Andre LaMothe
Encyclopedia
André LaMothe is a computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....

, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and embedded systems developer. He was responsible for the development of hardware and software for artificial intelligence research and worked specifically on the sparse distributed memory project at NASA's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS).

LaMothe attended San Jose State University where he triple majored in mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering.

LaMothe is an international best selling author and his books on game programming have sold up to 400 to 500 thousand copies in total, and has written numerous computer games for 8-bit computers. Among others the FPS 3D Rex-Blade series in the mid-1990s. Other projects he has pioneered in was the development of the first super computer virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...

 location-based games while working at Vision of Reality using the Sense8 API and SGI Oynx super computers.

LaMothe is the creator of the XGameStation
XGameStation
The XGameStation is a line of embedded systems, primarily designed as video game consoles, created by Andre LaMothe and sold by his company Nurve Networks LLC...

, one of the world's first video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

 development kits. Recently he added a new more powerful Parallax Propeller
Parallax Propeller
The Parallax P8X32A Propeller chip, introduced in 2006, is a multi-core architecture parallel microcontroller with eight 32-bit RISC CPU cores....

 multi-core based system, called the HYDRA Game Development Kit, to the earlier systems that were based on the SX52 Processor
SX52 Processor
The SX52 Processor was one of a line of 8 bit microcontrollers designed by Ubicom. It was based on the PIC architecture and housed in a 52 pins package....

 and SX28 Processors. These were followed by the MACH64 Programmable Logic Starter Kit which teaches CPLDs. Lamothe's latest next generation gaming products are the XGS AVR 8-Bit and XGS PIC 16-Bit, these systems are designed to be used as AVR/PIC development kits targeting engineers, hobbyists, and students.

Recently, LaMothe released the Chameleon AVR 8-Bit as well as the Chameleon PIC 16-Bit. These systems are Arduino compatible to varying degrees, but rely on a multiprocessor, multicore architecture to leverage the strengths of the Arduino's philosophy while enabling simplified media generation such as NTSC VGA, audio, as well as interfacing to devices such as keyboard and mice with very little code.

He founded Xtreme Games LLC in 1994, which represented hundreds of small independent or amateur game companies and claims to be the "world's largest virtual game company." In its heyday, Xtreme Games licensed hundreds of valueware games to companies such as Expert Software, Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

, and eGames
EGames
eGames, Inc. is a software publisher and developer for casual and traditional computer games based in Langhorne, PA.-History:EG was originally called E-games when it went public in 1996...

. LaMothe is founder of the Xtreme Games Developer Conference (XGDC) a grass roots game developer conference which was licensed to Course PTR in 2002 as the XGDX.

LaMothe developed the "Black Art Series" for Waite Group Press in the mid-1990s, which was recently brought back to life by Sams Publishing
Sams
Sams can refer to:* Sams Publishing* School Administrative and Management Systems* United States Army School of Advanced Military Studies* The South American Missionary Society*South African Military Health Service* Scottish Association for Marine Science...

, and is the series editor of the Premier Publishing Game Development Series.

Currently, LaMothe is the CEO of Nurve Networks LLC which develops embedded systems catering to entertainment and educational hardware kits. He is also an instructor at GameInstitute.com and Chief Scientist of The SafeCig.com.

Abridged bibliography

  • Game Programming for the Propeller Powered HYDRA
  • The Black Art of Video Game Console Design
  • Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization
  • Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus
  • Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus
  • Black Art of 3D Game Programming: Writing Your Own High-Speed 3D Polygon Video Games in C
  • Teach Yourself Game Programming in 21 Days
  • Windows Game Programming for Dummies
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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