Since the launch of the new Zune store and the advent of XNA development for Zunes, there has apparently been quite a lot of activity. I’ve been waiting for a nice omnibus post like this one to point me in the right direction. You’ve got your tetris, you’ve got your solitaire, you’ve even got a chat app — although if your Zune is close enough to another Zune that you can communicate, you’re probably better off talking than tapping out letter after letter on its little pad.
Go, Zunatics! Download and see what’s must-have. I personally am going to get me a little Tetris. [thanks for the tip, Mike!]
I can think of two reasons of the top of my head why the PC is the right platform for casual gamers. People just getting into gaming, first of all, don’t even own a console, but they almost certainly own a computer (and let’s be honest, a lot are playing at work). That tips the scales already — your target audience self-selects. Secondly, gateway casual games are ones that utilize interfaces people already know. Pointing and clicking, or basic four-directional movement, things that don’t overwhelm soccer moms. Hence the success of games like Bejeweled and Diner Dash.
Ubisoft’s lead game designer Emeric Thoa appears to think along these lines as well. With the casual market expanding, it’s worth checking out a few baskets before putting all your eggs into one (small game developers don’t have the budget for multi-platform releases) — and the PC at this point is the winner by far.
Eric Lempel, Director of PlayStation Network Operations, has put up three fun-filled posts to the official PlayStation blog. The first post is about XMB access in-game and features a video of how it will look. It should make it easier to check messages from friends without having to leave the game. The second post also had a video but this one was less exciting, since it was about the Trophy system. I really don’t understand that point of showing off little icons (the trophies) to your friends. I guess the whole system really isn’t for me. The last post Eric did was a nice FAQ with some of the common questions people have been asking about the update. For example, fans of hot inter-console cybering ask:
Will voice-messaging/private chat be featured in 2.40 as well? If not, can we expect to see this feature added in the future?
We are evaluating the opportunity to offer voice chat, but for this update, we wanted to focus on text messaging as the key priority for communications that our users have asked for.
Oh baby, I love it when you blog dirty! Expect the update around July 2nd.
I don’t know how they ever believed this would work. How could they not have tried this? But really, it’s strengthening my belief about how technology advances in Japan. Briefly:
Here in the United States, we get trickle-down tech. It’s a hand-me-down from the feudal system, I think: some lab-rats test the hell out of a product until they think it’s ready for us, then we graciously accept it as proven and ready. In Japan it’s a little more democratic: someone takes an idea, prototypes it, and immediately deploys it, regardless of how flawed or ridiculous it is. Videophones? Alive and flourishing. Underpants vending machines? Weird, and probably flourishing. Age verification camera? Fail. They just put it out there and it failed. They accidentally sold some kids some cigarettes (at least they didn’t sell them panties) and now they’re working on something better. The system works!
If you have a Mylo you will be happy to know Sony released an updated for the device. Some of the more notable features in this update are support for video recording, support for a 16GB Memory Stick, playback of WMV files, and improved playback of YouTube videos.
If you are not sure what the Mylo personal communicator is, be sure to check out Peter Ha’s review of the device. If you don’t feel like reading, it’s basically a PSP that can’t play games and has a slid out keyboard.
I’ve actually been looking for pictures like this for ages. I find SLRs and lenses very fascinating, but it wasn’t until I saw a lens cut open like this in the window of a shop in Paris that I understood just how complicated they are. You ask what you’re paying for when you buy a really good prime lens or a $1000 zoom; you’re looking at it.
The first picture is cool, as it shows how they’ve managed to create a hybrid in the DSLR; after all, the mechanical element needs to remain the same, but they have to fit a whole PCB, card mechanism and LCD in there as well. Love this stuff.
Photos by the linked article’s author, Charlie Sorrel
Flickr’d
So this is sorta surprising. Despite how seemingly popular the Batman movies have been, that awful one starring George Clooney notwithstanding, they don’t seem to make all that much money. Adjusted for inflation, the first movie is still box office king with $436.4 million at the box office. Batman Begins pulled in $226.3 million.
The worst, of course, was that Clooney stinker, Batman and Robin, which did only $143.7 million at the box office. Worse, it actually cost the studio money! Yup, nothing like a -14 percent return on investment to nearly kill a franchise.
I’d complain that the Dark Knight comes out in Spain, where I’ll be, on August 13, a full month after it comes out in the U.S., but who’d listen? (Was that even a sentence?)
Sony announced that the amazing vibrating DualShock 3 controller will be released in Europe on July 2, 2008. This is a good thing since many of the new games for the PS3 will support the vibration feature.
Our good pal David Reeves, the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe says:
We are delighted to confirm that DUALSHOCK 3 will be released in SCEE territories in early July. We hope this will add to the intense gaming experience for our fans, as we continue to evolve PS3, its software and its peripherals.”
The DualShock 3 has been available here in the U.S. since April. Also worth noting: the price for the Euro version is $80 once the price is converted to dollars, even though it costs only around $60 here.
Has anyone else tried purchasing tickets for the midnight showing? I just tried and Fandango is a dirty, filthy liar. The midnight showing at the IMAX here in NYC was lit up all red like tickets were available, but it really wasn’t. I want to cry now.
You suck, Fandango.
Generally, whenever someone calls the United States a “police state,” you can ignore them and go about your business. I’m tempted to do the same here, but here we go anyway.
The FBI, in working with Lockheed Martin, is developing a so-called super database for crime prevention. You’ll find the same thing you’d find in other, My First Crime Prevention Databases, but this one will have all sorts of biometric information that has privacy advocates, also known as busybodies, outraged.
Crime fighters will have things like facial images and iris scans to comb through. These, we’re led to believe, will be used and abused by the Feds to ruin all of our lives and put a stop to our icky republican form of government and democratic way of life.
It’s funny, I used to be one of those “the government is out to get us, man” guys. Now, I take a much more laissez-faire attitude toward all that. Goodbye to all of it, I say.
via Slashdot
We’ll all be dead before XM and Sirius merge, but the two companies would like the whole wide world (or whoever reads PR Newswire) to know how they think they’ll end up financially once they’re one company. (What an awfully constructed sentence.) The headline here is the combined company will have positive cash flow in 2009.
They did re-state that, technically, Sirius will be taking over the assets of XM.
So, pretty boring financials that might please Wall Street, but we couldn’t really give a toss about. I’d like to know what sort of “clerical error” led to XM not paying Opie & Anthony for the past two months.
Then move to Hong Kong. Hutchison has worked it out so that those in Hong Kong and Macau can spend as little as $24/month for data/voice. You’ll have to pay $377 for an 8GB iP3G, but it’s still the cheapest compared to those announced across various carriers/countries.
Some comparisons (all expressed in U.S. dollars for the equivalent of a 2-year contract):
* Hutchison in Hong Kong: $955 (500MB voice and data) to $1,532 (2,200 min., unlimited data)
* O2 (TEF) in the U.K.: $1,698 (75 minutes, unlimited data) to $3,588 (3000 min., unlimited data)
* AT&T (T) in the U.S.: $1,879 (450 min., unlimited data) to $3,318 (unlimited voice and data)
* T-Mobile (DT) in Germany: $1,366 (500MB data) to $3,374 (5GB data)
* Rogers (RCI) in Canada: $1,624 (150 min., 400 MB data) to $2,932 (800 min., 2GB data)
via Fortune
Linux to the rescue!
Long story short, Comcast uses an application called Sandvine to disrupt certain BitTorrent traffic. That is to say it’s not always Sandvine preventing your from seeding “distros,” but sometimes. Using the old standby iptables firewall, you can configure your system to, in layman terms, “defeat” the Sandvine nastiness.
Best of all, what you’re doing only affects your BitTorrent port, so no need to fear “messing up” your entire Internet connection.
All that’s involved is modifying a few values, so if you speak Linux, have Comcast and want to improve your BitTorrent experience, give it a shot and let us know how it turns out. I have Cablevision, which doesn’t seem to have as many seeding issues as you Comcast guys do, so I try it out.
via Slashdot
What gadgets will 007 have at his disposal this time around? I’ve had a thing for redheads lately, too.
There we go. Was that so hard? Was it so hard to make a totally awesome Mega Man game and then release it on all three consoles at once?
They are doing so many things so right here.
1. Cross-platform love like never before
2. Retro graphics like — before
3. The Blue Bomber
4. Robot dragons
History will look kindly on Mega Man 9, which I’m hoping is going to be every bit as hard and filthy as Mega Man 2, one of my favorite games ever. [via Kotaku]
But at what cost?
This tool from ZDNet allows for super-easy overclocking of your Mac Pro. Until recently, overclocking has been one of the few remaining legs Windows users had up on Mac users, from an objective standpoint at least. The OC tools I’ve used on XP have ranged from the graphic to the obscure, and from the stable to the ridiculous. This ZDNet tool looks pretty simple, but being simple, it’s not really comprehensive. This is evident from the fact that multiple errors occur reliably while using the tool: the time gets messed up, it can’t restart without crashing past certain speeds, and the clockspeeds reset themselves when your machine goes to sleep — among other issues.
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Linux dorks rejoice! Now you can use your hard-won understanding of microkernel architecture to program a NetGear Wireless-G Router. The WGR614L has a 16MB of RAM and some extra storage space so you can write your own open source router routines and implement them on the box. What can you do with your new, open source router? Ummm, how about…
traffic shaping applications, redirections to captive portals for hotspots, guest access via a separate SSID, upstream and downstream QOS, and intelligent bandwidth monitoring.
That’s right! Traffic shaping! Guest access via SSID! Quality of…! Zzzzzzzz…
Sorry. Umm… $69 for those who wish to compile code for this puppy. Full release after the jump. I’m going to get a cup of coffee and a shot of vitamin B12.
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The TV networks had better figure out how to make advertising work on things like Hulu, for it seems young people aren’t watching as much live TV as they used to. Recently released numbers show that, for the first time ever, the median age for the average live TV viewer was 50 last year. The four major networks all ticked up in age, with the exception of CBS, which has always been a network for old people. (Viacom, whose parent company has a controlling interest in CBS, does recognizes the need to shake things up, remember.)
Cable channels saw similar numbers.
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The micro-laptop revolution is a really cool thing, to be sure, but not all of us were born with slender, precision-tip hands. I do all right but some of these baby keyboards make me feel like I have ten thumbs. Well, Asus must have heard the cries of the lumpy and misshapen, because the new iterations of the Eee, the 904 and 905, will have more comfortably-sized keyboards.
Of course, they’ll also have Atom processors, but who cares about that? Actually, that’s kind of a legitimate question because the Atoms will almost certainly be replaced with multi-core Atoms in a couple months. I’d wait for those if possible.
An unfortunate little rumor had been going around last week, suggesting that Microsoft was planing to launch a PS3 Home competitor to be called MyGamerPad. One picture of the virtual world showed up, but it now looks to be a fake, completely lifted from a posting on deviantART.
Hmm, completely lifting level design? Sounds familiar.
Please note that we’re only calling out the picture in question, not MyGamerPad itself. That’s scheduled to be debunked in seven hours.
via Xbox-Scene
