Technically speaking, I'm an artist. Artistically speaking, I'm weird.

No disassemble! Johnny 5 is alive!!!

Lossenc — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:08:25 -0400

I got my new ATI card in the mail last week. Pure awesomeness. However, the technology in my old PC's old enough that I just had to do some major upgrading. (or, at least this was as good an excuse as any)

Since this was technically my fifth machine, and I was disassembling an old one, I felt it best to christen this one, the Johnny 5. Because I'm just that geeky. 80's references aside, I should point out that this is a milestone for me in many ways. This is my first system with a video card fully certified to handle 3dsmax, Maya, and pretty much all the other 3D packages. This is also my very first dual-boot machine. That's right. I'm no longer a Windows purest. I now own a very intimidating Vista/Linux dual boot system. Or...it will be when it's done. I've still got to install Ubuntu, but once it's complete, I'll have my production station up and ready to go. w00t!!!

Looking to the future...and the past

Lossenc — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:26:32 -0400

Well, we finally got our little blurb on CGW. You can view it here. Pretty sweet! More exposure!

Besides that, not a whole lot has been happening lately. Jeremy Birn released a new lighting challenge today, so I'll be working hard on that and his previous ones until classes start on the 15th. More outdoor lighting, which means more practice before I dive into my outdoor environment, professor willing. It's funny. I've been anticipating and preparing to start this project for weeks, but I still don't know if the professor will approve it. Eh, I might come up with a backup plan just in case. Might.

I'm also working on effects these next two weeks. Unreal 3's Cascade editor is pretty cool. Steam, small explosions, and rain are all within my grasp. Bwahahaha! But enough evil genious talk.

I played Metal Gear Solid 3 for hours on end last night. PS3 backwards-compatibility is nice, but without a special adapter, you can't hook up your memory cards. Starting over from the beginning was a pain, but it did give me a chance to re-live some classic MGS3 moments. Ocelot's pansey call for help: "Mrwawr!", Snake's constant staring and taste for every animal in the entire jungle: "Yea, yea, but how's it taste?", and who can forget the cheezy 007-esque "Snake Eater" opening sequence...45 minutes (if you're slow, like me) into the game?

Well, done, Kojima. Classic.

Campaign Conquered! or... Wii where?

Lossenc — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:42:34 -0400

Well, I beat the Campaign Mode of Resistance: Fall of Man Monday night. Wow. Three days. Haven't done that one in a while. Overall, great game. I'm still playing multiplayer online. Won't be getting away from that for a while. In the mean time, I've started going for all the skill points. It really is addicting. Not many people outside of Insomniac fans know that Skill Points were around long before the Microsoft in their infinate wisdom deemed it necessary to bring in Achievements for the 360. I loved it in the R&C PS2 games, and I still love 'em. More importantly, I love the little quip titles that allude to their use. "Chicks dig eyestrain" << Find 10 Intelligence folders.

Some of you may remember me raving about my new Wii in my first few posts. (Does anyone even read this blog!?) I covered the fact that my parents essentially started gaming because of the Wii's intuitive controls and simple games. Well, now that I have a PS3, I'm beginning to notice that I haven't played the Wii in over three months. In fact, I have very little interest in purchasing any new games for it. When my parents heard this little bit of information, my mom surprised me by saying, "How much do you want for it?" I was dumbfounded. Not only were my parents never gamers until this past year, I never thought in a million years that they'd try to purchase a console, least of all one I already had. But it's true. My parents want to buy my Wii and all my games. ('cept Trauma Center, which I don't blame them for) I at first was going to sell them the console alone and take the games to EBGame/Stop, but my mom stopped me. Even though they really would only play it for WiiSports, they said that they can keep the games for my niece to play when she comes over. My mom then turned to my dad and said, "See, dear? Now we can get Wii Fit!"

I never knew hell could get this cold in August.

Metal Gear...SOLD!!!

Lossenc — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:59:11 -0400

Sony announced a few new things this week at Leipzig 2008. First of all, the PSP 3.0 is being released this fall, complete with a Playstation button. No word yet on whether or not the new R&C:Size Matters bundle will be 3.0, though. Also, the next PS3 is going to be a 160Gb system. Normally, I'd be totally excited, were it not for the fact that it only has 2 USB ports and no backwards compatibility. On top of all this, various rumors have finally been confirmed. The Metal Gear Solid 4 80 Gb bundle packs are being discontinued. The sad part about it is, they appear to be the last backwards-compatible PS3s for the forseeable future, and they're going away!

Now I see Sony's strategy in this, because I finally know what will make me break down and buy a PS3: the fear of no backwards-compatibility. It was majorly effective, because I immediately went to the local stores after work to see if I could find one. I went to three places before I finally found any. When I got to Best Buy, I was shocked to see not one or two, but FIVE MGS4 bundles on the shelf. Seeing this as a sign, I casually picked up the closest one, inspected it, and grabbed a Greatest Hits copy of Resistance: Fall of Man for $29.99. It felt so rewarding to finally step out of that store with my recently-purchased PS3 in tow.

It's so shiney, too!

I've spent the past few days playing Resistance to try out the system. It's far better than I imagened. The story is really well written (not surprises, here) and it plays naturally. After going through the first few chapters or so, I decided to try multiplayer, not expecting anything new or exciting. Man, was I wrong. Honestly, not a whole lot is different in Multiplayer mode than it is in the Campaign. But I have to say, this is where the gameplay shines. I never was that big of a FPS multiplayer fan. I played Goldneye and Halo back in the day and had fun in competition matches, but it never really stuck with me. I'd always get beaten badly and eventually not want to even touch the game. This is totally not the case for R:FOM. I still get my butt whupped by a bunch of people, but I just can't get enough of it! It's so fun and just the right pace for me.

And MGS4? I still haven't played it, yet. Actually, I still haven't finished Snake Eater, yet. I suppose I should finish it before I play 4, but it looks like Resistance might be a huge distraction from that. Decisions, decisions, right?

Post SIGGRAPH...tired and excited...all at once!

Lossenc — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:25:56 -0400

Well, I got back from SIGGRAPH on Sunday. I could spend a lot of time re-iterating what I've said elsewhere about the conference, but I won't! I was one of four people who were selected to report on new technologies, innovations, and other exciting news from a SIGGRAPH Student Volunteer's perspective for FireUser.com. I posted daily blogs of the events as I saw them. These posts are being featured on FireUser.com, OpenGL.org, and are supposed to go up on CGW.com soon. I'm very excited to get this opportunity. Here's a direct link to all of the SIGGRAPH blogs.

In sad news, I think my Call of Duty 4 disk is dead.

I bought my 360 off of a friend, but didn't see this problem until after he had already left for the summer. The multiplayer runs with no problem, but the single player campaign only gets to the loading screen for Part 2 of the Prologue, and then displays the infamous "Unreadable Disk" error. I'm going to make sure it isn't the memory or hard drive before I give up on it, but it's upsetting because I really want to continue the game. Guess I'll either play multiplayer or Halo 3 if that doesn't work.

The Game Dev major is a Gamer once again!

Lossenc — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:41:28 -0400

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since my last entry. Let's see what happened so far:

The Dark Knight came out. ==> Really really awesome movie.
Comic Con came and went. ==> TR2N!!! AWESOME!!!

I finally started my XBOX Live account, as you can see from the new gamer tag. Finally, I can get back into the regular (time willing) habit of playing console games! My first priority when I started it up last night was to download a few XBLA games. I've been wanting to try this new-fangled direct distribution for a while, now. (Wii doesn't count, IMHO) I'm trying Penny Arcade Adventures, TMNT (1989), and Soul Calibur, first. I also downloaded the demos for DBZ: Burst Limit, Too Human, Catan, Carcassone, and Ikaruga. Man. I gotta say. It totally seems worthwhile to provide demos for games. They're such eye-openers. The demos I played last night showed me that I probably don't want to waste my money on Too Human, (I was looking forward to the art style ) but will probably get Ikaruga and DBZ:Burst Limit after the summer. Ikaruga was kindof a given, since I've loved it ever since I first played it on Gamecube. DBZ was surprising, though. I wouldn't call myself a hardcore DBZ fan. I'm a fan, just not totally gaga over it. However, I've got to say, playing the demo was really fun and nostalgic. The little cutscenes get annoying, but i love a good button-masher!

In more exciting news, it looks like I'm going to be a sort of reporter for a computer graphics community site during SIGGRAPH. It's pretty huge, in my mind, but I'll keep you posted as to how it's going. You'll find out everything soon enough! (by the end of next week)

E3 FTW!

Lossenc — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:26:41 -0400

I've been keeping up-to-date with E3 announcements this week. (not something I usually do for E3) To tell you the truth, I didn't have very much hope for the conference this year. When I heard how different E3 was last year and how many companies pulled out of the ESA this year, I honestly thought that E3 was going to be on its last legs. It's amazing how I always seem to be pleasently surprised when I expect the worst.

Monday at Nintendo's press conference, Miyamoto showed off Wii Music and the new advanced motion control system. Finally, Nintendo's getting on the ball. I was more than a little disappointed when I first played the Wii and found how unresponsive and limited the sensor and accelerometer was in the Wiimote and Nunchuck. Now they're finally trying to make up for that failure by launching the Wii Motion Advanced for cloase to a 1:1 motion response ratio. This is what Nintendo should be doing. Finding ways of improving on their system in order to compete with the various price drops and firmware updates of the XBox 360 and PS3. Wii Music also looks kinda cool. I'd be more excited if I didn't already have a 360. Wii voice? Don't need it.

Yesterday, Sony's press conference was far more interesting. Holy crap. Resistance and Rachet and Clank are now Sony's poster children. Insomniac was definitely getting the publicity. They kicked things off by having Ted Price show off the Resistance 2 demo. Very spiffy, indeed. They then went into the success of the PSP bundles, announcing a new one. In October, Sony's releasing a bundle that includes a silver PSP, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, National Treasure 2 UMD, a 1Gb Memory Stick, and a download pass for echochrome. Sufficed to say, it's on my shopping list. Next, they announced a brand new PSP title, Resistance: Retribution that will bridge the gap between Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2. It's being made by Bend Studio, who created Siphon Filter. Finally, they announced a new title coming exclusively to the new Playstation Network, Ratchet and Clank Future: The Quest for Booty!

Man. I heard Brian Allgeir and James Stevenson name that as one of the possibilities for RCF:TOD's title. At the time, I thought it'd be a fitting title for a Ratchet game. I guess they did, too.

Last, but certainly not least, Alex Evans from Media Molecule took us on a whirlwind tour of Playstation's year-round success and future as a demo of Little Big Planet. That's what I call a presentation. I'd use LBP just to create an alternative to Powerpoint. It's amazing!

I'm excited to see more, but now I have to go back to work.

iPod the New Portable System?

Lossenc — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:37:52 -0400

Wow. It's not every day that I can say I was surprised about something. Least of all, a JRPG! Two days ago, I heard on a few gaming sites that SquareEnix had released Song Summoner, an RPG for the iPod available through iTunes. To some, this might not seem like much, but to me, it says a lot. First of all, it was released almost silently. SquareEnix didn't even announce it until its release date. Secondly, they're completely distributing through iTunes! I half expected that a large company like SquareEnix (especially one overseas) would probably publish separately at first (would be a huge hassle for iPod owners) and eventually release on iTunes after a few months or so. Not so! SqEnx seems to have thought ahead on this one. Not only that, it stands out as one of, if not the only non-casual and non-puzzle game on iTunes to date. At only $4.99, I just had to download it and try it out.

Okay. I'd never installed a game on my iPod before, so I was very surprised at the graphic quality of the game. The display is practically flawless. It looks like you're playing a next-gen portable game! The interface uses the iPod's click wheel and really shows off how intuitive it really is. No more tapping the D-Pad forever! Not only that, the gameplay itself is really fun and interesting. You control a single "Conductor," Ziggy and his "Tune Troopers." To start off, you can create your "Tune Troopers" in practically the same way you created monsters in Monster Rancher. You can open up your artists, albums, or songs list and select a song to make a "Tune Trooper" from. The character that's created and his/her stats are based on various aspects of data associated with the song, most important of which is the number of times it's been played. Once you make the characters you want to play with, you can progress through the story and battles. The battle system reminds me most of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Each turn, you control all your characters (Ziggy and three Troopers of your choosing) one-by-one, picking where they move and what attacks or skills they use. Unlike FFTA, however, each Trooper has a limited number of battles they can be used in before they become unusable. You can "rewind" or give them more chances with certain items, but I've yet to see if this is limitless. The storyline as far as I've played is pretty much what we're used to with JRPGs. What's completley different, however is the experience system. Instead of gaining experience, you gain items that you can purchase new skills with at the end of each battle. You can increase your stats of your Troopers and level them by...wait for it...LISTENING TO MUSIC! That's right. After you install and start playing Song Summoner, the songs you used to make Tune Troopers actually increase their stats when you listen to them more times.

All I can say is SquareEnix has surprised me with Song Summoner. I can't get enough of it, and I'll happily say it again.

WAaLL-Eeee...

Lossenc — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:16:18 -0400

In other news, WALL-E was every bit of the geeky, sci-fi movie I'd hoped it would be. The lighting was spot on! Siguorney Weaver cracked me up as the computer. Tons of particle effects? Awesome! Pristine shaders? Totally awesome! No dialogue for the first 15 minutes? (not counting the music, mind you) Brilliant! I loved so much of this movie! That's why it pains me to talk about the disappointments.

I'm looking at you, live-action composites. They just didn't fit. Besides, the lighting was perfect as-is. Why did they even need live-action to begin with? Including it just made it and the CG seem out of place. My solution: Dump the live action altogether. The film really would work better without them.

My quoms aside, I really loved WALL-E for what it was. The best Pixar film. (so far)

Pardon me while I do a happy little dance...

Lossenc — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:26:02 -0400

It seems that I've finally come to terms with the time I have left before SigGRAPH and graduation. I'm more excited now than I'm concerned. In my free time (not much of it, mind you) I've been designing breakdowns and other layouts for a physical portfolio. I figure I'd look a lot more professional at SigGRAPH if I handed a potential employer my portfolio to look at while I got out my laptop to show my reel. Plus, it never hurts to have backups. I know more than most people what technical difficulties can do to a first impression.

In other news, I'm psyched that I get to see WALL-E tonight! It's my dad's birthday, so we're going to celebrate by going the movie. I've been waiting for this for a long time. The lighting and shading in all of the previews just look amazing! I just hope the theater isn't packed. I try maintain my composure, especially when I'm geeking out about the CG, but it kindof ruins the movie for me when there's a lot of distraction. I'm sort of weird that way. I'll try to be good and not yell out, "Turn off your cell phone! I'm trying to watch the anisotropic reflections!" No, no. That'd just give me away.