Web We Want Festival at Southbank Centre

The Southbank Centre is running a celebration of the internet and how it has changed our lives. The 'Web We Want' exhibition explores some of the things that threaten the web as we know it and through interactive talks, debates, workshops and seminars tries to find out what solutions there might be to solve the myriad of issues including privacy, copyright and the fight for the control of online information.

Over two days there is an extensive programme of guest speakers and experts in their fields, discussing the impact of the internet with such titles as; 'Is the Web Rewiring our Brains?', 'Open Democracy-Using the Web to Change the World' and 'Censorship and the Web.' As an ICT/ Computing educator these are important issues and I interested in attending the event, so I did. I was lucky enough to arrive to hear the 'Web Bytes' discussions about cryptography and digital legacy. The talks comprised of 4 separate discussions on the issue of privacy and how our online information is stored and used. The talks were all very informative and briskly paced, importantly there was minimal techno-babble so people with very little computer talk knowledge could also be engaged. The event is on tomorrow (Sunday 28th September 2014) and I would recommend that anyone with any interest in computing go and see this festival celebrating the wonder that is the internet!

Quentin Blake Exhibition at the House of Illustration

House of Illustration is the home for the art of illustration, it opened it's doors in Summer 2014 in the regenerated King's Cross area. I hadn't been to this newly regenerated area so it was a surprise to find a wide open space with fountains, a clean canal and a bridge- a great change from what King's Cross used to be like years ago!

Granary Square, Kings Cross

For it’s inaugural show the House of Illustrations is exhibiting Inside Stories: The Art of Quentin Blake. For millions of people around the world the scratchy, knobbly, angular style of Quentin Blake's art style is instantly recognisable. He is one of the UK’s most important and best-loved illustrators who is able to capture the subtleties of surprise, joy, nervousness, longing....

I was very excited at the prospect of seeing his rough drafts and learning about his illustration processes as his work has always seemed so sketchy and erratic, it is this unique art style that first drew me to Blake's illustrations. One of my earliest school memories was of having my infant school teacher read Mr  Magnolia, who apparently only had one boot...

Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake

The exhibition did not disappoint, many of Quentin Blake's books were represented but having illustrated for over 60 years not all his works were on show. However the pieces present were: Sad, Story of the Dancing Frog, Candide (a book by Voltaire!), How Tom Beat Captain Nojak and his Hired Sportsmen, The Wild Washerwomen, The Twits, Clown and The Boy in the Dress. As well as having the illustrations there was a short film showing how Blake went about creating his pieces.

The exhibition is open until 2nd November and I would recommend that any fan of Blake's work to go. The House of Illustrations runs many activities and is open for school groups too... what a great idea for a school trip!

Why Minecraft Persists!

Minecraft has been here for years, for many young gamers it is hard to imagine a time before it. Simon and I have already discussed the importance and educational aspects of Minecraft before (links to these are at the bottom of this article) but I want to discuss why Minecraft still persists.

Minecraft is at a fixed premium price on iOS yet has been in the top position in UK charts for many many weeks. In fact over the Summer holidays Minecraft was the number one selling game on consoles, beating AAA heavy hitters like Watch Dogs, Grand Theft Auto V and Mario Kart 8. In other media like music and films you do not get old films staying at the top of the charts for years, so why does Minecraft still persist?

I am no stranger to online gaming, playing Age of Empires way back and more recently COD but this is different. This is not gaming, this is a parallel world for children and adults alike. The collaboration, commitment, creativity and community that Minecraft inspires within children in particular is jaw droppingly revolutionary. In this over-protected, dumbed down, congested, polluted, corrupted world that we have handed to them the children have found something that we elders could only ever dream of... a magical Never Never Land where anything is possible. Through the various mods and updates Minecraft renews and refreshes itself- it adapts and evolves to each persons personal preference.  It is not a craze or fad, it is not going away. It is a multimedia juggernaut that sells cosplay equipment and books that have topped the charts across the world. Anything that encourages this level of creativity in children is okay with me, long live Minecraft.

LINK- Minecraft Still Dominates Charts

LINK- Deadpixels article- Exploring the World of Minecraft

LINK- Deadpixels article- The Power of Minecraft

Reaction Times

Okay I'm going to just come out and say it: I hate multiplayer as I generally lose. Now I could make excuses like I don't get to play as much as I used to or other gamers are ploughing more time into gaming or some such thing but the reality is that my reaction times have slowed down. The biggest indicator for me was when I had a friend around to play 'Burnout Revenge' recently. Now I bought the game when it first came out and played it to death, getting most of the trophies and achievements, but I hadn't played it in about 3 years.

Burnout Revenge, a great multiplayer racer.

Burnout Revenge, a great multiplayer racer.

My friend, who was 3 years my junior (I'm 33 and he's 30) owned me on this game, not just beating me but beating me comprehensively.  He had played the game before but not to the extent I had. I don't mind getting beaten in games, its part and parcel of being a gamer. However I remember in my youth completing twitch games likes Operation Wolf on the keyboard on my Amstrad CPC 464. For people who don't know the game, that is quite an achievement, even more so when you consider the game is based in a jungle and the primary colour is green and I had a monochrome green screen for my Amstrad! I was King of twitch games and this showed in my completing many a  shmup like Thunderforce 3 and 4 and many bullet hell shooters.

As I've gotten older and my time less freer to play games my reaction times have got worse. Almost every online game is about reaction times and adapting to situations as they occur whether they be racing, FPS or beat 'em ups. These games are all about making split second decisions and adjustments and I have gotten slow, so recently I've taken to improving my reaction times using the free Human Benchmark Reaction Time Test. I've noticed that with practice my reaction time has improved from 335 miliseconds to 297 milliseconds. It may not seem much but with more practice I hope to improve further still.

So, have your reaction times got slower and how is this affecting your gaming?

Sweets and Nostalgia

Food, like music, is amazingly transportive. One bite of a Wham bar takes me back to my youth when all Summer my friend and I would load up on sweets and play games all day and some nights too, whenever we had a sleepover. Humans are sentimental beings, and the power of memory is strong and distinctly rose coloured. Nostalgia is a sentimental yearning, or wistful memory, a longing to  return to some real or romanticised period or irrecoverable condition or setting in the past.

As we grow older we look back fondly at our youth, often forgetting the more difficult aspects such as acne, social awkwardness and trying to find ones way in the world. As a gamer in his early 30s there are certain sweets and foods that have become embedded in my memory, not just because of how they taste, but because of the feelings I originally had around them. I associate a particular food with an event or an experience. For example, I remember having lunch at school and being given cauliflower and cheese and the smell of it made me vomit. In contrast Cola bottles remind me of playing Super Mario Brothers around my friends house on his NES.  With certain foods you create a link that continues to exist, even years later. So here are a few of my favourites. I have a huge stash of sweets that I eat when I am gaming, it reminds me of my youth and is my comfort food. What sweets do you associated with your gaming past?

The Cambridge Centre For Computing History

I've been meaning to visit the Cambridge Museum for Computing History since I first came across their website a while ago, but knowing that the Oliver Twins (of Codemasters and Dizzy fame) were going to be doing a talk there was all the impetus I needed to finally get down there.

The museum is located in an industrial area, usually the preserve of out of town shopping centres and shops like B & Q and Carpet Right, but for a collection of vast proportions it makes sense that the computing centre is here. The centres collection explores the historical, social and cultural impact of personal computing. What makes this museum so special is that unlike many other museums the displays are not behind glass, instead most of the old computers and game consoles are plugged in and working, ready for use by visitors (Only the very rarest items have a 'do not touch' sign on them or are behind glass).

Being a retro gaming geek, this museum has the perfect blend of interactive exhibits and informative knowledge displays. As an avid gamer I felt that I knew a lot about computing but boy was I wrong, there were so many machines which I didn't even know about, the one that really surprised me was the Amstrad/ Sega Megadrive hybrid, that was a thing apparently! Who's fevered mind dreamed that one up?

The Amstrad Mega PC- The power of the Sega Megadrive and Amstrad PC combined.... wow, just wow!

The centre had it all; Macintoshes, Sinclairs, Microcomputers as well as  all the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The museum had gadgets and peripheries and even a Sinclair Electric car.

Although the centre had only been open for exactly a year, it had plenty to see and do and was packed. There had been a school group earlier in the day and as the time ticked on closer to the Oliver Twins talk more of a crowd started to build. I played many of the game on show including Super Robin Hood, Fantasy World Dizzy, Cybermorph on the Atari Jaguar (the controller is horrendous to hold), Sonic the Hedgehog on the Megadrive and a shmup on the Turbo Grafx 16. Also I saw the graveyard of arcade machines, there were 13 in total and whilst some were fixed many are in need of major renovations. The museum is hoping to get them back online soon and that would be special!

Just after 3 o'clock the Oliver twins, Philip and Andrew arrived and had a look around the centre. Once they had a look around they went into the conference room and after a few technical hitches, started their talk. The talk was relaxed and illuminating, they talked about their interest in gaming from a young age and their enthusiasm for coding right up to their relationship with Codemasters. They discussed Dizzy of course but this was much more than just that, they talked about starting their own company and the founding of Blitz Games, its closing and the emergence of Radiant Games, their newest venture. They spoke with enthusiasm and candour and it was refreshing to see such honesty and lack of hyperbole.

After the talk, which lasted just over an hour and a half, there was a chance to ask questions. I learnt that the brothers enjoy the works of Nintendo and respect their fun way of producing games that engage people of all ages. Also the brothers thought that Fantasy World Dizzy had the best art of their games, anything with a dragon is cool apparently!

  There was a short break for drinks and refreshments and this provided me with an opportunity to get things signed and discuss gaming further with the Philip Oliver. He signed my Fantastic Dizzy Master System poster and my Quattro Games cassette from Codemasters, both of which I'd had since my childhood.

After a time Adam Oliver, the 15 year old son of Andrew, spoke about game designing and the challenges of making a game. He discussed learning coding in Scratch and then moving onto GameMaker and then producing Alien X, the BAFTA Young Game Designer of the Year 2014 Award winning game. Andrew answered questions and offered an interesting take on the changes to the ICT Curriculum. I asked him how schools were coping with the new curriculum and he spoke openly how things had shifted from consuming to constructing, there was a notable shift in his school from proprietary Office packages to creative software where the pupils were given creative freedom under a remit. It seems like computing is finally moving in the right direction and the Olivers are helping by being involved in such initiatives as 'Made in Creative UK.'

I left the centre after having been in there for over 6 hours and I have to say that I had the most fantastic time. I played games I hadn't touched in years, met fellow gamers and enthusiasts an met my childhood game heroes and got my swag signed. All in all an amazing day!

My signed copy of Fantasy Dizzy and Quattro Adventures pack.

Here I am on the far right hand side... so stoked to have been here!

Digital Revolution Exhibition at the Barbican

We are living in a digital age where artists, designers, film-makers, musicians and game developers are pushing the boundaries of their fields of technology. But technology is no longer the preserve of the elite, instead the democratisation of technology has played a major facilitating role in allowing equality across professional fields.

The Barbicans 'Digital Revolution' exhibition is the most comprehensive presentation of digital creativity ever to be staged in the UK. This immersive and interactive exhibition brings together, for the first time, a range of disciplines and shows how they are pushing the boundaries of their fields using digital media. It also looks at vintage computer games and music hardware, visual effects in films, art made with code, artificial intelligence, wearable technology and 3D printing.

I was very excited about the exhibition as I am very interested in the evolution of technology and digital media. I have a vast retro game and media collection and so this appealed to me on all levels and I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed!

The exhibition was sprawling over many sections. The first space, 'Digital Archeology', looked into digital cultures past, from rare games and vintage music hardware to classic systems such as Game as Watch, ZX Spectrum and the Magnavox Odyssey. The biggest attraction for me was playing classic arcade game machines like Pong and Pac-Man. I was happy to see parents and children alike engaging with the different games, the waves of nostalgia for me were great but for the parents and their children to play together on systems they used to play in their youth must have been wonderful.

Check out this original arcade machine for Pac Man.

Gunpei Yokoi's Game and Watch.

The exhibition then went onto 'We Create,'  a space dedicated to user-created content and interactive web art. This contained the mighty Minecraft as well as a web-based Johnny Cash Project, where users submitted a single art frame which would form a section of a Johnny Cash music video which would constantly evolve.

Minecraft is a phenomenon!

Broken Age brought Kickstarter to the masses.

'Creative Spaces' looked at the special effects of blockbuster films such as Jurassic Park, Inception and Gravity. The interactive walkthroughs of Gravity and Inception were fascinating, providing lots of insight and in the case of Inception motion control to see how the effects were created step by step.

Gravity explained.

'Sound and Vision' showed the ways that technology was used to create interesting videos and music, it featured artists such as Bjork, Radiohead and Brian Eno. However my highlight was the artwork by will.i.am, of Black Eyed Peas fame, his work features an Egyptian style polygonal head and 3 musical pyramids which were mechanical and played music in real time to the singing. It had to be experienced to be believed!

will.i.am as a Phaoroah.

My standout for the entire exhibition was Chris Milk's piece The Treasury Of The Sanctuary. The piece is an interactive triptych that allows participants to be broken up into birds, then to being consumed by birds and finally embodying the bird in the final frame. It was the most uplifting and exhilarating experience I had in the exhibition, it was great seeing people waving the arms and legs like loons in such an austere place... great art should do that, take you out of yourself.

Chris Milk's The Treasury of the Sanctuary.

The 'DevArt' place was next and to be honest this part left me cold. It looked at how interactive artists used code as their canvas. Apart from the wonderful butterfly Wishing Wall nothing really engaged me. This piece had you whispering a wish into a trumpet and seeing your wish slowly glow into a line and turn into a butterfly, before flying away to join the other butterflies on the wall. a simple idea beautifully executed I thought.

Wishing Wall.

'Indie Games Space' has lots of games from the independent computer games scene, featuring games such as Nidhogg, The Unfinished Swan, Antichamber, Proteus, Journey, Thomas Was Alone and Papers, Please. I had played all the games before so didn't spend much time here but this area was packed with children and adults.

Finally I went to the Umbrellium Assemblance, this was an atmospheric and unique three-dimensional light field which you could manipulate through touch. I enjoyed this room a lot as there were lots of people here moving in strange ways to manipulate the light. It felt peaceful, calm and in this fast paced always connected world it felt... cathartic. To be away from all the noise and distractions. Manipulating and controlling the light took some skill and concentration.

Digital Revolution is an excellent exhibition, it has something for everyone and in breadth and scope it is a remarkable achievement. There are only 3 weeks left until the exhibition ends and I would highly recommend this to everyone- go see it and experience it for yourself.

British Library Hosts 'Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK'

Comics Unmasked is the UK’s largest ever exhibition of mainstream and underground comics, the exhibition is being held at the British Library and ends in just 4 weeks.

For many years comics were seen as childish then dangerous, (for a great article on this look at the Guardian article in the links below) but this time the message is positive, singing the praises of comics as a legitimate art form which addresses serious issues as well as being entertainment.

I finally got around to seeing the exhibition a few days ago and was pleasantly surprised by the breadth and depth of information presented. The atmosphere inside the exhibition was dark and moody, with V for Vendetta masked figures watching you across the exhibition. This sense of unease added to the idea of comics as a powerful and transformative media. Seeing Nazi propaganda comics alongside Young National Front strips was interesting, as a comic fan I have read hundred of comics but this was something new to me.  I began to understand how comics could be demonised and shown to be morally questionable in the eyes of the general population. However I was reminded of comedian Frankie Boyles quote,

"I still think that comics are one of the quickest ways to encounter alternative ideas. If all you've done is watch mainstream media, or read the books that get publicity, comics will blow your mind."

I got into comics at a young age, my friend had a few comics but the one that really appealed to me was Iron Man. As I consumed American comics I realised that there was a whole world of British comics that I hadn't engage with (except The Beano and Dandy of course). So I began reading Alan Moore, Bryan Talbot, Neil Gaiman and many more. I was hooked. Looking through the exhibition I was excited to see original Watchmen art alongside the original annotated script and the Arkham Asylum script with annotations. The exhibition showcases work which addresses politics, gender, violence, sexuality and altered states. If you are interested in comics then this is a definite must see.

An Afternoon With the Oliver Twins- Creators of Dizzy

As a gamer in my early 30's I have fond memories of gaming in the 80's. But there is one series which came out on the micro computers that holds a special place in my heart, and that series is 'Dizzy' the lovable puzzle solving egg. 

Now fans of Dizzy can get a chance to meet the Oliver Twins on 26th July 2014 at the The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.

According to the Computing History website:

The legendary Oliver Twins, Philip and Andrew, will be talking about the past, present and future of computer, video and now mobile games. They will share experiences from their early days of working with Codemasters, Dizzy Egg and Blitz Games all the way through to their current endeavours with their newly formed company Radiant Worlds. Q&A session will follow this presentation..

Starting on 8 bit computers in the 80’s with games like Dizzy all the way through to recent games such as Puss in Boots, Epic Mickey 2, they will also talk about their exciting new game!

I've already ordered my ticket for £7 and am very excited to meet my 80's heroes, I have my original Amstrad CPC 464 Fantasy World Dizzy cassette and Master System Fantastic Dizzy to get signed!

The Rise of the Indies

I think it's fair to say that the last decade was defined by one kind of game (no, not FPS's) but something much bigger than that- Indie games!

Indie games are games often from a singular vision, without funding, without a publisher and without the big marketing and PR. These small curiosities are often a response to current gaming trends and maybe even reflect on the type of technology their makers were brought up with rather than current technology.  The result is a range of totally diverse games that appeals to all people. Not since the early 80's has there been such a boom time in game production, generations of developers who grew up with the technology and gaming now have access to make something themselves. The availability of resources and access to software has made the game making process more equitable.

At the moment indie gaming is where the talent pool is, it is this space that pushes boundaries and introduces us to new and innovative ways to look at game design. People may disagree with this but you only have to look at how hard Sony and Microsoft have been courting Indie developers to see how much the scene is regarded. As the current generation of computers has only just started there are few quality AAA titles, this is where Indie games have been picking up the slack. At this years E3 much of the excitement surrounded the Indie sphere, years ago this would have been unthinkable.

I have created a gallery below of some of the indie games of the last generation. I have played most but not all, but all of these come recommended by either me, Simon or our friends. Pick them up if you can as they offer an interesting break from the gaming norms.

Virtual Reality is Virtually There

Few technologies lately can be said to have heralded the future of gaming and immersive entertainment as the Oculus Rift.

It may not look like much, a simple unassuming little black box but this HMD (Head Mounted Display) looks to set the world through it's use of full field 3D vision and precise head tracking through its use of  magnetometers, accelerometers, gyroscopes and external head camera. All these things combine to create a feeling of being immersed and transported into the game world, which is precisely what the Oculus Rift and its peers is all about.

I am hugely excited by any technology that engages and immerses me and having used the Oculus Rift to play intergalactic dog-fighting game Running Strike Suit Zero, several months ago at Virgin Media's Game Space in Blackall Studios, Shoreditch I can say that the device had succeeded in transporting me into that world.

Ghost in the Shell shows a dystopian future where technology has run rampant and what it means to be human is challenged. The Matrix considers the same thing as does pretty much a lot of sci-fi!

The device had the ability of fooling my brain and body into thinking I was somewhere else doing something else but it did take a few minutes to get used to it. I was lucky to try the device out but I know that for most people, Virtual Reality (VR) is still a fringe technology. For many it's the sign of a future dystopian world where people sit with the technology strapped to their faces and ignore each other, connected but not really connected. To allay such fears Google have introduced Cardboard, a do-it-yourself virtual reality kit made out of cardboard!

The Google Cardboard is a good introduction to VR, and importantly it is cheap!

For $25 you get a cardboard housing for a smartphone running Google's Android mobile OS, a lens kit, some magnets, some velcro and a rubber band and an easily programmable Near-Field Communication sticker tag for launching the companion mobile app. For people who are so inclined you can download the schematics and make your own out of an old pizza box. The result is a low key but effective introduction to VR. The cardboard app comes with 7 “experiences”;

  • Youtube lets you watch a selection of Youtube videos on a simulated theater screen.
  • Street Vue lets you wander around in a VR version of street view.
  • “Exhibit” lets you look at a few 3D recreations of objects.
  • Earth Flyover lets you zoom around a city in Google Earth. Push the “button” to start flying forward, push it again to stop.
  • Photo Sphere Viewer lets you look around in pictures you’ve taken using Android’s built-in 360º panoramic feature.
  • Windy Day is a cute, cartoony environment where you can watch animals sneak around as leaves fall.
  • Tour Guide has you explore the Palace of Versailles.

This is all very exciting and as a teacher I hope to make my own Cardboard this week, now that the reports are done and all assessments are handed in this could be something to sink my teeth into in my spare time. I'll let you know how it goes as I think this could really change the way children learn. Imagine Castlerama or Epic Citadel in immersive VR, the writing the children could produce as a result of being engaged and immersed is exciting. 

LINK- Google Cardboard

Pixel Art and Nostalgia

Pixel art was born out of necessity, this economy of design came about due to the various technical limitations. The most famous example is Nintendo giving Mario a moustache to clearly separate his mouth from his nose. 

Miyamoto, creator of Mario, stated that the moustache was put in place so players could see the different parts of the characters face.

Waves of nostalgia abound!

Gamers like me have an affinity for pixel art as we grew up with it, nostalgia is a wonderful thing and we don't need to apologise for it. Many indie developers are accused of being cynical and preying on my generations nostalgia and there is a debate to be had here. On the one hand there are A LOT of pixel art games out there right now and it can almost seems like a game isn't "indie" if its not pixel art or "retro" but that's a very cynical viewpoint. Pixel art can be really good and there are different levels within the medium, someone can make something visually very simple like Flappy Birds or  Spelunky, but then someone can really take it to another level, giving it a modern visual twist in amazing games like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP or FEZ , which adds simple 3D polygons that mimic an 8-bit style to the scene. 

The maturation of my generation combined with the ease of access to technology and a booming indie scene has created a wonderful time for pixel art and expression. This current gen of consoles promises amazing lifelike graphics but the game I'm most looking forward to is Hyper Light Drifter, a pixel art based game which looks astonishing.

Enjoy the feeling of nostalgia, don't fight it... learn from Sheldon!

Prog Rock and Computer Game Music

Prog Rock or Progressive Rock to give it it's full name, is looked down upon in this day and age. To many it is seen as pretentious and ridiculous, and to be honest it did get that way.... with 20 minute keytar solos and unlistenable tracks which only made sense when you were stoned (apparently, as I've never touched drugs to check the validity of this statement). However this is a disservice to the entire genre, there were amazing bands who pushed the boundaries in live shows and wonderful albums made, and their influence can still be felt today in bands like Arcade Fire, Muse and Radiohead.

But for a whole generation of computer game composers Prog was the inspiration for their music, especially in Japan, Germany and Italy where Prog seemed to really resonate with the people.  Legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu cites Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Uriah Heap as his inspirations. Tim Follin, game composer for many NES, C64 and SNES games has said that the audio limitations of older machines created a challenge when working on computer game music; to create music that was not only enjoyable the first time but also on subsequent loops until the level/ boss/ mission was done.

Prog Rock offered a good link as many albums were concept albums which contained characters, themes and stories... not too different from computer games. A lot of 8 and 16-bit games could get very intricate and complex and the music had to reflect this and so you had a situation where games composers were liberally borrowing elements from Prog Rock.

One of the best examples I can think of is the last battle in Final Fantasy 6, where the team face off against Kefka... listen to this piece and tell me it's not Prog Rock inspired. The game left such an indelible mark on me that I even created a deadpixels cover homage of it with me and Simon as lead characters. As well as being an epic battle the music is such an integral part of it, composed in 3 parts to reflect the 3 transformations of Kefka.

The deadpixels cover homage

The deadpixels cover homage

Rick Wakeman , the legendary keyboardist from Prog Rock group 'Yes' went solo in the 70's to create thematic albums around books and history. His most famous work is 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth' which was a landmark achievement, selling over 15 million records worldwide. 2014 marked the 40th Anniversary of the release of the album and I was lucky enough to get tickets for the concert at the royal Albert Hall.

The concert was amazing, a real spectacle. To see a sellout audience silent and entranced by Rick Wakeman and his  orchestra brought home to me the fact that even though Prog did get crazy mad, there were still amazing gems that still shine today and this was one of them.

Prog is not dead, it is alive and well!

Can you believe it has been 40 years since this seminal record came out?

Got my ticket and I'm inside the Royal Albert Hall.

Rick Wakeman and the Orchestra receive their applause... well deserved!

25 Years of the Gameboy

As incredible as it might seem the Nintendo Gameboy is now 25 years old. It was released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America in August 1989, and in Europe on September 28, 1990 so technically it's been 24 years for us Brits but let's not get bogged down in semantics...

I couldn't afford a Gameboy at launch but got one a few years later when the Gameboys popularity was waning... before it ascended again with Pokemon.

I couldn't afford a Gameboy at launch but got one a few years later when the Gameboys popularity was waning... before it ascended again with Pokemon.

Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Gameboy and its predecessor the Game and Watch LCD games, wanted to create a machine which was simple to use yet economical to produce to maximise profits. As such he created the Gameboy to have just 4 buttons (A, B, Start, Select), a small 2.6 inch screen capable of only showing 4 shades of grey at 160 x 144 pixels resolution, a 4.19 MHz processor, a single speaker (though it played in stereo through headphones) and just 8kb of RAM. With just 4 AA batteries the Gameboy could last anywhere from 10 to 30 hours, the higher estimates are from Nintendo themselves.

  The Nintendo Gameboy transcended its limitations to become the second biggest gaming machine of all time, beaten only recently by the Nintendo DS. So how did this simple 8-bit machine defeat the likes of the technically superior Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx to sell in excess of 118 million units worldwide? Simple.... it had an amazing lineup of top-tier software. Whilst not playing all the games out there for the Gameboy I did play a lot and have listed a few of my favourites. See if you can spot yours on the list and tell me your favourite games in the comments section below.

 

 

TETRIS

Tetris was a gaming phenomenon, being a pack-in with the system made the Gameboy an essential purchase. It has one of the most memorable soundtracks of all time and the game while simple was deceptively addictive- lulling you into that 'just one more go' trap. A masterpiece of a game!

 
 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK'S AWAKENING

Link's Awakening is a brilliant game. Out went the conventions established in Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past and in came a memorable bittersweet tale of Koholint Island and Links mission to awaken the Wind Fish. This game is a towering achievement that leaves a long lasting impression on players, well certainly with this one at least. Special mention must also be made for the sublime Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.

 

 

SUPER MARIO LAND

Super Mario Land on the Gameboy blew my mind the first time I saw it. Whilst visually simple the game nailed it where it counted, in the platforming. The levels were well designed and occassional side-scrolling shooter sections were interesting and added variety to the game. As the game was not made by the regular Mario team it toyed with conventions but like Zelda above, in a good way.

 

 

SUPER MARIO LAND 2: 6 GOLDEN COINS

Coming 3 years after the original, Super Mario Land 2 was an impressive visual and audio leap forward. The game allowed players to tackle the 6 worlds in any order before meeting the game's villain, the first appearance of Wario. I enjoyed the game greatly but preferred the platforming skills of the original, however I did enjoy some of the new powerups.

 

 

WARIO LAND: SUPER MARIO LAND 3

This was a bit of a left turn from Nintendo but an inspired one. Wario took centre stage and his method of dispatching his enemies was much more aggressive, a shoulder barge, a bottom smash or a variety of powerups. This changed the gameplay significantly and turned a one-off villain into a bona fide star.

 

 

TENNIS

This was an early release in the life of the Gameboy and whilst a simple game it was a fun. It had the rules of the game and a wide variety of shots. Mario as an empire is a sweet touch and the fact that you could link up with a friend to play added to the charm.

 

 

REVENGE OF THE 'GATOR

This is an excellent pinball game from HAL Laborotories, the creators behind Kirby. It is a quirky game with lots of personality and the physics work well. The fact that it had longevity due to features not available on  real pinball table made it a must-have.

 

 

METROID II: RETURN OF SAMUS

Metroid II didn't get much love when it first came out but over the years it has been reevaluated and  considered an important game. The game is sprawling and difficult but it recreates the mood for which the series is now famous for very well, an impressive feat considering the Gameboys limitations.

 

 

MONSTER MAX

As a fan of Head Over Heels this game ticked the right boxes. The sprites are beautiful and the puzzles clever and interesting. This isometric game is a sadly forgotten classic, released prior to the Gameboys resurgence after the Pokemon craze. Pick it up if you can, you won't regret it.

 

 

KIRBY'S DREAM LAND 2

Kirby's Dream Land 2 was an improvement over the original in every way. The introduction of woodland animals helping Kirby added much to it's charm. A great game with lots of charm.

 

 

POKEMON

Pokemania hit Britain in the later part of the 90's. The game was and still is a phenomenon, just consider the number of people watching the Twitch Plays Pokemon videos (over 58 million at the time of writing). This is an amazing game and has stood the test of time.

 

 

DONKEY KONG LAND

This is a bit of a controversial one as this game has many fans but also many dissenters. I loved the game even though the graphics are very hard to see sometimes, the soundtrack is amazing and the platforming tight and fluid.

The Console Living Room launched by Internet Archive

I have already spoken about the important work done by the Internet Archive to save our digital past (click on the link below to read it if you missed it the first time around). Well the Archive have now introduced The Console Living Room which allows gamers from around the world to play hundreds of classic games direct in their web browser through the MESS emulation software. In their own words;

The Internet Archive Console Living Room harkens back to the revolution of the change in the hearth of the home, when the fireplace and later television were transformed by gaming consoles into a center of videogame entertainment. Connected via strange adapters and relying on the television's speaker to put out beeps and boops, these games were resplendent with simple graphics and simpler rules.

Sound is not working yet and whilst saying it allowed joypad input, it doesn't work with the two joypads I tried. However the emulation is being improved all the time so I think very soon they'll have spot-on emulation. Check out the website on the links below and get your retro on!

Ahhh, that carpet, those TVs.... life back in the 80's was awesome!

Ahhh, that carpet, those TVs.... life back in the 80's was awesome!

Decoded: Learn Coding and Reach Digital Enlightenment in One Day

The internet and digital technology touch upon so many aspects of our lives across the world but so few of us have even a basic understanding of how things work.

Over the last 20 or so years ICT in the England had become nothing more than learning propriety Office packages, this undermined the potential that had been created by the 1980's micro computer boom (an interesting read is the 'Legacy of the BBC Micro Report').

In 2011, Ian Livingstone (OBE, CBE , co-founder of Games Workshop, co-author of the Fighting Fantasy series of books, Life President of Eidos and all-round general polymath) co-authored a review of the UK computer games industry called the 'Next Gen Report.' Livingstone called it a "complete bottom up review of the whole education system relating to games". He identified that much of the systemic issues affecting the industry were down to the uninspiring teaching of computer science in schools and universities.The report proved influential and education secretary Michael Gove confirmed that proper computer science teaching would return to the curriculum;

"Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11-year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations using an MIT tool called Scratch," he said. "By 16, they could have an understanding of formal logic previously covered only in university courses and be writing their own apps for smartphones."

Gove implied that this will give pupils a better grounding in the fundamentals of computing, rather than simply teaching them how to use everyday applications. With the arrival of the Raspberry Pi, Ouya and other cheap hackable computing alternatives, the next generation of children have more opportunity than ever to learn the skills to become the next coding entrepreneurs.

This is all great news but there are a lot of issues; the curriculum has been hard fought over and there is the fact that teachers will need support if they are going to make the best use of the new found freedom. To ask teachers to create an exciting and stimulating computing curriculum requires a lot of knowledge and unfortunately there is a skills shortage across Britain.

This is where organisations like 'Decoded' come in. The aim of Decoded is to go beyond changing mindsets and actually teach non-developers how to code. Decoded offer a variety of courses but one of the most popular is 'CodeED in one-day' course;

a one-day course and online platform that inspires and empowers teachers with the knowledge and confidence to teach their students to code.and confidence to teach their students to code.

I went along to the CodeEd training day along with Simon (an ICT Coordinator and Specialist), excited at the prospect of building a multi-platform location-based app in HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. I have never learned coding in any academic setting, I am self-taught and anything I have learned has been through trial and error and self-teaching through books and online tutorials. I was very confident in using Scratch, Kodu and even some rudimentary Ruby language (through work I had done with RPG Maker in Cambodia) but had never actually understood a real coding language.

Simon achieving flow during the coding session.

Simon achieving flow during the coding session.

The day got off to a great start with a sumptuous breakfast packed full of delicious brain food. This was a great chance to meet everyone and share a little about ourselves and with the Instructors, Alasdair and Tina. There was a nice mix of teachers from EYFS, Key Stage 1, 2 and 3. Once everyone had arrived we went through the itinerary for the day, which was going to be split into 2 parts. The first part would discuss the theory including the evolution of computers and the internet, and the second part would be planning and developing our app.

I found the discussion about computing interesting and whilst quite knowledgeable about what browsers, servers, ISP's etc were I still learnt a lot. I knew a lot of things in isolation but being able to make these links through the discussion suddenly made things much clearer to understand.

We then went through the three different types of code we were going to be using and discussed the purpose behind each one. The code languages we discussed were JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS. We were shown examples of each and steps were broken down so we gained knowledge but weren't overwhelmed with reams of code. There is a whole community with huge libraries of pieces of free code for almost anything, all you have to do is ask through a search engine! The fact is that with that many resources available out there so you don't have to know every line of code, but being able to spot errors and debugging are essential (and a part of the new Computing curriculum in KS1 and 2).

Decoded has a wonderful chilled vibe,

Decoded has a wonderful chilled vibe,

Once we had an understanding of the principles of coding we had a brainstorming session where we had to discuss and plan the type of app we wanted based on the task of creating a multi-platform app which tracks your location and sends a message asking a question once you have reached a certain location. The planning session was a wonderful experience as it was easy to describe the type of app you wanted to create but breaking down the algorithms required took a lot of thought. With careful planning and group discussions we were able to create a flow diagram and were ready to start coding!

For the second part of the day, after lunch, we opened our Macbook Airs and got into coding, guided gently by Alasdair and Tina. It felt really liberating for me as I have wanted to learn coding for so long and through the use of Decoded's excellent compiler we were able to create a real-time app, testing it on the fly through QR Codes on our mobiles. This enabled us to see what we were making and spot any errors, of which there were plenty but by peer debugging everyone was able to help each other out.

I'm not going to lie, it was an intense day and lasted from 9am to 6pm, but at the end of the day I walked away with a working app and more importantly, the self-belief that with a little practice I could code. In the images below you can see my app, a hotel checking in website. My app tells you how far you are from the hotel and when you do get to the hotel it will ask you a question which only you would know (i.e. date of birth, favourite food etc). Once you answer the question correctly you get the passcode for your door.... it's a simple but practical idea, a keyless door.

This is part of my coding, it looks complex but actually it's all pretty simple.... honest!

This is part of my coding, it looks complex but actually it's all pretty simple.... honest!

To test out my app scan the QR code.

To test out my app scan the QR code.

In my current role as a year 2 teacher the level of coding from the course was well above what I would teach but it was useful as many of the structures shown in the course were transferable to an educational setting. Also it has proved useful to me as a teacher as I can now clearly see the progression expected.

Decoded has received an educational fund which allows it to offer the Decoded in one day course for free to whole schools or for 2 individuals to go to the various centres, it is an amazing course and I can say hand on heart one of the best Professional Development courses I have been on.

LINK- Decoded Generic Resources

LINK- Decoded School Specific Resources

Vinyl: The Return of the Format

I've been hearing for a while in the newspapers and popular media that vinyl is back from the dead. Sales of the 66-year-old format have been steadily rising over the past nine years, but last year saw an explosion in which vinyl sales doubled what they were in 2012. The 780,000 LPs shifted in 2013 meant that sales were the greatest since 1997.

My lovely Verdi record player and the amazing Jean Michel Jarre 'Oxygene' album

Recently I got a record player for Christmas, it is a Verdi record player and I love it! My wife and I were walking around Totnes, Devon on Christmas Eve and were walking past a retro shop called 'Narnia' and there it was, playing some old jazz record... it was love at first sight. My wife bought it for me there and then as she knew I'd wanted one for a little while. We then spent the next couple of hours scouring the charity shops for old records and came back with quite a haul for next to no money, we bought 'Tubular Bells' by Mike Oldfield and 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' by Rick Wakeman amongst others.

' Narnia' in Totnes, Devon is a treasure trove of items from a bygone era.... I love it!

As the weeks have gone by I've been thinking about my interest in getting a record player. I'd always wanted one as my father had an all-in-one music system, the kind that was popular in the 90's. It played CDs, cassettes and records but I had never seen the record player used. I didn't know how they worked. Of course I knew the general principle of the record spinning and the arm going across and the needle dropping but that was the extent of my knowledge. My local library, Barking library, had an impressive number of vinyls but I had never really ventured there, it was an alien world to me.

When I went to France with friends in 1998 I bought a couple of Jean Michel Jarre albums, 'Oxygene' and 'Revolutions'. I already had them on CD but liked the big covers so bought them as an art piece for my already busy room. When I got home all excited about playing these records my dad told me that the needle on the record player was broken and so I couldn't play the records, disappointed the records sat near my bed gathering dust, Jarre's face looking out at me from the cover of his 'Revolutions' album for years. My interest in records was fleeting and I forgot about the whole thing, until recently.

The cover for 'Revolutions'... Jarre stared at me for years!

On Christmas dad my wife looked through her parents old record and a wave  of nostalgia overtook her as she found 'The Wombles- Remember You're A Womble' record. She remembered listening to the record incessantly in her childhood. Putting the record on felt special, like a ritual- it's was an emotional connection which pressing play on a digital device didn't have. That special connection of holding a record, carefully pulling out the vinyl, blowing off the dust and putting the arm across. We put the record on and the living room was filled with music of such fullness and richness, we danced and laughed and her sister came along and danced with us.

Henry Rollins (an American musician, writer, journalist, publisher, actor, radio host, spoken word artist, and activist) said,

Sitting in a room, alone, listening to a CD is to be lonely. Sitting in a room alone with an LP crackling away... is enjoying the sublime state of solitude

When I read this I didn't understand what he meant but as time has gone by it all makes much more sense. The pull of vinyl is obvious: a fuller, more raw and warmer sound compared to the inferior compressed quality of most MP3s (higher bitrates improve the sound immensely); the physical nature of the product as a collector’s piece, with its sleeve notes and large cover art, in opposition to an impersonal click on the computer.

Contrary to popular belief vinyl is not the preserve of stuffy middle class audiophiles, rather it is a wide demographic. Many young fans are buying vinyl not for the sound quality but rather the vinyl’s artistic value. Many young fans do not own a turntable but since most vinyl releases also come with a code to download the album digitally, there is the option to collect them as artworks, which shows commitment to supporting music and connecting more closely with an artist or bands work, while listening to the music digitally. There are two parallel markets for the format. Crate diggers are music enthusiasts, first and foremost, seeking out rarities and limited editions. First-hand vinyl is now the preserve of well-to-do audiophiles (it is they who are pushing the value of the market up) and hardcore fans who want everything a band puts out, including a vinyl version of their bands latest album.

Vinyl is rising in popularity after a drop on the mid-noughties

Vinyl is rising in popularity after a drop on the mid-noughties

The reason vinyl appeals to me and especially at the moment is that as an early adopter of new technology, I feel record collections are very personal. Cicero said,

''A room without books is like a body without a soul,''

and I feel the same could be said for music. With vinyl I find myself actually listening rather than just hearing, I have to dedicate time to sit down and listen rather than just pop on my mp3 player and letting the music wash over me. I have over 10,000 albums in mp3 format (I went traveling through Asia a few years ago and went to the numerous outlets which give you albums, movies and e-books at next to no price) but there are only a few that I actually listen to, mostly it's just muzak, background noise to keep me occupied on my commute.

I don't want to sound like a hi-fi bore, but I just wanted to share my new experience of sitting down and actively listening to music. I love the different sounds I can hear from the records compared to the CD. There are notes I notice in vinyl that I don't hear in CDs that I have heard hundred of times. Vinyl is here to stay not because they sounds better (they might but the jury is still out on that one), but because they serve a purpose; a tangible way to connect with the music in an increasingly digital age.

BPI and BRIT Awards Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said,
“The LP is back in the groove. We’re witnessing a renaissance for records – they’re no longer retromania and are becoming the format of choice for more and more music fans.  This year has been a treat for vinyl aficionados with releases from Daft Punk, David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys and Black Sabbath.  

“Whilst sales only account for a small percentage of the overall market, vinyl sales are growing fast as a new generation discovers the magic of 12 inch artwork, liner notes and the unique sound of analogue records, often accompanied by a download code for mp3s...the vinyl revival looks set to continue."

I for one am glad that this once endangered format is still here, and with Record Store Day held across the world long may it continue. 

What do you think about vinyl? Share your thoughts below!

Hackspace and Creativity

The British are frequently called a nation of eccentrics and tinkerers. For such a small nation, Britain has had a very large impact on the development of society and technology around the world. As a people we are creative and industrious and no-where is this more obvious than a quick look through our history, many of our great inventions were created by people on the fringes of a field. The reason for this is that people on the fringes are more bold and creative with their ideas and solutions, bringing new ideas to an old field.

Looking over the last 250 years shows the impressive achievements of Britain.

The reason I mention creativity is because I have recently attended an open day for London Hackspace. It is a not-for-profit community-run workshop in Bethnal Green, where people with a wide variety of interests come together to learn from each other, discuss ideas and plans, get to grips with machinery and software and create projects and installations. There are a few Hackspaces across the UK offering a range of facilities and opportunities. 

london hackspace.jpg
Hackspace Electronics Workshop

Hackspace Electronics Workshop

The Wood Workshop

The Wood Workshop

The Hackspace recently moved to new premises which has a dedicated 6500-square-foot space over 2 floors near Bethnal Green Station. It is open to it's members 24 hours a day for a pay what you feel monthly membership fee, ranging from a minimal donation of £5 up to £25. The space has a well-equipped workshop for metal and woodworking, a robot arm, a 3D printer, a laser cutter, electronics equipment and components, desk space, sewing machines, a lathe and much more. The Hackspace receives much 'obsolete' equipment from Universities, facilities and organisations which can be used and 'hacked' for projects. For a comprehensive list of projects currently underway check out the Hackspace website linked at the bottom of the page.

I will be joining Hackspace because I like the idea of meeting a wide variety of people from all walks of life and working on projects. Knowing I will be supported by my peers who have a wide variety of knowledge and expertise, this is similar to the idea of crowdsourcing. Users are motivated to contribute to crowdsourced tasks by both intrinsic motivations, such as social contact, intellectual stimulation, and passing time, and by extrinsic motivations, such as financial gain.

crowdsourcing_steps.png

Crowdsourcing problems has come to the fore with the advent of the internet. By placing problems in the public domain and appealing to the masses you create 'horizontal interactions,' this encourages different people from different spheres to work together to solve problems. Many organisations have R&D (Research and Development) departments but sometimes you need fresh ideas from a new perspective. InnoCentive is the global leader on crowdsourcing innovation problems, it found that 40% of the problems posted online were solved within 6 months. These aren't small companies either, Proctor and Gamble, Reuters and NASA are some of its clients and many others are in the Fortune 500!

3M, Google, Valve and Pixar use 'horizontal interactions' and all these companies have been at the forefront of their fields, leading in innovation. 3M was one of the first companies to do this and it is one of the most innovative companies in the world, patenting over 300 products each year (not bad for a company which is over 75 years old!) 3M gives its workers 15% of their working time as 'Bootlegging hour,' a time to try speculative new ideas. Google do this and call it 'Ínnovation Time Off'' and much has been made of Valve's no hierarchy organisational features.

T.S. Elliot said,

"The great ages did not perhaps produce much more talent than ours, rather much less talent was wasted."

Valve's Gabe Newell identifies with this, often hiring people with no C.V. or formal experience, stating that creativity is a skill that never goes out of style;

"You need people who are adaptable because the thing that makes you the best in the world in one generation of games is going to be totally useless in the next."

Much has been made of the way the staff at Valve have their desks on wheels so they can move about easier to create 'horizontal interactions'... Coders will sit next to Graphic Designers and Concept Artists.

Much has been made of the way the staff at Valve have their desks on wheels so they can move about easier to create 'horizontal interactions'... Coders will sit next to Graphic Designers and Concept Artists.

One only needs to think back to how many software houses went down in the transition from 16 bit to 32 bit consoles. Valve brings in outsiders and lets them do their thing- this freeform has led to great results (including 65 million Steam users in the PC games industry thought to be on its last legs in 2007).

Valve is an excellent example of a company that embraces change, encourages crowdsourcing content and avoids hierarchical bottlenecks. I feel that Hackspace offers a similarly vibrant and innovative space, where sharing is encouraged.

Apologies for the waffling but I am very excited at the prospects of the projects I want to create and be a part of. I will link here anything specific to Computing but am hoping to create a complete arcade cabinet... wish me luck!

I'm hoping to build something along these lines... if it works out well I'll see if I can turn it into something the children can do at school... long live the tinkerers and dreamers!

Amazing Anamanaguchi Kick Up A Storm in Heaven 5/2/14

To say that I've been wanting to see Anamanaguchi for a while is a bit of an understatement. Ever since I became aware of them through the wonderful Scott Pilgrim vs the World game soundtrack they have been the hot band for me. No train strike was going to stop me from catching their one and only live London show, Under the Arches in Embankment.

                  Me with my ticket to the gig... I hadn't been to the venue before so was pretty excited to see what it was like.

Before the band came on we were treated to an amazing support set by Sabre Pulse, a one man Gameboy playing extraordinaire. He really got the crowd going with his uplifting ravey chiptunes, the most popular being a jungle remix of the first level Marioland theme.... The place erupted, much like when I saw Pendulum and The Prodigy... The crowd were suitably buzzing.

                                                   Sabrepulse got the room going with his mix of chiptune ravey tunes.

Due to the train strike Anamanaguchi came on earlier than planned, launching into their euphoric single Meow. The songs just kept on coming and a lively mosh pit started. They played for about an hour and played through most of the songs you'd expect.

                                                                 The light show was amazing, as you'd expect from the band!

I've been to many gig and this was definitely one of my favourites with a cool friendly crowd who made the band feel loved. The lead of the band, Peter Berkman thanked the crowd saying "Its Wednesday night and you guys are partying like its a summer weekend, we love you London".

It's times like this that I do truly love London, the folk here know good music and that's what the Anamanaguchi gig was... just very good music performed well!

I'll put up a full track listing later for you lovely people!

Uplifting Games Are Good For Fighting Blue Monday

Ah Blue Monday, not the amazing song by New Order but rather the name given to a date in mid-to-late January stated to be the most depressing day of the year. Cliff Arnall came up with the concept in the 1980's and even though the whole concept is considered pseudoscience, its formula derided by scientists as nonsense, the concept has stuck. I've written the equation below:

where weather = W, debt = d, time since Christmas = T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions = Q, low motivational levels = M and the feeling of a need to take action = Na. 'D' is not defined in the release, nor are units.

 

Arnall says the date was calculated by using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action

This year Blue Monday will fall on January 20, 2014 and to help combat this claptrap I've constructed links to wonderful uplifting games that will help to raise your spirits.

Like film, music and literature, games can affect our moods so I've chosen a few games that will help you relax and calm down. Positive Psychology research tells us that happy people perform better at work, school and other tasks. People across the world spend billions of hours a week playing games- imagine how transformative gaming could be! Spread a bit of cheer and pass this link on to friends and family to brighten their day!

Bubble Burst by Sound Sleeping

Bubble Burst by Sound Sleeping

Flow by Jenova Chen

Flow by Jenova Chen

Drifting Afternoon by Ferry Halim

Drifting Afternoon by Ferry Halim

Take A Walk

Take A Walk

Winter Bells by Ferry Halim

Winter Bells by Ferry Halim

Music Catch by Gambolio

Music Catch by Gambolio

Fishing Girl by Gambolio

Fishing Girl by Gambolio

Flur by Ninja Kiwi

Flur by Ninja Kiwi

Robot Unicorn Attack

Robot Unicorn Attack

Waterfall 2 by Moon Mana

Waterfall 2 by Moon Mana

Flower Reaction by Gambolio

Flower Reaction by Gambolio

4 Differences

4 Differences