VR will be destroyed by the confused and the nauseous

Someone shared Tadhg Kelly’s article (?) about how VR is doomed, but here’s how you fuck it up further by struggling to make it work like other mediums. I posted a big angry rant in the comments. annnnnd here is that same rant right here on my blog! (sorry?).

Nothing against the guy personally. I have no insight into the minds of people who are made physically ill by VR, so maybe i’m under-appreciating their need to sabotage the movement. but. huh. so much rage.
giant rant in 3…2…1… Continue reading “VR will be destroyed by the confused and the nauseous”

We need a clearer message for VR “movie” experiences

It’s a very exciting time for VR this year. “Killer app” ideas are overflowing for the competing goggles that are rising up. (I have the google cardboard and GearVR, and plan to get the rest. But am also currently struggling to get my first test app out the door for GearVR, with all the oculusSDK/androidStudio/unity5 setup). Anywho. Was inspired by Simon Carless’s “the four horsemen of VR” blog post to try and lay down what i think is the messaging we should pursue for what will sell VR this year and next: the movies.
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Motion Controls – why won’t you get it?

The grand Gabe Newell gave an interview with the Verge recently (which gamasutra covered here. I link to gamasutra because it has an intelligent commenting community), and several reporters I respect have claimed his words are important must reads. but. I really don’t agree. I don’t think he really says much that he hasn’t said before. and he embarrasses himself with regard to motion controls. so I wrote up a small rant, once again trying to explain the value of motion control… Continue reading “Motion Controls – why won’t you get it?”

controller based mobile gaming?

Brandon Sheffield offers a cool interview with Tim Sweeney at Gamasura. one bit struck me hard:

“when you take that device and broadcast that image to the TV, then suddenly you just have a big, flat mouse-like surface.”

– for some reason this got me excited about the exact opposite experience: controlling your mobile device(s) with your console’s controller.
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eReaders and digital books – doomed?

Has anyone seen any good examples of digital comic books? (on eReaders or otherwise) If so, please comment.

I’ve come to think of comic books as my pulpy guilty pleasure. but I can’t stand them in any digital form I’ve seen. Whenever the-inevitable-transition-to-eBooks comes up, i think about comics. I’m sure I’ll enjoy fine literature in an eReader (potentially much easier to look up words, or references, influences, other people’s insights, etc.). But I think this is because some part of me treats reading “great literature” as a form of work. I can’t deny that eReaders offer many advantages as a tool for exploring great literature.
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Sleeping Gods: The meaning of “video games” (as computer-driven interaction systems?)

This was initially posted as a response to Tadhg Kelly’s blog post Techthulhu [Games and Future Fantasy] [@ whatGamesAre.com].

I think lack of sleep, yesterday’s ruminations on biometrics, and a few weeks of dissecting the philosophy behind joss whedon’s entertainment efforts all came together for me just now, to make a perfectly crazy ass rant. I started to re-read this and cringed. it might seem to contradict itself from once sentence to the next? is it one of THOSE crazy-as-fuck level rants? … huh. I dunno. but some of it struck me as very interesting. So i’m recording it here in my blog. hopefully revisit later (to either rethink it, or revise it to be easier to read). woof.
:::
Continue reading “Sleeping Gods: The meaning of “video games” (as computer-driven interaction systems?)”