business.creativity.life.

[Originally posted on BIT Blog]

48 hours of gaming-ness is finally upon us and BIT (because it is so amazing) is the Global Game Jam 2010 Ottawa chapter host. Students are being brought together the world over during a 48 hour time-frame where they find out the theme of this year’s competition on the Friday night and by Sunday they have produced a fully functioning video game to be submitted and judged. This is the second year that we are hosting the event and it looks like it may be a full house, with a waiting list of participants even traveling from Montreal just to participate and judges from all disciplines of the gaming world we can’t wait to see the results. If you’re not participating in GGJ (ie: in the event itself, being a volunteer, etc) hopefully the live tweets (with #GGJOttawa) and final results will inspire you to get involved next year at least. Stay tuned for the results!

I volunteered for this event last year and thought it was the coolest thing! Despite my lack of so-called ‘gaming’ abilities I will be participating this year primarily to do 3D and graphics. Be sure to follow me (@amandaemmanuel) or BIT Degree (@BITDegree), the host of the Ottawa chapter, for live tweets on the weekend long event.

Most of us, when we watch movies, pay little attention to the underlying message or psychology that a movie preview holds. We’re usually dumb-founded by the spectacular graphics or are in hysterics from the comedic relief that the upcoming film has to offer. But lately I saw a preview that sparked my interest on a deeper level. The movie is titled ‘Gamer‘ (in theaters September 4, 2009) from the trailer, the movie explores a possible future where the real and gaming worlds intertwine. Where humans play a video game that controls characters who themselves are real people. In the video game industry there is constant effort to break barriers between the virtual and real worlds and this movie, makes its own unique effort to break the barrier or at least examine a ‘what if’ scenario if it was. It will be interesting to see how the movie unfolds, hopefully it doesn’t disappoint! (Fingers crossed, the visual effects will compensate if the story line doesn’t deliver)

This was a little treasure I stumbled upon today: Bumptop, a fresh new approach to your computer’s desktop. This amazing solution melds my worlds of 3D and innovative technology, and the best part of all is that Bumptop is Canadian!!! With its office in downtown Toronto, it has still made waves with BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal and more. Check out the video below, enjoy!