Apple

Finally, you can all stop bugging me about when someone will design an iPhone app that lets you control your Canon EOS DSLR camera wirelessly. It’s coming soon, so please stop with the emails.

The DSLR Remote app is the brainchild of onOne Software, and like most great ideas, it apparently sprang out of a casual comment made during a lunch break one day. Apple hasn’t officially approved the app yet, but its developers believe it should be available soon.

The full version will cost $9.99, and give users control over camera features such as shutter speed, aperture and white balance, in addition to your basic picture-taking function, all via a WiFi connection. The $1.99 lite version lets you take pictures, and that’s it.

The craziest feature available in the full version of the app is the ability to use your camera for live streaming, assuming your camera supports Live View, with the feed showing up right there in the palm of your hand. As Engadget Mobile points out, the app would most certainly have been rejected has it been 3G-compatible, given that it would have made mobile spying a bit too easy.

However, the prospect of a mobile surveillance camera app that doesn’t cost $900 to access or require all sorts of fancy surveillance networking integration is a dream I don’t mind supporting.

Source via Engadget Mobile
 

At a recent event they held at their Los Angeles offices, Electronic Arts revealed that they’d gotten the writers from Robot Chicken, Adult Swim’s stop-motion sketch comedy cartoon, to write some adventures for the upcoming Spore expansion, Spore Galactic Adventures, which EA will release for free on June 23. But the announcement left us with more questions than it did answers, such as Who’s idea was this? How is writing for a game different from writing for a bunch of action figures? And did EA give them free games? All questions we later posed to Robot Chicken co-creator and (reluctant) voice actor Matt Senreich and the co-head writer Tom Root.


G4: How did you get involved in doing new adventures for Spore Galactic Adventures?

Matt Senreich: There’s a guy who works at Maxis, Kevin Kurtz, who has been talking to me for years about us doing something with him. He likes our sensibility and our sense of humor, and he’s been he’s been looking for a while for a project for us to do. He used to work over at LucasArts, and when we went over to EA to work on Spore, he just thought it really spoke to the Robot Chicken style of writing. So he sent me a little tease of what they were doing with Spore Galactic Adventures, and I just bit. Then I presented it to the writers, who all signed on.

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Are you a villain? Perhaps being a gold digger is your main goal in life? Maybe a combination of the two? Well, thanks to EA and The Sims Studio, not only are those viable options, they are just the beginning in the virtual world with combinable personality traits and lifetime wish gameplay mechancis known as The Sims 3.

EA Executive Producer Ben Bell, takes time out of his and our real lives for a much more exhilarating and provocative experience in The Sims 3 to detail:

• EA's 4 year development committment to creating a dynamically new experience
• Character attribute sliders
• New set of age differences
• Ridiculously customizable clothing
• Seamless (no loading!) world
• Robust video capture/editing in-game system
• an uber beefy www.sims3.com site ready for your creations/business/support
• and more.

The Sims 3 Developer Walkthrough

The Sims 3 launches June 2 for the PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch and Mobile Devices.

Catch the blockbuster Star Trek feature film yet? Here's EA and Maxis to illustrate their "movie trailer" had Paramount gone with them and their in-game machinima engine for The Sims 3.

The Sims 3 Star Trek Parody

It wouldn’t be another day on the calendar without some iPhone rumors.

Yesterday, I told you about AT&T supposedly considering tiered monthly data plans. Today, it seems that some loose-lipped Apple insider has spilled some glossy, white, not-so-far-fetched beans about the next version of the iPhone.

The folks over at AppleiPhoneApps say they received their server-meltdown-enducing information from a source, “closely connected to Apple’s hardware development team,” so as always, get the saltshaker ready. While we’ve been hearing about some of these specs for some time, the more cosmetic changes (illuminating Apple logo, rubber-tread backing, etc.) are fairly new. As is the release date, which the source alleges will be July 17.

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To celebrate the release of Spore Galactic Adventures -- an expansion to Spore that lets people create and share their own adventures in the Sporeniverse -- Electronic Arts will release some free adventures via DLC on June 23 that were created by the writers of Robot Chicken, the Adult Swim stop-motion-with-toys sketch comedy show.

According to co-creator Matt Senreich, "There’s a guy who works at Maxis, Kevin Kurtz, who has been talking to me for years about us doing something with him. He likes our sensibility and our sense of humor, and he’s been he’s been looking for a while for a project for us to do. So he sent me a little tease of what they were doing with Spore Galactic Adventures, and I just bit. Then I presented it to the writers, who all signed on."

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EA and Maxis are set to bring the life simulation crowd back in chains to their computers with impending release of The Sims 3. Using in-game footage, this latest trailer is just a sample of the digitial equivalent of crack for some gamers that will no doubt make a good deal of our friends and family vanish for hours on end when the game launches June 2.

The Sims 3 Simulated Life Trailer

A couple weeks ago, I told you about rumors that AT&T was toying with the idea of cutting $10 from the iPhone’s monthly service plan, bringing with it waves of prospective joy on behalf of current iPhone users irked by pricey monthly phone bills.

Well today, BusinessWeek says it seems more likely than ever that AT&T and Apple will introduce new, lower monthly pricing plans relatively soon. Now, while the article does mention a $10 price reduction, it’s done so in relation to a limited data access service plan, as opposed to the across-the-board price cut we heard about a few weeks ago. How limited the access might be is unknown, but chances are it will be made as unappealing as possible to even the most casual of iPhone users. That is unless AT&T and Apple's hearts grow three sizes over the next couple of weeks.

As for the prospect of a cheaper iPhone, another rumor we’ve been hearing for quite some time, analysts say that we could be seeing one as early as June, around the time that Apple is planning to unveil the next version of the iPhone. Analysts attribute the potentially lower price to the fact that a new phone has about one-third the production cost of previous versions, due in large part to the 30 percent decline in the price of touch screens.

Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too much longer to find out whether we’ve all been taken for yet another fantastic trip aboard the Apple rumor train.

Source

VentureBeat's "Dancing" Dean Takahashi, one of the few mainstream journalists that actually understands the gaming business, has been traveling the world, speaking at various gaming conferences. While he was surrounded by developers,Takahashi noticed 12 prevalent trends that currently permeate the industry. Here are the 12 trends that Takahashi noted, followed by my commentary.

Dean Says: Game startup financings have slowed from last year
Raymond Says: That's not surprising. Most spending has slowed from last year. The economy sucks. My coffeehouse financings have also slowed from last year, as I'm opting to brew my own dirty water for economic considerations.

Dean Says: The broader game industry continues to expand, command more respect, and draw outsiders
Raymond Says: He's completely right. Before you start yapping that this statement contradicts the initial one, Dean explains why that's not the case. Now getting back to the point, from casual PC games to the Nintendo Wii, more and more people are playing. Corporate outsiders see the money involved and want their piece of the pie. Creative types see a new and untamed outlet that doesn't (yet) have the restraints of the older movie, television, and music businesses. While some reader of TheFeed are getting their panties in a bunch that all these newcomers are invading "their" world, this influx of new money and talent is fantastic for the overall growth of gaming.

Dean Says: Competition is heating up and driving prices toward zero
Raymond Say: The free-to-play market is undoubtedly on the rise. I mean, what beats free, right? For longtime console gamers, this isn't an immediate concern. Free-to-play is primarily hitting the PC and mobile markets. The popularity of this market has led to the single-worst marketing term I've heard this decade: "Freemium". This vile word refers to games that are free to play, but charge gobs of money for premium features and content. Freemium...ugh. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

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Earlier in the week I reported on Steve Jobs not keynoting Apple's 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The latest buzz on the Apple street is that His Royal Steveness is actually ready to address his loyal flock...but not at WWDC; while senior vice president Phil Schiller will focus on iPhone OS 3.0 and Max OS X Snow Leopard, Jobs is purportedly set to have his own show to unveil the next iteration of the iPhone. Leading credence to this theory (depending on your belief system) is corporate psychic Barbara Courtney. Known as the "Seer of Silicon Valley", Courtney accurately predicted Jobs' triumphant return to Apple in 1997 and has some strong feelings about his immediate future. She told Cult of Mac that, "My feeling is he will come back. I’m not seeing June as too soon." The site continued:

So there you have it! A corporate psychic -- a concept I'm still struggling with -- believes that Jobs will likely make a June return, but will be giving up the reigns, permanently, in the near future. Now excuse me as I go explore the office to see where G4's corporate psychic resides.

Source via Gizmodo

For everything that your iPhone is capable of, it’s hardly surprising that someone has found a way of using it to provide spiritual enlightenment.

Ian Bogost’s new iPhone app, Guru Meditation, takes casual gaming to the extreme by essentially being the Seinfeld of apps, in that your success depends on you doing absolutely nothing. Although judging the app in terms of success is probably the wrong approach given that it’s meant as a meditation tool.

Anyway, the game goes something like this: You hold your iPhone as still as you can. Once the phone is balanced, and there aren’t any noises being picked up by the microphone (or external iPod Touch microphone), a yogi appears on screen and begins hovering in the air. From there, it’s up to you to keep him hovering, by not moving the phone and/or not making any noise, and a timer then keeps track of your session length. It also features a day/night cycle that changes from day to dusk to night to dawn every hour.

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Not quite Star Wars podracing, Spore Galactic Adventures has it's own brand of alien races in the quirky life simulation for the Mac and PC. Thankfully, there's no sign of any Jar-Jar related nonsense (however the purple dood looks pretty close), just jump-pad, rock avalanches, speed boosts and your standard array of racing tools.

I just hope that if I lose a race I can still fly off the planet and nuke the bastards that beat me... it's the only way to be sure. Spore Galactic Adventures beams down June 23.

Spore Galactic Adventures Bahaha 500 Racing Trailer

I really feel bad for diehard Blizzard fans, who are looking beyond the WoW horizon. As if counting the hours between now and whenever Diablo III will be released wasn’t torture enough, StarCraft II continues to be as elusive as ever, and now Blizzard claims to be working on an entirely original IP. I can just hear gamers screaming, “Please just give us at least one new game before you start thinking about another one!”

A community manager for WoW dropped the news over at WoWBlues:

The real dagger to the heart though is the paragraph just before the previous one, which unsympathetically states, "Games take years to develop from concept to release. Diablo III was in the works for years before being announced. StarCraft II was announced two years ago and isn't even in Beta yet.”

I bet SC fans love hearing that. Honestly, haven't Blizzard fans suffered enough? With no official release date for Diablo III or SCII, it looks like gamers will just have to continue imaging what a great time they’ll be having at some uncertain point in the future. Sweet deal.

Is Blizzard asking a lot from gamers, or does the quality of their games soften the sting of their lengthy development cycles?

Source via Kotaku

Apple has confirmed the time and date for its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote speech. It'll take place on June 8 at 10AM PST. Sadly, the keynote will not be delivered by Steve Jobs, as some people were hoping. Once again senior vice president Phil Schiller will be "the man" as Jobs continues his convalescence. The company's press release stated:

Many analysts suspect that Apple will unveil details on the next iPhone by the time WWDC rolls around.

Steve Jobs is one of the most captivating and interesting people in technology and consumer electronics. I hope he recovers quickly and is able to deliver Apple keynote speeches once again (no offense Phil!).

Are you disappointed that Jobs doesn't appear well enough to take the stage at WWDC? Do you think he'll ever lead an Apple keynote again?

Source

NcSoft announced today that their long-running, superhero MMO franchise City of Heroes, has a major expansion in development for the PC and Mac. Titled, "Going Rogue", the expansion aims to blur the line between good and evil:

"City of Heroes Going Rogue will introduce a new alignment system that helps players explore the shades of gray that lie between good and evil. For the first time, hero characters can become villains and vice versa, enabling hero archetypes to cross over to the Rogue Isles™ and villain archetypes to experience Paragon City™. Clearly marked missions, in addition to behaviors and decisions made by the player, will move a hero's or villain's moral compass, which could eventually change the hero's or villain's alignment."

Here's the accompanying announcement trailer to illustrate the idea in a more bombastic fashion. No details on release dates as of yet. For more check the out the official site here.

City of Heroes Going Rogue Announcement Trailer