‘Uncharted’ borrows from cinema to sidestep clunky game design

Developer Naughty Dog’s games have always had a flair for the cinematic and that’s due in large part to their presentation. The studio takes a minimalistic approach to how it delivers information to the player, eschewing ugly on-screen means of directing you where to go by using filmic techniques like smart scene composition and color to subtly guide the players from one area to the next. In the video below, YouTuber Mark Brown explores Uncharted 3‘s opening, breaking down how Naughty Dog pretty masterfully keeps players on the right track during the rooftop chase sequence without it feeling claustrophobically linear.

Source: Mark Brown (YouTube)

‘Uncharted’ borrows from cinema to sidestep clunky game design

Developer Naughty Dog’s games have always had a flair for the cinematic and that’s due in large part to their presentation. The studio takes a minimalistic approach to how it delivers information to the player, eschewing ugly on-screen means of directing you where to go by using filmic techniques like smart scene composition and color to subtly guide the players from one area to the next. In the video below, YouTuber Mark Brown explores Uncharted 3‘s opening, breaking down how Naughty Dog pretty masterfully keeps players on the right track during the rooftop chase sequence without it feeling claustrophobically linear.

Source: Mark Brown (YouTube)

‘Dragon’s Lair’ hits Kickstarter in search of a feature-length movie

That Dragon’s Lair debuted as a LaserDisc format game/interactive movie but was never a proper film was always a little weird, but that could change. Original creators Don Bluth (An American Tale and The Land Before Time — not Arrested Development) and Gary Goldman are taking their cinematic aspirations to Kickstarter in the hopes that you’d want to see protagonist Dirk the Daring once more. Dragon’s Lair: The Movie will be a prequel this time ’round and fill in the bumbling knight’s backstory. The idea here is that if the $550,000 goal’s met, the team at Don Bluth Films, Inc. can make a fleshed out teaser presentation to show investors that a feature-length flick is worth pursuing to the tune of the proposed $70 million budget.

Source: Kickstarter

Researchers use video games to test chameleons’ vision

You probably know that a chameleon’s eyes move independently of one another. Thanks to video games, however, it’s clear that this oddball vision is more powerful than previously thought. Israeli researchers made chameleons play a simple game where they had to track and lash out at multiple digital flies, gauging their ability to focus on two objects at once. In the tests, the lizards easily followed one target in each eye — they only focused on one fly when they were ready to strike. The eyes even have distinctive movement patterns based on their active roles, so there’s no doubt as to what they’re doing.

Source: Reuters

What’s on your HDTV: ‘Halo 5,’ ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ and the World Series

This week’s releases are topped by the arrival of Halo 5: Guardians, complete with the usual midnight releases and excitement. We’ve been playing it for a few days and while the game is as well-put-together as ever, the real question is if Microsoft’s servers can hold up once gamers start filling them up later tonight. We’ll see — and good luck to all. On Tuesday night the World Series kicks off between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets, while ESPN has a new 30 for 30 about John du Pont. CBS is premiering its new Supergirl series tonight, but we’re more excited about Saturday when Bruce Campbell comes back to TV in the role of Ash as Starz premieres Ash vs. Evil Dead. If you need a copy, there’s also a new Army of Darkness collector’s edition on Blu-ray. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

SXSW cancels online harassment panel, because of harassment

Online harassment is a real world problem, and you don’t need to look any further than a cancelled South by Southwest Interactive panel for more reasons why. Citing “numerous threats of violence” the SXSW planning team has annulled “Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games” at next March’s event according to an email sent to panelists that was obtained by Jezebel. What’s more, the festival has cancelled a pro-GamerGate panel, dubbed “SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community,” as well. An official statement from the organizers says that since announcing the two panels they’ve been inundated with threats of on-site violence and in the interest of keeping the marketplace of diverse people and diverse ideas (their words) safe, the best way to do that was simply not act as a venue for the discussions. “Maintaining civil and respectful dialogue within the big tent is more important than any particular session,” the statement reads.

Via: Jezebel

Source: South by Southwest, Jezebel, Reddit (1), (2)