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Zen Pinball 3D (3DS) product review

[3DS Ware / Nintendo Life]

As gaming arcades and old-fashioned pinball tables become increasingly rare in public spaces, pinball enthusiasts can now revert to digitised versions for their fix. It’s good news for these gamers as the 3DS eShop’s latest 3D offering isZen Pinball 3D, a stereoscopic edition of the highly rated PlayStation Network release. We found a room with a sticky floor, lots of noisy gamers and walls of bright flashing screens, and put these tables to the test.  …

Conclusion

Zen Pinball 3D is an excellent representation of pinball, with the attractive stereoscopic visuals adding an extra sense of immersion. Four challenging, well-constructed tables are joined by a number of pleasing features, the extensive online leaderboards being a particular highlight. Our only complaint relates to the initial disconnect between the detailed tables and the small 3DS screen — in some respects this was unavoidable, but alternative designs would have removed the initial trial-and-error gameplay in favour of more immediately intuitive tables. That’s a minor issue in the overall scheme of things, leaving a high quality pinball experience that is genuinely heightened with the 3DS’s capabilities: worth serious consideration for all gamers.

 

Read the full story here: http://3dsware.nintendolife.com/reviews/2011/12/zen_pinball_3d_3dsware

THQ’s Cory Ledesma Lays the 3D Smackdown on WWE All Stars

[Philip Lelyveld comment: I know John Gaudiosi, the story’s reporter, and would be happy to make introductions (his bio at bottom).]

[Gamer Live]

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has gone 3D. THQ has unleashed WWE All Stars for Nintendo 3DS. The new game comes packed with a roster of WWE Legends and prominent current-day WWE Superstars, including 13 WWE playable characters offered as downloadable content for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles earlier this year.  Cory Ledesma lays the smackdown on the jump to the third dimension in the video interview below.  …

See the full story and watch the video here: http://www.gamerlive.tv/article/thq’s-cory-ledesma-lays-3d-smackdown-wwe-all-stars

 

About the author:

John Gaudiosi
Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 17 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Playboy Magazine, NVISION Magazine, GamePro Magazine, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Maxim.com, AOL GameDaily.com, GeForce.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books’ How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing’s Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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