Inspiration
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Rotating LEDs reveal the moon as art subject and inspiration
The moon has always been there for us, providing illumination and marking time while inspiring mankind in art, science and space exploration. Taipei-based studio Whyixd is presenting a new way of looking at it with an installation called #define Moon _. It consists of nine rotating LED installations that emulate the full, waxing, waning and seasonal phases of our satellite.
Why Tim Schafer keeps remaking his classic games
Tim Schafer is smiling and shaking hands with a hovering crowd as I sit down next to him. A college student asks if she can talk with him later about his career. A fan thanks him for his work -- a library of iconic video games that stretches back to the early '90s. He takes the time to respond to each of them, encouraging the student and graciously accepting the fan's gratitude before sitting down to walk me through a demo of Full Throttle Remastered, an HD remake of one of his first games. I ask him if it was strange to revisit a game he created over two decades ago. "It kind of reminds you of the lessons you learned, but forgot," he said. "Like, put a bunch of explosions on the cover of your box. That did really well for this game. I keep forgetting to put more explosions on the covers."
The first self-driving big rig licensed to operate in the US
A Daimler-built autonomous truck can now legally operate on the highways of Nevada. Gov. Brian Sandoval has officially granted the "Freightliner Inspiration Truck" a license for road use in the state, making it the first of its kind to navigate public roads in the US. The Inspiration's "Highway Pilot system" is loaded with cameras, radars, other sensors and computer hardware like most autonomous vehicles. However, it's not completely self-driving -- it still needs a human driver behind the wheel.
Brad McQuaid explains more of his design goals for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has only just opened its Kickstarter campaign, and it's about an eighth of the way to its initial goal with more than a month to go. Perhaps you're still on the fence about whether or not you want to donate, however, wondering what sort of game you'll be getting out of it when all is said and done. So why not let the game's creator tell you about it? In the second of a series of community Q&A sessions, Brad McQuaid explains more about the design goals of Pantheon as well as how the game will handle specific mechanics like fast travel, quests, and items. McQuaid also explains what inspired the team to make the game and how far along the development process is at the moment. Check out the full video past the break, and keep your eyes peeled for a third part in the near future.
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online's community focus
When interviewing developers for Massively over the last three years, I've taken many opportunities to chat up multiple community managers. And when I was running my own community, I read article after article about how to gauge the health of a community. Although I don't remember who said it or where I might have read it, I learned that one of the best ways to measure a healthy community is the amount of artwork that players make about your particular theme, or in the case of The Elder Scrolls Online, the game. Of course, all game creators like to see players having fun and being inspired by what they are doing. The Elder Scrolls brings with it an existing community inspired by games like Skyrim and Morrowind. The community has already fallen in love with ESO and has drawn inspiration from everything that ZeniMax has released about the game so far. One of these inspired individuals is Lisa Green, known as Aloucia on TESO-RP.com. She told me a bit about herself and the inspiration behind her painting that was featured in the latest Tamriel Chronicle.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar is serious business
Science fiction. It's a genre all about man's eternal struggle against space aliens, cyborgs, and people with British accents in very large flagships. Or, you know, about things larger than humanity, about exploring the unknown, and about the sense of wonder at exploring strange new frontiers of a world similar to our own but unfamiliar at the same time. It's a chance for us to step beyond the boundaries of our own world and into the great beyond just a few paces at a time. But it's mostly the cyborgs and flagships. That stuff is really cool to watch. WildStar is a science fiction game. But it takes more than a few cues from a show that also had the audacity to lend a lot of the wild west to a deep space setting. It's hard not to pick up on the Firefly vibe from the previews, after all. But it's been very illuminating to see what the designers have to say about influences and the direction they want to take the game's storytelling because it's very different from other science fiction games on the market right now.
360|intersect 2013 set for April 27-28 in Seattle
The latest in the line of 360|conferences has been announced, and it's an interesting mix of technology and inspiration. 360|intersect is a small event focused on energizing creators to come up with the next innovative game or app by spending time with each other listening to inspirational speeches. The schedule is an interesting mix of how one speaker has learned to stop overworking, how rescue dogs helped another speaker learn to improve her personal and business life, a talk on robotics and more. 360|intersect a 2-day event in Seattle that's limited to 100 people. The event is $450, but past supporters of 360|MacDev will get a $100 discount. You can register now.
EVE Online player gets fit to look like his avatar
Going from virtual to reality, one EVE Online player is bucking the stereotype of gamers as lazy couch potatoes by using his in-game avatar game as inspiration to get fit and change his life. Marcus Dickinson, a self-proclaimed roleplayer, hit the gym and changed his eating habits in an effort to better resemble his EVE persona Roc Wieler, a retired military colonel with an imposing visage and impressive discipline. And the hard work has paid off; Dickinson has toned up and trimmed down. What instigated the transformation? Dickinson noted that Roc Wieler is a brand, with his own blog and even merchandise for fans. However, a trip to Iceland for EVE Online FanFest in 2009 was a wake-up call; Dickinson said he felt nothing like Roc; he felt like a stereotypical geek. "Something snapped inside me, and I realized I wasn't being true to my brand. Why can't I be this character? Why can't I look like this?" Using that as his inspiration, Dickinson changed his lifestyle and now does look more like Roc -- right down to the shades.
Ninja Fishing for iPhone looks eerily similar to popular Flash title
Ninja Fishing is a new title coming on the App Store that combines Fruit Ninja's hacking and slashing mechanic with a fishing game, where you throw fish up in the air and then chop them down for fun and profit. Unfortunately, quite a few people have noticed a resemblance to a Flash game called Radical Fishing, which itself was already being made into an App Store title called Ridiculous Fishing. Sure enough, the original Flash title has you fishing and then shooting fish out of the air, and the planned iOS title plays generally the same way, it would seem. So what's the deal? Certainly there is a resemblance between the two games, even if the swipe-to-slash mechanic is a new addition. And this obviously isn't the first time we've seen game mechanics from another medium apparently ripped off for an iOS title. But the developers of Ridiculous Fishing seem to be taking it in stride anyway -- they're still working hard on their iOS title, and they say it'll have lots of cool new ideas and "an amazing visual style" as well. Gamenauts, the company that released Ninja Fishing, says that the title was inspired by the original Flash game, and that credit will be given, though they weren't specific on how that will be done. Mistakes were made, it seems, but given how many titles are available on the iOS store, it's probably not too surprising that we've got a few overlaps.
WRUP: In search of inspiration
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! When I was at BlizzCon last year, I talked with a number of people from Blizzard's HR department. We talked briefly about the application process, and it was suggested that if I ever apply for a job there, I should include, along with my resumé, an inspiration list. They want to know who or what inspires you to be a better artist -- a very fair question. I thought about it, and it didn't take long to come up with an answer. When it comes to my writing, few people inspire me quite like Norm MacDonald. I first became acquainted with Norm back in the mid-1990s during his stint on Saturday Night Live. He was the go-to news guy, holding the anchor chair of Weekend Update. He's done stand-up. He performed (as 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole) at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in front of President Clinton. And now, he's got a new show on Comedy Central called Sports Show with Norm MacDonald. We're a lot alike, Norm and I. We're both unafraid to be inappropriate. We're both willing to take chances. Neither of us are meant for mass audiences. If I ever got a sitcom on ABC, it'd fare about as well as Norm's did, which is not very well at all. I'd probably even hire Laurie Metcalf too; I like her. Norm puts on a good dumb guy front, but he's almost always the smartest man in the room. Take his appearance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire back in 2000. In one of the most entertaining segments that show had ever, he wins a heck of a lot of money for charity and lampoons the game's format all in one fell swoop. (His run towards a million starts in the clip above; if you're interested, the phenomenal conclusion is available after the fold.) I figured the topic of inspiration was interesting enough that, in addition to the traditional WRUP question, asked my fellow WoW Insider writers the question: "Who -- or what -- inspires you?"
Breakfast Topic: Has your time in Azeroth lent you inspiration?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I started my first year at a liberal arts college this past August, choosing a liberal arts college because I had virtually no idea what I wanted to do with my life. The first week was soul-crushingly hard, and I felt like a piece of flotsam in an ocean, lost and without direction. I was talking with my family about this, and they told me to consider the following scenario: If I could do anything at all and education wasn't an issue, what would it be? It was then that I had an epiphany of sorts: I wanted to design games. More specifically, I wanted to design games that were as powerful as World of Warcraft, reaching across cliques, age, gender, occupation, ethnicity and geographical location and making people happy. Bringing players together to have fun and enjoy an amazing idea (despite the impressive technical implications) is most awe-inspiring to me because of its relative simplicity. I envision a game in which people anywhere across the world could play together, with more to do than just kill X, grind Y. World of Warcraft has allowed people to do amazing things, from letting people make friends they would never have otherwise met, to simply allowing a father to connect to his terminally ill child. I want to be an integral part of something that extraordinary. Has WoW ever inspired you in any way, be it big or small?
CCP Games contributes to "Inspired by Iceland" video campaign
CCP Games, producer of sci-fi MMO EVE Online, had a great start to this year. By January 1st 2010, the number of active EVE subscriptions rose above the 320,000 mark. This magic number meant there were more EVE subscriptions than there are citizens of CCP's home country of Iceland. In celebration of this milestone, CCP felt it important to share with the world the inspiration that lead them to where they are today. As part of Iceland's "Inspired by Iceland" campaign, CCP has put together a video talking about how the development of EVE has been inspired by their home country. In the video, CCP employees talk about EVE Online being developed with a strong sense of community in mind, something that's inherently important to the Icelandic people. They go on to talk about how Iceland has inspired the game's art direction, from the vast lack of scale present in Icelandic landscape to the dark nature of the country. If you've ever been interested in Iceland, skip past the cut to watch this insightful look into what inspires the folks at CCP Games.
Saving your surfing on the Mac
I'd wager that most of you spend as much of your time on the web as I do, and that it's one of the first places you look for answers to just about any question. As a web designer, I look there for inspiration, solutions and am constantly learning how to improve my design and my code with the help of the internet community. It's become important, over time, for me to be able to re-locate the answers I've found, and to archive things that have made a difference for me. I don't just want a folder full of bookmarks, I want to be able to search my local repository in a more abstract way. The tools for doing this are abundant, and many of them free. I thought I'd share part of my current system for saving my tracks across the 'net.
The Daily Grind: What inspires you to take screenshots?
It takes two button presses for a screenshot, most of the time -- one to hide the game's UI and one to take the screen. It seems so extraneous that it's almost a wonder it's in there, but we can all take a visual log any time we want. And more often than not, even if you're chronically bad about taking photos or remembering your camera in real life, you've got a few special shots in there. Of course, as our daily One Shots feature proves, everyone has different reasons for taking a moment for a picture. Some go for poignant moments, some aim for something silly, and some people snap whatever moment looks the most epic. Players try to arrange screenshots, pose everything just right, and give the best possible look to a frozen moment of game time. Today, we ask you what inspires you to take a picture? Are they commemorative, amusing, visually impressive, or some mix of those three?
Microsoft group manager: Windows 7 borrowing 'Mac look and feel' (updated: Microsoft responds)
We'll be honest -- before today, we had never heard of Simon Aldous, but it sure seems as if he's trying hard to get his name out there. Mr. Aldous, a group manager at Microsoft, recently sat down for a rather lengthy talk with PCR. Most of the back-and-forth revolved around receiving input from partners and other mildly boring topics, but one particular Q&A was pointed directly at the outfit's newest operating system. When asked if Windows 7 was "really a much more agile operating system," Simon made a deliberate decision to say the following: "One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use. What we've tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it's traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics." Of course, he followed that up by slamming OS X's general stability, noting that Vista's core technology -- on which Win7 is built -- is "far more stable than the current Mac platform." We know we're opening up a giant can here, but... um, thoughts? Update: Microsoft has issued its response, and it's none too happy, and apparently the Microsoft employee in question was "not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7." From the official Windows Blog: "I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed." We imagine there were lots of frowny faces around the office today.
The Daily Grind: Where else do your MMO skills come in handy?
Those of us that have been playing MMOs for quite some time have probably developed more than a few skills in the process. It's pretty much inevitable, after all -- while you might not be able to learn to dance from a boss fight, you can at least get a good sense of how to move and work as a group, just by way of example. And we all know that learning to play the holy trinity of MMO roles (tank, healer, and DPS) can be ported over to a variety of other games, since odds are high there will be an equivalent. Today's question, however, is asking about when you've reached beyond other games and have been able to apply your game skills to a real-world problem. Do you have an easier time handling budgets from all the time spent stat crunching? Are you able to be more diplomatic from dealing with random party members over and over? Maybe you just have an easier time reacting in stressful situations, or a better system for remembering obscure details. Whatever the skill, let us know about how it's boosted you in real life. (Of course, the ability to actually shoot fireballs or fly would be pretty useful in real life -- and if you've figured out how to bring over some of those skills, please share.)
Count The Beats: Interview with a film & TV composer
If you've ever played Gears of War 2 (who hasn't), or watched Desperate Housewives (we know you secretly love Mrs Van De Kamp), then chances are you've heard music composed by Pieter A. Schlosser from PaaxMusic in Los Angeles. Pieter's been in the music business for the last five years working on a whole lot of tunes for film, TV and gaming. From CSI New York to composing in "French" for The Sims 3, he's got a wealth of experience in this field and, must be mentioned, he's an avid reader of TUAW too. When Pieter got in touch with us regarding our 'Count The Beats' series, and sent us the above picture of his studio, suffice to say that the TUAW offices descended into a flurry of excitement (papers flying in the air and everything). What can we say, we love a picture of an inspiring setup. The logical next step was to sit down with Pieter and talk shop. Read on to find out how the complexities of this mighty setup come together, how the iPhone works as a part of the composing journey, a little bit on DAWs, the "dream upgrade" and how to get the job done when all else is failing. A word of warning, there is some serious music tech geekery ahead. If in doubt, just pretend that it all makes sense and slowly nod your head, then move onto the next paragraph. That's what most of us do anyway!
Spiritual Guidance: Did we need the patch 3.2 nerfs?
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a new UI and addons blog for WoW. Patch 3.2 nerfs here we go! Where do I start? There are several intriguing changes impacting the Priest class (specifically those of us that heal). On the one hand I'm partially disappointed by some of the changes. On the other hand I'm relieved because the changes could have been worse. Let us get to it then, shall we?
Lichborne: Patch 3.2 Death Knight changes in-depth
Welcome to Lichborne, the Death Knight column, with your host, Daniel Whitcomb.On my first read-through of the Patch 3.2 Death Knight patch notes, I had to chuckle a bit. If the theme of the Retribution overhauls was making Retribution DPS a bit more complicated, it was definitely very much about the simplification for Death Knights. Simplification is a relative term, of course, given that rune rotations are still in full effect, but there has been some streamlining of techniques and adjustment of cooldowns that will lead many of us to do some tuning up on our rotations. Let's take a deep look at the changes and see what they'll mean for us going forward into Patch 3.2.
WoW zones in real life
Aurdon over at I Sheep Things spotted this great collection of comparisons between real-life environs and the in-game places that they inspired. Not all of the comparisons are pitch-perfect, obviously (there are no Nagrand-esque floating islands in the real world, and the Crystalsong Forest picture shows trees covered in ice rather than the mystical wood that grows in-game), but lots of the pictures are really dead-on, and they show you really well how Blizzard uses a kind of hyper-realized version of Earth to create what seems like a very real Azeroth.We've posted before how the architecture of WoW mirrors real-world places and culture, but even the natural world of Azeroth uses lots of Earth's real-life elements. And it would be cool to know where these pictures actually come from -- some of them are recognizable (obviously, Stranglethorn Vale is based on parts of the Amazon, and The Barrens represents Africa's savannahs), but even Icecrown and Zangarmarsh are represented (in slightly less mythical form) on Earth. It would be interesting to know exactly where.
