Francesco De Vittori discusses pinch zooming in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7.
Source: Index Out Of Range
Pinch zooming is one of those things that look incredibly simple until you actually try to implement them. At that point you realize it hides quite a number of intricacies that make it hard to get it right. If you tried to implement pinch zooming in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 you probably know what I’m talking about.
Do you ever wonder what those little sand crabs at the beach are doing when they’re scurrying across the sand? Me too. I believe they are looking for gold. Yes, bright, shiny and delicious gold. What if there was a game based off of this little idea? What would you call it? Oh wait, looks [...]
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Tags: Coconut, Crabtastic, Dodge, Gold, iPhone
Want to watch some people race dirt bikes and ATVs up some hills, and then down some hills, and then around some corners? We have the trailer for you. Also there are some flips.
MX vs. ATV Alive comes out on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on May 10. Anyone looking to pick this one up?
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TaleWorlds has released the soundtracks to the two Mount & Blade expansions. Download them for free!
Tags: Blade, Mount, Released, Soundtracks
Because the Gore Riders are so far out on the released schedule, the Monstrous Horde will ship in two halves. Please see the respective product pages for full details.
Unable to attend at this time of the day? Send your desired time for this training to trainings [at] completit.com and an additional training session may be scheduled upon interest.
Are you interested in creating games for Windows Phone 7 but don’t have any XNA experience? Are you tired of reading tutorials that put you in a passive role and provide answers to all the questions except those you really want to ask? Don’t you just hate these “simple samples” that leave you flat once you want to do things slightly differently because they omit important details or are based on outdated information? Then this training is just right for you!
In this 3-day-training, expect a round trip to all the important technical topics in XNA for Windows Phone 7. This already includes information about the improvements of the upcoming “Mango” update. In addition, you will also talk about accompanying issues: what problems you potentially will be facing and solutions to them, what to do and what to avoid when you create your own games. How to publish your finished work and what monetizing options you have. And finally you will see that the story doesn’t end once your game is finished. All this is rounded off by extensive Q&A sessions where you will be able to get answers to your most pressing questions.
I. Course Agenda
1. Common topics
2. Technical topics
Depending on the available time and general consent of the trainees, individual parts can be shortened or discussed in more detail, and additional topics can be added to the list.
Trainees will be able to send their feedback on the topics using the initial sign up form, as well as through feedback forms displayed at the end of each training session.
II. About the Trainer
This training will be delivered by Peter Kuhn (aka Mister Goodcat) – author of Silverlight Show’s XNA for Silverlight developers series, a recognized Silverlight community member with substantial commercial game development experience, recently awarded Microsoft Community Contributor award for his contributions to silverlight.net forum discussions.
Peter is known for his sophisticated articles and posts that go beyond the usual. He avoids the common “do this, then that, then that” style and instead also tries to answer the “why” on topics. He likes to provide background information, animate others to look at problems from different angles, and to critically balance pros and cons, talk alternatives. Peter tweets from @Mister_Goodcat.
III. About CompletIT
CompletIT is a Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 Training and Development company, committed to facilitate the adoption of Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 technologies worldwide by organizing free webinars and trainings, by creating and supporting SilverlightShow portal and activities, by helping individuals and companies to get advantage of the vast capabilities of these two technologies.
IV. Course Duration
The course will be delivered in 12 hours, spanning in 3 days: June 1st, June 2nd and June 3rd, from 9 am PST to 1.30 pm PST (includes two 15 mins breaks).
V. Course Pricing
VI. Course Materials
After the training all trainees will receive:
VII. Minimum Number of Attendees
The minimum number of trainees required for this event is 5. If the minimum number is not reached, the course would be cancelled and payments refunded to subscribed attendees.
VIII. Technical Requirements
This course will be delivered online, via an online training software. Internet connection and a headset with microfone would be needed. All instructions on joining the webinar will be available in the training registration confirmation email received immediately after signup and payment.
IX. Questions?
For any questions regarding this training, please reach trainings [at] completit.com.
My distaste for the college fraternity system stems from deep suspicion of hierarchical exclusivity. These good-old-boy networks in training seem to thrive on demeaning new members and non-members. But I’m lucky. I went to SDSU, where the Greek presence was minimal… or, looked at another way, where drunken revelry was more egalitarian. My only direct [...]
Madville Times
Here is a list with all new content posted on SilverlightShow.net on April 27th:
Tags: 04/27/2011, Daily, Digest, News
I own a PS3. In fact, I’ve owned every Playstation console. I’ve followed the Metal Gear Solid series from humble beginnings to tired old end, played over a decade of FIFAs on a Dualshock, and booted up all three machines countless times. I really like my Playstation 3.
But I’d never fight for it.
I own a PS3 for a plethora of totally inconsequential reasons. When 2007 rolled around, I decided to plump up the extra money due to little things; I was much more comfortable with the Sony controller, I wanted to finish off exclusive series, I had some old Playstation games I didn’t want to become obsolete. It was just habit. If I had the money, I’d buy an Xbox 360. And I’d really like it, too – for different reasons, obviously. Maybe I’d make a snap judgement like ‘Nah, I don’t like the buttons on the controller much’ or ‘I dislike the green colour scheme’, and then I’d be favouring one console over another. But do you see how absolutely minute the details are there? How utterly trivial the minor discrepancies between green and red, Sony and Microsoft, PS3 and 360 are? At the end of the day, they both play games, and all I want to do is play games. Whichever I use, I win.
That’s just a brief outline of why I hate fanboys with an undying passion. Occasionally, there’s a story or event that brings these gormless, cowardly fools into the deadly pits of forums and websites across the internet, where they ooze out senseless propaganda and whip up scornful hatred again the ‘opposing side’, because… well, I’m not really sure. For some reason, one of those machines is infinity better than the other due to [insert minor difference here]. Duh.
So, the PSN is down. The online service that connects the Playstation universe has fallen to unknown forces, and rumour is rife. It’s the perfect storm for flame wars, as users complain how incompetent Sony is, or remind others that Xbox Live went down once, for a while, and that the PSN being down proves nothing/proves everything. But when you step back for a minute, and just lay down your internet quill, you may come to a different conclusion:
A free service that users have no absolute right to has been taken down, possibly due to a very large security threat, and no one has much control over the situation.
For some reason, IGN decided to get involved in all of this, demanding answers, putting a useless, fanboy-baiting, size 72 ‘Yes/No’ sign up, and just generally trying to cause as much of a stir as possible. Various websites reported on Sony fans thanking the Playstation Blog for continued updates, even if all they did was update on the lack of updates, and the internet basically dissolved into a riotous street brawl, full of misspelt swear words and insinuations.
It’s very frustrating to watch all this. There seem to be two views on dealing with PSN downtime – either rise up with your comrades and demand compensation from Sony, or do other stuff. The ‘do other stuff camp’ seems insistent on dressing up as your mother and patronizing you about how it’s such a warm day outside, and you should get a life and go make some friends. It’s very much a time for extremism.
It really shouldn’t be. While it’s true that the PSN is down, and you can’t play games online, it’s really no cause for all this anger. I’m using my very limited economic knowledge to guess that, oh, I don’t know, bringing down the online capabilities of a machine owned by millions probably isn’t good for business. So, Sony aren’t secretly holding PSN down to mess with people, or to frame some internet group, or to validate any other childish rumour; their service went down because of circumstances we do not fully understand. No one really had a choice. And yet there are so many posts and threads demanding compensation, that this is an outrage, and so-and-so should be shot. This too shall pass.
Everyone, just chill out.
Tags: apocalypse, calm, carry, downtime, Keep
Media Molecule have made us all gods.
Think about it: when they’re not smiting, plaguing, blessing, rewarding, canonising, or speaking with Tom Cruise, gods are creating various aspects of our world.
All Odin or Ra need to do is throw down a tree, magic up a few million animals, and clap an avatar made in their image into existence and – voila! – there they are, standing proudly in their very own world. In time, a god’s avatars will most likely use the intelligence and free will bestowed on them to improve said world, but because they were created for this purpose, their heavenly father still gets 100% of the credit. All good things are made but by the will of god, brother. Testify.
Replace trees with decorations or in-game objects, animals with non-playing enemies or sackbots, and avatars with sackthings, and you’ve got yourself a piping hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven sackworld, just like Jehovah used to make.
Here are, in no particular order, twenty-five LittleBigPlanet 2 levels worth diving into sack-first. All the level names given here are exactly as they appear in-game and on LBP.me, so if you want to play any of them, searching for the name should provide results (but don’t hold me to that).
Seems like a good place to start. This short film educates LittleBigPlanet neophytes (like myself) on the seven annoying actions that they should avoid at all cost during their adventures in the sackiverse. Full of fire, brimstone, and judgment from above.
If by ‘Turbo’ you mean ‘the awkward speed and physics of rock-’em-sock-’em robots in low gravity” then yeah: this is definitely turbo. Beware, though: you will be forced to endure (and dish out) face-sits, fondle-punches, and crotch-kicks. A lot.
A herd of energetic pandas have escaped the zoo, and are hiding out in what I assume is a local Chinese man’s ridiculously complicated house (apparently Chinese architects don’t believe in stairs). The stage is both fun and challenging, and can be completed either solo or with an ally. Further proof that pandas are the wildest and most excitable of creatures.
Hurdles, diving, the long-jump, mountain biking, and no sack-shrinking performance-enhancing drugs. Half the fun is the level’s happy-go-lucky, often goofy presentation. Great with friends.
A bit difficult for my taste, but classic kill-the-aliens-before-they-descend-past-this-arbitrary-line fun you grew up with (if you’re old enough to remember He-Man, the Thundercats, and/or the forgotten past-time now known as “hanging out at the arcade”). Don’t feel bad that you just destroyed the last fleet of a dying race just trying to find its home in the ‘verse. They were different to you, and therefore had be shot down in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire.
Fun and visually striking, but if gnomes really live in this cave then, god damn, they hate outsiders. A fairly difficult platformer with some unique tricks.
Really, Die, Zombie, Die! shouldn’t even be on this list until it’s had some serious improvement. It’s easy, predictable and somewhat uninspired, but hey: you get to decimate sack-zombies (sackbies?), which is a great way to kill two minutes.
Not a jawdropping rendition, but still better than 90% of the remixes floating out there in the LittleBigPlanet community, perhaps because the Red Hot Chili Peppers are just that good a band.
Personally, I hate this song when it’s sung by its actual artist. Take out the vocals (and the distracting pseudo-hipster stage Halloween costume), and it’s actually kind of soothing. The starry-night aesthetic of the stage adds to the effect.
Our friend ‘cortster12′ is pretty good at using the LBP music box to give classic songs a makeover. This level incorporates Pokemon, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gerudo Valley, and a few others worth checking out for any fan of retro gaming.
This game with one player? A picture of loneliness. This game with four players? A full-on, courtside fiesta of good-natured competition.
Yeah, that’s what we need: more Lady Gaga to burrow into our memory cortex and drive us slowly but utterly insane. The best part of this level is definitely the three-way dance party involving Gaga, your sackthing, and Antoine Dodson of YouTube fame.
It’s exactly what you think.
It’s just a two-minute teaser of a full game to come, but this appetiser to UrbanDevil’s upcoming RPG does a ridiculously good job of manipulating the LBP level editor. The setting – a rainy, noir cityscape that makes you imagine private detectives in trench coats putting out cigarettes to wailing saxophones and electronica – is a mix between Gotham and Tron.
Pirate No Pegs wants to loan you his ship, but he can’t – at least, not until his chores are done. Help him out by fishing, recovering lost treasure, discovering a lost city under the ocean, and recovering a message in a bottle floating at sea. You know, everyday humdrum pirate stuff. Very well designed, with scallawagish music and a buccaneer-ey setting.
Hilarious, well directed, and short enough to hold the attention span of even a schizophrenic toddler on a sugar high in a carnival fun house. Be sure to check out allu199′s second film, The Chase, as well.
You are chased by a giant, god-hating shark until you are either:
a) eaten, or…
b) …I’m really not sure if there is a B.
The most exhilarating thirty seconds you’ll spend all hour.
A must-play for any Batman fan. It’s a little long, but in its own cartoony way it does the caped crusader justice.
Cyclops, meet the great state of Alabama. Alabama, Cyclops. You two are gonna do fine.
A six-part fantasy epic that, like the Lord of the Rings before it, involves a lot of walking. Overall a fun, generally well-crafted story with sections that are relaxing, exciting, and just plain fun.
A simple racing level to try out with your friends, boasting veritable oodles of bounce pads. Get ready to yell with fury at your cheerfully-trampolined competitors.
I’m not sure how Blue pulled this off, but he’s recreated the first Zelda dungeon with skill and ingenuity. It lacks music, and the color scheme is an oppressive Van Gogh blue, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
A basic combo game, in which a column of different buttons on your controller scroll downward, and hitting the requested button causes your specially-chosen dancebot to shake his or her ‘groove thang’. I say ‘groove thang’ because all the characters look as though they were pulled from a 70s disco flick, or perhaps John Travolta’s subconscious. It’s a simple concept that can get boring fast if played alone, but – like all versus levels – becomes exponentially more fun when competing with friends.
Featuring more plot than in both Incredible Hulk films to date.
My favorite community level to date. It boasts a beautiful setting, complex gameplay, an entrancing soundtrack, and even a little story. If you own LittleBigPlanet 2, seek out and play this game, then heart Lockstitch a thousand times so he knows he’s done well.
All these levels and more can be found at the LittleBigPlanet community website, LBP.me.
Tags: diving, into, levels, LittleBigPlanet, sackfirst, usercreated, worth
