Last Express receives mobile port

The Last Express, a seminal point and click adventure game with a great blend of rotoscoping and line drawn graphics from the late 90s for which I have blogged before (see post here), is now set to receive a mobile port, albeit for iOS devices.

Its creator Jordan Mechner has confirmed this and while the launch date is still vague (it is set for sometime this year), this is a great classic game with non-photorealistic graphics which is finally getting an update on modern devices and hopefully the recognition it eluded from when it was first released.

BBC Radio Shropshire Breakfast Show interview

A recent article at the Wall Street Journal called When Gaming Is Good for You has created a lot of headlines recently, digging up the old argument of positive (and conversely negative effects of video gaming). As a result of this, I have been invited to discuss this article and also general issue in a short live interview with BBC Radio Shropshire on Monday the 19th of March.

You can listen in (I believe I will be on around 8:20 or so) here.

Sony's Vita AR technology demonstrated at GDC

One of the most impressive and promising things I have seen in GDC conference reports so far is this (see video below) report of Sony's R&D demo of augmented reality technology with the Playstation Vita. The tech (called Magnet) uses the in-built camera on the mobile console and then overlays virtual objects (in a markerless way, though Vita can of course do AR with markers too), creating some very cool conditions that can be exploited for very imaginative and new gameplay setups.

There are more demo videos of this doing the rounds on YouTube which are also well worth checking out. Whether this translates well to any engaging and successful titles remains to be seen but AR is a concept that has remained relatively unused in gaming so far and perhaps the Playstation Vita, coupled with Sony's R&D, could change that in the near future.

NeoGeo X handheld to be released

Blaze, a company which has under license created a variety of Sega Megadrive-related hardware in the recent past has now announced that later this year will be releasing a product called NeoGeo X, essentially a handheld version of the iconic SNK console. NeoGeo X is to have 20 built-in titles, SD card expansion capabilities, a 3.5" LCD screen, A/V output, internal stereo speakers and a headphone socket amongst other features.

As somebody who always craved after the original Neo Geo (which was plagued by affordability problems at the time and still commands a hefty price on eBay) I welcome this news as it means that this classic piece of hardware can, albeit belatedly, get a wider audience, this time in a mobile form.

New Infinity Blade game this year

Arguably the most important game technology-wise for the iOS is now set to receive a third part, after Infinity Blade 1 and 2 Infinity Blade Dungeons is the new outing in the series (which is to be launched later this year by Epic Games).

Using Epic Games' Unreal engine the game (evident from the vid above) is set to push real-time mobile graphics boundaries even further. The story is set as a prologue to the other two games. It is also interesting to hear Epic Games is trying to use the increased iPad 3 specs for even more impressive results (though the title will be available on other iOS devices). Looking forward to this one as every IB update is a great milestone of how far visualisation technology has/can been pushed for mobile games the last few years.

Jet Set Radio to receive a remake

One of the most popular non-photorealistically rendered games ever, Sega's Jet Set Radio, which came out in 2000 on the Sega Dreamcast, is set to soon receive an HD remake. The game is recognised widely as one of the earliest pioneers of cel-shading in real-time computer games and it is a treat to see it about to be released with upgraded visuals.

This is set to arrive on the XBLA, PSN but also PC platforms.

Valve to release a 'Steam Box' with biometrics sensors

It is GDC week and I predict I will be doing a few posts in this blog about some of the most important developments at this seminal games conference. One rumoured one (which hopefully will get confirmed) is Valve releasing a 'Steam Box', essentially a console standard that can be made available to a variety of manufacturers.

What's more intriguing about this however (to me at least) is the fact that the box is to have biometric sensors, most likely in the controllers used, with pulse rate and galvanic skin response receiving mentions (Valve has been making waves about this for a while now). If this development does materialise it would open up immense possibilities for usability data collection, let's hope the rumours are not unfounded.

Sumioni Demon Arts, mobile non-photorealistic game based on sumi-e style

Sumioni Demon Arts is a new platform game based on traditional Asian ink painting (sumi-e) which is soon to be released for the Playstation Vita by XSEED. Not only is the game using sumi-e styled visuals (which look very impressive in the video below), something which is quite rare as most non-photorealistic real-time games tend to go for "safer" choices such as cel-shading, but the action itself is inspired by painting in this distinctive style (in fact Sumioni actually translates to ink demon). Painting paths and using brush strokes for special moves are commonplace in the game, making it a very different and cool experience, especially compared to your average platformer.

It is great to see Sumioni Demon Arts trying something different with a non-photorealistic style which is often ignored by real-time applications (and, as a result of this, games too). Hopefully this will inspire more developers to explore sumi-e stylization for their games, or indeed other less-used NPR styles.

Member of the editorial board for the IBIMA published International Journal of Interactive Worlds (IJIW)

I have now been invited and have become a member of the editorial board for the IBIMA published International Journal of Interactive Worlds (IJIW). The aim of the International Journal of Interactive Worlds (IJIW) is to disseminate research conducted in the area of Interactive Worlds and its related domains.

The journal will also organise regular special issues, as well as accept state of the art reports and communications. The journal is published in cooperation with the Interactive Worlds Applied Research Group (Coventry University, UK) and Serious Games Institute, UK. The official website of the publication can be found here.

Robot Gladi8tor, yet another iOS game created with UDK

Sticking to the same theme as the previous blogpost, Robot Gladi8tor by Speedbump Studios is yet another iOS game created with Epic Games' UDK. What's more Robot Gladi8tor has a lot in common with the flagship UDK iOS title, Infinity Blade, as the game plays very similar to the coveted and hugely successful Chair Entertainment title and looks almost as good too.

Robot Gladi8tor, while not too original in nature, is definitely one of the games showcasing the possibilities of mobile gaming and UDK for that context area to its fullest and is definitely worth checking out.

Darkness Rush: Saving Princess, another UDK-powered iOS title

Another recent UDK-powered iOS title is Darkness Rush: Saving Princess. This time the fantasy-themed game falls under the platformer genre, which (with the strong werewolf and vampire themes permeating the game) has strong hints of the classic Castlevania titles. The game can be seen in the trailer below and has indeed some very strong visuals, achieved by Epic Games' proprietary technology.

It is good to see more diverse titles delivered by UDK (not just first person shooters or shooters in general) and I am hoping that more platformers similar to this one will be delivered in the near future.

Paper accepted at CASA 2012 conference

A conference paper I am the co-author for, titled "Feature-Based Probabilistic Texture Blending With Feature Variations For Terrains", has been accepted for publication at the prestigious CASA 2012 conference (the 25th annual conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents), taking place in Singapore this May.

All accepted full papers at the conference will be published in a special issue of Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds journal published by Wiley (impact factor 0.629). For more information about the conference itself you can visit the official website here.

Short course in games development at Bournemouth University

Game development is today a multibillion-dollar industry; currently surpassing in income traditional entertainment ventures such as, most notably, the film one. Covering basic expertise of its three most prevalent aspects can be a great way to prepare yourself for a degree in this area, start working on a portfolio for an internship in a company or even applying these skills to your own startup project.

On this short course, taking place at Bournemouth University in early April 2012 and taught by the author of this blog, you will develop an in-depth knowledge of contemporary game development. Via a set of intensive lecture and tutorial sessions you will comprehensively cover the basics of the three main aspects of modern video game creation; 3D modelling and animation, level design and engine programming.

You will be taught in state-of-the-art, dedicated games development laboratory facilities at Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus, using industry-standard software such as Autodesk’s 3D Studio Max (used to create content for games such as the Assasin’s Creed series), Epic’s UnrealEd (used in games such as the Gears Of War series and Batman Arkham Asylum) and Unity (a very popular up-and-coming multiplatform indie engine capable of producing browser-based 3D games).

During the course you will be taken through the typical pipeline used in the development of a contemporary game; to begin with, you will be introduced to the industry-standard 3D modelling and animation software package in the field (3D Studio Max) and guided through the development of real-time-appropriate, low polygon, fit for purpose content which can be easily integrated in a game engine. This will include the highlighting of processes such as texturing, rigging and animation cycles. Additionally, you will be also introduced to two of the most popular current game engines (Unreal and Unity), with a detailed discussion of not only their different purpose, operations and rationales but also a beginner’s how-to guide on the creation of an interactive game on both of them. This specific part of the course will include coverage of a number of diverse areas, from good practice guidelines in first-person shooter level design, to Javascripting for games and import/export of content from one application to the other.

Finally, you will be expected to put all these skills together in a short project which can begin to form the basis of an interactive portfolio piece. Therefore, at the end of the course you will be in an optimal position to not only comprehend the aforementioned three main aspects of video game creation but also be prepared to put them in practice in a real-world project.

The course, delivered over 3 working days is intended for a wide range of individuals; for example, multimedia professionals can extend their current skillset towards game development; which also incorporates peripheral areas such as 3D content creation, mobile entertainment, interactive world generation and others, further education/college students can get a fascinating technical insight in the processes of game development while keen hobbyist gamers could further their understanding of the medium.

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/game-development

Dragon's Lair documentary in the works

Quite possibly the seminal non-photorealistic graphics-based game, often described as an interactive or playable cartoon, Dragon's Lair, is set to have a documentary based upon it. While Dragon's Lair has received many criticisms over the years as a game (which were not wholly undeserved it has to be said), watching its cel-shaded, laser-disc driven graphics in 1983 was miles away from the graphical experiences all other video games offered at the time.

The trailer above looks very cool and you can follow the progress of the film (titled Inside The Dragon's Lair and set to be released next year in celebration of the game's 30th anniversary) on Twitter too (here).

Combat Arms: Zombies, another UDK-powered iOS game

Combat Arms: Zombies is yet another new UDK-powered game for the iOS platforms which again showcases the possibilities of the Epic Games engine for Apple mobiles. Nexon Mobile's game is predictably enough, and as can be seen from the screenshot below, a first person shooter with a fairly obvious objective; eradicate as many zombie waves as you can so you can survive.

While in terms of originality and execusion the content is not hugely inspired, it is great to see more developers adopt Epic Games' engine for their iOS titles. With Unreal 4 around the corner (see previous post) this is is a trend which is predicted to become more widespread and can only benefit the quality of mobile gaming.

Unreal engine version 4 to be released in 2012?

Epic Games' Mark Rein has already been quoted to have said that the much anticipated fourth iteration of the Unreal engine will be showcased later this year. Not a lot of other information is official or available yet, other than the fact that 2012 is finally the year that version 3 (which has been out for quite a while now) will see its replacement demoed in public.

This is very exciting for people working with UDK for a number of reasons; other than the fourth iteration of the engine there is the Flash/Android plug-ins to look forward to (which are still not out yet) and also a possible tie-in with next-gen. I will of course post updates on this once more detail is available.

Bay Bridge Explorer iOS application powered by UDK

On a similar San Francisco related theme to the previous post I have been recently playing around with the Bay Area Bridge Explorer iOS application which can be found on the iTunes store for free. The application allows you to interactively explore the changes to the Bay Bridge by driving through the new routes (I have just been going through the eastbound detour), made necessary for seismic safery reasons. Although only one of these is available (for now at least), it is still a very innovative way to expose and inform an audience to urban planning processes.

The application is powered by Unreal and is basically a simple first-person 3D driving game with touch and tilt functions. UDK is put through its paces very well here so it is also worth downloading and playing around with if you want to see the potential of a gaming engine for further work in this field.

Driver San Francisco, another urban modelling gaming example

Sparked off by the recent Ubisoft Reflections' recent visit to Bournemouth University (see post below), I have been revisiting a game I couldn't spend much time on earlier in 2011, Driver San Francisco. Typically, as with the rest of the Driver game series franchise, the title is a high-octane racing game, what however is more interesting to me is the great effort in recreating or capturing the essence of the well-known American city in a 3D urban model.

What adds to the great urban model is not just the detailed nuances but the game mechanics offered to the player. Without giving too much away, the player can 'shift' from one body/car to the other, providing instantly a very open-world/exploratory feel to the virtual location. In fact that (combined with the high-quality 3D virtual city included in the game) I can imagine easily wasting time on, i.e. just messing with that gameplay feature alone. Well worth exploring for anybody into real-time (the game runs at 60 fps) 3D virtually reconstructed urban locations.

Ubisoft Reflections and EA Criterion visit Bournemouth University and its Games Technology course

During the last couple of weeks we have received visits here at Bournemouth University from two of the biggest games development studios in the UK, the Newcastle-based Reflections (part of the Ubisoft family, makers of the Driver series) and the Guildford-based Criterion (part of the Electronic Arts family, makers of the Burnout series). These visits were predominantly driven by the interest from our BSc Games Technology students (under the Creative Technology framework for which I am the framework leader for) but also the industry's interest in this particular course too.

Both talks were excellent, covering insights of experts from the industry to graduate recruitment tips plus also on occasion very extended and hugely useful to our students Q&A sessions. I am looking forward to more visits like that from other studios (and also of course furthering the relationship with places such as Reflections and Criterion).

For more information about the Bournemouth University Games Technology course please see here.

Book review published for the International Journal of Game-Based Learning

A book review I have done for the IGI-published quarterly International Journal of Game-Based Learning is now published. This is in Volume 2, Issue 1, January - March 2012. The book reviewed is Learning with Digital Games: A Practical Guide to Engaging Students in Higher Education by Nicola Whitton.

Learning with Digital Games: A Practical Guide to Engaging Students in Higher Education is a recent addition to the ever-expanding canon of literature on game-based learning (GBL) and serious games. Unlike many other academic publications (e.g., journals, books, or conference proceedings), this new book focuses on game-based teaching/learning in higher education, an area often neglected in the literature.

You can read the rest of the review (of this very engaging and interesting book) here.