Daily Wrap-Up 2.20.08
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:10 PM
Here's what went down today in the world of videogames, technology and popular culture.
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TAGS: Daily Wrap-Up, Videos
X-Play Gaming Update 02.20.08
Posted by Jonathan Hunt - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:13 PM
Today, Adam brings you the latest in gaming news, including the Gears of War 2 announcement and more from the Microsoft keynote speech.
Catering for X-Play's GDC '08 Coverage Provided by SMG.
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TAGS: Videogames, Videos, Xbox 360
'Halo 3' Patched, Melee "Fixed"
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 4:25 PM
Halo 3 melee has now been "fixed" after careful testing by Bungie and pro-gamers from the MLG.
Boot up Halo and you'll be auto-updated. Two notes from Bungie on the patch:
NOTE: You may experience a few laggier-than-usual games after the update is installed as it resets your hosting and network connection history. This history should grow rapidly for an improved situation.
NOTE 2: If you run into a map loading error after the autoupdate, where a map freezes at a certain percentage loaded, try restarting Halo 3 while holding down the “A” button and "Up" on the D-Pad simultaneously while the game is booting. That may help with your problem. If the problem persists after this step, try following the normal steps for cleaning your disc or disc tray.
The melee fix can be summed up by this:
"Melee contests will only produce a winner if he has a sizeable health advantage over the loser. Otherwise, both players may die in the clash."
For a lengthy essay on the fix, head on over to Bungie.net.
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TAGS: Halo 3, Videogames, Xbox 360
Honda Has New Hybrid Tech
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 4:23 PM
 Honda is working on making their hybrid engines even better and one way they are doing this is through heat-harnessing.
The idea is to take heat from the exhaust of the engine and capture it like a Pokemon and use it to heat water, which turns into steam, which evolves into Charizard, which powers the electric engine.
The current increase in efficiency is only at 3.8% at 62 mph so they aren't quite ready to incorporate the technology into the production line yet, but onward and upward.
Engadget: Honda touts new energy efficient "heat-harnessing hybrid"
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TAGS: Cars, Tech
NBC Classics (???) Go Online
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 4:20 PM
 NBC/Universal announced this week that they will start streaming old school shows online.
What kind of shows, you ask?
How about The A-Team, Kojak, Buck Rogers and Miami Vice, bitch!
Yes, full episodes of over a dozen shows will be available on NBC.com and other NBC Universal Web sites beginning this month for free (but with advertising).
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TAGS: Internets Culture, TV
PC Gamers Form Alliance; Crush Horde?
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 3:20 PM
PC gaming is not dead. That's the message of the PC Gaming Alliance, a newly announced collection of companies working together to promote PC gaming. They're like the Super Friends, but they don't fight crime and there's no Apache Chief.
Companies in the group include Activision, Microsoft, Epic, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Dell, Acer, Alienware, and Gateway. Randy Stude of Intel, pointed out that some studies show growth in PC gaming of up to 12%.
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TAGS: Videogames
Insomniac Leaks 'Resistance 2' Release Date?
Posted by Jonathan Hunt - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:58 PM
Insomniac Games, developers of Resistance: Fall of Man and the Ratchet & Clank series, posted a video to Youtube. Last night, they graciously shared the video with us for tonight's episode of X-Play, but we just couldn't keep it to ourselves all day. On face value, the video seems to simply be recruiting young game developers to apply to join the Insomniac team. They'll even let you play with the pinball machines.
The video, however, appears to be more than what it seems. Early in the video, as they sing about Resistance 2, a computer screen is shown that reads, "12 new Chimeran Enemies". Later in the video (around the 3 minute mark), the screen is shown again, this time displaying four numbers: "0708". Could this be a release date?
Some reports have posted that the expected release date for Resistance 2 would be September of 2008. Is it possible we could be facing the Chimera a couple of months early? Check out tonight's episode of X-Play to see it in all its televised glory.
Click the cut for a freeze-frame!
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TAGS: PlayStation 3, Videogames, Videos
Sharper Image Loses Edge
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:11 PM
San Francisco-based Sharper Image, the folks behind that cool catalog and those neato stores, filed for bankruptcy in Wilmington, Delaware earlier this week.
Citing $251.5 million in assets and $199 million in debt as of January 31, Sharper Image filed for protection in U.S. bankruptcy court with only about $700,000 in cash left in the kitty.
"Sharper Image is in a severe liquidity crisis," Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Roedell commented, noting that its shares plunged 92 cents, or 64 percent, to 52 cents on Nasdaq.
Yikes!
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TAGS: Tech
PS3 Sold Faster Than 360
Posted by Ty Colfax - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:55 PM
 Fire up the torch, it's time for some more data to be picked apart and combed through regarding console sales;
PS3 sales numbers outshine the 360 when you compare each console's first 14 months on the market. Apparently, according to a sales tracker called VG Chartz, the PS3 sold 10 million units in its first 14 months while it took the 360 an extra 4 months to get there. The figure was corroborated by the Associated Press and is a cumulative global total.
The 360 still dominates the sales landscape in the US. And as one might expect the PS3 is going strong in Japan, while the 360 is as flat as a lame prom date across the big pond.
gamepro.com: PS3 sold faster than Xbox 360 for same period
Also, here's The Loop on the Utopia of a 1 Console World:
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TAGS: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
'Gears of War 2' Teaser Live
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:52 PM
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TAGS: Videogames, Xbox 360
Xbox To Unleash Community Games
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:44 PM
Microsoft is adding a community gaming feature to their 360 console which will allow Live members to play, rate and share "community-created" games.
“The time has come for the games industry to open its doors to all game creators, enabling anyone to share their creations with the world,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of LIVE, Software and Services for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our goal is to drive a creative and social revolution in games with the same transformative power that we’ve seen in digital music and video sharing.”
By the end of 2008, Xbox 360 owners will have access to more than 1,000 games. Click the cut for eight examples.
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Mind Control Gaming Just in Time for the Holidays
Posted by Ty Colfax - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:23 PM
 Get ready to control a virtual universe using only the powers of your mind. Also, you can add MySpace friends with it, too.
The new Epoc from Emotiv, set for release this coming holiday season, is a headset of metal branches that senses electronic activity in the brain, allowing for telepathic controls of Emotiv PC games. There will also be a web portal which will lend the mind the powers to telepathically surf the web, and software for mapping keystrokes to thought patterns, essentially creating mind macros.
One thing you can't control with your mind is the price, which will be up in the $300 range.
kotaku.com: PC Psychic Controller Hits This Year
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TAGS: PC Gaming, Products
HD-DVD Funeral
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:23 PM
At the risk of starting a flame war, please enjoy this funeral for HD-DVD, courtesy of Attack of the Show.
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TAGS: Tech
Xbox Live Arcade Titles Listed
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:57 PM
Microsoft announced a slew of new Arcade titles coming up, and it goes a little something like this (hit it):
- “Braid” (Number None Inc.). Developed by Independent Games Festival Winner and experimental game designer Jonathan Blow, “Braid” is a platform experience that bends all the rules with the manipulation of time. “Braid” will launch this spring.
More under the break.
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TAGS: Videogames, Xbox 360
'Fable 2' Details Revealed
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:31 PM
 Peter Molyneux's eagerly awaited RPG Fable 2 will feature coop, a first for the series. The game will also boast an Xbox Live Arcade title, Fable 2: Pub Games. Players who download pub games, then make fake money gambling on it will be able to transfer that money to their Fable 2 characters.
Also, your character will make money through gambling and having a job. Sounds fun(?). Also, female characters can get pregnant. Serious.
Big day for the announcements, eh, folks?
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TAGS: Videogames, Xbox 360
Let’s Get Small
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:18 PM
 A recent study by the researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that two-thirds of American think nanotechnology is "morally unacceptable."
Wait, making things smaller is "morally unacceptable" to Americans (72% of France thinks it’s okay, as do 54% of the UK, and 62% Germany)?
But we’ve been making things smaller for years! For instance, every time I see Britney Spears, my private parts get smaller! And every time I watch American Idol, my brain gets smaller! And every time I eat at McDonald’s, my intestines get smaller. And so on…
Engadget.com: Two-thirds of Americans think nanotechnology is morally unacceptable -- wait, what?
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TAGS: Tech
NASA Planning Moon Phone Network
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:16 PM
 Oh, by the way, NASA is setting up a moon colony. They are also setting up a satellite phone network so that the new moon people can talk to each other.
MoonLite, as the network is being called, will most likely lead to evil space robots becoming aware of our existence and the moon base will soon be taken over by our new metal overlords.
Verizon will run the network and be the cause of mankind's destruction.
Engadget: In space no one can hear you scream... but they can "hear you now"
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TAGS: Robot Uprising, Tech
Sony Seeking Girl Gamers
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:07 PM
 Sony Online Entertainment recently announced its Gamers In Real Life (G.I.R.L.) scholarship, which is open to any female attending one of the nation's more than 40 Art Institutes and interested in the gaming industry career.
"It's no secret to female gamers: women are out there in significant numbers playing MMOs, action games, first-person shooters, etc.," said SOE Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing Torrie Dorrell. "What is lacking in the equation are women behind these games, and we hope G.I.R.L. can help support this program."
Of course, the catch is that if you count up all the females attending one of the nation's more than 40 Art Institutes and interested in the gaming industry career you get about four girls.
If you subtract the lesbians, you get two girls.
One of those is my sister, so you should take her off the list.
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Videogames
Hacker Breaks iTunes DRM
Posted by Brian Leahy - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:58 AM
 A Norwegian hacker that goes by DVD Jon has developed software that circumvents iTunes DRM by playing protected tracks quickly and recording a new version from the output. It also works for video.
Supposedly, his program can clear 100 tracks in 30 minutes, but comes with a 5% loss in quality. This loss, however, is about the same as ripping a CD.
It wouldn't be a surprise to hear that he is going to get a pleasant call from Apple's lawyers, but the damage could be done. DVD Jon is the same hacker that broke the DVD protection scheme (at age 16!) so he's got some experience with this.
Is this the beginning of the end for DRM?
TimesOnline: Hacker breaks link between iTunes and the iPod
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Movies, Music
Madonna Embraces Online Filth
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:49 AM
 Madonna is planning to release her directorial debut, Filth And Wisdom, online via iTunes.
The low-budget comedy (?) tells the tale of a Ukranian musician who pays his way by moonlighting as a dominatrix. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival a few weeks ago to scathing reviews.
"I want the most amount of people to see the film as possible,” she recently told WENN.
‘Cause lord knows that the direct-to-iTunes release is a proven winner in the movie biz!
“I don't do anything conventionally,” she added.
Clearly.
Darkhorizons.com: Madonna's "Filth" Goes Online
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TAGS: Girls, Movies, Music
Re-Raising Hell
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:46 AM
 The latest old-school horror flick to get all new-schooled up will be Clive Barker’s Hellraiser.
Yup, writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton (Feast, Saw IV and V) recently signed a deal with The Weinstein Company to pen the upcoming remake.
In fact, Dunstan is currently in principal photography on Dimension's Midnight Man based on a script he co-penned with Melton. So these guys must really like each other!
Hellraiser has a release date of January 9, 2009.
Shocktillyoudrop.com: Feast Scribes Board Hellraiser Remake
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TAGS: Comics, Movies
'Gears of War 2' Announced
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:42 AM
Blockbuster videogame Gears of War has a sequel coming.
According to Micrsoft at their Games Developer Conference keynote speech, Gears of War 2 will come out in November 2008 and, judging from the demo played at the show, the game will feature lots of cool stuff including very realistic looking water and screens filled with hundreds of enemies.
Yeah, buddy.
We're gonna start waiting right...now...
(talk to you again in November.)
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TAGS: Videogames, Xbox 360
'Ninja Gaiden 2' June 3rd
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:30 AM
According Microsoft at their GDC keynote, Ninja Gaiden 2 will be out on June 3rd.
Set your watch.
Also impossibly awesome: Much like Halo's movie feature, NG 2 will feature fully rewindable, pausable and shareable movies of each battle.
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