The latest commercial product from Electronic Arts

*If you’re not a gamer, you may not be aware of how cinematic immersive games are nowadays.  This is the current state-of-the-art from Electronic Arts, “Battlefield 2042.” *To view this trailer, you may be required to state that you’re over 18, because this war-game is fantastically violent. *In the meanwhile, for Electronic Arts, “battlefield 2021” […]

Unfortunate people suffering injury with Virtual Reality

*These mishaps are considered so amusing that they’ve become a genre on YouTube.  Obviously they’re hilarious, although there’s something truly pitiful about the spectacle of blindfolded, disoriented people who are bound with cables and tumbling helplessly into walls and floors. *Also, consider the cruel sensibility of someone who would film that intimate, humiliating moment and […]

Bandits attack Electronic Arts gaming company

*Oddly, this is not a ransomware attack, but these seem like some especially bold and loud criminals. *You’ll notice that they’re especially happy about seizing the company’s creative tools.  They’re offering to sell the tools to commercial rivals or to other hackers. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-brea*Twench-gaming-giant-electronic-arts-steal-game-source-code/   (…) Stolen EA data worth $28 million The attackers claim to […]

Virtual reality construction tools, formerly from Google

*Google couldn’t find a mass user-base for these and decided to open-source them. *By the standards of tech-art, Tilt Brush is sophisticated while Google Poly was colossal, but they’re nowhere near the epic scale of YouTube.  So now “Open Brush” and the “Icosa Gallery” have appeared.   https://uploadvr.com/tilt-brush-open-free-pc-vr/ Open Brush, an open source version of […]

The Torino Urban Lab newsletter

*If you’re in Torino, this newsletter is a good way to keep up with some of the odder and more innovative local developments in architecture and urban planning. *Of course it’s all in Italian. 111 architetture – Torino Contemporanea: presentazione e visite guidate   Urban Lab, con la collaborazione di Ordine degli Architetti PPC di […]

Why is an “Alien Crypto Punk” worth ten million dollars?

*Well, there are reasons.  They may not be great reasons, but they do exist. https://www.christies.com/features/10-things-to-know-about-CryptoPunks-11569-1.aspx   In 2017, Matt Hall and John Watkinson, founders of New York-based software company Larva Labs, created a software program that would generate thousands of different, strange-looking characters. At first, they thought they might have had the makings of a smartphone […]

Meanwhile, in blockchain art land

June 10, 2021:   *Every Crypto Punk ever generated:  

A “Creator Economy” “Market Map”

*It has some “non-fungible token” markets in it, and those people will probably be happy to be noticed.   *Markets never actually come in rectangular boxes like this.  However, it can be interesting to ponder possible relationships between companies you’ve never heard of.   https://www.cbinsights.com/research/creator-economy-market-map/  

Inventions in camps and prisons

*No matter how difficult life may be as an “artmaker,” there’s always someone else who has it worse. *This meditation on “adversarial interoperability” is from Cory Doctorow’s “Pluralistic” list.   Today’s links * Prisoners’ Inventions: The unmissable new edition of a maker classic for a carceral nation. * This day in history: 2006, 2011, 2016, […]

The winners of the Golden Nicas from Ars Electronica

*These awards are important, validating events in the electronic art world, but these dreadful Zoom meetings can’t end soon enough.       https://ars.electronica.art/press/en/ Prix Ars Electronica The Winners of the Golden Nicas 2021 Curtains up for the winners of the Prix Ars Electronica 2021! Emiko Ogawa (Head of Prix Ars Electronica), Martin Honzik (CCO […]