Amazon has announced that the Harry Potter series of books will be available through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library starting June 19, 2012. The program is available to Amazon Prime subscribers and allows them to “borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.” As the name implies, a proper Amazon Kindle is required; you’re not able to borrow books through Kindle apps available for Android, iOS, etc.
This a fantastic addition to an already excellent program. Obviously the Harry Potter books are immensely popular. The Kindle e-readers are fantastic, while the Kindle Fire is a good starter tablet PC. Amazon’s combination of hardware and content is tough to beat (at least in the e-reader space).
Any of you tempted to pick up a Kindle now that Harry Potter is in the mix?
Activision has revealed some sweet pre-order bonuses for The Amazing Spider-Man. If you pre-order the game from GameStop then you get a mode called “The Rhino Challenge”. Here’s the description from the press release: “Take control of the massive, genetically engineered villain Rhino and rampage around Manhattan in an exclusive gameplay challenge of pure destruction! As Rhino, players will be able to unleash his formidable powers to destroy anything and everything that gets in his way in a timed event full of speed, combo streaks, and of course, a ton of things to break!”
The super-cool bonus comes from buying the game through Amazon. You get to play as legendary creator Stan Lee! Here’s the official description: “Players will take on the role of Stan ‘The Man’ Lee in his own special mission across Manhattan, borrowing abilities from his old pal Spider-Man as they help Stan collect pages of his latest script in a spectacular race around Manhattan. Stan’s mission is punctuated with his witty banter that fans have come to know and love, and a special surprise waits for them at the end of the mission — after all, it is Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary this year!”
Both pre-order bonuses are for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game only.
As a proper comic-book nerd, of course I’m psyched about the Amazon bonus. The Rhino Challenge sounds like fun and all, but playing as the beloved and legendary Stan Lee sounds completely awesome. In fact, I think every game should let you play as Stan Lee. I guarantee that the reviews would better.
Any of you psyched for either of the pre-order bonuses for The Amazing Spider-Man?
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Justin Bieber hanging out with Triple H, your least favorite vegetable, or missing your second home, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Two days ago, a few of you were teasing RPadholic smartguy on Google+ Messenger with faux spoilers right before he saw The Avengers. He was warned about the deaths of Apollo Creed, Albus Dumbledore, Tupac Shakur, etc. The whole thing got me thinking about big deaths in movies and television. Since we’ve already discussed memorable deaths in videogames, let’s use today’s column to talk about deaths in movies and TV that moved you.
As for me, I’m going with Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was immensely shocking at the time. I had no idea that good guys in movies could die. In retrospect, the death scene wasn’t the best; a collapsing brown cloak isn’t the most dramatic or visceral way to become one with the Force. That said, my concept of life and death wasn’t developed yet. Even with fiction, my mind hadn’t been tainted by the many rebirths of many Marvel superheroes. Seeing Obi Wan Kenobi die just rocked me.
Now it’s your turn! What movie and TV deaths are you going with? Will you pick one of the many deaths of Sean Bean? Were you moved by a noble sacrifice or hyper-violent annihilation? Please leave your favorite deaths in the comments section!
Blizzard, Peter Chung (Aeon Flux), and Titmouse have joined forces for Diablo III: Wrath. This slick and stylish animated short gives some background information in the highly anticipated Diablo III for Mac and Pac, which is due out next week. Here’s the official description…
Blizzard, Peter Chung (Aeon Flux), and Titmouse have joined forces for Diablo III: Wrath. This slick and stylish animated short gives some background information in the highly anticipated Diablo III for Mac and Pac, which is due out next week. Here’s the official description:
Long before the creation of Sanctuary, the Eternal Conflict between angels and demons raged on for untold millennia. Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with renowned director Peter Chung and acclaimed animation studio Titmouse to create this unique vision of a fundamental moment in the battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells.
Watch the video when you have a chance and leave your thoughts in the comments section (please)!
At E3 2011, several of my videogame-industry pals told me to check out Papo & Yo for PlayStation 3. It’s a unique and visually interesting game inspired by a father-son relationship in South America. It’s hard to convey the game’s charming feel, but this developer diary does a great job at it. Check it out and let me know what you think (please!). If you like, I can spend three hours of E3 2012 playing the game and talking to people about it. Like Captain Planet says, “The power is yours!”
TeleHuman is a fascinating project from the minds of Queen’s University’s Dr. Roel Vertegaal and his research team. The project uses “an array of microsoft kinect sensors, a 3d projector, a 1.8 metre-tall translucent acrylic cylinder and a convex mirror” to make life-size holograms. As you can see from the video above, it’s some seriously cool tech. There are some practical uses for it such as video-conferencing and medical applications, but nerds would use it to live out their Star Trek fantasies. I could easily spend hours a day taking 3D scans of objects, people, pets, etc. in order to beam them up. If only I could find my translucent acrylic cylinder….
The rumors were true! Microsoft is now offering the 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect for $99 with a two-year contract. Monthly service for Xbox Live Gold costs $14.99 per month under the agreement. Similar to mobile-phone contracts, the subsidized Xbox 360 comes with an early termination fee should you cancel service. The fees range from $250 to $12 depending on when you cancel. Check out the handy chart below for reference.
Like I said before, I’m super curious to see how popular this model will be. In North America, subsidized phones are the norm. For various reasons, some gamers seem to have a problem with a subsidized console. That said, I suspect that vocal minority is comprised of enthusiast gamers and that mainstream consumers will be attracted to this deal.
What do you think? Will Microsoft have success selling the Xbox 360 with a subscription?
Update: RPadholic smartguy noted that in many regions, the console will be taxed at the full $299 retail cost. This is similar to taxes paid on subsidized phones.
You’ve read the review. You’ve seen the incredible box office numbers. Now it’s time to take this all-important poll! Which Avenger would you most like to drink with? Would you want to pick the ingenious mind of Tony Stark/Iron Man? Would you want to hear about the good old days from Captain America? For many, the amazingly sexy Black Widow is the obvious choice. As for me, I’m going with Thor. Dude is a chick magnet; I’d gladly take his hand-me-downs. Plus, his godly strength makes him invaluable in a bar fight. Most importantly, his Norse constitution ensures that you always have a safe ride home.
How about you? Which Avenger would you choose as a drinking buddy?
Some of you will be shocked by this news: The Avengers movie did well. The movie picked up an estimated $200.3-million over the weekend in Canada and the United States. The global figure is estimated to be $641.8-million. The numbers support what I’ve been saying for decades: Hawkeye brings in the dough. Here’s more The Los Angeles Times:
The Joss Whedon-directed movie, riding stellar reviews and a tsunami of Twitter love, piled up $200.3 million at theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from Disney. That total, which beat the $169.2-million record set during the opening weekend of 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, was turbocharged by pricier IMAX and 3-D tickets. About 52% of those who saw the movie opted to shell out a few extra bucks to watch it in 3-D. IMAX theaters even ran out of seats to sell to moviegoers.
The North American box office total added to an already unfolding global success story; playing in 52 international markets, the movie collected $151.5 million this weekend, raising its tally abroad to $441.5 million. That means that after just two weeks in release, The Avengers already has sold $641.8-million worth of tickets, jumping past The Hunger Games on the ranking of top-grossing 2012 releases worldwide.
One interesting side-note is that the one of the reasons for the movie’s tremendous success is that it’s performing well with women. Comic-book nerd movies usually appeal to guys, but some polls show that 40 percent of the peeps that saw The Avengers over the weekend were women. This supports my theory that Hawkeye brings in the ladies. Others believe that a strong female heroine like Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Joss Whedon’s track record with women (Buffy, Angel, etc.) were the main reasons an unusually high percentage of females saw The Avengers. I like my reasoning better.
Any of you surprised by the success of The Avengers?
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Floyd Mayweather’s surprisingly exciting victory over Miguel Cotto, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2012 inductions, or remembering MCA, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Do you ever dream about making your own games? Perhaps you have a sweet game in your head, but can’t get it on screen because of a lack of coding skills? Here are two visual programming tools that can help you make games without knowing how to code. First up is GameSalad Creator. This robust editor allows you to make games for Android, HTML 5, iOS, and more. It offers an almost shockingly diverse amount of options, including a robust behaviors editor. GameSalad Creator is free, with a more powerful Pro version available for $299.
A simpler and more focused visual programming tool is Codea for iPad. This $9.99 editor allows you to make games for the iPad on the iPad. It offers a mix of drag-and-drop and straight code editing. To give you an idea of what Codea can do, TwoLivesLeft has published Cargo-Bot. While it’s not as diverse or as powerful as GameSalad Creator, Codea offers a surprising amount of power considering its price and platform.
Don’t expect either of these editors to let you make the next Skyrim or Gears of War. These tools are meant for people that don’t know how to code or don’t like to code. With that in mind, of course the options are relatively limited. That said, they do offer numerous and powerful ways to unleash your inner game designer.
Are any of you interested in making games this way? Do products like GameSalad Creator and Codea interest you?
