Happy New Year!

Now that 2010 is about to end I will write my traditional end of the year post. Things that happened, movies I saw, music I discovered, you get the idea. This year has been very important to me as I finally saw my dream of moving to Ireland become true. I made this decision back in fall 2007, so yes it took a while. An excellent job opportunity in Belgium showed up and I decided to postpone my plans in order to pursue said opportunity. Spending time abroad is always interesting and an experience everyone should go through and, even though Belgium is not the place where I would want to spend the rest of my life, it surely was worth it: I had the chance to improve and use my rusty French, met some awesome people that I can call friends and learned about a pretty unique country. Having said all that I always knew that I had to complete my journey. It took longer that would have expected but I finally managed to move here in November.

Let's take a look at some movies that caught my attention in 2010: 'Tamara Drewe', 127 Hours, Alice in Wonderland, Black Swan, Casino Jack, Clash of the Titans, Edge of Darkness, Extraordinary Measures, Fair Game, Frankie and Alice, From Paris with Love, Green Zone, Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows: Part 1, How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, Iron Man 2, Kick Ass, Legion, Love and other drugs, Megamind, Piranha, Predators, Rare Exports, RED, Salt, Shutter Island, Somewhere, TRON: Legacy, The A-Team, The American, The Expendables, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and, last but not least, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

On the music side I've pretty much continued listening to my usual choices although this year I've listened to a lot, and I mean a lot, of movie scores. Daft Punk's TRON:Legacy's soundtrack scores pretty high on my list of 2010 favourites but the top is, without a shadow of a doubt, Hans Zimmer's Inception score. Absolutely brilliant.

I have a couple of New Year's resolutions. We'll see how they work out.

Happy 2011 everyone!

Still alive

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted here. Well, in my defense I have to say that the last months I've been incredibly busy, even more than usual. So, what has happened in the meantime? I have transferred to another team and also relocated to Ireland. I flew to Dublin on November the 1st to go house hunting and was lucky enough to find a very nice house in Malahide. I spent 30-ish years living in Madrid so I'm not a big fan of big cities and, having spent the last 3 in Mons I knew I didn't want to live in Dublin. I was born in a seaside town and that's what I was looking for, so when I visited Malahide I knew that was the place where I wanted to live. I had never lived in a house before and really wanted to go for it. It's not too big so I don't have to spend the entire weekend cleaning but big enough for me and Athene. And, speaking of the devil, she is currently staying in Lissenhall and will join me in 2011. She is doing fine there so far although I miss her presence at home. There was quite a lot of paperwork involved both in Belgium and Ireland but thankfully all that has been taken care of already.

I know perfectly well that it's an odd time to come to Ireland with all the budget thing but I'm pretty sure it's going to be fine for me. Also keep in mind that I planned this back in late 2007, it just took me a while to get here.

We had a lot snow a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty clear that Ireland is not ready for this kind of weather. And now that we are entering snow time 2 we'll see what happens. I figured that, after what happened last year, authorities would be well prepared by now but it doesn't seem to be the case.

The fact that there is no language barrier here makes everything way easier, although my French was not too bad by the time I left Belgium. Overall I consider the experience of living there an interesting one but I will certainly not do it again. The taxes there are ridiculously high and there are too many culture differences and things that plain don't make any sense to me, like why you have shake your coworkers hand every single day and things like that.

The house I'm living in is fully furnished so I had to get rid of quite a lot of stuff, including most of my computer collection. Yes, that includes the Sunfire 4800 as well. But no need to worry, I'm still as geeky as it gets.

I relocated on the 20th of November so today it makes about 1 month, a good moment to look back and see how things have gone so far. And, so far, so good. I really like this country. Everyone has been very helpful and friendly and didn't have any major issues.

I've bought the "Complete Irish" book and will spend time 2 days a week learning Irish. While I don't expect to become proficient in the near future I'd be happy if I can get to understand signs and things like that. It's curiosity about the language itself more than anything else.

Today I've been to the movie theatre here for the first time. And the movie I've seen is, of course, TRON: Legacy. Considering how much of an impact the first one made on me when I watched it as a kid, this was one I could not miss. I wanted to see it in 3D so I've gone to the early morning pass at the Cineworld in Parnell St. I wasn't really sure about what to expect other than eye candy but I have to admit the movie does not disappoint. The story itself is nothing to write home about but it works very well. There are plenty of references to the original for the fans. It was great to see Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their roles with some help from the Special Effects department. I love the new light cycles and the recognizer looks great as well.

I like Daft Punk's score although I was hoping for a homage to Wendy Carlos' original one, but this one suits the movie very well.

The movie contains a mixture of 2D and 3D scenes but the 3D ones work very well, probably best 3D I've seen so far.

Inception notwithstanding, this is the best movie I've seen in 2010. But again, I'm a huge fan of Tron.

I will try to post more often now that I'm settled down and yes, I know I have to catch up on e-mail as well.

Happy 25th, Amiga!

Yes, time flies. It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since the Amiga was created. My first computer was a ZX Spectrum but it was the Amiga that changed everything, the one I used to learn assembly language and low level hardware programming and the one that introduced me to the wonderful world of the demo scene. I have plenty of fond memories about the Amiga and deeply admire all the engineers who worked on it, particularly Jay Miner.

Let me finish this post with a few classic demos ( the blog layout cuts the embedded video, click on them to open on a new page):


Hardwired, by Crionics and Silents.


Arte by Sanity.


Enigma, by Phenomena.




The Desert Dream by Kefrens.

Interference by Sanity.

Enjoy.

Long time no see!

I don't really post often in this blog but I just realised it's been ages since I last did. So some small updates will follow. As someone who loves movies my Blu-Ray collection has continued growing since I last posted. The most notable additions being Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and the Toy Story 1/2 pack. All of them are very well known so I won't comment on them, just say that the transfers in all cases are gorgeous and definitely worth watching in HD. Another movie worth mentioning is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. As a big fan of Terry Gilliam's work I was looking forward to enjoying his latest film. It's not easy to describe this movie, you really have to watch it yourself. Even if you don't find the story interesting for whatever reason, the film is worth watching for the photography and sets alone. Don't expect another Twelve Monkeys or Brazil, this one is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Other than movies I've followed E3 very closely, particularly Sony's keynote. Lot's of exciting stuff coming out late this year/early next one. I can't believe that after so many years of waiting Gran Turismo 5 is finally coming out! Check out the 2010 trailer, absolutely stunning. And yes, that's Madrid there. Another game I'm looking forward to playing is Killzone 3. Killzone 2 remains my favourite FPS ever and I'm sure KZ3 is going to be even better.

Have I done any coding lately? Sort of, not nearly as much as I'd like but have made some little progress. And speaking of coding, watch this Amiga demo from Breakpoint 2010: Metropolice. Kudos for the awesome work!

On the music side Pendulum's Immersion finally came out. It took quite a few listenings before the album finally grew on me, but it's definitely a favourite of yours truly for coding sessions now.

I'm not going to spoil anything yet but some changes are coming and Q4 will be very interesting for me. More coming in future posts.

Oscars and games

Not many surprises at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. As predicted, The Hurt Locker stole the show winning in 6 categories. Both Avatar and Up did well, winning on visual effects and animation respectively. Little surprises there considering how gorgeous both movies look. I need to watch The Hurt Locker again because I'm not entirely sold on it. And, speaking of disappointing movies, Law Abiding Citizen had so much potential and they completely ruined the movie with that stupid ending. The thing is, you never feel any sympathy for Nick Rice being the arrogant prick who only cares about conviction rates, so I'd rather Clyde had got away with his plan.

After a long development, Heavy Rain was finally released and was ordered by yours truly. The first time I heard about the game I wasn't sure about whether the interactive drama concept was going to work or not. But after so many positive reviews I pulled the trigger and got it. And, let me tell you, this is the most moving and fresh game I've played in many years. Once you jump into it and get used to the somewhat nonstandard controls you can't stop playing. The story is well thought out and, even if the game's first two hours are very slow, things get up to speed right after that. This is a game that anybody can enjoy, both hardcore gamers and people who hardly ever play any games. If you have a PS3 this a must buy and if you haven't a PS3 yet this is an excellent excuse to get one. I really hope this game concept gets reused in other games. It's very nice to see developers trying new ideas instead of rehashing the tired FPS/platform/drive stuff. On the technical side of things the game delivers. The engine is good, texture and geometry work is excellent and overall it looks great, save for some screen tearing now and then.

Another not so revolutionary yet fun game has been released recently: Battlefield Bad Company 2 is DICE/EA's answer to the Modern Warfare franchise, although a very different game that can stand on its own. The single player campaign is very good, on par if not better than Modern Warfare 2's, with plenty of humour and even some references to MW2 itself. Now multiplayer is where things become very very different. BF:BC2 is much more of a team oriented game than MW2. Team work is essential to win. The maps are an order of magnitude bigger, the pace is completely different and the vehicles and destructive environments make the game even more enjoyable. Even though the pace is slower due to the larger maps the battles feel very intense and don't seem to be plagued with lag issues  like in MW2's case. Weapons also behave in a more realistic way, so if you come from the COD series you will have to readjust and the first day will feel weird, but is well worth it. DICE's Frostbite
engine is pretty impressive as well. While they didn't aim for 60FPS what you get instead is full 720p and more advanced features. And a bit of trivia: Check the laptop shaped trophy for a TSL logo. Oh, the memories.

I haven't done much programming lately but I have some ideas based on DICE's HDR audio presentation. This will be implemented in the PSP version of my engine. The iPhone/iPod has temporarily been shelved. I will explain the reasons for this in a future post.

Back to rapture and more

As a big fan of the original Bioshock I couldn't wait for the sequel to come out. When the devs announced that you would play as a Big Daddy I had my doubts about whether it would work as well as the original did. Bioshock 2 has not only lived up to my big expectations but surpassed them. It is true that the Unreal 2.5 engine that powers the game is not as impressive as other games, but the excellent art direction makes up for it. The PS3 version seems to suffer from low resolution water effects but, believe me, once you jump into the action you will not even notice. Being able to use plasmids and weapons at the same time is a lot of fun, particularly when you use the new hypnotize plasmid. The music fits the game perfectly like it did in the previous installment and the story, while not as fresh as the first one, is way more interesting than your average FPS'. I had the feeling that this time the game was a bit more linear with less exploration required and some people might find the little sisters parts to be repetitive. I used those moments to perfect my fighting skills so I would be ready when having to deal with the big sisters. I prefer the old hacking minigame better but the new one is okay. The vending machines are lacking the voices they had in Bioshock but there's a patch coming that will fix that. Like its predecessor, Bioshock is a game that you will fully enjoy on your second or third play. This time a multiplayer part has been added, created by Digital Extremes. I haven't got around to try it yet but I will do so soon. The game is excellent and a must have if you liked Bioshock and System Shock.

On the movies side of things I finally watched Sherlock Holmes and was deeply impressed. I didn't expect the movie to get so close to the books. Every one did a great job: Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law as Watson and Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler. The latter is an actress whose work I've been following for a while and enjoyed her performance in The Time Traveler's Wife and State of Play.

According to my last.fm stats it seems I've been listening to a lot movie music lately, as well as Hans Zimmer's Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack. Seems to be the perfect background for a long coding session.

In other news I was surprised, like many other people, by how badly Google managed the public release of Buzz with both EPIC and EFF showing concern about it. Of course I had been using it internally for a while, but I didn't see it coming when they decided to do the autofollow thing. I don't have to say that I disabled it completely on my personal Gmail account and I would recommend you to do the same until the situation is resolved. If I want to join a social network and I will do it, thanks. I don't need any company to shove it down my throat. Note that that's my personal opinion and does not represent my employer's views.

But enough of that. I've made some progress on my 3D engine as I spend more time writing Cocoa code, which I hadn't done in a long time.

Before I sign off, when was the last time an Amiga 500 prod impressed you? I was blown away by Datastorm 2010's winning entry Superoriginal, youtube video here.

The End of Year Post ™

I've been posting this end of year entry for the last few years, and this one will not be an exception. I will take a look at those movies, songs and games that caught my attention. I will also write a bit about things that have happened in 2009.

Let's begin with the movies section. 2009 brought us: 2012, Angels & Demons, Avatar, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, District 9, Duplicity, Fast & Furious, Fighting, Funny People, G-Force, G.I. Joe, Gamer, Harry Potter and the half-blood prince, Ice Age 3, Inglorious Basterds, Julie & Julia, Knowing, Monsters vs Aliens, Sherlock Holmes (out in Belgium next week), Star Trek, State of play, Surrogates, Terminator Salvation, The Final Destination, The Time Traveler's Wife, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Up, Watchmen and last but not least: X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

When it comes to music this years discovery for me was Pendulum. I've lost count of how many times I've listened to In Silico. I also enjoyed Invaders must die, Prodigy's first album in 5 years. Other than it's been mostly music soundtracks, a lot of them from the movies mentioned above. I've particularly enjoyed Steve Jablonsky's work this year.

What about video games? Yes, I've played a few games this year as well, coincidentally most of them sequels: Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, the mega-hyped Modern Warfare 2 and IMHO best graphics seen so far and Game of the Year 2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

On the programming front I've been slowly (very slowly actually) making progress on my 3D engine which, as of last week, I've started porting it to the iPod Touch/iPhone 3GS. I find the hardware very interesting and being able to use pixel shaders means I can implement some cool effects using hardware.

This year I also bought a Mac Pro. As much as I dislike the x86 architecture it was the only way to enjoy Snow Leopard. Hopefully this desktop will last me a few years.

First full year in Belgium and, so far, so good. Before I sign off, what movie have I chosen to watch tomorrow? 2010, of course!