I woke up this morning, business as usual, and logged into my news sites and checked up on twitter, as I USUALLY do. Unlike other mornings, however, what I saw my friend @arnaldo42 post, blew the hell out of my mind. Simple ideas usually end up being the ones that change the world.
This week, the Game Developer’s Conference is ongoing full steam ahead in San Francisco, CA. (Here’s a Wikipedia Link for info on the Conference). During the conference yesterday, a new type of service was announced called OnLive.
What OnLive does (or rather, claims to do) is to enable games to play on TVs and PCs without depending on the hardware to render the content!! That is, the graphics and game content are generated on an ultra-powerful computer where the OnLive service originates. The service then streams the content over the Internet to a “dongle” on the gamer’s TV set or via small software to the PC and REAL-TIME with ‘virtually’ no latency, the user can play the game at high resolution!
If you don’t get how huge this is, then imagine for a moment, the MILLIONS of people who have TVs across the world, who ONLY need to buy a little “dongle” and subscribe to the service, and have IMMEDIATE access to these super-badass looking games! (I can imagine nVidia and ATI in scramble mode, no need for videocard upgrades? Preposterous!! )
Now, I know that my enthusiasm for this platform may seem a little premature, since nothing has really been proven, and a LOT depends on the infrastructure surrounding the player’s Internet connections. (OnLive requires full HD streams to be sent to the PC/TV and receive the input of the players commands almost instantaneously). But just the fact that someone out there had the VISION to think up a way to bring high quality gaming to the masses in what is hopefully an inexpensive way to the consumer, just really brings my hopes up for the next stage of gaming. (And I haven’t even started on the possibilities of this platform on mobile devices like iPhone and Android!)
Cloud-based content is the future. Just look at what the Aviary suite is doing for design!
I sincerely hope that this project succeds beyond our wildest dreams because this, my friends, IS the future of gaming.
SPOILER-FREE! (For the most part, I’ll only talk about things that have been shown on the trailer.)
I’ve been interested in Knowing since seeing the previews over the last few weeks, and like most people, I was drawn into it by the promise of some end-of-the-world awesomeness. In that aspect, Knowing delivers to steam-broiled goodness.
The premise for “Knowing” begins in 1959 with grade-schooler, Lucinda Embry. An odd little girl to begin with, she starts hearing people whispering in her mind, and during a class project she begins writing what seems to be random numbers on the page. Her page is put in along with everyone else’s into a time capsule, not to be opened until 50 years later. Creepiness ensues, after she continues to hear the voices.
Fast forward to 2009, and we are introduced to John Koestler, played in his usual deadpan best by Nicolas Cage. Koestler is an astrophysicist from M.I.T., and has a son named Caleb. It is during the ceremony to open the time capsule, that Caleb receives the envelope containing the number sequence from Lucinda’s paper. At this point Caleb, not surprisingly, begins to hear the voices of what he calls “Whisper People”. These dudes are freaky! They look like they came out straight from the Matrix/Twilight and all they do is just stand there. Staring. Creepy.
So John starts realizing that the numbers actually mean something: they’ve predicted every major disaster in the last fifty years, along with what’s to come. The rest is his race to try and solve what’s about to happen.
I liked the movie in the sense that it presents some very real situations, that can very well happen in our lifetimes. Some people may be turned off by some of the ‘twists’, others (like myself) may find them rather intriguing and will dwell upon them for days.
Overall, I think it’s a good movie, and I recommend you go out and see it!
So this Friday is the LAST episode EVER of one of TV’s best shows: Battlestar Galactica. It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since I first started watching this show! I was still in college, and I remember my friend Roll and I would sit in front of my computer monitor and watch as many of them as possible back-to-back.
There were definitely some “coño” and “EAHH RAYO!!” moments that kept us awake all night discussing what had happened. I think the writers, producers and the talented cast have brought what otherwise could’ve been another mundane Sci-Fi (or should I say ‘SyFy’) show, into something truly special. When you have women, specially Moms, come up to you and say “You like Galactica too?!”, then you know that this isn’t your run-of-the-mill geek entertainment.
One of the things that appealed to me from the very beginning of the show, was the strong female cast that the show presented. Starting with President Laura Roslin (played with warmth and charisma by Mary McDonnell), we see how this character evolves from a scared, reluctant school teacher, to a sometimes steely decisive leader capable of surprising the audience at any given moment. Then we have Starbuck, (played by Katee Sackhoff) who is from the get go, a tough-as-nails, unrelenting force of nature that matures and grows over the series. We still have yet to find out ‘what’ she is exactly… :-/
I have organized a “Last Frakkin’ Party” event for those who wish to share the experience that is the last episode of BSG. It will be held at Duffy’s Deerfield Beach, on Friday, March 20th from 8:30PM to 12:01AM! Feel free to invite whomever you choose, but please RSVP to the following e-mail: thedonz@me.com. This way I can guesstimate the amount of people we’ll have at the event, and I can pass that info along to the Duffy’s staff!
On a final note, I wanted to honor a good friend of mine, who recently had the privilege of being an extra on the surprisingly good movie, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”. Here is some of Carlos Aquino’s (The Aquine) best work:
So this weekend marked my 26th year of life on this majestic planet. Wow, makes it sound kinda epic! Truth is, with the advent of the Internet, the stylization of modern media and advertising; life can sometimes seem kind of dull. You get stuck in the rut of the mundane and the habitual, and you forget that there are truly exceptional moments to be had in this world.
Take for example, a very awesome boat ride through the scenic Miami Beach! Normal boat rides take you on some sort of slow moving ferry where the tour guide explains what you are seeing and tries to keep everyone awake. This boat ride was on a frakking SPEED BOAT! This thing flew over the water, and it had EVERYONE on the edge of their seats. It was an extremely cool ride and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to visit Miami.
I had the distinct pleasure of spending my birthday with the people that matter most to me. See, I don’t know if this applies to everyone, but as far as I know it, one of the main driving forces in a persons life to strive towards anything worthwhile, is the opportunity to share it with others. This idea that you can create something majestic, that kind of reflects your most intimate passions and outlooks on life and enjoy it with those you love. That is for me, my treasure. Every dream, vision or reflection that I have of the future, includes the company of these family and friends. Without them, I would have no reason to continue on this Earth.
It is easy to get lost in the everyday chaos that is life, and sometimes we fall prey to dark thoughts and crazy people’s ramblings. But it is utterly important to take the time to pause and re-evaluate your position in life. Sometimes we take too many things for granted, and as the old saying goes “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”
Here’s to the remarkable friends I’ve been blessed with: a virtual B-52 of ones and zeros.
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