Video Games are the greatest form on entertainment on earth!
 

Ever heard of a "Rube Goldberg Machine"?

If you havent, they are wile e coyote-esque, overcomplicated machines that do very simple things. Another good example is the game Mousetrap.

Som creative individual used Gary's mod for Half-life 2 to make one, and it is a great vehicle to showcase the Source engine's physics abilities.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...f-life+2&hl=en

It is just amazing.... And the tech that is supposed to come out in the next year is going to set the bar even higher. Best of all (for me anyway), game companies have been hiring actual writers since HL was a big success (Mark laidlaw is still on staff scripting the games)


heres another:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...f-life+2&hl=en

wow, that was really boring

I know you werent kidding, but that made me laugh. Damn killjoy....

Sorry, Vod.

It's just that someone spent a lot of time planning out a virtual Rube Goldberg machine and it was just one pixilated BOOM after another.

Doesn't seem that hard to do when the laws of physics are being programmed

Aw, heck, I like virtual physics as much as the next person. But my idea of a video game is like 3D miniature golf. I have a small collection of different minigolf courses and I can never find anyone to play it with me because supposedly it's lame and I'm a ... "dork," I think, was the word they used.

No problem, they arent for everyone. Go back to your cave paintings :p


just kidding. I get impressed when programmers make it so real-world actions can be recreated in the computer, probably because i know how godamn hard it is to do.

valve Software made the world, these are just examples of what users were able to do with it.

It gets me really excited for games like Bioshock and Quake Wars where you get handed a bunch of tools and some objectives, and the world evolves around your actions. the buzz word is "Emergent gameplay", but basically it is a fancy way of saying "Shit happnes that the programmer didnt plan for."

It has been happening almost since video games have been around, but that stage is being set for even more complex worlds and more interesting outcomes.


I think it all has to do with how you look at it. on the surface, the videos are pretty boring, but they represent a huge step fowrward in what computers are capable of.

Think of someof the things pixar has done with animation. Years ago, EVERYTHING had to be animated manually, even water. Now, they are creating virtual water that acts just like water. throw a rock into it and it splashes and ripples, instead of just kicking off a splash sprite.

Ahem... I guess i am aas apssionate about programming as i am writing....:o

i'm intrigued by the capabilities of these games .. i like the way they look and feel .. i'm amazed by the imagination and programming - i just cant play them for more than 10 min at a time.

I can and have played for hours before. I dont get a whole lot of time for them these days, but when i do i make it count. i would LOVE to get to work on one. I have played around with programming physics and AI, but nothign serious so far.

Hey, when you LOVE something--I'm talking about LOVE, electric love--you gotta sing it, do it, jump up and shout it. You gotta do your thing, that's what it's about.

Pretty cool Vod. I think the physics in Half Life are the best i've ever seen in a video game.