Monday 25 August 2014

Brickfilms: Cinema, Space and Lego.
Since the beginning cinema has been fascinate by space: it is known that the first movie ever has been Le voyage dans la Lune by Geroge Méliès.

Less known is that also the first brickfilm (you know, Lego stop-motion videos) treats of the same topic. For an exceptional coincidence 1973's En rejse til månen has the very same title, just in Danish. Twelve years old Lars Hassing and his brother Henrik realized it for their grandparents golden wedding anniversary and were influenced by the Apollo program. Apparently they even went up to and showed it to Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, who, in sign of appreciation, rewarded the lucky kids with large Lego sets.

Coincidences, however, aren't over. The second ever birckfilm is Lego Wars by Fernando Escovar. It was inspired by a trendy movie of the time: Star Wars. The displayed minifigures hold medieval weapons and the spaceship is truly a Red Cross helicopter: Star Wars Lego sets weren't available at the time. 

That's the thing, though, Fernando would maybe have been surprised to know that nineteen years later Star Wars would become the first ever licensed theme featured in Lego.
Benny approves! 









... and so does Vader!

Saturday 23 August 2014

#welovegamedevs!
Hard times for game devs... after the whole (very sad) Zoe Quinn affair, only few days ago Polygon reported that “game dev harassment remains as bad as it was a year ago”, when it seemed to reach a fevered pitch. The International Game Developers Association is now creating a special interest group to investigate mental health, even if it decided against support groups. Kate Edwards, the executive director of IGDA said: “We are also exploring methods by which we can educate game players on how they can and should interact with developers”.
Yesterday, on twitter the hashtag #welovegamedevs become trending and thousands of gamers used it to underline their love and appreciation for the developers of their favorite games. The hashtag has been launched by Keith Stuart of The Guardian, who wrote “Maybe everyone should think of a game they really love then tweet the developer and tell them. Tag it #welovegamedevs (I know I'm a hippy)”. The initiative immediately found the support of many and echoed through the internet (see e.g. Gamasutra, Dual Shockers and Crave online). #welovegamedevs become trending, first in the UK and than in the US, showing the best side of the game community and, incidentally, making Keith Stuart cry : “Do you think we can get #welovegamedevs trending? If we do, we win today! (You will also see a grown man cry a bit)”.
PS
If you didn't do it yet, look up at these tweets, both from gamers and grateful developers, it is a “faith in humanity restored” sort of thing!