10 March 2003
Reported, written and edited by David Duberman
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Vividence
says its new tool provides insight into the how Website visitors interact with
Macromedia Flash content and applications. While Macromedia Flash Player is the
leading rich client for Internet content and applications across a range of
platforms and devices, sites have had limited ability to quantify the benefit
of building rich content and experiences. Vividence's ability to track
Macromedia Flash content now enables companies to measure customers' behavior,
thoughts (!), and attitudes (!!) as they interact with Macromedia Flash
applications.
Research
shows that more and more sites use Macromedia Flash for key user interactions
such as finding information, searching for products, or booking a hotel room.
According to NPD, more than 497 million Internet users across all major
platforms and devices have Macromedia Flash Player installed. As a result,
there has been a growing need to understand exactly how these customers
interact with Macromedia Flash applications.
Traditional
Web tracking tools do not offer a detailed understanding of how users interact
with Macromedia Flash, or reveal why users might abandon, become frustrated, or
linger on the site. Vividence says it provides insight into key behaviors --
such as rollovers, clicks, or any other Macromedia Flash action -- in the
context of real user goals. And it adds qualitative feedback to probe into user
actions as well as the motivations and expectations behind them.
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NDL
released its 3D graphics toolkit and engine, Gamebryo (www.gamebryo.com), at
last week's Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif. The cross-platform
3D graphics toolkit and engine, based on NDL's NetImmerse technology, lets
developers create 3D environments, and adds new tool features including an
expandable tools architecture, pixel and vertex shader editing, and new
animation tools. The Gamebryo engine includes a new pixel and vertex shader
system, as well as performance enhancements.
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U.K.-based
Criterion Software, a provider of game-development solutions, last week
unveiled a new product portfolio, with two new products--RenderWare Physics and
RenderWare AI--and updates to RenderWare Graphics and RenderWare Studio.
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aJile
Systems Inc., a company founded by the developers of the first direct-execution
Java microprocessor, has created a game-development kit to bring Java MIDP
technology to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. aJile's JAMiD game development kit
is also the first platform to use Sun's latest MIDP 2.0 technology, which
offers advanced audio and graphics features to Java mobile game developers.
Hundreds
of Java-based MIDP game titles are already available for tens of millions of
Java-enabled mobile phones sold worldwide by leading handset vendors. With
aJile's new JAMiD game development kit, hundreds of thousands of Java software
developers can now create multimedia mobile games that will also play on
millions of Game Boy Advance and Game Boy SP players worldwide.
The key
component of the JAMiD kit is the Java game cartridge, which plugs into the
external card slot on any Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP, bringing
Java capabilities to the world's most popular mobile game player. The JAMiD
cartridge will allow users to run MIDP games while listening to MP3 music, both
of which can be downloaded from Internet sites.
The JAMiD
cartridge includes aJile's direct-execution aJ-100 Java microprocessor, an MP3
audio player, and the memory and interface hardware necessary to download and
run MIDP-compatible games and MP3 audio. aJile is selling the JAMiD as a
complete development kit with software tools that enable game developers to
create MIDP game titles for Game Boy handhelds. aJile is also negotiating with
OEMs in Asia, Europe and North America to manufacture and merchandise consumer
versions of the JAMiD game cartridge.
As part of
its gaming initiative, aJile is also building an online game portal, where
mobile game developers from around the world can distribute their MIDP games
directly to users. The company will make it possible for game developers to
offer both free and for-fee downloads to the global gaming community.
The aJile
JAMiD Development Kit (JAM-ID100K) includes a JAMiD Java gaming cartridge
(JAM-ID100C), J2ME/CLDC/MIDP Java Runtime, aJile development tool chain, JAMiD
adapter boards and cables. The $199 JAMiD Development Kit is scheduled to ship
the first week of April.
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Nokia and
Metrowerks, maker of CodeWarrior software and hardware development tools and
services, last week released an all-in-one developer kit for the Series 60
Platform. Metrowerks will distribute the kit, which enables Series 60
application development in the CodeWarrior environment possible.
Included
in the new CodeWarrior Wireless Development Kit for Symbian OS, Nokia 3650
Edition is the Metrowerks CodeWarrior Development Studio for Symbian OS v2,
Personal Edition, and the newly released Series 60 SDK for Symbian OS, jointly
developed by Metrowerks and Forum Nokia, Nokia's global developer program.
Also
included in the bundle is a commercial-release version of Nokia's newest Series
60 mobile device, the Nokia 3650 tri-band phone. The specially priced bundle
provides tools that let programmers write, debug, test, and deploy games and
other applications.
Series 60
devices provide rich communications and enhanced applications consisting of
telephony and personal information management applications, browser and
messaging clients, and a modifiable user interface designed for one-handed
operation. Series 60 is licensed to Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and
Siemens, which together represent almost two-thirds of the global handset
market. Running on top of the Symbian OS, an operating system for data-enabled
mobile phones, Series 60 supports technologies such as MMS, Java, WAP/XHTML,
and C++ / Symbian OS (native).
For more
information about Series 60 development and the CodeWarrior Wireless
Development Kit for Symbian OS, Nokia 3650 Edition, visit http://www.forum.nokia.com/tools.
To order
the kit, sold exclusively online and priced at $1,150, visit http://www.metrowerks.com/4/nokia3650.
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NewTech
Infosystems has added support for Panasonic's DVD Multi OEM drive, Model
SW-9571-CYY. In addition to Backup NOW 3.0 Deluxe, NTI DriveBackup, DragonBurn
and FileCD, users can now use the drive to store data, video, audio, image, and
multimedia files on CDs and DVDs. The drive supports all recordable DVD formats
approved by the DVD Forum (DVD-RAM/R/RW) as well as CD-R/RW discs.
The DVD
Multi drive writes to 4.7GB rewriteable DVD-RAM discs and write-once DVD-R
discs' at 2x speed, which is equivalent to the 18x CD rate.
http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/computer/storage/dvdram/index.html
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GarageGames recently announced its showcase of developer tools and related announcements for the Game Developer's Conference (GDC), including the new commercial license of the Torque Game Engine and partnership with Game Development Search Engine.
GarageGames has been selling the Torque Game Engine (TGE) to independent developers for $100 with no requirement to publish with GarageGames. The only criteria to be qualified as an indie developer is based on having less than $500,000 a year in annual income between the developer and publisher. GarageGames is now offering a full commercial license for those not meeting the indie requirement or for those who want to use TGE and publish with a larger publisher.
If $500,000 in annual revenue is exceeded by the developer's company or in combination with their publisher, then the commercial license is $10,000 upfront per title for the right to develop using the TGE. Up to five programmers are given access to the private SDK area, one representative will have access to a private corporate support forum, email support for one year (up 20 incidences), and phone support for 90 days (up to 10 calls).
GarageGames has reached an agreement with Game Development Search Engine (www.gdse.com) to partner in providing expanded resources to both corporate and independent game developers. GDSE provides developers with coverage on resource categories including 3D & graphics, articles & tutorials, beginner guide, career paths, creative development, demo scene, design & programming, game companies, hardware, Internet & Web, learning the language, multi-player, platform development, software and source code.
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GameSpy
Industries, a content and technology company serving the games industry, last
week announced new upgrades to its Matchmaking Toolkit, part of the GameSpy.net
suite of solutions for game developers and publishers.
The
Matchmaking Toolkit provides a matchmaking solution in the form of a set of
software development kits (SDKs) that developers can customize for use in their
game, and access to the GameSpy.net master matching server/infrastructure.
GameSpy
has added a new NAT Negotiation SDK to the Matchmaking Toolkit, said to help
publishers ensure that their online games work for the growing number of gamers
that have networks installed at home. The new technology lets games work with
routers that utilize Network Address Translation (NAT) technology, allowing
more gamers to play online and cutting expense associated with providing
technical support to gamers on home networks.
In
addition, GameSpy says it has upgraded the Query and Reporting SDK and server
browsing SDK, part of the Matchmaking Toolkit, to provide faster socket code,
significant bandwidth reduction and enhanced filtering and sorting
functionality.
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Creative
Technology Ltd. last week announced new audio technologies for simultaneous
rendering of multiple environments and creation of interactive multi-channel
content for PC game development.
EAX
4.0 introduces the spatialization of multiple reverberant environments along
with an extensible library of audio effects algorithms. The multi-environment
feature of the EAX 4.0 API allows for the rendering of multiple, simultaneous
audio environments and effects in real time. Developers can now create defined
audio landscapes by placing different 3D environments around the listener. The
EAX 4.0 API also offers new effects algorithms such as chorus, flanger,
frequency shifter, echo and many more, within a mixing framework analogous to
traditional studio production systems.
Creative
is also introducing a new 3D audio format called the "Interactive Spatial
Audio Composition Technology" (ISACT), accompanied by the ISACT Production
Studio, an authoring tool for creating interactive, multi-channel, 3D
spatialized music and sound effects for games and other multimedia
applications.
Traditionally,
a developer would have to create multiple versions of the same content for
different speaker configurations -- one for 5.1 speaker set-up, one for 4.1,
and yet another for 2.1. With ISACT, developers only need to deliver one set of
multi-channel content, because ISACT will automatically scale to the number of
speakers connected to a playback system. Unlike other formats, which assign
audio tracks to a specific output, ISACT pans the audio tracks using 3D spatial
coordinates. Playback systems such as the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card
then mix the audio tracks using these ISACT coordinates and deliver content according
to the speaker set up.
http://developer.creative.com/leftmenu/DC_LM_Contact.asp
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New
from Intrinsic Graphics, Inc., developer of the Intrinsic Alchemy game
development platform, is Alchemy 3.0, currently in beta, with new
"Ether" shader architecture and integrated Lua scripting. Supported
devices include PlayStation2, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC hardware. The system lets
game code and art assets be ported to multiple systems. Also new is morph
target animation acceleration and improved asynchronous I/O and streaming audio
support, plus robust content handling and documentation.
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The
Internet delivers a wealth of information to your fingertips, and all you need
to know is how to find it...which is not always as easy as it sounds. In that
enormous, shifting mass of data that makes up the Web, some information will be
useful and credible, and much of it will miss the mark entirely. Google, with
its deceptively simple search form, is a search engine that indexes more than
2.4 billion Web pages, in more than 30 languages, conducting more than 150
million searches a day.
"Google
Hacks," by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest (O'Reilly, US $24.95), is a
collection of one hundred tips and tools gathered from users of Google, as well
as developers who are excited about Google's new API. The book offers a variety
of ways for power users to mine the enormous amount of information that Google
has access to. Each hack can be read in just a few minutes, but can save hours
of searching for the right answers.
Readers
will learn methods for using the advanced search interface and the new Google
API, including how to build and modify scripts that can become custom business
applications based on Google. Topics covered include:
Several
sample Google hacks, including "Using Full-Word Wild Cards" and
"Scraping Google News," are available free online at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks/chapter/index.html.
Additional
Google Hacks can be found on Tara Calishain's ResearchBuzz site at: http://www.buzztoolbox.com/google/.
For more
information about the book, including Table of Contents, index, author bios,
and samples, see http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks/.
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Just out
from Discreet is cleaner XL for Windows. Based on the Microsoft .NET technology,
cleaner XL is the next-generation successor to the cleaner 5 streaming and
encoding software. The new release features performance improvements, improved
user interface, and enhanced workflow capabilities. The software is used to
master and encode video content for output to digital media formats such as Web
streaming, DVD-to wireless, PDA, and mobile distribution.
cleaner XL
encompasses more than 180 presets and filters with control over encoding
parameters. Additionally, the new workflow reportedly eases management of large
volumes of work. Watch Folders automate the entire process of encoding multiple
jobs.
cleaner XL
features a document-based interface that lets users prepare one job while
processing others. Watch Folders, drag-and-drop capabilities, and job templates
are said to streamline the workflow. The software supports multiple processors
and Intel's new Hyper-Threading technology, as well as 60 media codec
(compress/decompress) formats including new HD video and multi-channel audio capabilities
of Windows Media 9 Series, QuickTime 6, MPEG-4 w/ AAC audio, MPEG-2 and Kinoma
for PalmOS PDAs.
http://www.discreet.com/cleanerXL
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face2face
animation inc., a provider of facial animation, has upgraded its
facial-animation process, AlterEgo. The new AlterEgo engine, which enables game
developers to incorporate facial animation into a variety of game platforms,
will support the NDL Gamebryo 3D graphics toolkit and engine (see separate
story, above).
The
AlterEgo facial animation process is based on video-analysis software that
automatically converts digital video into animation-motion instructions, or
Facial Animation Parameter (FAP) data, as specified by the MPEG-4 standard. One
reported advantage of the process for game developers is the software’s ability
to produce multilingual tracks for international distribution. face2face also
provides plug-ins for 3ds max.
FAPs, as
specified by the MPEG-4 standard, are transferred to any appropriately prepared
computer-graphics face model to convey facial expressions, gaze and lip
movements and head motion information. This process enables automatic capture
of speech or singing, in any language, as well as human emotion.
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New from
Ulead Systems is MediaStudio Pro 7.0 is now available. The modular package
includes video capture, editing, audio editing, video painting and CG graphics,
as well as DVD/VCD authoring tools. New features include automatic editing to
audio cues, with transitions, and 16:9 native widescreen support. Users can analyze
DV tapes at up to 10x speed to log chapter thumbnails as a DV album for use as
selective batch capture logs or as reference to categorize tapes.
MediaStudio
Pro outputs in real time to a second display device using a graphics display
card such as the Matrox Parhelia 128MB AGP graphics card. Ulead says the
software is unique in its ability to output both video fields for
full-resolution output to a monitor, TV or tape deck.
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New from
Kaydara is its FBX-XSI plug-in, which provides XSI users with a pathway for the
acquisition and exchange of 3D data between Softimage|XSI, Kaydara
Motionbuilder, and other Kaydara FBX partners. The free plug-in lets artists
access content from Kaydara's FBX partners.
Kaydara
FBX is a powerful platform-independent 3D authoring and interchange format that
provides access to 3D content from different applications and source material
providers. The binary file format supports most 3D data elements, as well as
2D, audio, and video media elements.
Also,
Turbo Squid has added a new Kaydara FBX Community has been added to its Web
site. The site now offers over 700 FBX models, scenes, and motion-capture
files.
The new
resource will allow users to search by model type, artist, or keyword while
staying within the FBX community.
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ATI
Technologies, Inc. and 3Dlabs announced last week a cooperative initiative to
accelerate the development of the RenderMonkey shader-development tool suite,
which is available free of charge from both firms. Under the terms of this
agreement, ATI will continue to evolve the core RenderMonkey framework, and
both companies will develop plug-in modules that support the industry standard
Microsoft DirectX HLSL and OpenGL 2.0 GLslang high-level shading languages.
The
latest generation of programmable graphics devices, called Visual Processing
Units (VPUs), can be programmed to undertake cinematic-quality graphics
rendering as well as general-purpose imaging, graphics and vector processing.
High-level shading languages will be the preferred way for ISVs to program
these powerful devices, but this will require a new generation of tools to
enable programmers to code, visualize, debug and manage shader programs.
RenderMonkey
is a hardware-independent tool suite created to advance the development and use
of shader programs in 3D applications. It is currently being used by game
developers and content creators to speed their shader development. ATI and
3Dlabs will work together to further develop RenderMonkey, and work with tool
vendors to integrate RenderMonkey functionality into digital content creation
applications.
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Coming
March 22 from Oregon3D Inc., The Center for Visualization Technologies, is
Animation Masters Seminar, a one-day class that will explore the world of
animation from a general overview to the current state of animation as a
career. The $150 class will be taught by Andrew Gordon, Pixar animator, and
Mike Wellins, a former director from Will Vinton Studios.
Using
examples from films and television, Gordon and Wellins will discuss animation
fundamentals and principles, animation directing, the basics of performance
staging, blocking and story telling, editing for emotion, and classic character
animation.
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London-based
Digital Bridges recently created dbi distribution, a new distribution service
for Java mobile games developers.
dbi
distribution aims to provide a route to market for developers of J2ME or “Java”
games on mobile phones. The company plans to expose product to such
distribution channels as mobile network operators, interactive TV, bricks &
mortar phone and entertainment retailers, Web portals, e-commerce outlets, and
print and online media channels.
Java games
submitted to dbi distribution will have to clear two value assessments,
including quality checks and compatibility tests, and, upon passing these, will
be included in Digital Bridges' dbi Games Catalog, which is pushed through
Digital Bridges' distribution channels in Europe and North America.
The
program will also act as an optional gateway to a formal publishing
relationship with Digital Bridges, wherein selected games that meet the
company's quality and portfolio requirements will be invited to progress from
Games Catalogue listing to full published title status.
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Sony
Computer Entertainment America says five additional major recording artists
will provide music and video content for the upcoming PlayStation2
rhythm-action game, Amplitude.
Newly
signed acts include Herbie Hancock, Papa Roach, Baldwin Brothers, Production
Club, and Manchild. These artists will join other major recording artists on
the Amplitude roster that include blink 182, David Bowie, Dieselboy, Freezepop,
Garbage, Logan 7, Mekon, Quarashi, and Weezer.
Developed
by Harmonix Music Systems, Amplitude allows the player to become a rhythmical
DJ and jam with more than 25 diverse songs in interactive musical environments
while mixing and remixing hit songs during offline and online gameplay.
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Top honor
for the 5th Annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) went to Super X Studios
last Thursday night, at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, held during
the Game Developers Conference in San Jose.
The
$15,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Independent Game of the Year was awarded
to the development team Super X Studios for “Wild Earth,” a game that sends
players of all ages on safari through the plains of Africa to explore the wild
and take photos of animals in their natural habitats for a nature magazine.
The IGF
also recognized:
All
winners received Microsoft Visual Studio .net Professional. The Technical
Excellence winners received an Intel Pentium 4 workstation and a complete set
of Intel development tools.
The IGF
was established in 1998 to encourage and reward innovation in independent games
and to provide a forum for independent game developers to exhibit their work
and receive recognition.
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The
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) named recipients of the Game
Developers Choice Awards last week at the third annual ceremony during the 2003
Game Developers Conference (GDC).
The award
recipients were:
Three
special honors, selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards advisory board,
were also presented at the ceremony:
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How do you
keep a large group of the most creative Imaging, Design, and Business
Techno-geeks nailed to their seats for three days? If you are Steve Broback,
founder of the i3Forum, you invite top imaging and design professionals to
speak about their work and the things that move them.
Some of
the speakers include: digital photographer Greg Gorman; Harry Marks, co-creator
of TED, Apple Master and former VP and creative director at both ABC and CBS;
Jeffrey Zeldman, Web designer and co-founder of The Web Standards Project; John
McIntosh, the chair of the Computer Arts department at the School of Visual
Arts in New York City and chair of the 2002 SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater; and
Jeff Schewe, an advertising photographer based in Chicago.
i3Forum is
a party being thrown by Steve Broback, co-founder of Avondale Media LLC, for
100 imaging, design, and business techno-geeks. It will be held in Laguna,
California on April 6, 7, and 8 at the Surf & Sand Resort.
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Spectrum is an independent news service published every Monday for the interactive media professional community by Motion Blur Media. Spectrum covers the tools and technologies used to create interactive multimedia applications and infrastructure for business, education, and entertainment; and the interactive media industry scene. We love to receive interactive media/online-development tools and end product for review.
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- David Duberman
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©Copyright 2003 Motion Blur Media. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any for-profit or revenue-generating venue in any form without written permission from the publisher.