StarCraft II is here.
Blizzard Entertainment's sci-fi sequel is the best-selling PC game of 2010 with more than 1.5 million copies sold in its first 48 hours, and becomes the fastest-selling strategy game of all time!
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty achieved a day-one sales milestone of more than 1 million copies sold worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game of 2010 within its first 24 hours of availability. The game went on to sell a total of more than 1.5 million copies in its first 48 hours, setting the record for fastest-selling strategy game of all time.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released simultaneously in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on July 27. More than 8,000 stores throughout the world opened their doors at midnight to celebrate the release, and Blizzard Entertainment developers were present at several locations to commemorate the event with players and sign copies of the game.
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Lines & Squares.
When a good friend of mine, the owner and creator of Lines & Squares, a boutique company specialising in some of the most exquisite hand-crafted invitations I've ever seen, asked me to create a web presence for her I couldn't resist.
This instilled certain challenges, one of the biggest was to reproduce the tactile realistic-textured style of her art as faithfully as possible to give the user an authentic feel of what they could be in store for well before any contact has been made.
The resulting overall layout was portrayed in a naturally textured, richly lit table top with various textures, including the website itself scattered on it. The moody lighting and deep colours with textures brings an extra amount of intimacy to the design which I think works great.
Despite the abundant textures and lighting, the brief required a site which was simple and modest, ensuring clients know they're dealing with a completely personal service.
We'll be launching the website to the world soon, we can't wait!
Kevin Butler at E3 2010.
As a follow up to this post where I was a little harsh on Microsoft's Kinetic. I ended up watching the Sony press conference and let's just say I'm glad I'm not the only one who's experiencing those thoughts! Enjoy!
Aix Petite Maison.
When I first saw the location for this townhouse in Aix en Provence (France) for a holiday rental, I was seriously considering asking for some 'free rental' in exchange for their site!
In the end, reality kicked in. When am I going to have free time for a holiday?
Off to work I went. For their site, the townhouse and area of Aix were the heroes. With the scenic beauty of the area there was no way I couldn't make the initial home page almost a gallery on its own. As an extra bit of trivia, this was the first site I experimented with using the absolutely amazing ExpressionEngine 2.0 Beta. It began a new love affair for their system, everyone should check it out!
The site has just gone live and ready for any applications. if you're unlike me and have some time off for a holiday, get there! Just don't mind my jealousy! Check it out at http://aixpetitemaison.com
Vogue Living Australia.
Contempo are a furniture company that specialise in super rare and unique furniture from around the world. Their latest advertisement was an exclusive for Vogue Living magazine and required something to pack a lot of punch without completely going against the style of the magazine.
The final design which was featured in the magazine is a balancing effort between minimalistic class and informative content. As it was the summer issue of Vogue Living, the client wanted something that could appeal and cater to the specific season.
Webarena.
Webarena are a website development company from Perth, Australia. They're also amongst a select few whom I consider best friends and mentors. These guys have been in the business for well over 14 years now and are still at the forefront of the industry as far as I'm concerned. Their directors, Steven Donald and Trevor Kenney come from quite different backgrounds, design and technology respectively. Combining those two skill sets have made them into one of the most successful web companies in the region.
Over the last 5 years, Webarena have invested a huge amount of time and money in developing their own content management system to fit their (and more importantly their customers) needs. The result is a completely custom feature that has set them apart from anyone else in the industry.
This design is of Webarena's current website which I had the privilege of working on with them. We think it was a fantastic balance of usability and flare, highlighting the major benefits from a Webarena website compared to your average website from another developer.
Don't take my word for it though, check out http://webarena.com.au yourself and see some of the fantastic services they have to offer.
ENJO’s Cinderella.
'Twas just a normal day at work when Steven Donald and I were faced with the monumental challenge of creating a 30 second commercial to be broadcast on Australian television for ENJO Australia.
Steven recruited the absolute best to bring ENJO's 2D Disney-esque vision to life. Included in the developmental line-up included a modest array of hugely talented artists including ex-Disney animators to boot! The development schedule was limited to a tiny 2-month window which in hand-drawn animation standards was an extreme deadline to meet, especially when considered we had to animate, colour a whole 25 frames for every second of per character animation!
The result was an extremely tightly knit and organised project which incorporated the efforts of talented artists including animators, writers, compositors, designers, sound engineers and producers.
To this day it remains one of those creative achievements I look back on with a sense of pride and enjoyment.
Microsoft’s Kinect doesn’t fit.
Call me a pessimist, but after Microsoft's E3 2010 keynote at E3, I'm hugely skeptical as to whether the Kinect system is a viable technology or not. Don't get me wrong, I love and embrace new technology with open arms, but there's a few key factors running through my mind that stop myself (and possibly others) from taking this product seriously.
- Size of living room
Most gamers that I know have their Xbox stashed in a corner of a tiny room (or bedroom) for hardcore and even late-night gaming, hardly enough room and lighting for what I consider a proper use of the device - You mean I have to stand up?
Let me put it this way. After a hard day at work, the last thing I feel like doing is coming home and standing up to play a racing or social-type game. Am I really the only one? - Game lengths
Okay, let's say I can be bothered standing up after work to play a Kinect game. I'm a pretty moderate gamer, I like to train quite a bit in my spare time, learning a new game. In my younger days I knew I could, but asking me to stand up in one position for over an hour is sort of something that I just can't do anymore (not willingly anyway). Unfortunately because of this I see any games released primarily for Kinect are limited ONLY for short stint, social means. Not really what you'd call a gamer's device.
You know what? I could be totally wrong and off base here, but let's just see what happens. I could be eating my words here very soon no doubt. For the time being, I have to remain skeptical, as the bridging of the gap between the "geek gamer's (people who I believe make up the majority of gaming culture therefore 'sales')" and "social fun gamer's" doesn't seem to have been accomplished as I see it.