Untooning by Pixeloo

I have seen some interesting pictures recently about untooning out favourite virtual characters and making them look real. Its sort of uncanny valley the other way around.
This homer is brilliant, but visit Pixeloo to see more graphic wizardy, and not just untooning.

Budget gaming? Surely not - Battlefield 1943

Given the weird nature of starting a business like Feeding Edge I don't get to buy as many games off the shelf as I used to. (At the moment :) ). So I am finding that I am getting a lot more out of budget games. In particular the brilliant Battlefield 1943 on Xbox Live. (This is also out on the Playstation store too).

In BF1943 you play online matches usually 12 vs 12 on relatively small islands in the South Pacific. Its a capture the flag(s) game and features several player types and lots of vehicles including fighters and bombers.
It is a very fast and frenetic game and the nature of the terrain means there seems to be a lot less camping by snipers so it is very n00by friendly. Still the good players are particularly good, and better when on your side.
The brilliant dynamic that was introduced was that the game type called Air Superiority, which is solely a fighter plane head to head was not unlocked at the start on either PS3 or Xbox. The developers promised to unlock it for the first platform to get a combined score of 43 million kills. Xbox won.
I am a big fan of the fighter plane genre. It sits better with my flowing style, like car racing. I also feel I have better situational awareness and understand the dynamics more than when I am infantry in a field. So it was great to be up in the sky zooming around.
As the game is only online and really only has 4 levels to play on it is considered a budget game, costing £8-10 depending on the system. It also features free to play in that both systems have a demo, so you can just dive into real games and get on with it. It is slightly easier to notice that on the Xbox as all the Live games tend to offer trial downloads, on the PS3 the trial is hidden away and separate from the adverts for the £9.99 version. The PS3 store is also a click away and somewhat aloof, whereas the xbox dashboard pretty much screams at you that 1943 is going on.
So if you have either system down load 1943 and have a go. It really is only the price that makes this a budget game, the production quality, the destruction in the environment and the rush of playing making this brilliant fun.
You will of course get griefers, buy friendly fire tends to be off, though the current trend for AA gunners on boats in Air Superiority to blow up your own planes before you get in them is a bit annoying. Especially if you have to wait for a ride to arrive. Still its all part of the game and being online something they can easily fix or patch without too much impact to us all.
See you in there :)

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 - all types of Fail

The last few weeks I have been getting quite frustrated with my Experia X1 mobile running Windows Mobile 6.1. It seems that whilst I don't have that many applications on it its got very "sticky". Its almost like a full version of Windows running in that sometimes something sparks up, then dies, but there is no indication of it running yet you just know its in there somewhere clogging up the processor.
On several trips to London it seems to get itself even more confused. To the point I have started turning on aicraft mode when traveling around so that it does not get itself confused with wireless networks, 3g, 3.5g, edge etc. All that seems to bork it big time.It then needs multiple power offs and battery removal none of which seems to quite work.
The really weird thing was that on my Windows vista desktop, once I started trying to use the synch for all the address and contacts (as opposed to XP that I had on my previous work laptop) I found that it really did not work very well. In fact moving to a MacBook Pro proved easier to synch that with a windows to windows option! Using the brilliant missing synch I atleast felt I had things backed up. They may be on Vista but it is so unstable I cant trust it.
With my wife's iphone having a recent and significant software upgrade, that went very smoothly, I thought I should really try and use the Sony Ericsson updater service to patch the phone. I was half expecting to get a great Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade, but my initial excitement was soon dashed when it turned out that Vista could not do the update properly. Not only that but the phones archaic update process means that you loose all your setting and it wipes the phone, plus you have to do some weird bios mode, holding the power and volume buttons until you see coloured stripes. (A bit different to the plug, download and synch of the iphone eh?).
I wrote the the customer service asking why Vista did not work with Windows mobile and this phone for updating. The answer "oh just send us your phone for 10 days and we will do it". Fail!
Obviously there is no Mac updater, and I am not putting bootcamp and XP on this Mac just to patch the phone
Luckily I found a XP machine and used that. I say luckily as whilst it did an update I can't say I cant see, nor feel much difference. It did manage to wipe all the settings and programs. So I had to dig up a few things, lost some of the much bragged about Panels, and I really cant be bothered to install them again.
So the upshot is that I am very unlikely to bother with any Sony Ericsson phone again, and certainly not a Windows Mobile one. I know that is the obvious thing anyway, but really life is too short to faff around. With all these wonderful phones like the iphone around that just work, just update, just deliver there really is no room for this sort of slack deployment.
Its turned out the camera is not that good, often very washed out, not a patch on the Nokia N95 (so sorry for the Shozu uploaded pictures that look rubbish until I fiddle with them). I did not get another Iphone as we already had one and I was not yet an Apple convert (yes I know I know!) and it did not do video as the new 3Gs does, but the X1 video gets very clunky as the Windows Mobile wants to go off and do something else it thinks is much more important. These crashy threads are the programs that seem not to be running but are that warm teh phone up and eat the battery sometime.
I guess I should have known, given how hard it was to get the thing int eh first place, but I was feeling pioneering again.
Oh and the keyboard (the best bit) has started to not work very well on the bottom row.
Starting to look like an epic Fail.

Thinking outside the egg box

Thinking outside the egg box, originally uploaded by epredator.

Imperial measurements led to a cultural ideal that eggs are delivered by the dozen (12), or more usually a half dozen (6). Of course there is no real reason why the number cant be different. Yet after all these years of seeing 6 eggs in a box I found it odd to see 9 in our recent delivery from the online grocery store Ocado.
That slightly weird uncomfortable feeling when things are not in their usual place is a good one to seek out. It does not mean bad things are going to happen merely that you have got set in your ways and something new is occurring.

Party Ben mashups

One way and another (as I wrote over on feeding edge) I have got introduced to the work of Party Ben. Musical mashup maestro.
All his stuff is over on his website and all over other parts of the web.
Check out the Every car you chase mashup of police and snowpatrol. It is so subtle you would not believe.
I was transfixed when I heard this in Second Life, and waddya know there's a video mashup too.

I really love both these main songs, and it is a brilliant combination.

E3 Pre order Picks, Games or Biz?

Whilst on the subject of games I have had to be a bit more choosy in what games I end up getting whilst setting up Feeding Edge. Moving from a two income family to a single income and a startup entrepreneur does not make for instant high amounts of disposable income :)

However, games have been a driver for me to even start with computers in the first place and the crossover of work and play means that understanding them is even more important.

As the games companies start to figure out social media and the interactions we have the style of gaming changes.

My first essential pre-order pick in that respect is Forza 3.

I have always like the Playstation Gran Turismo game for levelling up but Forza 2 with is car customization and paintwork, combined with marketplace sharing took this a stage further.

I will remember the previous Forza 2 for being able to make a custom version of the Ferrari 430 that I drove on my 40th birthday.

I was then able to send a version of this to my fellow eightbar at the time Roo and then also work that into various metaverse presentations and blog posts
Combine that with being into cars, loving driving games past all other games and its pretty much a given that Forza will grace my collection on the 360.

The other must have will have to be

Playing Prototype made me remember how much I really enjoyed crackdown originally :) The various points of obsession of trying to reach places like the top of the main tower, and the vertigo it could introduce are classic gaming moments in my memory.

So thats the list at the moment. I wanted to make this a top 3 but there are a few vying for 3rd place.
The Beatles Rock Band (Xbox 360)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360)
Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) Still no release date!
Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)

To name but a few (not including Eye Pet which the predlets will love of course)

Prototype - That's one absorbing game

I have been playing Prototype this weeked on the 360, (other formats available)it was a fathers day gift from the predlets.

My mini review starts with the fact that so far its seems very slick, very polished and a proper next gen title.
If you want to know what it is like it is best to apply some comparisons to other games.
Take Crackdown (Xbox 360), add some Assassin's Creed - Classics Edition (Xbox 360), a hint of Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) and mix in some Spider -Man 3: The Movie (PS3). Throw in a few Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360) components and a little Dead Rising (Xbox 360) Zombie bashing with some arcade Capcom style combo treatment and you are pretty much there.
The basic movement in Prototype takes place around another huge rebuild of New York. There is a virus spreading and causing all sorts of battles of zombies, army and mutants. You play Alex who is himself some sort of Prototype hybrid of the virus giving him super powers to sprint and bounce of walls, climb tall buildings, leap and glide around the city.
It does not have the same challenge of Crackdown in the climbing, i.e. in Crackdown some places were hard to reach until you had leveled up. In Protoype it just changes the way you may reach them as you spend experience points to upgrade to things such as a high flying glide.
There are lots of collecting and freeroaming style mini missions, races and tokens to collect if you choose not to follow the story arc.
Following the arc though has some very stylish flashbacks, as you are able to attack a target and absorb them you gain their memories, which pieces together the story for you. These are very well done, as is the whole voice active piece. Games have really come of age on that front and Prototype is no exception.
Another Crackdownesque piece is when you land from a high fall, the pavement cracks as you land with a bass laden boom and nearby cars are thrown aside.
When in the one on many combat sequences you end up with a range of styles and powerups to use, lots of flying combos and the ability to be very free form in your destruction of the target.
The violence is quite pronounced as there are lots of blade and explosions that have an adverse affect on the constituent parts of your adversaries, so there are a few body parts left lying around. Still it does have an 18 rating!
As usual though the 18 rating is more related to the language. There is much effing and jeffing and referring peoples mothers as in any gritty film or programme. This is always in context, but it does mean that its not one to play when the kids are around even if they are off outside. They may pop in at any moment into a cut scene and get the full treatment.
The Assasins creed influence extends not just to the parkour elements but also to when on street level, in a disguise walking amongst people they have put in the shoving out of the way side swipe that was in many a demo of Assasins Creed.
Unlike AC though the city and the people do not annoy quite as much with repetition of phrases.
The city is truly huge, bounding around it is great fun it its own right.
I think Prototype is going to get a fair amount of gameplay from me, and its certainly one to get hold of if you can
There are PS3 and PC Versions too
Prototype (PS3)
Prototype (PC DVD)

any idea what this toy part is from?

any idea what this toy part is from?, originally uploaded by epredator.

This toy part turned up in a clear out of the predlets toy collection. We have no idea which set or product it is from, any ideas anyone?

Look Out - Predlet 1.0 does Kill Bill

Look Out, originally uploaded by epredator.

With her bug eye shades and a platic pickaxe its hard not to be intimidated by predlet 1.0 :) I loved the attitude.

guitars, computers and patience == awesome

This is a brilliant video, it clearly has been doing the rounds, but I had to blog it. The time and effort taken is fantastic. Its another example that you still need talent, patience and craft, computers do not solve everything, but bring new art forms to light instead.

Wimbledon on the Wii

I was blogging on my company blog over on Feeding Edge about my involvement and history at the Wimbledon tennis championships and happened to notice the article about the new EA sports Wii game Grand Slam Tennis that has actually got the real Wimbledon in it.

All the tennis games up to now have have South London or some aberration of the name. In games it always feels right to have the real place, the real names. Any slight deviation ruins the experience. I remember in F1 when the Geoff Crammond game had all the drivers but one called "A Canadian" on the roster, complete with instructions of how to use the editor to type Villenueve's name in yourself. It is a bit more tricky to deal with 3d models and graphics. I understand the branding and licensing issues but somethings that are so public and want to be represented should just be there. So, if you want to play on Wimbledon's hallowed centre court try one of these two wii packs.



Or without the new motion controller pack
EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis (Wii)

Rolling waves

Rolling waves, originally uploaded by epredator.

I loved taking this photo it was a surprise as to how like sand the water looked. I was snorkelling and out at sea

Cesar Manrique a Yaujta?

We took a trip to Cesar Manrique's place here on Lanzarote. He had created a fascinating home in the lava rocks and his house was full of his art too.
Of course it was a little odd to see this :)

The island is full of his influence, with some amazing wind sculptures adorning many a roundabout.
There is a full set of pictures here
It also struck me it was like a posh version of Luke Skywalker's uncles place on tattoine as you move down into the cave elements of the place. Still all very stunning.

Ray from a submarine

Ray from a submarine, originally uploaded by epredator.

we went from the extremes of the volcano to the depths of the ocean the next day here in Lanzarote.
We went on the submarine to about 29 metres down. A diver got sent out to feed the Ray whilst we were resting on the sea bed. It was very impressive.

Underwater photos

Had a great day snorkelling properly with the underwater camera in Lanzarote. Used predlet 1.0's camera for her as it was her 6th birthday today. She had a great time too and enjoyed some snorkelling.
There is a full set here, I was surprised how many were in focus :)

Ironman Macdonalds

Ironman Macdonalds, originally uploaded by epredator.

It was slightly ironic that here in Lanzarote lots of people are getting geared up fo the ironman race (happening now), but they have to cycles and run past maccy d's in the process :)

Wimbledon Roof

We got to go to the opening/closing event for the new roof on Centre Court at Wimbledon. I did find the ticket amusing though given the wording.

It was also very interesting being there as a punter and not actually working as I have for the past 10 years at the championships, with an added weirdness hanging with IBM team :)
I shot a video of the roof and it was interesting seeing the lights flare as they have on this shot, because you dont actually really notice them, the whole place gives an interesting feel of daylight.

There are a set of photo's here but I am looking forward to seeing Andy's given the huge lens he had against my humbe compact and mobile phone.

PSN gets a gamercard just like 360

Playstation network has finally got itself a show off gamer card. One that lets you show what you have been up to on your gaming console to a web audience and here is mine :)

Dangerous Sports R Us

Predlet 2.0 decided to take a swing seat and find a new use for it. No prompting from me.

Big Ben under surveillance

Big Ben under surveillance, originally uploaded by epredator.

I was in London this week and happened to notice that from this angle it seemed like the CCTV camera was pointing at big ben.
Has the commons got some webcam gig set up to see what time it is?
I was going to make some comment about keeping the MP's expenses ring fenced, but I wont :)