Every once in a while a site emerges from the primordial Internet ooze that changes the way I think about things. Pandora changed my notion of Internet radio. YouTube has changed video forever. Facebook made me believe I could stay connected to old friends without the stress of writing periodic in-depth e-mails (which I never did).

Thanks to a mention in the recent Unity newsletter, I think I may have discovered another game-changing site, at least as far as indie game development is concerned. The site is Mixamo, which offers nothing less than the ability to create “production-quality 3D character animations in a fraction of the time that traditional mo-cap and keyframing requires.” Oh, and you can use your own skeleton. Crazy, right?

Mixamo is a Web-based application that allows you to upload a skeleton, choose from a growing library of animations, apply them to your skeleton, customize them quickly using a series of sliders, save them to a shopping cart, and buy them on an a la carte basis. Animations cost anywhere from $25 to $119.

For an indie developer with limited resources and animation skills, this is potentially a game changer. Animation is a seriously specialized skill, and paying $50 for a ready-made animation to play with is much more appealing that hiring a freelance animator who is sure to charge hundreds of dollars at least.

Certainly Mixamo has some limitations, including the fact that it only supports biped animations. No animals, monsters, or hybrids here, as far as I can tell, though I don’t know how the system would handle a non-standard skeleton (with, say, an extra leg joint — for a minotaur or something).

Let’s face it, animating human characters is hard. Hiring people to do the work is expensive. Now, thanks to some seemingly brilliant programmers, a great idea, and the wonder of the Internet, another barrier to video game development appears to be crumbling away. Very exciting indeed.

Finally managed to create a YouTube demo of Cornhole Pro. Check it out!

About a month ago, EA Sports announced that it was foregoing a PC version of Tiger Woods Golf this year in favor of a full-featured, browser-based game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. There are more details on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour blog.

Why is this a big deal? EA is using Unity as the front-end engine for the game! Not only is this a huge deal for the good folks at Unity Technologies — since there are likely to be ridiculous numbers of people playing this game — it’s potentially a giant leap for browser-based gaming.

Browser-based gaming has historically been dominated by Flash and Shockwave games of the casual variety. Quake Live and Cartoon Network’s Fusion Fall (which also uses Unity) brought us a browser-based MMO, but I don’t know of many more large-scale, 3D games that operate within a web browser.

According to EA, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online was born when the company realized that sales of the PC version of Tiger Woods Golf were lagging and that they could reach potentially millions more people by making the game web-based. My guess is they also realized Unity would give them a way to present a graphically rich game within a browser. It also means no more platform compatibility issues, thanks to the Unity web player plugin.

It’s not clear yet how EA is going to make money from the game. My guess is it will be subscription-based, which may cause a lot of gamers to balk. They might pay anyway, though, if the game is regularly updated and enhanced. Other possibilities include an ad-supported model or a one-time fee to play. The one-time fee option seems unlikely to me, considering that EA has left off any sort of numerical identifier like “10″ or “09.”

The cynic in me thinks the people at EA may be saying, “Hey, most folks pay for a new Tiger Woods game every year anyway, so charging a subscription fee for TW PGA Tour Online is the same thing, right?”

I have signed up for the beta test of Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, so we’ll see if my name gets called (EA, I would be a great beta tester, I promise!). I’ll report back if I can. Nevertheless, if this game catches on, not only could EA start releasing more big-budget browser games, other major developers might jump on the bandwagon.

Who knows, in a few years, we might be looking at web browsers as a primary way to play on the PC.

In my early days of using Twitter I discovered a really cool site: Tweet My Gaming. This site is a real-time feed of video-game-related twitter posts. During prime time you can easily watch dozens of tweets go by in just a few minutes. It’s hard to keep up, but it’s hard to look away.

Given the popularity of Twitter these days, Tweet My Gaming is probably the best chance you’ll have of keeping the pulse of the gaming community. The home page’s right column lists the most commonly tweeted games, complete with a line graph showing activity per day.

If the full live feed is too much for you, there’s a handy search bar that lets you search for tweets about your favorite game. Aside from being a gloriously entertaining way to spend a few idle minutes, it’s also a remarkably quick way to get the latest news about your favorite games.

Tweet My Gaming is powered by GamerDNA.com, a sort of game-based social network that lets you publicize your gaming preferences, gaming activity, and random thoughts about the games you play. I’ve had a little trouble navigating GamerDNA at times, but it’s worth checking out. While you’re there, feel free to look at my profile.

When was the last time I went an entire day without hearing the word “Twitter?” I honestly can’t remember. Clearly the twitterers (twits?) have won — so I will join them. That’s right, you can now follow Groundswell Games on Twitter.

You can tweet me directly using @gswellgames. If you want to follow along but don’t want to join Twitter, just turn your attention to the new Twitter Updates section in the sidebar, or subscribe to my Twitter feed via RSS.

There you have it, I’m a twit. Want to know the best part? I think I like it. Blogging causes a certain amount of performance anxiety for me, but tweeting is quick, easy, and fleeting. If you’re interested in keeping up with the ins and outs of my game development exploits, Twitter is your best bet. Even better, my Twitter feed should start including an update every time I publish a new blog post.

My goals as a new Twitter user? 1. Keep it relevant. 2. Avoid Twitter jargon in everyday conversation — I may be jumping on the bandwagon, but I don’t have to ride shotgun.

Tweet tweet!