A good Flash day November 22, 2006
Posted by rockysays in Flash, niceness, inspiration, web 2.0, web design.4 comments
I’ve come across some lovely Flash content today. First up is kuler from Adobe Labs, which essentially enables users to share colour themes. So in Web 2.0 terms, I suppose you could call it Social Swatching.
Next up is PICTAPS from ROXIC. Whilst you could argue that the site is essentially useless, it’s a lovely way to pass some time, and is pretty damn impressive in technical terms. Basically, you create a 2D sketch, which is then animated in a lovely 3D environment. And, er, that’s it. So yeah, useless, but very cool
PlayStation3 media tour November 14, 2006
Posted by rockysays in hmm...interesting, niceness, inspiration, videogames.3 comments
So the PS3 has finally launched in Japan, and the US launch is fast approaching (us poor unfortunates in Europe still have a few months to wait), and one aspect of Sony’s new piece of living room furniture that has been receiving lots of praise is its media playback/management facilities. Utilising an interface that is essentially a high-res version of the PSP menu system, the PS3 can handle a variety of media on a variety of formats. Music, photos and videos can be read from memory cards and USB flash memory to name just a couple of sources, as well as from the consoles hard drive, although there doesn’t seem to be any provision for streaming media from a PC the way that the Xbox360 can. But where the PS3 currently holds the advantage over the 360 – at least in video playback stakes – is in the fact that it can handle a variety of video formats, not just poxy WMV files like the 360 does. And the “photo album” facility looks absolutely gorgeous, although I’m not sure how useable it is; once that initial “Wow” factor has subsided, I suspect that many PS3 owners will opt for a simple slide show when viewing their digital pics.
On balance, the media playback capabilities of the PS3 and its crossbar interface seem to me a little bit, well, sexier than the 360’s offerings. But that alone wouldn’t be enough to make me want one, especially since I recently bought a 360 – and I could still buy a Wii once it’s available and have two cutting edge consoles for the price of Sony’s one.
Gears Of War November 8, 2006
Posted by rockysays in videogames.add a comment
Well, the long awaited Xbox 360 title Gears Of War is nearly upon us, and judging from the reviews appearing online, the general consensus seems to be that it’s f’king brilliant. I’ve got to say I’m pretty excited about it, as it’ll be my first foray into next-gen gaming; I’m planning on picking up a 360 next week in preparation for what has been described by many as Game of the Year. There’s a video review over at gametrailers.com. I’d heartily recommend checking it out, if only to see the in-game footage – this game looks absolutely stunning
Rocky Says 