Lights Out Films » Gaming

GameLife Show

admin — Fri, 12 May 2006 20:42:00 +0000

I’m a sucker for amateur films and videos. The combination of stilted, uncomfortable acting and shoddy camerawork is enough to send me into permanent, stomach-churning laughs. Perhaps they remind me of my own past – a past filled with haphazardly planned documentaries about the Grapes of Wrath, and my own high-pitched tenor serving as the narrator.

What’s most appealing about products of this nature, however, are how passionate that the participants often are about their topics, in this case, video games. And all criticism of their writing and presentation aside, the video is solidly put together. No superfluous zooms here!

They’re up to three episodes, packed full of game reviews and even a skit or two. They really pulled out the trump cards in the third episode however, having both an appearance by Spider-Man, AND a fairly attractive young blond girl (one of their sisters?)

Kid as I might about the Gamelife Show crew and their positively virginal dork-vibe, I can’t but feel a touch of envy as well. The crew has recently begun talks with Viacom / MTV (seriously) to film gaming segments for MTV. They’re at E3 on an entertainment giant’s dime.

So who’s a dork now?

Visit the GameLife Show site (again, well put together) at:
http://gamelifeshow.com

Girls In Games

admin — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 05:57:31 +0000

Two years ago, I submitted an idea for a contest called Ideas Happen (sponsored by Visa). My idea was to create a digital video of monkeys. For a brief moment, my idea crested at the top of the popularity for the entire site, among thousands of entries. I thought I would get money in order to create my video. Alas, the judges didn’t listen to the populace, and went with something else.

I don’t have an idea this year, but a friend of mine does. Here’s her pitch, followed by the link to vote. Just go and click a button. Feel free to click often.

Computer gaming is a global industry that rivals Hollywood in revenue, but marginalizes the female voice. Women comprise 50% of game consumers, yet hold less than 10% of the industrys leadership and development roles. The male dominated industry continues to poorly address its female audience.

I want to build a mentoring program that introduces, supports, and empowers women in the industry. It would provide projects that professional and aspiring developers would collaborate on. Participation would include all aspects of game development, from design and planning, team management, to art creation and programming. I would form a community linking interested women with industry veterans who can provide insight, support and education.

Winning Ideas Happen would allow the program to acquire the software tools it needs to be at the forefront of the industry. It would also allow the establishment of a community presence, to attract and bring together likeminded individuals.

Gaming is missing a level of creativity and innovation that women would provide. Attracting more women to the industry would ignite a new age in the games we play and the stories we tell.

Vote Here: http://ideashappen.msn.com/Entries/Default.aspx?id=36679

All in all, a noble and worthy cause. And as the game market expands, this becomes an evergrowing business opportunity as well.

Rock/Me/Hard Place

admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 02:07:27 +0000

The problem: Star Wars Galaxies will play fine on my computer if I have the latest video driver. In fact, I played a handful of hours this weekend (fun, fun, fun). The new video card drivers also make my system completely unusable and unstable if I restart my computer. What a mess. So that’s what I’ve been working with. For now, I just installed an old, stable driver so I can get some work done. If you have any suggestions, I’d appreciate it. By the way, I tried playing the game with this old driver (which works for every other new thing out there) and Star Wars No Likey. It crashed. Installed the new one – Star Wars works, my OS crashes. It’s all ATI’s fault to be sure. They’re making some shitty ass drivers. What a boring, pointless blog entry this has been.

Boxy

admin — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 19:14:29 +0000

To further my status as one of the laziest people I know, I’m really considering getting an X-Box. They’re fairly cheap, there are some good games for it and it’s big and scary looking. Perfect to go with my HAL-like TiVo. TiVo really is scary. It has a GIANT IR sensor on the front like a single, cyclopean eye. You can point the remote in the opposite direction and it will still get the signal. Plus it knows all about me…scary. It knows my name, what I watch, etc. It knows I tape Saved by the Bell at four in the morning…

Nerd

admin — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 18:46:01 +0000

I’m excited about the upcoming SimCity 4. That’s what a dork I am. We used to play the original, on old Macs in 7th grade computer class. We were supposed to be doing typing tutorials, but instead we were busy typing “porntipsguzzardo” over and over again. What nerds. More later.