Archive for the ‘Gaming’ Category
PAX: First Impressions
Author: Antonio Pierce
Photo: Ken Denmead
It was sort of a last-minute decision for me to attend PAX Prime. I’d read (with some amount of envy) about the GeekDads attending PAX East earlier this year but hadn’t even considered the possibility of attending PAX myself, at least not this year —we had too many trips planned, vacation time was running out, etc. But here I am anyway! I’m just a lucky guy, with a fantastic wife who indulges my geekery.
I really didn’t have much of an idea what to expect. I’m staying with a friend, about a half-hour bus ride away from downtown and the convention center, so I missed a lot of the hustle and bustle when I arrived Thursday night. Riding the bus into town, I was torn between gawking out the window (watching for my first glimpse of downtown Seattle) and reading the con-appropriate book I’d brought with me, Tom Bissel’s Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
Photo: Ken Denmead
My bus stop was right across the street from the Benaroya Theater, where Warren Spector would be delivering the PAX keynote speech in about an hour and a half, and I saw people in geeky T-shirts and PAX badges on lanyards headed that way. But I’d seen on Twitter that some people had been in line for the keynote for nearly two hours already, so I decided it wasn’t really worth trying for. Instead, I walked over to the Sheraton, picked up my Speaker badge (surprisingly quickly) and then headed to the convention center, where I met up with fellow GeekDads Dave Banks and Michael Harrison.
Since the halls weren’t open yet, we kicked off PAX the right way: with a game of San Juan, on a little cafe table that was much too small. We finished up right at 10:00, and headed upstairs to explore the main hall. After finding a helpful Enforcer (the volunteers at PAX) who got us maps and schedules, we entered the Exhibit Hall and commenced gawking.
My first impression was that it was loud. The entrance we’d chosen was facing a Rock Band 3 stage, where somebody was belting out an off-tune rendition of some song I’ve since blocked out of my head. My second impression was: hey, look at all this room to walk! (I’ve been told that Saturday will be much more crowded, but it’s hard to imagine it beating the Comic-Con crowds.)
I walked around and admired a lot of the video games being demoed throughout the hall, but my main destination was the tabletop gaming sections, which were mostly around the edges. I got my first glimpse of Flying Frog Production’s upcoming Invasion From Outer Space game (which looks awesome) as well as Mayfair’s Settlers of America (which looks daunting). There was also a game of Settlers of Catan being played on a Microsoft Surface table, which was pretty impressive. And then I boggled over Geek Chic’s custom-made gaming tables, which look like nice dining tables until you pull off the leaves to uncover the gorgeous gaming surface underneath.
I’d love to tell you all about the rest of the day, but I really need to get going so I can catch my bus downtown again. We met up with Ken Denmead when he arrived and got to see the Dungeons & Dragons party bus, and then tried out the D&D Essentials Red Box. It was in fact my first ever experience with D&D, and it was pretty fun. I can see why it could become a lifestyle. I played a bunch of games from the Tabletop Gaming Headquarters, where you could check out a board game from their library and take it to any of the many many tables around the convention center. And then, as I was making my last sweep through the convention center on my way out to catch my bus … I saw an empty seat at a Microsoft Surface table, where they were playing some sort of space-aliens cooperative tower defense game. I stayed for about an hour, missing the midnight bus home by about five minutes, and ended up waiting an extra 25 minutes for the next bus.
It was a long, full day, and I can’t wait to do it again.
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PAX: First Impressions
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PAX: First Impressions
Author: Tiffany Shoman
Photo: Ken Denmead
It was sort of a last-minute decision for me to attend PAX Prime. I’d read (with some amount of envy) about the GeekDads attending PAX East earlier this year but hadn’t even considered the possibility of attending PAX myself, at least not this year —we had too many trips planned, vacation time was running out, etc. But here I am anyway! I’m just a lucky guy, with a fantastic wife who indulges my geekery.
I really didn’t have much of an idea what to expect. I’m staying with a friend, about a half-hour bus ride away from downtown and the convention center, so I missed a lot of the hustle and bustle when I arrived Thursday night. Riding the bus into town, I was torn between gawking out the window (watching for my first glimpse of downtown Seattle) and reading the con-appropriate book I’d brought with me, Tom Bissel’s Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
Photo: Ken Denmead
My bus stop was right across the street from the Benaroya Theater, where Warren Spector would be delivering the PAX keynote speech in about an hour and a half, and I saw people in geeky T-shirts and PAX badges on lanyards headed that way. But I’d seen on Twitter that some people had been in line for the keynote for nearly two hours already, so I decided it wasn’t really worth trying for. Instead, I walked over to the Sheraton, picked up my Speaker badge (surprisingly quickly) and then headed to the convention center, where I met up with fellow GeekDads Dave Banks and Michael Harrison.
Since the halls weren’t open yet, we kicked off PAX the right way: with a game of San Juan, on a little cafe table that was much too small. We finished up right at 10:00, and headed upstairs to explore the main hall. After finding a helpful Enforcer (the volunteers at PAX) who got us maps and schedules, we entered the Exhibit Hall and commenced gawking.
My first impression was that it was loud. The entrance we’d chosen was facing a Rock Band 3 stage, where somebody was belting out an off-tune rendition of some song I’ve since blocked out of my head. My second impression was: hey, look at all this room to walk! (I’ve been told that Saturday will be much more crowded, but it’s hard to imagine it beating the Comic-Con crowds.)
I walked around and admired a lot of the video games being demoed throughout the hall, but my main destination was the tabletop gaming sections, which were mostly around the edges. I got my first glimpse of Flying Frog Production’s upcoming Invasion From Outer Space game (which looks awesome) as well as Mayfair’s Settlers of America (which looks daunting). There was also a game of Settlers of Catan being played on a Microsoft Surface table, which was pretty impressive. And then I boggled over Geek Chic’s custom-made gaming tables, which look like nice dining tables until you pull off the leaves to uncover the gorgeous gaming surface underneath.
I’d love to tell you all about the rest of the day, but I really need to get going so I can catch my bus downtown again. We met up with Ken Denmead when he arrived and got to see the Dungeons & Dragons party bus, and then tried out the D&D Essentials Red Box. It was in fact my first ever experience with D&D, and it was pretty fun. I can see why it could become a lifestyle. I played a bunch of games from the Tabletop Gaming Headquarters, where you could check out a board game from their library and take it to any of the many many tables around the convention center. And then, as I was making my last sweep through the convention center on my way out to catch my bus … I saw an empty seat at a Microsoft Surface table, where they were playing some sort of space-aliens cooperative tower defense game. I stayed for about an hour, missing the midnight bus home by about five minutes, and ended up waiting an extra 25 minutes for the next bus.
It was a long, full day, and I can’t wait to do it again.
Read more here:
PAX: First Impressions
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Tags: convention, Flying, LED, Microsoft, pax, pax prime 2010, Speaker, Street, Video | 
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Intervention — A Showcase for Web Comics
Author: Jamie Colby
I was contacted by a friend from the comics world about the new Intervention convention. Intrigued, I checked out the workshop list. My first thought after looking at it was “Ooo! A con that talks about web comics and how to create them.”
The workshops go beyond the simple nuts and bolts of writing and also get into the technical details on how to use Wordpress and other sites to host your blog and comics, from beginning to advanced programming.
This new con, set for September 10-12 in Rockville, Maryland, was put together by artist Onezumi Hartstein and web developer James Harknell to fill a void. They noticed that while there were sci-fi conventions, comic book conventions, and anime conventions, there was no Internet Culture convention.
“James and I wanted to put together an event that would compliment the existing print-centric conventions — we wanted to showcase the creators who use the internet as their primary publishing method,” Hartstein said in a press release. “I went to conventions for years to promote my webcomic, and was always treated well, but felt that web creators needed their own space. We’re giving them that with Intervention.”
I asked Brian Lynch, the press agent for the con, what one thing he wanted people considering attending to know about Intervention, especially it’s the same weekend as SPX aka the Small Press Expo.
He said to tell Wired readers that “we’re the only con to ever host a two-night, Cthulhu-themed goth/industrial dance party, replete with cosplaying go-go dancers. Alternately, I hear that SPX has a very nice chocolate fountain….”
More seriously, Lynch pointed out the low registration price. “We’re the diet con. All the big con fun, half the big con price.”
The biggest name at the con will be science fiction legend Ben Bova. Aside from the writing workshops and discussion panels, there’s also a comprehensive gaming track. The con’s sponsors include ThinkGeek and Popcap Games, among others.
Pre-registration tickets for the weekend can be purchased for $40; tickets at the door will cost $45, with single-day rates to be announced.
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Intervention — A Showcase for Web Comics
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Tags: armchair geek, ATT, Comics, electronic geek, from-the-comics, intervention, james-harknell, Space, SPL, Writing |
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Intervention — A Showcase for Web Comics
Author: Jesus Sargent
I was contacted by a friend from the comics world about the new Intervention convention. Intrigued, I checked out the workshop list. My first thought after looking at it was “Ooo! A con that talks about web comics and how to create them.”
The workshops go beyond the simple nuts and bolts of writing and also get into the technical details on how to use Wordpress and other sites to host your blog and comics, from beginning to advanced programming.
This new con, set for September 10-12 in Rockville, Maryland, was put together by artist Onezumi Hartstein and web developer James Harknell to fill a void. They noticed that while there were sci-fi conventions, comic book conventions, and anime conventions, there was no Internet Culture convention.
“James and I wanted to put together an event that would compliment the existing print-centric conventions — we wanted to showcase the creators who use the internet as their primary publishing method,” Hartstein said in a press release. “I went to conventions for years to promote my webcomic, and was always treated well, but felt that web creators needed their own space. We’re giving them that with Intervention.”
I asked Brian Lynch, the press agent for the con, what one thing he wanted people considering attending to know about Intervention, especially it’s the same weekend as SPX aka the Small Press Expo.
He said to tell Wired readers that “we’re the only con to ever host a two-night, Cthulhu-themed goth/industrial dance party, replete with cosplaying go-go dancers. Alternately, I hear that SPX has a very nice chocolate fountain….”
More seriously, Lynch pointed out the low registration price. “We’re the diet con. All the big con fun, half the big con price.”
The biggest name at the con will be science fiction legend Ben Bova. Aside from the writing workshops and discussion panels, there’s also a comprehensive gaming track. The con’s sponsors include ThinkGeek and Popcap Games, among others.
Pre-registration tickets for the weekend can be purchased for $40; tickets at the door will cost $45, with single-day rates to be announced.
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Intervention — A Showcase for Web Comics
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With Arc Touch and XBox Play & Charge, Microsoft Makes Mighty Morphin’ Power Peripherals
Author: Tiffany Shoman
Arc Touch Mouse Promotional Photo from Microsoft.com
Microsoft has made two new controllers — one for your computer, one for your XBox 360 — that can switch into different shapes depending on your needs or preferences. The well-leaked, much-anticipated Arc Touch Mouse is shipping now; the new wireless XBox Play and Charge kit will be out stateside in November.
Exactly a month ago, Microsoft Hardware teased their new mouse on Twitter with a partial image and a riddle/tagline: “Don’t be so touchy… flat is where it’s at.” Most people guessed it was a new mouse or trackpad, but as John Paczkowski noted, “the composite image also looks like the back of a smartphone or media player…or a remote control…or an electric razor…or a pancake griddle.” What was this new mystery device?
Well, it’s a highly mobile, lightweight, touch-sensitive mouse that arcs to fit in the palm of your hand while you’re using it and packs flat so you can stuff it in a pocket on the go. It’s targeted for laptop users who don’t like their always-flat trackpads.
In a press release titled “Think the Mouse is Dead?“, Microsoft Hardware’s Brett Ostrum wrote that even as trackpads and other input devices have evolved, the market for mice has only grown: “The reasons people need external mice will not change: comfort and precision.”
There are some nice concessions to the trackpad model here, though: the Arc Touch has a touch strip instead of a scroll wheel. Instead of a perfectly smooth drag, the strip vibrates to simulate to simulate a wheel’s click-click bumps. I hope you can toggle this feature on and off — I imagine some people enjoy, or at least have gotten accustomed to, the finger-on-glass feel of a trackpad or touchscreen.
(Here’s a promotional video of the Arc Touch in action. If only Microsoft could invent a Silverlight video that could flat-pack into HTML 5 for easy embedding!)
The XBox 360 has a new wireless controller, too, but its flat-packing profile tweak is more subtle. Its directional pad can pop up into a “plus” for raised directional controls, or snap flush into a “disc” for easy Street Fighter II-style thumb-drag joystick moves. (Sorry for the outdated game reference. I’m old.)
There are plenty of other nice things in this model, including wireless (of course) and a new silver-gray look. But I think the versatility of the d-pad is the real item of interest here. As we start using remotes for game consoles to do more and more things, whether as media players or web browsers, we’re going to want controllers that can morph to match.
See Also:
- Hands On: Xbox Kinect Games Give You a Serious Workout
- Why Xbox Might Be Microsoft's Future — and Computing's, Too …
- Apple Redefines Remote Control — Now, It's Your Cellphone
- Poof! After Wireless, the Computer Mouse Turns Invisible
- Toe-Mouse for Foot-Controlled Computing
- Wired 13.06: The Xbox Reloaded
The rest is here:
With Arc Touch and XBox Play & Charge, Microsoft Makes Mighty Morphin’ Power Peripherals
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Apple Announces New Versions of iOS
Author: Brandon Zimmerman
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Wednesday announced the next two versions of iOS, its operating system for iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad, adding support for multiplayer gaming, HDR photography, and wireless printing.
The first revision to the operating system, iOS 4.1, will be available next week as a free download for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but not the iPad. IOS 4.1 includes bug fixes, support for making high dynamic range (HDR) photos, TV show rentals, and an entertainment feature for multiplayer gaming called Game Center.
Jobs says that the bug fixes are focused on the issues most frequently raised by customer support calls.
“We think we’ve nailed a lot of them and we think you’re going to be pretty happy with them,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said.
The next version, iOS 4.2, will available in November for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users. Its feature enhancements will be focused on iPad users, with a focus on wireless printing from the iPad. It will also include features already available to iOS 4 users on the other two platforms, but which have not yet been made available to the iPad: multitasking, multi-threaded e-mail and folders.
Continued here:
Apple Announces New Versions of iOS
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Tags: Apple, apple-wednesday, from-the-ipad, Gaming, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, operating, Phone, Ski, steve-jobs, Touch |
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First Look: ELocity’s Android Tablet Makes Great Media Player
Author: Ang Nguyen
Stream TV is an unlikely player in the Great Tablet Race of 2010, but its new Android tablet might just find a niche among media-hungry consumers who want the option of throwing their games and movies up on a big-screen HDTV.
I got a chance to test-drive the eLocity A7 recently at Stream TV’s Philadelphia offices, and it looks like a solid, versatile tablet with a lot to offer, especially as a portable media player. (Philadelphia has plenty of telecoms and pharmaceutical companies, but not much in the way of consumer tech, so I was lucky that the company is just 12 blocks from my house.)
The three key phrases that will get geeks excited about the A7 are “Froyo,” “NVidia Tegra,” and “1080p output.” Translation: the A7’s shipping with the newest Android OS, a processor chip optimized for gaming, graphics, and video processing, and it spits out true HD video, so you can plug it into a TV.
Look at the hardware controls on the picture above: They are the standard control buttons that appear on every Android phone (plus a volume button), but they’re oriented for landscape mode. Some people knocked the iPad for being a media player rather than a portable computer, but eLocity is clearly aimed directly at media consumers.
One way to think about this class of tablets: imagine a more-versatile Apple TV, with a built-in touchscreen, that also plays video games, runs apps, and browses the web. Oh, and you can carry it around with you.
Because of the NVidia chip and 1080p, the A7 shines when it’s hooked up to an HDTV. (eLocity’s including an HDMI cable and Bluetooth-fob keyboard with the A7 in its $400 kit.) Because it uses Android, it can play almost any file format. You don’t have to worry about buying video in different resolutions for your portable device and your set-top box. We watched an HD trailer for Avatar, some clips from Shark Tale, including a Blu-Ray rip, and all looked great.
You can also play video games on the big screen while hooked up to your TV — we played the racing game Asphalt 5 — but here the HDMI cable was really awkward. Cables and accelerometers do not mix. The gameplay was much better when using the tablet like a PSP, without connecting it to a TV. It’ll be even better once there are more Android games that take advantage of the tablet form factor.
The other hurdle to clear when the A7 is hooked up to the TV is inputting data. You can walk over and use the touchscreen, but that’s very pre-remote. There’s the included keyboard, but it is just the teensiest bit awkward using a device that big when you’re not at a desk or conference table. It worked fine — I just wonder whether people who aren’t me will enjoy sitting back, relaxing, and pulling out a big keyboard to watch a movie.
Part of the problem is that there just aren’t many good peripherals for Android devices yet. The keyboard eLocity is including is branded for Windows (“We’ll include an Android sticker to put over the Windows logo,” company reps told me), and there aren’t any Bluetooth mice, trackpads, or remotes, although clever people might get something unofficially supported to work.
The hardware keyboard is also an acknowledgment that software keyboards for these tablets are fine for casual use, but not knocking anybody over just yet. My editor called it “a deconstructed netbook,” and that’s not far off. But again, part of the appeal is that it can alternately be a tablet, netbook, and set-top box as needed.
It also makes for a fairly slick e-reader. It’s not as light as a Kindle, but smaller and lighter than an iPad, and the touch controls and Aidiko e-book software worked great. You’ve can also get the Nook and Kindle apps for Android. Instead of using Pages to read PDFs, you’ve got Adobe Reader (or whatever other PDF app you can find). It also supports Adobe Flash. (Add your cheers/boos, as you’re so inclined.)
The company’s shipping the devices with Facebook, Documents to Go (the trial/read-only version), Twidroid, and other popular apps preloaded, so it’s ready to use out of the box. I didn’t see anything that looked like bloatware. Unless you really, really hate mobile Flash.
Now, some caveats. I did not get to test the device that’s actually shipping this fall. It will be available for exclusive preorder with Amazon after Labor Day (probably September 8), and will ship after mid-October. The demo unit was basically identical to the Compal- and Aigo-branded tablets that appeared at some consumer shows earlier this year, right down to the metallic red body and Android 2.1 OS. The unit that’s shipping will have 2.2, which has finally been pushed out. It will also be black/graphite, like the photos above.
It’s Wi-Fi only, since StreamTV still doesn’t have carrier deals in place. But it only has 802.11 b/g networking, not n. It outputs video in 1080p, but on-screen resolution is 800
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Griffin Party Dock Offers Four-Way iPad Gaming
Author: Katie Scott
Combined with a party-keg, Griffin’s recently-outed Party Dock for the iPad should make some great, well, parties. As long as you like quiz games, that is.
Thanks to an FCC filing, the iPad accessory was leaked last week and Griffin quickly took control of the situation. Now you can read preliminary details and sign up for future updates at the site. So just what is the Party Dock? It’s a dock for the iPad which has four wireless controllers (hence the FCC filing) letting up to four people play games at once. Because four heads squeezed around one ten-inch screen is a little crowded, the dock also hooks into a big-screen via composite and component video connections.
Games will have to be custom-designed for the dock, and developers can sign up with Griffin already. The controllers are simple, with four directional buttons, a central buttons and one more back button. In terms of layout, the controllers are identical to Apple’s IR remote. This design clearly lends itself more to trivia games than four-way shoot-em’ups.
The dock also supports regular video, so you can watch movies and YouTube on your big-screen TV, as well as photo slideshows and music. There is no launch date or price available yet, as the leak came a lot earlier than Griffin expected. That early-outing will have one advantage at least: now the developers know about it, there may even be a good game lineup at launch.
Griffin Party Dock [Griffin]
See Also:
- Screenshots From a Full-Screen iPad Game
- IPad Game Accessories Already Appearing
- Wiimote-Controlled SNES Emulator on iPad
Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.
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Griffin Party Dock Offers Four-Way iPad Gaming
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A Kids’ Perspective on Portal
Author: Stacey Cook
Portal 2 (image: thinkwithportals.com)
My kids have become fascinated with Portal. They oversaw me watching some of the videos the other day while I was putting together a news post on Portal 2. Something about the combination of Stephen Merchant’s playground voice and the disembodied robot really caught their attention.
We spent the next half hour watching and re-watching the different footage currently available on Valve’s much anticipated sequel. It was fascinating to see how they responded to it – even without really knowing about the mechanics of the game there was enough to intrigue them.
It made me realize that I often think about Portal as “the game with the clever teleport gun”, when in actual fact it is the characterization as much as anything else that made it a success – and of course GLaDOS.
Although I had almost finished my article about the game when the kids came in, this experience with them meant that I rewrote my Portal 2 news entirely:
Portal 2 is a long lost friend, and she knows it. The sequel is a re-embrace of the original – as much as new guns, environments and play style – it’s a return to an old friend that is real draw here.
“It’s been a long time” GLaDOS familiar Dalek tone immediately gets us in the mood “How have you been?” Portal 2 shows how well Valve understand their game – and that this has never just been about teleporting mind-bending puzzles – it’s as much about characters, and one character in particular. “I think we can put our differences behind us, for science,” drones GLaDOS “you monster…” her subtle reminder of our abuse in the first game.
Then I got to the end of the article, where I usually put my own name, and had an urge to credit my kids with the perspective. While I couldn’t do that on my blog, I thought it would be good to credit them here as the source of my creative output that day.
Link:
A Kids’ Perspective on Portal
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Tags: 360/, ATT, attention, combination, differences, disembodied, experience', Game, kids, mac, Perspective, PS3, source, Watch |
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A Kids’ Perspective on Portal
Author: Troy Sorbo
Portal 2 (image: thinkwithportals.com)
My kids have become fascinated with Portal. They oversaw me watching some of the videos the other day while I was putting together a news post on Portal 2. Something about the combination of Stephen Merchant’s playground voice and the disembodied robot really caught their attention.
We spent the next half hour watching and re-watching the different footage currently available on Valve’s much anticipated sequel. It was fascinating to see how they responded to it – even without really knowing about the mechanics of the game there was enough to intrigue them.
It made me realize that I often think about Portal as “the game with the clever teleport gun”, when in actual fact it is the characterization as much as anything else that made it a success – and of course GLaDOS.
Although I had almost finished my article about the game when the kids came in, this experience with them meant that I rewrote my Portal 2 news entirely:
Portal 2 is a long lost friend, and she knows it. The sequel is a re-embrace of the original – as much as new guns, environments and play style – it’s a return to an old friend that is real draw here.
“It’s been a long time” GLaDOS familiar Dalek tone immediately gets us in the mood “How have you been?” Portal 2 shows how well Valve understand their game – and that this has never just been about teleporting mind-bending puzzles – it’s as much about characters, and one character in particular. “I think we can put our differences behind us, for science,” drones GLaDOS “you monster…” her subtle reminder of our abuse in the first game.
Then I got to the end of the article, where I usually put my own name, and had an urge to credit my kids with the perspective. While I couldn’t do that on my blog, I thought it would be good to credit them here as the source of my creative output that day.
Read the rest here:
A Kids’ Perspective on Portal
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Tags: 360/, attention, combination, creative-output, differences, experience', Mechanics, Portal, PS3, source, Video, Watch |
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