Friday, February 20, 2009

Winner - I Love ABQ Contest

Yes. The rumors are true. My entry for an 'I love ABQ Contest' has been selected as a finalist. Join me (if you have nothing better to do) Thursday, 2/26/09 at O'Neils in Nob Hill for the party from 6-8 pm. Winning entries will be printed in local paper, Local iQ.

About the contest
What do you love about Albuquerque? Tell us! Win great prizes!
Local iQ and AIBA want to know. Tell us what you love about your town in 25 words or less! Submissions can be in any format — poetry, prose, pithy comments, limericks, haiku, or whatever you come up with. Send your entries (limit two per person) via e-mail to contest@local-iQ.com. Deadline Feb. 14, 2009. Include your name and phone number! Hard copy entries can be mailed to:I Love ABQ ContestLocal iQPO Box 7490, ABQ, NM 87102
Prizes for "Quirkiest," "Most Romantic" and "Best of Show."

My entry:
Green chile beer, dive films at the Guild, cold Balloon Fiesta mornings, roadrunner sightings – no ‘Q’s’ about it. You had me at 'hola'.

Could it be - that QuirkyABQ takes the prize for quirkiest love poem about the 'Q'?

Finalists:
Winners will be printed in Local iQ.
Prizes and party on Feb. 26 at O'Niell's Irish Pub, 6 to 8 p.m.
Prizes include dinner for two at Slate Street Cafe; a lovely gift basket from Martha's Body Bueno; and a selection of luscious salsas from Cervantes. Plus, you get your name in the paper and here on the web site!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Global Game Jam '09 - Team Albuquerque

Superbowl Sunday. Where were you? My guess is comfortable with friends eating lots of food and watching the game (or like us advertising folks, watching the commercials). A core group of gamers weren't so lucky, as they had just stayed up for thirty-six hours straight developing Chromogeist, their submission to the Global Game Jam '09.

On January 30 - February 2 over 1,600 participants competed world-wide in a video game development and design challenge. Albuquerque's team was led by Eric Renz-Whitmore, UNM Arts Lab professor. The group included Luke Nihlen, Elaine Raybourn, Eric Geusz, Ben Pogge, Peter Hague, Jonathan Whetzel, John Nipper, Chase Palmer, Ryan Knudsen, Jim Evilsizer, and Mark Smith.

The team was presented with the challenge of developing a game in 48 hours that could be played for five minutes. The team chose to focus on the concept of 'blindness' and developed a game, Chromogeist, that takes place at night. Through cooperative gaming techniques, players utilize their flashlights to 'zap' creatures of the night with the hope of surviving until the sun comes up.

Watch YouTube video on Chromogeist team:





What blew me away about this group was the raw talent it took to pull together a well designed, fully functioning game is such a short amount of time. Even the feet on the characters in the game moved! And the attention to detail - they recorded several tracks of grunts that at random rotate as the game goes on. And for background music, a team member had his friend write a song and come into the studio and record it for the game. Amazing!

To young graphic designers, programmers and game enthusiasts, these competitions are an eye-opener that gaming is here to stay and will continue to become mainstream as time goes on.