Inspiration
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Molten Core now available for download
You may remember Blizzard's April Fool's joke this year, a trailer promising the release of a console version of the Molten Core. It was a concept that did so well in the polls, we expected to see it turned into some kind of official mini-game.An enterprising fan, however, beat them to the punch. The Molten Core ATARI-style game is now available, as posted in the forums. You can download it from Box.net or from Filefront. Design inspiration is credited to Blizzard, of course, but its graphics, programming, and game play are courtesy of Derek Gallant.With this morning's server restarts, I took the opportunity to fire up this 1 or 2 player raid instance. And, while it probably won't be peeling me away from the zombie invasion, I didn't stop laughing the entire time. Derek's creation allows you to play each of WoW's staple classes, and everything is, indeed, fairly reminiscent of Molten Core. (If you know what you're looking at.)Good luck!
Fan Art bears resemblence to work of Michael Turner
On the left is a piece of art by the late Michael Turner, who passed away in June of this year. On the right is a submission in the Blizzard Fan Art Program, by Emiko Setsuna (or Dênakê). Tipster Ron pointed this out to us, figuring it was worth a mention. If you notice the two pictures look very similar, you're right. If you're not convinced, look very closely at the ladies' left hand, and how the fingers and thumb are placed. I'm not ready to scream "plagiarism" here (or Laaaaaaaand!, if you're familiar with comics). The idea of "inspired art" and "homage" is very common, and there are only so many ways you can pose the humanoid body. The Blizzard Fan Art Program doesn't have a commentary feature, so it's possible Setsuna intended on crediting Michael Turner for the inspiration. If you consider the timing, especially, it's likely Setsuna was memorializing Turner, as he only passed away a few months ago. Still, it does make me wish that the Fan Art section did have more information from the creator, so we could draw a conclusion more easily.
Breakfast Topic: Has Warcraft inspired you?
Warcraft has been a couple of things to me, besides a game. One, I've met a lot of really, really good friends while playing WoW. Some of them are friends I will probably still have quite a few years from now, after WoW is long gone. Two, it has been a bit of an inspiration. Not that big, worldview-changing kind of inspiration, but the kind that makes you stand up and go do things.The things I've done vary from simple to quite a bit larger. There's the mundane inspirations, like doing a little bit of creative writing (and the writing I do here) but I've written before, so it was more an outlet rather than something completely new. It definitely has inspired quite a bit of writing though, as well as RP as part of that. I've never ever been into comics before, though, and never really had a drive to try them, but I do read the Warcraft comics now, and will probably read the Ashbringer one as well. I still can't say I read a ton of comics, I probably never will, but at least I'm open to giving good ones a whirl nowadays. Maybe you all have some recommendations for me, eh?Then, going back to the 'meeting friends' bit, I've met a fair amount of raid and guild mates in person now, and will definitely be meeting more come BlizzCon in October. We've formed some pretty strong bonds, and I really wish I could hang out with those people more in person. Elizabeth W. has echoed this one with me, we've both traveled pretty far to meet some great people.WoW Insider has shown off quite a bit that players have been inspired to do, from crafts to art to uh, military training. Has WoW inspired anything in you guys? Just trying something new, or maybe something a little more substantial?
Wii Warm Up: Inspiration
The folks at High Voltage shamelessly admitted to us in an interview that their upcoming game, The Conduit, takes a little more than inspiration from some of the biggest FPS games we've played and loved over the years. They may be among the few who admit to being a little derivative, but many games are pretty obviously pulling from movies, media, and other games. We can't help but think that's one of the reasons so many people refuse to see games as art -- even the most brilliantly original games.How do you feel about that? Does it make things a little more familiar and easier to get into, or would you rather have something original? There's another option, of course -- maybe it doesn't matter to you at all.
All the World's a Stage: Writing what you know
All the World's a Stage is a source for roleplaying ideas, commentary, and discussions. It is published every Sunday evening.Many people don't realize it, but every time you put your fingers to the keyboard to spell out some words, that's the same writing skill that authors and poets take years and years to practice and master. Of course there's a big difference between a simple text message and an epic fantasy novel, but any form of writing shares many of the same the fundamental skills - skills which one must then adapt to suit the particular medium you are using to communicate.As a roleplayer, in particular, one can benefit a great deal from many of the basic principles any writer uses when putting their ideas down on paper, especially principles of good communication within a storytelling medium.Today, we'll explore a particular aspect of the writing craft as applied in roleplaying: Writing what you know vs. writing what seems cool.
iMac design vs. Audi
We've already seen the iPhone's influence on the new iMac, but the Audi? A British ConceptCar site claims the aluminum and glass casing of the new iMac reminded them of another chrome, aluminum and glass design-- that of an Audi. As you can see in the picture above, the comparison kind of works. Kind of. I especially like the coloring on the windshield.I really doubt the iMac's design was directly inspired by the car-- I don't see Apple designers sitting around a table while one of them looks out the window and is suddenly inspired by something he sees driving past. Rather, my guess is, as ConceptCar says, that they're both headed towards the same things: form mixed with function, and grace mixed with power.But then again, who knows what inspired Apple to make that logo black? The iMac certainly costs about as much as my first car did.Thanks, Christian!
Wonders never cease
The above picture shows one Stephen Fischbach, who suffers from cerebral palsy and is unable to walk or speak, enjoying a game of Wii Sports baseball with his family. It's a wonderful image, and one that we hope everyone, no matter their console allegiances, can fully appreciate.[via Digg]
iPod accessories that you cannot buy
Techeblog has a post up about seven of the best iPod accessories made by do-it-yourselfers; accessories they wish they'd be able to buy. They include a tiny foamboard Pac-Man-style Nano cabinet, a full-sized iPod-holding grand piano style table, a bulletproof iPod case, and more. You've seen several of these already covered on TUAW, but I rather liked how they put them all together into a "best of" article. I love to see how necessity and ingenuity combine for creative solutions. And this post is a nice overview of how deeply personal that inspiration can be.
iTMS introduces "New Rock Revealed" weekly band explorations
The iTMS has introduced an intriguing new service called "New Rock Revealed", where one band's music will be dissected each week to find who their roots and inspirations were, as well as similar sounds you can find today. This first week looks at Pearl Jam's new album (which rocks, by the way), and lists its tracks in the middle of the chart. On the left side is a list of "Roots & Influences", where songs from bands that inspired Pearl Jam are listed, track by track, matching up to the Pearl Jam songs where their influences can be heard. On the right side is the "Similar Sounds" list of bands who clearly were inspired by Pearl Jam. Each of the two lists (Roots & Influences and Similar Sounds) are available as mixes ready for purchase, priced at just over $12 apiece. I would imagine that price will fluctuate, depending on the length of the album New Rock Revealed dissects each week.This is a really cool idea, though I wish the iTMS could produce some more information along the lines of truly exploring a band's roots. I'd love to be able to read a little more into what exactly inspired Pearl Jam; where they got their sound, how they started out as a band living out of their broken-down tour bus and eating stale bread three times a day until they got their big break. With that said, I'm excited to see the iTMS whipping out clever new services like this to get people more interested in music, where it came from and where it's going.
A postmortem on Accordion Hero (with a little info on Guitar Hero, too)
Just in case you missed the Guitar Hero parody Accordion Hero reported here on Joystiq a week or two back, Gamasutra has now posted a tongue-in-cheek postmortem on the squeezebox simulator. It's cheeky.You'll learn not only "that accordion players get all the girls" (with female players, of course, getting all the guys), but you'll also get a handle on some detailed developer data such as the number of accordions broken during development (none) and the number set on fire during the same period of time (twenty-three).
