Archive for the ‘Gaming’ Category
Peripherals that changed gaming
September 8th, 2009 | 
Author: This week marks the latest release in the Rock Band series (see our hands-on). It features one of the biggest names in music–The Beatles. It also features pack-in instruments that continue to look more and more like their real-life counterparts.
Rock Band was definitely not the first video game to necessitate special hardware, nor will it be the last. Below we’ve put together a list of some of the most innovative peripherals and hardware that have helped change the way we play games. Some went on to become big, while others failed or were martyrs to future incarnations that proved successful.
In creating this roundup, one thing became clear: Nintendo’s made great efforts to bring new ideas to the table every few years. And in that process, the Wii has proven to be one of the company’s great successes. But there were also failures along the way. Those, along with winners from Nintendo’s competitors and third parties, are all chronicled.
Disclaimer: This list is, of course, neither completely comprehensive nor as far reaching as it could be, but (we think) it does a pretty good job at painting a picture of how far gaming peripherals have come. Feel free to add your own favorites, or ones we missed in the comments.
Google’s mystery UFO doodle finally explained
I know there are some people who have not slept for fear that Google had finally committed itself to some alien culture.
Well, some outerworldly alien culture. Well, some outerworldly alien culture where all beings were green and no one used phrases like “market segmentation” and “41 shades of blue.”
You see, a mysterious doodle appeared on the Google home page. It showed an alien spacecraft making off with the second “O” in the word “Google.”
Were we really expected to merely gogle now? Didn’t that sound uncomfortably close to ogling?
Though there were no references to the Church of Scientology, Google’s first pronouncement on the subject did not quell the concern.
The questionably benign company declared: “We consider the second ‘o’ critical to user recognition of our brand and pronunciation of our name. We are actively looking into the mysterious tweet that has appeared on the Google twitter stream and the disappearance of the ‘o’ on the Google home page. We hope to have an update in the coming weeks.”
The world continued experiencing the occasional shudder, until Google’s Twitter page produced this revelatory tweet on Friday: “1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19.”
Well, it was revelatory to those who think in a certain way, one to which I can only aspire.
“Yes, of course,” those who think that way said to themselves, while simultaneously slapping their heads with a fly-swatter. “It’s a reference to that wonderful Japanese video game of the 1980s, Zero Wing.”
Now, look, I’ve heard of Vera Wang. But somehow Zero Wing passed me by, though I think it would be an excellent name for a fashion designer.
However, those on the inside (of the spacecraft) tell me that Zero Wing is terribly cool and features extremely characteristic English translations.
Apparently, Cats, a villain even greater than the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, makes this declaration at the beginning of Zero Wing: “How are you gentlemen. All your base are belong to us.”
Well, when you take all those numbers in the Google tweet and turn them into the corresponding letters of the alphabet, you get: “All your O are belong to us.”
Why would some Googlies want to feature Zero Wing now? Well, it’s the game’s 20th anniversary.
So there. The problem is solved. The world is safe. Google has not been taken over by aliens.
Or can we really be sure of that?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10345951-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Gaming, Google | 
Tags: All your O are belong to us. All your base are belong to us. Google doodle, Google, Zero Wing | 
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Tetris is good for the brain, study claims
I met a perfectly lovely young woman this weekend who told me that when she was a teenager she took Ecstasy, snorted coke, and inhaled pot as if it were dim sum on a Sunday morning.
So I found myself relieved beyond the effects of a hot stone massage to discover that research on teenage girls has shown that when they play Tetris it has a wonderfully positive effect on their brains.
The Mind Research Network, which appears to be a nonprofit organization that examines brain injury and mental illness, decided to spend three months of its life and donations on watching what happens when teenage girls play Tetris.
The network’s scientists seem giddy about the results: consistent practice on the pleasantly mind-numbing little game seems to have given the girls a thicker cortex, as well as creating more brain efficiency in other parts of their tender gray areas.
Now, I’m not sure that every teenage girl on earth will be excited about having a thicker cortex, but the brain of Dr. Rex Jung, one of the boffins behind this experiment, is veritably bursting with joy.
“We did our Tetris study to see if mental practice increased cortical thickness, a sign of more gray matter,” Dr. Jung said Monday in a press statement.
(Credit: Cc TotalAldo/Flickr)He continued: “If it did, it could be an explanation for why previous studies have shown that mental practice increases brain efficiency. More gray matter in an area could mean that the area would not need to work as hard during Tetris play.”
Essentially, the excitement engendered by this little game playing seems to revolve around the notion that the brain’s structure is not as fixed as scientists of old had assumed.
However, I feel I need now explore the frisson of doubt that overcomes me every time I read research. You see, this study does not help us discover the actual relationship between a thicker cortex and increased brain efficiency.
How might I know this? Why, because I read the smaller print, in which Dr. Richard Haier, a co-investigator of the Tetrisettes, said: “How a thicker cortex and increased brain efficiency are related remains a mystery.”
You see, the functioning of teenage girls’ brains is, as one has always thought, an utter befuddlement.
While the scientists claim that they used girls in the study because boys tend to have too much video game experience, I am now wondering just one thing: were these Tetrisettes drug-tested?
I know you might think this is far fetched. I know you may think I only meet lovely girls who are strange and tell outlandish tales of teenage drug use.
But, you see, there were only 26 girls in this study. And if I’m to believe that the actions of teenage girls will somehow inform our knowledge of the brain, I want them tested for coke, pot, E, and, definitely, crystal meth.
Interestingly, the study’s notes say that none of the girls was taking a prescription medication. But neither were so many baseball players in the 1990s.
Perhaps my zeal for scientific purity, otherwise known as my skepticism, may be excessive here.
But perhaps it was made excessive by some small print in the study. I know your cortex will become thinner on receiving this information, but the study was funded by “Blue Planet Software (BPS), Inc., the company holding exclusive licensing rights to Tetris”.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10322773-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Here’s a great Tetris site :
Sony Announces PlayStation 3 $100 Price Cuts
Well, it’s official. After months of speculation, and persistent denials, Sony has revealed that starting tomorrow the 80GB PlayStation 3 will be available for the low, low price of $299, and the 160GB model will now be $399.
Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai made the announcement during Sony’s GamesCom 2009 press conference, during which Hirai also revealed that that the long rumored and highly anticipated PS3 Slim will also be available for $299 starting the first week of September.
Both announcements are fantastic, and for many gamers out there who have been wanting to pick up a PS3, but weren’t able to commit to the $399 price tag, this news could not be more welcomed. Once again though, the price cut and the PS3 Slim were both totally expected, and having them “officially announced” was really just a formality. Still, it’s good to hear. Then again, I’m not entirely sure why anyone would throw down $299 for an 80GB PS3 when the 120GB PS3 Slim is coming in a few weeks for the exact same price.
While it’s fun to speculate about such things as consumer motivations, I can’t help but wonder what else Sony is up to with this whole price cut business. Sure, it was a necessary business move, but it also seems to suggest a much sharper strategy, especially when considered against the backdrop of Sony’s new iPhone-ish application store. Sony has clearly noticed the skyrocketing popularity of casual gaming, which owes a great deal of thanks to the $1 to $5 model that has made Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch such a successful mobile gaming platform.
Perhaps Sony believes these new “bite-sized” games will be just the thing to make up the difference caused by shaving off $100 from the PS3. And these are just the games we’re talking about. This doesn’t even take into account the cash Sony will rake in via micro-transactions on the PlayStation Network, thanks to the introduction of new dynamic themes and premium avatars, both of which will be added in the recently announced firmware 3.0 update.
Sony started out this console generation as the big, black behemoth that was a bit overpriced for most gamers. Now though, with the new app store, the new price cut and, especially, with the Slim version, Sony has repositioned the PS3 as a much more consumer friendly, gamer loving console. And there was much rejoicing.
Source :
TheFeed Sony Announces PlayStation 3 $100 Price Cuts http://tinyurl.com/px2cgc
PlayStation 3 Slim Not Backwards Compatible With PlayStation 2 Games
Given that Sony didn’t make a note of it at its GamesCom press conference, most assumed the impending slimmer version of the PlayStation 3 would not have backwards compatibility with PlayStation 2 games. In the official press release announcing the new hardware, this suspicion has been confirmed: there is no compatibility.
“Note: This product is not compatible with PlayStation 2 games,” reads the release.
Does this influence your thinking about the new model at all?
Source :
TheFeed PlayStation 3 Slim Not Backwards Compatible With PlayStation 2 Games http://tinyurl.com/ktvfme
