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.

Hallowe’en Marks “Dead Before Dawn” Release

October 16, 2009 Doug Groves Left 4 Dead, PC games, Valve0 comment

It’s no secret that Left 4 Dead is one of the favourite games around the rgbFilter offices (wait, we have offices?), and one of the most anticipated mods for the zombie-crushing classics has finally got a release date. “Dead Before Dawn”, based on the 2004 Zack Snyder remake of “Dawn Of The Dead”, is slated to be released on All Hallows Eve. L4D makers Valve even went out of their way to send the mod makers a custom sound file for constant complainer Francis (which you can see at the…

It’s Rogers vs Rogers and Bell vs Bell at the CRTC

October 16, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, canada, CRTC, Rogers0 comment

Sometimes when you start researching and writing, it’ll take you to unexpected places. Those places could be far off lands only tangentially related to your initial interest (thanks to Wikipedia), or keep you focused on the matter at hand, while consolidating your position. The latter is true in the case of this article, which I thought was going to be just a bit of information on the CRTC Fee For Carriage (FFC) issue, which a couple of jabs at the ridiculous PSAs both sides are showing. It became something different……

Crytek releases CryENGINE 3

October 15, 2009October 15, 2009 Doug Groves PC games, PS3, Xbox 3602 Comments

On October 14th, Crytek announced the release of CryENGINE 3, for use in the creation of 3D content. What makes it interesting is that it’s capable of creating a unified development platform for delivery not just to the PC, but the Xbox 360 and PS3 as well. IF they can live up to that promise, this should drastically shorten development times for licensees. The promo trailer is certainly impressive… CryENGINE 3 also introduces CryENGINE 3 Live Create™. It allows developers to work with a single editor, but see and play…

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony adds raining men, new multi-player

October 15, 2009October 15, 2009 Doug Groves DLC, GTA IV, Xbox 3600 comment

If you haven’t already heard, the latest DLC for the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV is The Ballad of Gay Tony. You play Luis Lopez, assistant to legendary night club owner Tony Prince (Gay Tony), who according to the trailer is the first man in Liberty City to own both the hottest clubs in the city, no matter which way you swing. Besides new single player missions, which include two new locations, the multiplayer includes a number of additions which make it compelling… Multiplayer in The Ballad of Gay…

Access Copyright wants anything but in Canada

October 15, 2009 Doug Groves copyright, online rights0 comment

As we’ve covered before, the Canadian government earlier this year put a call out to both individual Canadians and businesses and other organizations to state their cases for how the copyright should be treated moving forward. One of the most, well, ridiculous submissions comes from Access Copyright, which collects royalties for writers and publishers. The name ‘Access Copyright’ is exactly opposite of what they want for Canadians. The group is opposed to just about everything you can now legally do with your media, and wants to put an end to…

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Preview Reopens

October 14, 2009October 14, 2009 Doug Groves Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live0 comment

As it’s done in the past, Microsoft has opened up a new round of previews for the latest Dashboard update. The new Dashboard integrates Facebook, Twitter, Zune and other goodness, and by all accounts the Facebook interface alone is worth the (admittedly low) price of admission. To get in on the preview, which starts in about a week, you just have to fill out a short survey giving them an idea of how your gaming rig is set up (wired vs. wireless, HDTV or SDTV etc). You’ll also need a…

Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator Available Now

October 14, 2009 Doug Groves Dragon Age, PC games2 Comments

Are you planning on playing Dragon Age: Origins on the PC (as opposed to the Xbox 360 or PS3)? If so, and you can’t wait to start making your (first) character, then look no further (or at least a little further). As the headline says, you can now download the Character Creator, and be ready to jump into the action when the game is released on Nov 3. In fact, I’d recommend it. Just like other recent Bioware titles like Mass Effect, you can suddenly find you’ve spent a good…

Mouse 2.0 via Microsoft

October 13, 2009 Doug Groves Microsoft, mouse, multitouch, research1 Comment

Though the images above may not be much to look at, what they represent is actually interesting on a couple of levels. With multitouch input being all the rage, and the occasional musing on the mouse being dead as an input method, it appears that Microsoft Research has turned conventional thinking on it’s head with 5 new prototype mice, each with it’s own twist on the venerable input device. The antennae on the Arty for example are individually articulated touch surfaces. By the way, if you’re wondering what FTIR stands…

Universal Translator? Not quite, but close…

October 13, 2009 Doug Groves CEATEC, Software, Toshiba, translation, Windows Mobile2 Comments

Every year, Tokyo plays host to CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies), Japan’s largest IT and electronics trade show. The video above shows off the Toshiba TG01 (a Windows Phone running the recently released 6.5 OS) and Toshiba’s own translation software. This isn’t your dads pocket translator though, as you merely speak a phrase in one language, and it instantly translates and says it back in the new language. No word on the number of languages it can do, or the complexity, but it’s pretty impressive.

Alternate Universes: Windows 7 Edition

October 8, 2009October 8, 2009 Doug Groves Mossberg, Windows 7, WSJ8 Comments

Many things in this crazy world are unpredictable, but there are SOME things we CAN count on, at least for the brief time we’re each allotted on this big blue marble in space. The sun will come up in the morning, it will set at night, and the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg will always be an Apple fanboy. That is, until now… In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That’s no longer true. [from…

Fan Expo 09: Dragon Age Origins

October 7, 2009October 9, 2009 Doug Groves Bioware, Chris Priestly, Dragon Age, event, Fan Expo 2009, interview4 Comments

Alex talks with Chris Priestly of Bioware about their upcoming game Dragon Age: Origins. It’s a wide ranging discussion about everything from sex in the game and refining moral choice options to developing the tool set for user generated content and discussing the dev team behind the new RPG. Some people have been having some issues with the Blip video frame rate so click more to see a YouTube version in 2 parts

HTC Leo aka HD2 Coming To North America

October 6, 2009 Doug Groves HD2, HTC, Sense, Windows Mobile5 Comments

The long-rumoured HTC’s latest flagship phone, the Leo (aka HD2), has finally been confirmed by the company, and the list of specs are nothing to sneeze at. There have been a couple of reasons why it wasn’t brought up here before. One is the fact that we’re not big on hollow rumours (that’s why you don’t see us talking about the Apple tablet). The other is that the HD2, like the original HD, appeared to be aimed at the European market, but that’s been disspelled by HTC’s CEO Peter Chou….