NRG

I simply love photography! It's a great way to get out, get some fresh air and spend some time away from the keyboard while doing something which is still artistic. I use a Nikon D200. Here is my growing gallery of Montreal (such a great city to photograph, with its european style and all). Home of Softimage, UbiSoft (the largest Ubi satellite office anyway), and what used to be Discreet (now Autodesk MultiMedia and Entertainment) to mention a few... http://www.pbase.com/nrg_alpha/montreal&page=all (at the bottom of each viewed image is a 'other sizes' row. Viewing the images in 'original' gives the largest *submitted* size (but does not represent the largest that the camera can dish out). I'm more into architecture more than anything else, but I have started to include stuff like the odd car, seagull and flowers. Hope you enjoy. Cheers, NRG P.S I was looking through some other peoples' galleries.. and I must say.. there are quite a few nice shots! Keep'em coming!

hey tfg.. Sorry if it sounded like I was attacking GW Films in any way. I was just pointing out potential pitfalls, thats all. And I think it's great that you were upfront and honest with regards to not pretending to be financially successful. We need more honest people like you. Fletch, I don't know if I was included in being a prat. I wasn't disputing GW Films in any manner.. I was just trying to caution our fellow Mapcorians. I hope you understand. Now let's all hold hands and sing *Kumbaya my lord..* in peace and harmony. Cheers, NRG

Hmmm.. gotta be careful with this one.. I have seen alot of companies that try to get newbies to work for free (why pay for labour when there is eager labourers for free?). I'm not suggesting that it's a bad thing if you don't mind working for free to get your name on the credits to help get your name out there. I would just use extreme caution when dealing with things like this. I read about horror stories of people who have been pushed around too much, nightmarish conditions, etc.. (not to mention not getting paid for it) If you have time to kill, and you don't mind working for free in exchange for creidts, then great. Just make sure to see a well written contract and see what exactly is entitled, and what is expected of you. You may find yourself in a very regretful situation if things are assumed, (in otherwords, very unclear tasks, verbal or even poorly / sloppy written arrangements, etc..) I would enforce credit where its due, and to be able to pimp this accomplishment to bolster your portfolio. Im not attacking GW Films in any way. It's just that there are evil people out there who love to exploit the in-experienced youth into jobs that probably deserve better conditions and being paid for. Nothing worse than being locked into a bad situation for a very long time. -edit: not to mention if a company tell you its a free favor (for fun), you sweat and labour over it, and the company turns around and bills their client for it, while you get nothing. Ok.. Im really done now - Just my 2 cents. Cheers, NRG

*Sigh* Looks like yet another game that will be inducted into the hall of vapourware. I was excited about it. But from the sounds of it, I guess it will be only pretty to look at. Too bad, really. It looks like it has so much potential.

It doesn't personally bother me much, as long as it a) seems to realistically fit into the environment, and b) it isn't too in-your-face. One thing to note on the topic, there is the business side of ad placement in games. From a developer's standpoint, these other companies that want thier logos in games have to pay good amounts of money to do so. What does this translate to the developer? It reduces the entire cost of the project development.So imagine four to six companies shelling out a good amount of cash to see their logo in a game? That adds up to mucho-dollars-o. But yeah, if the ad sticks out like a sore *insert any profanity laden word here*, then it sucks. It has to fit the environment. An example is when I was working on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, there is a rooftop area on the penthouse (the fourth map if I remember), and there you will see in all its glory, a large, actual 3d sign of AXE. But I found it rather fitting. Had the AXE logo been plastered on say, every trash can on a street, every train window in a subway, or the entire wall of a building in a dark alley, it might look alittle cheap and silly. But there are definately people / gamers out there who hate seeing ads in games. After all, we are inundated with ads everyday. So, some willl question, 'I play to get away from reality, but I see real world ads even in this fantasy place'. It's an interesting topic for sure. In either case, love'em or hate'em, I think they are here to stay. Only when it gets to the point where new born-babies have ads tatooted on the inside of their eyelids so they can see brand marketing while they sleep will the marketing agencies be happy. Cheers, NRG

If I told you that I worked on the 3rd Splinter Cell, can I be your hero? Ok.. perhaps not.. but although I'm not involved on the 4th one, I am interested in seeing what they pull off with this one.

The fact is that every console manufacturer whether it be Sega (not anymore I guess, since they no longer make consoles) Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo... lose money on the actual hardware sales. This has been true for quite some time now. Simply put, it costs these companies more money per unit to make then it costs us consumers to purchase them. It is natural for consoles to launch at a somewhat hefty price. Especially since the beginning manufacturing costs are not as low or as optimal as they can be. The manufacturers make all their profit off of software sales, especially when you factor in things like royalty fees, etc.. When you start to see things from the standpoint of things like a) god knows how many titles are made for each console during its life span, b) the costs of Dev Kits (which are pretty much beefed up versions of the retail versions, which costs ALOT of money for developers to acquire) and lord know what else, these things add up to serious money for console manufacturers. Thats a good reason why the life span of the consoles are as long as they are.. its gives the manufacturers a chance to make up for lost money in console sales through a good lifespan of title royalties and whatever else. Dont you worry.. Microsoft knows exactly what they are doing. And Im sure when PS3 comes out.. it will be expensive as well.. but I can tell you that at the end of the console's life cycle..when all is said and done.. there is more than enough money floating around to a) launch the next version and b) buy high power executives the newest houses, sports cars, and whatever else they need to survive! Cheers, NRG

Hey Pierre.. I think it is a safe bet that real time procedural textures used everywhere in games is alittle off in the future yet (if it ends up happening at all). Basically, it boils down to shaders. So yeah, once Unreal 3 comes out.. have a look at it.. The shader system is simply awesome. After playing around with it for a while, you'll know what I mean. But thats what I would advise forcusing on for sure... the shader aspect of things, and not to worry too much on the procedural side for now. Cheers, NRG

Hmm.. interesting indeed.. I never would have thought that Bioware would team up with anyone (as they are a pretty stable, solid independent developer). Should prove interesting to see what comes out of all of this. I guess this is a continuing trend in line with companies that are either merging, partnering up or being downright bought out due to hostile takeovers.. Its the trend to beat right now. In either case, best of luck to both Bioware and Pandemic. Both are good companies that can deliver good content. Just my 2 cents (keep the change) Cheers, NRG

Diddo. I agree with my friend Dan here. Sure, the individuals that make up the game companies might be in it for the passion. But make no mistake... at the end of the day, it is a business. It's about making enough money to a) remain self sustainable, and b) please the shareholders (perhaps not in that particular order either). As for the issue of new IP's versus the old 'tested and true' formula, the problem with risky new IPs is that if it bombs miserably, this leaves a nice dent in the company's earnings. This leaves the shareholders in a bad mood.. share prices take a hit (and as a result, shareholders get into a worse mood). Tried and tested formulas that work are very integral to a large company's survival. It may take a while to mess up the value of a specific franchise due to it being released through the door too quickly.. but those sequals among sequals helps out. Just look at the evil empire (EA). They are very well known for this. I wish it was alot more simpler.. many moons ago, smaller companies could take risks by introducing new IPs..(they could afford the dev kits, and the team sizes were farily small) I think the major problem these days is that with the advancement of console technologies... and the sizable teams that are needed to makes games for them are becoming a very expensive proposition. Just development alone is costly.. you have to factor in things like the obvious (salaries for coders [which can get expensive, VERY quickly I might add], artists, project co-ordinators, designers, animators, leads, etc.. ).. then add to this, people that are in marketing, Human Resources, etc.. it gets very expensive indeed. Small fish can't compare to this (unless your company's name is ID for example.. far and few inbetween) To make matters worse, when a big fish eats a smaller fish, that smaller fish has no choice but to bend over and play by the bigger fish's rules. That smaller fish (which once was great with risk taking and creating great new and innovative IPs) now have no choice but to serve the greater interest of the bigger fish. That does it! I can't stand fishing anymore! :wink: But seriously, it is a great industry to at least experience.. but after being in this thing for nearly a decade, I can honestly say that indeed, alot has changed (and not necessarily for the better). My advice is this. Keep in mind that it is a business..If you are interested in getting into this industry, it is still worth it. You learn alot from it. You meet tons of talented and good people. You get to play with technology, you evolve a hell of alot as an artist, programmer/ whatever else...etc...... You truly learn a great deal. And when you have finally had your fill, then perhaps it is time to move on to different ventures... Just my 2 cents... *cha-ching* Cheers, NRG

Yeah, I'd have to say the rounded one as well. It looks more sturdy.. besides, this is a railing that is supposed to prevent people from falling to their potential death.. which would you trust more? The smaller square shaped ones look more suitable for a set of small stairs leading up to the front door of a small house or something. Just my 2 cents. Cheers, NRG

You are missing something! Modelling in XSI If you haven't given it a serious shot.. you should.. alot of the poly modelling techniques integrated in that baby simply rocks the boat hard! The reality is that all the major packages out there can come up with simular results.. I guess it all boils down to workflow and end user talent.. To each his own I suppose. Cheers, NRG

ok.. so.. what are your thoughts on Autodesk buying out Alias? I gather there aren't much Maya users here? At home, I personally have switched from Max to XSI.. so this doesn't effect me.. yet... But what does this translate to Max and Maya users? Is there going to be a future hybrid? Or is Maya going to be regeared toward strictly film while Max remains geared towards gaming? What are your thoughts? If you are a Max or Maya user.. this acuisition could have alot of impact on the future releases you use to build mods and such.. Cheers, NRG

I really counldn't care less about polls (although they can be fun sometimes)..nor calanders.. but as far as things like Private Messaging goes, I think a feature like this really should stay. There is no emoticon to express how I am feeling right now (it probably doesn't help that I don't know how I am feeling right now.. oh wait.. tired.. yes... tired), so perhaps a greater range of them would be nice Post/reply topics, PMs, Galleries, Emoticons and such are vital... Other than that.. I think it's all good Cheers, NRG

Just got a Dell 2005FPW (20.1 inch wide screen) flatpanel and it is sweet! A little expensive, but sweet none the less. Also have a Readeon X800 XL and am using DVI.. DVI is a digital output (as opposed to the now older analog...The quality is better and faster.. so I would really suggest DVI for sure). Cheers, NRG