And Wii're back!

Finding time to blog lately is nearly as challenging as getting to 30 in Brain Age...

I've finally returned from Melbourne, where the ACMI Machinima Fest was very cool all around. We had a great crowd who decided to brave some unfavorable autumn weather for the Machinima weekend. Quite a few people were there for the Red vs. Blue screening, but a number were there also to see what the Machinima fuss was all about. Sunday's forum panel led by SelectParks' Chris Dodds was a great mindbender with lots of thought provoking questions flying around.

At end of each day's activities, I had the chance to speak with a number of Australian Machinima filmmakers. It was great to hear about all these projects being worked on - both in variety and scope. I don't have any pics from the weekend, but hopefully some will surface either on Flickr or in the blogosphere itself.

All-in-all, the trip was a real blast. A tip of the hat to Helen Stuckey and the rest of ACMI for putting on a top-notch event - I'm sure the Machinima fans from afar would have loved the entire weekend.

Passing thru E3
Traveling back to NY (with major head cold in tow). I met up with Friedrich Kirschner in LA, and we quickly scoured the E3 show floor on Thursday and Friday - trying to digest all that was thrown at us. Some real standouts of the show were Spore (no surprise there), Battlefield 2142 (ok, I'm a fan of the series) and Crysis (though I hope hardware has caught up to the game by the time its released). Friedrich did a bit more digging in from the Machinima side of things (you can read his reviews: Day 1 here and Day 2 here). One of the most impressive parts of E3 had nothing to do with Machinima at all - it was the massive (and I mean, massive!) 360° display in their "booth." I say that in quotes because their booth is really a small convention center of its own.

Here's an MOS clip from EA's 360° panofantastic display (12mb mp4):



I didnt have a chance to sit in on any of the hands-on console demos - the 2-3 hour waits were not exactly working into my schedule - however, I wasn't too impressed with the floor offerings. PS3 demos were still running on emulation hardware, and the Wii's innovation buzz was missing its mark (lots of folks were coming away with the "cool, but not as much as the videos show"). Without sounding too much like an MS fanboy, I'd have to say it was the 360's show this year, as both the hardware and games were starting meet the word-of-mouth expectation.

While I love seeing all the tech and games headed our way, I've likened E3 to a PR nuclear blast - being in the middle of it isn't nearly as fun as watching from the distance. In fact, you really miss the entire show unless you do track it from afar. I spent more time looking at the Machinima-friendly stuff online than I did from standing next to it. Some interesting things coming up to say the least (more convergence on the horizon).

I have a few Machinima blog postings drafted - hope to have them up in the next few stays. Stay tuned.