MY ASSET PIPELINE EDITOR ... FTW!

Hey guys, it's been a long time since I last posted something on my blog! So I decided to share a teaser trailer of a tool I've been working on during this year for my inhouse projects ...
... behold "The APE" !!

Sexy, right?

I guess you know the purpose of this beauty, but in case you don't, I'll be posting more details soon.

So, stay tuned!
~Pete

FLYBOARD: A WATER VERSION OF IRONMAN’S PROPULSORS?

Guys, when I watch a gadget like this:

I cannot help to associate it with Ironman’s propulsors:

Next time I visit Punta del Este I will try this sport for sure!

Best,
~Pete

DBP 2012: TOP 40 FINALISTS

The list of top-40 finalists for this year’s Dream.Build.Play contest has been published.

Top-20 finalists for the XBox360 console:

https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx#winnersXbox-tab

Top-20 finalists for the WinPhone device:

https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx#winnersWinphone-tab

You can read on the page, the following:

The games received for this year’s competition were phenomenal.

It could be, but imvho, compared to previous years, and at least for the 360, there is no game that stands out that much this year visually like The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Dust: AET, among others, did in previous compos.

I always wondered why this game was never awarded a prize on DBP 2011. If they had submitted the game again for this year’s compo, they would have run for the 1st place. Its gameplay video looks fantastic:

I hope MSFT eventually gives these guys a chance to get an XBLA-publishing contract even if they didn’t win or make it into the final round.

Having said that, congrats to the finalists of DBP 2012!

Cheers!
~Pete

SURFACE: THE NEW TABLET FROM MICROSOFT

Microsoft has recently presented its own line of tablets powered with the soon-to-come Windows RT and 8 Pro operative systems: the Microsoft Surface –branded with the new logo.

Two major hardware specs will be available, which will depend on the OS flavor that comes with the tablet, but on the overall the product looks promising.

A flood of comments and opinions has covered the Internet since then, but personally, I believe it is a very interesting product. All I hope is that this time, MSFT gives this line of products a very different fate than the one the Zune (HD) devices had …

Enough words, so here’s the presentation video:

Something tells me that the mouse era –and the keyboard´s, as we know it- is coming to an end.

Enjoy!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

FORZA MOTORSPORT 4 TRAILER FILMED IN URUGUAY

It’s been a nice surprise to find the following “live” trailer of Forza Motorsport 4, which has been mainly filmed –with the exception of the last scene with the mountains- in my hometown: Montevideo, Uruguay … !

Forza Motorsport 4 - “Endanger Species” Trailer

I´m a huge supporter of Forza Motorsport series on the XBox 360. Some may argue Dirt 3 has better graphics than FM 4, but for a DirectX 9 console system like the XBox 360, I don´t care what fanboys may say … ;)

´till next time!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

LIVE STREAMMING: MICROSOFT’S E3 KEYNOTE

Today begins the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3! And guess which company will be holding a keynote today … yeap! Microsoft.

This expo is one of the most important events of the year where big players in the Industry usually announce big breaking news, stopping all speculation on rumors. So let’s see what they have up their sleeves this year!

If you want to watch MSFT’s keynote on your browser, just follow this link:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Community/E3

And here’s the link for all the events:

http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/e3/e3-live.html

Also, Apple is holding its annual event (known as WWDC), and its keynote will start at the same time that MSFT’s keynote at E3. Coincidence? :)

Enjoy!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

“LONG TIME NO SEE”

For the last few months I have been immersed in a code rush to get my first commercial game published on iTunes’ App Store. And finally, I’m proud to say that it made it into the market!

http://itunes.apple.com/app/just-survive/id424392950

The name says a lot about the game: Just Survive!

I had originally started working on it on 1998 and published it on the web during 1999. At that time there was just one enemy and scores were saved locally. The game didn’t get noticed but many people because everything was much different from the globalization we are experiencing now, but I remember having received an email message from someone who wrote something like:

Nice game. I have been playing it for 45 minutes and I want to know how much longer I have to play it to get to the first boss; btw, highscores aren’t been saved on your server …

That message helped me to decide –a few years after- whether to jump into the indie Industry. And today, here I am …

The game has gone through lots of modifications since then, 90% of them happening during 2010/2011, so I can now say the you’ll get to fight many types of enemies, more than one boss and there’s global leaderboards!

Here’s the trailer on Youtube:

Just Survive! First Trailer

This is one of the four games I have in production for different platforms, so in the following months expect some news about them.

Hope you like it … and buy it!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

OFFICIAL WP7 VIDEO AD: “REALLY?”

As you may know, the set of Windows Phone 7 devices has been recently presented to the world during an event in NY city.

Now, the first official video advertisement –entitled “Really?"- is out:

Enjoy!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

STEVE BALLMER IN ARGENTINA

A few weeks ago I was invited to Steve Ballmer’s talk about Cloud Computing in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The talk was held last Tuesday on the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE) and lasted about an hour or so.

Since “I crossed the puddle” and attended the event I can tell you that the presentation and all topics covered where quite interesting, so for those of you not present at the event I recommend to watch the recorded video, which is now available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/argentina/cloud/ballmer.aspx (subtitled in Spanish).

Enjoy!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

PDC09 VIDEOS AVAILABLE

The videos showing all PDC09’s presentations are now available either for online watch or download.

In particular, for those interested in using DX11 to develop .NET applications & games for Windows 7, check these videos out:

• Developing with the Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework,
• Modern 3D Graphics Using Windows 7 and Direct3D 11 Hardware,
• Advanced Graphics Functionality Using DirectX, and
• DirectX11 DirectCompute.

Enjoy,
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

RAIMI WANTS A “PANIC ATTACK”

Do you guys remember how Montevideo was attacked by an horde of giant robots and high-tech fighters?

Well, according to many news that have been recently posted around the globe, Sam Raimi’s contacted the authors of this amazing short-film in order to convert it into a whole movie.

Well done, guys! You really deserve it …

Cheers!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

MONTEVIDEO INVADED BY GIANT ROBOTS

Browsing the web I happened to find today a quite impressive CG short film, where the city of Montevideo, capital of Uruguay (where I live), is being suddenly attacked by an army of giant robots and a squad of pretty advanced space fighters.

The film is entitled “Atáque de Pánico! 2009” (“Panic Attack! 2009”) and you can find more info about it here.

Kudos to the producers for this great release!

Enjoy,
~Pete

[If you ask me, the title is kinda misnomer. I would have chosen a different one for such a great production. What do you guys think?]

> Link to Spanish version.

WINDOWS 7X7

For those of you who do not know Windows 7 yet, those who doubt about its virtues and even those who have already installed the Release Candidate and want to find out more, I recommend a lot that you watch a series of videos (in Spanish) about its goodness:

Usually I'm not a developer that installs testing versions of a OS in a production environment, but, when Windows 7 RC version was out and having witnessed that the previous beta version worked with roominess in "aged" notebooks, I decided to walk away from Windows Vista and give Windows 7 a try.

I must confess that, after I took that decision, results have been quite comforting! Windows 7 RC behaves like a charm and performs superiorly to its ancestors.

I have installed its 64-bit version with only 2GB of memory on my PC desktop and it actually flies! (note: on Windows Vista, it is recommended that you have 4GB to achieve an acceptable output).

Not to mention the features of its own that make the UX indeed enjoyable.

Thus, as I said at the beginning, my advice is that you visit "Windows 7x7", watch the series of demo videos, and if you can, decide to finally install and try out Windows 7 RC.

Enjoy,
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

XBLCG: THE DASHBOARD CONNECTION

If you're new to the world of Community Games on the XBox 360, you'll probably don't know how a/o where to find them.

Kathleen Sanders -XNA Community Manager- a.k.a. "Cookiecups" has published a useful video explaining exactly that.

After watching this video you'll have no excuses for playing'n'buying Community Games.

Enjoy,
~Pete

-> Link to Spanish version.

XLCG: DR. POPPER IS OUT!

Bill from Blue Rose Games has finally released his game "Dr. Popper" to the Community Games channel over the Xbox Live!

[For those of you who don't know Bill, he usually posts handy articles regarding game programming using both, Silverlight and XNA technologies.]

This is a game I've really enjoyed playing on the PC on the past, and now it's great to see it published for the XBox 360.

The proposal is simple in design and still incredibly fun to play. So give it a try, relax, and enjoy the smooth puzzle-like gameplay.

I'l leave you with a short video of the game:

One of the best parts is that it only costs 200 points ... a nice Christmas present, indeed.

Cheers!
~Pete

C.N.V. UPDATE: VIDEOS

Uruguay Gamer has published the links to the videos recorded during the closing ceremony of the third annual domestic constest of videogame development held in Uruguay.

On the site you will also find the comments of Chaim Gingold for each videogame.

Note: The presenter in both videos is Gonzalo Frasca, CEO of Powerful Robot Games (one of the most-known uruguayan videogame companies) and main organizer of the compo.

Here's video 1 (the one receiving the first prize is me):

And here's video 2 (here you can see Frank Baxter -ambassador of US in Uruguay- congratulating the grand winner and at the end of the video you will find Chain Gimgold himself):

Enjoy!
Pete

BLOGGING AGAIN!

Wow! It's been a while since my last post here. The reason: getting my life back to normal after my visit to Seattle/Vancouver.

A lot has happened since my last post. I'm still creating my own engine with XNA 3.0 (the latter is now out in beta), I submitted my demo game for the DBP compo, and we witnessed how a "ninja cat" approaches.

About my entry, well, it was created in 10 days ... the last 10 days before the submission deadline! I'm proud of the result but not proud at all about the code ... that implementation goes against of all my believes and practices in software design. But, it had to be done on time no matter what if I wanted to enter the compo. Why did I start so late? Well, that's a loooong story (maybe I'll blog about it some other time).

Man! There's a lot of great entries this year that really show off the power of XNA. If you want to take a look at them just go to http://video.msn.com/ and search for videos tagged, say, DBP? ... or "Dream Build Play", thanks Lawrence ;)

My favorites are ... well, I'll let you know after the results are in :-D

Ok, I think that's it for now but stay tuned since more is comming next!

VIDEOS FROM THE XNA EUROPEAN TOUR 2007

I've followed the links posted by Charles Cox to watch the videos from the XNA ET 2007.

So far, I've listened to Dave Mitchell presentation and some interesting topics cought my attention:

1. Although no dates were disclosed, Dave commented that there are some plans related to the "YouTube For Games" project that will be revealed soon (maybe changes in the monthly-fee policy?),
2. The RPG Starter Kit being currently developed,
3. The second edition of the D.B.P. compo will deliver similar prizes to this year's ones, and
4. Plus, the demo of the game targeted for children was kinda cue.

Does anybody know how the 4 winners of the publishing contract are doing with their projects? I'd love to see images or read comments on how their games are evolving in order to go gold.

Well, next video please.

Enjoy!

SECOND DAY WEBCAST?

I don't know about you guys but the sessions of the first day were really great! So many info shared, previews, experiences, images, demos, videos, and so on. And the webcast itself was loud and clear ... I eperienced only one glitch and it was on my side (too many webpages opened).

I know it was announced that only the first day would be webcasted but, given the importance of the sessions and the fact that many of us couldn't attend the gamefest this year, let's hope the XNA Team decides -of course, if within possibilities- to webcast today's XNA sessions.

Fingers crossed!

XNA GS: FORGET THE FUN JUST SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Finally! The last webcast of the day has ended.

Frank Savage reminded us what's the current state and features of XNA GSE, what XNA "GS" 2 will bring, and what to expect for the first half of 2008.

I'm tired so I won't comment on the current status of GSE. What will come on v2 was already covered. So the juice is on 2008. Why? Because even though there are not further details on how they will implement it yet -meaning it's still under discussion- these guys are working on a way to help us reach the XBox Live Arcade market more easily (and then the Xbox360 retail disk distribution).

The final round of questions seemed pretty exhausting since everybody start asking and asking, even questions that had nothing to do with what this guys were supposed to talk about!

Some interesting Q&A:

• Will we worthwhile building a game for the 360 in 2008 given the advances in technology which could make the 360 an obsolete console? Yes.
• How can one convince any publisher that managed code & XNA can create a "blockbuster" game? The answer is simple, just convince them that your game is fun and sellable. they don't even care what technology you use to create the proof of concept, prototype or even the game itself.
• How much does it cost to get a certificate? I think the first time you get in is free and after that you pay by submittion.

Well, that's all folks! I hope my comments on the webcasts help those unable to watch them because of bandwith restriction, bad connections, and so on.

Cheers!