Google Makes Gmail Social with Google Buzz

Aiming to keep its users attached to its products (and away from social networking services like Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Google has introduced a new feature to Gmail: Google Buzz. Gmail users will be able to share photos, videos, updates, and more. Check out the video below for more information.

As someone that runs his own web site, I love and loathe Google Buzz. I love that it gives me another way to reach people and increase traffic. I loathe that I have to add another task to promote articles.

I haven’t really thought about how and if I’ll use Buzz on a personal level, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

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UFC Undisputed 2010 Coming in May, Brock Lesnar on Cover

THQ has announced that UFC Undisputed will be hitting store shelves on May 25, 2010, sporting Brock Lesnar as the cover athlete. The company claims that its second UFC game is, “Poised to deliver intelligent and intuitive combat, increased fighter customization, robust career progression, challenging new gameplay modes and explosive online offerings.” Hopefully the explosive offerings have nothing to do with gastrointestinal issues (MMA fighters wear skimpy shorts, after all).

The first UFC Undisputed was a huge hit last year. Considering the popularity of MMA and UFC, that wasn’t too surprising. That said, it was a strong return for MMA to videogames and the sophomore effort should be even better.

I’m definitely psyched for this one. How about you?

Coffee Talk #82: What Game Would You Show Mom & Dad?

What game would you show your parents (or parent-like figures) to show off how far gaming has come? It’s easy for older people to dismiss games as “greasy kid stuff”, simply because they don’t know any better. A lot of parents haven’t seen incredible interactive adventures like Uncharted 2 or the thrilling action of Left 4 Dead 2. They don’t know how awesome games are, even compared to last generation.

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, “The Million-Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase finally being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, where Johnny Damon will end up, or the next great Android device, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

What game would you show your parents (or parent-like figures) to show off how far gaming has come? It’s easy for older people to dismiss games as “greasy kid stuff”, simply because they don’t know any better. A lot of parents haven’t seen incredible interactive adventures like Uncharted 2 or the thrilling action like Left 4 Dead 2. They simply don’t know how awesome games are, even compared to last generation.

I remember this one time (not at band camp) when my Dad visited me in San Francisco. We saw my uncle and his family in the East Bay and they had all sorts of questions about games. When they brought me home, I showed them a cutscene from Final Fantasy X and they were amazed by the graphics, music, and storytelling. I think they were expecting a modern-day Pac-Man and were blown away by the evolution of games.

Today (or later this month, really) I think I’d show them Heavy Rain. The graphics are incredible. The story, emotion, and music are easy to appreciate. Most importantly, the game is simple enough that they could actually play it. They wouldn’t have to worry about summoning, sphere grids, and potion management. They’d need a little help for sure, but they would easily get the idea.

What game would you show your parents to illustrate the awesomeness of gaming?

Square Enix Files Trademark for Deus Ex: Human Revolution

It looks like a proper Deux Ex sequel is on the way as Square Enix has filed trademarks for Deus Ex: Human Revolution in Europe and North America. Once one of the edgiest franchises in gaming, Eidos neglected the brand and let it fade into the background. Square Enix appears to have big plans for a Deus Ex revival. Hopefully it lives up to Warren Spector’s excellent vision.

While Deus Ex still means a lot to older gamers, there’s a new generation that has never heard of the series. Fallout 3 and Bioshock have shown that old brands can help sell to older players and great games will sell to everyone. Hopefully Deus Ex is treated similarly to those two games.

Are you guys and gals interested in a new Deus Ex game?

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Will Chrome Overtake Internet Explorer in Five Years?

It sounds like a ludicrous notion, but one of the most high-profile journalists in technology believes that Google’s Chrome web browser has a shot at overtaking Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in the next five years. PC Magazine’s Lance Ulanoff recently wrote:

Google Chrome’s market share numbers are skyrocketing, blowing past Safari and Opera to become the number three most-widely-used Web browser. That’s pretty impressive, and I don’t think it’s going to stop there. I fully expect it to overtake Firefox and challenge, if not beat, Microsoft Internet Explorer sometime in the next 5 years.

While I think there’s a great chance that Chrome will overtake (the alarmingly stagnating) Mozilla Firefox, I have a hard time believing that it can beat IE. Microsoft has a huge advantage in being the default web browser for the most popular operating system in the world. While Google has been making and will continue to make deals with PC vendors to make Chrome the default browser, but those are just drops in the bucket compared to IE. Of course things could change drastically as web browsing moves away from the PC and to mobile devices.

On my laptop, I use Chrome as my main browser and Firefox as my secondary. I rarely use IE. Just for the hell of it, here are the browser stats for RPad.tv visitors.

  1. Firefox 41.83%
  2. Safari 21.44%
  3. Internet Explorer 20.52%
  4. Chrome 11.93%
  5. Opera 1.31%

What browser or browsers do you use every day?

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PSA: Xbox Live Deals of the Week (Three Games!)

Microsoft has three games on special for its Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Marvel vs. Capcom 2, TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled, and Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao. The games are 800, 400, and 800 Microsoft Points, respectively. I was interested in Re-shelled when it was released, but never got around to picking it up. At 50 percent off, I’ll probably pick it up this week.

Any of these games interest you guys and dolls?

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Coffee Talk #81: Do Publishers Still Get Too Much Credit?

What other industries promote publishers over creators? Do you walk into a movie thinking, “Oh sweet! This is a Fox Searchlight film. They’re awesome!” Do you buy music thinking, “Oh man, I love Jive Records! This is going to be great stuff!” What I really want to know is…are you going to go my way? No wait, that’s not right. I meant, are publishers still getting too much credit these days?

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, the answer to the question, “Who dat?!?”, the hottie you want in a bath tub pitching the phone of your dreams, or how much bourbon Smartguy had last night, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

New Coffee: Stumptown Indonesia Gajah Aceh (Thanks for the great service Kate!)

One of my biggest pet peeves when I first got into this business (in the ’90s *gasp*) was that publishers got way more credit than developers. Things have certainly gotten better and more people are aware of the companies that actually make the games they play…but it’s still not where it should be. I don’t mean to piss on the hard work that publishers do, but it seems ridiculous to me that they get top billing and more credit than creators do.

For example, let’s say I search for Mass Effect 2 on Amazon and GameStop. The search results will show the game, what platforms it’s available for, and the publisher (Electronic Arts). The excellent developers at BioWare do not get credit that appears right away. A general customer that’s not familiar with developers will think, “I know these guys. They make Madden NFL Football and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.” It’s stupid and misleading and — most of all — disrespectful to BioWare.

Reading comments about Bethesda’s Rogue Warrior showed me that even enthusiast gamers don’t know the difference between publishers and developers. I’ve seen a lot of complaints on the game that were all, “I can’t believe Bethesda went from making Fallout 3 to this piece of crap!!!” The problem with statements like that is that Bethesda didn’t “make” the game. Rebellion did.

What other industries promote publishers over creators? Do you walk into a movie thinking, “Oh sweet! This is a Fox Searchlight film. They’re awesome!” Do you buy music thinking, “Oh man, I love Jive Records! This is going to be great stuff!” What I really want to know is…are you going to go my way? No wait, that’s not right. I meant, are publishers still getting too much credit these days?

Linus Torvalds Loves His Google Nexus One

Linux creator and programming man-god Linus Torvalds loves his new Google Nexus One. He recently raved about the phone on his blog, saying:

I have to admit, the Nexus One is a winner. I wasn’t enthusiastic about buying a phone on the internet sight unseen, but the day it was reported that it finally had the pinch-to-zoom thing enabled, I decided to take the plunge. I’ve wanted to have a GPS unit for my car anyway, and I thought that google navigation might finally make a phone useful.

And it does. What a difference! I no longer feel like I’m dragging a phone with me “just in case” I would need to get in touch with somebody – now I’m having a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget instead. The fact that you can use it as a phone too is kind of secondary.

That’s some pretty awesome geek cred for the Nexus One. The only problem is that it doesn’t really need geek cred. It needs mainstream marketing and, for whatever reason, Google seems content to (only) bombard the world with AdSense spots for the phone. While I still believe that the Nexus One was the first brush stroke of a much larger painting, getting mainstream attention never hurts. A lot of people became aware of the iPad simply because Stephen Colbert busted one out during the Grammy Awards.

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This Week’s Videogame Releases

Last week was pretty dry in terms of videogame releases, but this week more than makes up for it with Bioshock 2 and Dante’s Inferno. Hitting the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, both games deliver heavy action, but in very different ways. The Wii actually has a couple of interesting titles up its sleeve with Shiren The Wanderer and Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll. Neither are a high profile as the two games mentioned earlier, but the Shiren series has an ardent following and everyone loves balled monkeys.

As always, let your fellow RPadholics and me know if you’re picking up any of this week’s new releases.