Kurupoto: Cool Cool Stars
I have reviewed one of the most unexciting puzzle games in existence. Yes, it was that bad. Go read it.
August 30th, 2008
Laborless Day
3-day weekend coming up, hope you have lots of gaming plans. Now is the time to sit back and finish up all of those titles you have laying around, left uncompleted since we have Spore coming up soon. Have to drop everything else for that!
Bethesda has blessed us with several videos showing off all that is Fallout 3. The VATS system that allows for specific body part targeting with weapons looks great, especially for those of us who may not have the best aim. If it slows down combat too much though I could see other players not utilizing it so much after playing for awhile. And if you were unlucky enough to not be at PAX you will just have to settle for a description of the Fallout 3 swag that was given out.
Steve Jobs is dead - Just kidding!
Movie trailer for Max Payne - If you are going to make a movie out of a video game, you have to do it like this.
Innovation is a risky business, and business is bad
Prinnies from the Disgaea series get their own video game - They deserve it, dood.
Another software pirate goes to jail - Not really sure why he was doing it if he was not making any money off of it. Does not sound worth it.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert becomes a free downloadable game this weekend - Now there will be no excuse for anyone having not played this classic title.
4 million Chinese citizens play unhealthy games - Titles not included: My Chinese Coach, Neopets, and Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour.
Germans raid convention center for patent infringements - Achtung!
A collection of new shots from Mars - Including a very hazy sunrise; it is just like Los Angeles.
Apple looks to patent computer touch screen capabilities - The hands in the lower pictures are so disfigured they are distracting.
Zombie movies spawn the need for defense against zombie attacks
August 29th, 2008
Movies, television shows, and video games; oh my!
Long day. Make sure to catch up.
Crytek knows that you did not actually purchase your copy of Crysis - They have the numbers to prove it. As unfortunate as that is for the company, it is absolutely hilarious.
Still planning on playing EVE Online? Make sure you memorize the 10 Commandments
If the MythBusters say the moon landing was real, then it must be true
Watch out who you are g-mailing your Google information to
The first installation of an article series on Megatrends in video games - It gives a little insight on what gamers may be expecting in the near and far future.
Lego Batman coming to televisions everywhere, in two different formats - The game is not even out yet, and they are planning a cartoon show?
New action RPG From the Abyss for the Nintendo DS features 2 player co-op - I am ready to capture some souls!
Sony will be at PAX, will you be there to see Sony?
Professional league gamers need the drugs to stay sharp - Not really sure if I would find stoners to be better players.
Sony admits to losing money on the Playstation 3
Just because the self checkout line at the grocer is convenient does not mean it is safe - Perhaps I should have read this before going to the store today. At least I do not live in the United Kingdom.
Brett Ratner things that Guitar Hero: The Movie would sell big - And... Pong?
August 28th, 2008
iBad
Apple got in trouble for their misleading iPhone 3G commercials. When they say users can access "all parts of the Internet" they did not really mean it, because of course the iPhone does not support Flash or Java. How many sites these days do not contain one of those two elements? I do suppose it is usually the advertising part of the site, but not always. Apple is also in the process of being sued by the same company they were suing for violating their Mac OSX software license agreement. Basically, Apple does not want their operating system installed on any non-Apple made computer. Psystar is claiming that this statement in the license agreement is illegal and that they should be more than welcome to purchase Mac OSX, install it on computers, and sell them to people. It is what Dell and HP do with Windows, is there a problem here?
A cube of a computer to be the next big (small?) thing in desktop computing - Curious how much it weighs, should be fairly dense.
You do not need anti-virus software in space - Or do you?
What your new iPod in September will not include - I am just waiting for that iTunes upgrade.
Star Trek Online interview - Your character can be a Klingon-Vulcan, captain your own ship all the way to the Gamma Quadrant, and maybe do some time travelling on the holodeck all in one day.
No virtual economy is nearly as real as EVE Online's - They even hired a real life economist to keep it stable.
When the rocking gets to hard, turn to the Christian Guitar Hero
Friendly competition found in gaming can be good for productivity - Particularly in the working environment.
100 patches later and people are still playing Asheron's Call
Iceland's new opera house to cater to elven individuals who live in nearby caves - Crazy, but the place will look pretty cool.
Microsoft is placing all of their eggs in the IE8 basket - I am all for isolated tabs, Firefox crashes all of the time due to inactive tabs.
Robotic skeleton helps those who could not walk before - Perhaps robots can be used to do some good.
August 27th, 2008
The world of real life
An interesting opinion article was posted today on Gamasutra defining the point of playing World of Warcraft. The game itself is quite immersive, and once you have found a guild or a community that you feel you belong to it can be difficult to discern game relationships from real life relationships. Unfortunately, because it is just a game it breaks down to a mere material competition. But that is what keeps people playing, and I am sure that was an entirely intentional move by Blizzard to keep people playing and paying every month
Destroy alien life forms in Spore - Soon... very soon.
Fable 2 screenshots have magically glowy knees
Zerg-like swarm attacks to invade the Playstation Network
A good deal of Wrath of the Lich King content to be available before the game is released - Just like the Burning Crusade release, World of Warcraft players will get to experience the new talents and spells, among other items, just previous to the official title's implementation. This does include Inscription, which players will actually be allowed to level up to 375 without having the new expansion.
New Lego Batman trailer shows off Alfred and his serving plate of doom
Lasers cut perfect slices of pizza - Plus it is so practical.
American gamers might see the Leipzig conference come to the states - Could always use an E3 replacement.
E is for Everyone who is not attending E For All
Your television looks a little cold - Or you could cozy it up so it does not get so dusty.
August 26th, 2008
Gaming Silence
There are quite a few games coming out this week including Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, Tales of Vesperia, Super Mario Sluggers, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, My Chinese Coach, and N+ (for the DS). The Disgaea series has thus far been exciting, quirky, and hilarious so I can only hope for the same from this third installment. Tales of Vesperia must be good; because of it all of the XBox 360s in Japan sold out. That has to count for something. I did not find My French Coach to be very helpful, but maybe a Chinese version would be more interesting. And N+ was pretty fun on the Playstation 3, even more so now that you can carry it around with you.
Other than that, it is very quite around here, so go play some games.
The economics behind MMOs and their digital auction houses
The history behind I Can Has Cheezburger - And why people should look at crazy LOLCats pictures at 2am.
Military solar-powered plane flies for three straight days - The military commanders are saying they want a plane to be able to hold fast in one location for five years. Only 1,822 days to go.
New Fracture screenshots - Yeah, that is the game that lets you transform the terrain.
Some people just can no let Second Life romances go, that is when kidnapping comes in to play
Scented laptops from the Asus Wonka factory - Only one of the more useless items I have seen in awhile.
Extra set of Samba de Amigo maraca-motes available next month
Apple does not want to listen to you whine about how slow your iPhone 3G is
August 25th, 2008
Elebits
My review of the cute, and somewhat fuzzy, Elebits title is now available. Go read it.
August 24th, 2008
Gaming Continues Day 3
As for today's juicy gaming from Leipzig, you can check out the newest LittleBigPlanet trailer, chatty trailer for Dragon Age: Origins, and some screens and a trailer for Saints Row 2. LittleBigPlanet always makes me a little happier on the inside, but if that is not exciting enough for you then check out the world records that were broken. That is right, it does not only occur at the Olympics or during Food Network Challenges. Strange stuff goes on in Germany.
Alcohol has more productive uses than making you appear to be more attractive
The gold farmers' share of the gaming industry is nothing to sneeze at - If someone wants to spend their real life money on virtual cash go for it.
A Starcraft MMO is not what Blizzard is going for - Sorry Korea.
Games Convention presenter invades Taito's space - GC probably has nothing to do with it, it is the presenters responsibility to make sure they have the rights for all of that stuff.
New PSP this fall features optimized screen and built-in microphone
Robots to be as smart, if not smarter than, humans by 2050 - Now that is something to look forward to.
Take a trip down the world's memory lane
Warner Bros. to cut back on the number of movie productions in order to produce better quality films - Or so we hope.
August 22nd, 2008
Gaming Coverage Day 2
Today direct from Germany we got a new Left 4 Dead trailer from Valve, Champions Online screenshots, and a Jumpgate Evolution trailer. Left 4 Dead looks to be quite the horrific zombie game, and Jumpgate Evolution is a promising space MMO unlike EVE Online. Might want to sign yourself up for the beta on the Jumpgate Evolution site while you are at it. Overall the coverage seemed to be a little less exciting than yesterday, but it is not bad.
As if Final Fantasy 11 was not already known for being time intensive, prepare yourself for an 18-hour boss fight - Need healer for the night PST.
Magnetic, power emanating tables to make laptops even more wireless - Does that mean we can do away with annoying outlet conversion adapters?
Universities hand out iPhones to their incoming students - Sucks to be a member of the class before the incoming freshmen.
Wrath of the Lich King's introductory video - Are you excited yet? That video gave me shivers. So much more powerful than yesterday's lackluster Warhammer Online trailer.
Internet Explorer 8 will make sure no one knows you look at pornography - Was there any other reason that feature was ever implemented into browsers?
The history of Blizzard - If you did not happen to already know most of it anyway.
Gamers can register to vote through their XBox 360's - For reals.
Microsoft fights Mac's Justin Long with Jerry Seinfeld
Ovens can be used to make more than just pizzas
Colored Wiimote straps début in Japan - The craze will soon transform into that of the mobile straps that don every Japanese phone.
August 21st, 2008
GC 2008 Day One
The Games Convention was all that was going on in Leipzig, Germany today. Luckily for us, there are several sites including G4 and Shacknews who were able to capture all of the gaming goodness. Just to review some of the highlights: an odd-looking wireless keypad for the Playstation 3 was announced, a Heavy Rain gameplay trailer, even more Mirror's Edge (pretty soon we will have seen the whole game), and Diablo 3 screen shots. Heavy Rain is definitely something to look forward to, considering its uncanny familiarity to Indigo Prophecy. Of course there was and will be much more where that came from, including new hardware, screen shots, and trailers.
Garmin wants to make it easier for stalkers to find their prey - Who needs dating services anymore? Ask your GPS to set you up on a date.
All you need to make loads of cash is some cute animal pictures - I admit to being a subscriber of the Cute Overload daily newsletter.
Technological advancements has made us more inept, especially the younger crowd
3-part 3-hour interview dished to us over 3 days all about video game storytelling
Your friends are logging into your Facebook account - Watch out, someone might change your user picture.
A guide to picking up pets in Lord of the Rings Online - Should it really be so difficult to require a guide?
Gameplay-less Warhammer Online trailer shows off... not much
The future of turbo-charged Intel processors - AMD is confident in their ability to stay ahead of the game in terms of performance however.
A small vibrator could help computer geek posture - No, not that kind of vibrator.
August 20th, 2008
Eviltarians
The Warhammer Online non-disclosure agreement was lifted today and there should be an influx of information over the next couple of days. Let us hope so anyway, as I would like to hear more regarding this supposed "World of Warcraft Killer." Have been hearing good and bad things from various individuals, so it is not too clear on whether or not this over hyped game will be as wonderful as everyone expects it to be. There is a collection of information on Massively, given it was all gathered and posted before but it is nice to have it all in one place.
Also been reading up on the World of Warcraft forums, and it sounds like people are slowing down on the raiding. Not surprised considering the expansion will be out soon. There is not much reason to invest time in obtaining gear that will be obsolete shortly, or presumably shortly.
Google gets hot about going green
One woman shares a game over a P2P network and pays the consequences - Literally, pays. About $30,000 even.
Prison time and almost half-a-million fine for another video game pirate - The woman in the story above has got nothing on this guy.
Floridian students' private files were showing up on The Princeton Review - No one noticed for 7 whole weeks?
Americans prefer their news in a digital format
Next generation of consoles? Maybe, maybe not - If companies believe that they will make money on console systems, they will continue to produce them. Simple as that.
Spend some time at a Chinese Internet cafe
Take that free quality television programming off the web and watch it through your consoles
How people in the 1920's knew how to get around - Better have the correct scroll in the watch-like device before you start driving. I would not want to sift through a box of tiny papers looking for particular directions.
New PC purchasers really just do not want Windows Vista
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense Grand Challenge winners were announced today - Robots, robots, and more robots.
August 19th, 2008
"Lied to my own webcam"
I was recently introduced to a little web series called The Guild, and I am saddened that I had missed out on it for so long. It is based on a guild from an unnamed MMORPG and their awkwardness upon meeting in real life. While there may only be 10 episodes, it feels like so many more. The humor positively emanates through to the world of online gaming and is so relatable it is scary.
World of Warcraft forums encourage scientific thought - And much whining.
Warhammer Online pre-orders get to play 11 days before launch - In the beta test anyway. What if you pre-order the game and then realize during the beta that you hate it?
Work out your whole body with the Wii - Wii Sqweeze and Wii Fit do a body good.
Christian gamer aggro control needed - LF1M tank.
Lineage 2 implements a sort of rested experience to be more inviting to new players
It is a fine day here today at Lego Stadium
Search for images, no really a search engine made for images
Kids will get and play whatever games they want to - I bet many of the parents who purchase M-rated games for their children do not even know what they are getting, and then they complain about the violence and sexuality their children are exposed to later.
Malicious hackers invade your copy/paste
iRock creative contest - Kind of like the pet rock, but with gadgets.
EA and Take-Two are "just friends" - But they are still talking it over.
ACE Online aerial roleplaying MMO offers closed beta keys to 5000 SuBa accounts
August 18th, 2008
You are not prepared
My personal insight on the new World of Warcraft expansion's class, the Deathknight, is now available. Yes, complete with many screenshots. Go read it.
August 17th, 2008
true customer service
An Age of Conan game master got himself fired for cybering with a player. No "sleeping" on the job I suppose. The entire transcript is available on this thread. Whether or not the game master was joking around, or the player was trying to get the game master in trouble does not matter; it is disturbing regardless. For a game master to fall for a ploy such as this is deserving enough to be fired, not the brightest bulb in the shop. Not to mention the level of professionalism shown by the game master is alarmingly poor. At least World of Warcraft customer service representatives type properly, even if they can not assist the player half of the time.
LittleBigPlanet trailer shows off adorable characters
A family in need deserves a stolen Playstation 3 indeed
Bad things happen in the Internet world - Most of these consist of something crashing or going down. I suppose that is as catastrophic as it can get.
Unmanned aerial vehicles to protect troops - Now it just needs a cloaking device like the Mark II.
Digital Arts Festival in Redmond supports video gaming - And some blogger hates supporting art. Why do we care?
Court ruling protects open source rights - Just because it is freely developed and given away does not mean that the creators should be taken advantage of.
Harry Potter fans will have to wait a year for the next movie installment - And right after the July release of Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows will be out in November.
Are Seagate and SanDisk getting close, very close?
Very cool, very colorful, and very real holograms
Viral video of a lightning bolt in slow motion - A must if you have not seen it already. Actually, even if you have seen it.
August 15th, 2008
Pork bombs
Massively provided its readers today with an assortment of elven information from Warhammer Online. They featured the berserking elves called Witch Elves, God-devoted Disciples of Khaine, and the dark magic wielding Sorceresses. Each shows off some abilities, ranging from level 1 to level 5, and the mechanic that each is built off of. Interesting to see the Disciple of Khaine; seems to be a decent prospective hybrid play style. The ability to heal is dependent on dealing damage by the sounds of it however, that would definitely be something different.
Aardvarks are very knowledgeable creatures - It is like Googling for people.
Netflix stops shipping for a day and a half - Someone tripped on a plug.
Activision Blizzard cuts out employees and cancels upcoming titles
Little bit Lego-like magnetic circuitry
Idle at work? Slashdot's new section is just for you
Converting gas guzzlers into plug-in hybrids may be a better alternative for some than purchasing an entirely new vehicle - "Honey? Did you forget to plug in the car?"
Overlord 2 packed with even more action and adventure
Google van driver photographs collapsed drunk - Maybe the driver did not see the guy, he could have been off in his own world listening to thrasher metal for all we know. Give him a break, he was just doing his job.
Spore goes gold - Europe gets first dibs.
Careful what snacks your significant other packs for your plane trip
German police women get bulletproof vest-safe bras - Safe and in style.
August 14th, 2008
Class action overtime
For many employees in the IT department, it is a rather well-known disappointment that overtime is generally left unpaid. The former Apple employee that filed a suit against the company last week has got geeks everywhere listening. Of course companies are going to classify, or not, as employees as exempt; any wages left unpaid is extra money for the owners. A lot of it boils down to whether the employee is performing repetitive, established tasks, being well imbursed, or hold a management position. That makes it sound like the only people who are allowed overtime pay are factory workers. By no means do they not deserve it, but it does not exactly make sense as to why others would be denied payment for the work they produce. Just because as an employee you may exercise your own independent thought does not mean that you are getting out on time.
$2500 gets you all of the information regarding the current state of the video game development industry - I wonder if it has Blizzard's secret, special, unannounced MMO in it.
The Playstation 3 is the pinnacle of Blu-ray players - Not to mention they bust the lid wide open on the always outrageously priced Monster cables. I have always preferred the inexpensive cables available on MyCableMart.
Another electronic gaming conference coming up this month - Counter-Strike, Defense of the Ancients, Quake 3, Trackmania, and Warcraft III. Sounds good.
Complete with tactical espionage action: Index Finger Gear - Kind of like Thumb Wars, but much better.
Spore the movie hitting theaters near you - More importantly is the note at the bottom, "...with a live-action The Sims movie and animated MySims television show already in the works." Last time I checked, The Sims was supposed to be like "real life," so effectively they are taking real life, turning it into an electronic format, and then making that live action. Why.
Get up-to-date on all the massively multiplayer second-string madness
The most innovative developers out there - Hopefully at least some of them are recognizable to most video game players.
The Hubble passes a milestone - And it will be getting a well-deserved tune-up in October.
Cloaking technology may speed up the Internet - Too bad the United States is still so slow compared to Japan and Finland.
August 13th, 2008
On again off again
Blizzard's Blizzcon tickets are officially sold out, and it only took about 50 minutes over the past 2 days for them to be. Curious as to how that happened though, considering the site was either down or malfunctioning the past 36 hours, it certainly is not making the Blizzard store look very good. Interested to know how many of the users who were able to purchase tickets only had the intention of doing so in order to sell them on Ebay. Too bad for them, as it seems that all tickets being thrown up on Ebay are taken down mere moments later. Blizzard 1, Greed 0.
For those of you who were able to get your hands on a ticket, see you there.
In other news, Shacknews is hiring. Maybe I will try my hand at that.
There may be a lot more hard core gamers out there than was originally believed to be - 5.22 million people game 45 or more hours per week; that is a lot of time, not to mention missed wages. That is about $1,538,595,000 every week of unpaid minimum wage time. Also makes one wonder where these gamers get the money to pay for massive numbers of video game purchases every month.
Is NCSoft going down? - Maybe it is Tabula Rasa's fault, sorry Richard Garriott!
Germany is not the only green-driven country
Russia and Georgia start going at it, digitally - Crush their sites with massive amounts of bandwidth usage.
Contacts that do more than just improve your vision - Wearing your contacts every day keeps the optometrist away.
Nerd patrols are in high retail store demand
Yahoo blew loads of cash on the failure of a merger with Microsoft
What does not have a tax on it yet - Are they trying to get more people to turn to piracy? I suppose taxes are one of the two things you can not escape in life.
August 12th, 2008
Blizzard's "Soon"
Blizzard's Blizzcon 2008 tickets technically went on sale today. The site was not functioning properly during most of the morning, and by the early afternoon it had been taken down for maintenance. Mid afternoon it seemed to be up and functioning properly, but it was not. Much to fan dismay, the site is still not up. I am curious if anyone was able to purchase tickets just yet.
Madden NFL 09 is out today, including the collector's edition. Go get your digital football game on.
New power supply came in today, and I am happy to say my computer is back up and running.
3-D Games store sells stolen Playstation 3 and replaces it with a XBox 360 - What a rip-off. Maybe Best Buy is not so bad after all.
It is okay if children watch real porn or drink real alcohol, but if they do it in a video game it is simply blasphemous - Do parents hear themselves when they talk? I am starting to believe that parents are jealous that they did not have video games when they were children. Or perhaps they are upset that their children are finding other things to do, and the parents are frustrated that their kids are not being neglected like they originally intended. Or is it just more natural to be corrupted by "real life" sins?
Real game play from the upcoming Star Trek Online in a new trailer
10 iPhone applications that you will not want
Most games do not generate decent revenue - Maybe developers should focus on making better games.
Another free MMO in open beta - This one's features include beat-em-up combat, roleplaying, and card playing.
Keep EVE Online hardcore - It is not like you want to play it anyway.
The Legend of Zellda theatrical interpretation in the United Kingdom
Beijing Olympics opening ceremony was not all that it appeared to be
Robots take combat to an entirely different era - More like robot arms, but I am not complaining.
Inching closer to a real invisibility "cloak"
August 11th, 2008
Baroque
My review of an older-school remake of a game, Baroque, is now available. Go read it.
August 9th, 2008
Powerless Supply Unit
My computer's power supply unit died last night in a very swift assortment of buzzing and zapping sounds. Another has been ordered to replace ol' faithful and should arrive early next week. I have not looked into power supplies in awhile and was interested to see that the "lower" range now listed on NewEgg starts above my previous PSU's capacity. Has it really been that long?
Batman lover builds his own Tumbler - Or does he just love building stuff that much, no matter what it is?
The LittleBigWebsite goes live - Gives you a chance to practice the game play a little as well.
Get a chainsaw rifle replica with the super special Gears of War 2 edition - Is anyone going to claim that this will spur underage violence?
Alt-Tabbing is the ultimate gaming feature
Blizzcon 2008 site is go - Prepare to have that site up next Monday while constantly hitting the refresh key.
Download the "Home" Theme for the Playstation 3 to apply for the Home Beta
More on swarm bot "control" - And how they will "help" the human race by "exploring" other worlds for us.
German fines for not being green enough - Pretty harsh; wonder where they get it from.
Farming gold for real-life economical progression
Webmail providers attempt to censor certain user names
August 8th, 2008
beauty is in the eye of the geek
Petitioners for a Diablo 3 art change might get their way, now that the current art director has left. However, it was stated that his reasons for leaving were not based on the general disapproval of the direction the art. Hey, if the game looks and plays well, then who cares if it is not the most dreary-looking game ever? It is Blizzard's game, they should make it how they see fit. I honestly doubt that any of the current petitioners would not purchase the game if the art style remains the same. Regardless, I am sure that Blizzard is not going to change everything about the game just because some fans are being whiny. Certainly never helps with regards to World of Warcraft.
Timeline of all those random Internet shenanigans
Gainesville residents with laptop problems get help from a perverted techie - A good reason to have a computer room separate from the bedroom.
The PSP can be a travel tool for more reasons than just games on a plane - Even includes pick-up lines for those awkward geeks.
Little Red Riding Hood-based video game is horrifying - Sounds interesting enough, wonder if this game does well enough if other fairy-tale based titles would follow.
More Lego video game titles en route - Lego Harry Potter is definitely on my list.
Why read a ...for Dummies book when you can play it?
Not playing violent video games makes criminals perform violent acts - Obviously video game violence caused the killings at V-Tech; what kind of kid does not play games these days? Clearly he was delusional because he did not play video games.
Chinese Internet users can download music for free without repercussions - So, all we need to do is become overwhelmed with piracy and then we can get everything for free, legally.
Thin, curved cameras could allow for interesting internal imaging
Even the technologically inclined are susceptible to Internet scamming
August 7th, 2008
Entertainment Terrorism
According to Ron Luce, today's entertainment is an advocate of ideological violence to family households. While maybe not every family would appreciate some of the topics in television, film, and video games these days, that does not make these types of media "terrorists." It is all about personal regulation; if you do not want your or your children to have unsupervised access to a certain form of entertainment, then restrict it. There is no need to condone all entertainment absolutely and deeming it to be as radical as a terrorist. That is the kind of religious evangelism that causes problems, of which terrorism can then grow from.
I am quite curious as to where he pulled the sex scene example from: "[T]elevision, broadcasts some 20,000 sex scenes that the average young person will view by the time he or she graduates from high school!" What fuzzy channels is he getting in on his television I wonder.
Free epics in Age of Conan - So that is why those World of Warcraft-ers left.
Tabula Rasa runs its own Olympic events - Is this to draw in a larger crowd of players?
Explanation for those overwhelmed by the large dynamic contrast ratio numbers
Exclusives with the LittleBigPlanet pre-order
Microchip-infused passports turn out to be easily duplicated - Now it will be even easier to distribute passports on the black market.
Playing a war video game is like being recruited into the army - How is the game really any different than any other first person shooter? Is there an application for recruitment if you beat the game?
Curious what people type into the Google search box? - Porn, porn, porn, and more porn.
Computer characters flop around on arms and legs they do not know how to use - The software's intended use is with robots. Great.
August 6th, 2008
Adaptive browsing
Blizzard is changing their "Refer a Friend" program for World of Warcraft, drastically. Upon your friend accepting your subscription invite, your accounts will become linked, allowing the following to happen for up to 3 months:
- Partying together will allow the acquisition of 3 times the experience points
- You can summon your friend to you using a spell, until he hits level 60
- Your friend can grant one of your lower level characters a level for every 2 that he gains
- You will be granted a zhevra (zebra-unicorn) mount if your friend buys a 2-month subscription
Sounds like a promising program. I can also see it being "exploited" by players who want to purchase another account for themselves, especially if they were looking to reroll a new class; it will give them a leveling advantage. As if Blizzard does not have enough subscribers already, if this does not draw more people in I am not sure what they could try next.
The future of web browsing - As cool as it seems in theory, I can only imagine how messy some people's computer workspaces would get. How much processing power and memory would something like this take? Oh, how cool everything is in the future.
Stylish lenses that translate all languages in an instant - The winner of the "Made in Eureka" contest.
Solar-recharging purse will keep all of your gadgets running
The arrival of the first Homestar Runner game is due out next Monday - Strong Bad-tastic.
Limitations built into games can frazzle players - Much like the issues I am having with the fact that Snake can not climb over anything in Metal Gear Solid 4.
Delta passengers all be online by the middle of 2009 - Just around the $10 mark depending on how long your flight is. If you really must have access to the Internet; why not sleep instead?
Moms have button anxiety when it comes to their children's video games
Valve is interested in being bought out by EA - At least someone has something good to say about EA.
Cabbie killings not generally influenced by Grand Theft Auto
If at first a Halo movie does not succeed, get a new writer?
Vudu porn, direct to your television set - Plenty of charges still apply.
Big bad credit thieves get caught
August 5th, 2008
AI Combatants
What could be better than the Monster Madness XBox 360 title? An expanded version for the Playstation 3, of course. For those of you who have not yet turned away in revulsion, unlike myself, you are in luck; this week Monster Madness Grave Digger is being released. Honestly, I think that Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour could prove to be a more enjoyable time than another Monster Madness. Also, be on the look-out for Quick Yoga Training on the Nintendo DS; because, where else would you go to learn yoga than a handheld gaming system?
Stargate Worlds hands-on from ComicCon - It is important to stay focused, do not panic.
Get your Uncharted trophies today - It is just like getting the game's medals; you can do it.
Why do the advertising yourself when you can get people on Facebook to do it for you
Get a little taste of the upcoming retro nostalgia in Mega Man 9 - Even the "box art" is classic.
Photoshoppers are upset with Diablo 3 - Get over it. If you want to play a dark game go install Everquest and turn down the draw distance.
Google looks to make electronic translation services better
Yet another "martial arts" MMO ahead - You do not need to read the article to understand how Korean the game is; just watch the trailer. Strange, I think the women's breasts are all larger than their heads.
Run out of money in the arcade? Rob a taxi driver - And, while you are at it, perform moves on him that you learned from playing that video game. These kids are making us gamers look so smart.
Pollen nanoparticles in theory could help find the bad guys - Metal Gear is not the only place you hear people talking about nanotechnology.
Calm your paranoia by looking up criminal information on everyone you know - For free.
Microsoft's interest in making a lightweight operating system for the future - As if anything Microsoft has ever had was classified as "lightweight." This must be in the far, far, very far future.
August 4th, 2008
Eclipse of the net
Remember that solar eclipse I mentioned yesterday? Well today there was a website that included a nice run down of how breathtakingly amazing it was this morning. There is an hour long webcast posted by the San Francisco Exploratorium for those of us who were unable to attend the event in China. There are some great shots of the various stages of the eclipse, and the full-on eclipse begins just after the 37 and a half minute mark. I am sure it is nothing like the real thing though.
Boring people with a boring complaint try to squeeze money out of Google - Who would marry into a last name like "Boring?"
Big guns > big baddies - I think my favorite Doom is still the original.
More information on Internet Trolls than you could ever want to know - Some people really do enjoy being royal pains.
The Olympics are truly world wide, and now on the web - Time to watch some curling. Oh wait, that is Winter Olympics; darn.
"Go read a good book" as a house vandalization punishment - They got off light because they are girls.
An entirely new form of juicing - While it may have been made with good intentions, you know it would fall into the wrong hands.
GameCareerGuide's winning iPhone game design challengers
August 1st, 2008