Empok of The Gaming Insiders

Facebook Video .... Not bad

2009-04-17T01:26:00.000-07:00

During my recent cruise, I shot a large amount of video. Although sometimes I am conflicting on what to post to youtube that the people who subscribe to me might actually enjoy instead of showing them my vacation footage. Well I was rather excited to learn that a few months back, Facebook started allowing HD videos.

So I posted my first HD video from the cruise on this site as I find that more of my friends would actually see it there than on youtube, and I got to say it looks pretty damn good.

Ironically enough though, I have yet to create a HD video for youtube since they launched their HD ability.

A Spock Sackboy!

2009-03-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll admit it, after all the fun I've had in Little Big Planet, I would mind owning my own cute little Sackboy doll. Especially one with one of the many fun outfits, but one designed as Spock?? Oh hell yea, I'm in!

I don't suppose anyone could make a Picard one? Or even a Geordi?? Ooh, Worf, or a Seven of Nine! Ah forget it, they should should just make 'em all.

Addicted to (Caribbean) Photosynths

2009-03-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

I'd have to say that I really enjoy Microsoft Lab's new Photosynth site. If you are not familiar with it, it is a site\program that will stitch together a series of photographs to give you a panoramic, a view around a specific point, or the ability to drill down by zoomin in or out to closer or farther away perspectives.

I just took a cruise through the Eastern Caribbean. This gave me a great opportunity to build a few of these photosynths of the beautiful locations I visited. I am not a photographer and these were done just through the point and shoot camera inside of my CanonHV20 Camcorder, but they look decent and it is still a very fun way to get a good complete view of the scenery.

These are the synths I built:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
St. Thomas, USVI
St. Thomas 2
Megan's Bay
Dickenson Bay, Antigua

Note: You will have to install the app in order to view them.

Where I play

2008-10-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

I have a website, but haven't done anything with it in years. Will probably get a better one that is central location for everything I do, but that will be somewhere down the line. But in case, you want to know where it is I play, you can find me on twitter and youtube.
http://twitter.com/jesse1701
http://www.youtube.com/user/jesse1701

Fire at Universal, damages BTTF courthouse

2008-06-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-studiofire2-2008jun02,0,5175136.story

I just read the Universal Studios is battling a fire on their backlot. A part of the story also indicates that many classic movie sets have been damaged due to the fire. It saddens me to learn that the courthouse square from my favorite movie, Back to The Future is on of those affected.

I actually got to see the courthouse a few times as a child. However, it was before I considered that movie to be my most liked. And I really don't think I took it all in back then knowing what it was that I was looking at. It's too bad, as now I may not ever see it again. I guess you always figure it will be there, and you figure someday you will return to see it again. I hope I can find images from my parents to help remember me being there.

I also hope that no one else gets hurt and that many of the other movie memorabilia that can not be recreated makes it out of this one.

Mexico Video Completed and Doing Well

2008-05-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH5ZfI79tJ4

Almost two weeks ago I completed the first video from the Rocky Point, Mexico trip. Immediately after doing so, I received a large amount of positive comments about it. It was also estimated by a couple people that this will become my most highest viewed video. At 1,400+ views so far, it is definitely climbing higher than any other video I have done. However, my most viewed video is at 53,800 and still gets viewed regularly. And all it is is a cruise video from one of my trips. It will take a long time for it to ever catch up, which is doubtful that it will.

It's very hard to predict views on these things, but I do believe my cruise video does well because of the search terms I included in the description , tags, and title. This new Mexico video seems to be doing well as Don Giannatti has it linked on a few of his sites, and I'm sure the thumbnail plays a part too, as it features all five models together.

Also, I followed youtube's suggested resolution for their new "high quality" feature. And I was ecstatic to see that this one actually has a high quality version! You can't see a huge difference, but it does look better. Most noticeably, you can make out the facial features much better.

It's funny too, that this video was just going to be a quick "teaser trailer" feature snippets from the shoots. Makes me concerned that the feature videos won't be considered as good. Needless to day, since the release of that, I started playing GTA IV and couldn't really stop. I also picked up a Wii and a Wii Fit. I will speak more on that in the next TGI episode (one is coming, I assure you). I solved the story mode of GTA over the memorial day weekend , so now hopefully I can concentrate on another video.

Inspiration to be creative, post Mexico

2008-05-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jerry O' Connor

I've been back from my trip to Rocky Point, Mexico for 1.5 weeks now. As soon as I got back I had to pick up a copy of GTA IV. Haven't played very much, for every time I sit down and turn on the TV, I feel guilty for not working on the videos from the trip. All the photographers who attended have produced some outstanding photos from this trip\workshop (example shown above). Yet, I have nothing to present. And because of my awkward muteness (I tend to not talk much when around people I just met), everyone probably thinks I was some creepy guy taking footage of the girls and has now run off with it.

But just watching these photographers set up their shots and create a new setting and a new shoot every minute was amazing to me. If anything, this trip has inspired me to be more creative. Whether it be with more viral videos, the show, or maybe starting photography myself, I don't know. But for now, I'm going to work on the videos from this trip, and then record another episode for the show. We'll just see what happens from there.

Day 4 in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico

2008-04-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't really know what to expect when I decided to come down to Phoenix and then head to Mexico for a few days for a photography workshop. I was offered the chance to attend and film the whole event as well as broadcast it via the internet. I now realize this has been one of the most unique vacations I have ever had. It was very hectic and it seemed like it was all non stop action. It has been incredibly interesting to see these photographers and models do their work in a remote setting such as this.

Neither the broadcast or filming, did I expect much of anything to happen with. Sure enough, not very many people attended the broadcast, which was kind of expected by me. However, I got a ton of footage of these people working and have more creative stuff to work with than I have ever had. It will be fun seeing what I've captured and then what I can edit and put together in a finalized video.

It is now the middle of the week and the photographers and the models have gone home. However, me and my cousin Jim (the participant in the workshop who invited me here), are staying for a few days longer to just enjoy the location in a vacationing atmosphere rather than a working atmosphere.

Lighting Essentials Workshop

World of Warcraft meets Portal

2008-04-10T01:25:00.001-07:00

Very cool video of World of Warcraft with elements of Portal put into it.

The Device Has Been Modified

WeGame.com - WoW Videos
http://www.wegame.com/watch/The_Device_Has_Been_Modified/

Having fun in Paradise City!

2008-03-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

I rented and then after enjoying it way too much, I purchased a copy of Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360.

Just the free roaming aspect of the city and inviting my friends to just run around in the city is enough to waste hours and hours of time. Way too much fun.

BurnoutAholics and the Burnout Paradise Interactive Locations Map are a couple of very helpful resources I found that will help you in the game. They will help you out in finding all those many billboards, smashes, drive thrus, and in earning the achievements.

My return to youtube, a new video

2008-02-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

After a hiatus of over 6 months, I finally made a new youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f03OxYt2jA

This is a review of a product that I purchased a few years back that sounded really intriguing. I've had the idea of doing this review for quite some time and just never put it into production until now. I thought this would be really hilarious and show how insane I am. The final product didn't seem as humorous as what I was hoping for, but there are a couple of entertaining lines in there.

The funny thing is, this was the toughest youtube video to edit, besides my first ones when I didn't know video editing. The problem I faced was that I shot it at so many different angles, the lighting was different for each, and each angle was shown separately at different points in the video. So I had to use a large amount of separate tracks, adjust the lighting for each, and then make it flow together. The frustration has now caused me to purchase a lighting kit for future videos.

This video also took a large amount of takes while filming. I still can't seem to keep a script in my head and then flow with it while in front of a camera. However, after all the editing, I feel that my speech flow came off a lot better than the G15 keyboard review I did, which was for the longest time, my most viewed video.

Also, I wanted to do this video after thegaminginsiders.com went live. That way I could use this video as my first to have a mention of our new podcast. It is one of the very first methods we have used thus far to promote the site.

Games that I am playing (January 2008)

2008-01-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

In time, if you become regular viewer, you will learn who we are are, what we do, and what makes us tick. However, I thought this would be a great way to introduce myself to you in the form of what games I am enjoying at this current time. You may also discover what sort of gameplay I enjoy and what type of genres I like. So in order of how much I have been playing them, here they are:

Call of Duty 4: I've briefly played every COD game up to date and never became a huge fan of the series. But hearing all the rage about this one, I had to pick it up and was pleasantly surprised. The XP ranking system and challenges make it a really fun system to work on. I don't really know how much fun it will be for me though when I hit rank 55.

World of Warcraft: The game I love to hate. I used to make fun of this game before I played it, and I still do. I don't care much for RPG's, but I play this cause my friends do and I found that I got addicted. I get sick of it after playing it for hours, but at the same time I keep wanting to pop in again and again to increase my level, skills, and do some trading. I have spent more total hours playing this game than any other and it sickens me when I realize that. But I just can't stop for some reason.

Team Fortress 2: I find this game to be hysterical at times and one of the most balanced class based games I've ever seen

Halo 3

Unreal Tournament 3: I had been looking forward to this game for years and finally got it. It delivered everything it promised and more. However, it does seem to pale in comparison to The Orange Box titles and COD4, so I don't end up playing it as much as I would like to.

I played through Bioshock, Assasin's Creed, Timeshift, and Portal recently, but have not touched those again since I solved them. I also occasionally play Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Rainbow Six Vegas. I picked up a copy of World in Conflict for cheap, played part of the first mission and haven't touched it since. I will get back into it again when I break away from the others. I bought Crysis a week after it came out but have not even touched it. Besides the look, feel, and physics of it, there is nothing about that game that compels me to play it. I also rent a couple games a month for the Xbox 360.

I own a PC, which is by far my preference for a gaming system. I own an Xbox 360. I am thinking about a Wii and a Playstation 3. I would like to get a Wii for titles like Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The only reason I am thinking of a PS3 is for the blu-ray player, and having the extra bonus of being able to play games on it. There are hardly any titles that really get me interested in a PS3.

Working on the website

2007-12-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am doing a little bit of work on the website. (Hence why I have decided to make my first blog posting - tesing, hehe).

The site has remained dormant in a specific state for a couple of months now. With good reason though. Marty and I shot a few episodes right together and I have spent the time afterwards editing and then releasing them in intervals. During this time Marty has been very hard at work making some big changes to his basement. He plans on having soundproof areas for his band to play in. As well he is making some room for a perfect area to start shooting some episode for this podcast. With it comes an awful lot of electrical work. He can give you most of the dirty details about it all.

Also during this time I have been hoping to do some work on the website, as also Marty has hinted my way that it would be good for me to do. But I find it so hard to do all these things when there are so many fun games to play that came out just before the holiday season. Besides, I need to play them for the much needed research required for this show. Anyways, we plan on continuing these projects so that our show comes at you more regularly. And once the website is finished, the audio version of the show should soon follow. So stay tuned!!