FRC Blogged - More Award Updates, FIRST Choice, and a New FRC Xbox Game!

[Hallry]

Taken from the FRC Blog, 12/7/12: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr.../blog12-7-2012

Blog Date: Friday, December 7, 2012 - 11:44

Excellence in Design Award

As many have noticed from looking at the 2013 FRC Administrative Manual, the Excellence in Design Award, sponsored by Autodesk, will not be part of our 2013 season. I had intended to give more advance notice of this change, but things did not go as I had expected, and I’m sorry about that. While a relatively small number of teams – less than 50 – submitted for this award last year, I recognize that for the teams that did submit, this represented a significant portion of the effort they put forth for the season. Autodesk remains very committed to supporting the mission of FIRST, but wants to take this season to consider ways they could allow more FRC team members to explore the software-aided design and showcase sides of the FRC experience. We support their approach on this.

For teams that were planning to submit for this award in 2013, consider this: when a change gets presented to you, even an undesired change, it’s often a great opportunity to step back and evaluate the ‘whats’ and ‘whys’ of your activities. You may find new and exciting ways your animation sub-team can contribute this year. Here’s one idea: the new Digital Media Award will be looking at the many ways teams get the message out about themselves and FIRST. Could animation be part of your marketing strategy?



Creativity Award

The Creativity Award, sponsored by Xerox, will be a part of the 2013 season. It was inadvertently omitted from the 2013 Administrative Manual during the editing and formatting process. It’s fixed now!



Digital Media Award

To be clear – while the Digital Media Award will be presented only at Championship this year, any FRC team will be able to submit for it. You do not need to be present at Championship to win!



FIRST Choice

Reminder – FIRST Choice opens for ordering at Noon EST on Monday, 12/10. Only teams that have paid their registration fees will be able to place orders. The most desirable items will go quickly, so get ready!



New FRC Xbox Game

I’m excited about this one! Diamond Bullet Studios is releasing a game for Microsoft’s Xbox console based on the 2012 FRC competition. The game is coming out soon. Check out the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBg8QlAP2Eo

Also, if you – or folks you know – are registered XNA developers and would like to test this game before official release, please email support@DBSGames.net. Diamond Bullet Studios would love to have your help!



I’ll blog again soon.

Frank

Well, Creativity Award is back in, Excellence in Design is out, and the Digital Media Award is open to all. I wonder if Diamond Bullet will develop the game for other platforms as well (Playstation, Wii, etc.)...