With modern consoles offering gamers graphics so photorealistic that they blur the line between CGI and reality, it's easy forget just how cartoonishly blocky they were in the 8-bit era. In his new book, Creating Q*Bert and Other Classic Arcade Games, legendary game designer and programmer Warren Davis recalls his halcyon days imagining and designing some of the biggest hits to ever grace an arcade. In the excerpt below, Davis explains how the industry made its technological leap from 8- to 12-bit graphics. Santa Monica Press©2021 Santa Monica PressBack at my regular day job, I became particularly fascinated with a new product that came out for the Amiga computer: a video digitizer made by a company called A-Squared. Let’s unpack all that slowly.The Amiga was a recently released home computer capable of unprecedented graphics and sound: 4,096 colors! Eight-bit stereo sound! There were image manipulation programs for it that could do things no other computer, including the IBM PC, could do. We had one at Williams not only because of its capabilities, but also because our own Jack Haeger, an immensely talented artist who’d worked on Sinistar at Williams a few years earlier, was also the art director for the Amiga design team.Video digitization is the process of grabbing a video image from some video source, like a camera or a videotape, and converting it into pixel data that a computer system (or video game) could use. A full-color photograph might contain millions of... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2021-12-25 16:30:11 UTC ]
A new wave of legislation is leading to censorship in schools and libraries by creating a climate of fear and uncertainty for educators. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Story windows are something you can find at libraries and are similar to story walks, but what are they? One writer explores. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-18 10:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Among the week's headlines: libraries and schools face multiple challenges in Texas; a library administrator in Missouri is warned to stay 'politically neutral' or face discipline; a library in Seattle faces closure for making diverse books available; and Jay-Z juices library card signups at the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Five schools, each located in states affected by book bans, will receive up to $5,000 in diverse titles for students and libraries from We Need Diverse Books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
It certainly didn't take long for AI's other shoe to drop, what with the emergent technology already being perverted to commit confidence scams and generate spam content. We can now add censorship to that list as the Globe Gazette reports the school board of Mason City, Iowa has begun leveraging... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-14 20:25:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Jess deCourcy Hinds hopefully predicts a new trend in book publishing: the librarian memoir. | Lit Hub Libraries “It’s like someone hitting you on the side of the head. It’s marvelous.” Former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed talks to Allan Jones about making an unlistenable album. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-11 10:30:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Libraries and bookstores aren't just places to find books, but "third places" where you can find community, great conversation, and fun. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-11 10:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A September shipment to Kyiv comprises new books donated by UK publishers for Book Aid International and PEN chapters' distribution. The post Book Aid International: 25,000 Books for Ukrainian Libraries appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-08-08 22:51:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
At a glance ProsResolutions up to 8K possible, direct extraction of MP3 filesConsNo downloading of videos behind paywallsOur VerdictThe Video and Audio Downloader Pro 2 is easy to use and useful, especially for users of public service media libraries. Watching videos offline has evolved... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-08-04 16:46:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Policies in response to book bans are pushing kids out of libraries — plus, this week's censorship and book banning news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-04 10:40:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
At a glance ProsResolutions up to 8K possible, direct extraction of MP3 filesConsNo downloading of videos behind paywallsOur VerdictThe Video and Audio Downloader Pro 2 is easy to use and useful, especially for users of public service media libraries. Watching videos offline has evolved... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-07-31 17:44:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Historically, public libraries have been targets for fascists, and today's libraries are inherently against what fascism stands for. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-07-31 10:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Data collected as part of a Department of Energy survey found that some states have relatively low penetration when it comes to AC-equipped households. This weekend much of America was again blanketed in a heat wave. As Reuters noted, over 175 million Americans were under excessive heat... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-07-31 09:15:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The rising costs university libraries are paying to access journals have implications far beyond the ivory tower. From new cancer treatments to debates about foreign policy, new information enters the public domain through academic studies. Now... Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-07-31 08:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
For anyone with an eye on video game news, it’s been hard to ignore the recent rise of names like Annapurna Interactive, Devolver Digital, Private Division, Humble, Epic Games and Netflix tied to independent projects. The distribution process for indie developers has shifted over the past few... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-07-28 17:06:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
NASA is launching its very own streaming platform called NASA+ sometime this summer. While the space agency already livestreams launches and other events on its website, NASA+ will feature not just live broadcasts, but also collections of original video series. A handful of the first shows on... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-07-28 06:30:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Among the week's headlines: a coalition of booksellers and publishing industry groups sue Texas over the state's new book rating law; a judge in Arkansas is set to rule on a motion to block that state's 'harmful to minors' law from taking effect; and a Houston school district's plan to replace... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
It isn’t unusual for libraries to feature prominently in novels; novelists, after all, are merely adult versions of the little people who fell in love with books at public libraries. But what of librarians? The keepers of the books, the ones who know you prefer romance, science fiction, or... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In the past two weeks, three separate bills addressing book bans in schools and libraries have been proposed in Massachusetts. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-07-13 13:58:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
For colleges and libraries seeking a big name for a guest lecturer, few come bigger than Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court justice who rose from poverty in the Bronx to the nation’s highest court Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2023-07-11 14:02:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this