It’s been a busy few weeks for seemingly everyone I know, and quite a lot of people I don’t. It feels strange writing about someone that I didn’t know, but equally it feels strange to write a post this week without at least some mention to the man behind the computer I use every day. MG Siegler’s article here sums up everything I could say on Steve Jobs passing, and shows that so many of us share similar thoughts: the world will miss a man that was just getting into his stride. Apple will live on, but it’s a shame that he isn’t here to enjoy its continued success.

As for me, the project I’m on is speeding onwards and there lots of events to keep me on my toes. I’m still writing articles over at altdevblogaday, and my next post there will take me into double figures. Gamasutra have now reposted 3 of those articles which is very cool, though I still wish they’d let me know so I could join in the comment threads in a timely fashion. I’ve spent a few hours copying them across to this site as well, and I’ve also updated my photography page – ditching the fancy javascript I spent many hours getting to work and going for a simple layout inspired by the recent changes to google’s image search.

Finally, for now, I’ve done what I never thought I would: changed away from the orange links. This, again, is influenced by google but this time the other way round – I have no doubt in my mind that google did not copy my orange colour, but I felt it was time for a change away from it before everyone thinks I copied google.

(note: the image used on this post is by Ron Garan).

Tomorrow is officially the first day of Autumn, already it’s the time of year again when condensation greets you in the morning, leaves of wonderful colour fall from the trees and a there’s a chill in the morning despite warm days. I think autumn (or, if you’re American, fall) is my favourite time of year – spring is full of promise, autumn full of reflection. The only thing I don’t like is that it points out how quickly the year has gone. There’s still plenty left, and the next few months are going to be very busy.

Articles wise, AltDevBlogADay continues to grow and I’ve been far better at keep my articles up to date on there – I admit I haven’t given my own website a great deal of attention of late. Gamasutra have been reposting many articles from AltDev, and have put a couple of mine up now as well – a double edged sword because we have to find them for ourselves: I missed contributing to a healthy comments thread in time on the last article of mine they posted. It is exciting to see your words up on a big website though, there is no denying that.

So another E3 has come and gone and, like last year, I’m left feeling a bit deflated.  Is that it?  Are we only capable of getting excited at pre-rendered Star Wars videos?

Now, there’s no doubt this is excellent entertainment (and yet further evidence that Star Wars can still be great as long as George doesn’t get involved). But it tells me very little about the game.

Square released a trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution last year:

Again, staggeringly good entertainment that immediately makes you want to watch Blade Runner again. During E3 some footage of the game itself appeared:

I’ve purposefully linked to some footage from the shop floor rather than the controlled demo because this is how players will experience the game. And, for me, it’s a perfect example of expectations versus reality. In fact, it’s a perfect example of why games are not films. The pre-rendered movie evokes a sense of wonder and excitement that only passive entertainment can: it makes the viewer believe they are the protagonist that can do all these wonderful things. Games allow you to do wonderful things and can be completely immersive, but not in the same way. Deus Ex is all about freedom of choice, and trying to wrap that up in a cinematic way invariably ends up with “press this button to watch an animation of you killing someone”. Which, for a Deus Ex game, is disappointing.

In what can only be described as a complete surprise, about the only game that I’ve really thought “that looks cool” is Need for Speed: The Run:

This is, in effect, Dragon’s Liar.  But I’m not sure it’s pretending to be anything else and, because of that, is all the better for it.  The expectations set by it are clear: a high octane interactive movie.  The driving bits in between will be the meat of the game, and the on foot sections provide a quick interlude.  This is much more likely to get my money than a game that’s only shown me pre-rendered footage.