Blips: The Sporting Interface

Source: What can broadcast sports learn from videogames?
Author: Jason Johnson
Site: Kill Screen

The work happening over at Sportsvisionis fascinating stuff. Sportsvision is the company that invented many of the modern TV interface overlays for live sports coverage, including the yellow first down line in football and the constant mini-scoreboard in the corner of the screen in just about everything. In a recent article for Kill Screen, Jason Johnson points out how the relationship between sports TV broadcasting and live video game competitions could learn some things from one another.

However, history has shown that making sports more video game-y doesn't always go over so well. Remember the glow puck, which debuted in a brief stint in the 90s? It wasn't around for a long time because so many people found it distracting and made their complaints known. The glow puck was a Sportsvision invention too, but one that predated its use in games. On the surface, the glow puck is a genius idea, since it's often quite difficult to follow the tiny, laser-speed dot that is the puck in TV broadcasts. At the Twofivesix conference, former Sportsvision CEO Bill Squadron admitted that the glow puck technology wasn't refined enough to be as unobtrusive as viewers would have liked, but said that if a new glow puck were to be introduced that he feels the tech has advanced enough that it could be done right.

I'm all for more interfaces in sports TV since the technology is there and can be used in a way that enhances viewers' understanding of the action on screen. Plus, now that professional sports occupy so many of their own channels, why not give viewers the choice of two versions of the game? One with interface and one without. Or better still, take a cue from video games and include an options screen to turn on and off specific interface options at will. There are moves that could be made that would drive a whole new generation of people to be interested in sportscasting, the same way video game livestreams have stables of professional "casters" who are proficient in calling specific games. If new video game consoles want gamers to be more interested in using their machines to watch sports, they should consider giving them more control over the broadcasts.

Blips: Where Have All The Voxels Gone?

Source: Meet the voxel, the pixel's long lost cousin, and why it became videogames' Betamax
Author: Jason Johnson
Site: Kill Screen

I liked this piece by Jason Johnson on voxels mainly because I've heard of voxels for a while now, but never knew what they were, and now I do. The analogy of voxels basically being 3D pixels was probably the most helpful in understanding the key difference between them and polygons. It seems like the only new games that use voxels these days have framed their game around the fact that their graphics are made of voxels, like Voxatron. As Johnson lays out in the article, producing voxel-based assets on the level of high-end polygon modelling is way more computer-intensive.

Think of it this way: you have to build a sculpture of a human figure using polygon and voxel methods. The polygon way is to construct a wireframe and then cover it with an appropriate skin (paper, fabric, resin) which can then be painted. The voxel way is to construct the figure out of Legos, each being the appropriate color as you place them. In order to get relatively smooth rounded surfaces, you have to build with a lot of voxels, basically increasing the resolution the way you would with a static image.

With the popularity of the blocky aesthetic thanks to Minecraft, now might be the perfect time to revive voxels though. If they were used to their own stylistic ends instead of replicating the direction that polygons have gone, I imagine some pretty unique creative stuff could be made. Maybe it would be too technical for your average player to really understand or care about, but I say it's worth a shot, and will definitely be on the lookout for voxel-based games from here on out.

:image credit Arda Kutlu:

Blips: Omastar Forever

Source: Meet the man who's been playing the same Pokemon Character for a decade
Author: Jason Johnson
Site: Kill Screen

When the Mass Effect sequels were released, much hubbub was made over players having "their Shephard" transferable from game to game. The persistent design lead players to deeply identify with their protagonist and care about his/her relationships with other party members and story figures. While Mass Effect was a notable implementation of such a feature, Pokemon has offered similar functionality since it's original Game Boy debut.

A paleontologist, going by the handle Cunzy1 1, was recently interviewed for Kill Screen about his Omastar. That's a kind of Pokemon, if you didn't know. A fossil-type to be exact. Get it? Paleontology and fossils? Anyway, Cunzy1 1 has used his Omastar across 10 different Pokemon games. Though it differs across hardware generations, there always seemed to be a way for Omastar to make the leap from one game to the next. It's a fun little story about character attachment and the magic that can be contained in a couple lines of code.