megawertz::blog

Photo

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:34:10 -0500

Kutiman mixes YouTube

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:35:48 -0400

Kutiman mixes YouTube

Photo

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:33:18 -0400

Google Code Blog: Apollo 11 mission's 40th Anniversary: One

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:35:25 -0400

Google Code Blog: Apollo 11 mission's 40th Anniversary: One :

And yes, it’s commented.

Social Security Numbers Can Be Extrapolated From Public Data

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:52:25 -0400

Social Security Numbers Can Be Extrapolated From Public Data:

For years, government officials have urged consumers to protect their social security numbers by giving out the 9-digit codes only when absolutely

Giz Explains: How to Choose the Right Graphics Card

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:18:55 -0400

Giz Explains: How to Choose the Right Graphics Card:

There are plenty of great graphics cards out there, no matter what you’re looking for. Thing is, the odds are seemingly stacked against you ever finding the right one. It doesn’t have to be that…

Raising a healthy gamer: seven tips for parents

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:24:17 -0400

Raising a healthy gamer: seven tips for parents:

Parenting is always a tough job, and video games are a tricky subject in today’s families. Don’t worry, we have you covered. Ars offers a no-BS guide to dealing with gaming and your children, and our…

Light touch: a design firm grapples with Microsoft Surface

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:42:53 -0400

Light touch: a design firm grapples with Microsoft Surface:

Ditching the mouse and keyboard means a whole lot more than just doing without two common peripherals. As those who’ve worked with Microsoft Surface have found out, you have to jettison decades of…

Academic source code dust-up symptom of CS education ills

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:55:48 -0400

Academic source code dust-up symptom of CS education ills:

A college student who published the source code of his completed school assignments recently found himself in a troubling confrontation with a professor. The conflict illustrates some of the…

Video

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:33:34 -0400

End the University as We Know It

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:51:59 -0400

End the University as We Know It:

If higher education is to thrive, colleges and universities, like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured.

Day 3 Recap

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:57:21 -0400

This was the first full day of the conference. There were a lot of great sessions to choose from and even more friends to catch-up with. I started the day by watching Clint Hocking discuss his approach to game design in FarCry 2. It was a great look into his thoughts on design and how he is working to define the process he uses to make games. After Clint’s session I went to a panel that was supposed to reveal some insight on the development and publishing process for XBLA, PSN, and Wii Ware. It was a bit unstructured and Johnathan Blow really ran away with the session.

Lunch was relaxed and afterwards I attended the Game Developers Challenge. This is a yearly tradition at GDC and this year promised to be a good one as three designers were pitted against each other to build an autobiographical game based on their “first time.” It was a bit disappointing to find out that Valve would not let Kim Swift participate due to the topic and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Valve is a company that builds very violent games. Keeping an employee from simply discussing an idea about a game that will never be made that may be loosely based on the topic of sex is a bit disappointing. Everybody is an adult at the conference. I find the acceptance of violence and the denial of sexuality in the industry to be a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Games are art and art should express the full experience of being human.

I ended the day on the expo floor. The booth crawl started at 4:30 and it involved a large number of game companies serving drinks and building an informal environment for socializing and professional networking. This was a great opportunity for making new friends and for talking to a lot of passionate and dynamic game developers.

At night I met up with about 12 game developers, artists, writers, and designers from the Philadelphia chapter of the IGDA. We had dinner at Tres Agaves and talked about growing the Philadelphia game scene. It was cool to have the guys from Cipher Prime stop by and spend time with us. If you haven’t played their game you should. You should also buy their game to help support game development in the Philadelphia area and to help feed the young developers who made the game.

Video from day 3 of GDC 2009.

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:56:38 -0400

Video from day 3 of GDC 2009.

Photos from day 3 of GDC 2009

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:32:34 -0400

Photos from day 3 of GDC 2009

"You are going to die soon. Don’t waste your time making crap."

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:26:56 -0400

“You are going to die soon. Don’t waste your time making crap.”

- Jesse Schell at GDC 2009

GDC 2009 - Day 2 Recap

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:46:38 -0400

Day two was very similar to day one. This was the last of the tutorial days and the entire conference begins in full on Wednesday the 25th.

The best sessions of the day for me were the working lunch and Jesse Schell’s keynote. The working lunch put academics together with industry professionals to discuss a variety of issues. I was fortunate enough to be paired with a table of extremely knowledgeable people who provided me with some great insight on a number of issues. Jesse Schell provided the perfect end for the day with a great presentation about his new book on game design.

The day ended with an IGDA party at the Westin hotel. It’s always fun to meet new people and the IGDA mixers always provide an opportunity to meet a large number of passionate and talented game developers.

Another highlight of the day for me was dinner. I ate with a small group of people at the Thirsty Bear, a microbrewery and Spanish restaurant near the Moscone Center. I was able to combine a great Belgian ale with a fantastic paella for the near perfect meal!

Video from day 2 at the GDC. This includes the IGDA reception.

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:42:39 -0400

Video from day 2 at the GDC. This includes the IGDA reception.

Random photos from day 2 of GDC 2009

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:28:40 -0400

Random photos from day 2 of GDC 2009

Free DS game at the Nintendo keynote.

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:39:02 -0400

Free DS game at the Nintendo keynote.

GDC 2009 - Day 1 Recap

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:41:09 -0400

Day 1 was a great day. I got to catch up with a lot of good friends and I was able to gain a great deal of information from the educational sessions. The final keynote by Jane McGonigal was amazing and really reminded me of the power of games and what we can all achieve as game designers. I posted some video clips and pictures from my travel day and my 1st full day at the conference. Sorry if there is no theme tying all of these items together but I think the narrative for this trip will emerge as the week progresses.

Day 2 is another day of tutorial sessions and I think it will be another great day. The full conference kicks in tomorrow so I hope to have a ton of stuff to post at that point…that is if I’m not too busy trying to experience everything I want experience.

The Internet connection at my hotel is unusable so most of my posts will be a day behind since I have to upload most of my pictures and videos using the conference wifi.

Did I mention the weather is nearly perfect?