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Mark Solomon is the Principle Designer for the Voodoo business unit, where he is responsible for the industrial design, packaging design, and brand visual language for Voodoo and VoodooDNA product lines. Mark has over 20 international design awards. His latest is an IDEA Silver award for the HP Blackbird 002. He also holds 34 patents and another 48 patents pending. The other day he sat down with us to talk about the design philosophy behind VoodooPC's new Envy 133 notebook and Omen desktop computers.
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The Next Bench News: These days, the world seems to be all curves and soft forms. Yet, both the Envy and the Omen are square blocks and straight lines. Are you just trying to be different?
Mark Solomon: Voodoo is indifferent to trends, and by doing so has become a trendmaker in its space. But the new design language of Voodoo is more than just being different, it goes back to the brand tenets of what Voodoo is and how it fulfills the brand experience.
TNBN: What do you mean by basic design language?
Mark: All of Voodoo's products share some common visual and experiential traits. Just like people in a family share certain characteristics—a chiseled jaw, a pointed nose—that are passed down from generation to generation.
TNBN: How do these traits manifest themselves in Voodoo's products?
Mark: Being originally from HP, we had to study Voodoo of the past to ensure the new Voodoo was true to it's roots. We discovered a couple of basic truths that are core elements that run throughout its products. First, alot of the products were square or geometric in form. So we decided to build on this family trait by updating and refining it. The result is that the Envy and the Omen share a monolithic form. They're square blocks, with clean, straight lines and totally flat surfaces. Turn the Envy upside-down and it's completely flat. There are no bump-outs or curves that you see in other notebooks. The same with the Omen. No extraneous shapes. It's all business. We've taken the square block and made it very sexy. |
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| Dedicated PhysX Hardware vs. PhysX-enabled NVIDIA Hardware | 07-09-2008 |
The Vede  |
Recently, George Gueorguiev, a Voodoo technician from Calgary wrote an interesting post on our message boards about the difference in performance between dedicated AGEIA PhysX hardware and PhysX-enabled NVIDIA hardware. Since not everyone who reads the blog reads the boards, I thought I'd re-run his post here. What follows isn't conclusive (George only tested on one config and with synthetic benchmarks), but it's a fun, informative read nonetheless. |
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| Multiplayer now free for Games for Windows® Live users. So what? | 06-27-2008 |
The Vede |
The recent announcement by Microsoft that multiplayer is now a free feature for Games for Windows Live might be a big yawn. The Vede attributes this to the fact that people have been playing free multiplayer games outside the Live environment for a long time. Some fairly hardcore PC gamers he talked to didn't even know GFW Live still existed! It got The Vede thinking about what it would take for Microsoft to make this the "one service to rule them all." Not only did he share his thoughts with the Community, but also put them into an unsolicited letter to the guys in Redmond:
"I never thought I'd hear myself type these words, but you need to think BIGGER. Games for Windows Live could be so much more than it is today, so much more than what Xbox Live is today. True parity between Xbox and GFW Live services is a must, but that's just the beginning…"
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| AMD Puma: Loving the Code Name, Liking the Concept | 07-16-2008 |
The Vede |
AMD has finally taken the covers off a platform that could yield the benefits that many of us were expecting from the company's acquisition of ATI. There has been some hype around the Internet about AMD Puma, aka Turion Ultra. Many people are calling it a Centrino Killer, and I'm doing my best to strip away all the marketing fluff while determining the market this platform will appeal to. |
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Build amazing SPORE™ creatures in advance of the full game!
You wouldn't think that a game like SPORE would appeal to players raised on a diet of first-person shooters. But think again! Although the full game won't be released until next month, Electronic Arts' life simulator is already causing quite a buzz with gamers of all ilk via its highly acclaimed Creature Creator.
SPORE was designed by Will Wright, the creator of The Sims™. He calls his latest creation a "massively single-player online game that takes you from the origin and evolution of life, through the development of civilization and technology and finally into the deepest reaches of outer space."
Translated, that means you're going to have lots of fun creating your own species and then controlling its evolution from a microscopic dot in the tide pool, to a social, land-walking creature who builds cities and then explores the galaxy. Along the way, just like in nature, it's survival of the fittest. But what makes Will's new game really different is that you get to decide what your creature looks like and what kind of survival skills he, she or it has. This is where Creature Creator comes in.
Will three eyes and five tentacles enhance your survival skills?
Creature Creator is a fun creative tool that enables you to build your SPORE characters from scratch. Create your own body style, then add arms, hands, legs, feet, flippers—as many as you want—then add colors and textures. You're only limited by your own warped imagination! When you're done, you simply import your creature into SPORE. If you're really proud of your work, you can even post it on the Internet for others to see, or send it directly to friends. Creature Creator is so easy to use that everyone in the family will be designing their own unique creatures while they wait for SPORE to hit the shelves.
HP offers special edition of Creature Creator with a bigger tool box.
There's another demo version of Creature Creator floating around the net, but HP's totally free version offers 10% more creature body parts and skin choices. You get it automatically when you download the HP Game Console, which is also free. The Console is a great addition to any desktop and notebook PC and grants users access to hundreds of fun games for players of all ages and skill levels.
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Space Siege | Action RPG
Release Date: August 12
www.spacesiege.com |
Developed by Gas Powered Games, the company who brought you Supreme Commander and the Dungeon Siege series, Space Siege takes the mouse-click-y action into the far reaches of space. A colony ship has been overrun by aliens and it's up to you to save the day. Along your journey, you'll be able to augment your powers with cybernetic implants, at the cost of your very humanity. Space Siege reviews have already begun to hit and, so far, the verdict seems to be "merely OK". Download the free demo and decide for yourself. |
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FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage | Arcade Racing
Release Date: August 26
www.flatoutgame.com |
Ultimate Carnage came out on Xbox 360 at the end of 2007 and was met with positive reviews. Later this month, the PC version is scheduled to arrive, and early PC-specific reviews point to it being a fun ride – especially if you appreciate fast-paced destruction and extreme racing. Crazy rag-doll physics and cars that can be launched and crunched into oblivion round out this arcade-racing experience. |
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Skye | FPS (w/ RPG elements)
Release Date: August 29
www.stalker-game.com |
Released in 2007 after many long years of development, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was finally released into the hands of a ravenous fan base. Set in Russia in the year 2012, the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. cast you as an adventurer hoping to learn the secrets behind the Zone's frightening, other-worldly happenings. Clear Sky is the stand-alone sequel that brings the player back to a time before Shadow of Chernobyl and sheds light on how the bizarre happenings in the Zone first began. New to the franchise is an updated game engine featuring DX10 support and numerous gameplay enhancements. Early signs point to this one being a must-have. |
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Mercenaries 2: World in Flames | FPS
Release Date: August 31
www.pandemicstudios.com/mercenaries |
According to EA, in Mercenaries 2, if you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new co-op multiplayer mode. This sandbox-style game where you can hop into vehicles and grab weapons from just about anywhere feels a bit like Grand Theft Auto, but with a lot more carnage and a bit more linearity to the mission structure. The original Mercenaries was a critical darling, and early hands-on previews suggest that this follow-up will more than quench fans' thirst for fun and Hollywood-style action. |
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