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PS3s Worldwide Experiencing Glitches And Data Corruption Today

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Do yourself a favor and do not turn on your Sony PlayStation 3 today if you own one of the older non-slim variations of the console. There's a glitch in the matrix that's causing data loss and other nasty problems worldwide today when it comes to all things PS3. Trophies could be lost, games become unplayable, and good luck trying to access the PlayStation Store. As Kotaku reports, Sony believes it's a PlayStation Network issue, but the mob rule at...

Darren Aronofskys PacMan

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We've been subjected to plenty of movies based on video games. Consider the cinematic magic that sprang from titles such as Resident Evil, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Bros., and Street Fighter, for instance. One of gaming's all-time top earners has yet to have a turn on the silver screen, but sci-fi blog io9 has a way to turn this arcade quarter-muncher into a riveting paranormal noir piece with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky at the helm. The game? Pac-Man. Guillaume Homme-Pac...

Sixty Moments Of The Legend Of Zelda The Wind Waker

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

It's probably been a while since you played through Nintendo's 2003 GameCube adventure The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (you have played it, right?), so it's time for a little refresher course. DeviantArtist Peachifruit has created a "quilt" consisting of sixty adorable memorable moments from Link's pirate-themed adventure. Take a sail down memory lane and revisit scenes with Aryll, Tetra, Medli, Makar, the King of Red Lions, and, of course, Ganondorf himself. In the words of the artist: This...

The Method Behind Nintendo Of Americas Localization Madness Plus Women Like Mario

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Do you ever wonder why certain titles for Nintendo's Wii never make it out of Japan? Have you cried yourself to sleep at night because Nintendo of America passed on Fatal Frame 4 but gave Fossil Fighters plenty of time in the spotlight? While you may find it hard to believe, Nintendo does not choose which games to take out of Japan at random. The company's top people make quarterly pilgrimages to Japan to see what's new, what's coming, and...

Midday Mega Man Music Remix Moment

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

OverClocked Remix isn't the only group that can remix video game music. Capcom does an excellent job of producing reworkings of some of their classic theme tunes, particularly in the Mega Man department. Back when the company was celebrating the blue bomber's twentieth anniversary, a pair of remix albums were commissioned as part of the festivities: one featuring rock remixes, the other techno arrangements. Check out this sample from the rock-oriented album headed up by Guilty Gear's Tohru Iwao in...

People Seem To Like Battlefield Bad Company 2

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

All kinds of people are talking about Battlefield: Bad Company 2 from Electronic Arts for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and PC and how I need to play it. It looks like the kind of game I'd enjoy in a single-player environment, but considering that it's multiplayer-intensive, I wouldn't stand a chance against the highly skilled and annoying people who populate online first-person shooters. Instead I'll just watch the new "Quotes Trailer" and then get back to Dante's...

TwentyFive Years Of Castlevanias Vampire Killer

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

It's no secret that I love music from Konami's Castlevania series, so when I heard that Discoalucard at Hardcore Gaming 101 had made an epic medley featuring one segment from each game (minus one or two) in which the song "Vampire Killer" appears, I knew I had to give it a listen. Presented as a walk through Castlevania musical history, the piece opens with the classic Nintendo Entertainment System version of the theme, advanced into Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse's take...

Metroid Other M Opens With Super Metroid Finale

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Step back to 1994 and remember the thrilling climax of Nintendo's Super Metroid in which the baby parasite rescued by heroine Samus Aran saves her from a deadly end at the hands of Mother Brain. It's one of absolute high points of the Metroid franchise and one of the most memorable moments in video gaming, so it's a pleasant surprise to find out that the upcoming Metroid: Other M for the Wii uses this moment as a launch pad to...

Super Mario Galaxy 2 And Metroid Other M Coming In May And June

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Big news from the World of Nintendo today as North American release dates for the anticipated Wii titles Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M have been announced. Mark your calendars for May 23 for Mario's next adventure and June 27 for the return of Samus Aran. I'm especially surprised that the Galaxy sequel will be "old news" by the time E3 comes up in June. I'd expected it to be this year's major holiday Wii title, so Nintendo...

Weekly Poll APOCALYPS3 NOW!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A big hello to Ubisoft employees who apparently read Press The Buttons and voted in last week's poll under the "fair" heading. I don't think I've ever seen such a near-unanimous vote before. I agree with the majority that Ubisoft's new PC DRM goes too far, and while I understand that believe that publishers have a right to protect their content, I also believe that those who buy their products have a right to play what they purchased. Ultimately, it's...

AU Internet Censorship Spells Bad News For Gamers

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

eldavojohn writes "Kotaku is running an investigative piece examining what internet censorship means for games in Australia. Australia has some of the most draconian video game attitudes in the world, and the phrase 'refused classification' should strike fear in game developers and publishers looking to market games there. Internet censorship may expand this phrase to mean that anybody hosting anything about the game may suffer censorship in AU. Kotaku notes, 'This means that if a game is refused classification (RC) in Australia — like, say, NFL Blitz, or Getting Up — content related to these games would be added to the ISP filter. [This would bring up] a range of questions, foremost of those being: what happens when an otherwise harmless website ... hosts material from those games (screenshots, trailers, etc) that is totally fine in the US or Japan or Europe, but that has been refused classification in Australia?' Kotaku received a comment from the Australian Department of Broadband Communication promising that the whole website won't be blocked, just the material related to the game (videos, images, etc). Imagine maintaining that blacklist!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The GrownUp Video Game

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Phaethon360 writes "Now, more than ever, we're seeing many Mature ratings (M+, 17+, 18) being distributed by various national media regulators. But that isn't the only indicator for a game's intended audience. It doesn't take a thousand swear words, scantily clad women or gratuitous violence to differentiate a ten-year-old's game from a twenty-year-old's. The spectrum of human emotions encompasses a wider palette than just revenge, fear, and loss, but the games that shy away from these are frequently mistaken as being for a younger audience. From the article: 'The human experience is one that is made up of great hardship, pain, loss, death, and a multitude of experiences seemingly designed to destroy a person. However, that same experience is also filled with joy, love, laughter, family and friends. ... These so-called “grown-up” games need not be relegated to the category of niche gaming. In fact, at times we find that these video games are capable of reaching mass popularity among the gaming community. It is here that we find one of our generation’s outlets for the expression of conflict.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Patent Markings May Spell Trouble For Activision

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

eldavojohn writes "If you pick up your copy of Guitar Hero and read the literature, you'll notice it says 'patent pending' and cites a number of patents. A group alleges no such patent pends nor are some of the patents applicable. If a judge finds Activision guilty of misleading the public in this manner, they could become liable for up to $500 per product sold under false patent marking. The patents in question seem to be legitimately Guitar Hero-oriented, and little is to be found about the mysterious group. The final piece of the puzzle puts the filing in Texas Northern District Court, which might be close enough to Texas Eastern District Court to write this off as a new kind of 'false patent marking troll' targeting big fish with deep coffers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An Early Look At Halo Reach

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

KatanAlpha writes "Based on all the information coming out about Halo: Reach, it seems that Bungie's basic philosophy has been: 'The sequels to the first Halo sucked. Let's fix that.' We've already seen a little bit of this with Halo: ODST, wherein Bungie returned to some of the core elements of Halo gameplay and ditched many of the changes introduced in Halo 2 and 3. Reach seems to continue this idea while trying to invigorate the franchise by introducing greatly improved graphics and additional gameplay mechanics."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Awful AntiPirate System That Will Probably Work

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

spidweb writes "Much virtual ink has been spilled over Ubisoft's new, harsh DRM system for Assassin's Creed 2. You must have a constant internet connection, and, if your connection breaks, the game exits. While this has angered many (and justifiably so), most writers on the topic have made an error. They think that this system, like all DRM systems in the past, will be easily broken. This article explains why, as dreadful as the system is, it does have a chance of holding hackers off long enough for the game to make its money. As such it is, if nothing else, a fascinating experiment. From the article: 'Assassin's Creed 2 is different in a key way. Remember, all of its code for saving and loading games (a significant feature, I'm sure you would agree) is tied into logging into a distant server and sending data back and forth. This vital and complex bit of code has been written from the ground up to require having the saved games live on a machine far away, with said machine being programmed to accept, save, and return the game data. This is a far more difficult problem for a hacker to circumvent.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

FlightGear Reaches v20

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

distantbody writes "The flight sim project FlightGear has reached version 2.0. From the website: 'Highlights of this new version include: Dramatic new 3D clouds, dramatic lighting conditions, improved support for custom scenery, and many many new and detailed aircraft models.' Full list of improvements here. And of course the screenshots. The release coincides with the release of SimGear v2, the 'set of open-source libraries designed to be used as building blocks for quickly assembling 3d simulations, games, and visualization applications' on which FlightGear is based."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gaming With GPS On Your Smartphone

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Barence writes "If your handset doesn't get you out and about, tramping through mud, climbing around and hunting for hidden treasure, then something needs an upgrade. The iPhone, Blackberry's Storm and Bold lines, and many Symbian and Android handsets, now sport GPS, which makes your smartphone the ticket to join a global movement of outdoor games. These are outbound challenges that pit teams and solo players against themselves and each other in the search for hidden treasure, undiscovered landmarks, and hidden spots all over the world. This article delves into several of the best smartphone-friendly real-world games, each of which is a bridge between the online and offline worlds."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

When PC Ports of Console Games Go Wrong

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A post up at Gamasutra complains about the lack of effort put into the PC ports of some console games. The author picks on the unimpressively-reviewed Ninja Blade in particular: "Just as a quick guide to what we're dealing with here: when you create a new save file at the start of Ninja Blade on the PC, it warns you not to 'turn off your console.' Yes, Ninja Blade is one of those conversions: not so much converted as made to perfunctorily run on a different machine. In-game, you're asked to press A, B, X and Y in various sequences as part of Ninja Blade's extraordinary abundance of quick-time events. Whether you have an Xbox 360 pad plugged in or not, the game captions these button icons with text describing the PC equivalent controls. Only it doesn't always do that. Sometimes, you're left staring at a giant, pulsating, green letter A, and no idea what to do with it." What awful ports have you had the misfortune to experience?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Examining Virtual Crimes

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

GamePolitics has an article about a research paper issued by the AU government's Institute of Criminology titled "Crime Risks of Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments." The paper discusses the legal questions raised by game worlds and avatars, ranging from regulation of in-game currency to a report of virtual rape. "A person controlling an avatar that is unexpectedly raped or assaulted might experience the physical reaction of 'freezing,' or the associated shock, distrust and loss of confidence in using [3D virtual environments]. While civil redress for psychological harm is conceivable, the 'disembodied' character of such an incident would invariably bar liability for any crime against the person. However, Australian federal criminal law imposes a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment for using an internet carriage service to 'menace, harass or cause offence' to another user. Further, US and Australian laws ban simulated or actual depictions of child abuse and pornography. Therefore, any representations of child avatars involved in virtual sexual activity, torture or physical abuse are prohibited, regardless of whether the real-world user is an adult or child."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Steam UI Update Beta Drops IE Rendering For WebKit

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Citing massive growth in their user base ("25 million users, 1000+ games, 12 billion player minutes per month, and 75 billion Steam client minutes per month"), Valve unveiled a revamped UI for Steam on Tuesday, opening the beta test to anyone who wants to try it out. There are many changes, and an increased focus on social features: "Right from within your own game Library, you can now track which of your friends plays each game or invite them to play one with you. Before you've even bought a game, knowing whether your friends play it is one of the most useful pieces of information to have. So on the store homepage, there's a new listing of what your friends have bought or played lately." Tracking games and achievements have both gotten simpler, and Valve has dropped the Internet Explorer rendering engine in favor of WebKit. An enterprising user also found files that may indicate the existence of an OS X Steam client.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Quake 3 For Android

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

An anonymous reader writes "Over the last two months I ported Quake 3 to Android as a hobby project. It only took a few days to get the game working. More time was spent on tweaking the game experience. Right now the game runs at 25fps on a Motorola Milestone/Droid. 'Normally when you compile C/C++ code using the Android NDK, the compiler targets a generic ARMv5 CPU which uses software floating-point. Without any optimizations and audio Quake 3 runs at 22fps. Since Quake 3 uses a lot of floating-point calculations, I tried a better C-compiler (GCC 4.4.0 from Android GIT) which supports modern CPUs and Neon SIMD instructions. Quake 3 optimized for Cortex-A8 with Neon is about 15% faster without audio and 35% with audio compared to the generic ARMv5 build. Most likely the performance improvement compared to the ARMv5 build is not that big because the system libraries of the Milestone have been compiled with FPU support, so sin/cos/log/.. take advantage of the FPU.''

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

DirectX 11 Coming To Browser Games

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

arcticstoat writes "Forget Farmville, Flash puzzlers and 8-bit home computer emulators. The next generation of browser games will be able to take advantage of DirectX 11 effects, not to mention multi-core processing and both Havok and PhysX physics effects. A new browser plug-in called WebVision will be available for Trinergy's new game engine, Vision Engine 8. This will enable game developers to port all the advanced effects from the game engine over to all the common browsers. Of course, any budding 3D-browser-game dev will face the problem that not every PC has a decent graphics card that can handle advanced graphics effects. Not only that, but limited bandwidth will also limit what effects a developer can realistically implement into a browser game. Nevertheless, this is an interesting development that could result in some tight 3D programming, as well as some much more interesting browser games."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sanyo Xacti VPCCS1 HD camcorder priced and dated!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We were the first to break the news that the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 super slim full HD camcorder was coming to the UK, and we’ve just got official word of when, plus a pricetag too boot. Read on to find out!

We first got to grips with the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 pistol 1080i camcorder back at CES in January, but now the imaging guru tells us it’s hitting UK stores from this Friday, priced around £249.

Sanyo Dual Camera Xacti VPC-CS1: hands-on photos!

For your money, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 will also double up as an eight megapixel still camera, and slots into your average pocket, despite the foldout 2.7-inch screen. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 is also future proofed thanks to SDXC memory card support, so you’ll be able to record hours on end without running out of bootspace.

You can pass the time between now and the 5th by checking out our Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 hands-on gallery, and stay tuned for a full review.

Out 5 March | £249 | Sanyo

Firefox Mobile browser Fennec spotted on Google Android

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Firefox Mobile hit the Nokia N900 this time last month but now it looks like Google Android will be getting it’s own version imminently. Read on to find out which Google Android handsets have been hanging out at Mozilla HQ…

Firefox Mobile first appeared on a Motorola Droid (aka the Motorola Milestone) over the weekend in a snap on the official Firefox for Mobile Facebook page.

A further image of Firefox Mobile on the Google Nexus One also made its way onto the Facebook page via the Flickr account of Madhava Enros of the Mozilla Mobile team.

Both snaps refer to the version of Firefox Mobile running on the Google Nexus One and the Motorola Droid as Fennec which was Firefox Mobile’s original codename. That suggests both are running early builds of the Android version.

Mozilla ruled out Firefox Mobile for iPhone and Blackberry last year but it’s obviously getting on with delivering a Google Android version to go with the Nokia and Windows Mobile variants.

Due TBC | £TBC | Firefox for Mobile on Facebook

Another Study Attacks Violent Video Games Claims To Be Conclusive

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Killer Orca is one of many to tell us about a new study on the effects of violent video games on kids. The latest meta-study that analyzed research from 130 different reports claims to have "conclusively proven" that violent video games make more aggressive, less caring kids. "The team used meta-analytic procedures — the statistical methods used to analyze and combine results from previous, related literature -- to test the effects of violent video game play on the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of the individuals, ranging from elementary school-aged children to college undergraduates. [...] Anderson says the new study may be his last meta-analysis on violent video games because of its definitive findings."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Calendar Bug Disables Older PlayStation 3 Models

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

JohnWilliams writes "The Sony PlayStation Network appears to be inaccessible to older ('phat') PS3 units. Players cannot play games that require a connection, even in single-player, offline mode, e.g. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Also, the system date resets to January 1, 2000. Sony is 'looking into it.' Speculation abounds that it is a bug related to 2010 being incorrectly flagged as a leap year. The newer PS3 Slim models seem to be working properly."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

8Year FanMade Game Project Shut Down By Activision

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

An anonymous reader writes "Activision, after acquiring Vivendi, became the new copyright holder of the classic King's Quest series of adventure game. They have now issued a cease and desist order to a team which has worked for eight years on a fan-made project initially dubbed a sequel to the last official installment, King's Quest 8. This stands against the fact that Vivendi granted a non-commercial license to the team, subject to Vivendi's approval of the game after submission. After the acquisition, key team members had indicated on the game's forums (now stripped of their original content by order of Activision) that Activision had given the indication that it intended to keep its current fan-game licenses, but was not interested in issuing new ones."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bowers Wilkins P5 headphones hit the UK

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones, its first set of super cans, quietly slipped out into officialdom late last year, but now they’ve finally hit UK shelves. Neighbours unhappy with the noise from your Zeppelin? These might just be the solution.

Despite knocking around for no fewer than 45 years, the Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones are the British audio company’s first foray into over ear sonics. They certainly look the part, and promise audio quality to match with neodymium magnets and noise isolation with sealed leather pads for your lugs.

The Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones are even “Made For iPod” so you can pop it straight into your Apple PMP and skip tracks on the cord, or use a regular top notch audio cable with gold plated plugs.

Read our Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini review now

The Bowers and Wilkins P5 headphones are out now, but only in Apple stores until the end of March, when exclusivity ends and they hit independent stores.

Out Now | £249 | Bowers & Wilkins

BBC iPlayer lands on BlackBerry!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

BBC iPlayer has finally landed for BlackBerry, letting you stream on-demand videos from Auntie straight to your push email powerhouse. We’ve tested it out, so read on for the first pics, impressions, and all important download links.

There have been roundabout methods to get BBC iPlayer videos running on a BlackBerry before, but we won’t say no to the simplicity of using the official site. Hit up the shortcut and you’re taken to a BlackBerry friendly BBC iPlayer page, where you can dip into all the latest TV and radio.

You’ll need to be on Wi-Fi to use BBC iPlayer for BlackBerry, but it buffers video very quickly. We’re a bit disappointed by the fuzzy picture quality, especially since the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has a screen resolution sharper than that of the iPhone, but it’s better than nothing right?

Curiously, the Beeb says that BBC iPlayer for BlackBerry will only work with BlackBerrys running OS 4.2 to 4.7, but it runs fine on OS 5.0, so if you’re got a Storm 2 you should be covered too.

Rewatch iPlayer iPhone app squashed by the BBC

You won’t find BBC iPlayer on the BlackBerry App World as it works straight through the browser, but hit the link below for the option to download handy shortcuts for your ‘Berry’s home screen.

Out Now | £free | BBC BlackBerry Shortcuts

Archos 3inch Android iPod touch rival incoming!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Archos just dished out two new Android tablets at CeBIT in Germany, but it’s not done yet, not by a longshot. The French media player pro has also given word of more sizes to come, including a 3-inch Android tablet. Should the iPod touch be a tad concerned?

In a statement to press, Archos revealed that alongside the Archos 8 and 7 Home Tablets just outed today, the company plans “A complete new range of Archos Internet Tablets, based on an ARM Cortex up to 1 GHz [that] will also be launched in the summer 2010 offering a richer set of features with screen sizes from 3” to 10””.”

Archos 8 Home Tablet: Android photo frame!

Archos is no stranger to larger tablets of course, though its current one runs Windows 7 rather than Google’s mobile OS. But a 3-inch Archos Android PMP could give the 3.5-inch iPod touch a serious run for its money in the smart media player stakes – you could play Spotify playlists back on it while playing a game, for instance.

That Summer launch date would also mean an Archos Android 3-inch PMP would hit stores before Philips’ new Google flavoured GoGear. We’ll bring you more when we hear’em.

Out Summer | £TBC | Archos

Ovi Music Our six point rescue plan to help Nokia

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Word is out that Nokia is planning to consolidate its confused music offerings into one place. Dubbed Ovi Music, Espoo is yet to give it the official nod and before it does, here’s our breakdown of what this next-generation music service needs to do in order to come out on top.

Streaming on desktop and phone
If Ovi Music is to be a coming together of everything from Nokia Music to Comes With Music, then it needs to do more than one thing well. That means as well as a download store, it must do streaming on your desktop and your phone. Nokia has been a leader in bringing music to your mobile, so this would give it an edge on its cellular rivals at least.

No more DRM
Essential. DRM is yesterday’s news and using it is an archaic way to clamp down on piracy. That doesn’t just go for any Ovi Music download store, but also for whatever Nokia decides to do with Comes With Music. If it’s co-opted into a wider Ovi Music offering, the all you can eat streaming service must ditch copyright control. With such low take up figures, Nokia needs to do all it can to get people using CWM.

Gig tickets up for grabs
Buying gig tickets from your phone via Ovi Music makes perfect sense and would be a killer way for Nokia to get one over some of its big time competitors. Imagine listening to Ellie Goulding, tapping a button on your phone and getting one touch access to the critics’ darling’s show that night? Give Nokia your payment details when you sign up and there’s no need to faff with PayPal or debit card deets either.

One-touch access from the homescreen
Just as the iPhone can tap into iTunes from its homescreen, it’s imperative that Nokia intregrates Ovi Music into the front page of its all new blowers. Whether it’s with Symbian or MeeGo, access to the music service can’t be hidden behind a slew of fiddly menu screens.

FM tagging for buying songs stat
Listening to the radio on your Nok and want to buy that tune pronto? FM tagging would take care of that. Build it into Ovi Music and watch as sales go through the roof.

Social networking hook ups
Increasingly, punters want to tell the world and his wife what tracks they’re nodding their bonces too. Twitter and FaceBook need to be at the core of Ovi Music, in the same way Qualcomm’s FLO TV tweets work on smart-books. No flicking between apps to tell your mates about your love of She’s A Lady by Tom Jones, just doing it from one place.

What do you want from Ovi Music? Has Nokia left to late to compete with the big boys? Tell us what you think in the comments section now!

Archos 8 Home Tablet Android photo frame unveiled!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Archos 8 Home Tablet has just been made official at CeBIT in Germany. It’s a net connected Android slate, but that big bezel positions it as an intelligent photo frame as much as an iPad rival. Read on for the specs and pricing.

We heard rumours about a new Archos tablet incoming, and here they are. Up first is the Archos 8 Home Tablet, packing 4GB of internal storage. It’s 12mm thin, weighs 400g and is out in May.

If the Archos 8 Home Tablet is just a bit too big for you, the French PMP maker has also just pushed out the Archos 7 Home Tablet, with a form factor much more similar to the Archos 5. It too runs Android and is 12mm thick, with a stinking 7 hour battery life churning through video and out a month earlier.

Both the Archos 8 Home Tablet and Archos 7 Home Tablet are priced at £129, with the seven inch getting an extra 8GB model for £149.99. Now, where on earth is that Archos Phone Tablet, guys?

Out May | £149 | Archos

LG Windows Phone 7 Series prototype revealed

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Windows Phone 7 Series has made its first public appearance on a branded device with an LG Windows Phone 7 Series prototype breaking cover. Read on to find out what the little LG smasher looks like…

We discovered last week that Windows Phone 7 Series handsets would come in at least three flavours of hardware and one of those new designs has been revealed.

Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman bought a QWERTY-keyboard-packing LG Windows Phone 7 Series pre-production prototype with him for an appearance on The Engadget Show.

Engadget reports that the LG Windows Phone 7 Series prototype is slightly thicker than an iPhone or Google Nexus One and has dedicated hardware camera, volume and power buttons. There’s also the dedicated back, home and search Windows Phone 7 Series buttons.

The LG Windows Phone 7 Series prototype also packs in a 5MP camera with a flash and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Another interesting tidbit that came out of Woodman’s interview was the fact that Microsoft is toying with the idea of bringing Windows Phone 7 Series to Mac OS.

Do you think Windows Phone 7 Series will be able to go head-to-head with the iPhone and Google Nexus One? Make sure you take a look at our Windows Phone 7 Series hands-on.

Out 2010 | £TBC | Windows Phone 7 Series

New Twitter web interface to floor desktop apps?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Twitter looks set to give its web interface a serious overhaul, at least according to a flurry of tweets from Twitter engineer Alex Payne and rumour mongering from perennial web big mouth Jason Calacanis.

Payne tweeted to boast about features being tested internally: “If you had some of the nifty features we Twitter employees have, you might not want to use a desktop client. (You will soon).”

The brashness of Payne’s tweet made third party developers worry and got us thinking. There are already fairly nifty web interfaces that can compete with desktop apps like Tweetdeck, there’s Brizzly and Seesmic web version for a start.

Having thrown the cat amongst the third-party pigeons, Payne swiftly followed his tweet with some clarifications: “Uh everything I like that’s on the employees-only beta site is actually *built* on public API methods we’ve already given to developers.”

He went on to say that what he really meant was “[Twitter’s] web client team is building cool stuff. It’s going to inspire desktop app developers. Same data, new perspectives.”

However, over on Leo Laporte’s venerable weekly tech podcast, This Week In Tech, web rumour monger Jason Calacanis (who was behind an infamous Apple iPad rumour), claimed that Twitter boss Evan Williams desperately wants the site to compete more with third party apps and even make its own stripped-back official app available.

Do you think Twitter should perk up its web interface? And is there room for another Twitter app in the world? Oh and make sure you follow Electricpig on Twitter.

Due TBC | £TBC | Twitter (via Techcrunch | TWIT )

JVC GZHM400 camcorder review

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The JVC GZ-HM400 is billed as one of the camcorder cobbler’s very best efforts, a gadget loaded up with the very latest video tech for you to push your home movie making skills up a notch. So how does it handle out in the wild? Read our JVC GZ-HM400 review and we’ll give you the full skinny.

Despite being a pricey piece, the JVC GZ-HM400 doesn’t quite live up to the billing JVC give it. For something that’ll set you back the best part of 700 big ones, it struggles as a complete all rounder. Getting your shots spit spot is a pain seeing as the f2.8 lens isn’t wide enough to cram in as much detail as possible.

You’ll also need to make sure you break out the JVC GZ-HM400 in the brightest of rooms or sunniest of summer days. Crank it up in a bar or club and pics become noisy affairs which make your pals look grainy. And that’s before they’ve got stuck into the beers.

Read our Samsung HMX-R10 camcorder review now

Read our Canon Legria HF S11 camcorder review now

That’s not to say Full HD shots aren’t impressive when you do use the JVC GZ-HM400 in the right light. Colours are stunning, in fact, and look ace when you shovel them from the on board 32GB memory to your HDTV.

Likewise, the super slow motion feature is a winner, better than other camcorders we’ve recently fondled. With 100fps, 250fps and 500fps modes available, you can indulge in working up clips every bit as good as the emotive sporty efforts on show at the recently finished Winter Olympics.

Camcorder fans will be pleased to see full manual mode too for decent control over your movie making. But with some pretty big niggles and a price tag to make the eyes water, you have to wonder whether grabbing the JVC GZ-HM400 is a good move. Punters who want pro features are likely to lash out on something that rocks better low light skills and a less fiddly menu system.

LittleBigPlanet Sack it to Me � The “ZOMG Two Million Levels!” Edition

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Congratulations to all of the LittleBigPlanet community, as we hit another big user-generated milestone with over two million levels created and posted on the “Share Planet.”

What’s New?
For all of you looking for new levels to play, check out our new widget thingy on LittleBigPlanet.com. We’ve added an “Mm Picks” section highlighting some of the best community levels around. And don’t forget about the Mm Picks page, RSS feed and Twitter feed.

Community Levels
On the PSP side of things, our friend JHKthree has been uploading tons of great levels for all to see. Check out some of them over the weekend:

Scenic of the Leaves by Spark151

Zen by jeffcu28

The Shipwreck of Captain Skull by Lleonard

Workshop of the Week
On LittleBigWorkshop.com, our fans have been holding a “Sackperson Clone Contest.” Great contest guys! We can see y’all had fun with this.

For the Weekend
“A Tale of the Sea” level creation contest at LittleBigNetwork.com – Our friends have started a new contest and have put together a little promotional level, which is pretty cool on its own.

LittleBigPodcast is at it again with a new PS3 commercial spoof…too funny!

MLB 10 The Show � Road to the Show Enhancements

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Aaron Luke here to bring you the next chapter in our series of MLB 10: The Show posts. This installment will focus on the enhancements we’ve made to “Road To The Show” (RTTS). We’ve targeted several aspects of the mode for improvements, and think you’ll like what you find in this year’s edition of RTTS.

We’ll begin by discussing player creation. This year’s PS3 Create Player system has received some new accessory additions, giving you even more options to customize. You can now select a variety of color settings to nearly every part of your player’s gear. Among many other options, you can customize three areas of your glove with different colors, set both the barrel and handle colors of your bat, and customize your shoe colors. We’ve also added a field to the General tab that will allow you to determine whether or not your player was born in the U.S. This will determine which roster you would appear on if your player were to be selected for the All-Star Futures Game.

After finishing up your player’s look and deciding whether to enter the draft or select your team, you’ll notice on entry of the mode that your season begins right at the start of the Double-A season. You will no longer start out in Spring Training and have to square off against MLB-caliber players. We’ve changed this flow to better mimic the real world, and to make an invite to Spring Training something that’s earned. Plus, to give you a good head start right out of the gate, we’re giving you some training points to help you get through your initial advancement goal set.

Now that you’re in the mode, you should take note of some new options this year that will certainly change how you experience games. The new Game Watch and Game Completion options will certainly change how you play RTTS games, as they’ll now give you the ability to determine how much of the game you want to view. Set your Game Watch option to All Pitches if you want to see every pitch of the entire game; All Fielding if you only want to see your at-bats and be a part of every fielding play; Result Play if you want to expedite your games to see only the final pitch of an at-bat while on either offense or defense; or Classic if you prefer the old style and only want to see plays involving your player.

Game Completion is similar to Game Watch, however it only takes affect after you’ve been removed from a game. So if you’re a starting pitcher, this option will let you see what your bullpen does with the runners they inherited from you. This option has similar settings as Game Watch, so you can set it to All Pitches, Result Play, or Off. When any of these options are set, and you’re on the bench waiting for your next opportunity, you’ll also notice a new custom view from the dugout.

We’re very excited about these new options as they really add to that feeling of suspense as to whether the ball will be hit your way or not. Now, more than before, you’ll need to be on your toes in the field.

Among other options to note, we brought back the classic L1/R1 baserunning controls for you old-schoolers. The RTTS Baserunning option will default to New, but if you prefer the single button press style controls, be sure to change it to Classic. We’ve also added in the ability to take pregame batting practice when you’re in the starting lineup for that game. You can step into the cage and take ten swings to help get your timing down before game-time. You won’t receive any training points or attribute improvements, but this will definitely help get you into a nice rhythm. To ensure you participate in batting practice, set the Pre-Game Batting Practice option to On. Lastly, we’ve added a new Mound Warm-Up feature that will give relievers a chance to throw eight warm-up pitches on the mound, after coming out of the bullpen. Just like pregame batting practice, you won’t receive any training points for this, but it does give you the chance to get a good rhythm before facing live hitters.

Moving on to other new game features, one area of focus for us this year was to emphasize fundamental baseball. As a result, we came up with two new systems that are sure to reinforce the notion of “team first.” First we created a new mistake-tracking system that keeps tabs on what you do during a game, and will penalize you for not playing smart baseball. If you do things like throw to the wrong base, forget to cover your base on a force out, or get caught stealing with the pitcher batting to end of the inning, you will receive training point penalties. To combat the “me first” motto a lot of RTTS players have taken when on the basepaths, we’ve created a new Green Light system. When you first start out with a club, you’ll have the Green Light. From there, it’s up to you how you handle it. If you’re a slow runner, and you take the risk of stealing and get caught, there’s a good chance your manager will take away your green light. Continue to steal without it and you risk getting benched for a game or even losing your spot in the lineup. Once the green light is removed, you’ll have to improve your speed and baserunning ability to a level that satisfies your manager in order to regain it.

For you stat-heads, we’ve created a new career stat-tracking system that keeps tabs on your stats versus every team. We aren’t tracking every stat, only the top-level stats. For position players, we track total games played, average, at-bats, hits, home runs, runs batted in, walks, and strikeouts. For pitchers, we track your games played, won-loss record, ERA, innings pitched, hits allowed, home runs allowed, walks allowed, and strikeouts. You can view these stats at any time during the game, or in the front end. When in a game, access your career stats by pressing the select button. The in-game display has even more detailed stats than the front end, as you’ll get a breakdown of your stats versus every pitcher or batter on the opponent’s roster. The front end will display only your total stats versus each team in your current league.

We’ve also done some polish on the overall game flow and information presented when in a game. This year, you can now access your stat-based advancement goals at any point during a game. To do so, press up on the D-Pad and you’ll see both your stat-based advancement goals as well as your current dynamic goal. We’ve also altered the flow for presenting dynamic goals when pitching. You’ll no longer be taken to the “presentation land” to get your goal screen. Now your goal will appear out of the score bar, and the game flow won’t be interrupted. If you missed the goal display, you can press up on the D-Pad at any point to check if you have a dynamic goal.

Not only have we included the new Catcher Calling the Game mode to RTTS, or the new Pitching/Fielding trainings (post coming soon), but also we’ve put a big emphasis on a lot of little things that have a big impact on the mode. As stated in a previous post, the All-Star Futures Game and Home Run Derby also find their way into RTTS. We’re very excited about this year’s offering, and hope you are as well. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I wish you all the best of luck on your Road To The Show.

MAG Developer Tips OIC

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

After a three-week run, we’ve come to our final installment of our MAG Developer Tip series. To close it out Zipper’s training, vehicle and environment designer Ben Jones walks us through the biggest responsibility in the game: being the OIC. As always, we open with a video:

Howdy, Ben Jones here! With all the great tips that have come from other Zippers over the week (particularly all of the leadership-oriented bits that have come out over the last few days), I’m going to impart this small list of tried and true techniques that build upon earlier strategies and maximize your effectiveness as an OIC. Some are obvious, some aren’t, but all are helpful.

Basic Tips:

Your OIC abilities can be accessed by using the TCM through the D-Pad or the CNI by pressing SELECT.

These abilities are best used while trying to make a push as either an attacker or defender, so try and time their use with changes in the battle! If attackers have opened up their forward spawns try blockading them to give your team time to regroup.

Communicating with the Squad and Platoon leaders below you is essential. Maneuver through the comms channels by using the D-Pad and guide your team to victory.

Advanced Tips:

If most of your platoons have fallen back from their frontline defenses, consider using “Signal Jamming” to keep the enemies from using their own CNI effectively, while also using the “Blockade” ability to decrease their spawn times. Finally, use “Rapid Redeploy” to increase your own spawn time and finish the job.

Speaking of Blockade and Rapid Redeploy, if Blockade is used on you, you can use Rapid Redeploy in return to move the timer to normal.

“Tactical Strike” is essential for full-on attacks. With it, you can eliminate immediate wait times on any and all cooldown bars for command abilities within your entire army.

Team Broadcast is one of your available comms channels on the D-Pad. Use it sparingly to bolster the morale of your troops and praise them for decisive actions!

Thank you very much, Ben. More importantly, though, thank you to each and every one of our fans who has helped make MAG a big success for us. We hope you enjoyed our tip series and invite you check back again with us in the coming weeks for even more news from 2025.

God of War III Goes Gold E3 Demo Now on PSN and New Gameplay Revealed Tonight on Spike’s GTTV!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Yes the rumors floating around the net are true. Everyone is very excited to share the news that God of War III has gone gold and will bring the chaos to stores on March 16.

We also are happy to announce that starting today, the God of War III E3 Demo is now available to download on the PlayStation Store. Just in time before the big release, get your hands on the epic demo that all the fans have been talking about.

And if you just can’t get enough of God of War news today, Geoff Keighley will reveal new gameplay footage tonight during Spike’s GameTrailers TV. Make sure to set your DVR to catch exclusive interviews with the Santa Monica Studio team, behind the scenes footage and new gameplay to top it all off. DIRECTV customers can see it at 9:30 PM EST/PST, and cable customers can watch at 12:30 AM EST/PST.

Thanks again to all the fans for the support. Stay tuned for more announcements in the coming weeks.

Latest info on PlayStation Network Status

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been
signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install
trophies. Please exit your game.”
When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date
and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.

For the latest status on this situation please continue to check either the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.

PlayStation Network Status Update

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

We’re aware that many of you are having difficulty connecting to the PlayStation Network this evening. Those of you with “slim” PS3s (the 120/250 GB models) appear to be unaffected.

Know that we have narrowed down the issue and have engineers working to restore service even as you read this. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, and genuinely appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this.

In the meantime, you may want to follow our Twitter account for the latest updates.

PlayStation Around the Web What We Read

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Programming note: the Blog will be down for an hour or two tonight (Pacific time), as we shuffle the color palette around a little bit. It’ll all make sense Monday morning. Oh, and have you happened to drop by the new PlayStation.com today? You definitely should.

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Week of February 22, 2010)

Heavy Rain sells 500000 units in week one Heavy Rain

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A stronger than expected first week for Quantic Dream's interactive thriller, Heavy Rain

Sony working on Heavy Rain shortages Heavy Rain

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Having shot straight to number one in the ELSPA GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 this week, Sony has revealed that landmark PS3 release Heavy Rain is suffering shortages on the UK High Street.

However, Sony hopes to have got extra stock into the channel by next week.

Now Codies joins the DLC code movement GRID

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Codemasters is to become the latest publisher to reward those who buy their games brand new with digital content not available to pre-owned buyers.

This will begin with Race Driver: GRID Reloaded, due for release on Thursday, March 11th for PS3.

The new SKU will include a copy of the original game plus codes to download the two DLC packs: 8-Ball and Prestige.

Borderlands DLC To Get Compilation Disc Release Borderlands

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

2k Games announced moments ago that they will be compiling all of the Borderlands' Downloadable Content to date on a disc 2K Games has told Eurogamer that all of Borderlands' downloadable content to date will be compiled on a disc due to hit the shops on 9th April. The disc will be released for Xbox 360 and PC, with a PS3 version unconfirmed at present.

Monster Hunter Tri~ Exact Release Date Announced Europe Monster Hunter Tri

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Monster Hunter Tri~ is an action game with a difference. Your adventure is built interacting with and battling the scores of incredible beasts that inhabit your world - a living, breathing ecosystem. The monsters' behaviour is modelled on real animals with territorial displays designed to keep you away if you get too close, migrations and a realistic food chain that sees the strong prey on the weak. This is a world where the monsters deserve your respect... and where the hunt is not for entertainment, but for your survival and improvement.

MLG and PlayStation are proud to announce Become the MAG Ultimate Soldier MAG

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

MLG Gamebattles and PlayStation® are proud to announce Become the MAG Ultimate Soldier! Compete for 3 grueling months in the world's first 256-player console-based shooter from Sony Computer Entertainment!
Compete in (3) challenges for the top position and win up to $4,500 in Sony® Style Gift Cards and Home Virtual Items. Registration and competition starts on March 1st, so be sure to register quickly to get a jump on the competition!

Tropico 3 Expansion pack announced Tropico 3

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Caribbean Island Paradise Continues with "Absolute Power" Confirmed For May In Europe.

Absolute Power gives players all-new options to rule as an unscrupulous tyrant or benevolent elder statesmen as they decide how to run their very own tropical island paradise. A successful and lucrative term in office is the goal! Absolute Power is packed with new missions, new islands and a whole host of new gameplay features.

Grand Theft Auto IV PC Official Social Club Multiplayer Event from Feb 18th Grand Theft Auto IV

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Rockstar reports: "We welcomed throngs of bloodthirsty Grand Theft Auto IV PC players last Thursday afternoon to play with and against us online in the first PC platform installment of the official Social Club multiplayer events series.

It definitely got kinda' hectic with at one point a fully maxed-out 32-player multiplayer session on Games for Windows LIVE – and was good to get to play with more folks than ever as we tore through GTA Races and Deathmatches for over three full hours. Have a glance at the recently announced full calendar of events which covers the coming months, including Grand Theft Auto IV, Midnight Club LA, and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City."

Starcraft II Beta Patch 2 Notes StarCraft II

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Over the weekend the StarCraft 2 Beta client was patched again. This time it seems Terrans have been buffed, some Zerg nerfage, and a little crawling around among the zerg without much content.

Weekend StarCraft 2 Replays StarCraft II

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Since there is now a way to share and take part of StarCraft 2 replays, make sure to see how people in the beta test are playing.

Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week Gears of War Avatar items Gears of War

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Major Nelson's Blog writes:

"Xbox LIVE Gold members can download Gears of War Avatar COG Armor (male) (female) for 240 points & Helmet (male) (female) for 80 points until March 8th."

MMOHut Fantasy Earth Zero Open Beta Begins March 3 Game Developed by Square Enix Fantasy Earth Zero

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

MMOHut, "The Square Enix developed MMORPG known as Fantasy Earth Zero will enter open beta testing on March 3rd, 2010. Four events have been announced for the launch by Gamepot USA who is publishing FEZ in North America..."

City of Heroes Extends Free Transfers Yet Again City of Heroes

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

City of Heroes players have been heavily anticipating the upcoming double experience weekend for understandable reasons -- there's no finer chance to get a character leveled, or take a character who hasn't been played in a while and bring them up to new heights. As the developers have been wont to do of late, they decided to sweeten the deal a fair bit -- specifically, they've decided to add in a healthy dose of moving your character wherever the heck you want.

Real threat in virtual battleground hackers World of Warcraft

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The wildly popular online game World of Warcraft is riddled with irreconcilable rivalries.

There is, of course, the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, the cornerstone of the game's narrative that pits half of the almost 12 million WoW players against the other.

But in a different battlefield, game developers and security researchers work to protect the world's largest massive multiplayer online gaming community from the growing ranks of hackers determined to plunder every last Troll and Night Elf.

And Mega Man 10s 3rd Playable Hero Is Mega Man 10

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

IGN: Mega Man 10 has just gone live in the American Wii Shop, and anxious fans are probably already busy blasting their way through the ranks of the eight latest Robot Masters. But with the arrival of the game itself comes the confirmation of another detail we've been waiting for since the sequel's announcement -- the identity of its third playable hero. Though the DLC option to be able to download him has not yet gone live and we still don't know when it will, we now know that when it does we'll be able to play as Bass.

Mass Effect 2 for half off RPG Deals 2/28 3/06 Battlefield Bad Company 2

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Slim pickins overall, but this Week's RPG Deals focuses on Toys-R-Us allowing to get Mass Effect 2 for half off.

DICE Bad Company 2 DLC not predetermined but dictated by players Battlefield Bad Company 2

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In GamerNode's interview with DICE's senior producer Patrick Bach last Friday, he revealed the company strategy for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DLC, dispelling any possible suspicions that downloadable content is somehow pre-determined or held back from gamers in order to make a profit, at least at DICE. Instead, the company plans to use DLC as a way to give players more of what they like about the game as those preferences begin to become apparent.

StarCraft 2 Beta Battle Report 2 by StarCraft IncGamers StarCraft II

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

StarCraft IncGamers' TheZizz writes from the StarCraft 2 Beta battlefield, completing the second Battle Report.

Terran versus Zerg on Blistering Sands.

StarCraft II Beta Quantity Before Quality StarCraft II

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The StarCraft II beta Battle.net matchmaking settings have been turned away from skill level matching to quick matching, StarCraft: IncGamers reports.

Blizzard announced to fans that "the Find Match functionality is currently configured to find games more quickly, rather than find evenly matched games." The idea is likely to get more games going to let the developer get a better statistical overview of unit balance.

Remedy Licensed CaptiveMotion Metricminds Facial Tech For Alan Wake Alan Wake

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Motion capture studios CaptiveMotion and Metricminds collaborated with Remedy Entertainment to complete cutscene facial animations in Remedy's upcoming Alan Wake, the companies said this week.

CaptiveMotion is an Arizona-based facial performance capture studio, while Metricminds is a Frankfurt-based motion capture and animation studio.

According to Metricminds managing partner Philip Weiss, the two companies "came together at the end of a five-year [development cycle]" to create facial animation's for Alan Wake's cutscenes, providing animation data for 21 characters that Remedy could pair up with full-body motion capture that had already been separately prepared.

Mio stuns at CeBIT with ultrasleek Moov V780 MID

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Uh, folks -- we've an identity crisis on our hands. Is this a MID with a penchant for navigating? Is this a PMP with pre-loaded maps? Is it an ultra-sleek navigator that just so happens to play music? There's a fair chance the world will never know, but we'll soon be stopping by Mio's booth at CeBIT in order to get a view of things ourselves. At any rate, the Moov V780 is undoubtedly one of the most appealing things to come from the outfit in quite some time, offering up 720p multimedia playback, an HDMI output, digital TV support, a 7-inch (800 x 480 resolution) display, 600MHz CPU, 512MB of memory, 4GB of onboard flash and a pretty tremendous list of supported file formats. Sadly, it's humming along on Windows CE (rather than, say, Android), but at least it ships with WiFi and optional WiMAX. There's no mention of a price or release date, but we'll be on the hunt for those tidbits as soon as the show floor opens up.

Mio stuns at CeBIT with ultra-sleek Moov V780 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Best Tablet Review | Mio | Email this | Comments

Apple files for Magic Trackpad trademark

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This one slipped under our radar last week, but it's interesting nonetheless: Apple's filed for a "Magic Trackpad" trademark, which would seemingly indicate that there's a companion to the Magic Mouse in the works. That's all we know for now, but recall that John Gruber at Daring Fireball hinted that Apple was working on a "multi-touch trackpad gadget for desktop Macs" back in October just before the revised white MacBook was released. Obviously nothing's come of that yet, but it all seems to fit -- either that, or Apple's trademark attorneys are just trying to cover their bases. We'll see what happens.

Apple files for Magic Trackpad trademark originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacRumors | USPTO, Daring Fireball | Email this | Comments

PlayStation Network down so are lots of PS3s update

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

It's unclear exactly what's going on at the moment, but it appears that the PlayStation Network is down and causing a whole host of related problems for PS3 systems, including 8001050F error codes, game crashes, corrupted trophy info, and even the complete inability to launch certain titles. There's no ETA on when things will get back to normal -- looks like it's gonna be a Blu-ray kind of evening for PS3 owners out there.

Update: Sony's tweeted that it's "looking into it," and our boys at Joy say that owners of original PS3s are seeing their clocks reset and even data loss in some cases. We'll keep you updated.

Update 2: Given that issues started to appear as February 28th became March 1st, it's being speculated that the PSN woes are related to an improper handling of leap years. Similar to the issue that bricked those Zunes back in 2008. Sorry, manually setting your date doesn't help, we tried.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

PlayStation Network down, so are lots of PS3s (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq | PlayStation Community | Email this | Comments

Inhabitats Week in Green Solar cars solar boats solar gold?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us.

This week Inhabitat peered into the future of green tech as we liveblogged the most exciting moments from this year's Greener Gadgets Conference. The highlight of the day was the on-stage live-judging and announcement of this year's Greener Gadgets design competition winner, the AUG/Living Goods Program. Renowned industrial designer Yves Béhar also wowed us by unveiling a brand new design for a "Hackable" solar-electric car that is composed of modular components. (Engadget liveblogged it here.)

Speaking of sun-powered vehicles, Hungarian auto company Antro has just unveiled plans to create an out-there yet undeniably cool solar-powered car that splits into two vehicles. And for those looking to ride the seas in style, take a long, hard look at this giant solar boat. Then again, why ride a conventional vehicle when you could hop aboard this insane futurictic crawler town on wheels? Too bad it's made out of LEGOs.

Finally, we brought to light several illuminating energy projects: researchers have found a way to generate electricity by shining light on tiny gold nanoparticles, opening the door for self-powered molecular machines, and Phillips unveiled a blooming solar street lamp that soaks up energy during the day and uses it to light up the night.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: Solar cars, solar boats, solar... gold? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Desires Sense UI ported to Droid HTC Motorola cringe

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

If you work for Motorola, cover your ears and say "Blur Blur Blur Blur" at the top of your lungs over and over again for the duration of this post, because what we're about to present is an unholy marriage the likes of which neither Sanjay Jha nor Peter Chou ever intended. It's not the first time we've heard of a version of Sense finding its way onto Motorola hardware, but developers over on AllDroid have posted a bunch of video and stills claiming to have ported an HTC Desire's (née Bravo's) Sense-enabled firmware to Moto's beast -- and what's more, there's footage of it running Flash. Bear in mind that the speed at which Flash is running here looks downright painful -- and we fully expect official Flash support on the Droid later this year anyhow -- but anyone conflicted between the Droid's muscular lines and HTC's lovely skin might want to keep an eye on this project. It's still very early in development, but the most important part of the port has already been finished: it shows the proper Droid logo on startup. Follow the break for video.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading HTC Desire's Sense UI ported to Droid; HTC, Motorola cringe

HTC Desire's Sense UI ported to Droid; HTC, Motorola cringe originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | AllDroid | Email this | Comments

Viliv S5 MID gets accuracyboosting HID driver for Windows 7

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Viliv's S5 MID, the little machine that packs the Vaio P's Z520 processor in a legitimately pocketable form-factor, just got a breath of fresh air. It's an HID (human interface device) driver for Windows 7, boosting the machine's touchscreen abilities and enabling the breadth of Windows 7's tablet functionality. According to Uber Tablet this greatly enhances usability by, amongst other things, presenting the Windows tablet keyboard rather than relying on the accessibility version and enabling better calibration. The driver being used here is legitimate according to reports we've read, but it is not signed and doesn't appear to be an official release from Viliv, so you may want to exercise a bit of caution before you install -- but don't wait too long. This sounds like a pretty tasty update.

Viliv S5 MID gets accuracy-boosting HID driver for Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Pocketables Forum | Uber Tablet | Email this | Comments

Pelikons MorphPad demoed combines touchpad morphing keyboard into one awesome rectangle

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

British firm Pelikon was showing off its MorphPad technology at MWC this month, undoubtedly hoping to score some interest from representatives of handset manufacturers who just happened to be wandering the show floor -- but this isn't just any old morphing keyboard, you see. Not only can the board be dynamically reconfigured by backlighting different portions of the keys -- the entire surface of the thing doubles as a touchpad, which you can probably imagine has virtually limitless utility in a mobile device where the space for a true touchpad simply doesn't exist. Pelikon already works with Toshiba on its domestic-market Biblio, but we'd love to see it hit devices around the world -- in fact, we wouldn't really mind if they just released this prototype they're showing as a Bluetooth accessory. diNovo Mini competitor, anyone? Follow the break for video of the touch-enabled MorphPad in action.

Continue reading Pelikon's MorphPad demoed, combines touchpad, morphing keyboard into one awesome rectangle

Pelikon's MorphPad demoed, combines touchpad, morphing keyboard into one awesome rectangle originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | mobile-review | Email this | Comments

Studio 1558 Touch sneaks into Dell catalog with Core i5

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Well looky here: an unannounced Studio Touch laptop making its debut on page 5 of Dell's on-line catalog. The Studio 1558 Touch is flanked by the multitouch Studio 17 Touch. You won't find any details about the 1558 on Dell's website or retail channels so what you see above is what you get: Core i5 processor underpinning a Windows 7 Home Premium OS and 320GB hard disk for a $999 starting price. Expect this one to get official soon enough.

[Thanks, Erik D.]

Studio 1558 Touch sneaks into Dell catalog with Core i5 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos 7 and 8 Home Tablets are cheap but you get what you pay for

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Archos has just announced its brand new 7- and 8-inch Home Tablets, which both run Android and cost €149 ($203). For that layout, you'll get a 600MHz ARM 9 processor, which won't be breaking any (positive) records, but the Archos 7 you see above is a very svelte 12mm thin and weighs only 350g, making it an ideal web reading device if not a particularly potent multimedia consumer. You also get WiFi, 2GB of integrated memory on the cheaper versions and a battery that will last for seven hours of video or 44 hours of audio playback. The Archos 8 (pictured after the break) comes with a huge old bezel, hinting at its ability to double up as a picture frame, while sharing the 7's other features, including price and thickness. The smaller device will be coming out in Europe this April, to be followed by its larger sibling in May.

Continue reading Archos 7 and 8 Home Tablets are cheap, but you get what you pay for

Archos 7 and 8 Home Tablets are cheap, but you get what you pay for originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keepin it real fake part CCLVII iPad meets Windows 7 sparks fly

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

It would seem like we've recalled our editor from Shenzhen a little prematurely. The land of Yao has gone and answered all the iPad's critics in resounding style: TESO's 10-inch clone tablet features a full-blown Windows 7 install (check), 1024x600 capacitive touchscreen display (check), HDMI output (check), a 1.66GHz Atom N450 (vroom vroom!), 1GB of DDR2 RAM, GPS, 3G, and a 3,000mAh battery. Yep, it's a netbook sans the keyboard, and it might weigh 1.2kg while stretching to a portly 2cm thickness, but are you really gonna let a few well-rounded edges get in the way of experiencing a grown-up desktop OS on that tablet you so desperately need? Couple more pics await after the break.

Update: 9to5Mac has alerted us to the fact that this clone seems to be sporting the same front plate as the one purported to belong to the iPad in the days before its release. Good to know all the engineering that went into inflating the iPhone's bezel up to 10 inches didn't go to waste.

Continue reading Keepin' it real fake, part CCLVII: iPad meets Windows 7, sparks fly

Keepin' it real fake, part CCLVII: iPad meets Windows 7, sparks fly originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sir Clive Sinclair doesnt use a computer exceeds recommended irony levels

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Clive Sinclair is a Knight Commander of the British Empire, the inventor of the slimline pocket calculator, the man behind the Sinclair ZX80 that made home computing affordable in the Queen's isles and also, by his own admittance, a dude who just can't be bothered to use a computer. Speaking to The Guardian, he glibly confesses that he has his emails read to him (by his manservant, presumably), before launching a broadside against modern computers for being "totally wasteful" with their memory, requiring time to boot up, and having altogether "appalling designs." Hit the source for the full interview and an expanded history of the man's achievements, it's well worth the read.

Sir Clive Sinclair doesn't use a computer, exceeds recommended irony levels originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you throw away your console the terrorists have won

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In one of those fun, yet uncomfortable, instances where real life and video games interact, Fox News has uncovered a dusty (and old, very old) PlayStation controller during a raid of an Afghanistani farmhouse, which doubled up as a munitions depository. Lying there, in among rockets, grenades, plastic explosives and tank shells, was this humble blue-hued PlayStation appendage, which we're told can be rewired to act as a remote detonator. Should you question just how seriously the US government is taking this growing tide of console-aided terrorism, below you'll find a press release (seriously, a state-issued press release) detailing the detainment of four men in connection with the illegal transportation of digital cameras and PlayStation 2s to a "terrorist entity" in Paraguay. If convicted of the most egregious charge, they face 20 years in prison... for contraband consoles. Face, meet palm.

Continue reading If you throw away your console, the terrorists have won

If you throw away your console, the terrorists have won originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Conde Nast stakes out leadership position on iPad

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This isn't the 80s anymore. It's not good enough to just pump out lusty hardware like the Walkman in order to drive generous profit streams. In the modern age of consumer electronics, it takes content and an entire ecosystem of software and services to keep customers locked in and buying your gear. That's why we're paying close attention to content deals for the suddenly hot tablet category of devices. Conde Nast has been teasing custom content for next generation tablets for months, lead by mock-ups of its Wired magazine property. So it's no surprise to hear Charles H. Townsend, president and CEO of Conde Nast say he wants to "take a leadership position," on Apple's iPad. According to the New York Times, the company will announce plans today (via an internal company memo) for its first custom iPad digital pubs: the April issue of GQ (there's already an iPhone app for that), followed by the June issues of Wired and Vanity Fair, and then The New Yorker and Glamour sometime in the summer. This first cut represents a broad swath of demographics as Conde Nast trials Apple's newest platform in order to see what works. We should also expect a variety of prices and advertising models during the initial experimentation period. Also noteworthy is Conde Nast's two-track development approach: the iPad version of Wired will be developed with Adobe (as we heard) but the others will be developed internally -- all the digital mags will be available via iTunes although Wired will also be made available in "non-iTunes formats." Assuming it finds a model that works, then Conde Nast plans to digitize other magazines in the fall.

Conde Nast stakes out 'leadership position' on iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos Home Slate set to grace CeBIT with its familyfriendly presence

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Watch out now, Archos is about to bestow a whole new category of electronic device upon us. It'll still be a tablet to the knowledgeable among us, but the rest of the world will know the Home Slate as an FDA -- a family digital assistant. Listed on CeBIT's exhibitor guide, this new multimedia player cum home organizer will offer WiFi connectivity and a web browser along with the usual suite of photo, video and music playback options. We'd heard earlier that Archos was planning new tablets aimed specifically at in-home use, and the A70HB model number here would suggest that this might be the rumored Archos 7 Android tablet pictured above. Whether it be 7 inches or 17, you can rest assured we'll be digging this up at CeBIT shortly to figure out if those family-assisting features are worthy of the highfalutin marketing that accompanies them.

[Thanks, David V.]

Archos Home Slate set to grace CeBIT with its family-friendly presence originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mysterious yellow and black cards lead to wild Nikon speculation

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

You know what's black and yellow all over, fits in the average mailbox and gets the imaginations of camera junkies running wild? These cards, that's what. Over the past few days, mysterious cards have begun to arrive in the hands of Nikon users, and while the company's name is nowhere to be found, the colors and hints are starting to build a case for something new. It seems a countdown from 8 has begun, with the first card stating "I am..." and the second "I am fun...." In case you weren't aware, Nikon has yet to dabble in the Micro Four Thirds world (or even hint at a competitor like Samsung's NX range), but whispers of a so-called EVIL lineup have been building steam. Nikon aficionados have pointed out that the countdown will end just prior to a UK press meeting on March 8th, which could very well mean that an all-new compact is just days away from being properly revealed. Or it could be nothing at all. Keep your expectations low -- it's better to be pleasantly surprised than deflated and alone, right?

Mysterious yellow and black cards lead to wild Nikon speculation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel officially adds Pine Trail Atom N470 processor early performance results dont impress

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Intel introduced the new Atom N470 netbook CPU back in September and then Lenovo showed off its S10-3t with the new processor at CES, but chipzilla's taking the time today to give its newest Pine Trail CPU a proper unveil. The 1.83GHz N470 joins the 1.66GHz N450 as an option for netbooks, and like the rest of the Pineview integrates the GMA 3150 graphics controller on the same chip and supports hyperthreading. According to Intel, the major OEMs are expected to introduce new netbooks based on this processor soon, but if our experience with the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is any glimpse into the "performance boost" of this processor we're not sure there's anything to wait for. Our full review of the S10-3t netvertible is almost done cooking, but we can tell you right now the system didn't feel faster in use even with its 2GB of RAM, and on PCMark05 it scored in the same range as other N450 netbooks. While the slightly faster clock speed may be a nice bragging right, at the end of the day Atom N470-based netbooks are still, well, netbooks.

Intel officially adds Pine Trail Atom N470 processor, early performance results don't impress originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP adds EliteBook 2540p and 2740p to the lineup brings the power and the touch

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Thought HP was done unleashing its new line of semi-rugged EliteBooks at CES? So did we, but apparently it needed just a little bit more time to pull the 12.1-inch 2540p and 2740p out of the oven. An update to the 2530p, the 3.8-pound 2540p still has the same magnesium alloy chassis that's met all those super-tough MIL-STD 810G military standard tests, but its innards have been freshened up with the alluring scent of Intel's 2010 Core processors. Prices start at $1,099, but in typical HP fashion it will be configurable online with tons of juicy options, including standard and low voltage Core i5 and i7 processors and a range of 7,200RPM and SSD drives.

Up next is the 2740p which packs much of the same internal spec options as the 2540p (sans the low-voltage CPUs), but puts them into a convertible tablet form factor. Starting at $1,599, its capacitive multitouch 12.1-inch display now supports both pen and finger input and thus pits it head-to-head with Lenovo's ThinkPad X201t, though from our hands-on we found the 3.8-pound 2740p to be much slimmer and lighter. A lot of that has to do with its flush battery, but if adding some juice (and thickness) is your thing, you can add a slate battery (or two!) to the bottom of the system. Both the 2540p and 2740p will be available later this month, but hit the hands-on gallery below to get a look at these magnesium puppies up close.

Gallery: HP EliteBook 2540p and 2740p hands-on

Gallery: HP EliteBook 2540p and 2740p press shots

Continue reading HP adds EliteBook 2540p and 2740p to the lineup, brings the power and the touch

HP adds EliteBook 2540p and 2740p to the lineup, brings the power and the touch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP spices up ProBooks with Core 2010 CPUs ClickPads and caviar paint

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

No offense to the previous ProBooks s-series, but we think HP may have finally removed the last pieces of boring from the line. The new crop of business laptops - if you can even call them that anymore - are available with 13.3, 14, 15.6 and 17.3-inch display sizes, and can be configured with Intel's latest Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. There are too many configurations to list, but the $900 15.6-inch ProBook 4520s with a Core i5 CPU and a 500GB 7,200RPM drive sounds like a deal to us. Fear not graphics mavens, you can configure any of the models with ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 5350 GPU. Specs aside, we were pretty enamored with the externals - all are clad in a brushed aluminum case and a matte surface lid that's available in "caviar" brown or a reddish "bordeaux." Our fingers were big fans of the chiclet keyboard, but the addition of the ClickPad with its integrated mouse buttons makes us a bit anxious, you know, given the issues we've had with those on the Mini 210 and Envys. We'd be remiss if we didn't mention HP's new Day Starter software that lets the workaholics amongst you check a configured Outlook calender while the laptop boots up in the background -- it doesn't work yet with Google Cal, we asked. You should be able to start configuring the lappies in the next few weeks, but hit the break for some hands-on pics and the full PR.

Gallery: HP ProBooks hands-on

Gallery: HP ProBook press shots

Continue reading HP spices up ProBooks with Core 2010 CPUs, ClickPads and caviar paint

HP spices up ProBooks with Core 2010 CPUs, ClickPads and caviar paint originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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