Jon Maur | 10-25-07Today VDI played host to a visit from Mike Katchabaw. Mike is a professor at London’s University of Western Ontario. He was here to talk about “Story Scripting for Automating Cinematics and Cut-Scenes in Video Games” and the work they’ve done with dynamic music. The idea of automating cut-scenes and music is very appealing to small to medium video game production companies and could save them a lot of money. That’s not to say Mike’s work is limited to video games alone, there’s plenty of opportunities in other industries from TV to book publishing.
If you’d like to learn more, why not attend Future Play where Mike and his colleagues will be presenting.
bobj | 10-24-07Albert Lai’s talk this morning at the Ontario Centres of Excellence breakfast was advertised as a vision of the coming Web 3.0 world. And, he did a bit of that.
Then, maybe sensing that there is a lot of hype around versioning the Web, Lai launched into his vision of Web 2.5, describing the nearer-term implications of technological developments …. stuff that entrepreneurs and innovators can get into right now. This is the realm of mobile devices with high definition screens, large memories, wi-fi broadband connectivity and GPS all wrapped up into a small package. Small enough that you can carry more than one device in your pocket, as Lai observed in his visits to the East.
So, who is Albert Lai? Now 28, he founded and sold his first company (MyDesktop) while still in his teens. He has started up, invested in and sold almost a dozen technology companies since. More about him and his philosophy (“Simplicity: The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Disruption”) can be found at Simply Albert
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song | 10-24-07Today, I attended an Ontario Centres of Excellence event, discussing about the next-generation of internet, Web 3.0. Albert Lai speeched what Web 3.0 might be, and what we have to do for the future. In his definition, Web 3.0 will be the web on the mobile devices.
So, is Web 3.0 another buzzword? Is it really important to put a name tag? For example, I am Web 1.0, and, you are Web 2.0. Even though it is a hot debate topic, I think, the clear definition of Web 3.0 (or Web 2.0) points out the right direction of what we have to move along.
==song==
Related links:
An Article on Albert Lai in Canadian Business
Web 3.0 – OCE, Mind To Market event
What is Web 2.0 – O’Reilly
Not 2.0?
Web 2.0 Validator
julia | 10-23-07Here are some questions we are asking ourselves at VDI.
Is learning easier in 2D than 3D?
Is a compelling narrative as effective as a real time visualization in a real time cave environment?
What are the ethical considerations for developers? Who will deploy our games and how?
One thing is certain. Serious games or visualization design is important and growing.
It is all up for discussion on this blog and at the first annual Serious Games Canada symposium next month in Montreal.
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~jparker/seriousgames/summit/
admin | 10-18-07Here you find our comments, musings, thoughts and themes.
We invite you to post blog entries.
We are interested in your comments and questions on our projects and research.
Thank you,
Ian Howatson Web Developer and the VDI Team
