married to Yanti. The two terrible kittens (Tifa and Yuffie) have pretty much destroyed the house to the point where we have given up caring about the mess :) Tooooo cute.

Fat: I'm getting fat again. Yanti is an amazing cook and never puts on any weight. I on the other hand just have to look at her food and I gain 2 kilos. I have to formulate a plan to drop 10 kilos. I'm not doing my crazy diet again. Want to learn to balance my input. I'm thinking about restricting what I intake during the day so I can eat the wonderful food Yanti makes!

Celebrations: It was Yanti's birthday on the 24th so I booked her a Spa day and we had a nice meal at a very authentic Thai restaurant we found.

It was also Eid. The first time Yanti has been away from her family for Eid and she got incredibly home sick. Bless her, shes strong but it's sometimes very hard for her in he UK. So different to Jakarta. Worse in many ways. But she's happy - and studying for a degree in computer science while looking for permanent work in the UK. Hard to translate your skills when people in the UK don't have a clue where Indonesia even is on a map.

Its my sisters wedding this weekend so we're heading up to York on Friday. Been a crazy year when I look back. So much has happened I'm amazed I found time to breath.

Work: Oh - and finally, Dirge of Cerberus - Lost Episode, the Game I've been working on for Square Enix is out in the USA. It's on 'Amped' only at the moment, but next moth I think it moves on to all networks. It's also coming out in Japan real soon for the new batch of DoCoMo handsets. The game was a real hit at the Tokyo Game Show this year. I'm very proud of our work. I hope the projects we do in the next year are even better!

Well - the train is pulling into London now so I'm going to end. I'll post some pictures of the Tifa model I made using 'Hexagon' (3D modeling package) and Daz Studio (posing software) after this post.

Really getting into doing 3D pre-vising of concepts. Finally found a workflow that lets me get good results in a more realistic time scale. As I get better with building assets for Daz Studio I'm thinking about creating content to sell. We'll see...

Nic

posted by Nic @ 10:45 AM 1 comments