I was watching Gamer TV today when I was shocked to see a piece on 'the old company' - Argonaut. I grabbed it on put it on youtube since I know a lot of old Argonaut'ers browse here.
Nice to see a few of my games on there, Vortex - Croc - and (*sob*) Orchid.
Funny how where I'm working now mirrors Argonaut's early years. We're the best in the world at 3D on mobile phones, we've got great relationships with Japanese and American publishers, we have a technology department the envy of the mobile world, and a bunch of really talented peeps working on the games.
The biggest difference is Argonaut made so many stupid mistakes due to inept management. I'm glad to say that is the BIG difference between the 'could have been a contender', Argonaut, and Ideaworks3D.
The video is actually a lead in to a piece about RockSteady (Jamie and Sefton's Argonaut off shoot) and their new game 'Urban Chaos'. It looks good - for someone who doesn't like FPS games. I wish them the best of luck! There are some really good people working there. I just hope they don't go the same way as a promising studio who's first game was also called 'Urban Chaos'.
This blog will probably get a lot more videogamey for a while as we lead up to E3 (which I'm going to). Soon I'll be able to tell you what I'm working on and hopefully put up some media here etc...
Regular readers will know that I have 'bigged up' Skype a few times on this blog. Well, the love affair is over. Skype just seemed to be getting worse and worse and worse. It was also getting expensive.
I spend a lot of time on the phone to my babe, Yanti, and even at Skype's rates, I was spending about £20 a week on calls.
Eventually I got so pissed off with most of our conversations being "what?", "can you say that again?" etc. that I started to look for an alternative.
Eventually I found 'VoipBuster'. (http://www.voipbuster.com)
VoipBuster is part of a bunch of providers (sipdiscout, voipcheap and a few others) and provides free calls to parts of the world like Malaysia, Japan, S'pore etc. However Indonesia is not free. But it only costs 1 euro a minute to call. This about 60% cheaper than Skype, and now I spend less than 10 pounds a week on calls.
It has had problems. Sometimes Yanti can't hear me. Sometimes the line quality is bad. Sometimes it just drops the line. But it has always been better than Skype, and in the last few days the quality has been consistantly excellent.
When you register with VoipBuster, they give you a free telephone number so people can call you, or you can forward thisnumber to any number.
I forward my VoipBuster number Yanti's home number which means I can simply call a uk number from my mobile and it will get through to her.
VoipBuster is SIP based. This means that I can run a SIP client (SJPhone) on my MDA Pro cell phone and if there is a wireless network around (or I feel like blowing my 3G Data budget) I can call directly through voipbusters servers through my cell phone.
I just bought a LinkSys Voip box off ebay to plug into my router. With this box I can plug my normal home phone into the box and call direct without going through a pc. At the moment I use a usb box to plug my dect phone into my Vaio.
So if you're using Skype and getting problems with the quality, try VoipBuster. You might never go back.
Inspired by a video I saw last week of a guy called Travis who hooked a Guitar Hero controller to his sequencer, I decided to give it a go myself. However I didn't just stop at a Guitar Hero controller - no no no. I tried out a Taiko No Tatsujin drum, a DDR dance mat, a GunCom, and a standard PS2 pad and... I videoed it.
Part 1 introduces how to hook up PS2 controllers to your sequencer...
Part 2 uses the Guitar Hero controller and a PS2 pad to do the final mix.
To do this yourself you need to use a program called JoyToKey.
The final track is HERE for you to download. Also - here are a couple of additional experiments. Grab the HERE and HERE.
Try it for yourseld and let me know if you make any music using this stuff!
...A few people have been asking!!! Well - I'm crazy busy on the Square Enix project. All should be revealed at E3 this year. I'm planning on a little Easter Experiment this weekend which I will blog should it work - but until then... here's a Medulla Corp music video compile for ya!!!
RYO the SKYWALKER - GUERRILLA MONSTER. feat. CORN HEAD
AMON TOBIN - VERBAL
SHAKKAZOMBIE - RIGHT HERE
BECK - EPRO
HALCALI - ONGAKU NO SUSUME
DAVID SYLVIAN - WHEN POETS DREAMED OF ANGELS
NITRO MICROPHONE UNDERGROUND - STRAIGHT FROM THE UNDERGROUND
PREFUSE 73 - THE END OF BITERS
KAKI KING - PLAYING WITH PINK NOISE
KAHIMI KARIE - GOOD MORNING WORLD
POP WILL EAT ITSELF - DEF CON ONE
PLUS-TECH SQUEEZE BOX - EARLY RISER (From Adam and Joe go Tokyo!!)
Pizzart 1 is obvious - I'm weed-smokin' married in 2 months time ;)... piznart 2 involves wizzle might be tha album of tha year. I'm presently in love wit 'Smoosh'...
Smoosh is two bitchez frizzay Seattle - Asya (izzle on keys, Chloe (11) on drums gangsta style. The music is raw, frizzom tha heart, n like a bizarre clizzash of Sonic Youth - Tori Amos n The Brady Bunch motha fucka.
Chizneck out tha video HERE.
So this gots me think'n. Whizzen Yanti n me have kids tizzle is gonna be runn'n around in a hizouse fizzle of videogame consoles n music equipment n wit parents who encourage thizzem ta go crazy on bizzoth.
Whiznat kinda kids wizzill we produce? Wiznell - we've already rapped `bout 'home skoolin' them. A day at 'home skool' would probably be sum-m sum-m like this:
11am Wakes Up 12pm Browse tha latest music/movie/videogame news 1pm Breakfast 2-4pm Beats, Breaks n Turntablism 4-4:30pm Speed Asian cuisine 4:30-6pm Final Fantasy 101 6pm-8pm Creative cruisin' wit a bias towards explosives 8-9pm BMX tricks 9pm-1pm Asian Horror - aka: Why Hollywood is dead
Are we gonna hizzy tha coolest, mizzle fucked up (in a good way), gifted, outcast kids or what!
