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How To Develop An Indie Game For The Hardcore Gamer (On Facebook?)
Tuesday, 15th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming, Social Media
Tags: Facebook, hardcore gaming, interview, social gaming, tankwars
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No matter if you consider yourself a casual gamer who plays a couple of times per week or if you want to make games for a living, you probably noticed this certain trend: over the past years, videogames seem to have drowned in badges, achievements and other meaningless crap.
Many of us who consider ourselves to be hardcore gamers blame the so-called social games for this trend, FarmVille, FrontierVille and the myriads of clones. In other words: anything you can play via Facebook.
But the line between hardcore and casual gaming seems to be blurring. I recently met with Arne and Helge Wieding, two german indie game developers who founded their own game studio “Yoone” a couple of years ago. They just released the open beta for their tank deathmatch game “TankWars,”and while having all the elements of a hardcore game you can play it via Facebook. Surprised? Keep Reading
More Hot Twin Action, Game of Thrones-Style
Tuesday, 15th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Online Video
Tags: camille, Game of Thrones, harp, kennerly, theme, twins
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So the two hot twins who gifted us (because that’s what it was, a gift) with the Zelda: Skyward Sword theme with tag-team harp action have now brought us the score to Game of Thrones.
I never used to find harps interesting at all, but from now on anything harp related will automatically be awesome because here is where my mind will wander first.
Part of it I think is that yeah, they’re both hot, but they can also pwn an instrument, and are showing up to 30% cleavage in some shots of some of these videos. The fact that they have a different cute outfit on in every video is an extra bonus to the ADD-prone. Keep Reading
Portal Cake, With Actual Portal: Just What Your Sci-Fi Sweet Tooth Needs
Tuesday, 15th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Offbeat
Tags: bake, cake, lit plates, portal
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Who wants cake? Okay, now who wants PORTAL cake?
Desperately searching for exactly how this genius baking entrepreneur designed such a delicious-looking pastry, I was somewhat taken aback to find that that A)Portal themed cakes are really nothing new; there’s a crapload of all over the Internet — and also that B) somebody took the Portal cake scenario to a new level with this — a cake actually being Portal-ed, complete with aperture Portal gun and everything. Keep Reading
What the Facebook IPO Could Mean for Games (that don’t suck)
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming, Social Media
Lately the internet won’t shut up about the fact that Facebook is about to IPO. But who really cares? Unless you are a venture capitalist or current Facebook employee, it seems likely that there will not be a whole lot of money to be made for late comers. And besides, everyone knows that the vast majority of Facebook games suck…
Amidst all the talk of how Facebook will potentially generate perhaps 1,000 new millionaires, there is a silver lining of hope which hearkens back to a time long ago…1995. Keep Reading
Diablo III Collectors Edition Unboxing
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: battle.net, collectors edition, contains, Diablo II, Diablo III, exclusive, game, GameInformer, unboxing
Over at Gameinformer they have received the Diablo III Collectors Edition, unlike some of our friends in Australia who were unfortunately out of luck. GI received the package this morning from Blizzard and has now posted images of its contents (below).
The collectors Edition contains everything from the game itself to exclusive in-game content like ”glowing angel wings…an exclusive banner sigil,” and “Bottled Smoke items” to a 4 GB USB Soulstone. Keep Reading
Guy Sings All the Instruments to ‘Star Wars’ Theme — At The Same Time
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Online Video
Tags: a cappella, instrument, Nick McKaig, sing, star wars, The Simpsons
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That’s a bit of misnomer — of course, Nick McKaig has recorded them all separately and edited them to play at the same time.
One of the best things about Nick McKaig’s a cappella salute to Star Wars is how it manages to capture each of the instruments used to compose the full-fledged symphony score.
Thus by dividing the screen up into half a dozen or more little windows, with each head singing a different bit, it highlights the melodies and the herculean amounts of work John Williams put into the score. Seems like some pretty intense dedication there. Keep Reading
No Game Or Refund For Some Diablo III Pre-Orders, Thanks To GAME
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: administration, Australia, Diablo III, game, Kotaku, max payne, receiving, Refund, stock
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On the heels of Diablo III releasing tomorrow, we get the unfortunate news that GAME, the Australian retailer, has gone into administration (bankruptcy) today and will not be receiving or carrying any copies of Diablo III.
According to a report from Kotaku AU, this will mean that pre-orders made through GAME outlets will not be fulfilled or refunded in any way.
GAME officially stated that they plan to work diligently to Keep Reading
NES Lunch Box Makes You Coolest Kid/Adult In Cafeteria
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: console, gaming systen, lunch box, nintendo
I’ll admit that I haven’t brought a lunch box…well, anywhere, for a little over a year. But that might be changing right about now, given the latest creation from Etsy extraordinaire Luke Blackford.
It’d dubbed rather simply “The Nintendo Entertainment System Lunch Box” and is reportedly made out of an old console and hallowed out, so you can fill it in with your favorite lunch time cuisine.
Keep Reading
New York Court Rules That Viewing Child Pornography is Not a Crime
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Offbeat
Tags: cache, child pornography, court of appeals, images, intent, law, New York, viewing
In what some might consider a somewhat mind-blowing legal decision, the New York Court of Appeals ruled this week that viewing child porn is not on par with procuring or possessing child pornography. The decision arose from a case involving one James D. Kent, a college professor who had hundreds of child pornography images on his work computer’s browser cache. According to Geekologie, the court determined that ‘having items stored in the cache doesn’t demonstrate any form of intent,’ thus resulting in the charges being dismissed against Kent.
Specifically, Judge Carmen Ciparick wrote “Merely viewing Web images of child pornography does not, absent other proof, constitute either possession or procurement within the meaning of our Penal Law… Keep Reading
Game Programming: The New Chemistry Set
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Technology
Tags: chemistry, computer science, engineerin
It wasn’t long ago that Tech Crunch wrote an article entitled: “The Great Engineering Shortage of 2012” discussing the extreme dearth of quality development talent in the United States.
It shouldn’t be a surprise after all, most Americans seem to believe that their chances of making it big revolve around (a) getting on reality television (b) becoming famous for filming a sex tape or (c) starting a rock band rather than (d) going to school and doing something as boring as slogging through a computer science degree. Computer science graduation rates, in fact, have declined to a point where they are currently lower than they were 25 years ago…while the demand for engineers has skyrocketed.
Now lets step back from these horrifying and puzzling statistics for a second and look at what the problem really is: Programming and computer science are extremely obscure crafts that most people can’t wrap their heads around or (more commonly), even find a rational entry point.
When was the last time you think someone sat down and built a Spring MVC server on a Sunday afternoon just because it was fun? Ever normalize a data table just for kicks? What about spending Thursday night comparing Merge-Sort and Quick-Sort algorithms and their respective O(n) times? Keep Reading
Facebook IPO By The Numbers
Monday, 14th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive
Facebook is now on the brink of an Initial Public Offering that has the company valued at up $100 Billion. That’s well over enough to cover the national debts of Cuba, Guatemala, and Panama put together. Facebook’s initial offering will price shares between $28 and $35 (perhaps as some outlets are reporting as high as $38). Facebook is a $4 billion company, with a nearly 50% profit margin. And it is growing at over 75% per year.
With 900 Million users, facebook is the “third largest country” only behind China and India in terms of its “population.” Facebook’s users are also highly active, averageing 20 minutes per day on the site, which comes to 16,000 years of Facebook. At almost 1 billion users, each Facebook user is worth about $100.00.
Yelp IPO targets $2 million, so Yelp’s Keep Reading
Guy Makes Real-Life Transformer From Scratch
Friday, 11th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Online Video
Tags: Bumblebee, dance, Kenji Ishida, robot, servo, transformer, version8
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We know this isn’t exactly one of those gargantuan-sized Bayformers, but at least it’s still bigger than the toys of yore. It’s more the work of some engineering prodigy that really knew his sh*t , at least enough to make a motorized version that can actually drive in its little red car mode, not to mention stand up and sort of move in robot mode. And by sort of move we basically mean do a fist pump and do something that looks like the Safety Dance.
Specifically this is the work of one Kenji Ishida, ‘TransformerVersion8′ comes packed with 22 servos, feet that can rotate, and a face nowhere near as scary as Bumblebee’s. Keep Reading
Turns Out Getting Frozen in Carbonite Really Could Be Lame
Friday, 11th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Offbeat
Tags: carbonite, disney, Disney World, star wars, Star Wars weekend
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The marketing guys at Disney have developed a nifty new little souvenir to take home with you from Epcot Center: get yourself frozen in Carbonite, just like Han Solo, for the price of about $100. To be fair, you also get a light-up wristband as well.
To celebrate Disney World’s ongoing Star Wars-themed weekends, all an attendee must do is take a step into the ‘Carbon Freezing Chamber” while a bunch of hi-res camera shots are taken of you from an entire 360 degree angle.
From there the 360 model of your body is imported into a computer Keep Reading
Angry Birds Creator Announces New Game, Amazing Alex
Friday, 11th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: Amazing Alex, angry birds, app, Casey's Contraptions, iOS, Rovio
On the heels of the massively successful Angry Birds, Finnish game maker Rovio is set to launch a new title. The new game will be called Amazing Alex and centers around the main character, a curious young boy named Alex.
Rovio CEO Mikael Hed told a Yle’s breakfast television show this morning about the new game and that it should be available for release in roughly two months time. Hed went on to say the game features a bit of an educational element to it based on the main character’s curiosity to build things. Keep Reading
Real Life Portal Turret Tracks Targets
Friday, 11th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gadgets, Gaming
Tags: MATLAB, Mechatronics, Penn State University, portal 2, Portal Gun, servo, target, tracks, turret
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An engineering student has built a real-life Portal turret for his aptly named “Advanced Mechatronics” class project at Penn State University. The turret tracks its targets using “image processing” and deals out a less than lethal blow once its locked on. This will go great with the real-life Portal gun.
Equipped with two servo mounts with two “hacked-up” USB powered Nerf missile guns, the turret also has an IP webcam mounted in the middle to track targets. The camera senses RBG colors connected to a laptop running MATLAB… Keep Reading
Seattle Supervillain Rex Velvet Continues Taunting Phoenix Jones
Friday, 11th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Offbeat
Tags: Phoenix Jones, Rain City Superheroes, Rex Velvet, social villains alliance, supervillain
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Ever since supervillain Rex Velvet dropped a video challenging Seattle’s first and only alter ego-less crime fighter, news from the other side of the good guys has been pretty scarce.
Maybe Jones is cowering at the top of the space needle and sh*tting his pants. Maybe he’s in a dojo practicing pummeling Velvet into oblivion and growing his own bad-ass mustachio.
Well whatever Jones is up to, he’d better think quick, because Velvet’s Keep Reading
Love Star Trek? No Reason to, Uh, Be Ashamed
Thursday, 10th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Online Video
Tags: battle crusiers, LMFAO, parody, skrimshank records, star trek, we trekkies and we know it
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Of all the geeky pop culture that’s been accepted into mainstream and become cool, it still seems like it’s still not exactly super-cool to love Star Trek. You go to comic con and you’re far more likely to see Storm Troopers and chicks dressed as Leia, as opposed to Klingons or Uhura or even that bald alien chick from Motion Picture, if that’s your thing.
If Star Wars is The Stones of Sci-Fi pop culture staples, Star Trek’s kind of like Yes. Okay, bad analogy — but the video for ‘We Trekkies and We Know It’ seems to all but affirm such will always be the case, as a few devoted Trek fans Keep Reading
Guy Pwns Tetris Theme…With a Laser Harp
Thursday, 10th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Online Video
Tags: britain's got talent, game boy, greg stewart, lasers, NES, tetris
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A Software developer by the name of Greg Stewart took to the stage of Britain’s Got Talent last week to show off a very special skills: specifically, play the Tetris theme that he composed himself – all on a Game Boy and NES – with a laser harp.
It’s easy enough to root for Greg Stewart, who by job title and appearance alone could be the exact kind of person to pull this off – though wait, does that mean it’s the lasers actually making the sounds, or is he just hitting the lasers in synchronicity with the beats? Couldn’t this just be a dude that tape recorded the Tetris theme, and then just tapped a bunch Keep Reading
Assassin’s Creed 3 First Gameplay Trailer Unlocked
Thursday, 10th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: AC3, assassin's creed 3, gamestop, Native American, Ratonhnhaké:ton, trailer, ubisoft, Unite
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The Assassin’s Creed 3 community has “United” like Ubisoft asked and as a reward we get our look at the first gameplay trailer. The trailer does a good job of showing off several gameplay scenarios, as well more of the open vistas the frontier has to offer.
On Monday we got just a brief look, and today we again see Connor (Ratonhnhaké:ton) speaking throughout the trailer giving us some insight into his split Native American and European heritage.
Keep Reading
Square Enix Confirms Hitman Absolution Coming November 20
Thursday, 10th May 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: absolution, Agent 47, gamestop, hitman, Hitman Absolution, Richard Strong, Sniper, Sniper Challenge, Square Enix
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Earlier this week I/O tweeted about a “major” announcement coming today. Due to several leaks we already knew that the Hitman: Sniper Challenge was going to be at least apart of today’s big announcement. We also found out today the Hitman Absolution release date, November 20 2012.
Square Enix made it official today (via The Verge), confirming those who pre-order Absolution from Gamestop will receive the stand alone game Hitman: Sniper Challenge that was leaked on Tuesday. During this bonus mission players will take on the role of agent 47 once again, this time to take out Richard Strong Jr., the CEO of Stallion Armaments. Players will be tasked with taking out Richard and his bodyguards while trying to hide all the bodies, score multipliers and unlock upgrades. Keep Reading
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