Remeber how to 'Reboot'?

Oh hell yes, Reboot is back baby!

I have just finished downloading the series including a special of how it was created :D

If you don't know what reboot is i don't blame you. It's the first CGI animated series created (followed by Toy-story being the first CGI animated movie).
The story takes place inside a computer system that its inhabitants call 'Mainframe'. It's Good vs Evil as the main character, Bob, fights a virus called 'Megabyte', from taking over Mainframe.

During the series a warning of an 'Incoming game' where the user (person operating the computer ie you) is loading a game. Bob tries to bet to the game to defeat the user in order to save Mainframe as where-ever the game is played in Mainframe and the user wins, that part of Mainframe is destroyed (yet the computer still works).

It is better to watch rather than have me attempt to explain it.

After watching a few episodes i have finally convinced myself it is made in max/maya. And you can tell.

Hey, itsa Mario! And whatsa that douchebag dooina here?

Title is in my worst italian accent eva!

Last night i was around my boyfriends. He had a few friends round who brought a dvd round. Knowing the movies they watched were bogus and boring i decided to give it a go.

The movie was called: 'King of kong: A fistful of quarters'.

Strange but it shows how competitive a little game can be. Set out as a documentary, it follows a young man called Steve Wiebe who has a strong ambition to beat the top score on a Donkey kong jr arcade game. During the movie the biggest douchebag of a sore loser pops us with a sour look on his face if your not talking about him and him alone.

It was an experience watching it, and i urge you to do the same as well even if you haven't seen it. Just be aware that you will be in a debate at the end of it like we did last night.

The features are good as well, especially the 'Really, really short history of Donkey kong' it is literally short.

Movies and games will never be the same again.

A lot of students are going to be now saying: 'Since taking game art i now appreciate and understand how much goes into special effects in movies and games'.

Well along them lines anyway.

Before coming to uni i only knew so little of what went into the special effects in movies and even how the movie was made. Dvds i had with special features? Never touched them. I refused to see how the movie was made and how they did the special effects because it would spoil this special feeling i had towards the movie. Since we watched the special features in Black hawk down last year, i find myself more intrigued to go through my entire dvd collection and watch the ones with special features. Now i know how the special effects are done, i can't watch a movie without yelling at the tv 'as if i have to be that good', 'that is insane', 'that's gotta take forever to do' and 'check out the textures'.

One movie was interesting because you would see most of the special effects since they hadn't been filled in yet. Unfortunately it was a pirate copy but it just showed you how much special effects went in a movie.

Games are completely different. Although i was and still am scared of playing them i now see them in a completely new light. EVERYTHING is pain-staking made. Learning from first hand i found how the characters, environment and odd objects are made. But there is more to it that making and colouring, theres lighting, cameras, rigging, animation, the list is endless. With every game i have played recently i have been looking at repeated textures, which are high and low poly characters and environments.

Some of that may of made sense but to summarise:

I have been looking at movies and games in more depth of how it's made, looking at special features on dvd's, and i don't play games anymore because I'm more interested in repeated textures.

Taylz of a diary I

I thought that the idea of keeping a diary once in a while about how we use our time during the day was a genius idea. So heres my first page.

Friday 17th November 2009

I got up at 10:25 am. After an hour of trying to wake myself up i decided to do the worse thing i could do or my OCD and take out the rubbish. 5 bags worth. After the lift failed i had to drag the bags (all of them at once) down narrow corridors, 3 flights of stairs, 2 bags decided to split, rubbish flew everywhere but i just got on with it. After a nice shower i went to the SU for an errand and went to get lunch.

At 1:00pm i open 3Ds studio max 9 to do work, just opened my file and it froze. So restarted and reopened and did work for at least 3 and a half hours. I then had my tea and watched cartoons i had on my hard drive for 2 and a half hours before leaving for Poi society at 8:30pm at Bede park. Towards the end of my time at the poi society, me and my boyfriend walked for a bit to get warm and we ended up going to the bowstring bridge that was being taken down. That wasn't a pleasant sight to be honest. Then we followed the road around and walked down the canal where i decided to go back to my flat.

The end <3

Movie review IV

Welcome to the second year selection :D

'Sexy beast'
Gave us a few laughs especially the motormouth, jeez was he good. Gave the word 'pee freely' a whole new meaning. Not sure what to think about it on a whole but it was interesting.

'Manhunter'
Possibly the only film i can't remember that the hell happens in it. But I'm guessing it was alright.

'Trespass'
This was a good movie. The main set at the warehouse was realllllllly good, everything happened there, complete with gangsters and a hobo. The set itself was highly detailed, almost how you would find a run down abandoned warehouse in real life. The fight to retrieve the treasure and to survive was intense.

'Identity'
Mike you have done it again. Just like the Mist, they were a lot of people talking afterwards, and even talk about getting it on DVD. My kind of movie with a psychopath, blood and gore. It was a good movie with a good storyline. The set was simple, the characters were brilliant and twists at every corner. It was that kind of movie where it was hard to follow until at the end when we find out that what we saw was a dream based on an actual event.

'Black Hawk down'
This seems familiar, have i seen this before? Because Mike was ill Chris took over. I was expecting a different movie but at the end of the day it was a unanimous vote since the first yrs haven't seen it and Chris wanted to show them the extras. Lol from what i saw all the 2nd yrs (and possible 3rd) got up and left.

Movie review III

Lol, this one is soooooooo overdue. I hadn't realised i didn't finish the movie review for yr 1.

Right lest get started.

'United 93'
Just taking a step back with this one even though it was in my last review but i was seriously unwell to watch it. But i did go to the library and took it out which was a big mistake. Why? It was unpleasant to watch. It was the kind of movie that upsets you and makes you think why people would do such a terrible thing. The contents were executed really well. It was long winded at times but it was setting the mood that something horrible was going to happen. At the end where the plane takes a nose dive and the viewers felt as though they were in the cockpit at the time it happened was the scariest part i think. But it shows you what the world is capable of.

'Black Hawk down'
Not much of a war fan and i try to stay clear of them. BHD was different. Not only were the CGI done really well but the fact that the set, the people and effects were amazing. It was worth to watch the movie then to watch features at the end. On a whole it was a good movie, and it just made my DVD list and that's a bloody hard thing to achieve, I'm that picky.

'Saving private Ryan'
Again another movie i missed and had to take out. On a whole it wasn't too bad but that's 3 hours I'm not getting back. I don't know what to say about this movie apart from the settings were really good and the half hour long shooting at the beginning was good.

'Local hero'
Appeared on the news a couple of days ago for reasons i can't remember. Not overly exciting but it does show how a community works and strives to save their home. And the obsession of the sky and the aurora borealis.

And that is the end of First year movies.

On to year 2!!!

Audery Kawasaki

If you haven't already heard her name you should.

I love her work, not only has it got a manga feel to it but it is also influenced by art nouveau. She workes a lot on wood panels which i find unusual but it give this brilliant effect.

In my last year of GSCE in fine art, a friend of mine did her project based on Kawasaki and her final pieces looked amazing. Unfortunatly i don't have pictures of her final pieces but they weren't far off Kawasakis work.

Heres are a few examples of Kawasakis work and her website

Love, peace, death and a loss of your innocence.

I was watching this anime called 'Macademi Wasshoi' (Magicians academy) and there is one episode that makes your eyes burn, send shivers up your spine and guaranteed you will never look at angels or the french the same way again. Ok that was a little exaggerated but it's along them lines.

I recommend you watch it to the end past the credits. But i will warn you it is 30 mins long but it's worth it for a laugh. I seen it 5 times because its that good and even better in Japanese.

Just a little side note: The robot boy that appears at the beginning has a swans head on his head, that was from the previous episode.

Enjoy.

Macademi Wasshoi episode 5 - youtube

(P.s: This is a 3 parter, i couldnt get the whole episode up)

(C) to Hirumamo5 for uploading the video.

Of art and creation

Since Mikes lecture on creativity and art, it made me wonder what makes art. Is it the old masters, portraits, landscapes or randomness in contemporary art? There is no right or wrong answer as i have learnt over the years since GCSE fine art. Art can be anything because everything is a thing of beauty to someone.

Personally i love the old masters. Theres nothing i like more than to be jealous of their work with beautiful painted figures, amazing quick brush strokes, awsome blending and intricate detail. That is something i would love to do but even i have limits, even the limits won't stop me from trying. I also believe that anyone can accomplish this if they tried. Heck way back when in China, painters would get kids who had little or no experience to paint the oriental designs we see today.

What we don't realise is that we improve more everyday. Your a better person than you were yesterday. Like on the advert (forget which one) it said 'do something everyday that scares you.' So my advice (as well as the industries) 'Draw something everyday'. Carry a sketch book with you so you can sketch something good you can see or if you have a good idea. And keep a camera handy you may never know where the next best thing is going to come from. I have said my piece so now i will leave you now and create magic wonders on a piece of paper.

I read a big peoples book!

*sobs* Why...WHY?

Okay tantrum over. The other day i decided to hunt down 'Mortal engines'. 3 times i forgot the guys last name. But either way i bought the book. Last book i bought was Harry Potter 7, and i was there for the grand unveiling which was a nightmare and the book was crap. 1 day and 2 hours it took me to read it. But enough of that. But i am not a huge fan of reading, i hate reading unless the book i'm reading is a manga, me lykes pictures :D

To my surprise i wanted to read 'Mortal engines'. So curled up in bed and read the first page... God help me did i like it! One more chapter and i'm going to bed... Oh just one more it's only 3 pages. I had to force myself to go to bed at 1 in the morning. Next day i blitzed through it.

One of the BEST books i have ever read!

So much action. So many twist in the plots. It was such a page turner. And i am raring to create these amazing images that have been brewing in my mind.

For someone who hates reading i would recommend this book to anyone!

A wroking update.

Jeez it feels forever since i last posted on here.

But i do have an excuse for 3 weeks of it. I had tonsillitis. It got that bad on the second week i dragged myself to the hospital. And during one of the worse days when i couldn't keep anything down so i starved for 2 days, i was told i had Glandular fever as well. So now i have to be wary of what i eat.

I can admit i haven't done any 3D work since Easter. Reason being my dad died the day before i went back home so i was having a great amount of difficulty taking it in. Then a few weeks after his funeral i now know he's gone and now i get very emotional. But i have done a bit of work. I have modelled something interesting from a dream i had. Just need to finish it off and texture. Anyone have tutorials on alpha channels? Because i need to know how to do alpha channels for a fence which is going to be a pain in the ass to hand draw... Still have to finish of a character and there's another project I'd like to do as well. On that note i have taken advice and i am hopefully improving on my anatomy, still needs a bit more work, but it's still early days.

Not long after Easter i had a dyslexia assessment and was told i have dyslexia and semantic pragmatic. Which explain why i found it very difficult in my second primary school, secondary school, college, and now in uni. I still fine it hard but i am going to get the help and I'm going to retrain over the summer so come second year Heather would be wondering if i ate the tutorials. The semantic pragmatic is to do with speech, so if i hadn't made any sense, that's why. It's hard fr me to make sense of words and to explain things, so the blogs are really hard for me to do because i don't understand what the question is asking and what i need to put in. If i knew i had a problem i would of confronted the tutors more. I just assumed it was because I'm lazy, but I'm lazy because I'm afraid of asking for help because i know i wont understand.

So i hope everyone had a great Easter and i hope you have a great summer, i know i will.

BRING ON HARD LABOUR!!!

24. The end of the first year.

Well what can i say? Pretty every thing has been negative in the past year. But they have been some good things as well.

The good points are that i managed to get into uni and my firm choice at that. Moving to Leicester was a hard experience by leaving my mum behind but i was prepared for that since i lived in my bedroom at home anyway. Starting Game art was a whole new experience, never knew what i was letting myself into. So far the course has been amazing. I learnt so much in one year it's unbelievable. I made a lot of new friends, I've been to amazing places and I've had a great time. Everyone has been so good to me and putting up with me for a year. I wouldn't want to change anything so far in my life, and i would love to continue next year.

I think i should talk about a couple of bad things this year as well BUT!!! I have learnt from my mistakes and i wish to amend them! Firstly Game production. I have never used 3Ds max before, and it was quite a shock when i first started. Over the past few months i was thrown into using different modifiers which haven't worked well for me, one of which is the unwrap modifier. Everything has gone wrong every time i have used it. They are still a lot of things i need to sort out with models and stuff but i am going to get help with that when i go back home. Visual design, problems with light and shade, positioning and the basic knowledge of the human figure as well as buildings and objects. Critical studies, i have always had mega problems with answering questions, can't answer straight forward ones and can't answer essays, and i failed Psychology in college because i didn't understand what is being asked and what i should include in the answer.

Hopefully that is it. But you have to remember there are more positive than negatives. I love my course and over the summer i am going to be working hard to improve greatly in all areas. Second year is going to be harder and i am willing to take it up on whatever it throws at me!

22. GDC week.

I really don't know much about these conferences. And i certainly never heard of this one. It's rather intriguing to know that there is a Games development conference in the world. Just a little disappointed it's in America, like everything else. The best anime conventions, holidays, theme parks and even a Harry Potter theme park which should be in the making when it should be in England! Every one of these are in America. Too expensive and probably worth it. Don't get me wrong if i had the money i would love to go to America and even go to one of these GDC's because looking at the website it looks really interesting.

Looking at whats lined up, I'd say they are pretty interesting, and the fact that really people from major companies will be there to give a talk about different issues. They are a lot of things i do need help with and i think it would be a great opportunity to go to these lectures and see what the professionals have to say.

In the visual arts section, 'Lighting with purpose' Would be a good one, because i am really bad at where the light source is and how to apply it to a model properly to give it more depth and 3dness to it.

In the Game design section, 'The cruise director of Azeroth: Directed gameplay within World of Warcraft', luckily for Mike i wouldn't be that interested. Looking at the lecture description, it looks confusing to me.

But other than that I'm happy to see what the GDC is all about and get myself there one year. I think it'll be a great experience and the things i could take away from it will be very valuable.

21. Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?

Please don't ask me this, because you won't like the answer.

To be truthful i have been having a lot of problems trying to figure what i wanted to do in life. I have wanted to be an archaeologist, a Paleontologist, artist and then a writer. But i have never thought about being a game artist. Instead of doing what i love best i.e drawing i wanted a job that paid decent money that i can pay bills, food, housing and go on holidays as well as pay for my manga addiction and Japanese stuffs.

At the time, I only chose game art because i read on a website that it paid £35000 a year. I didn't know jack squat about Game art until it came to deciding what we wanted to do after college in year 12. This was a last minute decision. My friend was already in her 1st year of uni doing Game art in Teesside and she said it was really good. So that's what i took. I loved doing art so it was a good opportunity to carry it on through uni. i managed to get offers from all 5 chosen unis, Demontfort was the worst because my folders zip broke after receiving an offer from Mike and i had to take all my books home in a bag he gave me. But in a way i guess the bag was a lucky item since i got into Demontfort.

It wasn't until i started my lessons when i learnt what Game art was about in terms of how the course was set out and what we had to do in lessons (at that time i forgot the presentation at the interview). I started thinking if i had taken the right course because i was struggling like mad with 3Ds max. As the months went on my views started to change. At first i was dreading everything and i wasn't 'feeling' the artistic side to Game art until i settled down and got use to the work that was given and now i am really enjoying it. I'm improving and learning new things all the time. The only thing that's letting me down is the fact I'm not sleeping well, if i don't have a decent nights sleep then i will feel like the living dead and my concentration and eagerness to work goes down the can. I don't know why it's happening but i am out to prove my worth, it's just another barrier that i can't shift.

To where i want to be after my studies... Well that's another story. At the moment i don't know, i still have stuff to learn, things to sort out so ask me again in a years time. I just wanted to go to uni, it was my dream. In all i love uni and i especially love my course. And this is from a girl who despises computers and doesn't like playing games much. Other than that the skies the limit, i have time to think where I'd like to be in 3 years time and what i have to do to get there, in the mean time I'm going to work the best i can for when the time comes.

I wouldn't change my decision for the world.

20. Creativity part 2

Since the last time i did research and wrote about my thoughts on creativity, i find out what it means to be creative.

Creativity is the journey of self discovery. To get there you need many components, something which i lack. You need: motivation, passion, enthusiasm and even inspiration. Some of the great masters had these but it didn't come naturally, not naturally enough anyway.

It's like learning to crawl before you walk, you start off with the basics. Learn to hold a pencil, learn how to make lines, learn how to colour in the lines and hey presto you have a basic picture of a flower. It may not be perfect but its a start. But what does all this mean? Well funnily enough, talent is something you gain from experience, patience and practice. No one is born with natural talent, it's like saying a 5 year old can perform complicated surgery just using a spork and a rubber band. That's just pants. To be the best you need to put the effort in and practice. Drawing everyday will help keep the mind focused and helps improve what you already know. But you also need to clock in the hours as well. 10,000 hours over 3 years. Impossible? I think not. Do the work that is set for you, do it and then do your own stuff, mini projects if you like. All of this are key elements in succeeding to become a great artist and showing everyone that it can be done if you put your mind to it.

So, get creating!!!

This is a continuation since i didn't know we were going back through what it's meant to be creative and learning the shocking truth about education and creativity in schools. So here we go again.

After watching the video in lecture i completely agree, creativity ceases to exist in the school curriculum. Now a days children arn't allowed to be creative because they are high expectations in the 3 top subjects that half of it we don't really need to learn. Maths, English and Science. When are we going to use trigonometry when stacking shelves? Where are we going to use the 3 allotropes of carbon in an office? We don't need these yet there there to catch us out and told it's more important than your own creativity. These are the things that hare holding us back. We only need the basics of what is taught from these subjects, not the complicated stuff that we won't find in our chosen careers.

But the biggest kick in the pants is that education seems to leave out Art and textiles. We need to be creative in order to make things work. Without creativity the same things are going to repeat and they won't be fresh ideas. Children need to be creative and be free to explore the world through their own creative ways, not stuck in a classroom and told to learn their timestables perfectly or they'll never get a job. That's not right. Children are children; they need to have fun, something a lot of us don't have any more since either we have jobs or far too serious. We need a balance between what we should learn and what we need to learn. Make Art more important, it's a great way to express thoughts and feelings. Isn't it true what they say? A picture says a thousand words? In this case a picture means your wasting your time if you don't buckle down and get that degree or apprenticeship and earning mega bucks in order to put food on the table and pay your bills.

As a wise man once said 'Follow your dreams now whilst you still have the chance, because once the time comes, you will never get another chance.'

I'm half way there. Because Game art has a little of everything i want to do. And more importantly it expanded my horizons and taught me a lot of things i never learnt in college and it opens many doors of opportunity.

(Again i have ranted rather than answering the question...)

19. Life Changing or Career Building?

In order to be good at something you have to have a passion for it. Whether it be journalism, art, literature or even drama. If you have that passion you will rise above the rest.

In game art people do amazing things. When you pick up a modern game you can see how effective the art is and imagine the time and effort that went into making that one game that you spend 3 days completing. You begin to appreciate the artwork, modelling and the intelligence behind the challenges and gameplay. Because this is what it takes to be a game artist.

Nowadays you need these qualities to have a chance at the gaming world. Dedication and hard work will make you stand out more and increase your chances of employment. But before you can think about that you need to be educated and trained into the environment. Many of the game industry workers have been trained in traditional illustration, compute programming or design courses, skills needed in the industry.

In order to know what to look out for, visit the companies websites and have a look at their skill requirements. Then compare with the university syllabus, it could be worth looking into. But having the right qualifications doesn't mean you got the job, a potential employer will be looking for the skills.

Basically if you do the research then you know what you want out of life. Time and dedication are the key to success and the right skills will give you the winning chance of landing a job.

The movie reviews II

It has been a while since i have discussed about the movies. Out of the four below i haven't been to see two of them. One i have seen many, many times before and the other i didn't want to risk being ill over everything and everyone. But once i have time i will watch it.

'War of the worlds'. Seen it many, many times. Although i am not a big fan of it, it is a good movie when i really think about it. The designs behind the tripods and the whole atmosphere if it is well rewarding.

'United 94' (me thinks). The one i hadn't seen. But i was told it was depressing.

'Collateral'. Really not my kind of movie. I didn't like it, it was boring, but the shoot outs were alright i have give them credit for that. The best part of the film was when Pitt threw an office chair through the window, jumped through and tripped over it. How stupid can you be.

'L.A. Confidential'. I like detective stuffs, but this was boring in some places. I don't like romance in movies except for horror movies because i know they'll die at some point. But other than that, some parts were verrrrrry interesting. Like the Nite owl killing, i likes how the people were dragged into the mens room and slaughtered. Jeez i sound like a psychopath.... But it beats romance any day.

The end.

18. Sound for games.

Sound designers can provide incredibly detailed sound, so real it's like your in the characters shoes in the game. Not only the characters and background music come into play but also other everyday sounds like footsteps, wind and even echoes all make the experience that little more realistic. Doing something like closing your eyes and listening to the sounds in the game creates visions of what is happening in the game.

When the budget has to cut back, the audio is the first to go. The audio in games scale down a bit because of their large files. This is also due to their high quality. And just like all areas of the gaming industry, you need a music license.

For me i find it hard to pay attention to most music in games. They are some memorable ones, one of which is in Final fantasy VII at the end of a battle and also the 'Steel samurai' theme in Phoenix Wright. I will listen to the music when i am progressing through the game but when leveling up i do listen to my own music on iTunes. This is because the game music will annoy me to hell.

One of the best places to find in game music is at BeeMp3, Bearshare/limewire and there was Galbadia hotel but its unavailable. Also my friend gave me all sorts of websites but they are somewhere in my bedroom back at Middlesbrough.

17. Game engines

The definition of a game engine is that its a programme code which controls the structure and mechanics of the game. Without it then theres no game.

Game engines can be reused again for sources of inspiration. An existing game engine can empower your own ideas and can be a great starting point. Not every game needs to be started from scratch, it can be developed by an already existing game engine. It's an unseen code that drives the visual action on screen. Obviously they are rules to different games how their characters behave. So using an existing game engine you can then replace the visual aspects and model data to create the new one which is different. Reusing existing game engines is also very financial, meaning companies save money rather than splashing out on a whole new game engine.

Creating a game engine from scratch takes a long time and very problematic for programmers to remove bugs in the code, and mentioned before, very pricey. It may seem simple but no matter how you look at it everything comes at a price. When using an existing game engine you have to pay for a license and the company your using the game engine from.

16. Gaming cultures.

As far as games go, there's a hell of a lot that i don't like. And it's mainly Final fantasy, Gears of war, Halo and other shoot 'em ups and strategy games. I am apart of one gaming culture and i can probably say it's the only one I'm interested in, and that's 'Phoenix Wright/ Apollo Justice' and other detective games even though they maybe long winded like 'Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles' and 'Hotel Dusk: Room 215' .

It's mainly Phoenix Wright that i like playing because i have all the games so far and i am now eagerly awaiting for the next installments. One being about Phoenix's Childhood friend and enemy in the courtroom, Miles Edgeworth who is having a game to himself, 'Gakuten Kenji'. Not much of a title since it's still being produced in Japan and will come out in Europe in May. Then theres the next installment of Apollo Justice coming out later on afterwards.

Since these series only take about a few days to a week to complete, playing when and where i can it will pretty much take up all my free time that i don't even want to eat or sleep. Especially with the Phoenix wright games, they take me about a week to complete 4-5 cases depending on the game. And i ain't the brightest bulb in the box so i do have a hell of a lot of problems figuring out which evidence goes where and get penalized in the process for thinking of possibilities. But it is fun to shout out 'Objection', 'Take that' and 'Hold it' into the mic.

For more about Phoenix Wright and the other games in the series look at: Court-records. Best place to find info on anything as well as a load of other stuff you cant find anywhere else.

They are people who i do know through MSN but there mainly people who i have been friends with in secondary school, college and uni. But i really don't like talking on MSN unless it's important or i can't reach them during the day.

Best music video ever!

This is A-Ha: Take on me.

I just love the animation and the way how the story unfolds in the comic book itself. I love the video, the drawings are nicely done and well i just like it, so to me this is the best music video ever.

Find it here: A-Ha: take on me.

It did jump twice but i think it's my laptop because it's always happening.

15. An introduction to the Game Industry

The gaming industry has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride. In the 80's the industry crashed because of the production of too many badly made games, this was partially Nintendo. Nowadays the industry is doing okay. Companies, especially EA are taking in smaller companies to be one big company. Because of the economic downfall and many people are made redundant, smaller companies are merging with bigger companies and only recruiting people they need to do a project and made redundant afterwards because there not needed anymore.

Games are becoming more popular especially with Xbox360 and the Nintendo wii, but there is also a downfall. Piracy. Public enemy number one to the gaming industry. One of the new products on the market now is the new Nintendo DS 'M3DS real'. What it does is that you purchase a memory card to go into the back of the game card and download DS games off the Internet. Good news for us, mega bad to the gaming industry because there loosing money for every unsold game. It pushes the costs up to buy a game in the shop to replace the millions the company has put into making the game in the first place. BUT, there is a little hope for the Xbox360 games. Because with the Xbox live, Microsoft is able to scan for any chips that has been put in the Xbox and ban that person from ever purchasing or playing the Xbox again.

[Note: All the above was information from a lovely man from Gamestation. He also gave me 2 websites where he got all the info from: Gamestm and Edge.]

The movie reviews.

Alas movie reviews! Now that we have watched a fair amount of movies i think it's about time i put my views across about them.

First 'The night of the hunter'. Brilliant movie in it's own way. Really not one of the best but it still has it's charm, and quirky storyline. I think it did really well, got a few laughs and the lighting techniques were really good.

'Carnival of souls'. Not as interesting. A bit of it was a little confusing but it was okay i guess. Funny part was right at the end when the car is pulled out and the lass in the middle moves her eyes. Never knew the dead were still active even after death.

'Dark city'. Defiantly worth a watch. Set in an alternative universe it was brilliant from start to finish. The lighting was brilliant, storyline was good and a few weird stuff happens.

'The city of lost children'. Completely french without a single beautiful person in sight which makes this movie more interesting. Storyline was good, a lot was going on with the background and lighting. Another brilliant movie.

'Brazil'. Now what was going on with this? It was so confusing in places and i found it difficult to follow because so much was going on. It was like Topsy turvy town. Didn't enjoy it much.

'Children of men'. Wanted to watch this for some time. Nice to see crazy people again. Storyline was again unusual, a world without children is like tele without the vision, its just a box. Turn out okay i guess. Staged really well.

'Donnie darko'. Finally i got to watch the infamous Donnie darko. An even stranger storyline but it was done really well. I loved the way how the movie was shot in actual sunlight and darkness than the green screen garb. The movie became more radiant and life like as though it had soul. Another brilliant movie.

'The mist'. Finey something i actually enjoyed! The storyline was strange and there was this abnormality to it especially when it's reveled that scientists blew a hole in the time space continuum or whatever. Other than that it was brill. Mind you one thing that i still can't get over is the fact the OTT crazy preacher woman... saved everyones lives... But still the way how she overreacted, i am glad she was shot.

Well that's it for now. Tune in next time when i go into detail of why i should care about jack-squat.

Can't wait to watch the next line up of movies!!!

12. Creativity.

Jeez, this must of taken ages to cut out. Look at the other great food works.

Creativity is something that each and everyone of us have. It's the way we use it to create ideas and concepts to make something new. This comes about in many different ways from an idea popping into your head to being inspired by others work. Even though they are no set boundries for creativity, the world is your blank canvas and you can do what you like.

When it comes to creativity, what is it meant to look like? It can look like anything. You just need to get inspiration and passion. All aspects of playing a game is due to creativity. Characters, scenery and the minute detail that no one notices.

To me i think it is important to have creativity in a game because then it makes game play more interesting. If a game hasn't got much going on, no good character designs, and interesting scenery then it'll be boring. The more creative the better.

Games in genral i find that Koei make great characters. I love everything about the game but leveling up, pain in the ass to fight, pain in the ass to jump into dungeons that you can't get out of without paying or completing the many levels.

As an artist in my spare time i do look for things that inspire me. I would love to be even more creative and even more patiant. In the gaming industry i would want to explore different ways of creating, so basically concept art. But for this moment in time i would like to learn more of the basics of 3Ds max and Photoshop CS2, as well as exploring my ability to create the next best thing.

The little red book of nightmares

I have a little red book that i use to write my dreams in, which i think are going to make a good story.

Now i'm not that great at writing stories but some of these ideas are really awsome. And i would LOVE to write a book about my dreams as short stories. A hell of a lot of planning needs to go into it and tidying up as well as making sense.

So [watch this space]

11. The elements of Game Design - Gameplay

Game play is the involvement within the game. Basically it's how you go about playing the game with the character you got. They are different types of ways of going about game play like: Strategy, turn-based, simulation and MMORPG are pretty much the main ones.
Strategy is based on the outcome of the players decision. The character is control ed and therefore the player itself.
Turn-based is when you and the enemy take it in turns to attack.
Simulation is a real life situation. A lot of simulation games come from board games such as Monopoly and Risk. It's a combination of strategy and luck.
MMORPG is a lot like strategy except for one tinsy detail: you can play against other people from all over the world which makes games such as: (Sorry Mike) World of warcraft, Runescape and one-person shooters like Gears of war and Halo popular.

Game play is important in itself because that's the whole point of playing a game. Without game play then there's no point. In a way game play is like telling a story, even though there's a set story for the character and you have to do certain things in order to proceed there's always the players story to tell because their the ones making it happen based on their own decisions.