According to the Overcast, I may a bit vague when it comes to my WIP descriptions; vague, perhaps even to the extent of both mysterious and intriguing. Certainly that wasn't my intention, (I guess I was more interested in describing my work-flow thoughts than the project in question) but I like where this is going so I will continue on with not but a subtle texture of possibilities.

Classes start at work next Monday, and I've been running around with my hands completely full for the last few weeks. You may partake in the fruits of my web-design labors right here if you're so inclined. It's only a fraction of my responsibilities these days, but the old design left much too much of the staffs' work solely in my tiny webmaster lap. Frankly they can do a better job of keeping their site fresh than I can, thus I made them a giant multi-user highly scalable blog site using Word Press MU as my platform.

Therefore, as of late, I've been coming home and zoning out until I wake up and try again the next day.I swear I just wrote my last blog entry, like, yesterday. Clearly I'm in need of some ice cream. Once things at work settle down (historically mid-September) I'll be able to better focus my brain on my extra curricular Machinima projects. To help me in this process Mike and I will be attending this awesome sounding workshop in Dallas next month. My hope is this will get me pumped and re-educated enough to jump full-bore into my little project, so that I may enter it into this years... wait, make that next years Machinima Film Festival!

Although I was really, really looking forward to spending some quality time in NYC this November (last year was amazing) I will enjoy the extra time to work on more Machinima entries. I'll just used the money saved in airfare towards Tokyo, Japan: Round Two this coming spring break. Only this time with a small army of American nerds, each one of us making the required pilgrimage to the holy land.

July rocks. Always has, always will. It's warm, the pool's always open, cooler always full, fireworks are the thing to do, and school is still just a glimmer, reflecting from the distance in the children's eyes. This July I managed to escape the wonders of employment long enough to enjoy my July 4th holiday in fabulous Las Vegas. I also managed to see a small mountain of excellent summer blockbusters, both on screen, and in print. Watchmen, Harry Potter (film and book), Transformers, Chuck and Larry... ok, so some more blockbuster than others, but it's been a fun month. The emotional gambit has been thoroughly run.

Somewhere in between the lines I also managed to deploy my pipeline for my next little Machinima project, and have nearly completed the storyboarding process. With next week mostly free to idle at my fancy, I suspect a rough pre-vis is an obtainable goal. There are a few contingencies, naturally, but it's all part of the painful balance of playing the games and creating from them, not all of them with a controller. So, the cool part is that I've got a nice easy way to create DX9 effects right in Max, and have them in my engine with the click of a button. I'll go over the whole process in greater detail after I release the final film. I honestly hope to hit the scene on the same level as the bigger studios when the time comes to show face in Fall. I only hope I'm not biting off more polys than I can chew. To counter balance it all, my primary method of attack is "Animation first, all else second." So, even if my raindrops don't refract the lighting just right by the deadline, I wish to at least have one hell of an animation anyway.

The 360 continues to teeter on the edge of cool yet useless. I hope the cheap electric violin I just ordered from Amazon yields more fun before September ends. Anyway, the USB controller works wonders with Overlord on the PC. While on the subject, I highly recommend the Wii version of RE4, so much fun that I actually beat it. Me, finishing a GAME!? Tells you something when I couldn't hold the interest to play for more than an hour on the original Cube version huh? That WiiMote really is freaking sweet. December 3rd simply cannot arrive fast enough.

All the way from the land down under, my copy of Stolen Life came in this week! Woot! So, turn on that big screen, crank the stereo, plop in the disk and lets watch some machinima.




I could write pages of review, going into all the gritty details about how certain elements worked or didn't work but it's Friday, Las Vegas is days away, and frankly I don't think I could really do it justice like that so here's a SHO style out of 5 chucks review:

Story: 4/5
DVD Presentation: 2/5
Audio (sfx): 5/5
Music: 4/5
Voices: 5/5

Classic film noir, slow/mellow pacing, loads of exploratory camera work (as opposed to straight establishing shots, really helps set the mood), and some of the best over all audio performance I've seen in machinima. (Having professional actors didn't hurt either.) The graphics ate away at the potential for supreme excellence, but excellent it managed to become before the last frame anyway. The story really draws you in, however I must admit the slower pacing and mellowed direction almost put me to sleep. (Not in the boring way, more like... mesmerizing) Animation was stiff, but seeing as our cast of characters are robots, this only makes sense. All elements of the characters combined, they eerily formed a human bond with me as a viewer, by the end I was no longer watching robots in space, but people like me, just trying to survive...

Why the low score for DVD Presentation? Maybe it was my crazy-upscaling DVD player on my particular TV, but the transfer seemed quite bad. Blacks were saturated and had horizontal lines (Encoding issues? My crazy player?), and I was sort of hoping for some cool bonus footage. Next time include some interviews... or something, I mean, it's a freaking DVD release!

If you like Noir, Sci-Fi, or Machinima a real-whole-lot *cough*Ben*cough* I highly recommend Stolen Life, as it achieves greatness in all that and more.

Overall (not average) | out of |

Greetings Campers!

As I sit here in Dallas enjoying my summer swimming, dating, outfitting classrooms with wicked new technologies, and playing with my Wii, I am struck with a tearful sorrow; that I am unable to teach Machinima this year at SummerTech. The other half of Dead on Que has taken over, and I know that Mike will make this THE SummerTech to remember for everyone involved!

Not only did I (co-)teach the Machinima course in years past, but I also did my best to keep the wider world community informed of our weekly exploits, and obviously I am unable to do so this year. So, I have asked, and the great Lord Barricus has agreed to take the blogging helm! I will also do my best to link to any other blog, or picture gallery that happens to crop up along the way.

Lord Barricus's Blog


"Have fun! Learn something!" -Steve

Video Games Live is a video game music concert... ok, it's a symphonic gaming event that tours major cities around the world. This week they landed in Dallas, and I was most fortunate in having the right friend at the right time, and so I heard about the performance before hand, for once.

The show is arranged much like a regular performance at the music hall, only this time it's edged up a bit to make it more exciting and appealing to the gaming audience. At first glance it's hokey, what with cosplay contest, video game nerds, and Tommy Tallarico playing host. (With a wicked electric guitar interlude) If you like game music, chances are they played a bunch of your favorites. The highlights for me included Zelda, Sonic, God of War, and although I'm not a big Blizzard fan, the Warcraft music rocks. Halo fans got a nice surprise with some new footage and music, and Pong fans had a little something for them as well. And did I mention the One Winged Angel theme? Oh yes.

All said and done, a very well done musical event, and if you get the chance, I highly recommend you check it out, even if their website leaves you wondering, "what this all about now?" After the Metal Gear Solid act, you're so into it that you don't even recall thinking, "Hey, this could be pretty hokey!" It's a powerful does of nostalgic, and a must see for any fan of the art.

And what, you ask, got the first standing ovation? That would be the WWW famous Martin Leung and his mad piano solos featuring Mario, FFVII, and Tetris melodies.Video!

Goodnight everybody!