I recently had an argument with a friend over caramel apples vs. candy apples. To me, one is vastly superior to the other. I’m honestly shocked on the rare occasion that I hear someone preferring the lesser snack over the obviously greater one. I chalk it up to bad taste or a defective gene. Just to check myself, I want your opinion on the matter. Kindly vote in today’s poll and back up your choice in the comments section.
[poll id=”140″]
Rumor has it that the next iteration of Kinect for the next Microsoft Xbox will be much more accurate than its predecessor. “How accurate?” you’re probably asking yourself (or not) — accurate enough to read lips and track fingers! That’s the word according to the excellent peeps at Eurogamer. Check it out:
One development source told Eurogamer that Kinect 2 will be so powerful it will enable games to lip read, detect when players are angry, and determine in which direction they are facing. Kinect 2 can track the pitch and volume of player voices and facial characteristics to measure different emotional states.
There’s no word on how Kinect 2 will handle people that excel at masking their emotions or those with multiple-personality disorder.
Seriously though, this kind of tech seems really cool, but will it be any fun? Are you boys and girls interested in Kinect on steroids? What kind of gameplay applications do you see with a high-fidelity version of Kinect? What do you think creative souls like Hideo Kojima and Tetsuya Mizuguchi could do with a Kinect 2 that’s powerful enough to read minds lips and track fingers?
Since Black Friday wasn’t enough (depending on your perspective), online retailers like Amazon are aiming to extract more money from your wallets with Cyber Monday sales. Here are Amazon’s Cyber Monday videogames deals. Kindly let me know if you pick anything up. Sadly, I have a bunch of travel this week and need to save my money for business expenses. *sniff* *sniff* I want to shop too!
Microsoft has a bunch of games slashed for Cyber Monday on Xbox Live. These deals are for today only…because there’s nothing Cyber about Tuesdays. Here’s what you can pick up: Mortal Kombat Arcade Collection (400 points), Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale (600 points), Beyond Good & Evil (240 points), and Risk Factions (200 points).
Any of these deals appeal to you?
Google has been aggressively targeting social gamers with its increasing selection of distractions on Google+. It seems that the company is looking beyond social gaming and, perhaps, going after (more) traditional console gamers. Google developer…
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, eating at a diner for Thanksgiving and wanting real turkey, the Miley Cyrus stoner controversy, or John Morrison possibly ending his WWE run tonight, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Google has been aggressively targeting social gamers with its increasing selection of distractions on Google+. It seems that the company is looking beyond social gaming and, perhaps, going after (more) traditional console gamers. Google developer advocate Paul Kinlan recently revealed that Chrome will be able to support gamepads natively through WebRTC. Kinland noted that WebRTC could allow streaming services like Onlive and Gaikai to work on Chrome without any plug-ins.
A few outlets have reported that Google is developing its own streaming videogame service, but Kinlan has denied this. Others have speculated that Google is considering buying OnLive or Gaikai. On one hand, it seems outside of the company’s wheelhouse; I’m not sure that Google wants to deal with game publishers and developers in that fashion. On the other hand, it could give Google yet another way to serve relevant ads and give Google+ a differentiator over Facebook. Certainly Google has the server capacity to support a streaming videogame service, but I’m not convinced the company wants to deal with the messy content.
What do you think of the recent Google gaming speculation? Do you see Google getting into streaming videogames? Would you use a gaming service on Chrome that’s socialized by Google+?
I’m truly amazed by the rise of WWE Zack Ryder. He went from one of Edge’s two indistinguishable sidekicks to one of the most over wrestlers in WWE today. The crowd reactions he has been getting for the last few months have been phenomenal. The amazing part is that it wasn’t an outstanding match or a strong push by corporate that got Ryder over. It was his sharp use of YouTube and Twitter.
Ryder wasn’t getting enough match time to show what he could do in the ring. He also wasn’t getting great material to work with from WWE’s writers. He took the initiative to develop his character through a series of YouTube videos called Z! True Long Island Story and reach out to fans via Twitter. It completely worked. The fans connected with him, probably because it’s easy to see how much he cares and how badly he wants to succeed. He took his character to a new level with YouTube in a way that WWE television wouldn’t allow. It’s a great success story that shows how powerful social networking services can be.
What do you think of the Zack Ryder phenomenon? Are you impressed that hard work and social networking has made him one of the most popular WWE Superstars in 2011? Also, woo woo woo! You know it!!
Since I’m going to be spending most of today in the air and a couple of hours in Chicago, I’m going to miss most of the Black Friday madness. I did manage to pick up two items before I left. First is The Social Network for $10. It’s a fantastic movie and I’m really looking forward to hearing the two commentary tracks. The other goodie I picked up is a Hario Buono kettle. Water control is so important when using pour-over methods like my beloved Chemex. The Buono is used by many baristas I know. It’s one of the best out there for the price.
When the dust clears, please let me know what Black Friday deals you scored. And please, please, please don’t forget to check Amazon’s various Black Friday offerings.
It looks like Booster Gold will be the next comic-book superhero making his way to television. I never thought I’d type a sentence like that. As many of you know, Justice League International is one of my all-time favorite comic books. The hilarious team of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold was a huge reason why. I’m a big Booster booster, but I still can’t believe that someone ordered a script for a show. Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter:
Syfy is looking to bring Booster Gold to life on the small screen. The NBCUniversal cable network has ordered a pilot script for the one-hour drama based on the DC Comics franchise.
The story will center on Booster Gold, a washed-up athlete from the future who travels back to the present in hopes of becoming the greatest super hero of all time. Instead of chasing criminals, however, his main priority is chasing fame and money. But Booster Gold discovers that being a hero takes more than just a megawatt smile, and that the future doesn’t happen without first protecting the present.
I’m excited and scared all at once. I love that a minor character like Booster is getting a shot at mainstream glory. I want the show to get green lit and charm America, but I have my doubts. Most people don’t know who Booster Gold is and it will be hard to get them to care. Remember, Birds of Prey had a great debut and quickly fizzled. I’m not even sure a show about Booster Gold will do as well as that…but I’d love to be wrong.
What do you think about Booster Gold getting green lit for a pilot? What obscure comic-book character will be next? Blue Devil?!?
Thanksgiving has a special place in my heart as a long gaming weekend. I think I posted this story on G4tv — as a kid, I used to rent games the Wednesday before Thanksgiving since the local video store was closed for the holiday and I’d get a free day of rental. Ah…good times.
This weekend I really, really want to spend a chunk of time playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but I have a shoot in Chicago that will break up the time. Skyrim deserves days of uninterrupted attention. I received a code for the “Treasures of the Sun’ DLC for Dungeon Siege III. I’ll definitely be playing that. Perhaps it will make the perfect appetizer for Skyrim….
How about you? What’s on your Thanksgiving weekend playlist?
Empire magazine has some great shots of the Bane costume from the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises. With the negative reactions Catwoman’s costume received, I was hoping for something better with Bane. Unfortunately, I can’t get behind the Bane costume. To me, they’re trying too hard to make him look like Hannibal Lecter. In my head, Bane’s mask resembled that of a luchador and the “Venom” drug was pumped into the back of his head. Here it looks like Venom is feeding into his mouth. Also, what’s up with Bane’s jacket?!?
Any of you digging the updated look? Or are you disappointed. Please let me know what you think of Bane’s costume from The Dark Knight Rises?
