EPIC Games and Unreal Engine 3

EPIC Games is a studio that to me epitomizes a singular studio that has the power to define a console. With their unreal engine tech, its usability and how so many developers license it to make their games on the list of Unreal Engine 3 games clearly show the sheer amount of developers working with the engine and the nature of the games that it is used to develop. With EPIC Games designing their engine for certain hardware it leaves the systems that they do not do this for with the choice, the development studio could try to shoehorn the engine or older versions onto the system that provides a less than ideal result and initiates what could be a costly exercise, or find some other engine. Finding another engine to develop a game on is mostly a non-choice because when its a multi-platform game it seldom works out the best, leaving then the systems without UE compatibility out of a multi-platform IP.

Metroid OtherM – Expect a cinematic experience!

Well my most anticipated game this year has received a due date, Summer 2010, If you cannot guess from that and the title of this post its Team Ninjas’ take on the Metroid universe with Metroid: OtherM.

We have already seen the E3 trailer for OtherM, so from this we can already derive that it has an epic feel to the game, but also it showed 3 distinct styles of video throughout, one we could see ingame footage, then we could also see in-game cut scenes. But what really stood out is the CGI throughout, this I believe is all designed by a 3rd company working with Nintendo and Team Ninja, called D-Rockets. They are a purely about (as defined on their website);

Creat[ing] high-quality and constantly evolving movies and graphic expressions to mesmerize the viewer-the end result is movie magic. This is what we strive for at D-Rockets. This is our creative concept.

The actual CG creation and visual composites, etc., are handled not at our head office in Southern Aoyama but at the Digital Factory where we have access to the latest equipment and technology. Currently, our rockets are blasting off creating content for television commercials, promotional videos, high-end game cinematics, and the like.

CG (D-Rockets)

I firmly expect that OtherM will be a deep and rely heavily on story, more so that that involved in the Prime series, so to me what is the better way to do this? The game element is acting out certain situations, but to know what’s going on it all cut scenes. I don’t think that Nintendo will allow such a company as D-Rockets to go to waste in using them for just the starting and ending cut scenes but rather use their CG scenes through out for long transitions in story throughout the game. Short cut scenes will be handled completely by those working on the game itself using the game engine, but these scenes would only occur mid chapter.

This may sound confusing to you, as it seems confusing to me in my head but for those of you who have stuck with this, I commend you for sticking with my madness. The amount of detail and story in this game, I hope would highly increase the games duration. To me I’m thinking this game deserves the Metal Gear Solid 4 treatment with the storytelling, maybe not the hour long cut scenes but the same split in game play and cinematic.

This game will be deep, and we can expect to learn a lot more about the Metroid universe than ever before. Maybe we will encounter throughout the game the Beginning and the Beginning of the End…

BBC iPlayer 2 Months in

Well the BBC iPlayer is officially 2 months old today, so lets see how things have shaped up since my last usage stats update a month ago!

Following my own logic for this data from last time. There are:
(263,536 / 4.16)

63350 (rounded) users reporting data on the BBC iPlayer channel. Each one viewing the channel for 4+ hours on average, this is a MAJOR jump in users and average usage time. With each user increasing the amount of times they’ve used the iPlayer from 2.92 times to 3.75 times.

My own personal usage of the channel has massively increased to a total of 22Hr(s) 17Min(s), and it has been booted 11 times, this is due to the fact that even more great content keeps getting added and has the convenience of I get to watch the television I want whenever I want (before it expires :p)

After the jump some record breaking news from the BBC about the iPlayer

Have you completed your Sega Trinity?

So has everyone finally got their Sega Trinity?

What Tech could we find inside the Vitality Sensor?

Well the Vitality Sensor came out of nowhere at last years E3, no one expected an announcement like it nor expected Nintendo to delve any further into health related gaming/monitoring. A lot of speculation about the Vitality Sensor started with plain jane horror games designed to scare you when your relaxed etc by just monitoring your heart rate/pulse. But what more could this device be? Well, the only way in which we can gain some sort if idea is to actually look at what the health industry does with finger monitors. This is all speculation as to what the Vitality Sensor can do as, as far as we know no one has ever had a hands on with the device therefore we cannot attain what the device can do or does when attached to a finger.

BBC iPlayer usage stats – so far

If my understanding of this information is correct. There are:
(79205 / 3)

26402 (rounded) users reporting data on the BBC iPlayer channel.  Each one viewing the channel for 3+ hours on average, to me this speaks of a good but slow start, if I remember in January I will report the new details then.

My own personal usage of the channel tallies between the 8 and 9 hours mark and I find the channel very useful and intuitive.

It makes rational business sense…

Yes this is an article about Michael Pachter AGAIN… 😛

Ok in the latest GameTrailers Bonus Round episode (chapter 2, Pachter Vs. Reggie) Michael commented “It makes rational business sense for Nintendo to release it (HD Wii) and soon”. Well I refer you to an earlier blog of mine discussing Michael and his Wii HD rumors, it makes perfect rational business sense IF Nintendo was Sony or Microsoft.

BBC iPlayer – My Thoughts

Well I was originally planning on doing a video on this, maybe I will in the future but I thought it would be good to finally have time to write about it and update this blog.
The BBC iPlayer is everything I was expecting and then some, but still it has me wanting for more from the beeb in services. While the iPlayer channel does everything that the website does in a much smoother and a higher quality than the website was able to provide to the Wii through it’s Opera (internet) Channel, there were a couple of features run by the iPlayer tech that were external to the official website that I was hoping for implementation.

Nintendo’s Video on Demand Framework?

Well after finding out about the BBC iPlayer channel coming to the Wii I decided to look out for some information on this.
Well didn’t I step onto a nice juicy bit of info, for those of you hoping for a VoD service to come to your very own region, well I personally don’t think it will be too long until something comes along. Can I hear Netflix somewhere in the shadows?

BBC iPlayer Wii Channel Launching Nov. 18th

The Wii is getting a tailor made channel for the BBC iPlayer, all relevant information is in the video above.
All I can say is, it’s about bloomin time!

Now lets just wait for other TV stations to join in the fun.

BTW… 1 million viewers a day on iPlayer, well that would equal a LOT of revenue for the TV stations that do advertise!

For more info please go here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8357777.stm
Click through for images showing the channel in work.