Here’s a Sony developer diary for The Shoot. It’s an interesting example of motion controls in a traditional game. With motion controls set to play a huge part of E3 2010, I wanted to hear what you guys and gals thought about this developer diary. While nothing beats hands-on experience, this clip should give you a good idea of what to expect from Move in a shooter.
Author: RPadTV
https://rpad.tv
This Week’s Console Game Releases
Last week was pretty much a dud, but this week’s videogame releases are here to save the day! On the multi-platform front you have Green Day: Rock Band
What new games are on your wishlist this week?
iPhone 4 Has a Gyroscope for Gaming: Do You Care?
A lot of you are already under Steve Jobs’ spell, lusting for the iPhone 4. One of the most curious features of the new phone is its gyroscope. His royal Steveness said:
We’re adding a three axis gyroscope and we tied the accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It’s perfect for gaming.
I know a lot of you aren’t cool with motion-control gaming, but is the iPhone 4 different? Maybe Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field has you seeing motion possibilities on the iPhone 4 that you don’t see on traditional gaming systems. Let me know if you care about the iPhone 4’s gyroscope. I’m curious to hear your opinions!
Coffee Talk #156: What Would Make You Enjoy Motion Controls?
Perhaps this is a lost cause, but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. I mean, I know most of you guys hate motion controls. A lot of you dismiss them as gimmicky and limited. I maintain that they can be lots of fun in the rights hands (I’m talking about developer’s hands, not your hands or Reona Rewis’ hands).
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, Ray Allen lighting up the Lakers last night, tonight’s three-hour episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, or what the hell happened to Mark Teixeira, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Perhaps this is a lost cause, but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. I mean, I know most of you guys hate motion controls. A lot of you dismiss them as gimmicky and limited. I maintain that they can be lots of fun in the rights hands (I’m talking about developer’s hands, not your hands or Reona Rewis’ hands).
Do you see a way for you to enjoy motion-control games? Perhaps a particular developer or genre would work better for you? Maybe you have a great motion-control experience in your head and haven’t seen a game that executes it properly. Share your thoughts on motion (please)! Do you see a way that Wii, Natal, or Wave can be fun for you personally?
Today’s Poll: Are You Going to Buy an iPhone 4?
Steve Jobs officially unveiled the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010. Are you going to buy one? Take the poll and expand on your choice in the comments section (please)! [Photo courtesy of Gdgt.]
[poll id=”51″]
Steve Jobs WWDC 2010 Keynote Live Blog
It’s time for another thrilling Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote by his royal worshipfulness Steve Jobs! The new iPhone is expected to debut today, but there are lots of other interesting goodies rumored to appear too — free MobileMe, iTunes OTA service, MacMini update, MacBook Air Update, Safari 5, and more. Let’s see how it goes down! (Keep refreshing for updates.)
– Steve is doing the “I was right!!!” routine on the iPad. Well…he was right. He shows a funny email from a fanboy saying that the iPad got a girl at a cafe interested in him, hence it really was magic. Jobs playfully cites that as proof that the iPad is magical. Ha! [Photo above courtesy of Engadget.]
– Steve takes his first shot at Google. It’s a small jab. He shows an email from a Wolfram Alpha engineer saying that he made more money with The Elements for iPad in one day than he did with Google ads for five years.
– iBooks are being shown off…*snore* Jobs says he loves HTML5 and the App Store. Going with HTML5 lets developers create for Apple using an open platform. Going with the App Store offers the “curated” experience.
– “We reject apps the crash.” Is that a knock on Google’s Android Market? Sure it is!!! [Photo courtesy of Ars Technica.]
– Netflix for iPhone is coming this summer. First interesting announcement of the day!
– Farmville for iPhone! This is potentially huge!!! [Photo courtesy of Engadget.]
– Next it’s Guitar Hero for iPhone. Eh, it’s okay. Portable Rock Star/Guitar Hero games can be fun, but it’s really all about the peripherals. Unless Activision makes a Steinberger controller for iPhone, I don’t think it will ever be that interesting.
– Last week Apple hit five-billion downloads from the App Store. That’s hugely impressive.
– It’s history of iPhone time. *yawn* But then he unveils the iPhone 4!!! “You gotta see this in person. This is beyond the doubt, the most precise thing, and one of the most beautiful we’ve ever made. Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It’s like a beautiful old Leica camera.” [Photo courtesy of Engadget.]
– The phone has a noise cancelling mic. I don’t recall hearing that one before. Otherwise it’s pretty much everything that has been leaked. Btw, Gizmodo was not allowed into the WWDC keynote. *snicker*
– The metal bound around the iPhone 4 also serves as an antenna. That’s very clever. I wonder if it will make AT&T suck less.
– iPhone 4 uses Retina Display, allowing for four times the pixel density. It’s going to be pretty…though I believe the screen is still physically small.
– They are experiencing technical difficulties. See, it doesn’t just happen to Google and Microsoft. Methinks Steve is going to kill someone seconds after he leaves the stage.
– As rumored, the iPhone 4 uses Apple’s A4 chip, or really system on a a chip. It also powers the iPad. It’s a very impressive piece of tech.
– Battery life is also improved by up to 40 percent for some tasks.
– Look kids, it’s the iPhone Move! Ha, just kidding. The iPhone 4 does have a gyroscope though. “We’re adding a three axis gyroscope and we tied the accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It’s perfect for gaming.” Jobs is playing a Jenga-like came to show off his motion of the ocean.
– “And since this demo does not require the network, I should be okay!” Yeah, Steve’s going to kill the people in charge of Internet at the Moscone Center…and probably a few Apple flacks.
– The new camera has been bumped to five megapixels with better image quality, better low-light performance, and HD video. Tap-to-focus works in video mode now.
– iMovie for iPhone for on-the-go video editing!
– Improved mail, folders, multitasking, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, it’s called iOS 4 now, btw.
– Bing is now one of the search options, along with Google and Yahoo!
– The enterprise features have been improved, but I’m sure IT managers will want to stick with BlackBerry for security.
– iBooks are hitting the iPhone 4.
– I really want to make my morning coffee, but I’m afraid I’ll miss something cool. Hmph.
– Steve is going over iAds, which will help developers and Apple earn money. I’m sure you’re all thrilled by this.
– The “one more thing” is…video calls. Steve is calling Jon Ive. You should all mark out now at the sheer greatness involved in this video call. The software is called FaceTime and will be WiFi only in 2010. Steve said, “We need to work a little bit with the carriers,” which probably means that it will work on a Verizon iPhone in 2011 (half joking).
– $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model. The colors are black and white. If your AT&T contract expires at any point in 2010, you’re eligible for upgrade pricing. iPhone 4 goes on sale on June 24. Pre-orders start on June 15.
– iOS4 uprade available June 21.
Leaked iPhone HD (4G) Photos Found the Day Before WWDC?
Steve Jobs’ keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is a little over 12 hours away, but if you can’t wait for the official unveiling of the iPhone HD, here are some “leaked” photographs (that may or may not be real). Pursuitist claims that the photos are from Chiat Day, Apple’s advertising agency. The branding on the mock-ups shows Rogers, a Canadian mobile provider. The site also shows the iPhone HD in some curious colors in addition to black and white.
What do you think? Real or fake?!?
Impressions: Seidio Innocase II for the Sprint HTC Evo 4G
I just picked up the Seidio Innocase II Surface Case for HTC Evo 4G
Although the outside is rubberized, the interior is hard plastic for better protection. There’s a felt-like lining to keep the phone secure without it getting scratched. Installing the case is a snap — you slip the top half on, then slip on the bottom half, and connect the pieces. All the buttons and ports are easily accessible when the case is on. In case you were wondering, the front-facing camera is not covered, so you’ll be able to video chat with the case on.
I’ll be adding Seidio’s Ultimate Screen Guard to the phone shortly and will give you an update on that. For now, here are some additional photos of the Seidio Innocase II on my HTC Evo 4G.
Project Natal Leads to Father Smacking Son (Accidentally)
Ah, the perils of Project Natal. A writer for Parade recently tried out a few demos for Project Natal with his family. While he seemed generally impressed with Microsoft’s motion-control peripheral, playing with it led to a funny incident that caused him to smack his son to tears:
We next tried an obstacle course where you have to dart under trees and jump over logs. I was really working it, leaning my body and windmilling my arms. Unfortunately, Zane, 3, wandered a bit too close to me and, well, I inadvertently smacked him in the face. He started crying. The Microsoft representatives on hand for the demo looked like they might cry, too.
Personally, I would have went on a Tom Hanks rant from A League of Their Own. “Are you crying? Are you crying?!? There’s no crying! There’s no crying in Xbox!!!” I’m sure I wouldn’t find this as funny as I do if I had a son of my own…but I don’t, so it’s frickin’ hilarious.
PaRappa Creator Developing WINtA Pro Bono for OneBigGame
WINtA, by PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, is being developed in a unique way for a unique publisher. Matsuura-san’s company NanaOn-Sha is working on the game pro bono for OneBigGame, which is a non-profit publisher that donates at least 80 percent of its profits to various charitable organizations that help kids. Here’s more info on this game for the iPhone and iPod Touch:
Designed by godfather of music games Masaya Matsuura, WINtA is the next logical step in the genre as it comes up with a new way of involving players in a song’s music and lyrics. Combining elements of pattern recognition challenges with the natural tendency of humans to tap along with music and words, WINtA goes a step beyond the highway of colored symbols which has become synonymous with music games ever since PaRappa the Rapper set the tone in 1996. Making full use of the iPhone and iPod touch’s touch abilities, WINtA provides a fun and natural way for people to tap along to their favorite songs whilst creating a unique and addictive game challenge at the same time.
I hope the project does well, partially because Matsuura-san is frickin’ awesome and partially because I want OneBigGame to succeed. With all the crap that publishers have been pulling lately, the concept of a non-profit publisher seems so alien to me. I’d love for OneBigGame to knock one out of the park with WINtA. Hopefully some of you support the game too!
I could use some more fuzzies today. Please let me know what you think about this cool project and unique publisher.