Just Brushing the Dust Off the Ol' Blog

It's been a long time, but just chiming in--I'm still alive.  ;)

Still doing stuff.  Been busy with work.  But I'm gearing for something bigger.

Later.

Meshuggah Mix of The Wolf of Wall Street

Look Out, Wacom! Monoprice's Coming At You!

"Look at all dem' comments!"

A little over three months ago, I wrote a blog post about the why standard consumer-level tablets aren't a suited comparison for the Cintiq Companion tablets.

But after I published the article, I just left it. And little did I know (for months) that several people had noticed my obscure little blog and replied to it!

Anyways, I eventually came back recently and managed to answer back to all the responses--that is, everyone else but one commenter who asked me if I knew any decent alternative to the Wacom Cintiq series.

Eureka!

At the time, I didn't have an answer, so I held on my answer to him.  I didn't want to suggest anything to him just yet.

I didn't want to turn him on to some cheap alternative, as most tend to have less-than-stellar track records (most of them made cheaply in China).

But just recently, I've found an answer that he and many of you might just be interested in.  So, as this post's title says, the company to check out is Monoprice.  In fact, I would definitely check out Monoprice.

They not only seem to be a pretty good and affordable choice, but I'd say they've got all the makings to becoming Wacom's chief competitor someday.

Get used to this brand.  And their guarantee.

Enter Monoprice

Monoprice is a rising California-based electronics company that first got started with very cheaply-priced but fine-working HDMI cables, but have since extended to other computer electronics, such as equally-affordable headphones, LCD displays, game controllers, phone accessories.  HDMI cables are still most of their business, but that's changing fast.

They've also got a line of affordable graphics tablets (I'm talkin' $23.45-affordable), which includes a brand-new interactive pen display tablet.  You can check out details of the interactive pen display here.

Monoprice's interactive pen display

It seems like a pretty good alternative to the Cintiq, esp. since it's offers the functionality of a Wacom Cintiq...for only $389.78!  I repeat.  That's three hundred eighty-nine dollars, seventy-eight that's-so-cheap-it-makes-no-cents.

Now, let me say this: I have no first-hand experience with Monoprice, and this display tablet isn't even released yet (you can pre-order it to be shipped on Jan 1, 2014).

But from what I've seen from the Monoprice customer reviews and several electronics review publications, they're held favorably.  Quite favorably, even.

So Far, So Good

There are mostly favorable customer reviews on the Monoprice site for their current line of graphics tablets.  Out of a few thousand customer reviews, the tablets bear a high customer rating, most of them ranging about 80-96%.

The lowest rating is 76%, which is still satisfactory, though even then, that score was affected by just a couple of individual cases with issues. That's to be expected, and proportionately, most didn't have many issues.

It's nice that those individuals reviewing their issues all got a response from Monoprice employees seeing how they could help.  Overall, their tablets (and other products in general) are mostly high with customer satisfactory.

Monoprice's smallest tablet, at just $23.45!

There also a few publications that speak favorably of Monoprice, included Buzzfeed, Lifehacker, and Geek.  Their products are rated good.  They seem to have good customer service.  So, with this much, I feel comfortable suggesting a look at a product I've never used, by a company I've no experience with, for a product that's not even out yet.

Comparing the Product

There are a few minor differences between Monoprice's interactive pen display tablet and Wacom's Cintiq:

• This Monoprice interactive pen display is not a tablet computer as well.  It has no standalone tablet functionality--it's a straightforward pen display.
• There are no multi-touch gesture features on the upcoming tablet.
• The final big difference is that it doesn't seem to be built for portability.
• It doesn't seem to have an eraser tip, like Wacom stylus pens.
• A small difference is it has 1440 x 900 resolution, compared to 1920 x 1080 resolution of the Cintiq 13HD.
• It also has a tilt recognition range of 50°, compared to 40° of the Cintiq 13HD.
• The stand, while it looks sufficient, seems like it might not be able to support your full body weight leaning on it as well as, say, the Wacom 24HD.

The pen stylus.  Look familiar?

But there are perks.

• It is a nice 19-inch display, which dwarfs the Cintiq 13HD's 13.3-inch display.
• It has an included adjustable stand (as pictured below).
• It has a rechargeable pen-stylus, with two-sided rocker switch (à la Wacom).  
• The pen comes with a charging cable.
• The pen display matches the Cintiq in some areas:
• 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity
• Displays up to 16.7 million colors
• 5080 lines per inch resolution

Baby got back...support.

Wrapping This Up

But hey, it's still seems like a great deal, and if you can live with those minor differences, you've got a real bargain here.  It's like a halfway house between a Cintiq 13HD and a Cintiq 22HD, but aimed for artists on a budget.

...$389.78!

Wacom uses a lot of patented technology, chiefly their cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive, double-tipped stylus pens with patented electromagnetic resonance technology.

In other words, it's hard to come close to Wacom, but I think this pen display's shaping up to come pretty darn close.

I would also make a note that this is Monoprice's first pen display.  There will be more improved designs later down the road, I'm sure.  Maybe even enough to make Wacom start to sweat a little.

Anyways, if you can do without tablet features, I would definitely keep an eye on this option as a pen display.  Overall, this choice looks good!

Thanks for reading!

- Brian

CGI 3D Animated Short HD: "A Warrior's Dream" Directed & Created by Li Jin

Short animation length: About 3 minutes.

Awesomeness level: Total Boss.

Why You Shouldn't Compare the Wacom Cintiq Companion Tablets with Other Tablets

The Wacom Cintiq Companion

Wacom just announced three new products, two of which being Cintiqs that feature tablet functionality (the other being a Wacom stylus pen designed for finer stylus use on iPad tablets).  I was very happy to see the first two products, as while their tablet functionalities are not terribly essential to me, I have been looking into getting a Cintiq 13HD, and I'm glad I waited.  While many Wacom users are happy about this news, I've been noticing many people complaining about these products, namely about their prices.

The price of the full-featured Windows 8-powered Cintiq Companion is $1,999 (256 GB) and $2,499.00 (512 GB), while the hybrid version Cintiq Companion hybrid, which acts as a normal Cintiq 13HD for your desktop and a lightweight Android tablet on-the-go, is priced at $1,499.00 (16 GB) and $1,599.00 (32 GB).

The Cintiq Companion has 8 GB of RAM and an Intel CORE i7 processor, while the Cintiq Companion Hybrid has 2 GB of RAM and NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor.  The former is designed with fuller features to allow for fuller computer-independent work while on-the-go, and the latter is designed more as a Cintiq 13 HD that gives you some portability for light work while on-the-go.

The Surface Pro (from Microsoft)

One may ask (as some have), "Why would I buy a Wacom Cintiq Companion when the Surface Pro starts at $799 to $899?"  My answer to that would be in the form of another question, "Why are you comparing a professional-level Cintiq product with a normal consumer-level product?"

The big difference is that a Surface Pro (like most other tablets) simply isn't a Cintiq.  I mean that both in its design and aim.  Its touchscreen (for digital art's sake) is nowhere near that of Cintiq quality. Its picture quality (for digital art's sake) simply isn't Cintiq-quality.  And its compatibility with art software simply isn't that enjoyed by Wacom tablets, which many software like Photoshop and Mudbox seek to design their user schemes around.

The Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid

Also, with the lighter Cintiq Companion Hybrid, it doesn't seek to be your normal choice of tablet for casual use--it's aiming more for artists and working professionals looking to carry their some of their work with them.  The Cintiq Companion Hybrid uses Android not so much to compete as an Android tablet, but to provide this hybrid version with a bit of tablet functionality to allow lighter usage while on-the-go, while sticking to its main purpose as a Cintiq 13HD.

If you need heavier, fuller usage of the Cintiq on-the-go, that's why they have the Cintiq Companion available, which does feature Windows 8, a third-generation Intel CORE i7 processor and 8 GB for more power.  More power is simply going to cost more.

More power.

The Cintiq Companion's screen is bigger than the Surface Pro (13.3" vs. 10.6") which offers 2048 levels of pressure (twice more than Surface Pro's mere 1024 levels) and 75% Adobe RGB (compared to Surface Pro's 55% AdobeRGB).  The Companion has 8 GB RAM (while Surface Pro has only 4 GB), it uses an i7 processor (Surface Pro uses an i5), and it has much bigger SSD sizes of 256 GB and 512 GB (Surface Pro only has up to 128 GB).

The Cintiq Companion also has available an optional compact wireless keyboard, which, when coupled with the Companion's four levels of adjustable height, offers a wider range of comfortable positions than the Surface Pro does.  (See the first picture at the top.)

The Cintiq Companion is technically offering more than the Surface Pro, even as a tablet.  But again, it's not trying to be the first name in tablets to the average consumer--just artists and professionals looking for extra functionality with their Cintiqs.  The Cintiq Companions are just different beasts entirely from consumer-level tablets.

I think when folks compare these Cintiq products to normal tablets, they're kinda missing the point.  The point of these products is that they are first and foremost Cintiq graphics tablet--the other tablet features are just those highly-requested by artists seeking a little portability.

I would think that the expectation is that most serious artists and working professionals are either going to make the money to buy these or do what they can to buy these, knowing that these products will easily pay for themselves after a while.

Ahh...professionalism.

To me, the most unprofessional thing you can do is complain about the price of professional tools (in most cases, anyways).  These are premium graphics tablet products.  You get what you pay for here.  It may take some saving pennies, but quality always pays for itself in the end.

As for me, I'll certainly be looking into acquiring the Wacom Companion Hybrid with 16 GB, as for most of my work would be on my notebook computer, I won't need as much SSD space for my use.  I'll consider its multi-touch features to be an equivalent of a Cintiq 13HD Touch, which, for only $500 more, isn't a bad deal to me.

Though, I personally think once you reach the $2K price mark, I'd personally rather have a Cintiq 22HD, as I don't rely on work on-the-go that much.  I can't think of many scenarios with myself where I'd need a Cintiq so much while on-the-go that I'd pass on getting a much better at-home Cintiq.

- MMJ

Six solid reasons why Nintendo needs a main press conference at E3 2013

Nintendo needs a main press conference at E3 2013, all for six solid reasons:

1) NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, etc--the non-gaming news sources who still cover some of what goes on at E3--usually focus on briefings from the press conferences, and not so much the show floor.  For instance, Sony's PS4 press conference earlier this year got a lot of attention from these news sources.  This kind of attention is important towards getting the attention of the millions of non-gamers who do holidays shopping.

More importantly, NO general news source like CNN or ABC follows Nintendo Direct, and few gaming news sources follow much news from Nintendo Direct.  It's mostly existing Nintendo fans and Nintendo-centric sources that do.  Hosting news via Nintendo Direct is doing little to reach out to people beyond those who already follow Nintendo Direct.


2) Because millions of gamer and non-gamer consumers alike will be seeing news from E3, I'd rather Nintendo give a presentation anyways, just to keep the Wii U upfront in media attention.  Even if the media treats the Wii U as a side note, it's still giving it better attention than no real attention at all, since those non-gaming news sources will undoubtedly be about PS4 and "NextBox."


3) Nintendo could also play the situation to their advantage by giving a streamlined, no-nonsense presentation just showing their games. No over-hype talk. No awkward moments in trying to be cute.  No waste of expensive flashiness.  No two-hour long presentation.

Just a brief talk of future plans and a straightforward showing of their games on-stage, and maybe some gameplay demonstrations of what games are available. That alone would catch some of the media's attention, of how Nintendo cut through all the crap and just give their plans and lineup for the latter-2013/2014 seasons.


4) If the PS4 and "NextBox" reveal a price tag of about $500, which is what some analysts are expecting for the PS4, then the Wii U, along with a confident showing of upcoming games onstage and possibly even the announcement of a price cut, will suddenly stand out as better deal for many shoppers this holidays.  Not to mention that if the Wii U can showcase promise, some gamers who've been waiting for a better reason to buy Wii U might pick one up this holidays.

Also, we're all still waiting to see just how the PS4 and "NextBox" operate--neither Sony nor Microsoft have said with directness that their console won't require always-online gameplay, or whether they'll support used games.  Sony, after much avoiding the issue when they were asked, said very indirectly that the PS4 can play used games, but they didn't actually directly say that it will.

So, we still have these aspects to think about, and if either of the two consoles sport either of the two problematic features, it'll suddenly give the Wii U an advantage...one that Nintendo will wished they had played upfront on stage with a main press conference.


5) Technically, despite the claim of many saying otherwise, Nintendo does have enough games coming to the Wii U, as well as the Nintendo 3DS, to merit a main press conference onstage.  They have the following games coming for them:

Super Smash Bros. (Wii U and Nintendo 3DS)
The Legend of Zelda (Wii U)
Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)
Xenogears 2 (Wii U)
Pokémon X Version and Pokémon Y Version (Nintendo 3DS)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 (Nintendo 3DS)
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (Nintendo 3DS)
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (Nintendo 3DS)
Monster Hunter 4 (Nintendo 3DS)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (Wii U)
The Wonderful 101 (Wii U)
Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem Crossover (Wii U)

Most of those games have sold Nintendo consoles before (such as the Super Smash Bros. and Zelda series), have a smaller but strong following (such as the Pikmin, Bayonetta, Professor Layton, Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem series), been among the best-selling series of all time (such as the Pokémon and Monster Hunter series) and play on games that have been heralded among the greatest games of all time (such as A Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country).

Xenogears Chronicles on the Wii was praised by many as one of the best RPGs of the last decade, and the sequel Xenogears 2 on Wii U is a big one.  Fans of the strong cult classic Viewtiful Joe might find The Wonderful 101 the closest thing to a Viewtiful Joe fix--the game carries a very strong vibe of the Viewtiful Joe, since the two games share the same creators.

These may not be the 25+ games that Sony has announced for the PS3, but it's still strong enough to hold a presentation onstage.  These games are strong enough to present yourself with confidence about onstage.  Nintendo not stepping up with a streamlined press conference will convey a message of not being confident about these games.


6) If Nintendo doesn't have a main E3 press conference, most news sources are going to interpret the move as Nintendo not being confident enough to step up with a main press conference--regardless of whether that's actually true or not.  They're going to view it as Nintendo feeling squeezed out by the competition this year, and taking the quieter road at E3--even though they do have some games to make some public noise about.


In my opinion, Nintendo may be saving money or whatever by not having a main press conference, but they're losing any chance of gaining much notice to those who do most of the holidays shopping--people who watch ABC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, etc.

Remember, it was because of these general news sources briefly reporting about E3 as the reason why the Wii blew up with so much popularity with so many shoppers that year...despite the Xbox 360 and PS3 being vastly superior consoles, tech specs-wise.  Wii U is suffering from the general public either bearing ignorance about Wii U or disinterest in Wii U, so bringing up more interest about Wii U onstage might better help with gaining public interest.

There's more reason for Nintendo to go through with a main E3 press conference than not.  I just don't see how Nintendo is going to fare very well this holidays 2013 and early 2014 without it.

Life happens. Life goes on.

Running a little behind on managing so many things at once.  But they're still going on.  Very much so.

Life just happens, and unbelievably-precise obstacles get in your way sometimes.  I've just have been having one problem after another, everything from a stupid computer issues to a cracked tooth, not to mention some personal issues, but I'm not here to list them.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'm refining my demos, videos and assets some more, since there's more I can do with them.  I don't like to make schedules or guarantees, but yeah, my announced stuff will surface soon enough.  I'm working hard on them and I won't relax until it's all done and delivered well.

- Brian

Coming This Week: PolyKraft Assets, Indie DB pages, and finishing Creating Blue River Canyon

One of six beautiful terrains available next week!

I know, I know.  I'm rather terrible when it comes to setting a time for things.  Macro Man, you say one thing here and then you're late about it.

Well, hey, life happens.  Life takes me in another direction than I intend.  And I've got a personal gremlin who loves to sabotage my plans.  My many plans.  It's why I try to underpromise and overdeliver now.

But enough justification of my tardiness.  For reals this time, some long-awaited stuff I've been working on (in my very busy schedule) are debuting this week:

• My first series of assets are coming to my Powerhouse asset store-in-development.  You can read a bit more about it here (click on the link in the April 17th box).
• Parts Two and Three of "Creating Blue River Canyon with Brian Lockett" are also coming.
• At least one of my two Indie DB pages in development will finally launch this week.  One page is for SeVer (which is the one I want to launch first), and the other is for Cyka.  (You can check out my developer's blog for more about them.)

And with that said, let me not tempt my life gremlin any further than I already have.  That's all for right now.

- Brian

The Fantastic Five--Coming soon to a Blender near you!

Just a bit of a teaser announcement here.

I'm developing the "Fantastic Five" for Blender 2.6.

What are the "Fantastic Five"?  These are the Fantastic Five:

• Project Coalescence
• Project Plasma
• Project Threads
• Project Kilauea
• Project Fluxus

What's so "fantastic" about them?  You can read a tiny bit more about it here.

Now, keep in mind that this developing comes in addition to my game development on a title called SeVer, which takes top priority with my time.  I don't want to get ahead of myself here.  But I just wanted to share a bit of teaser trailer of what's on the horizon.

- Brian

Creating Blue River Canyon with Brian Lockett

Hey, folks!  Yes, it's been quite a while since my last post, but you know how life can be--so perfectly in your way.  Anyways, here's a video I created, a sharing of a workflow in creating a mid-poly canyon terrain using Blender and World Machine 2.

This is the first of three videos planned as a series, and all the stuff you see in the video comes in a zipped source file (available on the Downloads page here), released under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.  This and other videos I produce will be found on the Sharetorials page.  Hope it helps somebody!  Later!

(Oh, and I want to make several updates later when I get some time.  But I can't today--Super Bowl Sunday!)

- Brian

4th Annual CotGW Charity Gaming Marathon - "3 Days of Super Nintendo"

This is a good cause.  Donate a bit if you can tonight.  :)

- Brian

Jacko Hooper - Roaming (HD + Lyrics) (Not game related, but too beautiful not to share)

Updates: My idea won! (and other updates)

This is like two weeks late, but my Internet went out two weeks ago, and I spent all last week playing catch-up (amazing how much a week without Internet can set you back in work!).  Anyways, as you may have read my post about the Community Game idea now accepting ideas for its game.

Well, the submissions have been over for a while now, and so has the voting of those submissions.  And as my heading already tells you, my submitted idea won!  Cool!  Now, the game's going to be developed, and I'm even going to be contributing some help to the game.  Pretty cool.

In other news, I'll be uploading some game assets for sale pretty soon, and I'll post my new game assets' home website up soon, which is almost finished.  And also, I'm getting closer to finishing my demo for my Kickstarter soon.  I'm hoping to start my game's Kickstarter this month.  Another thing going on is that Operation Moogle is continuing where it left off last year, and I'm already working on our first animation for supporting our effort.  Just a lot of cool stuff happening right now!

That's all for right now.  I'll have more to post later, but it may be a little while until my next post.  As you can tell, I'm kinda busy right now!

- Brian

Why didn't I find out about this sooner?!

Get it free while you can!

I have no idea why and not that I'm complaining at all, but in case you didn't know already, DAZ has been giving away some of their flagship software titles for free for a while now (since about February, apparently).

They're giving the 3D terrain modeling and animation commercial software Bryce 7 Pro absolutely free, along with their 3D modeler Hexagon 2.5 and the normally-free Daz Studio 4 which now included commercial Genesis included for free--all free for a limited time.

I just one day last week went to this site by chance just to check out Bryce 7, and surprise!  It's free!  I just wish I had found it sooner!

So, if you're interested in checking them out, even just to fool around with them, go there and download them!  This goes well with Blender and Unity Indie version--both of which I use for my game development.

Though I already own other software for my game terrain, it certainly never hurts to have more!  Bryce 7 Pro in particular has some very useful terrain generation and rendering features.  And for free!

- Brian

The Community Game!

Just wanted to spread the word about this project going on here (esp. since I'm involved in it now).

The Community Game (at the Peripheral Games website)

Just check that out if this sounds interesting to you.  You can submit your idea for The Community Game and even offer to help David develop it.  It's an iOS and Android game that will be made by the gaming community, for the gaming community, and all profits from the game (which will sell at 79 cents) will go back to the community in the form of Kickstarter and donations all over the place!  If you're a gamer or just love indie games, go check it out!

(And hey, to some of my fellow Blender and Unity users in particular, check out some of David's useful videos on YouTube on using Blender and Unity.  He covers a few topics that you don't find too often.)

My sorta-brief review of E3 so far (Updated)

This will be "sorta-brief" because, well, I think this sums my feelings up best...

Microsoft, for the most part, stank (it was Kinectmania).  Ubisoft annoyed me with their host Aisha Tyler introducing games I generally didn't care about.  EA was EA as usual.  Sony did a lot more of the same--sequels with little-to-no major changes, a showy 3D-scanned motion-captured "cinematic" game (Beyond, from the makers of Heavy Rain but not as good), a shameless clone of successful Nintendo game, and introducing an stupid investment that no one who owns a PS3 will buy (WonderBook).

Now this leaves me to Nintendo, which whom, personally, I was favoring.  I'm quite fond of the interesting concept of Wii U.  I've followed its development from day one.  I can see its clear potential in gaming.  After a largely boring and disappointing E3 thus far, the ball was clearly in Nintendo's court.  But Nintendo really dropped the ball.  In terms of presenting, yet again they present an interesting piece of hardware but once again they failed to provide an impressive list of launch games.

They introduced a new system that was clearly the best hardware of E3 (the Wii U console--namely the Wii U GamePad controller), and started off by introducing the long-awaited Pikmin 3, which was nice.  And then a special-edition Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition was shown.  It was okay, but nothing outstanding that the game that's already out.  And then it just kinda went south from there, when Nintendo soon gave the floor to Ubisoft (and you know Ubisoft, they're 8 out of 10 of their games are going to be forgettable).  And, well, just watch some conference highlights on somewhere like GameSpot or the E3 website.  Overall, though, it'll leave you feeling like Lemongrab.

I think Wii U still has a chance to make it, but Nintendo just needs to get their act together by taking advantage of their advantages.  In case you haven't seen the E3 presentation or heard news from it, just know that they started off good and then it went all downhill from there, ending the evening talking about a game that frankly should've been left to the show floor to reveal.

But here's 12 announced and strongly-suggested games that I was hoping would be talked about more from Nintendo during their main E3 presentation, but they didn't and for the life in me I don't know why:

1. Zelda HD (it's in the works and would've been pivotal--why not show something about it, even if just concept art?)
2. Star Fox Wii U (one developed by Retro Studios, just as they said they'd like to do)
3. Golden Sun 3DS (there's more 3DS games to announce later, but my hopes aren't up anymore...)
4. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS (again, it's in the works and would've been pivotal--show something)
5. F-Zero Wii U (Miyamoto said he'd like to see it on Wii U--listen to the man!)
6. Zone of Enders 3DS (Konami tweeted about the game--show something)
7. Metroid Wii U (some guy hinted that it was in consideration--why not do it and show something?)
8. Fire Emblem Wii U (I was confident that this game would be announced...)
9. That announced RPG in development from Monolith
10. Project C.A.R.S. (again, it's coming to the Wii U--why wasn't anything on it shown?)
11. An MMORPG announcement from Funcom (as they indicated was a good possibility)
12. Ghost Recon Online Arcade (this game was one of the first games to exist for Wii U and would've been one of Ubisoft's better games to show--why wasn't it shown anywhere during the main presentation?)

Most of these games are actual Wii U games in development--why weren't they announced? It's so stupid, because the Wii U doesn't have to suffer the criticism it's now going to suffer if only they had announced some of these games.  I still haven't given up on Wii U yet, and I think it still has a reasonable chance at success, but I think Nintendo's made their already uphill battle just that much more harder for themselves.

By fumbling that golden opportunity of a second first-impression of the Wii U to more dedicated "core" gamers, they've especially disappointed longtime fans like myself who can also still see how much potential the Wii U has, but just didn't get met last night.  Now we currently look like fools for trusting Nintendo to knock it out of the part (for once).  We still might gain some vindication later from the Wii U later, but for right now, we're in bandages.

Anyways, while it wasn't a total lose.  At least I know that many of those games I listed are actually in development, and among some of the announced games for Wii U was the likes of Trine 2: Directors Edition a Wii U edition of Mass Effect 3, and a very interesting "mass-hero action" game currently called Project P-100.  As bad as Nintendo was on-stage, I've actually seen worse lineup of launch titles (even the recent PS Vita comes to mind here).  There's still more Nintendo 3DS games to be announced.  And things are still early even for Wii U.  So here's to looking on the bright side.

- Brian

Update [06/15/2012]:  Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata has spoken some more about just why Nintendo only announced their launch titles at their E3 conference, and furthermore, reason why I shouldn't have doubted them (and it's so simple, really): They didn't want other people to copy their upcoming ideas for Wii U, so they're keeping quiet about it.  Well, that's a relief!

But a lifelong fan, knowing their innovating characteristic and unconventional quirks for going against the grain, after many being relentlessly and shamelessly imitated, I should've known something like this was the reason why, because it was rather uncharacteristic of Nintendo.  I mean, even last year, they did announce new Zelda and Super Smash Bros. title before they were even in production.  All of a sudden, any remaining post-E3 stress I had has now died.  Though even before now, as you can see in my writing above, I was already waning in my initial disappointment about their E3 conference.  My anatomical structure has been prepared once again for Wii U, full throttle!

Agni's Philosophy -- FINAL FANTASY REALTIME TECH DEMO

Sweet chimichangas on a hill of black beans!  This is more awesome than a golden valley of eternal rainbows of phantasmal fire in an nebulous ocean in outer space past the light of the third sun of a galaxy made of cookies!

I hate to say it, Epic, but even though I don't know the side-by-side tech specs of either two engines, this real-time next-gen game engine demo left me way more impressed than the rather underwhelming Unreal Engine 4's demo did.

Another indie game I REALLY like: StarForge

Once again, I'm not only an indie game developer, but I'm an indie game lover.  I try to post up games that I just wish as many eyes as possible would see.  Last time I showed Megabyte Punch, and that game's really coming along (check that one out, too, if you haven't).  This time, check out this exciting game in development called StarForge.  To describe it in short, take Minecraft, Starcraft II and Halo, and throw them into a blender, and basically, this awesome game is what you'll get.

But this game is really its own game, uses a very unique voxel-building system, incorporates several genres to define its own subgenre of RTS game (something I myself can relate to), and is just quite a promising game.  It's already making some waves and gaining some notice in the world of indie games.  What's even more crazy is that currently, only two guys are developing this game, and they're using Unity game engine to do it (again, I can relate to those myself). These two guys are creating (part-time) a kind of game that even larger major full-time game development teams won't do. This game is both inspiring and interesting to me.

Watch this video on YouTube of one of the developers walking through some of the development of the game, and then download their pre-alpha "builder demo" here (or their website, if that download link should stop working for any reason).  Enjoy (and then support them by Liking the video, if you like it)!

- Brian

E3 is almost here and I can't wait!

My anatomical structure is prepared.

Looking forward to E3 coming up!  I personally don't much care about planned new on Kinect, Halo 4, PS Vita or the probable failure EVO 2--this E3 will probably be all Nintendo for me.

I saw the Nintendo Direct Pre-E3 video from Nintendo presented by Mr. Satoru Iwata today, where he revealed a little about Wii U, and I have to say that if that was just a taste, then Wii U is going to be quite a delicious dish.  And I think the purposely-cheesy funny concept video of a frustrated Wii U gamer seeking help with his game is probably going to introduce this year's E3 meme: "non-specific action figure."

Anyways, my guess overall is that in face of a boring presentation from Sony and Microsoft this year and in light of the high praise several major developers have given the Wii U before now, Nintendo's probably going to steal the spotlight at E3 again this year!

I'll post back later and talk a bit about E3!  Meanwhile, check out some stuff I'm posting on my game developer's blog.

- Brian

Introducing the Leap (and I'm so buying one)

This brings me one step closer to being Tony Stark!  Man, as a game/software developer, science-fiction fan, victim of non-ergonomic technology and just plain techie, this speaks to me big.  Quite honestly, this is revolutionary!  And amazingly enough, it's planned to be sold at just $70!  And even cooler, they're providing free SDKs to registered and qualified developers--I'm seriously considering becoming one down the line.  I've had an idea for 7 years that would make perfect use of this thing, and even now, my imagination is boiling.  I'm definitely getting one--maybe even two!