This is an extremely impressive trailer for the upcoming game “DogFighter”, from game developers Dark Water Studios, based in Derry, Northern Ireland (my home town).  There’s no official word yet on what platform the game will be on, but it is looking like it’ll be a hell lot of fun.  I’d love an XBLA release. :)

As mentioned in the past few posts, I did a presentation on [i] The History of Video Games and [b] Serious Games at the Barcamp Derry conference on Saturday. At the end of the talk I promised to upload my slides to my blog, and here they are!  I’ve uploaded them to SlideShare, so they can viewed online or downloaded (by pressing the menu button) for offline/viewing or editing.  You can find them after the “read more” link below, as well as a list of recommended reading.

Read rest of story…

Wow.

As Arnold Schwarzenegger once said… “This, is really cool!”.

A very cool integration of FaceAPI and the Source engine to create head tracking movement in games using just a standard webcam.  Probably less convenient and more strenuous than using a traditional controller, but still cool tech nonetheless with a lot of potential for other applications.

Info link: http://torbensko.com/software/head_tracking/

I was a huge fan of id Software’s games when I was younger.  Games like Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom are probably half the reason why I wasn’t all that bothered about console gaming until about 5 years ago.  I realise now that was naivety; naivety coupled with the lack of being able to afford a console when I was kid and no one wanting to buy me one, since a PC was “more than enough”.  Anyway, these days I love reading about what went on behind the scenes back then, when 4 geeks could get together, drink copious amounts of diet coke, eat pizza, listen to Metallica at ridiculous levels and make damn fine games, without the need for huge studios or budgets.  Masters of Doom by David Kushner is a fantastic book, entertaining and insightful, about how id Software came to be and how their games were made, focusing mainly on John Carmack and John Romero.  A few days back, John Romero, currently working at Gazillion Entertainment, blogged about a video he’d come in to possession of, edited, and put up on Vimeo for all to enjoy.  Its some footage from 1993, while Doom was in development, which visits the id Software workplace and shows some of what went on there – most notably the music of Bobby Prince and John Romero showing off some Doom work-in-progress. Check it out…

A Visit to id Software from john romero on Vimeo.

John also recently blogged about an article from 1994, shortly after Doom was released, which Gamasutra recently republished and is well worth a read for further insight to the design and development of Doom.

Following on from last week’s review of And So I Watch You From Afar’s upcoming album, the video for Set Guitars to Kill has just been uploaded to Vimeo.  Check it out!

And So I Watch You From Afar – Set Guitars To Kill from Smalltown America on Vimeo.

(I can see myself in the crowd!)

This looks pretty awesome!

Very cool way to do a trailer.

This video is both amazing and extremely exciting.  Its from the 1up show, and it showcases the Korg DS-10 synthesiser for the Nintendo DS.  I love the sounds from it, the fact that you can jam wirelessly, and just the general thought of having a handheld synth like that makes me want one a hell of a lot!  Check it out.

I still believe this may be my favourite guy on the planet.  Never fails to cheer me up!

If you have no idea what this is about, this good old Wikipedia link will explain all.