How Rare Recruits

Interesting article on what Rare (games) look for in graduating students. Not what you'd expect?

link (via gamasutra)

some tips:

• Developers don't bite; we were all like you once -- come and join the collective.
• Don't just apply to one studio; cast around and see what's on offer.
• The best fanatical deal is not always the most desirable; working conditions and career prospects are far more important than an extra £1000 on a starting salary. Remember, it's only a starting salary.
• If you want to look good in an application, have good core skills, base skills, and soft skills. Specific knowledge of software packages and engines are useful but only in the short term.
• When you are interviewed, the interviewer(s) may be as nervous as you are; interviews are just stressful. Hopefully the interviewer(s) will try to minimize this for you.
• If a developer turns you down once you can re-apply later; developers' staffing needs change over time.
• If you are choosing a course, look at lots of courses, take your time choosing; if you know any developers or meet some, ask for their advice.
• Not all courses are created equal, but all should be continually trying to improve.

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Death to "Can Video Games be Art?"

Gamasutra article tries to put the final nail in the coffin of 'can video games be art?'...read the comments for some interesting informed/ill-informed debate.

link (via gamasutra)

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UK to ban Internet Use for illegal downloads?!

From the BBC " People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering."

seems terribly draconian, and means ISP will have to monitor every file you're looking at too! Nice bit of thought police control for us all. If it works in the UK it'll be in the US next.

link (via BBC)

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New Semester New Posts

First off - is this the death for HD-DVD?
Netflix has gone Blu-Ray exclusive:

link (via digg)

Fan Flick - Denied!

It's stuff like this that gives companies bad names.

"Four years in the planning Damnatus, made by German fans of the Warhammer 40,000 game, cost more than 10,000 euros, took months to film, employs 11 principal actors, dozens of extras and sophisticated post-production special effects. Now finished the film runs to 110 minutes.

But Huan Vu, director and producer of the movie, said Damnatus' creators have now given up trying to get the film in front of an audience." Mostly due to German copyright law:

" Andy Jones, legal and licensing head for Games Workshop, said this law confers rights on the creators of works that cannot be given away. This means that the creators of Damnatus cannot assign their rights to Games Workshop even if they wanted to. But by sanctioning the release of the film without this "assignment" Games Workshop would essentially be giving up the title to the Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property."

[link] via bbc

More of the Violence VG

" State of Play: Violence and video games"
"The debate around video games and violence rears its head every few months. But are the right questions being asked?"

[link] via bbc

Mo' Copyright Woes

" The day the music died

Internet law professor Michael Geist examines a legal row which could have grave implications for anyone and everyone serving an online audience."

[link] via BBC

Winsor McCay - early animator - lasting effects

Neat little flash overview of winsor mcCay's lasting influences.

[link] via boingboing

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Moral Kombat Trailer

There's much to say about this trailer, mostly because it seems to align the movie with the 'video games are murder simulators' side, and not the "Pikmin? Animal Crossing? Murder? Eh?!?!" side as much. Sensationalist is the word I'm looking for here :-)

[link] via youtube

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Once More Unto the Breach!

Joystiq has a post on the reaction to the controversial documentary "Moral Kombat" about violence in videogames. Of course it features none other than Jack Thompson, the US"s moral guardian of the people.

[link] via joystiq

Artist Banksy 'captured in photo' ??

Could this smudgy image be of Banksy? Probably not - mostly because it's daylight and, well, the good thing is there are so many Banksy copycats you'd never know for sure. It's amazing to me that he's managed to remain anonymous while selling thousands of pounds worth of artwork!

[link] via bbc

Last Supper in Digitalness

From the BBC: "Last Supper gets 16bn pixel boost"
A 16 billion pixel image of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper has been posted on the internet, giving art lovers a detailed view of the 15th Century work.

The image is 1,600 times more detailed than those taken with a typical 10 million pixel digital camera.

some interesting tech in here, it also speaks to the fact that eventually (thanks to pollution) this might be the only way to see the fresco/painting soon.

[link] via bbc