Mundinator

When Game Developers Drink and Drive!

When game developers drink and drive...well, when they are driven, on a party bus, after a bunch of drinks and go-karting...this is what happens.

Snowblind rocked a midweek field trip to some K1 go-karting and our friendly artist, Brian Despain, decided to take full advantage of the party bus we hired.

Full of accidents, spin outs and even a broken kart or two...I wish there was more to post, but alas we were all too busy drinking and driving.  Congrats to JVD for being the overall winner and congrats to Bsost and Morgan and Ralph for the more hard core accidents.

Wii Remote Shenanigans

Don't ask, just watch.  I blame this on you, Nintendo.

LEGO Indy In Real Life! 5 Million LEGO Block Boulder Almost Crushes Him!

Yeah, my sister is rad!  She sent me this link to the first YouTube video.  I don't have a ton to say about it other than Indy in RL running from a Lego boulder is SOOO much cooler than in the game.  Not to dis the game, but hey...5 million legos is kinda a cool thing.

Lego Indy in RL

Lego Indy in Lego Land

Limbo of the Lost Stole Oblivion Art Assets?

I put a question mark at the end of the post title because, honestly...I think that the title here really brings up an interesting question that we don't yet have the full story on.  Did the makers of Limbo Lost really steal the assets?  Did they recreate them...or did they license assets from Bethesda?

Ok, ok...lemme say this bit upfront.  Bethesda has not responded to inquiries, so I am guessing that the makers of Limbo Lost did not contact Bethesda.  Bethesda's hesitation to comment is most likely because they are still not sure what to do (sue, just ask them to not sell the game or do nothing)

Well, how often is it that games assets are taken and reused in such a way.  I'm not here to steal GamePlasma.com's thunder, but here are the images they posted.  Take a look before I continue.

Limbo Lost

Oblivion

Ok, so now you can see what exactly they mean by stolen assets.  It's not hard to see that these amateur doods kinda took the design of the assets and used them for their own means.  So is this ok or should Bethesda sue them?  First off, there is really no money in Bethesda suing the makers of Limbo of the Lost.  Then again, it really is the principle of the thing.

Doing a bit more research, "these guys" basically consist of three pub friends who "had a dream."  They kicked around the idea for 10 years and then finally just put their minds to it and made this game.  Read more about the making of Limbo of the Lost.

I am curious in general about the reuse of game assets.  I would personally have no problem with someone using my game's assets for something as long as a) they are not making money off of my work b) asking permission if they were using them in something available from a formalized project with investors and an official company (even if it is still a for free thing).  I wouldn't care if two kids in their basement made some cool art project using my games assets, but if a company was using my work in any way other than for something internal, I would want to know.

Portal Tattoos: Love and Lies

Portal has generated so much respect that this dood decided to make it permanent.  Mr tattoo Guy, did you ignore the fact that when you are 80 years old you will still have these and most of us will think you are just plain crazy for continuing to tell us that "The cake is a lie."

Thanks to Digg.com and BMEink.com for the leads.

Nintendo Releases 20 Year Old Design - No One Cares

Yeah, I said it.  Nintendo just rereleased the Powerpad, a 20 year old piece of design...and guess what, no one cares.  Sure it seems like we all know someone who purchased it and it seems sold out at all the Best Buys, but why is it that the Wii Fit mysteriously and quietly has dropped off the charts.  In the UK, apparently it is no longer even in the top 40 after only a few weeks of being out (thanks GamesIndustry.biz for the post idea).

My guess is that people already don't care about the Wii in the way we all thought we would.  I mean, pop in a Wii game and look at the shit graphics after playing 30 hours of GTA4.  Come on!  I don't demand jaw dropping, but please for the love of gawd don't try to instead make me use gimmicky design ideas from 20 years under the guise of technology that is all new and worthy of my money.  Fuck...what is next, the Virtual Boy for the Wii?

Nintendo, you have known for years and years that the market only stands for two consoles at a time.  When you first released the Wii I began to think that you may be able to prove me wrong this generation, but I am starting to waver.  I think you are pounding nails into your own coffin...at least in North America.  I know I am done buying Wii products...and from talking with friends, they are too.  Good luck Nintendo...your gonna need it.

Escapist Interviews Pure Pwnage

I just wanted to throw a little shout to the Escapist for Pat Miller's articleabout Pure Pwnage.  In Boom! Headshot, Miller interviews the peeps behind the show that I have grown to love so much.  Yes, even I have purchased some of their gear.  I proudly sport my "I Pwn Noobs" hoodie as often as I can.  I have even been known to wear it on days where I know I am going to have a long day of design meetings.  Yes, it really does help me pwn n00bz.

Flip Video Camera Review - Inside The Case

Flip Video Camera Review - Inside The Case
Originally uploaded by John Mundy

Noelle and I each just picked up those new Flip Video cameras in order to start up a fun special project. Before I go and ruin the special project, I felt it fitting to review the endless features of the Flip Video camera.

MGS4 to Have 90 Min Cutscene?!? WTF!?!

I'm sorry, but did we all read that right????  Is this true or did I just blink a little too fast when reading?  I actually had to read this a few times to make sure I was on the right page.  No, it is not that the total length of cutscenes added up is about 90 min.  There is AT LEAST one cutscene (maybe more) that is 90 full min long.

For those of you who watched Cloverfield, it is longer than that entire movie.  So the big question that it raises for me...what the hell takes 90 min to communicate in a game cutscene.  I was not really interested in MGS4 until this morning when I read the news.   Argh...looks like I am going to have to get a PS3 now (it was going to happen at some point).

My TF2 Map, CTF_VILLAGE, is Done!

I just wanted to throw a quick shout out that I have finished ctf_village and it can be found on fpsbanana.com.  Love those guys.  It took me a hell of a long time to get the map done since I was moving and starting a new job AND playing a bit of catch-up for a milestone at work...but now I am done done done.

It is by no means perfect (there are all sorts of texture things and random clean-up I would like to take care of), but I am happy to put this down and move on to something new.

For those who didn't see the original ctf_village post I made a while back, here is a link to the flickr.com set where you can see all the shots I took of the level.  I did add some additional objects in the middle of the map, so the shots differer a little bit, but you can get the idea.