Foward Onto 2009

Its been a hell of a year, I disagree that it has been as good as 2007 as that was a fucking great year for me and not just in games, but it was a good one none the less. 2009 looks like it’s going to be very interesting gaming wise with Halo Wars, Halo ODST, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, Alan Wake and several other big titles all coming. But I also have to wonder will many more studios close or will we see a lot more job losses. The games industry has not been the hardest hit by out current economic situation but none the less a lot of people are now job hunting. I hope the worst is over and we will not see much more of this next year.

I think 2008 helped me to start to work out some good work flows I have been trying games development for several years now but its only in the last two I started on industry standard programs for lack of a better word and I think as 2008 comes to an end I can really start to improve my skills and should see a massive jump by this time next year. I am excited of course about the map and models I am working on and as I also said before, I am working on a game with a group of other guys from Ireland. College is very interesting too as my group are just finishing up a documentary on my local town and will start to edit once we get back in January. After that we will be starting on a single camera drama. As some of you know I study media more focused towards film work with a bit in digital graphics (Photoshop). I have given up on trying to find a good game design course, I hear a lot of bad stuff about them from people who are more in the know than me.

My new camera is great (see here for the first few shots) and I want to travel around a bit to get some cracking shots this year. The new site is getting into full swing as you can see I have added a link to it down the right now. The photo of the day feature is gone because that’s something for the web site to handle now or hit the direct link to my photo album on the right too. I don’t do the whole new years resolutions because we NEVER stick to them, so I just aim to do better and work harder.

Well its been a great year and thanks for reading the blog through out it. This blog will be one year old in February so we will take a look at some stats etc then but I hope to try and build a better reader base through out 2009 with better blog posts.

Later

PS: I think I have a good way to start podcasting now, look for something in January some time!

Top 5 Of 2008

Well as 2008 comes to an end I though I would post  my top 5 Games, Movies and Music for the year. They may not all have been released in 2008 but its a list of the best I was exposed to this year. Here we go (MGS4 version):

Games
1. Fable 2 (Xbox 360)
2. Mirrors Edge (Xb0x 360)
3. Crysis War Head (PC)
4. Left 4 Dead (PC)
5. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

Movies
1. Stargate Continuum
2. Cloverfield
3. The Dark Knight
4. Ironman
5. The Last Legion

Music
1. Fable Orginal Sound Track
2. Still Alive, The theme to Mirrors Edge
3. Epicon
4. Video Games Live (Volume 1)
5. Battle Field Badcompany Theme

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to say Merry Christmas to all my readers. Hope everyone has a great day.

Schedule For The Rest Of The Year

Everyone looking forward to Christmas, I know I am. So I am just letting everyone know that there many not be many blog updates between now and the end of the year. I will be away on different days and wont have the time to update really. I will get a Merry Christmas post in before the 24 and I hope to do a “how Christmas when/2008 wrap up” before the end of the year but that’s about it. www.gearsofgames.net is getting updated over time and i posted some new stuff last night. I am happy with how its going so far.

Its nearly been a year since I started this blog and I have been bloging for several more, but its only since I started this one that it really started to take off. Anyway that’s it for now.

Getting Ready For 2009

2008 really did go fast, I still remember stuff from the start of the year like it only just happened. Anyway I plan to do a total clear out of my room as we get closer to the years end, really looking forward to setting things up a bit better. I have all ready started a digital clean out. I wont be formanting any harddrvies this year but I have formated Memory cards, PSP’s etc etc just to start fresh for the next year. Sorting out all the saved emails from the year into a file to keep them out of the way. I managed to free up a good few GB’s of space on the HDD lots of programs and files that just where no longer needed.

Been a great year over all and I might post a year in review type thing some time. Really looking forward to the January sales looks like a lot of stuff will be going cheep this time. I have to say I did feel very sad today when I was in woolworths, seeing lots of bare shelf’s and the sign counting down the days left before the store shuts. Such an Iconic shop in the UK.  It brought back memory’s of past Christmas’s, looking round at the PS1’s, getting really excited for one.

Night All

 

Mat

Killzone 2 Looking…… Great!

I had no interested what so ever in Killzone until yesterday evening when the latest set of videos arrived on the net. Its now one of the most stunning games I have ever scene. I think my PS3 at long last finally eared its keep. The cut scenes are all in first person like Crysis which I love in a game, and the gameplay does actually look interesting and fun. The graphics are stunning and its one of the best looking console games I have ever scene. I really think PS3 owners are in for a treat this February when the game finally arrives and I hope to pick it up then as well (depending on what date in February Halo Wars is out).

Its no Halo or Half Life to me but I really think we are going to play one hell of a first person shooter next year. Great job Guerrilla, looks like you guys have a great game on your hands!