PS3 to get Real3D games and movies in 2010

Sony demonstrated WipEout HD and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in spectacular Real3D at a pre-CES event.



A Sony representative told Ars Technica that the PS3 display is “a look at what 3D could look like if Sony dedicated to move in this direction”.

Users will be able to enjoy 3D stereoscopic games and movies, when viewed on a compatible 3DTV, by updating their PS3 system with the supported firmware updates. Details of the firmware updates will be announced when they become available.

James Cameron's Avatar will bow on Blu-ray disc with the promise of a Real3D edition. So, before you don those goofy glasses, download my free PS3 Settings Guide (HDMI) eBook (PDF)!

Inside Mac Games: Reviews & Previews eBook

In the summer of 2003 I joined the online writing staff at Inside Mac Games (IMG). Inside Mac Games was founded in 1993 as a floppy disk-based magazine. Since its inception, IMG has been at the forefront of the Mac gaming scene, providing news, previews, and reviews to hundreds of thousands of readers throughout the world.

Today IMG is published on the web and to subscribers via the MacGames DVD. With an installed base of over 100,000 readers and 350,000 unique visitors per month, IMG is among the most popular gaming sites on the Internet. Sponsors include Aspyr Media, Inc. and Feral.

Since I left IMG, much has changed in the Mac gaming world: The iPhone and iPod touch were launched and Apple has broadsided competitors with its vertically integrated App Store. If anything, the desktop environment is no longer as important! We’re witnessing a paradigm shift towards mobile as the dominant platform of the future.

Over the following pages you can read my previously published video game reviews, and previews, which were written during my tenure at IMG.

Download my free eBook (PDF).

Dark Matter

Clym Dodds, a friend whom I met as an undergraduate at Bournemouth University and worked on December Duet (1996), wrote to me to announce that Darker Projects' latest audio drama, in association with Infected Books, is now available online!

Autumn, by David Moody, is a vision of apocalyptic horror.

Autumn Trailer (MP3)

A Word from the Composer

I have been a tremendous fan of Zombie "culture" ever since experiencing Romero's Dead series. I can remember a friend's reaction of horror when he learned I had not seen Dawn of the Dead – at the time I was a little cynical and naive about the whole thing – I didn't understand what the big deal was. "You have to f***ing see it!" he exclaimed violently. That night we put on the film and around the point of the Monroeville Mall and that line "This was an important place in their lives. " I was laughing with delight, but I also felt the abject horror creeping up on me. This WAS a delicious sort of existential nightmare emerging. There were (perhaps obvious in retrospect) wonderful societal commentaries as well – the idea of a consumer culture, gobbling up everything and everyone in it's path; our collective fear in discussing or really dealing with the idea of our own mortality, and unprepared and unable to let go of the ones we lose (you're going to have to let go, or they're going come and eat you!); I realized after the film that Dawn of the Dead was not a film for gore hounds, it was a film for intellectuals. Intellectuals unafraid of facing a slightly more morbid subject matter. And, of course, intellectuals with a dark sense of humor.

David Moody's 'Autumn' feels born from the same womb. It hearkens back to the intellectual horror old school - his book had me imagining in black and white movies (pictures like Night Tide, Carnival of Souls, and of course Night of the Living...) with atmosphere and subtext, less gore and more subtly building sensations of isolation and that skin-crawling, existential type of fear. I attempted to convey these qualities in the musical score, along with a few healthy doses of schlock horror music fun!

I must also mention the level of freedom and support provided by Paul Mannering and his Darker Projects team. It's lovely to be involved in something so close to the (now virtually obsolete) genre of Radio Drama - Bernard Herrmann's work for Orson Welles' Mercury Theater productions are personal favorites of mine. And I just love hearing people being operatic and theatrical without any distracting images or CGI effects to get in the way.

Devin Anderson
March, 2007

You can listen to the full episode over at Darker Projects and download the free eBook at Infected Books. Darker Projects audio dramas compare favourably with Dirk Maggs' productions and I can't recommend them highly enough! But, then again I'm biased!

Y2K

Need some reading for the inaugural weekend of the Fall (also called Autumn)? Then why not read my brand new eBook, which chronicles an early Millenium obsession with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Download the PDF here.

This is the first in a series of free eBooks that will encompass collected movie and video game reviews and more!

Spread the word. Thanks.

Boss Cat

After a little coaxing, I've encouraged Nick Smith (friend and author of Milk Treading and The Kitty Killer Cult) to release a free eBook entitled 'Cat Sense'!

Cat Sense touches the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ingenious biological make-up of cats.

Offering free books (or chapters) is an excellent opportunity to reach an audience that may have otherwise never come into contact with a writer. I authored the eBook using Adobe's InDesign CS, Acrobat 7.0 Pro and Distiller. A publishing triple threat!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

This weekend, whilst battling a viral infection, I installed Popcorn. Effortlessly downsampled and compressed a 9GB DVD to 4.7GB. Now will Roxio update Popcorn with the imminent release of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and its built-in H.264 (MPEG4 AVC) codec engine? Sony's UMD (premiered alongside PSP) already utilizes Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and the capacity to transfer a legally purchased DVD to PSP UMD would be a plus. However, commercial companies would prefer consumers to buy their favorite movies ad infinitum. So, here's hoping.

Del Ray Books has published an eBook epilogue to The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith -- The Final Chapter by J.W. Rinzler. It contains spoilers! Fans of John Williams can hear a teaser of "Battle of the Heroes" in this new ROTS TV spot.