George “Geohot” Hotz wanted to crack the PS3—so he did, and infuriated Sony. He’s become a target, globetrotter, and spectacle. But before? He was little tech-inept deviant. Gizmodo’s got his yearbook, and two people who probably signed it. More »
A report commissioned by the World Bank’s infoDev unit has cast fresh light on one of the more fascinating aspects of our brave new interconnected world: the virtual economy. The “third-party gaming services industry” — where wealthy but impatient players have someone else grind away at online games for them in exchange for monetary reward — is one of the focal points of the study, chiefly owing to it having generated revenues in the region of $3 billion in 2009 and now serving as the primary source of income for an estimated 100,000 young folks, primarily in countries like China and Vietnam. What’s encouraging about these findings is that most of the revenue from such transactions ends up in the country where the virtual value is produced, which contrasts starkly with some of the more traditional international markets, such as that for coffee beans, where the study estimates only $5.5 billion of the $70 billion annual market value ever makes it back to the producing country. The research also takes an intriguing look at the emerging phenomenon of microwork, which consists of having unskilled workers doing the web’s version of menial work — checking images, transcribing bits of text, bumping up Facebook Likes (naughty!), etc. — and could also lead to more employment opportunities for people in poorer nations. To get better acquainted with the details, check the links below or click past the break.
World Bank report finds selling virtual goods in games more profitable than ‘real’ economy originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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infoDev (PDF), Virtual Economy Research Network | Email this | Comments
If you haven’t already seen our demo of the 3DS’ rather impressive bag of augmented reality tricks, then let us take this opportunity to show you — once again — why we’re excited about the thing’s AR capabilities. The folks over at software development firm Refactr have done some tinkering and found that all you need to make your very own 3DS AR card is a white board, some dry erase markers, and a projector. By tracing the outlines of that mysterious question mark card on to a shiny white surface, they found that conjuring the device’s AR interface is actually quite simple, and mostly a matter of contrast. Going big, in this case anyway, not only makes for a good time — as evidenced by the video below — but it should also put to rest any questions about whether or not these things are sprinkled with pixie dust, Juju powder, or some other magical substance.
Continue reading Refactr turns whiteboard into giant 3DS AR card, proves bigger is better (video)
Refactr turns whiteboard into giant 3DS AR card, proves bigger is better (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
If there was one thing that bothered us most about the Xperia Play, it was the dearth of original PlayStation games we could, you know, play on it. That’s getting a shot in the arm tonight with the introduction of five PS One titles to the Android Market: Syphon Filter, MediEvil, Cool Boarders 2, Destruction Derby, and Jumping Flash. Each is priced at £3.99 in the UK, with the first two games on the list also being available in five languages. That pricing translates to $6.38 when the games are accessed from the US, but we imagine the final pricing may differ once the Xperia Play lands stateside. And yes, the Xperia Play will be your only way to access these for now (R800i is its codename), leaving the rest of us Android PS One lovers with a bunch of games to envy and one less emulator to enjoy. The Android giveth, and the Android taketh away.
Update: Sony Ericsson wants you to know that since the Xperia Play is, in fact, an Android handset, it won’t be restricted to just those five PS One games — it will also feature quite a few titles that you can also find on the Android Market and even a few temporary exclusives like Backstab and Dungeon Defenders Second Wave. Still, it’s a little light on actual PlayStation gaming… See the full list in the press release after the break.
PlayStation One games appear in Android Market, predictably restricted to Xperia Play (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Droid Gamers, BGR | Android Market | Email this | Comments
Whatever your flavor of old school gaming, whether you were a future-loving RoboCop killer or a skeleton-slaying Golden Axe swinger, there’s a little slice of nostalgia here for you. The guys from BoingBoing have lovingly compiled some of the most memorable death scenes from the games of yore into a video tribute, and they’ve been nice enough to leave out the names of all the games featured. There’s no Pokémon action in there, but still, can you guess ’em all?
A series of unfortunate demises: classic arcade game deaths compiled into a tender tribute video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Nintendo 3DS has a slider in its side. A slider that adjusts its namesake feature, three-dimensional imagery, up and down in intensity relative to the user’s preference. Now, although the 3DS’ screen doesn’t force glasses on you, it does demand that it be held just right in order to get the most out of the 3D effect and we can imagine plenty of people might neglect its extra dimension in favor of old-fashioned 2D (not to mention those who can’t tolerate the third D for health reasons). It’s encouraging, therefore, to hear that Nintendo has taken the stance that no game should require 3D as part of its gameplay mechanics. That’s the word from Hideki Konno, one of Nintendo’s veteran producers, who says the company wants all of its 3DS games to be playable in 2D, essentially reducing the 3D aspect to an aesthetic enhancement. Some might argue that’s underusing the portable’s hardware potential, but Nintendo has always been in the business of pleasing the mass market — there’s nothing preventing some daring developer from making a game entirely dependent on a three-dimensional perspective.
Nintendo ‘moving away’ from insisting on 3D to play 3DS games, wants them all playable in 2D originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Like a pesky video game villain that just won’t go away, Microsoft’s DirectX has been a mainstay of mainstream PC gaming pretty much since the inception. Its existence hasn’t been without its tensions, however, with notable graphics guru John Carmack of id Software ignoring it in favor of OpenGL — until last week when he finally acknowledged that Direct3D had outgrown its cross-platform alternative and was now the preferable API for PC game development. That’s all well and good, but plenty of game devs, says Richard Huddy, head of AMD’s developer relations team, don’t want any API at all. Huddy points out the sadly obvious fact that modern graphics cards can pretty much stomp any console hardware into the dirt in a straight fight and yet fail to show the full extent of their superiority in actual game visuals. He’d prefer to see developers given direct low-level access to the hardware, so they can maximize their own talents and really push things forward. Of course, the beauty of DirectX is that it’s a standard that every Windows game designer can code to, leading to predictable and more widely compatible (if not necessarily spectacular) results. For more on how the future’s shaping up, hit the links below.
Game developers want DirectX to ‘go away,’ says AMD man originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Disabled gamers currently form a small, but growing portion of the gaming community, and the folks from the UK’s SpecialEffect video games charity are seeking to get a lot more of them gaming. SpecialEffect — with an assist from UK Prime Minister David Cameron — just opened a Video Games Visitor Centre to give those with disabilities a place to experience cutting-edge gaming tech designed for the disabled, like eye-controllers, in its GamesRoom. The Centre also has a GamesLab where “games and hardware are tested for accessibility” so game devs can adjust their wares to get even more people dishing out pwnage than ever before — bring it on!
UK charity opens gaming visitor center / gaming gadget incubator for the disabled originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink The Register | SpecialEffect, GameBase | Email this | Comments
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading N64oid brings Nintendo 64 emulation to Android devices
N64oid brings Nintendo 64 emulation to Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Android Market, Download Squad | Email this | Comments
Multiple cores are old hat, particularly in the GPU world where you can have hundreds of simultaneous processing units working in concert, but multiple GPUs on the same PCB, that’s still exciting territory (not least because of the crazy thermal and power requirements that go with it). AMD and NVIDIA are set to clash horns on this field of battle once again, fishing for mindshare as much as they are for high premium sales, with the Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590, respectively. The former has already slipped out of the shadows of mystery to reveal a size slightly longer than an A4 sheet of paper, while the latter is being rumored for an unveiling at the PAX East 2011 gamer gathering. Expected GTX 590 specs include 1024 total CUDA cores, 3GB of onboard RAM with dual 384-bit memory controllers, and three DVI outputs for some single-card 3D Vision Surround gaming. This year’s PAX East is kicking off on March 11th and AMD is also looking very close to launching its part, so you should need no more than a couple of weeks’ worth of patience before everything about the latest and greatest from both camps is known.
Radeon HD 6990 pictured, GeForce GTX 590 rumored for PAX East 2011 reveal originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Bright Side Of News | Hexus, Donanim Haber | Email this | Comments
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