Archive for the ‘gateshead’ Category

Byte Night 09 – the sleepover @ The BALTIC

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

A write-up of the combined exploits of Byte Night 09 North East.

At last it has arrived!

I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive before the event. I had done some prep – as documented here and here. But I was a bit in the dark about what was happen, so really wanted to get it on.

In addition, the weather forecast seemed v. unpleasant – Heavy rain, 8 degrees, windy. Meh

I happened to be up in Troon, doing a presentation on social media in the morning, so had a three hour drive back yem. That said, it was made more bearable but the utter genius that is Down the Line on the CD player.

The night itself

A bulleted list to save time

  • I arrived at the BALTIC at around 8.15 – there was a good introduction e-mailed in advance by what to expect
  • We registered at the front desk: there were sleepers & their supporters already there and the party was getting started!
  • Free drinks – provided by Codeworks I believe
  • Supper was a decent–looking lasagne, but they did a chicken salad for me (with my funny tummy)
  • I did some mini-interviews – see video below
  • After supper, we had a quiz & some amateur singing
  • When we arrived, outside on the wooden-floored balcony were some large parasols / umbrellas, which have lights and heat lamps underneath.
  • I then used a bit of initiative to find a pitch. I had
    • A big bit of cardboard – well worth it
    • A bed roll – indispensible
    • 3 season sleeping bag
    • Foam cushions as pillow – excellent
    • Fleece hat – again a winner
    • Experience of week before, in tent, was v. useful
  • All in all it was a big party outside – lots of laughter, music etc., for most of the night!
  • I slept from about midnight until 0400
    • Wind started up
    • Did a video recording with David Coxon
  • Went back to sleep & we were woken just after 6
  • Breakfast of bacon butties, sausage baps, tea coffee & orange – winner!
  • Check all the tweets etc. via http://bytenight.osmosoft.com/

Video

Photos

Mine

David Coxon

Paul Keating – Red Boat photography

Wash up

Well done

  • Derek Curtis and the team for organising g
  • Providence for being pretty kind with the weather – it was filthy later in the morning, with rain and high winds
  • David Coxon from the BALTIC for being our host and sorting the A-V side of things
  • Kim Inglis for the MC’ing
  • Codeworks for the free booze
  • Everyone for staying out there and at it!
  • AfC team for organising, St. John Ambulance for attending

Fund-raising

  • Bond Solutions for mega fund-raising – £10k
  • My sponsors – I’m standing at £770 at the time of writing
  • You can still contribute – if you missed out

Beard

My brother kindly said that he would double his donation if I shaved my beard off. So, taking him at his word, I decided to grow it a bit longer than the normal (long) stubble. Avec barbe

So, I thought I would do a before-and-after comparison – terrifying and slightly cringe-making that it is! ;-D

Sans barbe

Byte Night #3

Monday, September 28th, 2009

The latest enthralling instalment of my preparations for Byte Night in NewcastleGateshead on October 2nd.

Tent & dry run

Somewhat embarrasingly, when I tried out the tent & sleeping bag on Friday night, I managed an hour or so and felt a bit odd, so came in to a nice warm bed. Mmm, perhaps sleeping outside is not so easy after all.. :$

I should say that I cycled around Brittany with a school friend when I was 19, and for 2 weeks that was rather pleasant – perhaps it was because it was during the Summer…

Anyway, I’ve learned that

  • a pillow would be a terrific idea
  • bed roll was rather good
  • sleeping bag was warm enough (fingers crossed)
  • it could be quite a tough gig to sleep out, especially if the weather isn’t kind :-s
  • I’m not all that good at putting up tents :$

I’ve also found my own survival / bivvy bag and also a sleeping bag liner.

I think I’m beginning to get my head around it all – but it helps having the pledges so far, and also means I can hardly back out.

So, Friday night at the Baltic – here we come!

Photos

Some of my stuff – and putting up my tent.

Video

Byte Night update #2

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Hello folks, I’m thrilled to be able to say that (at the time of writing) I’ve nearly reached 2/3rds of my initial fund-raising target of £500. I’ve also got some cheques coming in, so the fund-raising continues! :-D

I’m really happy about this, but am keen to collect as much money as possible.

[The widget on the right is powered by the JustGiving website, so the total will hopefully have gone up.]

My Brother has offered to double his donation if I shave my beard off, but I’m not altogether sure for how long!

So, if you can think of other ideas as to how I can raise some more wonga – please leave a comment.

I’m including some more background information:

  • Things I think I’ll need
  • The second part of a previous Byte Night video diary from Reading
  • The flyer to accompany the Newcastle event, to give you an idea of what’s it all about.

Packing List

I like lists, so this one is my aide memoire starter-for-ten:

  • Camera
  • Video camera?
  • Microphones
  • Monopod
  • Sleeping bag
  • Inner?
  • Bivvy bag?
  • Survival Bag
  • Bed roll
  • Cardboard?
  • Dry bags
  • Waterproofs
  • Coat
  • Overtrousers
  • Boots
  • Head torch
  • Thermals
  • Fleeces
  • Hats
  • Buffs
  • Gloves
  • Fleecey face thing
  • Sense of humour

More video

Byte Night video diary part 2


Byte Night Newcastle flyer

Byte Night 09 Newcastle Flyer

GameHorizon feedback #gh09

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

My impressions

I thought I should write up my thoughts re my recent attendence at GameHorizon:

  • It seems pretty clear that the Computer Games industry is a major success story
    • Apparently making more money than film & music [although all I can find on Google are rather dodgy get-rich-quick schemes which refer to this…!]
    • What I *did* find was a report from back-end of 2008, quoted here and here, saying “Verdict research predicts gaming will become the UK’s premier leisure activity before 2009”
  • But it seems to be in ‘stealth mode’ in terms of profile
    • There have been various controversies about computer games – which are set out in this section from Wikipedia
    • Reminds me of my MBA paper on Microsoft & Public Affairs paper [which I should publish]
      • The nub of this was that Bill didn’t take politics seriously until he found his competitors were using their political connections as a business strategy
  • Also is on the cusp of convergence of various positive technological trends
    • 3D & virtual worlds
    • Serious Games
  • Favourite sessions
    • Sneaking in the Back Door to become an AAA Multiplatform Studio‘ Sponsored by Game Republic – Paul Wedgwood, CEO and Game Director, Splash Damage Ltd.
    • ‘Separating Fact from Fiction: the Future of Digital Distribution’ – Roger Walkden, CEO, AWOMO
    • ‘Development Opportunities in PlayStation Home’ Peter Edward, Director, PlayStation Home Platform Group
    • Panel Discussion: ‘Game Exposure – The naked truth about marketing your self published IP’ Sponsored in partnership by BAFTA and Northern Film + Media.
    • [that’s enough – Ed.]
  • Pretty reasonable games industry in the UK, also in Europe
  • Cutting edge stuff going, which I have highlighted in my list of favourite sessions
    • What struck me was the the Social Media / online component that many companies are only now discovering seems to be standard operating procedure for the games industry – as Paul Farley (Managing Director, Tag Games) explained.

I met some good people & am following up various business opportunities. This was an eye-opener for me, and I expect to see the Games industry as part of a major convergence of computing trends in the home.

Live bloggging info

If you would like to read my live blogging notes from the conference, please see this summary page.

UPDATE: Interesting interview with Ian Livingstone of Eidos re GH

GameHorizon live-blog #7: ‘Marking your self-published IP’; ‘Games driving other Interactive Content’;‘Heavy Rain’

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
  • Panel Discussion: ‘Game Exposure – The naked truth about marketing your self published IP’ Sponsored in partnership by BAFTA and Northern Film + Media.
    • Chaired by Charles Cecil, MD of Revolution Software with
    • Martyn Brown (Development Director, Team 17),
    • Mark Morris (Managing Director, Introversion),
    • Paul Farley (Managing Director, Tag Games).
  • ‘How games can be used to help drive other Interactive Content’
    • Marc Goodchild, Head of Interactive Children’s TV, BBC
  • ‘Heavy Rain (PS3)’
    • Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Co-CEO Quantic Dream

GameHorizon live-blog #6: ‘Future of Digital Distribution’; ‘Future Technologies’; ‘PlayStation Home’

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
  • ‘Separating Fact from Fiction: the Future of Digital Distribution’
    • Roger Walkden, CEO, AWOMO
  • ‘Future Technologies’
    • Steve Clayton, Microsoft
  • ‘Development Opportunities in PlayStation Home’
    • Peter Edward, Director, PlayStation Home Platform Group

UPDATE – I’m publishing the first bit of this session as a bulleted list, as the CIL service was offline to begin with…

    ‘Separating Fact from Fiction: the Future of Digital Distribution’ – Roger Walkden, CEO, AWOMO

    Pasted from <http://www.gamehorizonconference.com/programme/index2.php>

  1. In ten years time, who here thinks that the majority of games will be sold digitally?
    • Big show of hands…
  2. Quote
    • Dan DeMatteo – Gamestop –
    • Someone from BT
    • "Digitally delivered videogames will hit the mainstream before digital film"
  3. Example
    • 15-20 million copies of Crysis downloaded globally in 2008
    • EA said they had sold 1 million copies, so you could argue that age of download has already arrived
  4. Bejeweled
    • 350m downloads
    • 50m on mobile
    • 25m copies sold – 100% legal
  5. So when will *core* games be *sold* using digital download
  6. Call of Duty 1 was 1.4Gb download – therefore average time to download this game in 02 took 6 hours
    • CoD was 9hr+ download because it was 4Gb
    • CoD was 8Gb, and took 6hr+ for download because of faster download speed
  7. Roger talks about a Technology gap
    • Size of the download is always bigger than the speed of the download
    • Infrastructure doesn’t keep up with game development
  8. Deliver the whole game in one slug over the wire is how things are done now
    • This is changing
    • e.g. OnLive – use very big datacenter e.g. Google
  9. AWOMO
    • Give the consumer what they need to play the game, and give them other stuff later
    • e.g. YouTube – you have to wait for the video to arrive before you can see it – e.g. Streaming
    • For 8Gb game, you will get in 20 minutes enough to be able to start playing CoD, and rest is downloaded whilst you have started playing it
  10. Back to the
    • Illegally, download for games tipping point was reached ages ago
    • For casual games it has also tipped
    • For MMOs this has happened
    • So, question is when *legal* downloads will happen
  11. Question: what years saw the world’s first IP / rights management dispute?
    • 557AD – e.g. St Columba was asked to copy Abbot Finnian’s Psalter
      • Ended up in a battle where 3k people were killed
    • In 1436, Gutenburg brought in industrial printing
    • 1662 – Licensing Act
    • In-built rights management – 1877 & the Phonograph (you couldn’t copy it)
  12. 1928, the audiotape was invented, so you could copy anything
  13. Ownership of entertainment does not reside in the product itself – it’s a licence to…
    • DRM simply protects the IP holder

GameHorizon live-blog #5: Sneaking in the Back Door to become an AAA Multiplatform Studio

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
  • Sneaking in the Back Door to become an AAA Multiplatform Studio’ Sponsored by Game Republic
    • Paul Wedgwood, CEO and Game Director, Splash Damage Ltd.

GameHorizon live-blog #4: ‘Survival of the fittest’; & ‘next Evolution in casual MMOPGs’

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
  • Panel discussion: ‘Survival of the fittest’
    • Chaired by Jamil Moledina (Outreach Director, EA Partners, Electronic Arts) with
    • Darren Jobling (Business Development Director, Eutechnyx),
    • Mark Rein (Vice President, Epic Games),
    • Conor Sheridan (FX Dealer Manager, Custom House),
    • Robert Bond (Head of IP, Technology and Commercial, Speechly Bircham),
    • Alex Carter-Silk (Partner, IP, Technology and Commercial, Speechly Bircham)
  • ‘The next Evolution in casual massively multiplayer online games’
    • Chris Bergstresser, CEO Vector Entertainment

GameHorizon live-blog #3: ‘Games are entering a new dimension’; & ‘8 To be Great’

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
  • Games are entering a new dimension; 3D Stereoscopic Gaming on the console’
    • Andrew Oliver, CTO and Co-founder, Blitz Games Studios
  • ‘8 To be Great – The 8 traits that lead to great success’
    • Richard St John, Success Analyst & Author of 8 To Be Great

 

GameHorizon live-blog #2: The best things in life are free

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
  • ‘The best things in life are free’
    • Rick Gibson, Games Investor: How freemium is transforming the world of online games
  • Panel discussion: ‘The best things in life are free’
    • Chaired by Rick Gibson (Games Investor) with
    • David Jones (Creative Director and CEO,Realtime Worlds),
    • Sarah Bryan (Director of Production, Jolt),
    • Paul Mayze (CEO, Mounmental Games),
    • Simon Seefeldt (Head of Business Development, Jagex),
    • Nils-Holger Henning (CCO, Bigpoint)