ANNOUNCEMENT: Meet your MaK(er)

I like the notion of creation games, but more often then not, I find myself snoring at what’s on offer.  I’ve never been interested in Minecraft, and I’ve goofed around in Portal 2’s Aperture Labs, but I’ve found them a little constraining in their creativity, and the experience of construction is done for the pleasure of others – the process itself is not really that fun.  What I’m looking for is something a little more fulfilling when I’m putting the hours in, ideally creativity that is rewarding as you play.

Meet MaK, An indie game in development by Crowe T. Robot.  It’s a spin on Minecraft and Portal 2’s Aperture Labs, seeking to use physics, creativity and world building in a completely cohesive and fresh fashion.  MaK is only in its infancy, but so far it looks pretty promising.  Checkout the video below.

The game also has a Steam Greenlight.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Peter F Hamilton – Great Road North (UPDATED)

Peter F Hamilton’s Great Road North (image source: goodreads.com)

Peter F Hamilton’s latest novel set in the Commonwealth universe (sci-fi meets murder-mystery).

See it @ Goodreads

See it @ Amazon

(Set for release 27th Sept. 2012 at amazon.co.uk)

(UPDATE)

My copy is on its way to me from Amazon.co.uk.  I look forward to reviewing it, but unfortunately I won’t have time to read it for at least 6 or 7 weeks, and by then I’ll also have Hydrogen Sonata as well.  None-the-less, when the opportunity arrives, I look forward to nestling down and reading this (and Hydrogen Sonata).  Amazingly, it cost me about half-price to buying it locally, including freight, and it’s a hardcover copy.  Globalisation at its best.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Prison Architect

Ever wanted to design and run your own prison?  It seems like the natural thing to aspire to if you have a love of criminology and architecture.  But if you don’t want to spend 7 or 8 years of your life studying these things to have a crack at the big job, how about just playing Prison Architect?  This game is in alpha now and ready to take your money and give you perks, such as becoming a prisoner or warden.  Check the video below.

ANNOUNCEMENT: 3D printing comes to the masses

Ever heard of 3D printing?  For those of you who haven’t, it’s printing 3D ‘real life’ objects from a computer generated model.  So far it’s commonly used by big companies to prototype things instead of having to run them through a manufacturing process.  This means design to delivery of a prototype can literally happen in days.

Now Morgan Matus at Inhabitat reports that MakerBot have released what appears to be the world’s first ‘prosumer’ oriented 3D printer called the Replicator 2.  This device prints using PLA (polylactic acid) down to a 100 micron layer resolution, effectively meaning each 3D print layer is about as thick as a piece of paper.

The Replicator 2 from MakerBot’s Youtube video.

The Replicator 2 from MakerBot’s Youtube video.

An owl model produced by the Replicator 2 from MakerBot’s Youtube video.

A pump assembly from a set of 3D prints from a Replicator 2 from MakerBot’s Youtube video.

Importantly it’s cheap (relatively), weighing in at US$2,199 according to the manufacturer and runs on all major OS platforms, including Ubuntu Linux.  It is capable of printing objects with dimensions up to 28.5cm x 15.3 cm x 15.5 cm in what it describes as Fused Filament Fabrication.

Inhabitat states that 1kg of PLA goes for around $50, so it would appear the actual cost of running the device is rather reasonable.

Unfortunately, if you are in a hurry to get one, there appears to be an order backlog with MakerBot stating a 2-4 week lead time on orders at the moment.

For those of you who are interested in the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) process, it’s a relatively simple according to Rerap.org.  Single droplets of a material, in the case of the Replicator 2, PLA, are placed on top of, or beside previous deposits making a join via heat or adhesion.  By repeating this process over and over again, an object is built via ‘accumulation’ of deposits.

Read more about FFF @ reprap.org

Look @ MakerBot’s Replicator 2

Read more @ Inhabitat

ANNOUNCEMENT: Canon 6D faces off against Nikon D600, faces off against Sony A99 [General Look]

So Canon, Nikon and Sony have all bought out cheaper full frame SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras.  Joy to the world you may say.  But sadly, it is not so for many, because despite the cheaper bodies, the lenses to do them justice are still REALLY expensive (especially the zooms).  That’s fine for crazies like myself, but it is not going to result in a revolution over night.

What do these cameras have to offer you may ask?  Good question.

All have very big, light sensitive sensors with somewhere around 20-24 megapixels.  This means shooting in darker conditions and getting clearer shots.  These cameras offer much expanded colour depth and dynamic range (dynamic range basically means capturing more bright and dark in a photo – so shadows have more detail within them for example).  It also means some changes in depth of field compared to smaller sensor cameras.  All are rocking pretty hi-tech autofocus systems that are well above the SLR norm, and all are built a lot more ruggedly than your average SLR.  I’m not going to give a spec for spec comparison between the cameras, there are websites out there that do a far better job of analysing cameras and listing specs than me, so I’ll direct you to them instead below.  But I will give you the basics.

Notably, the Sony A99 has an all digital system (electronic viewfinder), and is in-fact an SLT (Single Lens Translucent) system, where the mirror does not move when a shot is taken.  This provides better video focusing (and in the smaller crop sensor digital SLRs, much higher  shooting speed) although with a penalty of letting less light through to the sensor and shorter battery life.  The Nikon D600 and Canon 6D are more similar and traditional SLR cameras, with moving mirrors and will most likely have slightly better light gathering capabilities compared to the Sony, although both have comparably slow autofocus in video, and (edit: slighty) slower frames per second than the A99 in camera mode.

Compared to older SLRs, all give up some button and switch functionality for video functions, so if you don’t do video, this may be annoying.  But if you do, they can capture some nice input, although I am no videographer, so I can’t tell you how good (compared to an equally expensive video camera).  If you have any interest in buying any of these cameras, and are fairly new to photography, it’s worthwhile getting to understand each brand’s ecosystem of lenses and flashes first before weighing the differences of each camera.

Links and more information below:

Sony A99

Preview 1: The Verge

Preview 2: Digital Photography Review

Places to consider purchase in USA: BHPhotovideo

Places to consider purchase in Australia: Ted’s Cameras

Canon 6D

Brochure: Canon

Preview 1: The Verge

Preview 2: Digital Photography Review

Places to consider purchase in USA: BHPhotovideo

Places to consider purchase in Australia: Ted’s (not available yet)

Nikon D600

Brochure: Nikon

Preview 1: The Verge

Preview 2: Digital Photography Review

Places to consider purchase in USA: BHPhotovideo

Places to consider purchase in Australia: Ted’s Cameras

Compare camera specs @ Snapsort

Compare camera specs @ The Verge

Compare sensors @ DXO

(It is worthwhile mentioning at DXO, all ISO performance curves for each image characteristic should be examined to get a complete understanding of each sensor, as the front-end number ratings appear to only account for things such as tonality and colour depth at base ISO)

ANNOUNCEMENT: Android Netrunner

Takes me back to my teenage years… (image source: Fantasy Flight Games)

I used to play Magic: The Gathering fifteen years ago at university and I wasted many dollars collecting cards and hours designing decks, even before I actually got around to playing the game. Sometimes, I’d stay up all night playing with friends, and often we wouldn’t eat.  At the college I went to, in my building, we had maybe half-a-dozen players, and we played group games that involved up to 8 players with great politics, teamwork and betrayal.  These group games led to grudge matches between friends to find resolution and created a dynamic cycle of group games and one-on-one face-offs.  In that environment, it was really fun.  But outside that bubble of players living together with too much time and too few responsibilities –  I’ve never played it again.  I’m no longer interested in collecting cards, or searching for other players.  None of my friends want to play it because it is complicated and takes too much time and effort to learn.

Now something has popped up and caught my attention: Android Netrunner by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG).  This game is a re-imagining of an old CCG card game from the 90’s.  Want to play corporations vs hackers?  Think Sony vs Anonymous, or Pirate Bay vs RIAA, but with some cyberpunk and robots added to it.  This game although set in the future, is interestingly current and topical in intent.  It’s a completely self-contained game, with set expansion packs.  This means two players can play straight out of the box and have a decent experience, and no chasing rare cards to have a more complete experience.  Apparently it has a 30+ page rule book, so maybe it is a little complicated, but all indications are of something I really want to have a go at.  So, when time permits, I may give this a go, and twist someones arm to play with me.

Here’s a summary about the game from FFG:

Monolithic megacorps and individualistic netrunners collide in a dystopian future. Set in the gritty, cyberpunk future of Android,Android: Netrunner is a two-player Living Card Game™ that rewards skill, strategy, and just the right amount of calculated risk.

In a world where corporations can scan the human mind and interface it directly with electronic data, more data moves every second than was ever processed in the first five-thousand years of written language. The network is omnipresent, the crux of modern human civilization, and while visionary corporations seek to secure their most valuable data on the network, the elite hackers known as netrunners seek to steal it.

This asymmetrical card game resurrects the mechanics of the original Netrunner, designed by Richard Garfield, and updates them to increase clarity and promote a more dynamic play environment.

The Android: Netrunner Core Set features 252 cards, including seven unique identity cards.

Learn more @ Fantasy Flight Games

Watch a short rundown on the game @ Youtube

Buy in Australia @ Games Paradise ($54.95 plus shipping at time of posting)