Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels - Film #1

Personally I had never seen this film before, but it was a very good film. It definitely gets across the message of what it’s like to live the life of a criminal in London having gang wars trying to gain the most respect, having the most cash and generally blowing anyone’s head off who as so much as breathes near you.

It followed the character Eddie, who is tricked into playing a fixed card game, in which he ‘loses’ and owes (the bad guy) Harry £50,000 and Eddies fathers bar. If he doesn’t deliver then Harry is going to break a finger off each of his friends hands and himself for each day the money is overdue, having only one week to acquire the money Eddie is pretty much in the sh*t! BIG TIME!

A few days pass and Eddie and his friend decide to steal from a gang of thieves that have a ton of stolen drugs, in which they could sell for a high price, but however they basically try to sell back what they had stolen from the thieves to their leader Rory who’s a gangster and gets everything he wants. Rory realises that the drugs are his own and were stolen in which he isn’t pleased about. Meanwhile Harry orders two criminals to steal two antique shotguns, at this point it confused me of what they actually want the shotguns for, but it’s a big race for everyone to find these shot guns.

‘Big Chris’ who is Harry’s main man for finding people and collecting what they own him is threatened by another character named Dog in which to take back the stolen shot guns which Chris had originally taken from him, in which eventually ends up in Chris beating him to death (literally) with his car door after crashing right into him (just nice). Eventually it ends up in a big shootout between Rory and Eddie and his friends, in which everyone more or less dies but they manage to get the two guns, Eddie and his friends are arrested but found innocent. After everything being resolved it ends in funnily enough way of them founding out how much the guns are actually worth but this is all after they tell one of the four friends to get rid of the guns.

To sum up the movie confused me slightly about what is going on with the two guns, but I think Harry knew how much they were worth and it sort follows the story of Eddie is in debt towards Harry but they add in the story of the guns to follow on as eventually Eddie and his friend getting hold of the guns and possibly being able to pay off the debt and not giving away his father’s bar. It’s sort of a big story following different gangs all after the same thing and tells you that nothing is a joke inside the world of gangsters. I found the movie very good with its funny moments and it was good to see the culture of living in the rough and tough streets of London. There so many American films about mobs trying to gain power, money, respect and women, which is basically what all these crime films are about but it was a refreshing change to see a British film about it, and in my opinion British gangs are a lot tougher and scarier than any American gang after seeing this. It was funny and witty with a good story line, a bit brutal (but that was expected) and just generally nice to see British culture which made it a bit more understandable than other crime foreign crime films.

Concept & interface Art Lecture (17/11/10)

The lecture on interface design was quite interesting, I don’t think anybody really thinks of the interfaces in games and I don’t think anyone really thinks of the design and Art behind it. It was quite interesting to see how much thought they give the menus and things within games, when you wouldn’t really think they see it as to important but it is!

Simon was talking about how the way a child would perceive a game interface, with things such as bright bold colours and what that would mean to them, which now thinking about it, it is quite important that to get that right, for example a game for children would need a brightly coloured and welcoming interface else it’s not going to be as attractive to the audience. It was interesting to see how many designs they come up with for a games interface and he even said it takes as long as the game itself to design and make, and of course the Artist don’t just take care of it, the designers and programmers are all involved, it is very important even though many wouldn’t consider it as important as the actual game play of the game in production. Interface includes little icons and symbols in games and no one ever really thinks about them but it’s surprising how much we take these little things for granted in games when were actually playing them so we can adjust ourselves to them so we know what they mean simply by looking at them as a picture/icon when they appear on screen. It extremely important to get it right for the game’s audience for the way they see it and interact with it. Would 18+ games want brightly coloured interface? Would a kiddies game want death icons and gory scenery? No I wouldn’t think so.

Simon was also saying once you graduate and get a job within the industry of course you’ll be earning a very little salary but eventually you work your way up just like being a very tiny cog in a huge system, but no matter how little you are, you are just as important as anyone else because without you the rest won’t turn. You could be a part of a team of 250 people developing a game but everyone in the team is necessary toward the completion of the game itself and like he said some of the games he’s helped work on have sold 2 million copies worldwide within just 2 months, so it makes that ‘small’ cog in the company you work for fell much more bigger an important than it is. But of course the longer you work and more hard effort you put in, more good things will come just as all the other lecturers have said putting in extra time is great cause it all adds up in the long run. He then started to talk about concept design, its rather just the same as the interface, you just create and render images that can be good for the final game and you can create hundreds of them on the way towards the final thing, it seems like a long process but in time you get there in the end like practising something over and over.

One thing he mentioned was how when he did his undergraduate degree and his masters he did visual communication skills because it was the closest thing to games as you could get and that was in the year 2000! This show’s gaming educational courses are a very new thing. It sort of tells you before then you would need a degree in something closely related to gaming to get in the industry which seems like it was hard but even now it’s becoming increasingly harder to get in, but at least this is the best course in the land! I mean can you really get better than having lectures from people working in the industry themselves? Or having them recruit directly from this course? All the lectures so far have told me what is required, now it’s the case of simply getting on with it but also enjoy it!

Concept & interface Art Lecture (17/11/10)

The lecture on interface design was quite interesting, I don’t think anybody really thinks of the interfaces in games and I don’t think anyone really thinks of the design and Art behind it. It was quite interesting to see how much thought they give the menus and things within games, when you wouldn’t really think they see it as to important but it is!

Simon was talking about how the way a child would perceive a game interface, with things such as bright bold colours and what that would mean to them, which now thinking about it, it is quite important that to get that right, for example a game for children would need a brightly coloured and welcoming interface else it’s not going to be as attractive to the audience. It was interesting to see how many designs they come up with for a games interface and he even said it takes as long as the game itself to design and make, and of course the Artist don’t just take care of it, the designers and programmers are all involved, it is very important even though many wouldn’t consider it as important as the actual game play of the game in production. Interface includes little icons and symbols in games and no one ever really thinks about them but it’s surprising how much we take these little things for granted in games when were actually playing them so we can adjust ourselves to them so we know what they mean simply by looking at them as a picture/icon when they appear on screen. It extremely important to get it right for the game’s audience for the way they see it and interact with it. Would 18+ games want brightly coloured interface? Would a kiddies game want death icons and gory scenery? No I wouldn’t think so.

Simon was also saying once you graduate and get a job within the industry of course you’ll be earning a very little salary but eventually you work your way up just like being a very tiny cog in a huge system, but no matter how little you are, you are just as important as anyone else because without you the rest won’t turn. You could be a part of a team of 250 people developing a game but everyone in the team is necessary toward the completion of the game itself and like he said some of the games he’s helped work on have sold 2 million copies worldwide within just 2 months, so it makes that ‘small’ cog in the company you work for fell much more bigger an important than it is. But of course the longer you work and more hard effort you put in, more good things will come just as all the other lecturers have said putting in extra time is great cause it all adds up in the long run. He then started to talk about concept design, its rather just the same as the interface, you just create and render images that can be good for the final game and you can create hundreds of them on the way towards the final thing, it seems like a long process but in time you get there in the end like practising something over and over.

One thing he mentioned was how when he did his undergraduate degree and his masters he did visual communication skills because it was the closest thing to games as you could get and that was in the year 2000! This show’s gaming educational courses are a very new thing. It sort of tells you before then you would need a degree in something closely related to gaming to get in the industry which seems like it was hard but even now it’s becoming increasingly harder to get in, but at least this is the best course in the land! I mean can you really get better than having lectures from people working in the industry themselves? Or having them recruit directly from this course? All the lectures so far have told me what is required, now it’s the case of simply getting on with it but also enjoy it!

Codemasters Lecture (10/11/10)

The Codemasters lecture was very informative; the guy presenting the lecture (Dan Hoang) seemed like one of the nicest guys in the world. He told us all about how he started off and basically from he said, what he was 3 years ago starting the course is what I am now! Basically he knew nothing about 3D software or never even touched one before and as for drawing he started out on the basics as we all are but he didn’t get into drawing to much until a few years before he began the course where as my situation was never had used or even heard of 3DS Max but I do have a little experience in 3D and I need to get better at drawing especially in rendering but even I had a little trouble in the first few weeks of visual design.

He basically spoke about how you can make it even if you think you’ll never be as good as anyone who can draw anything. He said don’t get depressed if someone uploads an image that’s way beyond your level of ability, which I do sometime feel intimidated by others work that gets a sh*t load of views and hundreds of positive comments when they upload it and when I upload mine it basically gets nothing... EVER! He said something that has stuck in my mind, what he said was if there’s someone whose producing fantastic pieces of work, don’t let it get you down, maybe that guy has a bit more experience than you, he’s on level 4 and you’re on level 2 but your both heading for level 99 in the same direction, the other guy just has a bit of a head start. I love the way he put it, it made me smile and think yeah so what I can do it and I’ll get there in the end as long as I work at it. It reminded me of how you level up in some games and to beat the higher levels you’ve got to work your way up by working hard to match their skills by doing that bit extra each time, it was really inspiring. He then went on to explain how if you do something wrong it simply doesn’t matter, there’s no reason to be stressed about it because if you don’t know how to do something just ask and then once you know you’ve learnt a new skill instantly that you will never forget in the future and combining all your skills will just make you better. Mistakes are a good thing, because it makes you ask questions and eventually try to find the answer or your own answer. We’re all starting out at the same level and he proved to us that there’s reason to be afraid to ask if you need help, because he basically sent emails to people in industry asking them everything that’s wrong with his work and gaining feedback, eventually that bought Dan to work at the critique he got back from the professionals and eventually he made one piece of work that he sent to one of the guys in industry who never talked to him before, but with all that extra help the guy in industry now can’t stop talking to him.

The whole experience of this really showed, with how little confidence you have you can really shine and make something out of almost nothing. Personally I’ve never revised in my life but still made this far!

Blitz Lecture (27/10/10)

The Blitz lecture was rather interesting they more or less got straight stuck in there about what’s a good piece of work and what’s not. They showed us all pictures of the work that was brought in to previous people who had gone into the industry with their portfolios of work. There was a whole range of art work they showed us, everything from 3D models and fantastic concepts to embarrassing pictures of animals wearing ladies underwear what looks like a 5 year old had drawn (Gosh!).

They talked a lot about things they have worked on and where they both started off. They got into talking about what they would want to see at an interview however in the end I was kind of left confused about what they REALLY did want to see. They said when drawing something for a game to render into 3D, do everything to proportion and scale etc and basically turn the world around you into something that can be produced as fantasy in Game Art., they don’t want to see made up characters with big eyes like Manga style and things cause it’s all to cliché, but then at the end they showed us a character of a girl they made and it had big eyes and everything, looked very cartoon like. Could have been something they made up and gave the excuse of: “oh we made it based on a real life girl” but no one is to tell.

They said they can hire graduates on the spot once they have their degree or at least call them into interview. One thing I’d be worried about is how they make you do a speed drawing right in front of them and it’s got to be good and they can make you model things within a couple of days to see how accurately they are detailed etc, but in the future, by the end of the 3^rd year I’d be able to do something like that (hopefully!). It looks like they are striving to get more people in the industry and this course is one of the best according to them, because it is the way it should be done! As a Game Artist you don’t to choose the titles you work on (those who work on Barbie I feel sorry for) but they re-assured us that your one person in a massive team of people to put together and construct a game. Just about everyone on the course wants to be a character or environment Artist which I think is a bit cliché, because there’s a whole library of things you can do, cause there’s others like vehicle Artists, weaponry, interface etc. For me I’m not to sure where I’m going to go, I think if I can get a bit more confident with my work and learn how to use a certain 3D program I’m sure I could get right into it, like they said it all requires a lot of hard work and effort and a few hours extra a week never hurts.

Y1 S1 T4 - A History Of Computer Games - Part 3 - 2000's

As we entered the new Millennium the panic of ‘y2k’ was over and we get on with developing bigger and better games. The Sony PlayStation 2 was definitely the biggest console of the time with its new enhanced 3D graphics and better hardware capable of playing these new titles made for it. Personally I could wait to play the new Crash Bandicoot game, but as I played it there was something about it that just made it not as good as the older games for the original PlayStation, maybe it was the graphics, the similar story line or even the fact it took about a minute for each level to load.

We now talk about how computers and hardware are developing becoming better being capable of handling many things. Back then however it was sort of the first step on the road for the next generation and future generations of consoles and gaming.  Sure it was great (for those who found it great) but I think it was possibly too soon? The original PlayStation was released in 1994 and only 4 years later there was the PlayStation 2 and everyone wanted it, but I don’t think they gave the original PlayStation enough time to settle in, 4 years does seem quite a longish time but there was still games being developed at the time of the PS2 for the PS1 and they, in my opinion were a lot better. At the same time the likes of Nintendo had their Game Boy consoles and Nintendo64 which were addictive and the game were much more simpler to play, were as the PlayStation sort of lead the way to the next generation were the complications were at.

Game Boy Advance 2001

Over the next few years in 2002-2003 area things for the likes of Nintendo were still running smoothly and then at that point they decided to release the Nintendo GameCube with its own brand of graphics and capabilities, which was amazing, considering that there home console could now link to their handheld consoles with some games giving a bigger advantage over rivaling companies (not just because they created it first?) but because they was working out and solving problems along the lines of platforms and programming. At the same time the Xbox by Microsoft was released with their similar looking graphics to that of PlayStation (In which inspired a certain Game Art course, starting to be written in 2003?). I guess because PlayStation had released their next generation console earlier than the other companies it gave them more time to think about the next one being the PlayStation 3. Games around this time though, were being created to be available on other consoles, so companies would program games for not just one console but all consoles therefore investing a little bit more time and money to gain a broader market throughout the 3 horse race with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony in which sold their games.

Xbox 2001 & Nintendo GameCube 2002

I think one of the problems they industry faced at the start of the 21^st century was that with the development of 3D graphics within gaming they could go all the way to make these graphics as best as they could to compete against everyone else and rule the roost within the industry. With Sony doing it first everyone else was pretty much behind. However one thing I do notice is how it took Sony 9 years to release the PlayStation 3 after the PS2, it was as if they were copying Nintendo’s marketing scheme by launching the PlayStation Portable in 2004/05 and making it in a specific way so in the future it would be compatible with their PlayStation 3 come 2007. And they managed to achieve it again by being the first to make a handheld console capable of handling PS2 like graphics. Sony also created the Eye Toy for the PS2 which was a first of its kind also, being a camera that focuses on you, being able to see yourself on screen and being able to play games while in there to.

Sony can make anything, yet I don't see any bacon, hmm?
PlayStation 3 (2007)

It does show how they have come a long way in terms of technical achievement, for example their newest PS3 console can handle the revolutionary Blu-Ray discs and High Definition graphics, to me they basically want to do it all and have it now before anyone else! With a 9 year period however I think that they was waiting for technology to advance possibly, because Moore’s Law state that things will double up and become faster within technology every 18 months maybe they was waiting for a little time to improve their products? In 2005 Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 which made a huge hit and still today it is classed as still one of the big ‘elite consoles’ however the questions start to arise of what will be next? A lot of companies have just re-made consoles such as the PS2 making a Slim version, the Game Boy, making a micro version and now the Xbox 360 into a slimmer version. With all these slimmer versions of consoles I do wonder are they just trying to make more money or are they doing this as ‘side consoles’ for a later date to release their big next generation console? It’s likely that is how it works now-a-days; I mean how many PSP’s does Sony NEED?!

PSP (PlayStation Portable) 1000 (2005) Slim and Lite (2007) and PSP Go (2009)

In fact how many Nintendo DS’s does Nintendo Need? They launched the Dual Screen console in 2004 and for some unfound reason DESPITE Nintendo being a JAPANESE company they decided to release their console in AMERICA first! This is a clear message to everyone saying Nintendo is using the marketing power simply because they want to make big sales from people living in the continent of North and South America first, usually everything is released for their own people first in Japan, but then come 2006 came and they released their new Nintendo Wii console again to America first! Which is just the second major example of marketing because it would be easier getting it out to Japan first with it being a much small country?

Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) 2004

The Wii console was definitely one of its kind, simply because you could now control a game with a remote control style controller and do a million different things with it. Again it looked as if they were solving problems again with this ground breaking console, Nintendo rose up and was on top that Christmas, however Sony would try to hit back with the PS3 just 3 months later, trying to state something along the lines of: “Yeah the Wii is good, but does it have High Definition and can play Blu-Ray discs?...NOPE!” That to me is kind of a way stating there is a definite war between the companies. But I think only with the technology of what they have will they only want to continue fighting by becoming better. At this time Xbox was just sitting back and taking it all in of what the rest were producing in which tells me that they are going to soak up all of Sony and Nintendo’s ideas and create something even better...

Nintendo Wii 2006

The week I’m writing this blog the new Xbox Kinect will be released, it maybe just an add-on for the normal Xbox 360 but one thing it’s got is the fact that you don’t actually need a controller for it, that to me is copying what Nintendo has achieved and made better but also including some of that marketing power by getting 3^rd party companies to produce game specifically designed for that format only.  PlayStation has also released its new Move controller, which to me is a bit to late for my considering it’s more or less another Nintendo Wii controller just 4 years later, however it’s probably another add-on in the countdown to ‘PlayStation 4’ to keep things running smoothly in the mean time.

Xbox 360 (2005) Xbox 360 Elite (2007) & Kinect (2010)

One for the pressures the industry faces from now on is the fact that they need technology to advance, because if the technology doesn’t advance then they can’t make anything better than we already have, Maybe one of the problems is that they may find themselves having to invest in speeding up the process of gaining the new improved technology and tools. However another problem is that people will new to learn new skills in managing and using the new equipment, or maybe if we do invest then maybe it will get to the point where machines are doing everything for us, it’s a risk to take and it has been said before that to create a machine that is 1500 times better than the PlayStation 2, we would have to wait another 20 years to be able to make it. We simply can’t wait that long, if we bring the future faster then maybe it will eventually backfire and we could have made a huge mistake in the end ‘cause it’s getting to a point where we’re asking the question “where do we go next and how can we improve on this?” I don’t think there will be a way, and perhaps the internet will control everything for us that we want and need, getting new people into the industry may not eventually be required, we could just get lazier and perhaps games will only take a few days or weeks to create in the future, we possibly won’t need all of the anything we have now, it could be as simple as pressing a few buttons with a bit of imagination and it’s done. However one thing we do need is the people to create this new wondrous technology is the programmers, because without it nothing will work, just like a 3^rd party company wanting to make a game across all formats, they need someone there to make that work and of course earn their companies more money, but a complicated process, with the investment of time in the end they would deserve it. We can see the rate at which everything is advancing, the PlayStation 3 has a backwards compatibility which allows it to play old PS1 games, however when have personally tried them the processing power in the PS3 is sometimes way to fast for the old PS1 software to keep up with, either in sounds and syncing, display of models/textures and the biggest one the speed of game play.

It is that demand for better games and hardware to support it that’s one pressure the industry will always face but maybe making the demand easier to keep up with is something we’re always trying to constantly solve but getting things done faster will make them lack the quality they need also for the demands, so it maybe just safer to play the waiting game?

I think they are trying to use everything they can to get one over on their rivals within all companies in the industry, like tools such as the internet and paying for online gaming, new ways to play games through the use of new controllers and new addictive titles etc. I think if they all dropped it and joined together there is literally nothing they can’t achieve, it’s a big dream picture that will now never happen all because it’s being torn apart by new ways of making more profit than each other.

Now I don’t find myself playing all these new games as much despite all their new fancy features, I prefer all the classic old ones when everything was much simpler and joyful, but at least one thing’s for sure, games don’t take a minute to load each level anymore...

National Space Centre Trip

The National Space Centre... what can you say... except NEVER AGAIN!


It's waaaaaaaaaaaaay to far away for my liking, it was good exercise and we kinda got lost, at one point we went up from the canal and stopped not knowing where to go, I heard someone say something along the lines of: "I bet the Space Centre is at the bottom of the Canal." At which point I thought Jack was about to unlock Thunderbird 4 to take us down underwater!

Which would of been f*cking awesome!

We continued to walk as I had images of Jack dressed in one of them puppet suits and the Thunderbird's theme played on in my head. Enough was simply enough after over an hour of walking we could see the Space Centre but the path was split into two routes and our group took the longer and WRONG way round making the journey about an extra half an hour longer.

When we got there it was filled with hundreds if not THOUSANDS of little school children. In the end we didn't even go in (too expensive for my liking) so the exterior of the building it was. We stayed for like an hour and then left knowing that it would get dark earlier with the clocks going back and it being such a long way to go, there was a few dodgy people hanging around on the way back which was a bit nervy, but it was easier going home.

ALTHOUGH on the way back I realised when we got lost if we had just kept walking further up the street instead of sticking to the canal it would have cut out about 30-40 minutes out of the journey. What a suckish day...