USB storage coming to an Xbox 360 near you
March 20, 2010
Good news for Xbox 360 owners: those USB ports on the front of your console won’t just be for show anymore. I mean, sure, you can do stuff such as charging your controllers with them or plugging in a wireless adapter, but you mysteriously can’t do what a universal port is supposed to enable you to do. Namely: use a USB memory stick to save your files. Instead, you had to rely on Microsoft’s small, overpriced memory unit. Not anymore!
From Joystiq:
Documentation obtained by Joystiq - and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources - reveals that “USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360″ will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to “increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update” will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.
Of course, there’s a catch. The 360 won’t let you just hook up another hard drive. You’ll only be able to configure around 16 GB to work with your system. For more than that, you’ll still be at the mercy of Microsoft’s proprietary 360 hard drives, which are, frankly, a rip off.
Now if only Microsoft would stop charging an arm and a leg for its hard drives, we’d be set!
Joystiq, via CNET
OnLive - Launching June 17th
March 10, 2010
One year after it was unveiled at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, OnLive finally has a launch date. Company CEO Steve Perlman announced today at his keynote at the GamesBeat mini-conference at GDC 2010 that OnLive will go live on June 17. The service will initially be available as an application for the Windows and Mac operating systems, with a micro-console that can be attached directly to HDTVs to arrive later on in the year.
OnLive goes live in the lower 48 stats on June 17.
OnLive’s launch will be limited to the contiguous lower 48 United States, and will cost $14.95 per month. According to the OnLive Blog, the first 25,000 thousand people to sign up will have the service fee waived for three months. (To apply, sign up on the official OnLive site.) Multi-month pricing and other promotions will be announced prior to the service’s debut.
OnLive’s monthly fee does not include the purchase price of games themselves, which can be rented or bought from publishers directly at a lower-than-retail price. Publishers supporting the service with PC titles include Electronic Arts, Take-Two, THQ, Ubisoft, Epic, Atari, Codemasters, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. At the DICE Summit last month, Perlman demonstrated both Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 running on the service with minimal lag.
The June launch will only be start of the OnLive rollout. The service will offer 1080p high-definition gaming at 60 frames per second starting in 2011. An international launch is also planned for an undetermined date.
For those unfamiliar with OnLive, the service aims to offer lag-free PC gaming via the Web. The company claims that since the heavy lifting of graphics processing will be done on the service’s servers, it will offer high-definition gaming on any PC or Mac, regardless of graphics card or CPU speed.
The addition of the micro-console will also allow the service to be streamed directly onto televisions, without the need for a standard game console. Perlman sees this as a positive, since OnLive games will not be tied to increasingly antiquated consoles. He promised that the OnLive servers would receive graphical upgrades every six months in order to provide the latest PC graphics.
NVIDIA CEO shoots down talk of Intel-compatible x86 chip, says his home is ‘all Apple’
November 9, 2009
NVIDIA’s feud with Intel may be at an all-time high these days, but it looks like the company isn’t about to go as far as to produce its own Intel-compatible x86 chip, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. That word comes straight from NVIDIA’s always talkative CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who flatly said “no” when asked if there was any truth to the rumors. He further went on to add NVIDIA’s focus is on visual and parallel computing, and on “getting our GPUs into the lowest power platforms we can imagine and driving mobile computing with it” — as it’s now attempting to do with Tegra. In a separate discussion after a talk in Dubai, Huang also interestingly revealed that the computers in his household are “all Apple,” but he naturally didn’t just leave it there — head on past the break for the complete, must-read quote (as reported by Shufflegazine).
Read - CNET News, “Nvidia CEO says ‘no’ to Intel-compatible chip”
Read - Shufflegazine, “NVIDIA CEO, visiting Dubai, says “I’m all Apple”
Band Hero’s revamped drums coming in November bundle, very limited exclusive for Wii
September 30, 2009
Guitar Hero drummers who wondered whatever happened to that revamped set we spied months ago can finally sleep more soundly at night, although while still probably tapping out “Sweating Bullets” in their dreams. The cats at IGN got some hands-on time with the new gear, and while there’s no physical pics to show for it, they do report being happy with the overall design and its smaller, but still capable frame. The peripheral is reportedly due in a Band Hero Super Bundle for Nintendo Wii this November. It’s a limited exclusive for the console, meaning the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 packages will include the standard Guitar Hero drums until “sometime later this year.” That leaves at most seven weeks of lead time — not too long, but in the precious time before Christmas, it’s probably quite the coup.
The Duke’s not dead…
May 19, 2009
Texas studio issues statement confirming elimination of game’s team, but asserting its existence continues despite having had to shoulder massive development costs solo.
So far, the month of May has been the most tumultuous for 3D Realms since the studio’s inception in 1987. On May 6, reports that the Texan studio–which had been working on Duke Nukem Forever since 1997–had shut down were apparently confirmed by webmaster Joe Siegler. Two days later, the shop issued a group “Goodbye” accompanied by a photo of nearly three dozen staffers.
Then, on Friday, May 14, would-be Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto, BioShock) sued 3D Realms’ parent company, Apogee Software Ltd. According to the Bloomberg news service, Take-Two accused 3D Realms of failing to deliver on its contractual obligation to produce the game after being paid $12 million in 2000. It sought an immediate temporary restraining order preventing the release of any Duke Nukem Forever assets by Take-Two.
Today, 3D Realms hit back at Take-Two in the form of a statement sent out by CEO George Broussard to several media outlets, including GameSpot. In it, the company defiantly declares that it is not going out of business.
“Despite rumors and statements to the contrary, 3D Realms (3DR) has not closed and is not closing,” reads the statement. “3DR retains ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. Due to lack of funding, however, we are saddened to confirm that we let the Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) development team go on May 6, while we regroup as a company. While 3DR is a much smaller studio now, we will continue to operate as a company and continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise.”
The statement then lays out 3DR’s version of the tangled series of events which led to this month’s dramatic developments. It claims that Take-Two has not given 3DR a single cent in signing bonuses or advances for DNF, but instead paid the $12 million mentioned in the suit to defunct publisher GT Interactive. (The publisher was absorbed by Atari parent Infogrames in 1999.) 3DR contends that, in 2008, it was paid a $2.5 million advance by Take-Two for “an unannounced game,” and the only money it ever received for DNF was a $400,000 advance from GT Interactive.
To date, 3D Realms claims it has sunk over $20 million of its own money into Duke Nukem Forever, and that at of the end of 2008, it realized it required outside help to continue. “Late last year, 3DR began negotiations with Take-Two to provide funding to complete the DNF game,” read its statement. “In the meantime, 3DR was hitting mutually-agreed milestones, despite not having a new agreement finalized. Take-Two was well aware that 3DR needed the funding to continue the DNF game development.”
By 3D Realms’ account, “Suddenly, after months of negotiations, Take-Two materially changed the parameters of the proposed funding agreement. 3DR informed Take-Two that it could not financially afford the changes Take-Two was suggesting and would be forced to release the team if an agreement was not reached.”
“Take-Two made a last-minute proposal to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise and the 3DR development team. Take-Two’s proposal was unacceptable to 3DR for many reasons, including no upfront money, no guaranteed minimum payment, and no guarantee to complete the DNF game. From 3DR’s perspective, we viewed Take-Two as trying to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise in a ‘fire sale.’ Those negotiations fell through on May 4, a deal never materialized, and the DNF team was sadly released a few days later.”
Though it would not address the specifics of Take-Two’s suit, 3D Realms statement did say the legal action is “without merit” and “a bully tactic to obtain ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise.” It revealed a New York judge has denied Take-Two’s request for the restraining order, and promised to fight on.
“We will vigorously defend ourselves against this publisher,” read the statement’s final line.
For the moment, 3D Realms appears to have the last word. “We have no further comment on the matter at this time,” was all a Take-Two rep would say on the looming legal battle.
Shadow of the Colossus Getting Big Screen Adaptation, All Hope Lost [Sony]
April 7, 2009
Sony’s brilliant PlayStation 2 game Shadow of the Colossus is becoming grist for the Hollywood blockbuster mill, in what appears to not, unfortunately, be a horrible, horrible joke. Might want to pour a stiff drink.
According to the Hollywood Reporter’s Risky Biz Blog, Sony Pictures will be tackling Shadow of the Colossus for a movie adaptation with producer Kevin Misher, responsible for films such as The Scorpion King and The Interpreter, as well as the upcoming fighting movie Fighting. Now here’s where it gets… rough. Got that drink yet?
The screenplay for the Shadow of the Colossus feature is reported to be penned by Justin Marks. He’s the same man responsible for the not-so-great Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, if that rings any bells.
The 2005 game, which focuses on the adventures of Wander and his horse Agro, was minimal on dialogue, so a filmed version would be… interesting.
No planned release date for the film, but hopefully we’ll all be dead from a nuclear holocaust or black plague by that point.
‘Shadow of the Colossus’ to become a movie [Risky Biz Blog]
Panasonic’s 103-inch U-Touch Overlay Air Hockey Table
February 22, 2009
Displayed at ISE 2009 in Amsterdam, is Panasonic’s 103-inch plasma TV with U-Touch overlay multitouch air hockey table. Finally, a useful application for multitouch and all of us “bit-heads” looking to spice up our lofts. Check it out in action after the break. Definitely an effective concept demonstration!
