entertainment-and-music

Game Testing

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:17:55 +0100

Within the game industry, testing usually falls under a title such as quality assurance (QA). However, game QA is far less technical than general software QA. Many game testers have only a high school diploma and no technical expertise. Game testing is normally a full-time job with expectation of regular overtime, but many employees are usually hired as temps and the length of employment varies. In some cases, if the tester is working for a publisher, the tester may be sent off to work at the developer's site rather than in his employer's own offices. The most aggressive recruiting season is late summer/early autumn, as this is the start of the crunch period for games to be finished and shipped in time for the holiday season.

More and more, game testing is becoming a structured discipline made up of professional testers. A common misconception is that professional game testing is akin to a public beta test or stress test, where players are expected to enjoy the game and report any bugs they happen to find. In reality, game testing is highly focused on finding bugs, often using tedious methodologies. Even if one could play the game freely, there is no guarantee that the game is stable or fun enough to be enjoyable. A tester may be required to play the same portion of a game repeatedly for hours at a time. Understandably, burn-out is common in this field.

Despite the demanding and risky nature of the job, game testing doesn't pay a great deal and is usually paid hourly, with wages ranging from USD$8 to $15 per hour in the United States. As temps, testers typically receive no benefits or holidays and simply take unpaid vacation days when desired. Some testers use the job as a stepping stone in the game industry, but the success of this strategy is unproven, and depends on which part of the game industry the tester desires to work in. QA résumés, which display non-technical skill sets, tend towards management, then to marketing or production. Those wishing to land a job in programming, art, or design usually need to demonstrate their skills in these areas, either by taking jobs outside the industry and/or working on mods.

10 Reasons to Vote for John and Edward Grimes

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:32:32 +0100

Dublin twins John and Edward Grimes topped The X Factor public vote last weekend, according to newspaper reports. The cheeky duo John and Edward pair do not seem to be going anywhere in a hurry. Having been slated by the The X Factor major shareholder Simon Cowel for their lack of singing ability, the pair proved a hit with viewers. The Irish duo performed Rock DJ by Robbie Williams in week one of the X-Factor show. In week two, they performed Oops I Did It Again by Britney Spears. The pair finally proved a hit in week three, after their performance of the Ricky Martin hit She Bangs.

Why Vote for John and Edward Grimes

1. They are the most bullied acts on X-Factor.

2. They are the most booed by both judges and audiences

3. The duo are the nicest kids on the show and they can take all that criticism., booing and being bullied and not take it to heart

4. They are unique, entertaining and different from the rest and make us laugh. They are the Irish Ant and Dec.

5. Not everyone can sing like Pavarotti but they can sing. There are many great singers without great songs- Robbie Williams, Cheryl

6. It will teach Simon and Cheryl not to hijack the show to favor their own acts. Voting for John and Edward will bring curiosity to the X-factor-instead of influential Simon determining the winner.

7. If the trend continues, the more entertaining the show, the more the viewers, the more the money for better for ITV and Simon

8. They will stop giving Louis groups every year

9. John and Edward could be the first group ever to win X-Factor

10. Finally, John and Edward have got the talent and hair to win the X-Factor. The show is boring without the duo. Their show reminds me of Boyzone’s first live act- it was humiliating but they proved everyone wrong.

Who is Peter Andre?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:33:36 +0100

Born to Greek Cypriot parents Savvas and Thea, Andre has four older brothers Andrew, Chris, Danny, Michael and one older sister, Debby. Andre and Katie Price's son, Junior Savva Andrea, was born on 13 June 2005, in Westminster, London. Andre married Katie Price on 10 September 2005 at Highclere Castle, Berkshire, becoming stepfather to Price's son, Harvey. Katie gave birth to their first born son Junior on Monday the 13th of June 2005. Their daughter, Princess Tiaamii, was born by Caesarean section on 29 June 2007.

On 27 April 2007, it was reported in several newspapers in the UK that Andre had been diagnosed with meningitis.During his stay in hospital a rumour that he had died started spreading around the internet, causing fans to contact his website and forcing Andre to issue a statement insisting that he was still alive. He was discharged from hospital on 3 May 2007.

In May 2009 it was announced that Andre and Price have separated after three and a half years of marriage.Interviewed on This Morning in July 2009, Andre said that he believes that he must "move on with his life" and there is "little chance" that he and Price will ever reconcile. Andre and Price were subsequently divorced on September 8, 2009.

He lives in Hove, East Sussex, England.Peter Andre was discovered on the Australian TV talent show New Faces in 1990. Australian music guru and Melodian Records boss Molly Meldrum was one of the judges on the show and signed André up after seeing him do a Bobby Brown impression. In 1992, the debut single "Gimme Little Sign" was released, eventually peaking at #3 and lasting 31 weeks on the official ARIA Charts. In 1993, a self-titled album charted well in Australia, while the singles "Funky Junky" and "Let's Get It On/Do You Wanna Dance?" reached the Australian Top 20, and "To The Top" provided an additional Top 50 performance. In 1993, "Gimme Little Sign" picked up an ARIA Award as the highest selling single of the year. Andre first had a top 50 single in the UK called "Only One", which reached number #16, and then gained further success with the song "Mysterious Girl" (featuring Bubbler Ranx), which reached #2 in the UK singles chart and #8 in Australia. He then had a #1 album Natural, and two UK #1 singles "Flava", and "I Feel You". However, after attempting to transform into an R&B artist rather than pop and releasing a few more singles, his success waned, with his second album Time only reaching #28. In 1998 he released his last single (a cover of the song "Kiss the Girl" from Disney's The Little Mermaid) before being dropped by his music label, and taking a long break from the charts. He also appeared on the Childliners record The Gift Of Christmas; in the following years he spent some time in Cyprus.

The popular series that aired from 2005-2009 with wife Katie Price.He returned to the British media with a stint on the British reality TV series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!; during which he met, fell in love with and subsequently married former glamour model Jordan, real name Katie Price. Capitalising on his resurgent popularity and a wave of generational nostalgia, he re-released his breakthrough hit "Mysterious Girl" in 2004, the single finally reaching #1 eight years after the 1996 re-release of the song (it had been released once before in 1995). This marked six years since his last chart appearance. He released a follow-up song, "Insania", which reached #3 in the UK in June 2004. A follow-up album entitled The Long Road Back was also released that month but only reached #44. The next single from the album was "The Right Way" and featured wife, Katie Price in the video. This reached #14 in September 2004.

In 2008, Andre began working on his new album. The first single, "Behind Closed Doors", was released in July 2009 and peaked at number 4 in the Official Top 40 Charts. Many of the songs focus on his split with wife Katie Price.

Boyzone's Stephen Gately dies; We will miss him.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:17:15 +0100

Stephen Patrick David Gately’s body was discovered on 10 October 2009 while on holiday in Majorca, Spain. The cause of death has yet to be determined, although ,the openly gay star, 33, went to sleep after a night out but failed to wake up, according to News of the World. Boyzone manager Louis Walsh is quoted as saying: "We're all absolutely devastated. I'm in complete shock. I was only with him on Monday at an awards ceremony. We don't know much about what's happened yet. I only heard after The X Factor and we will rally around each other this week. He was a great man.Gately's bandmates and Louis Walsh are expected to fly out to Majorca on 11 October 2009.

The cause of Gately’s death is unknown at this stage. Gately came out publicly about his sexuality a decade ago, and was civil unioned with his partner Andrew Cowles in March 2006. Gately wed Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006.

Gately was an Irish pop singer, songwriter and actor, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers in the boy band Boyzone. All of the band's studio albums hit number one in the UK, their third and last being their most successful internationally. He had a Top 10 solo album in 2000, after the band's initial breakup. Gately went on to appear variously in stage productions and on television programmes as well recording further solo material. In 2008, he rejoined his band mates as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings. Gately joined Boyzone upon their formation in 1993. He shared the majority of lead vocal work with Ronan Keating. By the time Boyzone originally rested the band in 2000, they had achieved six #1 UK singles.An appearance at Ireland's Meteor Music Awards in February 2008 launched the reformed Boyzone, with touring taking place throughout 2008.

After success with Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the first with his debut solo single titled New Beginning and later a debut solo album of the same name.The album New Beginning included 12 brand new tracks including a version of the classic "Bright Eyes" which he recorded for the soundtrack to the new TV version of Watership Down. He also became the voice of one of the characters ('Blackavar') which was created to look like him.

On 29 May 2000, the single "New Beginning" was released and reached number #3 in the UK charts. Two weeks later the album was released and also entered the charts.

The second single taken from the album was "I Believe". Released on 2 October 2000 this song also featured on the soundtrack to the film Billy Elliot and just missed the UK top ten, peaking at #11. Gately was inspired to record this track after he had seen the film. He attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, along with the actors from the film including Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In May 2001, Stephen's third single, "Stay", was released and reached #13 in the UK chart. That month, with his single still on the charts, his record company, Polydor, dropped him from their label.

In January 2007, Gately was heard in Horror of Glam Rock, a Doctor Who audio drama produced by Big Finish Productions for BBC7. For this audio play, Gately recorded an original song, "Children of Tomorrow", with music by Tim Sutton and lyrics by Barnaby Edwards; this was his first solo track since 2001's "Stay".

Review: Pixar’s ‘Up’ – One of the best films of 2009

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:12:20 +0100

Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America as the first animated film to premiere on the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.The film is scheduled for release on October 9, 2009 in the United Kingdom.

Up is director Pete Docter's second feature-length film after Monsters, Inc., and features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, and Jordan Nagai. It is Pixar's tenth feature film and the studio's first to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D, and is accompanied in theaters by the short film Partly Cloudy. The film was also shown in Dolby 3D in selected theaters.

The film centers around a grumpy old man named Carl Fredricksen and an overeager Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons. The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews with a rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. A video game of the same name, based on the film, was released on May 26, 2009.

Up Film Review

Since its release, Up has received greatly positive reviews from critics. As of August 11, 2009, Rotten Tomatoes reports that 97% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 204 reviews, with an 8.6/10 review average.The film also holds a score of 88 on the review aggregator website Metacritic as of August 1, 2009.Film critic Roger Ebert has awarded the film four out of four stars.

The Hollywood Reporter lauded the film: "Winsome, touching and arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever, this gorgeously rendered, high-flying adventure is a tidy 90-minute distillation of all the signature touches that came before it."

Although the San Francisco Chronicle noted that the film "contains many boring stretches of mindless freneticism and bland character interaction," it also declared that there are scenes in 'Up' of "Such beauty, economy and poetic wisdom that they belong in any anthology of great movie moments...to watch 'Up' with any attention is to be moved and astonished by the economy with which specific visuals are invested with emotion throughout [the film]..."

Variety enthused that "'Up' is an exceptionally refined picture; unlike so many animated films, it's not all about sensory bombardment and volume...Unsurprisingly, no one puts a foot wrong here. Vocal performances...exude a warm enthusiasm, and tech specifications could not be better. Michel Giacchino's full-bodied, traditional score is superlative..."

Up ranked number one at the box office its opening weekend, grossing $68,108,790 in North America. This was a stronger return than analysts had been expecting. The film had a small drop-off of 35% over its second weekend, earning another $44,244,000. Initial estimates projected the film holding on to the #1 spot in its second weekend, but revised figures placed it in second, less than $1M behind the Warner Bros. comedy The Hangover, but over $25M ahead of the Will Ferrell remake of Land of the Lost. In its third weekend, the movie experienced an even smaller decline of just 30%, again trailing The Hangover by just a few million to place second.Making $30,762,280 that weekend, it is the tenth biggest third weekend ever for a movie. It currently has earned a total of $292,155,222 domestically as of October 4, 2009, making it Pixar's second highest grossing film domestically, following Finding Nemo. It is currently the fifth highest grossing animated feature of all time in the U.S. Overseas, the film has earned $214,430,493.

Dug, the talking canine, was awarded the Palm Dog Award by the British film critics as the best canine performance at Cannes Film Festival. Dug beat out the fox from Antichrist and the black poodle from Inglourious Basterds.

In addition to the positive critical reviews the film received, Up highlights Pixar's corporate image as an altruistic company through its charitable acts. In June 2009, a 10-year-old girl from Huntington Beach, California was suffering from the final stages of terminal vascular cancer. It is reported her dying wish was to "live to see the movie" despite the advanced stage of her disease. However, due to her deteriorating condition, the girl was unable to leave the family home. As a result, a family friend contacted Pixar and arranged for a private screening. A Pixar employee flew to the Huntington Beach home with various Up tie-in toys and a DVD copy of the film. The child could not open her eyes, so her mother described the film to her scene by scene. The young girl died approximately seven hours after the screening ended.

Some Key Facts about Pixar Animation UP Film

Directed by Pete Docter ; Co-Director: Bob Peterson

Produced by Jonas Rivera

Executive Producers: John Lasseter; Andrew Stanton

Written by Screenplay:

Bob Peterson
Pete Docter
Story:
Pete Docter
Bob Peterson
Thomas McCarthy

Starring:

Edward Asner
Christopher Plummer
Jordan Nagai
Bob Peterson
Delroy Lindo
Jerome Ranft
John Ratzenberger
Elie Docter

Music by Michael Giacchino

Studio Pixar Animation Studios

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures

Release date(s):

May 29, 2009 (North America)
September 3, 2009 (Australia)
October 9, 2009 (United Kingdom)

Running time 96 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Budget $175 million

Gross revenue $523,438,123

Susan Boyle's album, I Dreamed a Dream, track list now released

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:00:56 +0100

Susan Margaret Boyle the Scottish singer, born 15 June 1961, who came to international public attention on 11 April 2009, when she appeared as a contestant on Britain's Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables has now made public the long-awaited debut album list. “It was my greatest ambition to release an album and I have finally achieved it,” Boyle said Thursday.

Susan Boyle's first album, I Dreamed a Dream, will be released on 23 November 2009, and has become Amazon's best-selling album in pre-sales. Its first single is a cover of the Jagger/Richards song "Wild Horses." The album is also expected to include "You'll See," "I Dreamed a Dream," "Memory," and "Cry Me a River."

The full track listing is:

1: Wild Horses

2: I Dreamed A Dream

3: Cry Me A River

4: How Great Thou Art

5: You’ll See

6: Daydream Believer

7: Up To The Mountain

8: Amazing Grace

9: Who I Was Born To Be

10: Proud

11: The End of The World

12: Silent Night

Global interest in Boyle was triggered by the contrast between her powerful voice and her plain appearance on stage. The juxtaposition of the audience's first impression of her with the standing ovation she received after her performance led to an international media and Internet response. Within nine days of the audition, videos of Boyle— from the show, various interviews, and her 1999 rendition of "Cry Me a River"—had been watched over 100 million times, an online record. Despite the sustained media interest, she later finished in second place in the final of the show, behind dance troupe Diversity.

Susan who has never married, still lives in the family home, a four-bedroom council house, with her ten-year-old cat, Pebbles.

My top 3 Adolf Hitler movies

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:03:04 +0100

There are more than 100 films with the name Hitler in the title - film makers can’t get enough of Adolf Hitler. But here is my top 3 Adolf Hitler.

No 1. Downfall. Downfall (German: Der Untergang) is a 2004 German-Austrian drama film, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945. The film was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, written by Bernd Eichinger, and based upon the books: Inside Hitler's Bunker, by historian Joachim Fest; Until the Final Hour, the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries; portions of Albert Speer's memoirs Inside the Third Reich; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye–Witness Account, by Gerhardt Boldt; Das Notlazarett Unter Der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt Erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin (memoirs) by Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck; and Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949 (memoirs) by Siegfried Knappe.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

No 2 is Night and Fog. Night and Fog (French: Nuit et brouillard) is a 1955 French documentary short film. Directed by Alain Resnais, it was made ten years after the liberation of Nazi concentration camps the documentary features the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz and Majdanek while describing the lives of prisoners in the camps. Night and Fog was made in collaboration by two survivors of the Holocaust, including writer Jean Cayrol and composer Hanns Eisler.

No3 is the The Producers. The Producers is a 2005 American comedy-musical film starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Uma Thurman. It is based on the 2001 Broadway musical of the same name and a remake of the 1968 film of the same name starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, and Andréas Voutsinas. The movie is directed by Susan Stroman (the director and choreographer of the original Broadway production). It was produced and distributed domestically by Universal Pictures and distributed overseas by Columbia Pictures.