BSc Entertainment Systems

Can Windows 7 Save Microsoft's Reputation?

2009-10-23T09:02:00.002+01:00

Windows, in its many and various forms, is installed on somewhere between 88 per cent and 93 per cent of the world's computers; to extrapolate that vague figure even more inaccurately, that's somewhere around a billion machines.

Indeed, Windows is so hilariously dominant in the marketplace that discussions of the merits of relative minnows such as Macintosh, Linux or Google's emerging Android OS sometimes feels as niche as pondering Kettering Town's impressive start to the football season.

Read on

Lemmings - A Complete History

2009-10-19T09:10:00.003+01:00

DMA Design, creators of the (in!)famous Lemmings game, which captured hearts in the 90s and broke many little feeble minds in the process have published the Complete History of Lemmings online. The piece mainly talks about the development of the game, some of the political situations and how they came up with those damn puzzles! Well worth a read for any budding games developer.

8000 New Jobs In IT In Next 4 Years

2009-10-19T09:07:00.001+01:00

"The global IT industry will spearhead economic recovery, with 5.8 million new jobs in sight. Despite the global recession, some of the most exciting new developments in mobile and internet are still being unleashed, from Twitter, to Facebook, to apps on mobile devices."

Semester 3 and Beyond

2009-04-22T10:24:00.003+01:00

Howdy Folks,
Each student needs to make a decision on their choice of stream for Semester 3 shortly. The powerpoint presentation linked here outlines all the information. If anyone has questions, contact me know via email or call up to the office.

Music Technology Input Devices Demo

2009-03-31T11:45:00.002+01:00

Hello Entertainment Systems people. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we're having a bit of a class excursion down to the College St. campus (Good Shepherd) to view a Music Technology demo that's taking place as part of New Music Week here at WIT.

The demo focuses on input devices for controller synthesizer events. There are two main parts:
1. Using Wii Remotes and Nunchucks to control sound, pitch and also trigger sample events.
2. Translating sound generated from a pots and pans drums kit into WAV format, then analysing that WAV and generating MIDI information which can then be fed into a synth.

This is of interest to students of both games and music disciplines. The music side is pretty obvious, but for the games people you will see how a gaming device (Wii Remote) can be co-opted for other purposes. Will this have an effect on games in the future?

ALL students need to be at the Bunker's Hill entrance of the College St. Campus at 11.25am tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. The demo is set up in the dance studios.

YouTube Branded Justice?

2009-03-24T09:03:00.001Z

From the Irish Times: THE INTERNET can be a window to some dreadful cruelty: but physical cruelty always takes place elsewhere. When an anonymous teenager uploaded videos of himself mistreating a small household cat to YouTube, the crime was in what he had done, not that he’d shown the world the evidence. But what happened next was a direct result of that upload. It’s either an illustration that justice can be reached even in the less salubrious parts of the net; or it shows that sometimes the net reaches further into the real world than most people are comfortable with.

Read on.

DJ Phone

2009-03-19T11:52:00.003Z

A young designer has came up with a phone concept that smashes together design elements from Nintendo's Wiimote, Tonium's Pacemaker Portable DJ, and the iPhone to make an interesting portable music system. Read on ...

Skills Shortages

2009-03-03T14:35:00.002Z

In a recent report commissioned by UK games industry TIGA, the following was noted:

"Of the 100 UK-based CEOs and managing directors surveyed, 63% had faced skill shortages in the last year, with programmer vacancies as the most challenging to fill by 74% of those respondents. Tax burdens and foreign competition were listed as the top two barriers to expansion. TIGA CEO Richard Wilson hopes that the government will introduce a 20% tax break for local developers so the region can compete against Canada and a growing number of US States with tax incentives."

A quick scan of the web will reveal lots of opportunities for multimedia developers. A bright spot in a gloomy economy!

Read the report here.

PS3 Price Cut 'Imminent'

2009-02-26T12:32:00.005Z

There's lot of news stories floating around the internet that Sony will be announcing a 100 euro/dollar/pound price cut on PS3s in the next couple of days.

According to Janco analyst Mike Hickey, Sony needs to slash the price of the console to "effectively restart unit velocity at retail." He sees this cut taking effect in "April or by June at the latest." Without the cut, he predicts PS3 sales will continue to steadily decline.

So if you're thinking of getting a PS3, hold off a few days!

Two Sources: Yahoo Tech and Engadget.

How To Make a Game For the iPhone

2009-02-15T21:27:00.002Z

In 43 seconds (might take the average person a little longer) ....

8-Bit Minutemen Experience

2009-02-12T14:04:00.007Z

This is a really cool intersection of film, comic book, games and music. Promotional material for the upcoming Watchmen film has been very inventive so far, with fake news report, online magazines and a healthy supply of film-maker video podcasts (Anthony Burgess, could we call these viddycasts?).

Anyway, the best one yet is just out - a playable video game within a film. Veidt Industries have made an 8-bit game of 1940s superheros The Minutemen. This is of interest to students of Entertainment Systems as it shows the intersection of multiple media formats. Musicians - take note of the nostaligic 8-bit music!

I love the Double Dragon-esque feel of this game. Have a go and see who can get the highest score?!

Flash Coming For iPhone (No, Really)

2009-02-09T11:44:00.001Z

Once thought to be building Flash for the iPhone mostly on its own, Adobe has mentioned at the World Economic Forum that it's not only continuing work on the animation plug-in but has teamed up with Apple to make it a reality.

Read on ...

Microsoft Surface

2009-02-05T10:14:00.002Z

For those of you who missed Liam Cronin's talk yesterday, he showed a few videos of Microsoft Surface in action. This kind of technology has thousands of possible uses, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Can you think of any entertainment applications? Games? What about using the surface as a musical instrument? Or possibly a controller?

Microsoft Talk at WIT

2009-02-03T09:42:00.000Z

Liam Cronin, Microsoft Academic Engagement Manager, will be in WIT this coming Wednesday, 4th Feb. He will give a talk to students about some Microsoft initiatives such as the Imagine Cup, Dreamspark and the MSDN Academic Alliance. He will also do some technology demos.

The talk will be in D16 at 1:15pm.

New in Ableton Live 8

2009-01-29T10:03:00.004Z

The emminent Peter Kirn over at CreateDigitalMusic.com has posted a video playlist outline the new collaborative working facility in Ableton Live 8. Sharing and working on sets via the web looks pretty cool to me and is a genuine step forward. I must investigate the Max for Live package, although maybe not this week!

Excellent Prospects for Technology Graduates

2009-01-29T09:35:00.002Z

From the Irish Times:
"Ireland has been facing a growing shortage of graduates in technical disciplines, even though computer scientists, electronic engineers, and IT professionals have excellent career options."

This echoes similar statements from the Irish Software Association, ICT Ireland and GameDevelopers.ie

Students graduating the next 2 years will certainly have their pick of jobs. If the government actually implements some of their 'knowledge economy' rhetoric, then the future is certainly bright within the ICT sector for the foreseeable future.

Now, let's get some more indigenous companies going and not have to rely so heavily on multinationalis ....

Are Games Better Value Than DVD/Blu-Ray?

2009-01-27T09:26:00.003Z

TechRadar poses and interesting question as to the perceived relative value between games and DVD/Blu-Ray movies. Quite simply, if you had EUR40 to spend, do you think you'd get more 'bang for you buck' from a game or a film? Interestingly, where does music fall into all of this? A few years ago, the same question was posed about DVDs against CDs - if you had EUR20 would you get more value from a film or an album? Unfortunately, the record industry doesn't seem to have evolved in any meaningful way - iTunes and other digital services are still using more or less the same model as vinyl sales, just the media and distribution methods have changed.

There are no simple answers to all of this. However, it is of significant importance that we keep a watch on the situation. Without continued sales, there will be a cut-back on new product, which means less jobs.

Also, where do ISPs fit in all of this? Nobody installs a 10Mbit broadband package to send and receive EMail. Do the ISPs owe some responsibility in declining revenues for content generators? Or are they increasing revenues through online stores?

Answers on a postcard to .....

Game Sales Overtake DVD/Blu-ray

2009-01-26T12:47:00.002Z

"For the first time ever, worldwide videogame revenue had exceeded that of DVD and Blu-Ray sales in 2008 .... global sales of videogame software has risen an encouraging 20 percent in 2008, reaching US$32 billion"
Read the full article over at CVG

Inauguration 2.0

2009-01-26T10:10:00.004Z

Last week's Inauguration of President Obama was historic for a number of reasons. Whatever about race/society and other impacts, from a purely technical perspective it was pretty groundbreaking. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and many more Web 2.0 technologies were used by mainstream media to broadcast the event.

Silicon Republic summarises some of the technologies used here.

Games On The Up

2009-01-14T16:26:00.003Z

Here's a link to a very interesting article from the UK Independent about the success enjoyed by the games industry, despite declines in virtually all other market segments.

In a tough consumer market, this is an industry that is one of very few winners. Computer games are enjoying record sales of consoles and software across the globe. Mike Griffith, who heads the video game group Activision, said: "Movies, recorded music and television – these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors. Video games are poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the year ahead."

Read the full piece here.

Welcome Back

2009-01-12T11:30:00.002Z

Welcome back to Semester 2! I hope you're all suitably refreshed after the Christmas break.

As you can imagine, timetables will change over the next week or so, but the latest copy will always be posted on the notice board outside the School of Science office.

Google Friend Connect

2008-12-08T09:55:00.003Z

Google has unleashed an application by which any website can add social applications to their site. It would appear that this will allow developers access to any of the social networking sites signed up to the OpenSocial initiative, which includes MySpace, Friendster, IMEEM and a whole lot more.

Read all about it here

Music Sales Forecasts Might Be Silly

2008-12-04T12:07:00.003Z

From Wired.com:

"Forrester has new predictions about the future of music. Apparently, 41 percent of music sales will be digital by 2013. As previous studies have shown, the increase in digital sales will not make up for the ongoing decline in CD sales, and so as a result, the music market will shrink at a compound annual growth rate of 0.8, dropping to $9.8 billion in 2013. Sales in 2008, by comparison, are expected to total $10.2 billion."

Of course, they also state that these forecasts probably aren't worth the virtual paper they're not printed on ....

Class Picture 2: Suit Up

2008-12-03T09:35:00.003Z

The first class picture was mysteriously missing a few characters. Obviously an attempt to hide the truth. But we will not be censored! The truth is out there. Here is the original, restored in all its hilarious glory.

Student Mobile Broadband Wars Set To Begin

2008-12-01T09:04:00.002Z

Good news for students wanting to get online:

"Mobile operators offering mobile broadband will begin vying for the hearts – and wallets – of connected third-level students, following the latest deal by O2 and HEAnet (Ireland’s National Education and Research Network) to offer mobile broadband for €13 a month."

Read on at siliconrepublic.com

Semester One Almost Complete

2008-11-28T10:00:00.005Z

Semester One of the very first class in Entertainment Systems is almost over - just the small matter of EXAMS to sort out!

Pictured are the combined class of Entertainment Systems, Computer Forensics, Physics w/ Computing and Applied Computing - well those who were in for first class on Friday morning that is!

2008-11-27T16:00:00.005Z

The creative programming sketchbook Processing is out of Beta and version 1.0 has been released. Looking forward to getting stuck into this package as its development has been mightily impressive. For the uninitiated:

"Processing is a programming language, development environment, and online community that since 2001 has promoted software literacy within the visual arts. Initially created to serve as a software sketchbook and to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context, Processing quickly developed into a tool for creating finished professional work as well."

I've heard that Processing integrates very nicely with audio packages so one could develop an audio engine in SuperCollider and then do a funky front end in Processing. Music technology students can expect to be seeing these packages in future modules!

Morgan Stanley Programming Challenge

2008-11-26T10:23:00.001Z

Are you ready for the challenge?

This autumn Morgan Stanley's Technology Division have launched the 2nd Morgan Stanley Student Programming Contest and this season the contest is open to students from all across Europe.

The contest is an online programming competition, designed internally by a team of Morgan Stanley Technologists to challenge students to implement a set of programs that solve exciting algorithmic problems.

This years prizes include a Dell XPS M1710 Gaming Laptop, an XBOX 360 Elite, an iPod Nano and a debugger prize of an Iomega Prestige Portable 500 GB Hard Drive.

Visit the Morgan Stanley Pro Contest Website for more information and to register.

2008-11-26T08:56:00.006Z

Irish middleware company Havok and Intel have launched a worldwide competition with a cash prize of US$40,000 to find the “next big thing” in video game development. Entitled the Havok Physics Innovation Contest, amateur game developers are being asked to create an inventive, playable PC game demo using the Intel sponsored no-charge PC version of the Emmy award-winning Havok Physics software. Supporting the growth of future video game developers, Havok’s goal is to drive innovation and creativity for the use of physics in game developing worldwide.

Read more about the Havok Physics Innovation Contest

Semester 1 Exam Timetable

2008-11-24T10:44:00.003Z

The timetable for Semester 1 exams has been published. Put these dates in your diary:

15 Dec. 9.15: Computing Essentials (Main Hall)
17 Dec. 9.15: Discrete Mathematics (F06,F08,F09)
19 Dec. 11.45: Software Development Lifecycle (E19A,E19B,E15)
22 Dec. 11.45: The Entertainment Industry (Main Hall)

They've also been added to the Entertainment Systems Google Calendar.

Alas Poor Blu-Ray, We Hardly Knew Ye ...

2008-11-19T11:37:00.006Z

Analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates has stated the current economic climate will have a negative impact on Blu-Ray adoption this Christmas. He claims that people just don't have the cash to go upgrading their home entertainment systems. In reference to internet-based video-on-demand services, he also notes:

If you can get movies over the wire on demand and have an entire library at your disposal on the screen, that's the way you're going to go.

When it comes to Blu-Ray, I really don't see what the fuss is all about. I believe that the general public does not need to watch everything in full-HD, certainly not having recently only upgraded from VHS to DVD. DVD brought a wow-factor picture and sound quality, as well as being much more convenient than VHS. However, blu-ray doesn't really offer all that more, certainly not enough to justify a new player costing €300 and discs that start at €25. Also, viewers need to have a full HD TV set on top of the player and despite what the media may have reported, not everyone has a giant flatscreen at home.

I predict that blu-ray will sell poorly this Christmas and next year, the price of players and discs will halve. I still don't think this will generate the sales numbers the industry hopes. Meanwhile, the installation of media-centres will increase and (mostly illegal) video downloads will shoot through the roof. The industry will move to more convenient video download services by next year, with the iTunes store being made available in more countries.

That's my €0.02 anyway. What do you think?

Atari and Ireland

2008-11-18T15:30:00.001Z

You'd be forgiven for believing that the games industry was relatively new to Ireland. However, Jamie McCormick has a great article over on gamedevelopers.ie about how Atari once had a development division in Ardfinnan (Co. Tipperary) in the 1970s, employing over 200 people at its height.

Read Atari and Ireland

Multimedia Jobs in Ireland

2008-11-18T15:05:00.000Z

Multimediajobs.ie is a website that is dedicated to posting vacancies in the Irish multimedia domain. The current crop of Entertainment Systems students haven't even completed Semester 1, but it's worth keeping an eye on the jobs market (and the salaries!) all the same.

Current vacancies include an Audio Visual Manager (¢40-60k), Digital Media Planner (negotiable salary) and various development roles (all around ¢50k).

Are You a PC or a Mac

2008-11-18T13:18:00.000Z

If you're thinking of buying a new computer and can't decide between a PC or a Mac, the following guide from switched.com might be of assistance. It breaks the argument down to a number under a number of categories: ease of use, media, performance, hardware, accessories, software, security, gaming, battery life (for laptops), support and cost.

Ma c vs PC - Which is for You?

Class night out

2008-10-09T21:38:00.000+01:00

Well lads, I know a few of ye have been itching for the lot of us to go out and hit the town hard so I'ma (I am going to) step up to the plate. This is just a suggestion so shoot it down if you want to. Next thursday night in Electric Avenue, will be held Oxjam. There'll be four really good bands playing (Tröusersnake anybody) and the Untz lads will be there playing techno and jungle if you're into that sort of thing (I am). All proceeds go to Oxfam so we can get pissed and feel good about ourselves at the same time! We can all go to Geoff's or something first if ye like. Details on the poster.

Paintballing!

2008-10-04T14:26:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, I came across this offer for a days paintballing in Combatzone in Limerick

Heres the gist!

"Paintballing is the ideal clibs and societies day out as it acts as a great icebreaker for new members and it encourages group interaction and teamwork...Combatzone is Ireland's most popular student paintball venue with 25 acres of action packed missions...Our new student pack is €25 per plaer and includes 200 paintballs and full commando kit. Our play and stay deal in €50 and includes a days paintballing, accommodation at jury's inn Limerick City and V.I.P. entry to the Trinity Rooms Nightclub..."

Ive been to a few places and this looks like a pretty good deal so i was thinking if theres enough interest then we could organise a day out for the class...

If your interested then leave a comment with your name or email myself and I can get an idea of how many would be going!

Thanks, Ross

First Post

2008-10-03T11:37:00.001+01:00

This is a placeholder post to display some text on the page. Useful information will follow soon ...