Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s SmartAR demoed live, raises the bar for augmented reality (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 May 2011 17:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some may agree that over the years, augmented reality’s been slowly losing its appeal given its sometimes laggy and unreliable performance — most implementations require a weird marker to be in clear sight, and the graphics rendering speed on your handheld device would rely on your slow and steady hands. As such, we were initially skeptical when Sony’s SmartAR announcement came along; but as you can see in the video above, said technology took us by surprise with its super slick responsiveness, and the markerless object recognition makes a compelling hassle-free selling point. What’s more, the same clip also shows off SmartAR handling large 3D space with ease — notice how the virtual objects continue to animate even when the original anchor object is out of sight. Sony hasn’t given any dates here, but there’s no doubt that once SmartAR is available to game developers and advertisers, it’ll rake in some nice pocket money for the electronics giant.

Continue reading Sony SmartAR delivers high-speed markerless augmented reality, blows minds (video)

Sony SmartAR delivers high-speed markerless augmented reality, blows minds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 01:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember the recent PlayStation Network outage? You know the one, right? It started in late-April and lasted up through this weekend’s phased restoration (and continues on for many un-phased users). Well, Sony would like to sincerely apologize for the whole thing the best way it knows how: free video games. The company today announced its “Welcome Back” program, which is letting all existing PSN and Qriocity users in North America pick two of the following games: Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD, and Wipeout HD + Fury. PSP users, meanwhile, can chose two from LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force, and Kill Liberation. You can claim the games at some point in the next 30 days, and once you’ve downloaded, they’re yours to keep. The gesture may well prove too little, too late for many disgruntled users — but even they’ll likely have trouble staying angry at Sackboy’s adorable little dirt-stained mug.

Sony’s ‘Welcome Back’ campaign apologizes to distraught PSN users with free games, good vibes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 18:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony may be busy flipping the PlayStation Network switch back to the “on” position around the globe, but one locale where it won’t be doing so just yet is its homeland of Japan. The Dow Jones newshounds report that the Japanese government refuses to allow Sony to reactivate its ailing network until satisfaction is reached on a couple of outstanding issues. The first is that the company’s promised counter-hacking measures announced on May 1st have not yet been fully enacted — though details of what has or hasn’t been done yet are understandably unavailable — and the second is that Japan wants to see further preventive measures taken to ensure users users’ credit card numbers and other private data won’t be exposed through their use of Sony’s online services again. These sound like rational demands to us, and Sony is already in talks with the authorities to make sure it lives up to their expectations.

Continue reading Japan won’t allow Sony to turn PSN back on until it’s assured it’s safe

Japan won’t allow Sony to turn PSN back on until it’s assured it’s safe originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 01:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What better way to market a game that isn’t really a game than with an artist who isn’t really an artist? Such was the rationale, apparently, behind Zynga‘s recent decision to partner with Lady Gaga, the freshly anointed face of FarmVille. As of May 17th, FarmVille users will be able to take a much-needed break from wasting their lives and visit GagaVille — a neighboring but equally fake farm full of unicorns, crystals and terrible life decisions. There, visitors will be able to listen to unreleased tracks from Gaga’s forthcoming album, Born This Way, which they can also download for “free,” once they’ve dropped $25 of their parents’ hard-earned cash on a Zynga gift card. The campaign will mercifully come to an end on May 26th, but not before Diet Madonna extends her corporate leviathan to every corner of Zynga’s gaming universe, including Words With Friends, Mafia Wars and anything else your pre-teen cousin spends far too much time playing. Gaga will win. Zynga will win. The human race, on balance, will lose. If you haven’t slit your wrists yet, the PR after the break should do the trick.

Continue reading Zynga crowns Lady Gaga as FarmVille’s newest cash cow

Zynga crowns Lady Gaga as FarmVille’s newest cash cow originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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