Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Other News | 0 comments

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Tis the season to be holly, and I guess I’m wishing everybody that reads the blog an early Merry Christmas! I did work today and get as many posts up as I can (I’m lying), but tomorrow’s Christmas so don’t expect more than maybe one or two posts. But yeah, Merry Christmas all of ya, thanks for reading the blog, and sorry I can’t give you all gifts! (expect my over-use of sarcasm and smart-ass remarks gift enough).

Posted by ElitistGeek in Other News | 0 comments

Bethesda Sheds Light On the Future Of The Elder Scrolls Series

Remember when we posted that at Quakecon 09, Todd Howards said that Bethesda had no plans for Elder Scrolls V? Well, scratch that. Apparently this was a misinterpretation and Vice President of Bethesda Softworks, Pete Hines, steps in to make the clarifications.

That was not a direct quote from him. That was someone’s interpretation of what he said. I know, I was there. At his QuakeCon talk he was asked when TESV is coming out and Todd replied, “Don’t look for a new Elder Scrolls game in the near future.” He also went on to say how much the franchise means to us and that it definitely will continue. He just wasn’t going to provide any timeframe on “when.” This should not be news to anyone that has been paying attention. Both Todd and I have said repeatedly that, of course, we’re going to do another Elder Scrolls game. The last one was enormously popular. So was the one before that. You get the idea. So do we.

So we can all rest a little easier now, there’s going to be an Elder Scrolls V indefinitely given the success of the Elder Scrolls series as well as the widely popular Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Link

Posted by SuburbanHell in Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Other News, PS2, PS3, PSP, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 comments

GameStop Summer Sale

GameStop is having a sale on a large number of games for under $20 dollars.  Now may be the time to pick up a game you previously passed on.  The sale goes from July 8 though August 6 and includes the games:

• Baja: Edge of Control
• Ben 10: Alien Force
• Bionic Commando
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway
• Cabela’s Legendary Adventures
• Call of Duty 3: Roads to Victory Greatest Hits
• Chrono Trigger
• de Blob
• Deadly Creatures
• Destiny of Zorro
• Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell
• Disney’s Bolt
• Diva Girls: Divas on Ice
• Fashion Week Junior Designer
• Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
• FlatOut: Head On
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE
• Hitman Trilogy
• Hotel for Dogs
• House of the Dead 2 and 3 Returns
• Infinite Undiscovery
• LEGO Batman
• Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
• Major League Baseball 2K9
• Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance Greatest Hits
• Monster Jam 2: Urban Assault
• NBA 2K9
• Paws and Claws Pet Resort
• Prince of Persia
• Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles
• Robert Ludlum’s: The Bourne Conspiracy
• Rolling Stone Drum King
• Secret Agent Clank
• Shaun White Snowboarding
• SingStar – Game Only
• SingStar 80’s – Game Only
• Singstar 90’s – Game Only
• SingStar ABBA Game Only
• SingStar Country – Game Only
• SingStar Legends – Game Only
• SingStar Pop – Game Only
• SingStar Pop Vol 2 – Game Only
• SingStar Vol 2 – Game Only
• Sonic Unleashed
• Spore
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game-of-the-Year Edition
• Tom and Jerry Tales
• Tom Clancy’s End War
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.
• Tomb Raider Underworld
• Tony Hawk’s Project 8 Greatest Hits
• Transformers Greatest Hits
• Trivial Pursuit
• Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• Wheelman

The will also be having weekly deals during this time, starting with:

$100 Off Guitar Hero Band Kits
July 8 – July 12
Seeing $100 off anything should grab your attention. But Guitar Hero Band Kits? You should grab your keys and get to your local GameStop now to take advantage before it’s too late!

Limit one per person. No dealers. No Rainchecks.

Complete details of the sale can be found here: http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/sumsale/default.aspx

Posted by Chris Luzader in Computers, Other News | 0 comments

Google Drops the Ultimate Bomb on Microsoft: the Google Chrome Operating System

Google Chrome OS is Not Android

In the announcement, Google stresses that this operating system is a completely new project and not affiliated with Google’s Android OS, which, according to Google, was always meant to run on a variety of devices, including netbooks. (”Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.“) Google acknowledges that the two operating systems might overlap in some areas, but the company believes that, ultimately, “choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.”

Here is how Google describes the OS:

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

The Google Chrome OS will run on top of a Linux kernel, though the exact details about the actual implementation are still vague.

Perfect for Netbooks

This kind of operating system would obviously be perfect for netbooks, which, after all, are meant to be constantly connected to the Internet and don’t have a lot of resources. Currently, most netbooks run Windows XP, which, by now, is a rather antiquated operating system. With Windows 7, Microsoft tried to release a version for netbooks that would only run three applications at the same time (though Microsoft has since dropped this limit). Maybe Google is going to take this even further and will release an OS that will only run one application – Chrome.

With this, Google can obviously put its own web apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs at the center of the user experience, and this is surely part of Google’s motivation behind releasing this OS. But given that Chrome is simply a browser, any other web app would obviously also be able to run on it as well.

-

But let’s be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft. It even says as much in the first paragraph of its post, “However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.” Yeah, who do you think they mean by that?

And it’s a genius play. So many people are buying netbooks right now, but are running WIndows XP on them. Windows XP is 8 years old. It was built to run on Pentium IIIs and Pentium 4s. Google Chrome OS is built to run on both x86 architecture chips and ARM chips, like the ones increasingly found in netbooks. It is also working with multiple OEMs to get the new OS up and running next year.

Obviously, this Chrome OS will be lightweight and fast just like the browser itself. But also just like the browser, it will be open-sourced. Think Microsoft will be open-sourcing Windows anytime soon?

As Google writes, “We have a lot of work to do, and we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision.” They might as well set up enlistment booths on college campuses for their war against Microsoft.

Google says the software architecture will basically be the current Chrome browser running inside “a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.” So in other words, it basically is the web as an OS. And applications developers will develop for it just as they would on the web. This is similar to the approach Palm has taken with its new webOS for the Palm Pre, but Google notes that any app developed for Google Chrome OS will work in any standards-compliant browser on any OS.

What Google is doing is not recreating a new kind of OS, they’re creating the best way to not need one at all.

So why release this new OS instead of using Android? After all, it has already been successfully ported to netbooks. Google admits that there is some overlap there. But a key difference they don’t mention is the ability to run on the x86 architecture. Android cannot do that, Chrome OS can and will. But more, Google wants to emphasize that Chrome OS is all about the web, whereas Android is about a lot of different things. Including apps that are not standard browser-based web apps.

But Chrome OS will be all about the web apps. And no doubt HTML 5 is going to be a huge part of all of this. A lot of people are still wary about running web apps for when their computer isn’t connected to the web. But HTML 5 has the potential to change that, as you’ll be able to work in the browser even when not connected, and upload when you are again.

We’re starting to see more clearly why Google’s Vic Gundotra was pushing HTML 5 so hard at Google I/O this year. Sure, part of it was about things like Google Wave, but Google Wave is just one of many new-style apps in this new Chrome OS universe.

But there is a wild card is all of this still for Microsoft: Windows 7. While Windows XP is 8 years old, and Windows Vista is just generally considered to be a bad OS for netbooks, Windows 7 could offer a good netbook experience. And Microsoft had better hope so, or its claim that 96% of netbooks run Windows is going to be very different in a year.

Google plans to release the open source code for Chrome OS later this year ahead of the launch next year. Don’t be surprised if this code drops around the same time as Windows 7. Can’t wait to hear what Microsoft will have to say about all of this!

Conclusion

The Google Chrome Operating System is designed to be a lightweight system, just like the Chrome browser. Unfortunately, Google didn’t divulge many other details, and it will be a while until anyone gets their hands on it. Clearly though, Google’s setting the stage for a major battle with Microsoft. Just as Microsoft is trying to break Google’s stranglehold on the search engine market, Google may be trying to do the same with the Windows-controlled OS market. Oh, and one other thing: How will Apple respond to this?

-

Read the entire official blog post by Google.

Posted by SuburbanHell in Other News | 1 comment

Video Games Live upcoming tour dates – July

Video Games Live continues touring this month with a couple special dates to note in July.

On July 10, the National Symphony Orchestra will perform at the WolfTrap Feline Center in Virginia. Sid Meier, Civilization IV vocalist Ron Ragin and game composer Grant Kirkhope (Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata) will all be in attendance.

For Texans, Halo composer Mike Salvatori will make a “special guest appearance” at the Ft. Worth show on July 14.

On July 18, The Houston Symphony will perform 2 shows, in collaboration with MusiCON 09. The special afternoon show is entitled “Blizzard Live!” and will showcase songs from the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo games. Five Blizzard composers will attend and participate in a Q&A panel.

July 23rd, there will be a performance at the San Diego Comic-Con at the outdoor Embarcadero Marina Park, which will include synchronized fireworks.

Tickets are available at the Video Games Live site.

• July 6 (8pm) – Winnipeg, MB – Centennial Concert Hall – Winnipeg Symphony
• July 7 (6pm) – Winnipeg, MB – Centennial Concert Hall – Special Festival Day
• July 8 (8pm) – Winnipeg, MB – Centennial Concert Hall – Winnipeg Symphony
• July 10 (8:30pm) – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap/Feline Center – National Symphony Orchestra
• July 11 (8pm) – Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Hall – Pittsburgh Symphony
• July 12 (2:30pm) – Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Hall – Pittsburgh Symphony
• July 14 (8pm) – Ft. Worth/Dallas, TX – Bass Performance Hall – Ft. Worth Symphony
• July 18 (3pm) – Houston, TX – Jones Hall – Blizzard Live! – Houston Symphony
• July 18 (7:30pm) – Houston, TX – Jones Hall – Houston Symphony
• July 23 (7:30pm) – San Diego, CA – Embarcadero Marina Park – San Diego Symphony
• July 27 (8pm) – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavillion
• July 31 (8pm) – Lewiston, NY – Artpark – Buffalo Philharmonic

Link

Posted by SuburbanHell in Other News, WTF | 1 comment

Universal wins rights to make movie from… ASTEROIDS?!

Coming to a theater near you someday…  A movie 32 years in the making, 1979’s arcade smash hit, Asteroids.  I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence, but it’s true.

According to Hollywood Reporter, Universal has won a four-studio bidding war to pick up the film rights to the classic Atari video game “Asteroids.” Matthew Lopez will write the script for the feature adaptation, which will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Asteroids, initially released as an arcade game in 1979, players control a triangular space ship in an asteroid field of big, medium, and small shapes. The object was to shoot and destroy the hulking masses of rock and the occasional flying saucer while avoiding smashing into anything.

That’s it.

There were no storylines or cutscenes back then, just you, some dots on a screen, and a high score board you tried every week to get to the top of.  As a result, the studio will be creating a plot from scratch.

Amazingly enough, however, it seems that Universal is getting quite used to that process, as it’s in the middle of doing just that for… Now get this… Hasbro board games, the first two coming up will be “Battleship” and “Candyland.”

Di Bonaventura’s next outing is “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” which Paramount is set to open Aug. 7.   Lopez came out of Disney’s writing program and worked on that studio’s recent movies “Bedtime Stories” and “Race to Witch Mountain.”

Clearly, Hollywood has run out of ideas.

Posted by SuburbanHell in Other News | 1 comment

Mayor who forced GTA ads off MBTA now appears in bus ads for ESRB

In November 2006, Thomas “Mumbles” Menino forced the removal of advertisements for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories from subways, trains, and buses operated by the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority).  Menino also unsuccessfully pushed for video game legislation last year, the same legislation drawn up by gaming public enemy #1, Jack Thompson.

Today, it is with much irony that you can see Menino’s face all over Boston buses, thanks to the ESRB.

Posted by SuburbanHell in Other News | 0 comments

Uncharted: The Movie?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia is adapting the video game for a feature film, “Uncharted: Drakes Fortune”.

Posted by Chris Luzader in Companies, Other News, Phones | 5 comments

The Cost Of Apple’s iPhone 3GS’s Additional Features Is $4.63 USD

The iPhone 3GS is a major improvement over the iPhone 3G, but what do all the added features cost Apple to include?

Less than a foot-long sandwich.

BusinessWeek says $4.63, to be exact, quoting an analysis from research firm iSuppli.

It costs $178.96 to build the iPhone 3GS, while the iPhone 3G costs $174.33.

Typically, costs of newer versions of products are lower than the previous ones’, but rising chip prices might have caused the higher cost of the 3GS.

BusinessWeek explains:

The 3GS comes in 16- and 32-gigabyte varieties, whereas the prior model topped out at 16 gigabytes. “It used to be that Apple could plan on doubling the amount of memory each year for the same cost,” says Andrew Rassweiler, iSuppli’s teardown manager. In the 16-gigabyte model of the 3GS, the cost of the NAND chips is $24, he says, and $46 in the 32-gigabyte version.

The phone’s Display Module – $19.25, Touchscreen Assembly – $16.00 and Application Processor – $14.46 are some of the more costly materials. The cheapest components are the Power Circuit – $1.25 and Audio Codec – $1.15. Manufacturing costs are pegged at $6.50 and unexplained “bill of materials” at $48.00.

Read the full details of the cost breakdown here.

Posted by SuburbanHell in Gaming in General, Other News, WTF | 0 comments

The BBFC: Nuttier than Jack Thompson?

...Wait, what?

Wow, we’ve all heard the stories of how “bad” Grand Theft Auto games are for our society, but The British Board of Film Classification may have shot themselves close on the list to the head of crazy.

Last week the BBFC lost control of U.K. video game ratings to industry-favored rival PEGI, and for all gamers in the U.K. this must have been a wonderful bit of news.

As it turns out, the BBFC once investigated whether Grand Theft Auto IV contained a genuine recipe for manufacturing crystal meth.

The Times reports that the discovery prompted “crisis talks” with developer Rockstar. In testimony last year before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons, BBFC head David Cooke discussed his organization’s review of GTA IV:

“We did examine [GTA IV] extremely thoroughly and we are the only regulator I know of who looked, for instance, at the particular issue where… there was a concern about whether you were being given instructional information about how to make the drug crystal meth.

We actually took independent advice on the point and eventually were able to satisfy ourselves that some of the crucial ingredients and techniques were missing so it was not a genuine cause for concern.”

REALLY? The recipe for Crystal Meth. Inside GTA IV? For all the problems that Rockstar had to deal with for the Hot Coffee snafu, I’d have to imagine their quality group would’ve seen a freakin’ recipe for Crystal Meth in the game…and…having played it, I don’t remember the mission where you go and get ingredients for Crystal Meth and cook them up just right. Good job BBFC, perhaps this is just one example of why you’re no longer in control of ratings in the U.K.

Story courtesy of: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/06/22/bbfc-says-it-investigated-crystal-meth-recipe-gta-iv