I’ll be in Japan for the next two weeks exploring the countryside and eating delightfully squishy
foods. Once a year I try to get outside of the US and I always follow the same rules of thumb. First, I try to have at least one good meal. Second, I try to sketch the local population. If you haven’t been by the
galleries, there’s a good collection of past sketches from
Bali,
Peru,
etc.
This time, I’m adding a bit of blogging to the mix. In theory I’ll have a solid internet connection and will be able to upload several bigger essays that I have halfway finished. I’m hoping that there is the equivalent of a cafĂ© that I can plunk myself down at while the lovely fiancĂ© is off gift shopping with her mother.
Here are some essays currently in queue:
- Advergames: I’ll cover some of the implications of designing a game to support a marketing campaign. There is a fun example I can use from the work we are doing on Anark Gameface that should be quite pertinent.
- Design review of Advanced Wars: Dual Strike: This is a rather classic example of traditional game design and offers a good balance to the Nintendogs review I did earlier.
I’ll be just missing the Tokyo Game Show, which is unfortunate since I’m quite curious to see if Nintendo will be announcing their new controller. Instead we’ll be taking the bullet train out to Nagoya to check out the
World Expo. I am a huge sucker for
robots, especially the overly cute humanoid ones that the Japanese companies seem to create in such vast numbers. This is an entire school of product design that I find quite inspirational. I’ll bring along my sketch book and see if the sensory overload sparks any fun concepts.
Take care
Danc.