Predefined News Feeds: [ Internet ] [ Internet Technology ] [ Social Networking ] [ Developers ] [ Software ] [ Online Gaming ] [ Security ] [ P2P ] [ Linux ] [ Networking ] [ Internet Stats ] [ e-learning ] [ Marketing Headlines ] [ Domains ] [ Search Engines ] [ Wireless ] [ Service Providers ] [ World of Mac ] [ Science ] [ Storage ] [ AlterNet ]

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 08:34:00 -0400 Gamasutra's latest 'Producers Of The Round Table' discussion looks at team structure, with producers from Gas Powered Games, Stainless, Red Storm and Freeverse analyzing how game teams are constructed to function smoothly. One of the first questions asked in the detailed feature is: 'How do you deal with structuring your team in terms of different disciplines reporting to leads?' In this case, Robbie Edwards, senior producer at Red Storm Entertainment (Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series), ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	Joe Riedel writes "The alpha version of Tread 3.0, a Quake series map editor, has been released (including source code). Independent game developers and hobbyists who are looking for an editing tool may also want to check it out since it should provide a good starting point for their own tools (and it's free). This latest incarnation of the editor is unrelated source-wise from its predecessors; it is based on an in-house tool I developed a few years ago."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 06:02:00 -0400 Officials from graphics chip manufacturer Nvidia have revealed revised outlooks for the company's second quarter financial results, due to cover the period ending July 27th, 2008. Both revenues and gross margins are expected to be lower than previous guidance, with sales now estimated at between $875 and $950 million. The decrease has been attributed to a general end-market weakness across the globe, the delay of the company's next generation MCP technology and an overall decrease ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	Bridger writes "Poker software called Polaris will play a rematch against human players during the 2008 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Developed by an artificial intelligence group at the University of Alberta in Canada, Polaris will be pitted against several professionals at the Rio Hotel between July 3rd and 6th. 'It's possible, given enough computing power, for computers to play "perfectly," where over a long enough match, the program cannot lose money,"' said associate professor Michael Bowling.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 05:34:00 -0400 UK based publisher SCi, owners of Eidos Interactive, have announced the appointment of Robert Brent as the company's chief financial officer (CFO). Brent is current head of research at KBC Peel Hunt - SCi's joint broker - and will join the company's board at a date to be agreed. Brent joined KBC Peel Hunt in 2000 as a technology analyst, specializing in the retail sector from 2001 onwards and becoming head of research in 2006. ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	An anonymous reader writes "Earlier today Sony launched firmware V2.40 for the PS3 which is mandatory for online play. To my horror after installing the update my console wouldn't boot, and this appears to be a not uncommon problem affecting all ages and models of PS3s. Although there is rampant fanboy denial over at the official Playstation forums, the Kotaku article details the issue and has a suggested solution if you don't mind yanking your PS3's hard drive."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 01:34:00 -0400 Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending June 29th, following details of the software top thirty. With software sales having seen an upswing in volume this week in Japan, hardware sales also saw increases almost across the board. The only exception was the PSP, which actually saw a slight dip in sales. With fewer major new software releases than the other formats, sales of ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	Aeonite writes "Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-playing Games chronicles the rise and fall of the Computer RPG industry, from Akalabeth to Zelda and everything in between. While the bulk of the book is devoted to the genre's 'Golden Age' in the late '80s and early '90s, author Matt Barton explores the entire history of CRPGs, from their origins in the mid '70s to the very recent past. While not entirely comprehensive, the book covers not only the major players and award-winners, but also dozens of obscure 'also-ran' as well as notable games in related genres." Keep reading for the rest of Michael's review.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 05:43:00 -0400 [Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.] This week on 'Best Of Indie Games', we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week. The goodies in this latest version include three cool browser games, ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	I Said More Ham writes "Minnesota's attorney general will drop the state's efforts to fine underage buyers of violent videogames after a high court struck down a state law as unconstitutional. The Entertainment Software Association, one of the plaintiffs in the case, announced Monday that the state paid $65,000 in attorney's fees and expenses."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 03:22:00 -0400 Talking to Gamasutra as part of a larger interview to be posted in the near future, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, has been commenting on Microsoft's attempts to attract casual gamers, suggesting that Wii customers are "going to want to graduate to an Xbox 360 experience" over time. When asked about Microsoft's initiative to bring more casual gamers to the Xbox 360, and whether it's possible to ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	kilrathu writes "Longtime proponents of using video games as sources of learning, the Federation of American Scientists put its money where its mouth is. FAS released Immune Attack, an educational video game designed to teach immunology to AP level high school students and combines the most current research on teaching methodologies with a 3D first-person shooter game. 'The key to the game was making sure it was fun while also covering accurate and complex immunology topics,' said Dr. Michelle Lucey-Roper, director of the FAS Learning Technologies Program. The game is free, although not open source, and can be downloaded here. Sorry, no Mac version yet."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 03:11:00 -0400 French development studio Cyanide are at work on cross-platform Games Workshop license Blood Bowl (the license of which they gained after an out-of-court settlement from a Games Workshop-led lawsuit over their previous fantasy football title Chaos League) and have since announced Dungeon Party, a new free-to-play MMO for PC. CEO Patrick Pligersdorffer began his career in the games industry with Ubisoft, opening the internal development studio of Ubisoft in Japan, before opening Cyanide in 2000. ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	Croakyvoice writes "Dark Alex, the PSP hacker from Spain, and his Team M33 have released a new version of the custom firmware for the PSP, which now supports the very latest official firmware from Sony. Benefits for the end user include the ability to play the many hundreds of games, demos, applications and emulators written by the homebrew community for the PSP."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 02:50:00 -0400 In this session from the recent Games for Health conference, Jeff Pepper, President and CEO of Touchtown, discussed his company's work in creating Dancetown - a PC-based dance game specifically aimed at older players and retirement homes, to give players regular exercise and reduce the risk of falling. Touchtown is a 9-year old company out of Pittsburgh that was originally not a game company, but provided digital signage and TV to retirement homes. Two years ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	An anonymous reader writes "Two days ago Blizzard announced that they will be selling keychain tokens to add one-time password support (FAQ) to World of Warcraft. Have compromised World of Warcraft accounts become such a serious problem, that OTPs are already neccesary for games?"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Fri, 4 Jul 2008 04:53:00 -0400 Singapore's Economic Development Board aims to attract international business and investment to the Asian island. To that end, the EDB specifically targets the video game industry as well as other fields, reaching out to game developers to open branches or conduct business in the country. The country's ability to give tax breaks and other incentives to companies has led to some notable wins in recent years, with LucasArts/LucasFilm setting up a major studio in Singapore, ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	stpk4 writes "After a week-long tease by Blizzard, Diablo 3 has just been announced in Paris. The splash screen has been updated at their homepage and The Escapist has the first write-up." While there aren't many details available yet, it is known that Deckard Cain returns to help our heroes yet again.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Thu, 3 Jul 2008 14:47:00 -0400 Following rumors that the studio was to be shuttered, publisher Take-Two has announced that while no decisions have yet been made, it is indeed considering "possible redundancies" at its UK Prizefighter and Rocky developer Venom Games. The studio has just released the Xbox 360 version of the 'documentary style' boxing sim Don King Presents: Prizefighter first announced in December of 2007, following work on the Rocky series. Take-Two said in a statement that the company ... Source: Gamasutra News (Gamasutra News)

 

	J. Dzhugashvili writes "Could you control a game using your jaw muscles, eye movements, and brain waves? OCZ designed its futuristic Neural Impulse Actuator controller for that very purpose, and it claims the device lets players shorten their response times and interact with games more naturally. But is it really all it's cracked up to be? The Tech Report took the NIA for a spin in order to answer that question, and it made some interesting discoveries along the way. The verdict is that the NIA works (mostly) as advertised, but getting used to it can take enough dedication and perseverance to put off many prospective users."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Zonk pointed out an interesting story over at The Gamer Dome that details a new wiki project partnering with Mongoose Publishing to share the publishing company's back-stock for free. Titled "The Grand OGL Wiki," the new project seeks to create a repository for many out of print books that would otherwise be lost to the sands of time. "'If a volunteer (or volunteers - you might have to be some sort of maniac to go through all this material solo!) were to come forward and create a suitable web site, we would happily supply electronic versions of our D20 lines for translation of OGC to such a web site. We would be very free with the material permissible, allowing you to effectively cut and paste large chunks of 'fluff' text alongside the OGC. This would include all the Quintessentials, Slayer's Guides, Encyclopedias, Ultimates - potentially, even some Babylon 5 material, if someone is prepared to remove all the licensed text (no Conan though, as that is still current!).'"Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	LinucksGirl writes "In this article Terra Soft show you how to configure and encrypt, step-by-step, the built-in Wi-Fi network that comes with the Cell Broadband Engine-based Sony PlayStation 3. And, as a little bonus, get 16 quick steps that explain how to switch from a wireless network back to a wired network on the PS3."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Relin writes "Out of the millions eligible, less than 3,000 have come forward to collect their money in the 'Hot Coffee' settlement. While the plaintiffs' lawyer is surprised by the development, Theodore Frank of the Legal Center for the Public Interest at the American Enterprise Institute seems convinced that the lawsuit was 'meritless' and will result in no payment for the legal counsel opposing Take-Two."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	praps writes "Children are becoming increasingly worried about their parents' Internet habits, according to a report just released in Sweden. Unsurprisingly, dads surfing for pornography is the most common problem, but chatroom addiction also featured in the report — as is a mother who has become obsessed with World of Warcraft. 'This summer she has been sitting up all day and all night and she forgets what's important to me,' wrote the woman's 13-year-old daughter. 'And when she's not at the computer she's like a lost soul. She just looks straight ahead and says nothing.'" There are also a lot of scammers out there who like nothing better than to find retirees who they can sucker into get-rich-quick schemes involving real-estate, stock options, and convincing the neighbors to be part of a "downstream" for MLM marketing ploys.Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)

 

	Vigile writes "Much has been said about ray tracing for gaming in recent weeks: luminaries like John Carmack, Cevat Yerli and NVIDIA's David Kirk have already placed their flags in the ground but what about developers that have actually worked on fully ray traced games? PC Perspective discusses the benefits and problems in art creation, programming and design on a ray traced game engine with a group of students working on two separate projects. These are not AAA-class titles but they do offer some great insights for anyone considering the ray tracing and rasterization debate."Read more of this story at Slashdot. Source: Slashdot: Games (News for nerds, stuff that matters)