Posted on 13 October by Simon Oliver – Founder, HandCircus
With less than a week to go until OKABU launches, we’re slightly over-excited about getting it into your hands! There’s still so much to talk about the game, so we wanted to delve a little deeper into the world of OKABU and the different lands that make up the adventure.
Posted on 13 October by MusterBuster – PlayStation Access Community Manager
Countries: GB
Hey Blog readers,
This one is so riddled with brilliance that I’m going to shut up and let the press release do the talking:
To commemorate the release of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception on November 2nd, Naughty Dog, the team behind the Uncharted franchise will be holding a developer session on Saturday 15th October, open exclusively to the PlayStation Access community.
Mirroring Drake’s journey in Uncharted 3, gamers will be taken to a secret London venue inspired by the fictitious Pelican Inn scene from the upcoming title.
The Naughty Dog presentation will feature footage of gameplay and a live walkthrough showcasing the Desert Village scene.
Attendees will also be the first gamers in the UK to sample the Uncharted 3 single player mode ahead of the game’s release.
Head to the PlayStation Access Facebook page and click ‘like’ for full event details.
In short: meet Naughty Dog, play Uncharted 3 single player before any other gamer and witness a live play through of the Desert Village level. All this Saturday, only with PlayStation Access.
We love you too.
Posted on 13 October by James Stevenson – Senior Community Manager, Insomniac Games
We’re just a few days away from Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One releasing exclusively for PlayStation 3. We hope you’re looking forward to exploring Planet Magnus, upgrading your arsenal, and solving the mystery of the Creature Collector with your friends. With that in mind, we wanted to show you a sweet video we put together, highlighting the big co-op moments in the game. It will take a team effort to steer a taxi through the vertical city streets of Luminopolis, or to coordinate the powerful turrets on the back of a massive robotic Guardian, and this video shows how players will have to work together.
We hope you’re excited to play it, the team in North Carolina, US, had a blast making it and is looking forward to playing with you online!
Posted on 13 October by Danny Kasman – Director of Content, MUBI
Beyond Enchantment (Larry Jordon, 2010)
We’ve just added some really exciting new films to the MUBI platform. We’re partnering with San Francisco’s Canyon Cinema, one of the most important distributors of experimental and avant-garde films in the world. It’s an on-going partnership which we’ll add to as time goes on, and here’s our first update. Since most of the films are probably unknown to our audiences, I thought it might be more useful to inform you about the filmmakers.
Films by Gary Adlestein:
Gary Adlestein has been making short experimental films and videos since 1974. His first film which he co-directed, Reading 1974 was a feature-length, award winning documentary, in the city-symphony tradition, of his hometown, Reading, PA. After working for years in 16mm and later super-8mm making short, lyrical films inspired by the works of Storm DeHirsch and Tom Chomont, he, like many independent makers, shifted to the much more affordable – thus congenial to the idea of true independence – medium of video. His work has been screened nationally and internationally in festivals, and at media art venues across the country (eg. Millennium Film Workshop, LA Filmforum, Pacific Film Archives, Chicago Filmmakers) and a number of his films and videos were presented in the Museum of Modern Art’s “Big as Life: An American History of 8mm Films” exhibition at MoMA, 1982-2001. In 1975 he co-founded Berks Filmmakers which has been screening experimental works and continues to do so. He teaches film and poetry at Albright College in Reading.
Films by Kate McCabe:
Kate McCabe lives near Joshua Tree, California where she founded the art collective Kidnap Yourself. She graduated from the University of the Arts and obtained her MFA in Experimental Animation from Cal Arts under the innovative Jules Engel. An award winning filmmaker, Kate’s work has shown globally since 1995 in film festivals and galleries. Her films often explore the themes of celebrating the beauty in the everyday and unveiling the twilight world between daydreams and reality. Technically, Kate is a hybrid animator combining live action photography and animation, with time manipulation techniques both in-camera and with optical printing. Her current work includes paintings, photography, short fiction, and art books, her most recent being a sketch comic book “Mojave Weather Diaries.” Kate has taught film as a visiting artist at CalArts and UC San Diego.
Films by Gregg Biermann:
“My work comes out of the avant-garde tradition of film as visual art. I believe that artists inspired by the spirit of historical avant-garde film can, by embracing new technologies, remain vital. The development of new tools has often determined innovative aesthetic developments in art and music. Consequently, I’ve looked to new technologies to discover vast unspoiled frontiers no longer available to small gauge filmmakers interested in exploring form. Most my works could not have been achieved in earlier periods and are deeply rooted in digital technology. The meaning of digital technology for cinema lies in its ability to copy, alter, mask, fragment, super-impose, mutate, reflect, transmit and reframe.”
Films by Larry Jordan:
Known principally as a maverick spirit in the world of avant-garde American cinema, Lawrence Jordan played an important role in the late 1950s and early 1960s San Francisco art scene. Jordan has made over fifty experimental films, including a number of fanciful, filmic animations made from collaged cut outs of Victorian engravings. The animations extend dreamlike imagery of collaged landscape into a cinematic realm of transformation and free form symbolism. Jordan Seeks to delve into the deep structures and Jungian connotations of the mythological images his films reference. His alchemical approach to imagery creates what he has called the “theater of the mind, which you construct. That is the Underworld… the realm of the imagination. You have to have a place to work with images” (Duncan McKenna, Semina Culture Wallace Berman and His Circle).
Posted on 13 October by Nino Kalogeropoulos – Manager, Content Services, ANZ
Countries: AU
Never before has there been a more appropriate ice sculpture. This was the centrepiece at EA‘s exclusive Battlefield 3 community event which took place at Sydney Australia’s Potts Point this week. With just under 2 weeks to go until the game’s launch, a select group of invitees were treated to special hands-on gameplay with Battlefield 3 on the dozen or so display units that were set up at the appropriately themed venue. The feedback from attendees was clear – Battlefield 3, with it’s powerful Frostbite 2 engine, is set to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience. Special guests at the event included some of the actual DICE development team, including Daniel Matros – Community Manager, and also Lars Gustavsson – the game’s Creative Director. I spoke to Lars about his work on Battlefield 3, and he ended the interview with a candid thank you to all of the PlayStation fans in Australia who are patiently anticipating this game’s release:
Nino: Pleasure to meet you Lars
Battlefield 3 has been a massive undertaking for you guys – how many years in total development on this project?
Lars: Well it was three, or close to three and a half years just building the Frostbite 2 engine, and then about 2 years (at least) to build the actual game. We’ve been a very busy studio!
Nino: How has it been working with PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray Disc on this particular title?
Lars: Overall it’s been pretty good. As always, you want everything in a game, and there’s the usual struggle making sure that you get things into memory – especially with everything that we have crammed into this particular game. So it is a real challenge, and our team has done an amazing job at prioritizing correctly to keep pushing it.
Nino: These days it’s all about online features, and the PlayStation Network is becoming increasingly important to gamers. How did you find working with the PlayStation Network on this title, and what sort of online experience can gamers expect?
Lars: It’s been great to work with, and we’ve just been hammering away at all platforms really. Overall, I would say that the online features OWN this game, particularly the communication centre where you can connect with friends, join with friends, and then also the Battlelog which constantly keeps you up to date with what your buddies are doing. There are lots of online goodies that we are trying out now as well, which we really hope people will pick up on.
Nino: Downloadable content for FPS titles does big business on PlayStation Network. Having said that, how much effort have you guys placed on the DLC strategy for Battlefield 3, and what can consumers expect from BF3 DLC?
Lars: I can’t, at this point, go into what might appear in the future… but if you know the franchise, and our previous titles, then you’ll know that shipping our titles is only just the beginning. It used to be that when a game ships to retail, then that would be the end of the project for the developers. Now, when we ship a game, it is really only just the start. Right now however, we are only focusing on the game’s launch.
Nino: The PR behind Battlefield 3 has been amazing. EA have almost achieved the impossible in creating so much buzz and support for this title, months before it has even hit the shelves. What message would you like to give to your Austrlian fans who are waiting with such buzz and anticipation for this title?
Lars: First and foremost, just thank you. Thank you for believing in us. Going into a massive undertaking like this, creating a game, pushing the boundaries in so many areas, it’s sometimes a really frightening thing. But to have a dedicated audience who believes in you, and longs for your product, definitely helps on those dark nights when you’re just sitting there, wondering, will it fly? So again, thankyou everyone for believing in us.
Battlefield 3 ships in Australia on October 28th. (Note: Epic Frostbite 2 ice sculpture not included!)
A collection of PlayStation news and links from around the web.
NOTE: All links are to external sites and open in a new window.
+ KylieDog
+ monkeyspaz3
+ Wolfman_sw
+ Rama26285
+ bobopudge