Hasta La Gadget!

In today’s installment of The Wacky World of Gaming, it appears that the once-beloved Black Isle Studios is back. We haven’t heard from the studio since 2003, when parent company Interplay shut it down, but now it seems that Interplay has decided to revive it. Details are still very scarce, with the newly launched website only announcing that the studio has returned and inviting visitors to sign up for a mailing list.

Likewise, the new Facebook and Twitter pages for Black Isle are lacking any kind of substantial information. It seems that those in the industry are just as confused as everyone else, with Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo saying in a tweet that he doesn’t have enough information on this reemergence to make a comment yet. Chris Avellone, who served as one of Black Isle’s main men before joining Obsidian, said via Twitter that he doesn’t know anything about the Black Isle announcement, and that no one at Obsidian is involved with the apparent re-opening of the studio. A lot of the people who worked at Black Isle are now with Obsidian, so it makes sense that some would suspect Obsidian had a hand in this.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Truth be told, almost nothing has been revealed about the new Black Isle – we’re just being told to wait for more news. If Black Isle truly is back, then whoever ends up working there will have some big shoes to fill. Black Isle was responsible for some classic computer RPGs, including the first two Fallout titles, the Icewind Dale series, and Planescape: Torment. All of those games are still loved today, so whatever this new Black Isle will be doing, players will be expecting a lot.

So, how’s that for a strange gaming story? It’s been a long time since we last heard from Black Isle, and this announcement has apparently blindsided everyone in the industry. It’s definitely exciting to see that Black Isle has returned, but now the question is: can this new studio deliver the same great RPG experiences that Black Isle is remembered for? Keep it tuned to SlashGear, because this could turn out to be big.

Black Isle apparently rises from the dead, everyone is confused is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last spring an announcement from the platform team at Twitter not-at-all-subtly suggested developers of third party clients should find something else to do, and today a list of changes to its API turns that whisper into a firm nudge. The limit that most directly affects any of the unofficial clients you may be interested in using is that existing apps currently servicing more than 100,000 individual user tokens will be allowed to double their current count, but cannot add any users past that without Twitter’s permission. Going forward, any app that needs more than 100,000 tokens to do things like access the timeline, show DMs or anything else a client app might do will also need Twitter’s permission to operate. Other changes include that any pre-installed client app on something like a phone, computer, or TV will need Twitter’s permission before it ships (sensing a trend here?), or potentially face revocation of its application key. Moving on, the Display Guidelines about the information any app that displays tweets must provide are shifting to Display Requirements, with violators potentially losing that application key. Those Twitter Cards that started rolling out over the last few months are also getting a big push, with plans to include other ways for developers to bring their rich content to Twitter, and embed real-time Twitter content on existing websites.

In a section of the blog post that specifically calls out popular third party clients like Tweetbot and Echofon, it puts them in a zone of Twitter apps that it believes developers “should not build” since they mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter client experience. Other services focused on aggregation like Storify and Favstar.fm are also called out as not having much of a future in Twitter’s view of its universe A-OK, see the update below. It’s pretty clear where we’re headed, as Twitter seeks to monetize a growing and talkative user base, it wants to make sure users are all seeing things in the format it wants them to. With a six month migration period ahead, developers and users may have hard choices to make. Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad has already tweeted that “the sky is not falling…the cap is pretty huge and we aren’t going anywhere”, and we’ll undoubtedly hear from others soon. The rest of the details reside beyond the source link, but let us know first — are you learning to love the official Twitter clients, or are you thinking paying $50 a year for an entirely unproven alternative with no users doesn’t sound so ridiculous after all?

Update: Twitter platform director Ryan Sarver tweets that Favstar.fm and Storify are actually “good examples” of services it would like to see. Also, TweetLanes developer Chris Lacy is apparently encouraged by the change, thanking Twitter for “giving client devs a chance”

Filed under: Internet, Software

Twitter’s API v1.1 rules put user caps on third party clients, exert more control overall originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If Microsoft can’t use the Metro name, no one else can. Not in its company-owned Windows Store, at least. An update to the Windows 8 app criteria guide explicitly tells developers that any submitted Windows Store app with Metro in the title will “fail certification” — effectively, it’s banned. There’s a certain irony to the aggressive stance on naming when Microsoft itself still mentions Metro prominently across many of its pages, but the restriction isn’t a laughing matter for developers already trying to support an OS that doesn’t ship for another two months. One of the most popular apps in the pre-release Windows Store, MetroTwit, likely faces imminent exile without a name change; there’s also worries that mass transit apps might get the boot for entirely innocuous uses of the word. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment on its legal rights in the area. In the meantime, it’s safe to say that “metro” is only to be spoken in hushed tones anywhere near Microsoft’s official content portals.

Update: Word from WPCentral is that the language restricting developers from using the Metro name wasn’t a new addition to the Windows 8 app criteria guide. Turns out, it was an older error that has since been removed. Rejoice, developers! It appears that the word is not off limits. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for confirmation and will update when we hear back.

Filed under: Software

Microsoft bans use of Metro name in Windows Store apps (Update: May not be banned after all) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tickets for the Build 2012 developer conference have already sold out, roughly an hour after Microsoft put them on sale. “We’re full” the message on the Build registration site now reads, advising would-be attendees to “Keep calm and join the wait list.” It’s unclear exactly how many tickets Microsoft had to offer, though waiting for a drop-out now seems the only way to get on the guest-list.

That’s despite attendance at the developer event being none too cheap. Early-bird tickets were priced at $1,595 apiece, and the 500 available sold out in minutes. Full-price tickets were $2,095 each, and took around 70 minutes to go. Microsoft also offered 100 $995 academic tickets, which required pre-approval.

The speedy sell-out is just the latest high-profile developer event to fill up in short order. Registration for Apple’s WWDC has grown more frantic with each passing year, forcing the company to block ticket resales in 2012, while Google I/O has shown similar demand among Android developers.

Part of the allure is undoubtedly the potential for freebies and swag for attendees. Last year, developers at Build 2011 left with a free Samsung tablet for them to get started coding Windows 8 applications with, and with Microsoft Surface flying the own-brand flag for the OS, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Windows RT slate in the 2012 goody-bags.

SlashGear will be covering the Build 2012 keynote and bringing you all the news as it’s announced, so don’t fret too much if you missed out on tickets.

[Thanks @stroughtonsmith!]

Microsoft Build 2012 sells-out in an hour is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s a day of mixed blessings if you’re a Windows Phone developer. The upside? Microsoft has shelved its old App Hub in favor of the heavily reworked Windows Phone Dev Center: along with being simpler and more reliable, it now lets app designers offer their apps in four times as many countries (three times as many for paid apps), gives them better tracking tools and lets them at last get payment from Microsoft through PayPal. We hope they aren’t making too many grand plans to bring Microsoft’s newly added in-app purchasing support to every title, however. The counterbalance in this story is confirmation in the Dev Center that any in-app commerce will be limited to Windows Phone 8 — even devices running Windows Phone 7.8 will have to turn to all-or-nothing transactions to directly generate cash. While we can’t say we’re surprised, knowing that Microsoft hadn’t mentioned legacy support before, the news no doubt dampens the enthusiasm for developers who now need to wait for a wave of new devices before they can join the freemium app gold rush.

Update: WMPowerUser noticed something in that tiny text on the home page — the artist formerly known as the Windows Phone Marketplace is now the Windows Phone Store. A small (and still unacknowledged) change, but notable for harmonizing the mobile app shop with the Windows Store on the desktop.

Filed under: Cellphones

Microsoft opens Windows Phone Dev Center, limits in-app purchases to Windows Phone 8 (update: store rebrand too) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Windows Phone Developer Blog, The Verge  |  Windows Phone Dev Center (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments