Author: Doug Groves

dougplanet.com is his personal blog, which is withering on the vine. If you poke around it, you’ll find out that he’s an animator and broadcast designer by trade, usually pushing pixels in either After Effects or Lightwave 3D. If he absolutely had to pick a favourite all time writer, it would be Harlan Ellison more days than any other. If you don’t know who Ellison is, then Doug weeps for you. Doug also likes long walks on the beach, mainly to collect improperly discarded medical waste for an undisclosed project of epic proportions.

Hi-Rez Studios announce Tribes: Ascend for PC and 360

March 11, 2011April 4, 2011 Doug Groves Hi-Rez Studios, multiplayer, PC games, PC gaming, Starseige Tribes, Tribes 2, Tribes Ascend, Xbox Live1 Comment

Anyone who’s been playing multiplayer FPS games for over a decade will probably remember with some fondness both Starseige: Tribes and its sequel Tribes 2, the latter of which was released a decade ago. The series introduced players to a number of new elements in competitive multiplayer, from vertical combat using jet packs, and large sprawling maps that could accommodate teams of up to 16 players. Hi-Rez Studios, which purchased the Tribes franchise last fall, announced at PAX East that they’ll be bringing Tribes: Ascend to the PC and Xbox 360,…

The Great Canadian Appathon runs this weekend

March 10, 2011March 11, 2011 Doug Groves contest, game jam, Great Canadian Appathon, KPMG, Microsoft, mobile gaming, National Post, Telus, Windows Phone 7, XMG Studio0 comment

This weekend marks the Great Canadian Appathon, a competition to code a mobile game from scratch to completion in 48 hours. XMG Studio and The National Post are sponsoring the mobile game coding marathon, which starts at 5pm on Friday March 11th. The competition is open to university and college students, working either solo or in teams of up to four people, with the goal to make the best Windows Phone 7 game possible from scratch. Teams will meet up at one of six different locations across the country to start the marathon coding…

SteelSeries Siberia V2 USB headset review

March 10, 2011March 10, 2011 Doug Groves audio, headset, mic, review, Siberia V2, Steelseries3 Comments

When the SteelSeries Siberia V2 headset arrived at the studio, I was looking forward to seeing what changes they had made, as I was already using the original Sibera as my PC gaming headset of choice. Fortunately, there were very few major changes, but the one big update to the line was most welcome.

Windows Phone 7 NoDo update delayed until late March

March 10, 2011 Doug Groves copy paste, Microsoft, NoDo, update, Windows Phone 71 Comment

The long awaited NoDo update for Windows Phone 7 has been delayed until late March. Originally rumoured to be coming out in January, Microsoft never mentioned a specific timeframe until Mobile World Congress, when Steve Ballmer said early March with an expectation that it would roll out March 8th.

Kinect sells over 10 million, celebrates with a Guinness

March 9, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Guinness, Kinect, Microsoft, sales, Xbox 3600 comment

According to a Microsoft press release, the Kinect for Xbox 360 has sold over 10 million units, and in its short 4 month history has also sold over 10 million standalone titles. It’s a pretty impressive feat, making it the Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device according to Guinness (the Book of World Records, not the delicious stout).

IGDA Toronto holding GDC Round-Up

March 9, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves event, Game Developers Conference, Gamercamp, GDC, GDC 2011, Hand Eye Society, IGDA, IGDA Toronto0 comment

Next Monday, the Toronto chapter of the International Game Developer Association (IGDA) will be holding a round-up of the 2011 GDC event, which wrapped up this past week. The round-up will be held at Metro Hall, with a get together afterwards across the street at the Elephant & Castle.

Angry Birds everywhere

March 7, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves 3DS, Angry Birds, facebook, Microsoft, mobile gaming, Nintendo, Rovio, Wii0 comment

It seems that Rovio’s fowl flinging game is aiming to be completely ubiquitous this year. The smash hit that took the iPhone by storm has since been ported to Android and a board game will be appearing soon on Windows Phone 7, Xbox LIVE arcade, and Nintendo’s Wii and 3DS. Beyond that, they are launching a Facebook version of the game in the coming weeks as well. The Finnish company has even announced a somewhat bizare deal with deal with Microsoft for Bing to be the ‘official decision engine‘ for…

Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted hits Cineplex

March 6, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Animation Festival, Cineplex, screening, Sick and Twisted, Spike & Mike1 Comment

If you like animation, but haven’t heard of Spike & Mike, I’d be surprised. Their Festival of Animation has been running in various formats since the mid 1970’s, and has introduced animation fans to a number of artists that later went on to bigger things, such as Mike Judge, who’s “Frog Baseball” featured an early version of Beavis & Butthead, Bill Plympton (a personal favourite), Trey Parker and Matt Stone and many others. In short, Spike and Mike know good animation, and love sharing it. In the past, the touring…

Microsoft Research demos smart interactive displays

February 28, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves auto-st, glasses free 3D, Kinect, Microsoft Research, OLED1 Comment

Microsoft Research has put out no shortage of impressive tech demos, some which evolve into consumer products like the Kinect, and others either geared towards institutional use such as the Surface, which in some cases trickles down to consumer tech. In a recent video, Director of Microsoft Applied Sciences Steven Bathiche demonstrates some of their latest research into smart interactive displays, from “capturing light from the user to sending light to the users eyes”. Consider it a sort of mashup of Kinect and Surface, with the ability to display different…

Bulletstorm review – FPS meets arcade fun

February 25, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Arcade, Bulletstorm, EA, epic games, FPS, PC gaming, People Can Fly, PS3, PSN, review, Xbox 360, Xbox Live3 Comments

Bulletstorm is a breath of fresh air for FPS games. The Duty Calls parody ad, complete with in-game cries of “boring” was a statement on the state of modern shooters, as if each were as serious a look at war as Platoon, Band of Brothers or Generation Kill. Of course, this Tom Clancyesque style of fiction has as much in common with reality as Plan B’s magical super subs, but that’s another story. Eschewing the gritty ‘realism’ of modern shooters for over the top science fiction is only the beginning,…

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang

February 23, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Kickstarter, Minecraft, Minecraft The Story of Mojang, PC gaming2 Comments

When Markus “Notch” Persson first launched Minecraft, I don’t think he expected to see the indie game grow as popular as it did. Not only has the game well surprassed 1,000,000 copies sold at this point, but it’s getting its own movie. 2 Player Productions, the people behind Reformat the Planet, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to make Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, and with a month to go have already raised almost a third of the $150,000 budget.

Kinect for Windows getting official SDK

February 22, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Kinect, Kinect hacks, Microsoft, SDK, Windows1 Comment

Ever since its release in the fall, Microsoft’s Kinect has been a popular target for coders everywhere, putting the motion controller to use in applications far beyond the traitional use as a game controller. Now Microsoft has made it official, by announcing that it will be releasing an official Software Development Kit later this spring. This SDK will be for non-commercial use, and there’s no word when a commercial SDK will come out. The Kinect for Windows SDK is being developed and released by Microsoft Research (MSR) in collaboration with…