Here is a fascinating in-depth look at the history of the world’s first video game. That’s right, the game known as Pong, invented by Ralph H. Baer.
Read all about this now. It’s really a treat and makes you truly appreciate how far the industry of video games has progressed.
URL: PONG-Story
Went and saw the #1 Box Office movie, The Daredevil, over the weekend and must say that it wasn’t half bad. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as Spider-man or XMen — it did manage to hold my interest and keep me entertained for the better half of the 2-hour movie.
I suppose the only complaint I can muster in my head is the lack of dialogue and inconsistencies in the script. Although, like I always say, if you want entertainment see a movie. You want realism? Watch the Discovery Channel.
Mainly, I went into the movie knowing nothing (nada, zip, zilch, naw-naw) about the storyline of Daredevil. The most impressive aspect of this character is his disability and how it fights to overcome it. It doesn’t hurt that his senses are extremely overbearing and ‘magically’ in tune with the world. He may not be able to see but he really can kick your $#@!% for a handicapped guy.
It was good. Not the cream of the crop but certainly enjoyable and entertaining. Kudos to the hyperactive sensory effect. Very, very cool looking.
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Pixel Art has since become a wildly popular Internet graphics phenomenon. Several sites have adopted Pixel-driven art to offset realistic graphics and subpar “trendy” grid databases.
Pixel Art is none other than creating digital portraits of people, places, things and objects with miminal tools. Mainly, the 1 pixel by 1 pixel format combined with a 256-color (or more if preferred) palette. Pixel Artists from all over the globe have created amazing works of art that are displayed on sites around the Internet. However, the birth of this artform was originally and more commonly used for early computer games (notably the Kings Quest series by Robert Williams).
Software artists used this pixeling technique to portray exotic islands, fantasy realms and science fiction settings. This technique, since replaced by 3-dimensional graphics is still prominent in some isometric and cultural/city building games.
Yet, with the adoption of the Internet as a pop-culture reference tool — Pixel Art has a place to stay. Whether it be in a web designer’s interface or to simply dress the entire site in an interesting mask of pixel goodness — Pixel Art takes patience and that makes you appreciate the artists even more so.
Here’s some great sites painted in Pixel Art:
Protokid is a chat-powered realm that is entirely showcased in Pixelness. Register your avatar and get typing!
City Creator is a Pixel-driven site that allows you to create tiny urban cultures. Simply choose your graphic (house, street, tree, etc.) — place it on the grid area and build yourself an environment for Tiny Midget people. Yes, that’s redundant. I know.
So You Wanna Be a Pixel Artist is for those of you who are interested in doing this for a living or just dabbling in it for fun. It’s a step-by-step guide with helpful hints and links to better hone your pixelness!
Dude Studios, while not exactly Pixel art, still deserves a spot in this linkage for the work this guy has put into this series. Basically he’s re-done the Star Wars Trilogy in cutesy cartoon style, but the real gem is the visual style and the mere 2 – 5 minutes (per episode) his cartoons cover as opposed to the 2+ hours the real movies took to tell the same story.
Meomi is “dedicated to the creation of compelling visual experiences and narratives. We do work for multiple mediums and strongly believe in design that delights, entices, and inspires” — according to the site’s creator. I especially like the Meomilizer, essentially a character creation area. Really neat features.
Last night I watched the final episode of Joe Millionaire. Interestingly enough, it was the first and the last episode I watched of this “reality” series. Anybody think that Evan “Joe” Marriott looks disturbingly like a gigantic Tarzan. He seemed kind of frozen in time when they revealed the twist at the end, when the little hobbit butler put in his two cents and then presented the couple with a million-dollar check. Woo. Reality TV. Woo.
Sarcasm aside, here’s some odd links that you might find enjoyable and sweetly satisfying;
Scrollbar Racing sounds strange and the mechanics of this site are in fact, strange. You see, you’ve got 4 multi-colored scrollbars that scroll and you vote on which bar is going to win the vertical dive first. That’s it.
Photomacon is a cartoon profile generator. Much like the Popcornheads on kartooner.com, the only difference here being that the site is entirely in French. No worries though, it’s all self-explanatory. Is it just me or do these characters look similar to Duckman? Oh how I miss the buck-toothed wise guy.
Dubster’ Parking Spots is an oddity mixed with pure genius. Simply concoct a simple idea that sparks a sense of ingenuity and you’ve got something like this. Playing with perspective and scale has always been the guilty pleasure of homosapiens across the Earth. However, using these methods with toy cars and various locations — well.. just take a look for yourself. It really is novel.
Orisinal by Ferry Halim is a collection of cutesy pastel-colored inventions. Ever played a Flash game at Shockwave.com and said to yourself, “It was good. But, not that original.”? Well, look no further because these Flash games are all about originality! They’re addictive little buggers. Try some.