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Critics may have called The Marriage Ref
everything from "painfully bad" to an "ugly, unfunny, patronizing mess," but how would we know? We
couldn't find an Engadget editor who would fess up to DVRing the thing. In fact, when we received
these screen shots from an eagle-eyed reader, we had to Google it to find out what he was talking
about! And here we have it: either this cookie sheet has Bluetooth, or this is an iPad complete with Magic Mouse and wireless
keyboard. Now if you'll excuse us, we're switching back to the Lifetime network to see if we can
spot ourselves a JooJoo.
We've seen "real" guitars made to "work" with existing music-band titles, and we've even seen MIDI
guitars play nice with Rock Band, but we've yet to see a company design a game from the ground-up
to work with a legitimate six string. Until now. Here at GDC, Seven45 Studios is making a name for
itself by introducing Power Gig: Rise of the SixString (for PS3 and Xbox 360) along with a bona
fide axe. The newfangled company is a sister firm to First Act -- the same guys who made that
guitar sold with your '07 Jetta -- and the instrument debuting here at the show uses proprietary
technology "that can distinguish and recognize gamers' input all along the guitar." Better still,
the instrument includes all of the innards necessary to make noise through an amp, so you could
theoretically use this to rock out in real life as well. If you're skeptical about the game's
ability to actually recognize complicated inputs, get a load of this: "Power Gig also introduces
the option to switch on chording, or chord play; chording presents the added challenge of playing
the game using chords that require specific finger placement on the strings." The tandem is slated
to go on sale this fall for an undisclosed amount, and we'll be snagging some hands-on time with
the game and guitar here in just a few hours -- stay tuned!
If you've been looking to get in on some of that red hot game development action that Palm's been
all about lately, check it out: among the announcements at this year's GDC, Palm has announced the
release of its public beta PDK for webOS. This bad boy promises to let devs "use C and C++
alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app,"
just the thing for porting game titles to the webOS platform. And it's available now! Hit the
source link to get started -- and maybe someday we'll finally get to play Mr. Jelly on our
Pixi.
We've all had a feeling that Microsoft is holding back some pretty big surprises (or at least
completely reasonable revelations) when it comes to Windows Phone 7 Series and gaming, and here at
GDC this week it sounds like we're going to get a little glimpse into that. Microsoft is unveiling
its new XNA Game Studio 4.0, which lets developers work on games for Windows Phone 7 Series, Xbox
360 and Windows PC. The integration with Visual Studio 2010 that we saw the other day allows
developers to build a single project and then make slight modifications to let it run on each
platform respectively. Most importantly, Microsoft specifically mentions that 4.0 will include
hardware accelerated 3D APIs for Windows Phone 7 Series -- not stunning, giving the fact that Zune
can do 3D games (and is supported by XNA), but relieving just the same. Other phone-related tidbits
are also telling: there will be fairly deep Xbox LIVE integration, including unlocking achievements
from phone-based games and push notifications for asynchronous turn based gaming. Hopefully we can
get some real live multiplayer gaming going as well, but there's no mention of that just yet.
Microsoft promises "much, much more" will be revealed at MIX 2010, but for now we're gonna dig for
all we can here at GDC.
Well, it looks like Sony has a little treat for PS3 users now that they're able to turn their
consoles back on -- it's just announced that it has signed up all six major studios to deliver HD
movies on the PlayStation Network (the first company to do so, as Sony is happy to point out). That
includes 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner
Bros. and, of course, Sony Pictures Entertainment, which combined have an initial slate of 19 HD
movies available to buy or rent -- including "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Star Trek," "District 9,"
"Inglourious Basterds," and "The Wizard of Oz," to name a few. Those are only available in the US
at the moment, but Sony says it plans to also roll them out to the U.K., France, Germany, and Spain
"soon."
At the top is a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol. Below, the WiiAuto Pistol. Mistaking the
former for the latter, three-year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan of Wilson County, Tennessee, shot
and killed herself Sunday evening. Where does the blame lie?
We reported on the accidental shooting death of Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan yesterday, mainly due to
the fact that the initial reports indicated the girl mistook a real pistol, left on a living room
table by her stepfather, for a gun-shaped Wii controller. In our experience, Wii gun controllers
are generally white, blue, or orange, in order to avoid exactly this sort of situation.
The WiiAuto Pistol is a cheap bit of plastic manufactured by the HAIHONGCHANG Electronics Company
in China, available for purchase via various web sites and on eBay. I've seen the peripheral go for
anywhere for $7 to $15, so not only is it coloring realistic, it's cheap as well.
We've reached out to the manufacturer regarding this story, and would update should we receive a
response.
Further details have arisen about the case itself as well. The child's stepfather, Douglas
Cronberger, had been checking for trespassers using the gun, and not scaring off dogs, as
originally reported. Both Cronberger and his wife, Tina Ann Cronberger, were home at the time of
the shooting, with the mother working on the computer a few feet away from where Cheyenne
played.
A police statement noted that Cheyenne had learned to use a gun by playing with the Wii for several
days.
There are several things that strike me odd about this case, but I'm not here to speculate. The
fact of the matter is that I can now see how the child could have mistaken the real gun for the
toy. Free from American manufacturing and product approval restraints, the Chinese manufacturer
created a very convincing facsimile of a real weapon, especially when fitted with a black Wii
remote.
That doesn't make them responsible for this death.
There is a very clear message in this story. If you own a handgun, or a gun of any kind, make sure
you're responsible enough to keep it away from children. The presence of a lifelike gun controller
for the Wii doesn't shift blame to Nintendo or a Chinese peripheral manufacturer. If anything, it
piles more responsibility onto the shoulders of the parents. I can walk into any big electronics
store and find two or three Wii gun controllers in several different shades of unrealistic
gaudiness.
Instead of purchasing one of those, someone opted for the more realistic model, just like someone
opted to leave a loaded weapon within reach of a curious three-year-old child with a notion that
gun-shaped objects are fun to play with.
We've reached out to both Nintendo and the Wilson County Sheriff's Department for comment on this
story, but no response was received as of publishing time.
Image (large size) One of many vintage ads from old issues of Wired Magazine at wiredreread.com, a
site created by Theis Søndergaard. Be sure to use your fancy new 28.8 modem when you
call it up on the internet....
Hi everyone,
It’s been fun to watch all the speculation on whether or not God of War III would get its own spot with
Kevin Butler. The answer? Of
course, how could it not? We’ve been looking forward to the launch of God of War III for some time now (as you all have) as it’s one
of the best examples of “It Only Does Everything” that you’ll find. Where else
can you get epic storylines, groundbreaking depth of scale, dynamic 3D realism, and our signature
gameplay that is God of War. Yes, God of War III will be one of our biggest sales drivers this
year, selling multiple millions of copies and becoming a system seller for PS3. It’s
that good and everything you’ve heard is true. With more than 35GB of Blu-ray gaming goodness,
it’s truly a shining example of “Only on PlayStation.”
The early
reviews are echoing what we already know, that the wait for God of War III will not have been
in vain. PlayStation: The Official
Magazine has given God of War III a score of 5 out of 5 while Game Informer has followed suit with a 10 out of 10, and that’s just the
tip of the iceberg as we expect an onslaught of positive reviews to hit newsstands next week.
Some of you already know what to expect from the final installment of this Olympic-size trilogy.
For those of you who don’t, comparing God of War III’s
scale and scope to previous chapters is like comparing Kratos’ Blades of Chaos to a letter opener. We are confident that if you
haven’t jumped on board yet, this game will certainly be the incentive you’ve been
waiting for to get a PS3. Our hats are off once again to our studio
organization for creating another amazing experience. I’ve been saying it for awhile, but the
depth and breadth of content on PS3 is unrivaled and will continue to be a catalyst to our sales
all year long.
While the game itself won’t be in stores until March 16, many of you dedicated
God of War fans have already been feeling the Fury of Kratos at your local 7-Eleven. Already, thousands of vouchers from the cups have been redeemed for
exclusive downloadable
content. Kratos will also be invading the world of NASCAR. On Saturday, March 20, the No. 20 car will be sporting a brand new God of
War III and GameStop themed paint scheme
driven by Joey Logano during the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. For our
die-hard fans, we’ve produced our first collector’s item with the ”Ultimate God of War III Edition” which comes packed
with exclusive collectibles and downloadable content (priced at $99.99). Several retail partners
are seeing huge demand on pre-orders for this edition, so make sure to grab yours on launch
day.
Which brings us back to our good friend Kevin Butler, who will also play his part to promote God of
War III with a new TV
commercial that begins airing the end of this week. Suffice it to say that Kevin can’t
possibly ignore the game’s star power. We will also have a 15 second commercial highlighting
all the glowing accolades this game is already garnering. We hope you all enjoy your exclusive
access to both commercials here before they hit the airwaves:
I look forward to hearing your feedback on the commercials and this amazing game.
This just in from VMware: "Fling is defined as 'a brief casual relationship.'"
That text actually appears on a site VMware created to share internal engineering projects --
software code that is interesting but not yet ready for VMware's flagship virtualization
products.
Whereas most discarded plastic water and beverage bottles (those imprinted with a number 1 within
a triangular arrow) can be recycled , the resulting second-generation plastic is generally
unusable for making new plastic bottles. This is because the polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
thermoplastic polymer used to make the original bottles is often made with the help of metal
oxide or metal hydroxide catalysts that linger in the recycled material and weaken it over time.
[More]
We
covered location-based game Foursquare's
webOS client earlier in the year, noting that
competitor Gowalla had a client for the Palm Pre and Pixi 'in the works' - and today, just in time
for SXSW, the Gowalla webOS client has appeared in the App
Store. As with all things Gowalla, the
client is slickly designed, and includes all the bells and whistles found in the Gowalla iPhone app
from Checking in, friends checkins and the recently expanded 'Trips' feature.
Whilst the number of webOS devices may be somewhat lower than, say, iPhones, the release today is
particularly important given the webOS browser doesn't support location services that would
otherwise allow Gowalla users to use the well-designed mobile website.
Be sure to check out our gallery of Gowalla for webOS screenshots - and if you own a Pre or Pixi,
the app is ready to download in the webOS App
Catalog.
Shadow has released a new version of the PSP
Emulator for Windows that plays quite a few Commercial PSP Games these days, heres the news:
A new version for jpcsp has just released . This version include a lot of fixes and speedups , more
games will work better , compatibility has increased a lot and you can figure out more by yourself
by d/ling it from our download section.Playable Games Include:
PUZZLER COLLECTION
Bust A Move Deluxe
Super Fruitfall
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Breath Of Fire III
ASTONISHIA STORY
Blokus Portable :Steambot Championship
Attached Files jpcsp0.5win(rev1379).zip
(6.23 MB)
Codemasters has announced Bodycount, a new game under the creative
direction of Stuart Black, best known for the Criterion Studios shooter Black -- and which draws
inspiration from J.J. Abrams and Lady Gaga. Though Black has been at Codemasters for "two or
three years now," he says, he "actually started on a different project, another original IP
that's kind of been on the back burner... We started [production] work on Bodycount about nine
months ago." ...
IBM’s Open Collaborative Research is working on ways to get mobile Internet
to the aged and illiterate all over the world. The initial research is happening in Japan and
India and will be used to plan future endeavors including open source platforms for information
sharing. Japan was chosen because of its high number of older folks and India chosen because,
despite recent impressive advances, many citizens are still illiterate.
The research will include creating new user interfaces that use images rather than text.
“This collaborative research programme will result in critical insights to the
accessibility requirements of the elderly people with little or no education in developing
nations,” IBM Research Director (India) and Chief Technologist (IBM India/South Asia)
Manish Gupta said.
Generally I’m down on electronic solutions to problems of education. However, by giving
some of the most important educators on the planet – grandparents and parents – more
and better tools
GNOME's Google Summer of Code Admins are looking for a few
good ideas. In case you missed it, here's the post from Ruben Vermeersch that went out to
devel-announce and foundation-announce:
It's that time of the year again: Google's Summer of Code is approaching. We are in the midst of
preparing it all but we need your help by
submitting great project ideas. Student proposals will start to roll in on March 29, but we'd
like to make sure there are plenty of projects from them to chose from and have mentors ready to
volunteer their time.
The Microsoft browser ballot released
this month to Windows users in the EU is already doing Microsoft's rivals a favor. Two of the
major competitors to Internet Explorer have seen an increase in downloads, while the other two
are not willing to share data. We contacted the makers of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera;
here's what they had to say.
Opera, the Norwegian browser maker that first filed a complaint with the European Union
in December 2007, accusing Microsoft of violating EU antitrust law by bundling IE with
Windows, is pleased with the progress its browser is making. "Since the browser choice screen
rollout, Opera downloads have more than tripled in major European countries, such as Belgium,
France, Spain, Poland, and the UK," an Opera spokesperson told Ars. The company said it currently
did not have more detailed numbers but plans on sharing more as they become available.
Mozilla, which has a
particularly solid foothold in Europe, was slightly more specific in the progress it was
seeing with its browser downloads. "Early data suggests 50,000 to 100,000 new users chose Firefox
as a direct result of seeing the Ballot Choice screen," a Mozilla spokesperson told Ars. "We
expect these numbers will increase as the Ballot Choice rolls out in additional countries and
will share updated metrics as they become available."
Apple did not respond at all, and while Google was happy to respond, the company wouldn't get
specific: "We generally don't share download stats on that granular of a level," a Google
spokesperson told Ars. The company did not respond to a follow-up question if Chrome saw an
increase in number of downloads period. While Apple and Google haven't said much, we think it's
likely that both have also seen a bump in the number of downloads of their browsers. Hundreds of
thousands of users who may not have known of a world outside of Internet Explorer are being
confronted with the alternatives.
The browser ballot will be presented on Windows computers across the EU for at least the next
five years. Microsoft's rivals are, however, already pushing to have it appear
outside of Europe as well.
CaH4e3 released a new version of his FCEU MM (NES emulator with improved mappers support based on
FCE Utlra). Changes:
- mapper 163/164 - "Lei Dian Huang Bi Ka Qiu Chuan Shuo (NJ046)" fixed, other may be broken ;)
- mapper 80 - "Mirai Shinwa Jarvas (J) [!]" save function enabled;
- UNIF NROM - SRAM added for "Family BASIC (J) (V3.0)", battery backed flag too;
- UNIF UNROM - busconflict hacky emulation, fixed graphic glitch in "Cyberball (U) [!]".
Thus far, we've really learned only one thing from the trailers released for Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition:
You can plan to spend a lot of time in the game pounding very strange looking people in
the face. Whether you do so by yourself or with
a friend is up to you. Now, thanks to the latest trailer from Atlus, we learn a little bit about the
story of Zeno Clash. It seems that the main character kills someone or something
known as Father-Mother. We're not sure what started the dispute -- perhaps a forgotten
Father-Mother's Day present -- but the end result is a dead tribal leader, banishment and a quest
for the truth. You know, that old chestnut.
In advance of
NPD sales results for February 2010, analysts are
predicting year-over-year declines for pretty much everything. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael
Pachter, according to
Gamasutra, is predicting that hardware and software sales will decline 10 percent, with Wii
hardware sales hit particularly hard (around 40 percent) due to shortages. Beyond the Wii, the
continuing decline of the music genre is partly to blame for the reduced sales.
Analyst Colin Sebastian is guessing at a 15 percent decline, despite encouraging early sales for
games like Heavy Rain and preorders for
games like Battlefield: Bad Company
2 (which, as an early March release, may fit into the NPD February sales period) and
God of War III. The fact that high-profile games are likely to show sharp declines after
strong first-week sales will prevent software trends from turning for the better.
One of our T-Mobile connects just blessed us with some HTC HD2 unboxing shots. With a
looming release date, it should help cut down on some of your healthcare costs. You know, for
those of you that have been hyperventilating since the official
announcement. Hit the jump for the shots!
Lawrence Downes of The New York Times says: "I was just in Haiti reporting on things there and
found amazing makers: boys who make kites. Even in refugee camps, where there’s only tiniest
scraps of stuff: plastic, sticks, thread." The kites are beautiful: some have layers of black and
clear plastic forming diamonds and stars. Some have decorative edges, the plastic razor-sliced into
piñata fringe. But they work, catching the breeze and jack-rabbiting into the smoky air.
Small kites are notoriously hard to fly, but these are perfectly engineered. A boy I met in a camp
down the block from the ruins of the Catholic cathedral in Port-au-Prince pointed to the sky.
Blinking into the sun, I took forever to find his kite: a darting black dot far above the shattered
steeples. The Kite Makers of Haiti...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of cable and satellite companies will this week call on the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission to create a new process to resolve increasingly bitter disputes
over carriage fees paid to broadcasters.
SV
Angel, the angel fund founded by super-angel Ron Conway, is losing one of its general
partners to a portfolio company. Brian
Pokorny is now the CEO of fast-growing Silicon Valley-based Dailybooth.
Dailybooth, the runner up in the
“best social app” and winner of the “time sink” categories at this
year’s Crunchies Awards, is “your life in pictures.” Some
6 million monthly visitors share pictures and status updates with eachother.
“It’s a community for self expression,” says Pokorny.
A typical interaction: a users posts a photo, taken with their webcam, showing what they’re
eating, what they’re feeling, or perhaps with friends in the background. Other user then
respond via text or photos. Some strings go on for hundreds of responses. Here’s an example.
Founders Jon Wheatley and Ryan Amos will remain in their current roles at
Dailybooth.
Pokorny has worked with Conway on his various investments since 2006, and has racked up quite an
angel portfolio of his own. He owns
stakes in Twitter, Square, Milo, Blippy, Bump, Tweetdeck, OMGPOP and others.
He’s staying close to SV Angel, too. In addition to his new role as CEO of Dailybooth,
Pokorny will remain as a Strategic Partner with SV Angel where he will continue to provide key
insights into sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities in social media and other sectors.
“I’m excited to have Brian join one of our hottest portfolio startups and lead it
to the next level,” said Ron Conway via email. “He will remain part of the
core team at SV Angel as a strategic partner, and I look forward to working with him in this new
role.”
SV Angel has also been in the new recently – they are reportedly closing a
new $10 million fund, the first time the fund will take outside investors to participate in
their startup investments.
Click above for the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, RSS or listen now!
Episode #169 of the Autoblog Podcast has arrived, and it's Chris, Sam, Alex, and Dan again this
week. As usual, the Autoblog Garage starts us off, this time with a couple Suzuki Kizashis, a Ford Transit Connect, and the Cadillac SRX. The first topic for discussion are the
latest developments in the ongoing Toyota Recall issue. The Cadillac CTS-V Wagon catches our fancy next,
and we stay on the wagon tip to talk about the Acura
TSX Wagon, which will debut at the New York International Auto Show. Honda's
CR-Z is next, before we go big and talk about the 2011 Ford
SuperDuty. Wrapping up on a sporting note, we offer totally uninformed commentary on the
Carl
Edwards NASCAR wreck before taking a few listener questions and calling this turkey done.
Thanks for listening!
Direct fanmail to Podcast at Autoblog dot com, review the show in iTunes, fill out
our survey
or even leave us a voicemail on our Google Voice line 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763).
Until next week, hit up Joystiq and
Engadget when podcast loneliness sets in. Thanks for
listening!
Seen here summoning a legion of harpies at Carnaval a few weeks back, Madonna is still on the hunt
for Gerard Butler's elephant spear, according to Hollywood Life: Gerard attended a private bash
that Madge, Demi Moore and producer... ...read full story
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We
covered location-based game 
Codemasters has announced Bodycount, a new game under the creative
direction of Stuart Black, best known for the Criterion Studios shooter Black -- and which draws
inspiration from J.J. Abrams and Lady Gaga. Though Black has been at Codemasters for "two or
three years now," he says, he "actually started on a different project, another original IP
that's kind of been on the back burner... We started [production] work on Bodycount about nine
months ago." ...
IBM’s Open Collaborative Research is working on ways to get mobile Internet
to the aged and illiterate all over the world. The initial research is happening in Japan and
India and will be used to plan future endeavors including open source platforms for information
sharing. Japan was chosen because of its high number of older folks and India chosen because,
despite recent impressive advances, many citizens are still illiterate.
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