unreal engine 3 is epic hehe

Posted on March 10, 2011 5:15 pm by lartens

So last week at the game developer conference (GDC) epic showcased 2 minutes of samaritan, this is not a game, but an unveiling of some awesome new developments in what the unreal engine 3 can do utilizing directx11, apparently this little sucka takes 3 high end graphics cards to run. Made by a 12 man team over a couple of months, theres a smoking guy and some bad ass effects, there was a dodgy camera phone video showing it off last weak, but Epic have now released the video over on youtube.

In the march beta of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) some of these cool new fetures have been added. The UDK is a development kit that epic have released for free for educational use, if anapplication is to be commercially sold then there are some licinsing aggreements of a one off $99 for a development seat and then 25% of earnings after $50,000. so freebies and low selling applications are cheap licensing for such a powerful development environment

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integers, doubles, floats and tinys. notch gets technical

Posted on March 9, 2011 11:54 pm by lartens

For those who don’t know, Markus Persson otherwise known as notch, is the lead developer of minecraft. What originally started as just one man coding in java, has now become a small development team bringing joy to the masses with this popular indie hit from Sweden.

Over at his personal blog on tumbler http://notch.tumblr.com/ notch blogs about some of the technical aspects of the game, most notably why certain bugs would occur in the very unlikely event that a player wanders off extremely far from the starting point, we’re talking stupid amounts of walking here, maybe even a sponsered hike. Anyway, it’s something he doesnt think is at all likely. But the bugs he talks about could happen because of rounding errors. In programming languages, numerical things have limits, like a range from -2147483648 to 2147483647 for a 32bit integer. As you can clearly see this is indeed a huge number, so would be a while before offsets in the world start giving anybody any trouble.

As the world generated is totally random (or as randomas a computer can make it) the chunks of the world that players will know as these massive holes that suddenly appear outside your home, though not for other players on the same server, it seems they appear as normal. These chunks are basically 16*16 square blocks, 128 blocks deep.

Notch also talks about using a noise map for the terrain, but using it slightly differently, my understanding of a noise map is a basic gray scale 2d image that uses white for peaks and black for canyons or whatever. The shade a pixel is determines the height of the terrain. I think he’s using it in a way to determine density, so whats air and whats flat land or hills.

Anyway enough said, head on over to notch’s blog for the real info http://notch.tumblr.com/post/3746989361/terrain-generation-part-1

Posted in General, lartens, PC, Tech | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Codemasters Reveal New Flashpoint Vid

Posted on March 8, 2011 10:00 pm by bedgell

I’ve always had a little bit of love for Codemasters. Badass Brits Rich and Dave Darling have been kicking it old school from the days of ZX Spectrum, and they’ve had some gems in their many years. Magic Land Dizzy? (A black cat? Gobbelino!) Micro Machines? Colin McRae too, of course, God rest ‘im. But as times have changed, so has this little software house – they’re still based in Blighty, but now the’re pulling in $150million a year and churning out high-class shooters like Operation Flashpoint: Red River. Yeep.

The latest in the series, Red River is a sober take on the FPS with heavyweight, tactical action and a detailed plot arc – none of your slow-mo, custom kills here Bulletstorm fans. Nope, the emphasis is on authentic, not frantic – but with four player co-op, serious mods and weapon upgrades, and the promise of huge improvements on its million-selling predecessor Dragon Rising, there’ll be no disappointment for true fans of the genre.

Europe gets this little beast on Xbox 360, PS3 on April 21st, and our American brethren on the 26th. Start saving your pennies people.

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woot, update on project, a cube is traversing the board

Posted on March 8, 2011 9:44 pm by lartens

errr, yeah the title pretty much says it, got a cube to change direction on the board based on where it is, needs some tinkering for the actual game though big style

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Namco Are Finally Tekken Tournament Seriously

Posted on March 8, 2011 1:19 pm by bedgell

Rate your Tekken 6 skills? Enjoy punishing lesser beings with your immense combo capabilities? Fancy winning some games-relates swag while you do it? Then dribble contentedly at the mere mention of the King Of Iron First Tournament – the brand-spankers Tekken-fest coming to London’s Trocadero.

NamcoBandai have teamed up with the UK’s Tekken Community to create Tekken Force – monthly tournies held at HMV Gamerbase, with prizes from hardware and Gamerbase vouchers to, gosh, actual money.

Of course, if my battling experiences down at Eastbourne pier are anything to go by (warning: they’re probably not) then you’d best be prepared for everyone else to have unimaginable whupass-skills that will make you look a the biggest spanner in the noob’s own toolbox. But fear not: the Iron Fist battles will take place on bog-standard PS3 so at least you’ll be on home turf there – and there’ll be a round robin before you crash and burn in the finals, meaning you’ll at least get a couple of games in before stumbling home in tears…

Tekken Force will kick off on the last Friday of every month, and run from 7 to 11pm. Or til about 7.03 if you’re as bad as me.

If you fancy your hand, register at www.GamerBase.com, but move swiftly, people: spaces are limited.

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Quick post to show the board set up on my project

Posted on March 6, 2011 11:35 pm by lartens

chequered boardIt may not look like much but the board is setup and the camera is mostly working at this stage

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Autumn Anarchy From Sega – *drool*

Posted on March 5, 2011 5:44 pm by bedgell

Sasha Reigns

Sega has a decent record for third-person action gems – from the old school of Virtual On through to the delights of Vanquish and Bayonetta, they’re expert at the big-hitting, high-tempo arcade experience. So at Grig Towers, there’s more than a little drool sliding from our game-addled lips at the sight of a new addition to the oeuvre – the shock and awe of Anarchy Reigns.

Due in Autumn for Xbox and PS3, this all-action brawler is a little temptress – sluttily attired with slick visuals, reeking of the cheap perfume of Platinum Games (the Osaka-based developer that brought us Vanquish/Bayonetta, as well as Mad World and Infinite Space), and waving a saucy finger in the direction of multiplayer co-op thrills allowing all kinds of hijinx from Tag Team to Battle Royale.

We’ve got our hands on these brand new vids from Sega HQ to get you in the mood – so grab some bog roll, shut the windows, and prepare to get dirty – this is some of the filthiest action you’ve seen in a long time…

Posted in bedgell, Games, General, PS3, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

3DS? Iwata One Of Those Suckas

Posted on March 5, 2011 2:57 pm by bedgell

Shigeru Miyamoto is a happy fella. And who can blame him? The Nintendo gaming topdog is finally seeing his dream of a 3D Mario game coming true, with news from the Game Developers Conference that a title is in the works for 3DS, Nintendo’s latest handheld that launches on March 27th.

And whoop-de-doo, the latest instalment from our favourite lardy Italian is being developed by the team behind the Mario Galaxy games for Wii. Good news for plumber fans – but it doesn’t stop there.

Nope, because speaking in his keynote address to the GDC, Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata also revealed a tie-up with AT&T to give 3DS users free wi-fi hotspot access, a cheeky Netflix service to get movie trailers in 3D, and, best of all, plenty of ways to bring your existing handheld games onto your new baby.

The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console will give you access to not only Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, but also a cheeky range of titles from Game Gear and TurboGrafx-16 systems. And in keeping with our insatiable lust for adding dimensions to everything, “3D Classics” will introduce select classic video games remastered in 3D.

All very nice, but there is one thing that truly made me smile. The lovely Mr Iwata also promised a solution for Nintendo DSi / XL owners to transfer their DSiWare games to their new 3DS. That’s a class move, Mr Nintendo – a rare bit of non rip-off gaming that the pikesters at Sony could take notice of for the launch of their Playstation phone.

Still, I got to be honest and say I’m unlikely to get one – 3DS will be a kids toy, and it’s guaranteed that the good titles will be drowned in a flood of 3D horse grooming and crappy multidimensional brain training. But Iwata, i still like your style, so I’ll admit this much:

I’m tempted.

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Another Day, Another World

Posted on March 5, 2011 12:30 pm by bedgell

Holy shizzle, it’s Amiga resurrection time. Cult classic Another World, the cinematic 90s hit that pioneered vector graphics and rotoscoping, is coming to an iPhone near you (oh, and iPad too).

Telling the story of geeky-ginge scientist Lester Knight Chaykin, transported by a failed nuclear experiment into a world of alien monsters (with strangely marshmallow-looking heads), the game was a huge hit across an amazing 11 platforms thanks to unique and highly stylized presentation that was radically ahead of its time when it launched in 1991. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Another World (known as Out of This World to our American friends) blended gorgeous cut screens and a series of ingenious puzzle and action sequences, all overseen by French master craftsman Eric Chahi.

Now Chahi has selected DotEmu, and publisher Bulkypix, to port his sexy little gem to iOS. It’s worth another look people, so keep your eyes peeled later this year.

Thanks to Guest1001 for the vid.

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The Journey of C Rank by Dibbs Ahoy

Posted on March 4, 2011 11:31 am by Dibbs Ahoy

Ahoy there, and welcome to the epic first part of one man’s battle to conquer the online scene by levelling up Guile to the dizzying heights of C rank. For as a wise man once prophesied, ‘there will one day be a hero who steps forth and unlocks the achievmo’s that awaiteth all those that endure the wrath of evil men (the online SSFIV players)’ – Dibbs Ahoy. Yes, I am indeed wise.

Well that day has come people! Hit that play button!

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