March 20 2006

I haven't had time to write any entires lately. The truth is I've been debating whether I should quit this blog. My reasoning being that I'm finding less and less time to keep it up. I'd hate to keep a blog I rarely update; out-dated entries are boring and worth nothing online...
The birth of the Double Jump blog hasn't made it easier either. The studio itself has been taking up a lot of my free time and I often feel like I should focus more of my energy on that. Why would I write an entry on this blog when I can write an entry on DoubleJump that may get me somewhere someday?

A Track
+++ Jack Johnson - Sing-a-longs & Lullabies for the film Curious George +++
~~~ Belle and Sebastian - If She Wants Me, Dress Up In You ~~~

B Track
+++ Mylo - Destroy Rock and Roll +++
+++ GoldFrapp - Supernature +++
~~~ Karminsky Experience Inc. - Departures ~~~

It's GDC (game developers conference) this week in the Bay Area. Maybe I've already gotten use to Washington State, but I'm not finding North Cal that great. Sure, the weather is nicer and more consistent here but it's not necessarily better. Somehow somewhere I think the seasons up Northwest causes its culture to more resemble those in the East. It's nice to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds in Seattle. Another plus up Northwest is that it is a lot more accessible to get around. I can't stand sitting in my car all day. It's an easy way to lose my valuable time.

Why Won't American Publishers Take Risks?

Developer: "Let's make a game with blocky graphics and crazy music where you have to roll up everything you can find in the world using a huge sticky ball! And these balls will be used to recreate all the stars in the universe after your father destroyed them all in a drunken bender!"

Publisher: "What the heck are you talking about? Are you freaking insane? Get the hell out of my office!"

Developer: "Well, they just released the same game in Japan..."

Publisher: "Those Japanese gamers are so crazy! I love it! Let's publish it!"

Why do we have to continuously wait for games like this to be translated and released in the States? Why can't an American publisher try something just a little bit risky, create a few smaller "oddball" titles each year and see what happens?

Top Ten Facts About Gamers

1. The average game player is 30 years old and has been playing games for 9.5 years.
2. Seventy-five percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
3. Fifty percent of all Americans play video games.
4. Sixty percent of online game players are male. Forty percent of online game players are female.
5. Adult gamers exhibit a high level of interest in current events, with ninety-four percent following news and current events, and seventy-eight percent reporting that they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible.
6. Fifty-three percent of game players expect to be playing as much or more ten years from now than they do today.
7. The average game buyer is 37 years old. In 2005, ninety-five percent of computer game buyers and eighty-four percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
8. Adult gamers have been playing an average of 12 years.
9. In 2004, nineteen percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
10. In 2005, more than 228 million computer and video games were sold, almost two games for every household in America.

Ahh. The Guinness Surger!

Double Jump Studios - Game Development Blog

http://www.doublejumping.com

I've been spending a lot of my energy on my own game studio recently. It's been fun as shit. Everything I'm doing with this right now is exactly why I wanted to be in this industry. The blog was just freshly baked a couple of hours ago; I promise it'll get interesting.

A-Track
~~~ Pinback - Microtonic Wave ~~~

Create-a-South Park Character

Sony PS2 Ads

I thought these pictures were kind of cool. The color and tone seems to be touched up very nicely. I think they'd make great posters.

In order to raise the spirits of an Italian prince burdened by the cares of his position, a musician created for him a cat piano. The musician selected cats whose natural voices were at different pitches and arranged them in cages side by side, so that when a key on the piano was depressed, a mechanism drove a sharp spike into the appropriate cat’s tail. The result was a melody of meows that became more vigorous as the cats became more desperate. Who could not help but laugh at such music? Thus was the prince raised from his melancholy.

Real Rhapsody

Oh man. If only I had bothered to start an account earlier. Real Rhapsody is a gift from god to all the music lovers in the US (hopefully the entire world soon). Music discovery is as easy as 1-2-3 now. I've always preached that music is about sharing; real rhapsody embraces that attitude. Now this a service that provides people with a good cause.

A-Track
~~~ Jack Johnson - Upside Down ~~~

B-Track
~~~ Mylo - Valley of the Dolls, Otto's Journey ~~~
~~~ Erlend Oye - Sheltered Life ~~~
~~~ J Dilla - Stop ~~~
~~~ Panic! At the Disco - The only difference between Martydom and Suicide is Press Coverage ~~~

I think there are many things one can make in this world. Your life is your playground. The breadth of the sandbox pends on your motivations to stretch it. Play with it enough, the sand will spill out eventually.
I expect a lot out of myself. In fact, I do so so often I feel like I lose grasp of what I set out to do for myself in the first place. There is so much to learn and do, and not enough time to share. Ever since I was kid, my parents have always reminded me that 'Time is Money'. Not in the way in which we should be materialistic bastards, but emphasizing that time is golden. Lose your time and it will never be yours again.

A-Track
~~~ Citizen Cope - Nite Becomes Day ~~~
~~~ Mae - Tisbury Lane ~~~
~~~ Rooney - Losing all control ~~~

B-Track
~~~ Board of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy ~~~
~~~ the Strokes - On the Other Side ~~~

Inspiration

More toys to keep me from being rich

That cloud game

I'm really feeling this cloud game - a 2006 IGF Student showcase winner by a bunch of USC students. The concept is simple but pure awesome; fly around and herd clouds while you listen to a soothing soundtrack. It's relaxing and meditative.


# noob, newb - may imply either one of the following:

* Simply a short form for "newbie", a person who is new to the game or unskilled in play. Antonym: pro, godlike
* Sometimes used to address a player who doesn't listen to advice, strive to improve, or are rude to other players.
* Insulting another player by comparing him to someone who has just started playing.

- Wikipedia


I spent CNY in Vancouver. Lots of good food, family, and snowboarding. Ahhh. Vancouver.

I should do the same...maybe a drawing per week

365 PAGES AGO I HAD A VERY SILLY IDEA. Draw a page everyday for one year. Each day I spent around 1 hour on the page, sometimes more, sometimes less. There was never any planning or preparation, I would just go at it whenever I had a spare moment in my day and had something I needed to write or draw. Some of the drawings are observational and some are just plain weird. Monsters and things seem to crop up a lot (robots too). I have no explanation for this and don't really care because its my book and I drew what ever I wanted on that particular day.

My DIY projector screen

Mark, Billy, and I built a screen for my projector last weekend. It's 16:9 and 92"x42". We bought and sawed wooden planks at home depot to build the frame and then used blackout cloth to wrap it. Its pretty similar to preparing the canvas for a painting. It's sick. I'm pretty happy with it.

Often, the "correct" way is not the best way.

The gathering included a discussion of how early computer pioneers used LSD for inspiration. Douglas Englebart, the inventor of the mouse, Myron Stolaroff, a former Ampex engineer and LSD researcher who was attending the symposium, and Apple-cofounder Steve Jobs were among them. In the 2005 book What the Dormouse Said, New York Times reporter John Markoff quotes Jobs describing his LSD experience as "one of the two or three most important things he has done in his life."

What is there to know?

All this is what it is

You and me alone

Sheer simplicity.

I was just about to write an entry...but I think I'm going to go play football instead now. Oh well.

A-Track
~~~ Graham Colton band - Morning light ~~~
~~~ Fort Minor - High Road feat. John Legend ~~~
~~~ Kings of Convenience - Know How ~~~
~~~ Cake - I will survive ~~~

B-Track
~~~ the Strokes - You Only Live Once ~~~
~~~ Rise Against - Like the Angel ~~~
~~~ Pinback - Concrete Sounds ~~~

A-Track
~~~ Kings of Convenience - Misread, Love is no big truth ~~~
~~~ Jamiroquai - Talulah ~~~
~~~ Rise Against - Swing life Away ~~~
~~~ Rooney - Losing all control ~~~

Its been a while since I've had a chance to blog. The past 2 weeks or so has been hectic as can be. I had an exhausting holiday, not a vacation or break, an exhausting holiday. I am probably more tired now than before the holidays started. I guess now is the time to recuperate as there ain't anymore holidays until next Thanksgiving/Christmas =/
I begun 2006 as well as wrapped up 2005 in Hong Kong. Going home was much more than I expected. Maybe I just expected too much of myself, but my 10+ days stay was beyond what I could grasp. It felt like I was thrown into the wolves. My mind was juggling ten emotions at a time and if anything, i probably just ended up overwhelmed and depressed.
I didn't quite make it so obvious, but I was glad to see both my family and friends.

My new recent toy (as Ev puts it): Sanyo PLV-Z4

DLP Projector
LCD panel 0.7" TFT p-Si x 3 (16:9)
Resolution 1280 x 720 (WXGA)
Brightness 1000 ANSI lumens Powerful mode
Contrast ratio 7000:1 in Vivid mode
HDTV Compatibility 480i, 480p, 575i, 575p, 720p, 1035i, 1080i

More Lighting Toys

Those Bastards

This one video game rakes in ~US$75million revenue a month. Talk about being filthy rich.

360

I've had a couple of peeps ask me over the past couple weeks whether I own a Xbox 360...
The answer is no. My main reasoning being that I think there are currently zilch good games on it. There's simply no "must buy" title right now. I've gotten the chance to check out most of the 360 titles at work, and my initial impressions are that they're all at most only a x1.5 enhancement (visually) of any of the current generation titles. The current games are all based on the same gameplay genres we've seen for years- same stuff regardless of the console.
In fact, the only game I'd praise would be "Geometry Wars" which is a retro-Xbox live arcade game that could have easily been made for a PS1 or PS2. Last of all, if I did own a 360, I would have probably sold it on ebay for a triple profit.

Lost

I broke my thumb playing basketball again. Sucks. Until this recent injury, I was on a roll; I was balling 2-3 times a week and no scratches at all. I even started wearing a thumb guard to keep me protected. I guess it just didn't stop the inevitable from happening again. I feel cursed. Do I really need to quit basketball for good?

I went to see the Sonics rock Lebron and the Cavaliers this week. Next up later this month will be Yao and T-Mac =]

Every so often, I wish I would be thrown into a scenario such as the one in ABC's TV series 'Lost'. I want to try and live life by the basics; working with what/who-ever is around me to attain a fundamental goal: survive and find home. I think such experience would allow me to find out much more about myself and what really matters to me in life. Although it probably isn’t in my character to do so under such circumstances, I'd want to sit by the beach all day. I'd probably make my own guitar out of scratch during my free time.
I presume another reason for such wish is that I want escape. I want time away from my current surroundings, and I want to remove myself from who I am and what I currently do everyday. It’s like starting a new life. I want to break away from my current responsibilities and worries.
I probably should also be careful what I usually wish for.

Music from Thxngiving

A-Track
~~~ Phoenix - If I ever feel better ~~~

B-Track
~~~ General Electrics - Term and conditions apply ~~~
~~~ Soulwax - Saturday ~~~
~~~ Paloalto - Breathe in ~~~
~~~ El ten eleven - A watched pot ~~~

Its been busy. I presume its a good thing. Being busy keeps me in shape.

I have entertainment attention deficit. I easily lose focus when TV series or video games don't consistently keep me interested. Stories that drag on or repetitive content (such as gameplay) will lose me. Sometimes I think maybe its just because I have very high standards. If I'm not kept immersed, my mind will wander off and I'll start thinking to myself I could be doing something else more interesting. I need to be kept in that state where I'm losing track of time, which I'm finding harder and harder to stay in as I grow older. It wasn't so much of a problem when I was a kid.
Speaking of entertainment, I've recently been watching ABC's TV series 'Lost'. I can really appreciate the story/plot. Its so fundamental, it works so well. Anybody can relate to survival. Even a 7 year old kid and my grandma would be able to enjoy 'Lost'. Respect to the production team. They do their jobs well.

B-Track
~~~ the get up kids - close to me ~~~
~~~ the jealous sound - anxious arms ~~~

I'm glad thxngiving is just around the corner.