Machinima (pronounced [mə.ˈʃiː.nə.mə] or [mə.ˈʃɪ.nə.mə]), a portmanteau of machine cinema or machine animation, is both a collection of associated production techniques and a film genre defined by those techniques. As a production technique, the term concerns the rendering of computer-generated imagery (CGI) using real-time, interactive (game) 3D engines, as opposed to high-end and complex 3D animation software used by professionals. Engines from first person shooter and role-playing simulation video games are typically used. Consequently, the rendering can be done in real-time using PCs (either using the computer of the creator or the viewer), rather than with complex 3D engines using huge render farms. As a film genre, the term refers to movies created by the techniques described above.
Usually, machinima productions are produced using the tools (demo recording, camera angle, level editor, script editor, etc.) and resources (backgrounds, levels, characters, skins, etc.) available in a game. Although the topics are often based on male-oriented shooter scenarios, others have been made with romantic or dramatic topics as well.
Machinima is an example of emergent gameplay, a process of putting game tools to unexpected ends, and of artistic computer game modification. The real-time nature of machinima means that established techniques from traditional film-making can be reapplied in a virtual environment. As a result, production tends to be cheaper and more rapid than in keyframed CGI animation. It can also produce more professional appearing production than is possible with traditional at-home techniques of live video tape, or stop action using live actors, hand drawn animation or toy props.
Hacks
A hacker is often someone who likes to create and modify computer software or computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. A hacker is also someone who modifies electronics, for example, ham radio transceivers, printers or even home sprinkler systems to get extra functionality or performance. The term usually bears strong connotations, but may be either favorable or denigrating depending on cultural context
Video Mash Ups
The video mashup has come of age thanks to the likes of YouTube. This is where videos from multiple sources are edited together into a new video. To date, many of these video mashups have been parodies, but even music mashups are being integrated with them to make combined audio-visual mashups.
Mashup films can be broken down into several predominant styles and tropes. Most of the Mashups found on the internet fall into one category and more or less obey the unwritten rules of that class of film. These categories, are: word associated mashups, which like Danger Mouse’s “Grey Album” unite two disparate source materials by a pun or joke found in the name; transgressive mashups which transgress the sexual norms put forth in a film, often subverting hetero-normative portrayals; and overdubbing mashups, which use the images from a film and replaces the soundtrack with new dialogue or dialogue from another work, which undermines the original narrative
Audio Mash Ups
Mashup, or bootleg, is a musical genre which, in its purest form, consists of the combination (usually by digital means) of the music from one song with the a cappella from another. Typically, the music and vocals belong to completely different genres. At their best, bastard pop songs strive for musical epiphanies that add up to considerably more than the sum of their parts.
Nerd Sculpture
Nerd Sculpture is an emerging genre of Nerd Art where the artist utilizes common characters generally from video games, and creates soft sculptures of them. The sculptures generally utilize previously outdated methods of knitting, and cross-stitch to make new digital looking motifs which are not common to fabric or thread.
Nerd Painting
Nerd Paintings are paintings of classic video games, HTML code, television, and film. By painting these digital images a permanent replica of the original image is made. This negates the way one generally looks at digital media, and forces the viewer to confront the subject matter in a new and interesting light. If you haven’t noticed I make a lot of these paintings, and they are for sale too:)
Chip Music
Chiptune, or chip music, or micromusic is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of using sample-based synthesis. The "golden age" of chiptunes was the mid 1980s to early 1990s, when such sound chips were the most common method for creating music on computers. The restrictions the medium posed forced composers to become very creative when developing their own "electronic sounds". This is due to the early computer sound chips having only simple tone and noise generators imposing limitations on the complexity of the sound. The resultant chiptunes sometimes seem "harsh" or "squeaky" to the unaccustomed listener. Chiptunes are closely related to video game music. The term has also be recently applied to more recent compositions that attempt to recreate the chiptune sound, albeit with more complex technology.
Nerdcore Hip Hop
Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds or geeks, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot coined the term in 2000 in the song "Nerdcore Hiphop". Frontalot, like most nerdcore artists, self-publishes his work and has released much of it for free online. As a niche genre, nerdcore generally holds to the DIY ethic, and has a strong amateur tradition of self-publishing and self-production. The only things required to enter the nerdcore community are a microphone, a computer, and a webserver. No recognized nerdcore albums have ever been released on a major record label, and MP3s, not CDs, are the primary means of distribution
Science Fiction
In the spirit of releasing works of art online for free. There are a handful of writers who release their entire books for download for free. This spits in the face of those who believe that downloading, and file sharing are hurting the major corporations that control them. Instead it has been shown to do just the opposite. Making works available for free on the internet expands readership, and creates a buzz around the book. Not to mention the fact that if an item is free, one will get tons of free links to your website. Cory Doctrow of Boingboing.net is the most well known science fiction writer who releases his work for absolutely nothing online.
Politics
There are many various political struggles which face the online community. One of the most popular was the issue of Net Neutrality. Basically the major telecommunications companies wanted to choke the internet, and privatize it, thus making much of it unavailable. Thankfully a grassroots surge of bloggers, and activists put an end to this but the issue has not yet gone away. Another issue which faces a lot of Nerd Artists are copyright issues since much of their work has been appropriated from mass media. I believe that if we have to watch it, or listen to it, we have the right to react to what we see or hear just as many other artists throughout the years have done.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a non-profit advocacy and legal organization based in the United States with the stated purpose of being dedicated to preserving free speech rights such as those protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution in the context of today's digital age. Its stated main goal is to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties. The EFF is a membership organization supported by donations and is based in San Francisco, California, with staff members in Toronto, Ontario and Washington, D.C
Robots
For many years now scientists have been making large moving robotic sculptures. While many would say that these objects are being designed for more practical purposes I would propose that many are being made just to be made. Robots for Robots sake. A perfect blend of aesthetics and science
Street Art
There are many different ways that nerd artists have taken their work directly to the streets. These can be anything from stickers, stencils, to led graffiti, to the laser graffiti which was breathtakingly created by the Graffiti Research Laboratories in the Netherlands. I love walking around Prague and seeing the new creative ways that nerdy street teams get their message out to the public in the most straightforward way possible.
Vintage Computers / Classic Video Games
Many Nerd Artists have a general affinity for vintage computers and classic video games. This could be due to the fact that many who are now creating art around this subject matter grew up on these systems, and games. The first generation of gamers and computer users need to find ways to immortalize the digital era in traditional formats. Among the most popular are the Commodore 64 computer as well as Atari, and NES 8 bit games.
Ludology
Like most academic fields, those who study video games often have differing approaches. While scholars use many different theoretical and research frameworks, the two most visible approaches are ludology and narratology.
The term ludology arose within the context of non-electronic games and board games in particular, but gained popularity after it was featured in an article by Gonzalo Frasca in 1999.[1] The name, however, has not yet caught on fully. Major issues being grappled with in the field are questions of narrative and of simulation, and whether or not video games are either, neither, or both.
The narrativists approach video games in the context of what Janet Murray calls "Cyberdrama." That is to say, their major concern is with video games as a storytelling medium, one that arises out of interactive fiction. Murray puts video games in the context of the Holodeck, a fictional piece of technology from Star Trek, arguing for the video game as a medium in which we get to become another person, and to act out in another world.[2] This image of video games certainly recieved early widespread popular support, and forms the basis of films such as Tron, eXistenZ, and The Last Starfighter. But it is also criticized by many academics (such as Espen J. Aarseth) for being better suited to some linear science fiction movies than to analysis of interactive video games with multiple narratives.
Arm Cannon is a group of progressive mathematical metal maniacs tirelessly reinterpreting your favorite videogame ballads of the past, and making them fresh again. Instead of the bleeps which originally emanated from your television Armcannon has transformed this music into thick metal rifs and cascading keyboard scales.
For this installment of the "geek of the week" I had the opportunity to ask Goto80 a few questions. I tried to keep the questions as open as possible so those looking for information gearding on how to make chiptune music could get a little help. Better to learn from one of the masters, than to go at it alone.
First go to his myspace page here and load the page. That way you can have some background music while you read:)
NerdArts:What software/hardware do you use in composing your pieces?
Goto80:Mainly JCH's Newplayer for C64, Protracker for Amiga, Renoise for PC and LSDJ for Gameboy.
NerdArts:What was the piece of hardware/software which got you interested in creating chipmusic?
Goto80:I started making music on the Amiga, but more sort of non-bleepy styles and more like slammer-trash-rave-acid. Then I got into making chiptunes on the Amiga, as the chipmod-songs were extremely popular in the Amiga demoscene. A few years later, I realized that the C64 was what I needed to get that nice mix of digital and analogue - pure and dirty.
NerdArts:Advice for those who are starting out. What would you say are the absolute basics that someone would need to start making chipmusic?
Goto80:Well as far as chipmusic in general, there are no basics because there are so many different ways of doing it. If you are gonna get into the purist chiptune stuff - using only old computers, etc, then I guess you need to know how a tracker works, which mostly also means understanding that there's a hexadecimal number system. (instead of just 0-9 there's 0-9 and A-f .. eh, google it) You'd probably want to learn how to transfer files between your lamer-computer and your cool-computer. Anyway - I still believe that trackers are extremely fast and easy to use, just takes a bit of time in the beginning. To get into the idea of tracking, you might want to try Renoise for Mac/PC because it's pretty similar to oldschool trackers only now you can use VST-thingies and blabla.
Personally, I think there's a beauty and a point of using an old computer for music making. Without getting very detailed or pretentious, I believe that using these old machines and programs make you create music that you wouldn't create with anything else. It has unique features and for me a very special feel to it, which can never be simulated or emulated by anything else. The SID-chip of the Commodore 64, with its bugs and unpredictable noises, is like a beast that cannot be tamed. I've started writing a little guide about making C64-musichere:
NerdArts:How do you feel about chipmusic becoming more popular? Do you think it has a chance to go mainstream? What's the current scene like in Sweeden?
Goto80:A lot of people think that the chipmusic scene in Sweden is very big and it is true that there's many people that know about it. But I think that it's the same as with other non-mega-mainstream-music scenes in Sweden - there's a lot of people making it, but there's not a good live music culture in our country. Chip music has already been heard in mainstream music such as Timbaland, Beck, Malcolm McLaren, etc. Using old computers to make music fits well with current trends of DIY and "obsolote" equipment and in a sense that novelty perspective of it is already mainstream, mysteriously formulated by journalists and thinkers. Anyway - as chip music gets more attention in mainstream forums that means more people get into it. The good thing is that all these non-demoscene-nerds that's been getting into it since the year 2000 bring alot of fresh ideas into the music. Early on you might get the feeling that "the others" don't understand "our" scene and blablabla, but personally I've dropped that perspective. :)
NerdArts:Were you classically trained in music or self taught? How has musical structure effected your pieces?
Goto80:I'm self taught and used to have a strong disbelief in rules and theory about music. But I started getting a bit more interested in theories and "models" of music which made me realize new ways of breaking them. :) I'm not all that convinced anymore that a single individual independently can be inventive all through his or her life, and there's alot of people whose music (or art, or whatever) I would appreciate more if they would be more "conscious" in their breaking of rules. Hm, or something. But I guess that's very non-trendy and conservative to say, hehe.
NerdArts:Future plans, projects, tours?
Goto80:I'll be going on a European tour in August and a little tour in Israel in October. I'll keep doing one free MP3-release every month and also I'm working on a CD-album. I will also do music for some incredibly fresh C64-releases, all released at the Big Floppy People party in Sweden in July. I'll have an article published about chip music next year, in Kate Collins' book "From Pac Man to Pop Music" and I hope to be able to spread some more interesting ideas about chip music than just the "hacking videogames retro bleep yeah funny"-thing. Chip music does (still) have a somewhat unique styles when it comes to composing and distributing, and I think that needs to be said. So I hope I can do more talks in the future about this.
A January research study completed by the Pew Research Center (Election 2006 Online - Pew Research Study) suggests that more Americans are relying on the internet as a source of political news.
As such, the recent online success the Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has achieved should not be immediately discounted, as suggested by political pundits such as Rush Limbaugh (Is Ron Paul Internet Buzz Real or Spam?).
Watch Trailer for Manhunt 2 From n-europe.com "But the problem is not with the games, films and music that replicate and fetishize violence, it's at the core of the common modern condition. Excessively violent societies are caused by apathy, by a political system that discourages action and involvement, by a post-Thatcherite asocial attitude that says there are no ties between you and the people you live near and interact with, by schools that, with under-funding and a weary workforce, cannot instill a sense of shared values in their students, by the slow destruction of the family unit, by over-worked and complacent parents, by a empty consumerist ideology that says everything's a commodity and you don't have to actually believe in anything anymore, by a high availability of guns and other weapons, by economic deprivation and social immobility that force the use of gangs and violence to get ahead in life. This is a culture that often breeds alienated, apathetic, bored individuals, with few values and litte respect for those around them." Link to Full Editorial
Talk of the Nation, June 21, 2007 · Today's video games are moving beyond violence and sports. New games provide chances to play middle-east peacemaker or solve problems regarding immigration or food safety. Ian Bogost, creator of these games, discusses why he makes games that go beyond entertainment to education, advocacy and art. Listen
Chris Salmon goes online to find fist-pumping funk and songs to make Mario really jump
Friday June 1, 2007 The Guardian
'Today it's raining," sings Manu Chao 26 times on his new single, available free from manuchao.net to promote his upcoming album. Could the song's lyrical refrain be inspired by a bank holiday weekend spent in an English seaside town? The title, Rainin in Paradize, would imply not. Besides, Chao has bigger lyrical fish to fry, with the rest of the song concerning conflict, catastrophe and hypocrisy in Congo, Liberia, the Middle East and Iraq. Continue
NERD ALERT: Nerds have gone from reviled to revered in today's culture, and one group at CSU is seizing the moment
Nerds are the new rock stars.
Or at least they're treated like rock stars, maintains 21-year-old Samantha Lee Wallace of Columbus, whose boyfriend Matt Ballard is the founder and president of Campus Nerds at Columbus State University.
"People like the underdog because they are enjoyable to watch and nerds are by their very definition the underdogs," Wallace said.
She added, "They (nerds) aren't often the beautiful people or the ones with the most social graces, but they are who they are. They don't hide."
In Ballard's company, Wallace has watched Campus Nerds grow from its beginning stages last September to a 100-member club that recently was named CSU's organization of the year.
Ballard said a growing emphasis on nerd power has changed his social life dramatically. In March, his group hosted the first-ever NerdaCon, a local event that drew 1,300 attendees.
"I never grew up being popular and now my reputation precedes me," Ballard, 22, said. continue
Where are the Joneses? YouTube content funded by the Ford Motor Company
Well it seems that some major corporations are beginning to latch onto the idea of Creative Commons content. They also have a wiki, and one can actually participate in the project to change the direction of the storyline. Expect to see more intelligent corporations engaging in this sort of marketing in the near future. From the site "This is an interactive comedy which you can participate in. Watch the video and see how you can influence the story line." Link
A great step by step on how to make a server case out of duct tape
More proof that a roll of duct tape is always a good idea to carry around. These guys dreated their entire server case from it, and chronicled the process with photos as well as a short YouTube video. link
What follows is a critical consideration of Combat, the cartridge originally included with the Atari Video Computer System. Atari introduced the VCS in late 1977. The system retailed in the United States for about US$200, the equivalent of about US$650 today. The console, model number CX2600 [1], came with two joystick controllers, two paddle controllers, a TV/ game switch box and a cartridge bearing product number CX2601 [2]. The cartridge was Combat, a "game program" with 27 games, which were according to the included manual: variants of tank, tank-pong, invisible tank, invisible tank-pong, bi-plane and jet (Atari 1977). In the tank games, the two players move their joysticks left or right to turn their iconic tanks. Moving the joystick up causes the tank to go forward, while pressing the button fires a missile. Obstacles appear in some of the tank playfields and there are other variations in play. The two plane games are similar, but there are no obstacles in any of them -" only blocky, obscuring clouds in some versions -" and the planes always move forward. They are steered by moving the joystick up or down and go faster or slower if the joystick is moved right or left. The player whose tank or plane is hit the fewest times during a game, which lasts two minutes and 16 seconds, is the winner. Continue
Article Tools Sponsored By By JULIAN DIBBELL Published: June 17, 2007
It was an hour before midnight, three hours into the night shift with nine more to go. At his workstation in a small, fluorescent-lighted office space in Nanjing, China, Li Qiwen sat shirtless and chain-smoking, gazing purposefully at the online computer game in front of him. The screen showed a lightly wooded mountain terrain, studded with castle ruins and grazing deer, in which warrior monks milled about. Li, or rather his staff-wielding wizard character, had been slaying the enemy monks since 8 p.m., mouse-clicking on one corpse after another, each time gathering a few dozen virtual coins — and maybe a magic weapon or two — into an increasingly laden backpack. Continue
Julian Dibbell has written a book entitled Play Money which explores the implications of Chinese Gold Farming in World of Warcraft.
A short story called Anda's Game which also involves Chinese gold farmers can also be found in Cory Doctrow's new collection of shortstories Overclocked.
You can Remix your videos online and bypass buying Avid (although the results will be a bit different) Heres just a quick list I made of various services which are available online to remix videos. They allow you to upload your videos online, and then edit them. Pretty neat. I haven't tried them all out yet, however cuts works well. Mash it up
More anti-internet rhetoric from media-fundamentalist Andrew Keen
Andrew Keen is an opportunistic pig.
"My problem with (web 2.0/the internet) is that it fundamentally undermines mainstream media" Andrew Keen
I won't go into all the reasons why you should hate this piece of human waste, however one of the most troubling is that I believe he saw an oppurtunity to write a book which would inevitably be championed by the mainstream media, and therefore make him a lot of money. On top of this he is a huge hypocrite because he rails against cynicism, when in fact what he is actually doing is using gullible mainstream journalists to sell his idea. He's a great marketer, but he's working for the dark side...:)
Here's his latest diatribe against the current state of the internet. From NPR. Link
I also just bought http:www.andrew-keen.com heehee:) any ideas what I should do with it?? Leave me a comment with your ideas. andrew keen
Jana Bartouskova makes these really cute little aliens, and monsters. Unfortunately she dosn't have a website where they can all be found. I wish she had a website where more of her items could be found, well, maybe I'll have to make her one, considering that she's my girlfriend:)
She made this hand with the severed for my friend who we forced to see Hostel. He wasn't very impressed with the film, so she had to immortalise it in some way.
She made me this pacman pillow for an installation I did last year. I'm posting this because I want my female readers to know that they can send in their stuff as well. There is a lot of boyliness going on here at nerdarts and I like to see both sides. I really like a lot of the stuff going on at etsy.com . So girls, feel free to send us your submissions as well!
Rey Ortega has made a great interactive book. Reminiscent of the Choose your own adventure series. You are Cagney who is transversing though a fantastical landscape, encountering monsters, and making tough decisions. The illustrations are great, and the weathered look that he gives the book make it all the more personal. I won't give anything away, you have to play/read it for yourself!
Take a look at a screenshot of every NES game ever made. Music by BitShifter I compiled the images. Ahh the memories:) If you spot a game I missed feel free let me know in the comment section below. Heres the list. Enjoy:)
Complete List of Videos Games for NES
10 Yard Fight 1942 1943: The Battle Of Midway 3-D World Runner 720 8 Eyes AD&D Heroes Of The Lance Abadox Action 52 The Addams Family Adventure Island Adventure Island 2 Adventure Island 3 The Adventures Of Bayou Billy The Adventures Of Dino Riki The Adventures Of Lolo The Adventures Of Lolo 2 The Adventures Of Lolo 3 The Adventures Of Rad Gravity The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer Afterburner Air Fortress Airwolf Al Unser Jr's Turbo Racing Alfred Chicken Alien 3 Alien Syndrome All Pro Basketball Alpha Mission Amagon American Gladiators Anticipation Arch Rivals Archon Arkanoid Arkista's Ring Asterix The Gaul Astyanax Athena Athletic World Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Baby Boomer Back To The Future 2 & 3 Back to the Future Bad Dudes Bad News Baseball Bad Street Brawler Balloon Fight Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach Bandit Kings Of Ancient China Barbie Bard's Tale Baseball Baseball Simulator 1.000 Baseball Stars Baseball Stars 2 Bases Loaded Bases Loaded 2 Bases Loaded 3 Bases Loaded 4 Basewars Batman Batman Returns Batman: Return Of The Joker Battle Chess The Battle Of Olympus Battleship Battletank Battletoads Battletoads & Double Dragon Bee 52 Beetlejuice Best Of The Best Bible Adventures Bible Buffet Big Bird Hide & Speak Big Foot Big Nose Freaks Out Big Nose The Caveman Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Bill Elliot NASCAR Challenge Bill Elliot Super Off Road Bionic Commando The Black Bass Blackjack Blades Of Steel Blaster Master The Blue Marlin The Blues Brothers Bo Jackson Baseball Bomberman Bomberman 2 Bonk's Adventure Boulder Dash A Boy & His Blob Break Time Breakthru Bubble Bath Babes Bubble Bobble Bubble Bobble 2 Bucky O'Hare Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle Bump 'N' Jump Burai Fighter Burgertime Cabal Caesar's Palace California Games Captain America Captain Comic Captain Planet Captain Skyhawk Casino Kid Casino Kid 2 Castelian Castle Of Deceipt Castle of Dragon Castlequest Castlevania Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Caveman Games Challenge Of The Dragon Championship Bowling Championship Pool Chase H.Q. Cheetamen 2 Chessmaster Chiller Chubby Cherub Circus Caper City Connection Clash At Demonhead Classic Concentration Cliffhanger Clu Clu Land Cobra Command Cobra Triangle Code Name: Viper Color A Dinosaur Commando Conan Conflict Conquest Of The Crystal Palace Contra Contra Force Cool World Cowboy Kid Crash 'n' The Boys Street Challenge Crash Dummies Crystal Mines Crystalis Cyberball Cybernoid Déjà Vù Dance Aerobics Darkman Darkwing Duck Dash Galaxy In The Alien Asylum Day Dreamin' Davey Days Of Thunder Deadly Towers Death Race Deathbots Defender 2 Defender of the Crown Defenders Of Dynatron City Demon Sword Desert Commander Destination: Earthstar Destiny Of An Emperor Dick Tracy Die Hard Dig Dug II Digger T. Rock Dirty Harry Disney's Adventures In The Magic Kingdom Disney's Duck Tales Disney's Duck Tales 2 Disney's The Little Mermaid Disney's The Rescue Rangers Disney's The Rescue Rangers 2 Dizzy The Adventurer Donkey Kong Donkey Kong 3 Donkey Kong Classics Donkey Kong Jr. Donkey Kong Jr. Math Double Dare Double Dragon Double Dragon II Double Dragon III Double Dribble Double Strike Dr. Chaos Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Dr. Mario Dracula Dragon Fighter Dragon Power Dragon Spirit Dragon Warrior Dragon Warrior II Dragon Warrior III Dragon Warrior IV Dragon's Lair Dragonstrike Duck Hunt Dudes With Attitude Dungeon Magic Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball Dynowarz Eggsplode Elevator Action Elimonator: Boat Duel Elite The Empire Strikes Back Everet & Lendel Top Players Tennis Excitebike Exodus F-117 Stealth Fighter F-15 City Wars F-15 Strike Eagle Family Feud The Fantastic Adventures Of Dizzy Fantasy Zone Faria Faxanadu Felix The Cat Ferrari Grand Prix Fester's Quest Final Fantasy Fire Hawks Fire N Ice Firehouse Rescue Fisher-Price: I Can Remember Fisher-Price: Perfect Fit Fist Of The North Star Flight Of The Intruder The Flintstones The Flintstones: Surprise At Dino Rock Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll Flying Warriors Formula One: Built To Win Frankenstein Freedom Force Friday The 13th Fun House G.I. Joe G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor Galactic Crusader Galaga Galaxy 5000 Gargoyle's Quest 2 Gauntlet Gauntlet 2 Gemfire Genghis Khan George Foreman KO Boxing Ghost Lion Ghostbusters Ghostbusters 2 Ghosts & Goblins Ghoul School Gilligan's Island Goal! Goal! 2 Godzilla Godzilla 2 Gold Medal Challenge 92 Golf Golf Grand Slam Golf Power Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode Goonies 2 Gotcha! Gradius Grand Prix The Great Waldo Search Gremlins 2: The New Batch The Guardian Legend Guerilla War Gum Shoe Gun Nac Gunsmoke Gyromite Gyruss The Harlem Globetrotters Hatris Heavy Barrel Heavy Shreddin' High Speed Hillsfar Hogan's Alley Hollywood Squares Home Alone Home Alone 2 Hook Hoops Hot Slots Hudson Hawk The Hunt For Red October Hydlide Ice Climber Ice Hockey Ikari Warriors Ikari Warriors 2 Ikari Warriors 3 Image Fight Immortal Impossible Mission 2 Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom Indy Heat Infiltrator Iron Tank Isolated Warrior Jack Niklaus's Greatest 18 Holes Of Major Championship Golf Jackal Jackie Chan Kung Fu Heroes James Bond Jr. Jaws Jeopardy! Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary Jeopardy! Junior Edition Jetsons Jimmy Connors Tennis Joe And Mac John Elway's Quarterback Jordan vs. Bird: One on One Joshua Journey To Silius Joust Jungle Book Jurassic Park Kabuki Quantum Fighter Karate Champ Karate Kid Karnov Kickle Cubicle Kickmaster Kid Icarus Kid Klown Kid Kool Kid Niki King Neptune's Adventure King Of Kings King's Knight King's Quest 5 Kings Of The Beach Kirby's Adventure Kiwi Kraze Klash Ball Klax Knight Rider Krazy Kreatures Krion Conquest Krusty's Fun House Kung Fu Kung Fu Heroes L'Empereur Laser Invasion The Last Action Hero Last Ninja The Last Starfighter Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf Legacy Of The Wizard The Legend Of Kage The Legend Of Zelda Legendary Wings Legends Of The Diamond Lemmings Lethal Weapon 3 Life Force Linus Spacehead Little League Baseball Little Nemo The Dream Master Little Ninja Bros Little Sampson Lode Runner The Lone Ranger Loopz Low 'G' Man Lunar Pool M.U.L.E. M.U.S.C.L.E. MC Kids MIG-29 Mach Rider Mad Max The Mafat Conspiracy Magic Darts Magic Johnson's Fast Break The Magic of Scheherazade Magician Magmax Major League Baseball Maniac Mansion Mappyland Marble Madness Mario Bros. Mario Is Missing Mario Time Machine Marvel's X-Men Master Chu And The Drunkard Hu Maxi 15 Mechanized Attack Mega Man Mega Man II Mega Man III Mega Man IV Mega Man V Mega Man VI Menace Beach Mendel Palace Mermaids Of Atlantis Metal Fighter Metal Gear Metal Gear 2: Snake's Revenge Metal Mech Metal Storm Metroid Michael Andretti's World Grand Prix Mickey Mousecapade Mickey's Adventure In Numberland Mickey's Safari In Letterland Micro Machines Might And Magic Mighty Bomb Jack Mighty Final Fight Mike Tyson's Punch Out! Millipede Milon's Secret Castle Miracle Keyboard Teaching System Mission Cobra Mission: Impossible Monopoly Monster In My Pocket Monster Party Monster Truck Rally Moon Ranger Motor City Patrol Ms. Pac-Man Mutant Virus Mystery Quest NARC NES Open Golf NFL Football Nigel Mansell-World Class Racing Nightmare On Elm Street Nightshade Ninja Crusaders Ninja Gaiden Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword Of Chaos Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship Of Doom Ninja Kid Nobunaga's Ambition Nobunaga's Ambition 2 North And South Operation Wolf Orb 3D Othello Over Horizon Overlord P'radikus Conflict P.O.W. Pac-Man Pac-Mania Palamedes Panic Restaurant Paperboy Paperboy 2 Peek A Boo Poker Pesterminator Peter Pan And The Pirates Pictionary Pinball Pinball Quest Pinbot Pipe Dream Pirates! Platoon Play Action Football Pool Radiance Popeye Power Blade Power Blade 2 Power Punch 2 Predator Prince Of Persia Princess Tomato In The Salad Kingdom Pro Sport Hockey Pro Wrestling Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt Punch Out!! Punisher Puss 'N' Boots Puzzle Puzznic Pyramid Pyramids Of Ra Q*Bert Qix Quattro Adventure Quattro Arcade Quattro Sports R.B.I. Baseball R.B.I. Baseball 2 R.B.I. Baseball 3 R.C. Pro-Am Racing R.C. Pro-Am Racing 2 Race America Racket Attack Rad Racer Rad Racer 2 Rad Racket Raid 2020 Raid On Bungling Bay Rainbow Island Rally Bike Rambo Rampage Rampart Remote Control Ren And Stimpy: Buckaroos Renegade Rescue: The Embassy Mission Ring King River City Ransom Road Blasters Road Runner Robin Hood Robo Demons Robo Warriors Robocop Robocop 2 Robocop 3 Rock N Ball Rocket Ranger Rocketeer Rockin' Kats Rocky & Bullwinkle Roger Clemens Baseball Roller Games Rollerball Rollerblade Racer Rolling Thunder Romance Of The 3 Kingdoms Romance of the 3 Kingdoms 2 Roundball Rush N Attack Rygar SCAT Scarabeus Secret Scout Section Z Seicross Sesame Street 1-2-3 Sesame Street 1-2-3/A-B-C Sesame Street A-B-C Sesame Street Countdown Shadow Of The Ninja Shadowgate Shatterhand Shingen the Ruler Shinobi Shockwave Shooting Range Short Order Side Pocket Silent Assault Silent Service Silk Worm Silver Surfer Simpsons: Bart Meets Radioactive Man Simpsons: Bart Vs. The Space Mutants Simpsons: Bart Vs. The World Skate Or Die Skate Or Die 2: The Search For Double Trouble Ski Or Die Skull & Crossbones Sky Kid Sky Shark Slalom Smash TV Snake Rattle 'n' Roll Snoopy's Silly Sports Snow Bros. Soccer Solar Jetman Solitaire Solomon's Key Solstice Space Shuttle Spelunker Spiderman: Sinister 6 Spiritual Warfare Spot The Game Spy Hunter Spy vs. Spy Sqoon Stack-Up Stadium Events Stanley Star Force Star Soldier Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Voyager Star Wars Starship Hector Startropics Startropics II: Zoda's Revenge Stealth ATF Stinger Street Cop Street Fighter 2010 Strider Stunt Kids Sunday Funday Super C Super Cars Super Dodge Ball Super Glove Ball Super Jeopardy Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. 2 Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Pitfall Super Spike V-Ball Super Sprint Super Spy Hunter Super Team Games Superman Swamp Thing Swordmaster Swords & Serpents T&C Surf Design T&C Surf Design 2: Thrilla's Safari Taboo, The 6th Sense Tag Team Wrestling Taggin Dragon Tale Spin Target: Renegade Tecmo Baseball Tecmo Bowl Tecmo Bowl 2 Tecmo Cup Soccer Tecmo NBA Basketball Tecmo World Wrestling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Turtles Take Manhattan Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters Tennis The Terminator Terminator 2: Judgement Day Terra Cresta Tetris (I) Tetris (II) Tetris 2 Three Stooges Thunder And Lightning Thunderbirds Thundercade Tiger Heli Tiles Of Fate Time Lord Times Of Lore Tiny Toon Adventures Tiny Toon Adventures 2 Tiny Toon Cartoon Workshop To The Earth Toki Tom And Jerry Tombs And Treasure Toobin' Top Gun Top Gun II: The Second Mission Total Recall Totally Rad Touchdown Fever Toxic Crusaders Track & Field Track & Field 2 Treasure Master Trick Shooting Trog Trojan Trolls On Treasure Island Twin Cobra Twin Eagles Ultima: Exodus Ultima: Quest Of The Avatar Ultima: Warriors Of Destiny Ultimate Air Combat Ultimate Basketball Ultimate League Soccer Ultimate Stuntman Uncharted Waters Uninvited The Untouchables Urban Champion Vegas Dream Venice Beach Volleyball Vice: Project Doom Videomation Vindicators Volleyball WCW: World Championship Wrestling WURM WWF King Of The Ring WWF Steel Cage WWF Wrestlemania WWF Wrestlemania Challenge Wacky Races Wall Street Kid Wally Bear And The No! Gang Wario's Woods Wayne Gretzky Hockey Wayne's World Werewolf Wheel Of Fortune Wheel Of Fortune With Vanna White Wheel Of Fortune: Family Edition Wheel Of Fortune: Junior Edition Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego Where's Waldo? Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Whomp'em Widget Wild Gunman Willow Win, Lose, Or Draw Winter Games Wizardry Wizardry 2: Knight Of Diamonds Wizards & Warriors Wizards & Warriors 2: Ironsword Wizards & Warriors 3 Wolverine World Champ World Class Track Meet World Cup Soccer World Games Wrath Of The Black Manta Wrecking Crew XEXYZ Xenophobe Xevious Yo! Noid Yoshi Yoshi's Cookie Young Indy Chronicles Zanac Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link Zen: Intergalactic Ninja
Another MySpace gem. Error.Error are coming straight out of Mexico with their voracious 8 bit destruction. Mario needs to save the princess but he's too high on PCP to get past all the goombas. Die! Goomba! Die! Pwnage ensues.
Getting a long URL after posting an image with embedded content on MySpace? Well, MySpace has recently started tracking all embedded content. So, next time you put an image into your friends comment box it won't actually point to your site, it will first go through the intermediary at msplinks.com . So, everyone who was thinking they were going to spam the hell out of comment boxes and get a traffic boost...Well,not going to happen (not that google would even consider comment hotlinking as a high PR boost anyway). Msplinks.com is owned by Mark Monitor of fraud protection services. All outgoing links will be converted into a long URL which will be used for tracking.
Andrew Keen is on a mission to discredit bloggers, and cooperative internet sites such as Digg, Myspace, YouTube, Wikipedia, Reddit, and Technorati. Andrew Keen's argument basically boils down to this. Before there were systems in place which prevented normal people from being published and read. Back in the Andrew Keen Utopia (which I'm not certain ever existed) writers had to contact a publisher who would have the expertise to see what was good and what was shit (never mind nepotism, classism, race, and gender issues here). The same went for music, as well as art. Each of these institutions had individuals (generally old white men) held the keys to an artists success. Andrew Keen believes they were good at their jobs (something I don't necessarily disagree with) and that today there is a rise of what he calls "The Cult of the Amateur". People who aren't certified to give their opinions on politics are beginning to share them, and worse yet, people are reading it. Andrew Keen represents the voice of a dying print media. A mainstream media which is searching for relevance against an increasingly skeptical public. The mainstream media cheerleading of the Iraq war (prior to it beginning) and the media blackout of Ron Paul both being classic examples of a public which has now turned on the mainstream establishment press.
Andrew Keen makes a few mistakes. He believes that people should be made aware that there are viral campaigns which are funded by corporations, and that there will be product placement inside of youtube videos and the like. So what he's preaching is basically that one should be skeptical of the current media structure on the internet. Fine, no problem with that, however what I do have a problem with is how stupid he thinks people are. The saying "I read it on the internet so it must be true" is already widely received as an ironic statement. So the public already has become savvy enough to believe that everything they read online is not always verifiable, and that they may need to acquire more sources on an issue before they make up their minds. Which leads me to my second point which is the availability of multiple sources. One can go to the Fox News website where they still refuse to use the word "crime" in conjunction with Scooter Libby, then they can hop over to CNN and see what they have to say about it, then they can do a technorati search and find out what some guy in Iowa just wrote about 15 minutes ago. (as people will do with this very article). The skepticism has more to do with the spin which is done on both sides, and leads to a more well informed public, not a dumbed down one. Watch the Jon Stewart on crossfire video to see what happens when this type of an individual goes on a show which is already supposed to represent "both sides" of an issue. The simple fact is that Both Sides no longer exist. I would consider myself generally to the left on most issues, yet I still want to see Ron Paul kick some republican ass.
Another problem that Andrew Keen makes in his theories is that he believes that there is no longer any oversight from an authoritative figure as to what is good, and what is crap. As any blogger knows, there is a huge hierarchy on the net, if you get on BoingBoing.net or the front page of Digg your blog will never be looked at the same by Google again, and your back links will give you a higher Page Rank. Sure these systems can be rigged, and there is a sort of inbreeding which probably goes on within them, however the fact still remains that it's really hard to get people to read anything you write. I'm not calling myself an expert on the internet and political theory, maybe 100 people will read this. Andrew Keen on the other hand is calling himself an expert which breeds a sort of arrogance which in turn, of course, makes people skeptical of his message. He raises a few interesting points, and he certainly is no stranger to the net, he actually still blogs almost daily (don't even point out the irony of that to me), and he has been running popular websites for years. Andrew Keen demonstrates a black and white view of the world mixed with an angry old man who consistently rails against the way things are now, and how it used to be better back in the day. Sorry, your time is up. Adapt or face extinction.
Signifying Play: The Sims and the Sociology of Interior Design by Charles Paulk
Historically, videogames have had little use for the domestic. In contrast to television, which from its inception reflected workday suburbia back onto itself in family sitcoms like Ozzie and Harriet, the videogame medium has reliably tended toward more fantastical backdrops. When home and hearth have come into play, most often in roleplaying games (RPGs), they have typically been used as a waypoint en route to more dramatic, consequential things. Developers can hardly be faulted for this prejudice; few could have imagined a thriving audience for virtual domesticity. Will Wright, however, did. In the year 2000, the PC-gaming auteur delivered The Sims unto the world, and several million people deemed it good. Here was a game as menial and repetitive as life itself, and its utter dearth of the fantastic perversely served as its hook. The Sims' enigmatic appeal scythed across boundaries of age and gender, winning over jaded, hardcore gamers and, more impressively, vast numbers of those uninitiated or even hostile to the medium. Within two years of release, it had ousted Myst as the bestselling PC game of all time, with sales of US $6.3 million. By 2005, the audience for The Sims and its various expansions had swollen to over 52 million worldwide. The game has been translated into 17 languages, and the franchise has seen life on platforms ranging from the Xbox to mobile phones (Winegarner, 2005). Some six years on, the game has rarely been referred to without the words "groundbreaking" or "cultural phenomenon" in close proximity. Continue
Not much information is available about these geeky rings, but they are still super hot. 89 bucks a pop, and they have the actual springy effect of a keyboard. link
Professional video game players are a big deal in South Korea, and supposedly the geeks get the girls. I found this great podcast about professional video game players at the San Francisco Chronicle podcast. It's a really good introduction to some of the top gamers. Another reason why the kids have it so easy these days. punks. Think I'm probably getting a bit too old. Oh well. The top players are starting to bring a ridiculous amount of money, and the nice thing must be that if someone wants to become a professional video game player then all they'd have to do is game all day. Anytime you were gaming you could just claim that you preparing for your career! Anyway. Check it.
YouTube effect on elections :Mainsream media lies, or incompetence?
Another article about the effect that YouTube and the internet are having on the current presidential campaign. Once again, there's a huge elephant in the room, and that elephant has won almost every single post debate poll after the debate (before they stopped conducting them). That elephant is Ron Paul, and I'll be honest. I'm going to get a little traffic bump just by mentioning his name. Whether or not this is part of a continuing internet cycle is yet to be determined. Whether it is Ron Paul or an I Phone, the traffic results will be fairly similar if you write about them. I just don't understand how the mainstream media can continuously write about the youtube effect on elections and not even mention Paul at all. It dosn't matter if you support him or not, one simply has to acknowledge that he owns the political space on the web. The only thing that comes close is the pro Barack O Bama anti Hillary Clinton 1984 youtube video. If you don't believe me, that's fine, after the next Republican presidential debate go to YouTube, then to the "News and Politics" section, and you will see for yourself a handful of Mitt Romney videos (generally from the official campaign site) maybe a John McCain saying something stupid video, and the rest will be all Ron Paul. After going to YouTube, just cruise on over to Technorati.com and have a look at the current tag cloud. I guarantee you after the next debate, Ron Paul's name will be the largest once again.
So whats this say for the mainstream media? Well, instead of some sort of conspiracy that they want to exclude Ron Paul from the entire political process (something that the Republican Party really is trying to do) I think it shows just how out of touch print media and television is with the internet. Video killed the Radio Star, and the Internet is about to Pwn all the saps left in Television, Film, and Print. Adapt or face extinction.
Both articles point to the fact that the most viewed videos are for John McCain, and Hillary Clinton. But in both circumstances these were videos that were negative to the respective candidates. Sure, a guy falling on the ice is going to get more views than a girl giving a bunny a flower. Big Surprise. If you want to see what's hot you look at the number of actual videos about a candidate. If you want to gauge which campaign is more fired up, you look at how many ordinary people are making videos to support a certain candidate. Anyone who frequents youtube knows one thing. Ron Paul absolute destroys any other candidate in terms of influence, as well as numbers on the internet. And I'm not saying this as someone who is going to vote for Paul (I think saying who you will vote for this early is a bit ridiculous) all I'm fed up with is this sort of journalistic dishonesty. Either they know they're lying, or they're just plain stupid, and don't know shit about the internet.
Current video count on YouTube as of June 13th (one must also take into account that Ron Paul was virtually non existent on YouTube prior to the debates) Ron Paul 13,400 Hillary Clinton 11,100 Barack Obama 11,000 John McCain 4,660 Rudy Giuliani 3,380 Mitt Romney 2,590
If you don't believe me go to youtube, and conduct the experiment for yourself.
From the wall street journal: YouTube Fuels -- and Foils -- Campaigns By AMY SCHATZ
WASHINGTON -- For months, the presidential wannabes have been churning out serious, talking-to-the-camera videos for YouTube. So far, viewers prefer the spontaneous, unauthorized, less flattering fare.
Traffic on YouTube related to the 2008 presidential race spiked in March and April, largely on two unofficial, critical videos, one about Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, the other about Republican John McCain, according to a study of YouTube traffic by Nielsen/Net Ratings.
An anti-Clinton "1984" video, in which the New York senator is portrayed as a Big Brother-ish figure, accounted for about 75% of all traffic to candidate-related videos on YouTube in March, Nielsen found. Link
game, game, game, and again game is a game created by Jason Nelson which is both an interactive flash game but also a ruthless rant against the glossy clean design which bombards the net. Jason attempts to deconstruct this cleanliness by creating an interactive game that is neither clean nor easily readable.
from the website Game, game, game, and again game is a digital poem/game/net artwork hybrid of sorts. There are 13 curious levels filled with poetics, hand drawn creatures, scribbles backgrounds and other poorly made bits. The theme (cringe) hovers around our many failed/error filled/compelling belief systems, from consumerism to monotheism. But more, it repels the tyranny (cringe) of clean design and cold smoothness of much of the web/net-art. Play game, game, game, and again game
Ernie Cline is a slam poet who writes poetry about geek, and nerd culture. Topics include why guys need nerd porn. "Did you ever see that type of woman in an adult film? no.. which is why im going to start writing and directing geek porno. I should be the quintessential nerd porn auteur, and the women in my movies will be the type of women that drive guys like me mad with desire" To "why Airwolf clearly stands out as civilisations crowning achivement" He's got an entire cd out that is absolutely hilarious. Buy it, or download some free tracks from his site. nerd porn geek porn
Well, This information shouldn't have been so hard to find. As many bloggers out there have most likely heard, adding a sitemap to your blog is supposed to guarantee faster indexing, better SEO optimization and better accessibility for Google. And since Google suggested it, well, I just believed them. So I was hopping around from site to site trying to download my sitemap into an xml file, but then the next dillema hit, where the hell do I put this xml file when Google is telling me the sitemap has to be located on the domain (this is for people using blogger accounts). After searching I finally found out that I can just use my atom feed URL as a sitemap. Yep, that's all you have to do. Once you're on the "add a sitemap to Google" page, chose "add a general sitemap" from the pulldown, then put http://Yourblogname.blogspot.com/atom.xml (minus the blogspot if using a custom URL) into the space where it's asking for the location of the sitemap, and poof, it's done. Let's see if it actually indexes faster or better now:) I for one am a bit skeptical.
A Conversion with Cerror. Geek Of The Week Profile
Recently I found Cerror on MySpace and immediately liked his chiptune stylings. smooth laid back minimal chiptune beats that would be perfect for a 70s action film starring pitfall harry on a VGA screen. I asked for an interview. He accepted.
Nerdarts:what hardware/software do you use in creating your pieces?
Cerror:For my xm's and it's I use my crappy 1.7 celeron pc. Not a great pc but it runs what I wanna run. For my sndh's (atari format) I use my 8mghz Atari 1040STf (with 1 mb of ram!) with the program Musicmon 2.5d. For my mods I use my Amiga 500+ (workbench 1.3) and protracker 3.1 or I just use my pc...For commodore sids I sometime use Odin Tracker ( Download Odin tracker ) or just goattracker (download goattracker) on my pc.
Nerdarts:How long have you been composing music? What was your previous training?
Cerror:I used to be a drummer since I was 10, but I kinda lost interest over the years. Then in 1997 I found fasttracker 2 but I hated the GUI so I searched for a better one and I found modplug tracker. Drum&bass was the first music I made and I totally sucked at it. Then I found music from zalza/dalezy and rez plus a shitload of c64 music and I rememberd the good times I had on the commodore 128. So I dug up all my old hardware from the attic and bought some extra stuff and got busy.
I can't read any notes and I make all my music on hearing. Usually it takes around 3 to 8 hours to make a tune depending on the type, complexity and inspiration (and beer consumption).
Nerdarts:Where do you draw most of your influence from?
Cerror:Radix, zalza and rez mostly, but that's no secret if you listen to their and my tracks. The best way of becoming an chipartist yourself is by listen to others work all the time. That's how I learned to use the tracker and how to arrange effects etc.
Nerdarts:Favorite video game/ Film?
Cerror:My favourite game all time is Wing commander (all parts) absolutely beautiful. I am also an avid Mortal Kombat player (still playing that) on my Sega Megadrive. These days I just play call of duty 2 online (nickname Bloq) and I play a lot of games on my atari and sega.
PBS Feature on how the internet will effect the next American Presidential Elections.
Regardless of what you think about Mitt Romney, this is a decent portrayal of a candidate desperately trying to figure out what the hell to do with the internet. One thing that is obviously lacking in this video is reference to the main internet candidate which is Ron Paul. Paul dominates youtube continually, and is also currently one of the top tags on technorati. This is going to be a youtube election, and it will be interesting to watch who screws up and becomes the next Howard Dean Scream. That's what these politicians really care about, it's not all this horse shit about reaching out to find what people want, it's about damage control, and having a team on staff ready to contain it when a candidate screws up.
Chicago had thousands of Bulls throughout the city years ago, Buffalo NY had, well, buffaloes, and continuing the tradition of letting a large group of artists rethink a form we have a group of comic book, tattoo, and comic book artists taking their own individual stabs at Darth Vader (well, helmut mainly). Participating artists and companies included Troy Alders, Kii Arens, Attaboy, Anthony Ausgang, Axis, Aye Jay, Gary Baseman, Andrew Bell, Tim Biskup, Andrew Brandou, Buff Monster, Mister Cartoon, Mr Clement, Steven Daily, Dalek, Cam de Leon, , Bob Dob, Marc Ecko, Eelus, Ron English, FERG, David Flores, Brian Flynn - Hybrid Design, Paul Frank Sunich, Huck Gee, Fawn Gehweiler, Mike Giant, Joe Hahn, Derek Hess, Jeremyville, Sun-MinKim, David Horvath, Jim Koch, Frank Kozik, David S. Krys - DSK Designs, Peter Kuper, Wade Lageose - Lageose Design, Joe Ledbetter, Simone Legno - Tokidoki, Mad, Bill McMullen, Melvins, Brian Morris, Niagara, Mitch O'Connell, olive47, Estevan Oriol, Alex Pardee, Pizz, Plastic God, Playskewl, Dave Pressler, J. Otto Seibold, Shag, Sket-One, Shawn Smith, Winston Smith, Jeff Soto, Bwana Spoons, Jophen Stein, Suckadelic, Cameron Tiede, Touma, UrbanMedium, Michelle Valigura, VanBeater, and Amanda Visell. Link via starwars.com
8 Bit Weapon And ComputeHer: International Nerdcore Tour
Jun 22 2007 8:00P The NERDCORE International Tour 2007 @ Spitz LONDON, England Jun 23 2007 8:00P The NERDCORE International TOUR @ ELFER MUSIC CLUB Frankfurt, Germany Jun 24 2007 9:00P The NERDCORE International TOUR @ Spasibar Oslo, Norway Jun 26 2007 9:00P The NERDCORE International Tour 2007 @ MICRODISKO - K2 Stockholm, Sweden Jun 28 2007 9:00P The NERDCORE International TOUR @ occii Amsterdam, Netherlands Jun 29 2007 9:00P The NERDCORE International TOUR @ ATAK Enschede, Netherlands Jun 30 2007 9:00P The NERDCORE International TOUR @ De Bakkerij Castricum, Netherlands Jul 14 2007 6:00P The NERDCORE International TOUR @ OTIS COLLEGE EA the SIMS event FREE ALL AGES SHOW w/ FREE DRINKZ!! Los Angeles, California Jul 28 2007 9:00A The NERDCORE International Tour 2007 @ The Classic Gaming Expo Las Vegas, Nevada Jul 29 2007 10:00A The NERDCORE International Tour 2007 @ The Classic Gaming Expo Las Vegas, Nevada
From 8 Bit Weapon's Myspace Page 8 Bit Weapon is Naughtyboy, ComputeHer, and MelBot. 8 Bit Weapon has performed across 2 continents with an arsenal of 8 bit weapons, which include a Commodore 64 and 128, a couple Nintendo Gameboy classics, a Nintendo N.E.S., an Intellivision synthesizer, an Atari 2600, A Speak n Spell & Speak n Music, some hybrid lo-fi acoustic-electric drums, and an assortment of other vintage and toy synthesizers.
Inspired by classic videogame soundtracks and electronic music from the 70s and 80s, 8 Bit Weapon delivers a sound that is as unique as it is original. Clever melodies, nostalgic atmosphere, and energetic beats create a decidedly modern sound while maintaining a fun, lo-tech aesthetic.
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - President Teddy Roosevelt 8 Bit Weapon homepage
Visa finds a new way to target young people. World Of Warcraft
Visa has recently announced a new line of credit cards which give points to your World of Warcraft, or Second Life virtual accounts. Sounds good enough right? Well, while you may want to think that a company like Visa would have the best of intentions, and commend them on their savvy for entering the virtual market so early, the truth I believe is somewhat different. First of all Visa is a credit card company, and that means they make money buy gathering interest on credit. The younger they can get you the better. Im not celebrating a new plan to add gold to your WOW account for every dollar (on specified items) that you spend in the real world. This is merely a clever way to get younger people interested in Credit Cards. Most likely focused grouped in marketing departments for months before it was unleashed. Don't buy into it. Check out this weird form detailing the billing information. Theres more footnotes and exceptions there than I would ever care to deal with.
The kids' craft section of the star wars site pwns!
Over at the star wars site are a number of interactive crafts, and games to play. My favorite among them is the Kid's Craft Corner where there are instructions on how to make star wars characters out of everyday items. If you want to make an R2D2 mailbox or a Bean Art Portrait of Bossk (pictured above) then this is the perfect playground for you. And who says playing with paste is for kids??
As many of you are probably already aware, a vast virtual gold market is being developed off of virtual gold mining in world of warcraft. The gold in WOW has become the largest most tangible form of virtual currency to have ever existed. And with western gamers spending their hard earned dollars (or their allowance) on gold comes a new economic system which doesn't differ too much from reality. A growing industry in China is setting up large defunct buildings that resemble LAN parties and paying employees near sweatshop salaries to sit in front of a computer all day and mine virtual gold. The gold is then re sold to wealthier gamers in the west.
The practice will most likely grow very quickly since Asia is a highly wired continent where internet access is plentiful, unemployment a constant problem, and the workforce tech savvy and young. World of Warcraft gold could become the Nike shoe of the 21st century.
"Insert Coin To Continue" on MySpace Plays Castlevania Theme on Guitar!
I don't know much about this guy besides the fact that he totally pwns playing video game themes on his guitar. From the Zelda dungeon sequence to the WOW login theme. Check him on his myspace page
Danton D makes fabous digital paintings. Drawing from a ecclectic range of styles. Imagine if there were some young taggers running around the inside an old commodore vic 20 tagging the shit out of the SID chip and you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about. Besides his digital art which can be viewed at his flickr pool he also bangs out some pretty clean flash sites. Keep it up Danton. I want to see more robots! check his main site here
So a few years ago my friend in the states sent me a care package full of movies she had from her childhood. Among them was Tron. Tron is kind of the perfect movie for me, it's from 1982 (I was five when I saw it in the theaters) and therefore from an influential time in my life. It involves computers. It involves fantasy and creativity , and it involves gaming. So, anyway I've probably watched TRON more than any other movie I currently own. It's the perfect movie to watch while falling asleep. Last night I finally made it to bed after working on various websites for hours. I popped in Tron (yes I still have a vcr) however the bright blue lights on the costumes were too much for my eyes. I turned the color all the way down, took the brightness down, and then took the contrast up a bit, and to my surprise I saw that TRON looks great in black and white. Since much of the film is shot using blacklights all of the surfaces have this uneven undulating radiance. These textures and uneven lighting are actually very reminiscent of old black and white movies. After watching the entire film in black and white I must say that the fluorescent blue that bombards the normal film is a bit overbearing. The computer panels look especially gorgeous when viewed in black and white.
Secondly I have another theory on why Tron had to be made. In 1982 the idea of owning a computer in your house was just beginning to filter into mainstream America, and computers made no sense. Tron was a reflection of how most people wanted to think about computers. They liked the idea that there was stuff actually happening inside which was very concrete. This theory is compounded by an early scene in the film when Kevin Flynn is trying to break into the ENCOM mainframe in an attempt to retrieve the data which will prove that Dillinger (a co worker) had stolen his ideas for video games which had become popular, resulting in Dillinger's rise in the company. Anyway, Flynn is trying to break in, and while he's hacking away at the ENCOM mainframe we see a split screen of a tank trying to break into the system. This illustrates my previous point that people were desperately trying to figure a way to visualize what was actually happening inside computers.
The third part of the Tron legacy is the element of gameplay. This also corresponding exactly with the rise in video games. Tron is an important film in the realm of ludology because the players of the game actually become fully imbibed into the envornment. This represents the narratavist approach to gaming, and is in my view the most romantic of what players are thinking while they are playing.
So go out and rent Tron, or download it, or whatever you kids do these days. But watch it in black and white. Trust me, it looks gorgeous:)
Remember when these little gifs, and the hamster dance were the cutting edge. Whenever I stumble upon one of these old gif I just can't resist saving it. I'm sure there is a large archive of old gif files, but I still like finding mine on my own. Kind of like using a metal detector. Most of what you find is crap, but for some reason you keep on colelcting it.
STOLEN LIFE is a script written in the tradition of film noir, with PI in the leading role as the detective, and KIERU, in the supporting role as the femme fatale. Of course the twist here is that both characters are robots, and the film is not set on 20th century planet earth, but instead is played out on a far flung asteroid, some time in the future.
For me the appeal of the script lies with the clever juxtaposition of a well-worn genre and all its attendant conventions, with an entirely new world. In considering the direction, I aim to find a balance between honouring the conventions of the film noir genre and play with and against these conventions in both the performance and the stylistic look and feel.
In terms of story, the compelling mystery of the accident and Faraday’s “death” draws us into the complex web that is the bots’ desire for autonomy.
Although the film is 3D animation, the directorial approach to the performances is not that different from live action. The back stories of the characters, their motivations, inner conflicts, desires and obstacles will be explored and communicated to the actors. With animation, and especially here where the characters are not human, voice becomes even more important in communicating character. I will be spending a lot of time with the actors getting the tone and performance right, finding the balance between the film noir archetype and a more naturalistic delivery. My goal in directing the voice records is to create entirely dimensional characters, with humanesque needs, desires and motivations, even if embodied by robots.
In terms of the style and design of the characters and location the use of Machinima poses particular challenges. Whilst the images will not have the high resolution of animated feature films such as those being produced by Pixar (Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Nemo), the graphic quality and attention to camera angle, movement, editing and soundscape will more than compensate for any reduction in visual detail. Lighting and design will follow the film noir style and the use of music and sound design will be employed to create a rich and ambient sound track. As demonstrated in KILLER ROBOT, a strong script more than makes up for low production values.
Ultimately what Machinima allows Peter and I to do is to make an animated feature film based on a compelling story, with strong characters who engage, entertain and move us, for a very low budget. In terms of professional benefits, STOLEN LIFE pushes us into an exciting new medium that hones our existing skills and challenges us to discover and develop new ones. I am very excited about working on STOLEN LIFE and see it as a quantum leap in my work as an animation director.
I've been searching forever to download an mp3 of I want candy by Mc Pee Pants (MC Chris) and I finally found it! Now I'm going to put it on a loop and see how long it takes to make my girlfriend go insane:) Download Mc Pee Pants I want Candy
The Adventures of Bill & John were produced using the Lock On: Modern Air Combat fighter simulation game.
Bill and John have taken home many accolades, and recently were awarded four awards at the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences' 2006 Machinima Festival, among them was the award for best picture.
The videos are a parody of a wide variety of American films featuring fighter jets. These would include Top Gun, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Newsweek had a good article about nerdcore hip hop. Surprisingly it focused more on the exploits and story of YTCracker (a man I believe to be at the forefront of the Nerdcore hip hop Genre) than MC Cris and his Bobba fett? bobafet? bobbafette's? vette ( You can still download it in mp3 form from his mysace page) which will go down in history as the nerdcore anthem.
Dr. Augustine Fou creates Flickr Cash: Possibly the first e-commerce Mash Up!
Dr. Augustine Fou who is also known for his work on contextual commerce has created a site called FlickrCash which is a powerful search engine for Flickr. Sounds normal so far right?? well just wait a second. And you'll see why this guy totally Pwns. Once a term is entered into the search box and queried one will receive thousands of thumbnails on your screen relating to your search topic. So, now you've got a bunch of thumbnails, and you want to use one legitimately on your site (or you could search for those images within the creative commons). What Dr. Augustine Fou has done now is basically merged his Flickr search engine with what basically amounts to a peer to peer shopping cart. Another reason this is so cool is that Fou doesn't own the photos, or pay for their hosting, he just found a way to utilize an existing service and merge it with e commerce. We'll see what Yahoo has to say about it:)
A word from Dr Augustine Fou "I created FlickrCash because I found many really beautiful photos on Flickr but could not use them for “commercial” purposes like design work for clients, because there was no way to document I had a license to use it. FlickrCash is BOTH a search/find interface to more quickly find images on Flickr, and also a way to document that you have a license to use a specific image."
which explores the implications of Chinese Gold Farming in World of Warcraft. 
andrew keen
ron paul
nerd porn
geek porn
stolen life
FlickrCash
