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Despite several failed attempts at
producing an appropriate commercial for this year's Game Developers Conference, comedy skit crew
Mega64 pulled it together for the Indie Games Festival/Game Developers Choice Awards and
premiered several new videos at the show, including this clip here building on the success of
The Beatles: Rock Band.
It actually makes a lot more sense if you've seen the other videos aired at the awards honoring
the creators of huge video games like New Super Mario Bros. and Metal Gear Solid
4, I won't ruin the identity of this clip's special guest for you, but Mega64 says it's
a celebrity that will "make you redefine 'Beatlemania' all over again."
"A
two pack?" you ask, confused by today's announcement of the Borderlands DLC retail package. "But doesn't that
game have three DLC
packs? And aren't there more coming?" Yeah, sure, and
you might even have a point! But for now, 2K Games chose to announce the release of The Zombie
Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, together on disc, for $19.99
(starting on April 6 in North America and April 9 everywhere else).
More confusing? Apparently the retail pack won't arrive on PS3, though both pieces of content are
already available digitally (for the same price, no less) on the PlayStation Network. Yep, we're
not really sure what to say either, but we've asked Gearbox and 2K Games for a reason why the pack
isn't heading to the PS3 (or if it ever will, for that matter), and if this also be the case with
future DLC releases at retail. We'll let you know what we hear back as soon as we can.
"A
two pack?" you ask, confused by today's announcement of the Borderlands DLC retail package. "But doesn't that
game have three DLC
packs? And aren't there more coming?" Yeah, sure, and
you might even have a point! But for now, 2K Games chose to announce the release of The Zombie
Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, together on disc, for $19.99
(starting on April 6 in North America and April 9 everywhere else).
More confusing? Apparently the retail pack won't arrive on PS3, though both pieces of content are
already available digitally (for the same price, no less) on the PlayStation Network. Yep, we're
not really sure what to say either, but we've asked Gearbox and 2K Games for a reason why the pack
isn't heading to the PS3 (or if it ever will, for that matter), and if this also be the case with
future DLC releases at retail. We'll let you know what we hear back as soon as we can.
Though it's yet to hit the market, Apple's iPad is already changing the rules of the games when it
comes to how magazines quantify their reader base and distribution, unlocking the potential for
more lucrative advertising contracts with their sponsors.
How many of you right now
are playing games and using your plain-jane television speakers to blast the sound out? With so
much focus on high-definition visuals, gamers tend to treat sound as an afterthought. Especially if
you have several systems, which means a tangle of spaghetti wires held together with spit and
baling wire. Transitioning from your PC over to your PS3? It ain't that easy. Jumping from your
Xbox to your iPhone? Ditch your headset, find your earbuds, unplug, plug, repeat.
Thankfully, Astro Gaming realizes that gamers are constantly on the go, and they've just announced
the A30 Headset that
works with your PC, your console, your mobile phone, your music player, your portable gaming
system, and anything else with a headphone jack. It features both a removable boom mic and an
in-line microphone with a control button, meaning you can get your frag on with some buddies, then
jack into your phone and call your mother. She loves hearing from you.
We're giving away one Astro Gaming A30 Sound System, available in white or black, along with the
Astro MixAmp and an optical cable, which you'll need to connect your system to your consoles. The
headset includes all of the necessary connectors, the boom mic, the in-line mic, and a carrying
case to keep everything organized. And if you're one of those people who geek out about opening
gadget packaging, theirs is pure porn.
Follow the instructions below to enter, and crank it up.
How many different ways could you use these? Leave a comment telling us what game (including
the platform), song, and caller you'd rock with these on your dome.
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- it has
to do with Pierre Duchesne and he knows why).
Limit 1 entry per person per day.
This entry period ends at 6PM PT on Friday, March 19.
At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive an Astro Gaming A30 Audio System,
with the A30 Headset (in black or white) and a MixAmp (ARV: $229.95), along with a TOSLink
optical cable. (ARV: $19.95)
What is Joyswag?Since we don't keep thegames and merchandise we
receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes"Joyswag," which is passed along to
our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy,
click
here.
How many of you right now
are playing games and using your plain-jane television speakers to blast the sound out? With so
much focus on high-definition visuals, gamers tend to treat sound as an afterthought. Especially if
you have several systems, which means a tangle of spaghetti wires held together with spit and
baling wire. Transitioning from your PC over to your PS3? It ain't that easy. Jumping from your
Xbox to your iPhone? Ditch your headset, find your earbuds, unplug, plug, repeat.
Thankfully, Astro Gaming realizes that gamers are constantly on the go, and they've just announced
the A30 Headset that
works with your PC, your console, your mobile phone, your music player, your portable gaming
system, and anything else with a headphone jack. It features both a removable boom mic and an
in-line microphone with a control button, meaning you can get your frag on with some buddies, then
jack into your phone and call your mother. She loves hearing from you.
We're giving away one Astro Gaming A30 Sound System, available in white or black, along with the
Astro MixAmp and an optical cable, which you'll need to connect your system to your consoles. The
headset includes all of the necessary connectors, the boom mic, the in-line mic, and a carrying
case to keep everything organized. And if you're one of those people who geek out about opening
gadget packaging, theirs is pure porn.
Follow the instructions below to enter, and crank it up.
How many different ways could you use these? Leave a comment telling us what game (including
the platform), song, and caller you'd rock with these on your dome.
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- it has
to do with Pierre Duchesne and he knows why).
Limit 1 entry per person per day.
This entry period ends at 6PM PT on Friday, March 19.
At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive an Astro Gaming A30 Audio System,
with the A30 Headset (in black or white) and a MixAmp (ARV: $229.95), along with a TOSLink
optical cable. (ARV: $19.95)
What is Joyswag?Since we don't keep thegames and merchandise we
receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes"Joyswag," which is passed along to
our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy,
click
here.
As developers look for cost-effective ways to give PC games value-added
features like achievements and social integration, as well as combat piracy, the main contenders
have been Valve's Steamworks suite and Microsoft's Xbox Live-like Games for Windows Live. But now
Stardock, the PC-only publisher of Sins of a Solar Empire and developer of the upcoming
Elemental: War of Magic, is tossing its hat into the ring with Impulse Reactor -- and it believes
the ease ...
Sunnyvale, Calif. - Looking to further bolster its strong sports content business, Yahoo
(NASD: YHOO) is expected to acquire Citizen Sports, a developer of sports apps
and games for the iPhone and Facebook platforms, AllThingsD reported, citing several unnamed
sources.
CopyToDVD is a new generation DVD backup software tool to copy your music, games, movies, video,
photos and data files. CopyToDVD provides you with a variety of ways to create CD(s) or DVD(s),
such as integration to shell, user friendly frontend or FileDepot technology. With just a few
clicks you can backup DVD movies, burn files, folders, pictures or photos, and music (MP3 Ogg
Vorbis WMA Flac) to CD DVD.
AMD has made available it's list of Eyefinity Validated and Eyefinity Tested software - i.e.
Games.
Validation is AMD's highest award of quality. Validated products undergo extensive synthetic and
real-world testing to help ensure a good customer experience. Validated products include
components, and software that are critical for an optimal experience with ATI Eyefinity Technology.
For the best assurance of quality, interoperability and a positive user experience, choose a
Validated product.
Validated means it works out of the box, nothing is needed to tweak it. Tested means you might have
to edit an .ini file, or adjust settings in game. Some games are noted that they will have minor
stretching or FOV issues, while remaining playable.
Click here for the full list, updated as more titles emerge. Command & Conquer 4:
Tiberian Twilight ships today with Eyefinity Ready certification.
Digital
measurement firm comScore’s Andrew Lipsman
blogged some stats about the Chatroulette pop culture phenomenon today. He shared
details about the site’s sudden growth and its demographics.
If you’ve used the random video chat site before, you’ve already figured this part
out: Chatroulette is dominated by college-aged
males. Male users make up 72% of the site’s audience, and people of any gender aged 18-24
account for 45%.
Males aged 25-34 and females 18-24 are the second biggest demographic behind males 18-24. Females
outside of the 18-24 range are not very likely to use the site, but even males 35-44 make up a
chunk of the userbase. Here’s the graph; 100 represents the average Internet user.
Those collegians are behind the site’s insane growth spurt. When comScore tracked
Chatroulette in January, it recorded 109,000 unique visitors. When it looked again in February,
it found just shy of one million.
Lipsman also shared some data on the other Internet activity of Chatroulette users. They were
dramatically more likely than average to be interested in instant messaging and chat sites
— not surprising given that Chatroulette fits into that category. They were
also more interested in visiting gay and lesbian sites than most, and many of them visited career
training or educational websites, implying that they are indeed students.
Chatroulette users commonly have an interest in websites that sell tickets or serve up
information on video games. Are you noticing a trend here?
Why does Chatroulette appeal so much more to college students than it does to other Internet
users? If you have a theory, let us know in the comments.
Time was, like most kids, you loved board games. You bugged your parents and your aunts and uncles
and your grandparents to “play a gaaaaame” until they finally gave in, picked up the
dice, and proceeded to let you win. Except the uncles; they thought losing built character. And,
let’s be honest—they also sort of got a kick out beating you!
March Madness is kicking off with its opening round game today, and
CBSÂ is getting ready to live stream all games online starting with the first round
on Thursday. The network has already made $37 million and sold all of its ad revenue for March
Madness On Demand, AdAge is reporting. However, other sites could profit from the NCAA Men’s
College Basketball Tournament, as almost half of its audience will follow games and scores
online, according to a new report from Unicast.
As it turns out, March Madness is very much a two-screen experience for many viewers, with live
streaming only being one of many parts to the puzzle. 83 percent of its audience will watch it on
TV, 44 percent will follow the tournament online and 10 percent will use a mobile device. Sports
sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports should see a lot of traffic from fans trying to keep track
of the scores, but the official CBS live stream at NCAA.com will see its fair share of users as
well: 54 percent of the March Madness online and mobile audience actually wants to watch games in
real time.
Unicast’s new 2010 NCAA
Basketball Tournament Fever Report reveals that 58 percent of the March Madness online
audience want to use the medium to keep track of scores while 49 percent want to watch game
highlights online. Catching up on complete games after they air is something that only 19 percent
are interested in. Most users said they will flock to ESPN.com (69 percent), followed by Yahoo
Sports (42 percent), FoxSports.com (34 percent) and CBSSports.com (29 percent). The official
CBS-powered NCAA.com site was on the mind of 26 percent of the respondents.
51 percent of the respondents don’t care about and won’t follow March Madness at all,
which still leaves 49 percent ready to take work a little less seriously in the weeks to come.
Out of those, 44 percent will go online. Put those pieces of pie into context, and you end up
with the estimate that around 11.6 percent of U.S. adults are planing to tune into March Madness
online. That’s a lot of eyeballs, even if not everyone follows through. Last year’s March
Madness online coverage was seen by 7.52 million people, which generated a total of 8.6
million hours of live streaming video, according to CBS.
AdAge reported yesterday that CBS’s has sold as many ads online as on TV this year. Of
course, TV ad revenue still outweighs online, which was estimated to be around $619 for last
year’s March Madness. Still, online revenue is up 20 percent, which validates CBS’s
strategy to stream the games in real time without any of the restrictions NBC imposed
on its Olympic coverage this year.
Alice's Tea Cup Madness... Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole! After landing
in a nonsensical yet familiar world of wonder, she must earn her ticket home by prepping and
serving tea to whimsical characters in various tea shops across the land.
To succeed she must please impatient patrons like The Hatter and keep the crazy Cheshire Cat from
disrupting her customers and stealing their orders.
Will Alice keep her customers happy and earn enough tips to get home?
Features:
8 Fun-loving character to serve based on Lewis CarrollÂ’s beloved classic
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Over 35 food-related upgrades to give your customers more pastry and tea options
More than 30 tea house upgrades to keep your customers happy and earn bigger tips!
3 unique mini-games that will help increase your overall score
Delicious Library 2.4Delicious Library allows you to import, browse, and share all your
books, movies, music and video games with Delicious Library.
Run your very own library from your home or office using our impossibly simple interface.
Delicious Library's digital shelves act as a visual card-catalog of your books, movies, music and
video games.
A scan of a barcode is all Delicious Library needs to add an item to your digital shelves,
downloading tons of info from the internet like the author, release date, current value,
description, and even a high-resolution picture of the cover. Import your entire library using
our exclusive full-speed iSight video barcode scanner, our Flicï¿Â½
Wireless Laser Bar Code Scanner, or (the slow way) entering the titles by hand. Once you have all
of your items in your Mac, you can browse though your digital shelves, check stuff out to friends
using Apple's built-in Address Book and calendar, and find new items to read, watch, and play
using Library's recommendations.
Quickly importing your stuff into Delicious Library doesn't require a dedicated barcode scanner -
you can use any QuickTimeï¿Â½-supported digital video camera, like your
Apple iSight. Just hold the barcode on the back of any book, movie, CD, or video game in front of
the camera and your item magically shows up on your digital shelf seconds later. Using the same
technology found in $800 industrial-strength CCD barcode scanners, Delicious Library reads every
single frame of digital video; seeking out, targeting, and instantly decoding any visible
barcodes. This results in a seamless process of scanning that lets you import about 750 items an
hour (assuming you can move your arms that fast). At that rate the staff of the new downtown
Seattle Central Library could work together to import all of their 1.4 million books into
Delicious Library in just over 5 hours.
WHAT'S NEWVersion 2.4:
The video barcode scanner has been rewritten to be 700% better, so iSight scanning is much
more responsive. This is the third generation barcode scanning algorithm for Delicious Library,
and is being provided for free to Delicious Library 2 users.
Apple's late 2009 iMac machines use a lens whose fixed focal distant starts at around two
feet, which is very far compare to other Macs, and makes scanning barcodes very difficult. This
new algorithm makes it possible to scan with these iMacs, but it can be a bit twitchy. When
scanning with any Mac, if you are having problems try tilting your item up and down to remove any
shines on the barcode from the screen of from nearby lights. Also, if an item isn't scanning,
make sure the barcode completely fills the width of the target area--this is the width that has
been determined to scan best for your model of camera.
As far as we’re concerned, March means Madness of
the basketball variety, and keeping up with all aspects of the NCAA tournament is an absolute
must. If you feel the same way, then we think you’ll find our complete guide to all things
college basketball on the social web indispensable.
A recent survey revealed that this year, more Americans than ever are going to
be turning to the web and social media for their NCAA fix. Although traditional TV comes out on
top, 54% of those quizzed are planning to catch the action live online, 10% via a mobile device,
and 18% through various social networks. If you’re one of the many participating online
this year, check out these resources.
Facebook Fast Break
Facebook is a popular destination for NCAA fans. Not only can you catch up on the latest news,
but you can get your fellow basketball-loving buddies involved too — whether it’s for
some trash talking, or to celebrate the win of a mutually fave team.
The Official NCAA Men’s and
Women’s
Basketball Facebook Fan Pages will allow you to connect with nearly 10,000 others (4,000 on the
Women’s page) on the social networking site.
As well as having info on the NCAA with links to sites of interest, the Pages offer informal
commentary from the NCAA teams, fan comments and insight, ticketing info, and comprehensive
events data.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a bracket system that’s available within Facebook,
then Bracket Challenge by Citizen Sports is a popular option. The free Facebook
app will get you making your picks in no time at all, and offers the chance at a $5,000 grand
prize. Bracket Challenge also has the option to create pools with your friends.
Mobile Madness
Citizen Sports also offers a free
companion app (to their aforementioned Facebook application) for the iPhone or iPod touch
with customizable push notifications for your favorite teams.
More mobile options include the 99 cent Pocket Bracket for the iPhone and
Android devices that allows you to create unlimited
brackets and organize pools from your phone. You can compete against thousands of users on the
PocketBracket Network, as well as your friends, family, and coworkers.
The Baseline Fan series
of apps, available for the iPhone and iPod touch, offer basic team-specific data for 99 cents a
pop, while fans of free should take a look at Talk
Hoops, another dual-platform app, offering aggregated news in one place.
Web-based Winners
Facebook and phones certainly aren’t the only places to get your bracket challenge fix.
There is a wealth of online options, many offering larges cash prizes, should you be astute
enough to pick the perfect bracket. Of course, the odds of that happening are a whopping 9.2 quintillion to
1. Still, the contests below are all great places to make your picks and each (excluding
Applebee’s) come from sites that offer a dearth of tournament news, scores, opinions, and
analysis, as well.
The 2010 Yahoo! Sports
Tourney Pick’em game offers a whopping million dollar prize for a perfect bracket,
while having the next highest scoring bracket will nab you $10,000. This gives you the option to
join the masses or create a private group with invites that can be sent via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.
Also getting in on the online action is Fox Sports with their bracket
challenge, and CBS, which is offering the enticing grand prize of a 2011 Infiniti M for the top
bracket champ.
The biggest prize this year, though, has to be from AOL’s Fanhouse, with the SoBe Lifewater Zero Inhibitions Bracket Challenge
that boasts a $9 million jackpot for anyone with a perfect bracket. (Again, though, good luck
with that.)
Video Slam Dunk
With your bracket picked, you need to find somewhere to watch the action, and while the NCAA’s official YouTube channel offers a
good overview of the organization, the better destination for live coverage is the NCAA March Madness on Demand website.
Powered by CBS, this website offers free live streaming video of every game in the 2010
championship. That means, the only things you’ll need to watch the entire tournament is
your computer and an Internet connection. In addition to the live streams, there will be game
highlights for those that need to catch up in a hurry, and full game archives for any poor sucker
that missed a must-see match. A “High Quality” player option offers a widescreen view
with a better quality feed.
If you can’t get yourself in front on a computer in time for tip-off, then the CBS Sports NCAA March Madness
On-Demand app for the iPhone and iPod touch is a great option. It’s also perfect for
those who don’t want to be tied to their desk or television screen during the tournament.
For $10, this app will give you live streaming video of all 63 games via either Wi-Fi or a
cellular connection, from the first round through the finals. The app also offers game previews,
a real-time tournament bracket, scores and headlines, and the option to comment and trash talk
via Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter Tip-Offs
As with any other topic you could possibly name, Twitter offers a great way to keep up with
what’s happening in the world of NCAA basketball, and there are a few Twitter accounts you
should follow if you want to stay in the hoop… sorry — loop.
The main NCAA Twitter account offers all
sorts of official news from the world of college sports. But if you’re only after
hoop-specific NCAA news, the basketball account is where it’s at.
Elsewhere, you can grab news snippets from the Twitter home of the “ubiquitous college
basketblog” Rush the Court.
If you like getting your basketball news from sources who can add a bit of commentary to the
game, then there’s a ton of sports journos tweeting who can offer just that.
Tweeple that cover the NCAA basketball championship for various media outlets include 12 New
York Times reporters and editors at The Quad, and a team of Sports Illustrated writers and photographers as well.
ESPN fans can follow longtime college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, senior writer and college basketball reporter Andy Katz, college hoops reporter Dana O’Neil, and Jimmy Dykes, who works for ESPN and also
offers analysis on ABC.
CBS meanwhile comes in with Seth
Davis, as well as columnist Gary
Parrish, who should offer you some good insight into the Big Dance.
Conclusion
If we’ve overlooked a service you use, be sure to shout it out in the comments. Or, if you
have an idea for an even better way to use social media to keep up-to-date with the March
Madness, then Coke Zero wants to hear from you as part of their clever, basketball-themed
social media promotion.
The fizzy drink company is currently asking for ideas to improve the NCAA fan experience. A
winning idea could net you $10,000 and tickets to the 2011 Final Four. So get your thinking caps
on!
Ben Abraham decided to play the game Far Cry 2 with a few self-imposed rules. Most
importantly, when he died in the game, he would be dead forever. This saga, Permanent Death, is
available as a gorgeous, 391-page (!) PDF file, or on his old blog, in post format.
The PDF has an intro by Clint Hocking (the creator
of Far Cry 2, among other games), and some interesting interstitials.
This isn't anything new, of course- others have tackled the notion of "no reloading after death",
like Christopher Livingston's Livin' in
Oblivion, among many others.
[We're trying not to bore you with TOO many Game Developers
Conference and IGF-related things, but Vincent Diamante, also known as the composer of
Thatgamecompany's Flower, took a whole bunch of excellent pictures of this year's show, and it's
always nice to see what your favorite indies really look like. So here's a gallery...]
Organizers of this year's Game Developers Conference and
Independent Games Festival have been documenting the March
9th-13th San Francisco event in visual form, with the independent game-specific content at last
week's show first to be examined.
The events -- part of the UBM Techweb Game Network, as are this website -- have put together a
gallery of the Awards, Pavilion, Indie Games Summit, and more, highlighting this year's crop of
top indies at work and play.
Independent Games Festival Awards
First, here's a look at pictures from the the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards,
where Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper Monaco was the big winner of the night,
nabbing the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game in front of a crowd of over
3,000 GDC attendees.
The 2010 IGF hosts, Kyle Gabler (2D Boy) and Erin Robinson (Puzzle Bots)
IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards guests.
Technical Excellence: Limbo, by PlayDead
Excellence in Design: Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
IGF Mobile Best Game: Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor, by Tiger Style
IGF hosts Kyle and Erin explore the magic of 3D.
IGF Nuovo Award: Tuning, by cactus
2010 Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner: Monaco, by Andy Schatz (Pocketwatch Games)
2010 IGF Pavilion, Nuovo Sessions, GAMMA IV
Second, here's a selection of pictures from the IGF Pavilion on the GDC 2010 show floor, which
was open from Thursday, March 11th through Saturday, March 13th to all event attendees.
Also in this set of pictures are several from 'The
Nuovo Sessions', a special GDC Main Conference event featuring mini-talks from finalists and
honorable mentions for the IGF Nuovo Award for this year, alongside like-minded individuals. The
indie-centric
Gamma IV showcase and GDC show floor Pavilion are also showcased in pictorial form.
IGF Pavilion: Main Competition finalists
Ian Bogost's A Slow Year
Enviro-Bear 2000
IGF Mobile finalists on the Expo Floor
The Nuovo Sessions: Farbs
The Nuovo Sessions: Jonatan "cactus" Söderström and Matthew Wegner
Gamma IV Party
GDC Expo Floor: Gamma IV Pavilion
2010 Independent Games Summit
Third, here's a look at the scene around the IGF-affiliated Independent Games Summit, which took place on the
Tuesday and Wednesday of the five-day event, and included lectures from notables like 2D Boy's
Ron Carmel, Tuning's Jonatan "cactus" Söderström, and Thatgamecompany's Robin
Hunicke and Kellee Santiago.
God of War III comes out today (YES!), and with all the hoopla surrounding it, I thought this
would actually be a good time to recommend/pay tribute to the other God of War games. I’ll
explain.
I’ve always considered myself to be a hardcore gamer — up on the big new releases,
aware of what’s going on in the industry — but for some reason, I completely missed
out on God of War and God of War II. I have no idea why. I hadn’t really
slacked off in my gaming at all. (Maybe I was still collecting all those dumb shards in The
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. That took forever.) Yet I didn’t buy them when they were
first released, and I didn’t really know anything about them.
Anyway, sometime in 2007, the Wii was my current system of choice, and I was making my way
through Paper Mario. It was alright: It controlled well, it looked nice, and it was
cute. But I’d continually be asking myself, “Am I having fun?” I really was
becoming jaded and disinterested in games at that point, I’d realized.
One day I found myself at a Best Buy, and saw God of War for PS2, now a Greatest Hits
title, priced at $19.99. I still really had no idea what it was about or what type of game it
was. I just knew the name. What the hell, I thought. Let’s do this.
All hyperbole aside, I was truly blown away. I’d never seen anything like God of
War — the music, the graphics, the scale, and the sheer fun of it all. The brilliance
of Kratos’ weaponry, combos, and pace gaining new powers. I thought about Paper
Mario — and not to throw Nintendo under the bus, because I truly love that company and
its games — but this was way ahead of anything the competition was doing, especially
something like Paper Mario. And I wasn’t impressed by just the game; the bonus making-of
documentary was fascinating and, most importantly, brutally honest. Kudos to Sony for including
it. Overall, the experience completely reinvigorated my love of gaming and led me to rethink the
possibilities of the medium. I bought God of War II the day after finishing God of
War. It was also quite excellent, if slightly weaker and sloppy in the story department, but
was still a great entertainment.
So yes, I’m excited for God of War III. But if you, like I once was, are unaware of the God
of War franchise or what all the hubbub is about, trust me. Pick up the God of War Collection (an
HD remastered package of the first two games) for PS3. It’s a great way to get up to speed,
and you will be amazed; if you care about games or gaming history — or just want to
experince Greek mythology on steroids — it’s essential.
If you've ever played around with Wolfram Alpha you know
it is kinda like magic. Put in some words
or ask a math question and bingo, there's an intelligent (and crazy accurate) answer. I spoke to
managing director Barak Berkowitz about their Alpha "beta" and their future plans to put Wolfram
Alpha on your web pages.
The very first Need for Speed got me hooked on driving games. In the 15 years since its release,
the franchise has spawned 13 additional titles. Some of those have been great, while others have
been quite poorly received. So, what's next for the franchise? According to...
Le Vice-Président d'Epic Games, Mark Rein a beaucoup discuté à la GDC 2010
avec nos confrères de VG 247. Il y a déclaré que bien que l'entreprise soit
déjà très impliquée à la fois dans Projet Natal et le
Playstation Move , il était trop tôt pour dire si Epic Games allaient
eux-mêmes utiliser les ...
FiveBooks is this neat site whose tagline is “The best five books on everything.”
Basically, they pick a subject matter expert, and that person talks about five books that cover
that subject. Tom Chatfield picked
FiveBooks on games, and A Theory of Fun was one of them, alongsideÂ
classics like Homo Ludens and Flow. Quite nice company!
While you are there, check out Aleks Krotoski’s five books about the Web; and props to
Julian Dibbell, who gets a book on each list!
Between the two lists, there’s only one book I haven’t read — and it’s
the one on sports. Hmm.
The first thing we think of these days when someone mentions
"location-based services", or LBS, are the mobile social platforms we've gotten used to "checking
in" to wherever we go - Gowalla, Foursquare, Brightkite, MyTown and the like. But looking forward
in the LBS market actually requires us to look back to feature phones and a GPS-less existence.
According to Jason Finkelstein, the director of product and marketing at LBS solution-provider
WaveMarket, we are looking at a "truly horizontal market" that can be "applied to dozens of
different types of businesses". But first, there are a number of hurdles to jump over.
Sponsor
Finkelstein spoke today at the South By South West festival in
Austin, in a workshop entitled "LBS 101: Geolocation
On The 'Horizon'", explaining that location started out with car-based GPS services before
moving onto "personal navigation devices" and finally ending up in the smartphones that nearly
20% of the population carries around in their pockets.
LBS 101 Right off the bat, Finkelstein argued one of the largest uses of text messaging is to
find out friend and family location. Fifty-five percent of SMS messages, he said, ask some
variation on the simple question of "Where are you?".
"The peer-to-peer privacy model is complicated", he said, explaining that the solution is not
simple.
A federal mandate in 2000 made it so that any time someone dialed 911 from a cellular phone, the
cell tower used would have to be reported. In 2005, the requirements were made more stringent.
It's those two things that became the background of the LBS market we see today.
"The future, which is more or less here", Finkelstein explained, referring to check-ins, Facebook
widgets, notifications when friends are nearby, GPS-indexed local search, location-aware
advertising and marketing, crowdsourced traffic systems, location-aware messaging applications
and security prevention applications.
Market Fragmentation and the Future of LBS "Location data is not just a dot on a map - there is
a whole lot of more rich data," Finkelstein said. Part of what LBS app developers will have to deal
with in moving into the future, he said, involved handling various networks with different kinds of
location information, device fragmentation and application types, whether SMS, downloadable apps or
Web-based applications.
"The downloadable app is not the entire universe," he said, explaining that SMS systems might be
much more accessible to the 80% of the population that do not have GPS-enabled smartphones. "For
most people, downloading something is a hurdle."
To get past some of these issues, Finkelstein said, and provide LBS to both smartphones and
feature phones, developers can use "Assisted GPS", which is a "hybrid using GPS satellites and
cell tower signals", triangulation and cell ID, with varying levels of accuracy and latency.
"If you want to address the mass market, you have to address all of this stuff," said
Finkelstein. "You can't build a mass market service... really."
Between handset types, network and platform fragmentation and carrier coverage, the solution for
developers is not clear. Location aggregators, such as Veriplace (a service provided by
Finkelstein's company, which he admitted as "shameless self-promotion"), are one solution for
developers looking to get beyond these complicating factors. But a constant theme throughout the
panel was that with all of the hype over LBS, we are still in infancy stages in the LBS market.
Pour fêter le lancement proche de Metro 2033 (le jeu sort vendredi), THQ nous envoie ce
nouveau trailer du jeu de 4a Games. Encore une fois, la réalisation et l'ambiance semblent
vraiment au top, o...
The screening began with Tim League -- venerable genre film enthusiast, owner of the Alamo
Drafthouse, and programmer of the SX Fantastic showcase in which Serbian Film was playing --
telling me and the rest of the audience to get the hell out. Either that, or he didn't want to hear
any whining after Serbian Film kicked our asses, heretofore thought inured to on-screen
gore and depravity after years of worshipping at the altar of the horror movie. This was not idle
talk. Ninety-six minutes later, I was among a group of a half-dozen battle-hardened critics and
writers who, when asked for their impressions of what they had just seen, found themselves unable
to string together a coherent sentence. Consensus: Serbian Film was, by a long shot, the
most disturbing thing we had ever seen.
Let me put my cards on the table: this movie depicts some acts that I think should not be depicted.
I don't mean legally: as a free speech absolutist, I would never advocate for anything being
banned, no matter how awful, so long as no one is actually hurt. But I do think -- or am starting
to think -- that filmmakers have a moral obligation not to show certain things unless they are
prepared to seriously grapple with their real-world consequences. Like Michael Haneke's Funny
Games, Serbian Film is interested not in the substance of the images it puts on
the screen, but in the images themselves: their power and their effect on us. This is perfectly
legitimate, but in this particular case a line has been crossed. If saying that is moralistic and
unprogressive, so be it.
UK politicians announced cross-party support for the UK government's new "British Inspiration
Awards," which will include categories for varying creative cultural sectors, including video
games. Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP, Conservative Leader David Cameron MP and Liberal Democrat
Leader Nick Clegg MP jointly announced the new awards on Tuesday. The inaugural BIAs will take
place Friday, April 23 this year at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London EC1. "I am enormously
proud of the talented people ...
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"A
two pack?" you ask, confused by today's announcement of the 
How many of you right now
are playing games and using your plain-jane television speakers to blast the sound out? With so
much focus on high-definition visuals, gamers tend to treat sound as an afterthought. Especially if
you have several systems, which means a tangle of spaghetti wires held together with spit and
baling wire. Transitioning from your PC over to your PS3? It ain't that easy. Jumping from your
Xbox to your iPhone? Ditch your headset, find your earbuds, unplug, plug, repeat.
As developers look for cost-effective ways to give PC games value-added
features like achievements and social integration, as well as combat piracy, the main contenders
have been Valve's Steamworks suite and Microsoft's Xbox Live-like Games for Windows Live. But now
Stardock, the PC-only publisher of Sins of a Solar Empire and developer of the upcoming
Elemental: War of Magic, is tossing its hat into the ring with Impulse Reactor -- and it believes
the ease ...
Digital
measurement firm 
As far as we’re concerned, March means Madness of
the basketball variety, and keeping up with all aspects of the NCAA tournament is an absolute
must. If you feel the same way, then we think you’ll find our complete guide to all things
college basketball on the social web indispensable.
The first thing we think of these days when someone mentions
"location-based services", or LBS, are the mobile social platforms we've gotten used to "checking
in" to wherever we go - Gowalla, Foursquare, Brightkite, MyTown and the like. But looking forward
in the LBS market actually requires us to look back to feature phones and a GPS-less existence.
UK politicians announced cross-party support for the UK government's new "British Inspiration
Awards," which will include categories for varying creative cultural sectors, including video
games. Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP, Conservative Leader David Cameron MP and Liberal Democrat
Leader Nick Clegg MP jointly announced the new awards on Tuesday. The inaugural BIAs will take
place Friday, April 23 this year at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London EC1. "I am enormously
proud of the talented people ...
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
