Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Register for SIGGRAPH 2009 by Friday and Save!

See, hear, and interact at SIGGRAPH 2009 with digital innovators, creative researchers, award-winning producers, provocative artists, energetic executives, and adventurous engineers. Join 20,000 of your industry peers at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans, 3-7 August, for world-class technical presentations, creative exploration, and the industry’s largest marketplace of products and services: the SIGGRAPH Exhibition.

SIGGRAPH 2009 aims to satisfy all of your senses. Highlights include:

Keynote Speakers: Steve Duenes, Graphics Director for The New York Times; Will Wright, famed videogame designer and creator of Spore^™ and The Sims series; and Randy Thom, pioneer in sound and two-time Academy Award^© winner
Computer Animation Festival: The internationally renowned forum for presentation of the world's most innovative and stimulating computer-generated animated films, this year introducing two new focuses in Real-Time Rendering and Visual Music
Emerging Technologies: Innovative technologies and applications highlighting a variety of research across the industry including alternative displays, robotics, input interfaces, game development, audio, haptics/VR, and experimental sensory experiences
NEW! Games content: New programs focusing on the relationships among game design practices, technologies, and player experiences through the presentation of Game Papers, Talks, Panels, Courses and more
Contests & Competitions: The return of FJORG!, the 32 hour international animation contest, and the introduction of the first annual GameJam!, a 24-hour videogame development competition
Technical Papers: The premier global forum presenting groundbreaking research from today's leading international organizations
SIGGRAPH Exhibition: Explore the products, systems, and ideas that are creating the next three generations of computer graphics and interactive techniques
SIGGRAPH 2009+1 New Orleans Outreach: Attendees have the opportunity to give back to the community through a series of partnerships with local organizations; efforts will help educate local youth on enriching careers in technology and creative arts with the goal of strengthening the community by investing in this next generation.

Registration fees increase after Friday, 26 June. Register online today.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Microsoft Unveils Project Natal at E3

I'm not much of a gamer, but I do enjoy hacking my Homebrew Wii, messing with SPORE, tinkering with the Crysis Sandbox Editor, and I had a fleeting fetish with Bioshock ( I'm over that till Bioshock 2). I do however follow the game industry and I love to watch other people play. I love to see the limits of realtime being pushed, and the amazing imagery. You always get to see a great deal of this kind of innovation at E3.

There are always events that stand out in my mind whether at SIGGRAPH, CES or E3. This year there was, what I would have to consider, a pivotal moment in gaming. This was at the Microsoft press conference. They showed a future technology call Project Natal. It was stunning to see what MS has in store for users down the road. In an effort to combat the interactivity of the Wii remote, MS has gone several steps beyond the Wii with Project Natal. In essence PN turns a user's body into a remote. On the surface this seems really cheesy. Its been done before as far back as the Amiga. PN is lightyears different. PN has facial recognition, voice recognition, and 3d motion tracking of the entire body... for multiple persons no less! Your Xbox will recognize you over your other family members, you'll be able to recreate that cool computer interactivity in the movie "Minority Report", and bark voice commands at your Xbox.

Speaking of "Minority Report", Steven Spielberg was at the MS press conference touting project Natal... so you know there must be something to it right?

I am really oversimplifying the technology.

They showed a bunch of lame demos using the technology. The demos gave a glimpse into what was possible, but really it was a little dull and lackluster. There was one exception. The demo that truly proved the potential of PN was from Peter Molyneux, founder of Lionhead Studios. This video shows the potential for PN when in the hands of creative people vs programmers. That's not a slight to programmers it's just a Right/Left brain thing. In fact, the heart of Project Natal is in software. Check out this realtime demo below.