Cool Hunting
| 14 March 2005view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
GDC: Will Wright's Spore
by Carol T Chung
Even if you don't know his name (or are unsure of whether or not you wanna hear about some guy's spore), you've seen his games or have at least heard of his games. Will Wright is the creator of the Sims, a series of simulated environments where the user either builds cities or controls a character's development, depending on which version he or she has. During his The Future of Content lecture, he displayed his new PC game, Spore. The bubble in the shot says, "Today the tide pool... Tomorrow... the Universe!" That's basically how it goes.
More after the jump...
GDC: Platform Keynote Speakers
by Carol T Chung
J. Allard's (Microsoft) keynote speech, The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity (on Wednesday) and Satoru Iwata's (Nintendo) Heart of a Gamer (on Thursday) both discussed the next generation in platform gaming. Allard's speech was more technical than that of Satoru because he was speaking to developers specifically about the new Microsoft developer tools (XNA) and how these will aid in the upcoming HD Era. The slide shot here shows what he thinks the differences will be between the current and upcoming eras. Both recognized the macro trends of constant connectivity and personal customization or creativity. Of the two, Allard's seemed colder and over stylized in comparison to Satoru's speech with two video clips, one of which featured James Cameron talking about his upcoming film (which I presume is the one based off the manga, Battle Angel). Allard also gave away 1,000 HD televisions at the end of his speech. It just seemed like he was trying too hard. Either that or I'm just bitter I didn't get a new TV...
More details after the jump...
Dewanatron: Dual Primate Console
by Josh Rubin
Dewanatrons to make music in real time, suitable for concert performance, live recording, or to be broadcast over the airwaves. The special purpose of Dewanatrons, which are modern solid-state analog instruments, is to grow music live in collaboration with the operators who guide them. Each of the instruments are hand crafted and intended to work in tandem with one another.
I had the opportunity to observe Leon and Brian performing this weekend at the Armory Show. They had several pieces of equipment with them, including the Dual Primate Console (pictured above). The music was just as wonderful and fascinating to hear as those devices are to see. Check out some samples on their site.
...and speaking of the Armory Show, check out squee.gee's recap over at core77.
Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany
by Evan Orensten
Many of you are already familiar with Ben Schott's masterpiece of useful (cheers from around the world), interesting (tea grading nomenclature, explaining the Scoville scale) and trivial (banqueting legislation in the U.K. in 1517) facts, figures and details. It's a must for the kitchen bookshelf.
$15 at Amazon
Lomography Fisheye
by Josh Spear
Lomographic has now introduced the worlds first 35mm camera with a built-in fisheye lens. The folks responsible for the Colorsplash and a slew of other creative and inexpensive photography products bring us yet another way to document life and savor memories. The fisheye camera has a 170-degree view, an electronic flash, and of course uses normal 35mm film that can be developed anywhere. It's available for $50 by pre-ordering in their shop.
Nylon Guys
by Josh Spear
The super glossy product magazine coveted by the ladies is no longer just for the them--Nylon recently introduced a magazine targeted at "hip guys", called Nylon Guys. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I think they have done pretty well with it so far. I got to sit with the first issue for a bit, and it was honestly packed to the brim with hot t-shirt's, toys, sneakers, and other products, a handful I had never seen before.
