Hugo Awards clickable

I missed that news. The Hugo Awards (SF literature) have their own website, apparently since August. Good thing.

Day of Lolz

• We once again get a nice look at the nurtured corporate mentality that permeates through the layers of a giant labour lobster like Ubisoft (assuming it's true, I wouldn't be surprised much and I doubt miss Tremblay would have the company take such risks if she didn't have some kind of backup in a way or another).
  
  
• We have EA, on the same topic, claiming that such methods are not part of their "core values" (understand: their new shiny rules, because don't even pretend that this idea never crossed their mind even once).
  
  
• Reggie boy laments that third party devs are just too thick to understand the Wii and its deeper philosophical meaning (it's not just about shaking a plastic wang in front of the telly apparently).
  
  
• And finally, Eric Lindstrom tells us that what kept Lara Croft afloat for years was not her inflated rack, a massive marketing campaign and the fact that she's a ripoff of Indiana Jones with guns, but instead such mysterious things as "strength of character, fearlessness, and an independent spirit." What's that? I didn't notice any of this in the ads.

Have a nice day. ;)

• PS: I'll add a picture on top of this post some time later. Just to know...
  
  
• PS2: If we follow what Gamasutra is saying, it's rather curious how Eidos and Tremblay somehow confirmed that the letter was written as per the lady's own initiative (in private in other words), prior to the establishment of Eidos's studio in Montréal, yet the subject of the mail was "Eidos Montréal", and she introduced herself as being Eidos Montréal's human resources director, and was sent on Tuesday, the 26th of June, 2007. Maybe, but the Montréal subsidiary was announced the 15th of February of the same year. Wether or not the studio was already there, it was crystal clear and official that Eidos would also drop a business anchor in Montréal before F. Tremblay sent her mail.
  Tremblay was dismissed several months following the email, of course. Something tells me she didn't struggle to find another job.
  
  
• PS3: (to PSone) I finally got that image thing done. Nothing too fancy, just a smiley, still plain enough for what it's supposed to do (bring colours to the world!!!).
  
  
• PS4: This PS list is a tad too long methinks...

Tron's second life in video games

Now I think it's pretty much a futility in secrecy to pretend there's no sequel to Tron coming your way. I posted a video of the trailer there, along several remarks.

Now is just a good opportunity to link to this nice "sum up" article from Gameroom magazine, titled TRON: Coin-op Classic ... Box-office Bomb!

A small extract:

[Many] people are not aware that this colorful film was mostly shot in black & white. The 53 minutes of effects footage was filmed with a rarely used high-quality 65mm black & white film format. Each frame was then enlarged and printed on 16" x 20" Kodaliths. To understand the enormity and scope of this, each of these 76,320 frames had to then be re-photographed under a traditional back-lit animation process. This technique required each Kodalith to be lit from behind and photographed with colored lenses/filters, producing the spectacular 'glowing' effect. Most frames passed in front of the camera 12-15 times, with complicated shots 40-50 times! The estimated $4-5 million production figure was quickly bumped up to $10-12 million by Disney execs, finally costing the studio $20 million to produce.

[...]

TRON fell face first at the box office bringing in around $30 million by summer's end. In retrospect, the hype may have actually worked against the movie, for how often can a film live up to such unrealistic expectations? Some filmgoers (mostly kids) found it eternally magical, while others utterly forgettable. What remains irrefutable is the fact that TRON was indeed a visual masterpiece, forever changing the face of the film industry with its groundbreaking use of computer generated imagery.

Regardless of the film's performance, TRON was a success in the arcades.

Go read the rest at the other end of the link, User.