September 2009
Elysian Tail game wins $40,000 prize in XNA Dream-Build-Play competition
Posted by GreenReaper on Sun 6 Sep 2009 - 23:00Anthropomorphic animator-programmer Dean Dodrill (Noogy) has won the $40,000 grand prize in the Microsoft XNA Dream-Build-Play competition with his side-scrolling action game Dust: An Elysian Tail.[1] Dust draws on Dean's work towards an animated film in the Elysian Tail universe, though it features different characters, and has been compared to Odin Sphere and Muramasa. In the game, the lead character Dust must save a village from oppression with the help of an ancient sword, accompanied by miniature flying fox sidekick Fidget.
Dean was an Epic Games artist who left the company when Jazz Jackrabbit 3 was canceled in 2000, and only began object-oriented programming at the start of this year.[2][3][4] He became popular within furry fandom for characters such as Bonnie, an anthropomorphic mouse.
While the award does not guarantee a traditional publishing contract, Dust is now likely to become an Xbox Live Arcade game sold on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital-distribution service.[5] The game is on display this weekend in the Microsoft Indie Games booth at PAX, a popular gamer festival held in Seattle, Washington.[4]
Anthrocon 2009 psychological survey team releases preliminary results
Posted by GreenReaper on Mon 21 Sep 2009 - 11:28Preliminary results have been released for a psychological survey taken at Anthrocon 2009 this July.[1][2][3][4][5] The survey team was led by Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, a social psychologist and anthrozoologist at the Niagara County Community College, and supervised by the Kent State University Institutional Review Board.
The team has run surveys at Anthrocon since 2006, covering topics such as connections with other species, species dysphoria and gender identity disorder, happiness and social rejection, transliminality, the essential characteristics of being a furry, and the reasons furry fans wear (or do not wear) fursuits.[6] Many topics were chosen to address prevalent stereotypes. The first portion of their work was published in the academic journal Society and Animals in 2008.[7][8]
This year's survey focussed on determining sociability, empathy, sex role identification, and social desirability.[9] There were 275 participants; fewer than in previous years due to IRB restrictions intended to prevent distribution of forms to minors.[10]
Stimulus funding for fursuits
Posted by Procyon on Mon 21 Sep 2009 - 11:28That's right, a hefty $51,500 of US federal stimulus funding is going to buy... fursuits. (Characters include "Bobber the Water Safety Dog" and are intended to teach childeren about swimming safety.)
Site update: ANTHRO hits a milestone!
Posted by Cubist on Mon 21 Sep 2009 - 11:29http://anthrozine.com -- the zine proper
http://www.lulu.com/cubist -- ANTHRO Press: We got books!
http://www.zazzle.com/cubist* -- Graphic Descriptions: We got posters and t-shirts, too!
http://astore.amazon.com/anthrozine-20 -- The ANTHRO Mall
Quentin 'Cubist' Long here, announcing yet another new issue of ANTHRO. Except that 'yet another' isn't quite accurate, because *this* issue is the zine's *twenty-fifth*! You can think of it as reaching the quarter-century mark, or four full years of existence plus the start of the fifth; either way, there just aren't a lot of furzines that can lay claim to the milestone of a 25th issue... but ANTHRO is now a member of that elite group!
Upcoming furry comics for November 2009 (Previews only)
Posted by Treesong on Mon 21 Sep 2009 - 11:29Mostly the usual this month, but *Dead Duck* looks funny.