Music lover, gamer, techie and Arsenal supporter
United Kingdom
Joined September 2009
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Tipper retweeted
Peter Molyneux says the games industry is basically pretending it doesn’t use AI.
“We, as the industry, are pretending we’re not using AI,” he said, arguing that it’s now “almost impossible to code” without AI assistance.
He claims devs can often avoid Steam’s AI disclosure by simply not ticking the AI box, despite using AI tools for coding.
Molyneux also believes AI could become one of the biggest creative advances for studios once the industry moves beyond low-quality “AI slop.”
Tipper retweeted
Attention, smegheads!
Seasons 1-8 of RED DWARF are now on @NetflixUK.
Tipper retweeted
Matthew Perry loved Xbox so much he played Fallout 3 on his 360 until he developed carpal tunnel. His pure passion even landed him his iconic role as Benny in New Vegas. Remembering a true gamer on October 28.
Rest in peace.
Tipper retweeted
I am deeply saddened to learn of Walter Koenig’s passing.
Although we did not know each other well away from the set, we shared the later seasons of the original Star Trek series and the six films that followed.
What I observed, and what so many fans have expressed over the years, was a man who genuinely loved the Star Trek community.
At conventions, Walter was rarely content to remain behind a signing table. He preferred to be among the people who had kept Star Trek alive for so many decades.
That kind of genuine connection is rare, and it will be remembered by everyone who came into contact with him.
My condolences to his family, his friends, and the countless fans whose lives he touched.
Tipper retweeted
When Mass Effect had its Full Proper Introduction to the world in E3 2006 by Casey Hudson
This absolutely blew my mind, we never had a game like this before and what that trilogy turned out to be I couldn’t have imagined.
Tipper retweeted
The Mitte Family extends their deepest thanks and appreciation for the overwhelming love being shared with them from around the world since RJ's passing. He was a friend to everyone he met, and its shown in the outpouring of kind thoughts and lively stories being shared about his life.
As we go forward, this page will be managed by his team, who will be navigating how we keep his story alive. Whether through his art or his advocacy, we hope to continue changing and inspiring the world through his messages.
In lieu of donations, contributions can be made to The Mitte Foundation - Mitte Cultural District in Brownsville, Tx to support the local arts, education, and community development projects he was working on.
givebutter.com/mitte-cultura…
Tipper retweeted
York cobblestones. 2006 vs 2026.
Well maintained in 2006. Can’t be arsed to maintain properly and just plaster with tarmac patches in 2026. British civic pride decay in a nutshell.
Tipper retweeted
I can finally talk about Mass Effect Universe.
Since Bioware closed I can now reveal that I was part of the Mass Effect Council, saw what BioWare was building, and provided feedback during development.
• Set 600+ years after the Reaper War
• You play as a customizable N7 agent
• Instead of being a walking gun rack, you're a cross between John Wick and James Bond
• Shepard's legacy preserved, regardless of your ending
• A galaxy divided into three major factions
• Humanity, Krogan, Batarians, and more allied together
• Council races forming their own alliance
• The Geth emerging as a third superpower
• A galactic Cold War instead of another Reaper style invasion with a shadowy adversary
• Geth-built megastructures
• Connections between the Milky Way and Andromeda
• Experimental technology implanted in you as a unique point of difference
• Hacking and manipulating the environment
• See through walls, identify systems, remotely trigger hazards and more
• Handcrafted missions like ME1-3
• But with Hitman-style freedom in how you complete them
• Brutal close-range executions
• Squadmates who can clash with each other
• Romance wasn't being sanitised
• Liara returns - now an incredibly powerful Asari Matriarch
From what I saw, BioWare was making Mass Effect for us, the fans, not for people who don't exist.
It looked incredible.
And now we may never get to play it.
Find out more here: youtu.be/ZOWrTNazZxM
#SaveMassEffect
Tipper retweeted
Exodus
Single Player Hub World Sci-Fi RPG Coming to Xbox Series Consoles…
There hasn’t been any games like this since Mass Effect 3 in 2012.
There’s been a need for more games like this since, and these devs are cooking something special.
Fellow Mass Effect fans take notice
Tipper retweeted
Silverlining in the Mass Effect cancellation
-Exodus. Helmed by Bioware veterans and written by Drew Karpyshyn (lead writer of ME 1 & 2)
-Star Wars: FOTOR. Led by ME Trilogy director Casey Hudson
-The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. An ME Inspired game
Mass Effect is alive in spirit!
Tipper retweeted
25 years ago, on October 22, 2001, Grand Theft Auto III was released.
This is the team that made it. (I'm second from the right)
Here's what I remember about making it.
For most of development, GTA3 was in a sorry state. It crashed frequently, the frame rate was terrible and the map was full of holes. Only in the last six months did everything come together.
For the longest time, it looked like the frame rate was going to be 20 fps. Only in the final months did we manage to hit 30.
In 1999, DMA Design, based in Dundee, Scotland, was going through some changes. The company had recently been bought by Take-Two Interactive, and a satellite office had opened in Edinburgh.
Space Station Silicon Valley for the N64 had been finished in 1998, but there was no new project lined up. Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut started working on GTA3. Unprompted.
Meanwhile, the original GTA1 and GTA2 team had started work on GTA2.5, set in Miami. It was called 2.5 because it used the 2.5D (isometric) perspective.
In March 2000, the Dundee office was closed and GTA2.5 was cancelled. Take-Two/Rockstar gave GTA3 the green light.
Everything was written from scratch. Only two people worked on both GTA2 and GTA3, and no code or art from GTA2 was reused.
The way we worked was organic. People would come up with ideas for missions and we'd just try them. If they were fun, they were in. The story was secondary. In fact, the opening plot involving Catalina trying to kill Claude was added well into development.
Leslie Benzies (the producer) plastered a wall in the boardroom with Post-it notes. They were yellow, green and pink, representing missions, contacts and locations.
Missions were moved around all the time, often handed from one contact to another. Only once the voice acting was recorded were these things set in stone.
You sometimes come across locations on the map that are more detailed than you'd expect. Chances are there used to be a mission contact there that got moved elsewhere.
Working on GTA3 was a lot of fun. Every day there was something new going in. A new mission, radio station, car, pedestrian, building or whatever. The game was growing at an incredible rate.
Other than the multiplayer mode we did some work on, I can’t remember a lot of wastage.
Although everybody worked hard, I don't remember many people doing crazy hours. On the rare occasions I was in over the weekend, there were usually only one or two others. Even during crunch time, most people left the office around 9 or 10 in the evening.
I always thought it was better to work eight focused hours than spend your life in the office.
Although we liked the game, it wasn't at all clear that it would be a hit.
GTA3 had a disappointing showing at E3 in May 2001. Most people weren't interested, and those who were thought it was too violent.
It had an OK launch, but sales never tapered off.
Our office was in Leith, Edinburgh. It was a fairly run-down neighbourhood at the time. Just a couple of years before we arrived, J.K. Rowling had been writing the first Harry Potter in that very same neighbourhood.
The thing I remember most is the camaraderie. In a small team, everybody relies on each other and everybody has a lot of input. Most of us were young and had only recently moved to Edinburgh. We went to the pub together.
It felt like a group of friends who happened to be working on a project together.
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For gta3, Vice and SA; Memory on the ps2 was tight. We had to limit the number of used vehicle models to 8.
My code would occasionally pick a car model to be phased out. Once there were none left on the map, this model would be removed and a new model could be loaded.
The code would pick a model that was appropriate for the area (sports cars in business district, old cars in run-down areas etc).
Most of the time this worked fine.
A few things could throw a spanner in the works:
If the player had gone up the wanted levels, some of the 8 slots would be taken up by police cars, FIB and swat vans and the police heli.
Level designers would sometimes load specific car models for missions. Often these were not appropriate to be used for ambient traffic.
Ambulance and firetrucks could be needed if there was an accident.
If the player travelled to a different area of the map; some of the loaded cars would look out of place and could not be used. It would take a while for replacement models to be loaded.
The game would keep the last player driven car, as it would be jarring if the player went back and it wasn’t there.
At times there would only be 1 or 2 cars models available for ambient traffic. This lack of variation was particularly noticeable if the player was driving the one car that had to be used.
To alleviate the problem, garages remove cars inside of them once the door has closed. This way the model could be removed. When the player opened the door, the cars were re-created in the same spot.
Npc models were loaded/removed the same way. It just wasn’t as noticeable if variety was lacking.
For each game we picked a generic looking character model that looked appropriate in each area of the map. This model was never removed and always ready to fill in.
Screenshot from this vid: youtube.com/watch?v=KWhjv4J6…
Tipper retweeted
Mass Effect is alive.
We know we're all mourning, but Mass Effect isn't dead. That's not how art works. It will live on as long as people cherish it, talk about it, and share it with others.
Mass Effect is art, and art is eternal.
Use #MassEffectIsAlive and share your love!