Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Gaming Today

Gaming Today

Sony Wants Games in Education, like, Now

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 07:53 PM PST

The Learning Without Frontiers conference (a name I can’t claim to really understand) took place this week in London, and a not-insignificant gaming presence was in attendance, with both the Sony UK and Nintendo UK bosses there as speakers.

The Nintendo guy, David Yarnton, didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about this whole education thing as he said things like, “We do not produce products designed for education.” That may be true, generally, of both Nintendo and Sony, but that didn’t keep Sony’s Ray Maguire going nuts on the topic of gaming in education.

“The time is right now to do it,” Maguire said, as reported by GI.biz. “We shouldn’t wait too much longer. A collaborative effort is absolutely required, it needs endorsement at the highest level, it needs someone in government to say we will do this.”

He said Sony has already been putting together curriculum packs that features LittleBigPlanet and the PSP and Move. Furthermore, he wants game development to be presented to children as a legitimate career option.

“There has to be a public and private partnership,” Maguire said. “Promote digital content creation as a career choice – it shouldn’t’ be ‘I want to be a doctor or a lawyer’, it should be ‘I want to be game designer’ as well.”

There are interesting possibilities to including games in education curriculum, but even more important than that is that last point there. One of the bigger problems in gaming now is how insular it is; we need a larger variety of people working in the industry. The situation isn’t as bad as it has been (see: Naughty Dog, Ninja Theory, Remedy) but for the most part gaming is still an uncreative nerd hegemony, and it’s rare that you see truly new ideas in a game, which is a problem for a medium, like gaming, still in its infancy.

Check Out This Limited Edition N.O.V.A. 2 Figure (GALLERY)

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 05:19 PM PST

You might be interested to see what Gameloft sent me: it’s an 8-inch tall limited edition Kal Wardin figure from N.O.V.A. 2, which I won more or less for hitting the retweet button on Gameloft’s Twitter feed about a month back.

See — that Twitter thing. It’s cool.

Anyway, I got lucky, which was nice, and the figure finally arrived, which is also nice. Having pulled it out and played with it (uh… I like toys), I can vouch for it’s coolness. I also took some photos, including one of good ol’ Kal standing like the Jolly (Blue) Giant next to a can of beans for scale. It’s amazing how little visually identifiable food I have my apartment — not even a Coke can.

It’s kind of interesting that this guy even exists. N.O.V.A. 2 is a pretty big game, but it’s not Angry Birds, and it’s also an iPhone and iPad game. Granted, Gameloft is making a lot of games on a lot of different platforms and is even bringing its games straight to Panasonic’s connected TVs, but I guess I didn’t realize the kind of effort and money that had been sunk into N.O.V.A. 2.

You’re probably getting sick of hearing me talk about iPhone games (and if you’re not — just wait), but this seems like a pretty big deal to me. Companies have been sinking a lot of money into gaming in the last few years — look at the Activision’s insane party at Comic Con 2010, for example. And yeah, I’ve heard of Angry Birds merchandise, but that’s a bit of a special case; or at least I thought.

Seems to me that all signs are pointing at companies working on small-scale games becoming bigger players in the gaming industry. Maybe I’m reading too much into this Kal Wardin figure on my shelf, but this is the kind of thing large companies like Sega produce for collectors (who are mostly in Japan). I feel like this one, from an iOS game franchise, is a big deal, and an indication of the shape of things to come.

Anyway. More photos in the gallery below.

Lord of the Rings Online Teases Strange Occurrences Near Oatbarton

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 04:34 PM PST

Lord of the Rings Online is teasing a new in game event with a letter to the mayor. A letter of complaint from an irate hobbit out of Oatbarton has been lodged with the Mayor of Michel Delving. Apparently a dark, ominous monolith oozing stinking fumes has appeared in Bungo Grubb's prize pipe weed field. His crops are whithered and anyone curious enough to approach the pillar with is filled with Dread.

When you talk to Bungo there's a hint that there will be more to come and these rotting rocks may soon spread across Middle Earth like a plague. Oatbarton is not a beginning area with quests more tailored to levels 20-30. If you stick to the roads low level characters should be alright.

You can read A Strongly Worded Letter From Bungo Grubb on the LotRO Community website.

Stick-On Joystick Makes iPad Games a Little Easier

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 04:10 PM PST

Let’s face it: playing games on a touchscreen is awful a lot of the time. It’s really hard to even keep your fingers on an invisible D-pad in some games, and then you’re left seething and cursing because you were madly tapping at the screen but not hitting the virtual controls at all. And then some ghosts ate you.

ThinkGeek knows you need a real control in your hand when playing on the iPad, which is why they developed the stick-on aluminum joystick controller Joystick-It. Obviously the gadget is best used on arcade games designed for joysticks, and that includes titles like Pac-Man and Capcom Arcade.

You can snag the Joystick-It for $25 over at ThinkGeek (although it’s out of stock right now — slap it on your birthday wishlist) and seems like a worthwhile purchase if you’re excited about the huge number of games being made available for Apple iOS.

StarCraft II Patch Adds Editor Improvements, BNet Channels

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:40 PM PST

Back by popular demand are Battle.net voice chat channels, which Blizzard has just added to StarCraft II in the fairly massive Patch 1.2.0. Get it here on Windows, here on Mac.

It’s not as big as the some of the other StarCraft II patches we’ve seen, but it does look to fix up a bunch of bugs to the game. Patch 1.2.0 also makes substantial changes to the StarCraft II Editor, both improvements and bug fixes.

StarCraft II’s custom map-making community seems to be enormous and extremely creative, so these changes are a pretty big deal.

You can get the full rundown of what’s in the patch on the StarCraft II development blog. Meantime, here’s a whole list of the new Editor improvements.

  • Map locale management has been added.
  • Further editor tips and hints have been added.
  • New trigger functions, actions, and events have been added:
    • New trigger functions:
      • Verify Bank -  used to verify that a bank's signature is intact.
    • New trigger actions:
      • Bank Option – used to change options for banks including adding a signature.
      • Remove Inventory Item – used to instantly remove a requested item from an inventory.
      • Set Visibility Type Of Text Tag – used to control whether fog or black mask hides the tag.
    • New trigger events:
      • Mouse Moved – sent in response to the mouse being moved in the game world.
  • New Effect Used event property has been added:  Life, Shields, and Energy changed.
  • New unit properties have been added:
    • Carried Minerals, Carried Vespene, Carried Terrazine, and Carried Custom Resource.
  • Bounty (XP) – used to grant experience when a unit is killed.
  • Copy/paste support has been added to the upgrade editor.
  • Behaviors can now be replaced by either the shortest duration (the original method) or by farthest distance.
  • Behavior abilities can now properly charge the player using the ability instead of always charging the owner.
  • Right clicking an item in an inventory will now have the icon appear immediately next to the cursor.
  • Font Style Files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the FontStyleFileArray field in GameUIData. Existing styles can have their individual attributes overridden or entirely new styles can be added.
  • UI Layout files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the CustomLayoutFileArray filed in GameUIData. Most existing frames can be modified or overridden and entirely new templates can be added which can be created from the Dialog system within the Editor.
  • Attributes and values can now be hidden in the game lobby and can be configured through Game Variants.
  • Attribute and Veterancy behaviors now normalize vitals when new levels are applied.
  • The mouse wheel now scrolls the control under the cursor.
  • Copied doodads now retain their height offset
  • Mouse clicks and highlights are now allowed while in relative camera mode.
  • Edit boxes are now available for trigger dialogs.
  • The game will now properly find custom imported files within mods.
  • Maps can now depend on even more mods.
  • Dialog Items can now be hooked up from already existing frames within a created Panel.
  • Change Focus commands are now available in the Trigger module View menu for switching input focus directly to different areas.
  • The water editor layout has been improved.
  • Effect offsets can now optionally contain a Z component.
  • Added a new type of Dialog Item called Panel. Panels are containers for other dialog items to help with grouping and hierarchy.
  • Added new UI to insert text tags for data references, unit info, and hotkeys.
  • Added an effect range to the effect ability to restrict how far away the effect can be placed. This will allow effects to behave like the Stalker Blink effect.
  • Added a behavior flag to suppress fidgeting.
  • Added a new stalemate melee option to determine whether the stalemate detection checking is enforced.
  • Added a new “Creator” player to effects. It will be set to the player issuing an order if available.
  • Added a new type of item that can use an effect ability.
  • Added a validator that checks to see if a unit can path to a point.
  • Added a validator that checks if there is a cliff between two points.
  • Added MinimapRenderPriority to CActorUnit and MinimapRenderPriorityList to CActorGlobalConfig. This allows custom map makers to define the render priorities of units on the minimap.
  • Added a Locale sub-menu in the Mod menu for changing the active text locale for the current document.
  • Added a Mod Info dialog in the Mod menu for more easily changing mod name and description text.
  • Added a Modify Locales dialog (also in Locale sub-menu) for adding or removing text locales.
  • Added an Editor Tips dialog in the Help menu (and optionally on start up) with tips for using the editor effectively.

Omek Demonstrates New Motion Tracking Tech

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:32 PM PST


Omek Interactive and Intel have collaborated to demonstrate multi-player 3D motion tracking at CES 2011 on a second gen Intel core processor using the new Omek gesture recognition software.

Yes friends, gesture controlled games for four or more players are now possible. Depth cameras track gestures of multiple players simultaneously allowing for motion controlled gameplay. Omek's CTO Gershom Kutliroff has high aspirations for the Omek SDK.

"It's incredibly exciting to think about future developments, using coordinated actions or individual actions. Imagine if computers, rather than people, could become referees in sports game, and give objective results about every play on the field."

The Omek SDK system comes bundled with a Gesture Authoring Toolkit. It can learn new gestures performed by a number of different people in a day or two that could take weeks or even months for developers to code.

This sounds great, but given my experience with multi-player and the kinect system, I'm withholding any judgement. Inevitably 3D multi-player motion detection will be perfected and put into use in our daily lives in ways we can only imagine.


via Business Wire Press Release

NCSoft Unveils Korean Aion 2.5 Update

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:18 PM PST

The latest patch for Aion Online is up for Korean players and it's big one. The update includes 2 new instances as well an upgrade to the GUI. Players should enjoy the new skills, abilities, and legion upgrades, as well as a new Group Guide feature for high level characters. Pets get a boost with a new Pet Mood system to give players more interactions with their furry friends. Unfortunately these Korean tweaks are not guaranteed for inclusion when the update makes its way to NA or EU servers.

Here are the basics:

  • Academy Bootcamp, an arena styled instance with 50 stage challenges
  • Araka, an abyss styled instance for players level 50 and above
  • New pets, including a pet mood system, emotes and abilities
  • New skills and abilities for all player classes
  • New legion upgrades and administration options
  • Upgraded User Interface and a new map system
  • Help system for high level players to function as group guides for lower levels
  • Graphics update with a new "Superior Graphic Engine" option

For the full run down of new and improved features, check out the Korean PTS: Initial 2.5 Patch Notes on the Aion Online PowerWiki.

January MEGA Track Pack for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Detailed

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:02 PM PST

Activision is ringing in the new year with ten new tracks for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The January Mega Pack DLC offers 10 new tracks from Nine Inch Nails, A Day To Remember, The Damned Things, Hawthorne Heights, The Used, and HIM.

Offerings kick off with three tracks that span Nine Inch Nails extensive run; "Head Like a Hole", "The Hand That Feeds" and "Closer" which is not available for Rock Band. A Day to Remember also kicks in three tracks; "All I Want," "2nd Sucks" and "The Downfall Of Us All". The pack also features four singles:

  • "We’ve Got A Situation Here," The Damned Things
  • "Wings of a Butterfly," HIM
  • "Rescue Me," Hawthorne Heights
  • "Buried Myself Alive," The Used

You can nab the January Mega Pack on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 1440 Microsoft Points, on the PlayStation Store for $17.99 and for Wii for 1800 Wii Points. As always you can buy individual tracks for 160 MP for the Xbox 360, $1.99 for PS3, and 200 WP for the Wii.

Champions Online goes Free to All on January 25th 2011

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:51 PM PST

We covered the initial announcement of changes coming to Champions Online a while back. Cryptic and Atari are turning to the free-to-play model with micro transactions that has proved a successful model for other developers like Turbine. Champions Online will offer current and new players unlimited play and access to the new C-store on the web as well as in game.

For more information on the switch over to Free-To-Play check out the Champions Online Official Site. Who says there's never anything to look forward to in January.

Bulletstorm Goes Halo with a Diorama

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:50 PM PST

The Halo 3 diorama was a pretty emo affair. It had sad, dramatic piano music playing as the camera panned over a plastic battlefield populated by plastic soldiers, many of whom were dying to death all over the place. It was pretty cool and way better than the game itself.

EA has put out a new trailer for Bulletstorm that features its own diorama and the same sad piano song. As you might expect, however, the contents of the diorama are quite different than that of the Halo diorama. See for yourself.

download

Bulleststorm is out on PC, PS3 and 360 on February 22.

Skip Med School – Just Play Video Games

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:47 PM PST

All those hours of carefully aligned headshots and directing monkeys trapped in hamster balls might be good for something — namely, helping to become a surgeon.

A new study finds that the skills built through playing video games are the same small, hand-eye coordinated movements needed to perform surgery. CBS and the AP have the story, in which one doctor likens Super Monkey Ball to sewing intestines together. Awesome.

The study isn’t super-definitive or anything — don’t expect to start playing Halo for your med school exams. Researchers with Beth Israel and the National Institute on Media and the Family at Iowa State University tested 33 doctors, which is not a huge sample, and found that the ones who put at least three hours a week into gaming made 37 percent fewer mistakes during laparoscopic surgery. That’s the minimally invasive kind, with small incisions and a camera in your gut that helps the doctor see what the hell he or she is doing in there.

Those game-playing surgeons also were able to get the surgery down 27 percent faster than the ones who weren’t playing. Of the sample, 12 of the doctors were attending physicians and 21 were medical school residents. The study took place between May and August of 2003.

The doctors were stunned that fine motor control honed in a video game would be the exact same fine motor control needed for doing similar, delicate tasks:

‘We were surprised and actually awed by the fact that your video game skill, meaning how well you play, as well as the number of hours you have spent on video games were very highly correlating — meaning if you do this well you will be less error-prone, you will be faster and you will perform better at laparoscopic surgery,’ said surgeon Asaf Yalif, who participated in the study.

So there you go. Next time your parents/girlfriend/boyfriend/case worker demand you play fewer games, just tell them you’re training in case you need to perform emergency laparoscopy in a stuck elevator or something.

DC Universe Online Launch Trailer

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:40 PM PST

The wait is over. Time to save the world or destroy it. Personally, I want to destroy it, dats how I roll. You can download this video here or watch it below.

Player Hacks Anarchy Online GM Account, Chaos Erupts

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:32 PM PST

Anarchy Online will be tightening up security after a player took the GM's chair January 4th. An uninvited guest took control of a GM account and hosted an impromptu event that left players and developers alike reeling. This is by no means the first time a player has hacked a GM account, but if the development team has it's way, it may be the last. Players in Borealis had surprise encounters with enemies like Tarasque and The Beast and over 100 Christmas trees in this two-hour belated holiday event. In the aftermath, 140 accounts were frozen so the development staff could clean up the wreckage. Some players suffered from stuck status while others, some unknowingly received game breaking unapproved loot in their stockings. Game Director Collin "Means" Cragg gave an accounting and his critique of the “unplanned and unwanted volunteer event” in his latest Friday With Means on the Anarchy Online Site. He gives kudos for the excitement, but was unimpressed with the out of season Christmas Trees which were "SOOO last year"

French-Canadian Kids Are Confused by Old Technology

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 02:19 PM PST

I’ve sometimes thought about what my younger self would think about the goofy looking s–t on my TV stand, like the giant-ass PS3 or the glossy Xbox 360 or the tiny computer or even the giant thin TV itself. But I haven’t really even thought about what kids today would think of the crap I played with as a kid. Cyberpresse did wonder about this, though, and so they got some Québécois schoolchildren and then presented them with a bunch of old stuff like Game Boys and 5.25″ floppies. Their reactions are in this video.

Modern Combat: Domination Trailer Looks Awesome at Just $8 (VIDEO)

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 01:47 PM PST

If Modern Combat: Domination is as cool as this trailer, I might actually have a reason to play my Playstation 3 online once in a while.

Gameloft‘s multiplayer downloadable title coming to the Playstation Network looks a whole lot like Call of Duty (although maybe a little quicker and higher-energy). It’s built for Playstation Move, but doesn’t require it — you can still play it with a regular Dual Shock 3 controller. If the game’s as tight and polished as the video suggests, it’ll definitely be worth it for such a low cost of admission.

The Modern Combat franchise has done pretty well for Gameloft on iDevices and Android platforms, and some serious success on PSN could open the company up to more cool console crossovers. I mean, UNO is fun and all, but I want to see more of the quality franchises we get out of Gameloft on iPhone. Modern Combat looks like a big step in the right direction.

We don’t have an exact release date for the game yet, but it seems likely that it’ll be this month — the video is called a “launch trailer,” after all.
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