Monday 15 March 2010

Move

My topic of choice concerning the GDC is going to have to be the Playstation Move controller. Prior to seeing the Sony conference i had no interest in the Move and didn't even know what it was. However after witnessing what can only be described as the most blatent rip off ever in the form of a wii-mote with a lightbulb jammed on the end i have to say something about it.

Fistly you'd think that Sony would at least try to be innovative. Microsoft have come up with Natal which although questionable in terms of how well it will work at least is a venture into the relatively unknown. It could be argued that Natal is inspired by the eye toy and it probably is, but the general ethos behind it is rather different, the idea being that Natal is a full means of control.

The Playstation move controller is basically a better version of the wii controller. This is assuming their discourse about the peripheral is not an exaggeration. If this is true the playstation then essentially is the Wii mark 2.

Lets assume the Playstation move controller is a better, more accurate version of the Wii controller. The wii now becomes completely obsolete. Playstation uses blu ray disks for a start so developers can put two control systems in a game if they want to test the waters. The PS3 has hi definition graphics which the wii most certainly does not and not to mention better games.

I'm not particularly a fan of Playstation myself, not since the PS2 anway. I thought Sony royally screwed up with the PS3 but at long last it's beginning to all fall into place. My dad recently bought a PS3 and as a long time 360 owner i have to say Sony has won me over at last.

It shall be EXTREMELY interesting to see what Nintendo do next. They basically have to up their game and do something to combat the onslaught of Move and Natal. It is a shame that Nintendo kickstarted the motion gaming revolution yet are on the verge of being ousted, but thats business i guess.

One other thing i found hilarious was Sony's attempt to justify their epic steal by stating that they've been in the motion sensing game for ages and playing around with the technology eg. the eyetoy. That still doesn't disguise the fact it's a complete rip off of the wii. Even the ad campain has taken the family dynamic theme.

Apparently Sony also has some other stuff up it's sleeve for E3, watch this space...

Monday 8 March 2010

A Moment of Reflection

3 Years sounds like a long time, but it really isn't. My own personal reason for being at University simply was an excuse to study art for 3 years. Everything I've done whilst here I could have done at home, except in the real world I'd need a job and wouldn't be able to devote the vast amount of time that I currently do to art. The other bonus to being here is being part of the class which goes a long way in motivating me. If I were at home on my own I can’t say I’d be as motivated but seeing all the great work everyone else produces inspires me to better my own work.

Looking back, my original goals in coming to University were simply to work work work. The plan was to study art day and night, and now with the majority of the first year behind me I can safely say that is what I’ve done. I think my progress has mainly been theoretical though this year. My work has remained pretty consistent since day one, in fact I’d say my best work was in the first 3 weeks simply because it was more fine art oriented. I have spent the year loosening up and learning different ways of working and visualising things, and while the quality of my work has remained the same, i have gotten a lot faster at working. I’m probably still slower than the majority of people but I’ve taken at least a third off the time it takes me to do a piece of work.

The one area I’m really proud of my improvement in is life drawing. Before this course I’d only ever done it once and the results were pretty poor. But after 3 sessions I’m pretty happy with my life drawing outcomes as final pieces. I generally finish in time and am really happy with the rendering. Don’t really know where to go with them from here on out, aside from speeding up I guess and putting more detail in the face. I think that my anatomy studies in my gap year combined with my new faster looser style combine in life drawing to good effect. The few hours in life drawing each week is when I’m at my best.

It’s strange, although I am satisfied with all the work I produce, I will always feel that there is a massive void between where I am and where I want to be. To that end I try not to think about the future too much. I think about it in terms of goals and I know where I want to go, for example I’d like to end up in the film industry if possible and one day teach art, but on a day to day basis my only goal is simply to be the best artist I can be. So whatever I’m working on needs to have 300% effort gone into it. Unfortunately for me, a lot of work so far has had to be finished before I really feel it’s finished in my mind, but deadlines must be met and I like to think I have a good balance between bringing things up to a presentable standard and what I call finished.

Ultimately there’s not much more that I can do than I am doing, so I resolve myself to keeping up the hard work and hope that one day I’ll be happy with my work.

Monday 1 March 2010

What People Want

Doing some reading about the game industry and what employers are looking for I have come to the conclusion that the three most important things are talent, passion and personality.
To that end I think that the best institutions for students are the ones that provide a solid foundation of the traditional arts whilst encouraging personal development. In my eyes personal development impacts peoples art and generally how they apply themselves. An interesting person who is thoughtful and curious about the world will probably apply themselves more than someone who is just going through the motions and moving through the system.

This is important while studying to get the most of one's time in education. Having said that general drive seems to be heavily sought after in the industry. Just about any article you read about the review process states that applicants should be passionate about games and what they do.

It's also desirable if the applicants actively learn and expand their knowledge in their own time as this stands them in good stead to evolve and move with the industry. Encouraging this at an educational level not only improves overall work but leads to effective problem solving.

When it comes to highly trained art graduates or liberal arts graduates i don’t see why there should be any general preference over one or the other. Surely there are a number of different positions where one or the other would be more suitable and it’s more of a case that graduates are not applying for the right jobs to suit their skills. Then again perhaps it’s a case of people not choosing the right education to meet their future goals.