Thursday, September 27, 2007

SKATE Ships For Playstation 3

“Based on the exceptional demand from gamers the first week, we clearly have a new contender in the skate videogame genre that will be at the top of everyone's must-have list for this holiday.”
Electronic Arts Inc. announced that SKATE for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system hits retail stores today.

full story: http://www.gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=11060

Harry Potter Caves In For ‘Half-Blood Prince’

As the actor who embodies Harry Potter’s every move, Daniel Radcliffe certainly knows from heroism. There’s the type of courage needed to battle a basilisk, for instance, or the bravery required to face down several dementors. But you can keep your dragon rides and your sorcerers’ duels, insisted Radcliffe, who told MTV News that the scene from the upcoming movie, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” he’s most looking forward to filming is the one in which Harry’s heroism manifests itself in the simple act of telling a friend it’s all going to be ok.

“I’m really looking forward to filming the cave and all the stuff in there with the lake and the Inferi,” Radcliffe enthused. “Me and [Michael] Gambon in a row boat for a few days. It’s gonna be amazing.” (Warning: spoilers ahead for those who haven’t read the book.)

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/09/24/harry-potter-caves-in-for-half-blood-prince/

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

And five other unexpected surprises in Bungie's new game

The game's only been out for a day and already the hater backlash has begun. "Halo 3's story is too predictable," they mutter. "We've done this all before," they whine. "More of the same!" they proclaim smugly to anyone willing - or unwilling - to listen.

We're going to have to disagree. While the entire space saga was clearly designed to fit together comfortably, this third chapter takes some major departures from its predecessors. Some good... some bad... all surprising.

You can't claim you saw these coming. We didn't.

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Jena, Race And The N-Word, By Shaheem Reid, Reporting From Louisiana

JENA and from the road, Louisiana — I woke up this morning thinking in the back of my mind, "There's a good chance I'll be called 'n----r' today."

It's come to this, huh? I was racking my brain last night, seriously thinking about the last time somebody had the audacity to call me "n----r" to my face.

Ironically, I had just come from the Jena Six rally in Jena, Louisiana, where about 20,000 people, many of them black, showed love to each other (see "Thousands March On Louisiana Town To Support 'Jena Six' "). "N----r" wasn't even a thought, except when considering the allegations that a white student used the slur on the Jena Six last year. But for somebody to lose his mind and call even one person in that sea of black people such a name was unfathomable.

full version: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1570345/20070921/index.jhtml

10 More Future Web Trends

Our post a few weeks ago, 10 Future Web Trends, received a lot of excellent feedback. The most interesting was from people offering alternative future web trends to the ones we had chosen. In fact there were some grumblings that our 10 picks were not futuristic enough - so in this post let's see if we can address that! There's nothing smarter than 'collective intelligence' after all...
From the comments and trackbacks to the original post, plus some hunting around of my own, here are 10 more future web trends

more: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/10_more_future_web_trends.php

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Sex Pistols Reunited for Guitar Hero III

Witness the awesome power and influence of popular gaming. Activision announced today that legendary punk rockers the Sex Pistols reunited to re-record their hit 1977 single, "Anarchy in the U.K," for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Original members John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), Steve Jones, and Paul Cook hit the studio together for the first time in 30 years, hooking up with original producer Chris Thomas to maintain the feel of the recording. Additionally, the original analog sound desk, built in 1969 for producer George Martin at Air Studios in London, was utilized for aural authenticity.

http://www.gametab.com/news/1051899/

Sports Anomaly: The State of Sports Games

The Sports Anomaly trucks on as they debate if this is unofficially The Year of EA Sports, and plea for an end to marketing-based back of the box features, plus they chat about Halo 3, the return of Heroes, and predictions for the baseball pennant race. This episode will bring you to your feet with applause. Or something.

http://www.gametab.com/news/1052187/

Monday, September 24, 2007

A Different Kind Of Halo 3 Review - Bungie Reviews My Run Through Halo 3

It would be so easy to write a “Halo 3″ review. But I won’t.
You can go elsewhere to read how good the game is (though, to finally answer some of the commenters on my recent “Halo”/”Halo 2″ binge post, the new game is way more to my liking than the first two).
So go elsewhere to read reviews of “Halo 3.” Stay here to read Bungie’s review of how I played “Halo 3.”
Without fear of spoilers — which will be clearly noted — hit the jump to find out how I did and what it’s like to play a major game while one of the people behind it is watching. You’ll also learn what sound not to make while playing “Halo 3″ in front of a Bungie rep as well as the surprising nature of the game’s toughest room.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2007/09/24/a-different-kind-of-halo-3-review-bungie-reviews-my-run-through-halo-3/

Friday, September 21, 2007

How the perfect marketing plan would work

Depending upon who you ask a marketing plan is either a necessary evil or tremendous waste of time. - That’s such a shame, but I think I’ve finally come to understand why this is.

A well crafted marketing plan should be one of the most important strategic steps a business takes, but there’s a disconnect. Marketing plans get created, but never used because, once put to paper or ether, they don’t easily relate to the real life experience of a business. They get created but never installed.

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2007/09/20/how-the-perfect-marketing-plan-would-work/

Helping the Blind Enjoy Video Games

University of Nevada, Reno gets $90k grant to help the disabled play video games

Eelke Folmer has been given a grant of $90,448 from the National Science Foundation. The assistant professor of computer science engineering at University of Nevada, Reno will use these resources to help blind and disabled people enjoy video games. The prototype client that Folmer is creating will allow blind players to navigate Second Life's environment using voice commands alone.

"We are the first to get a grant in gaming accessibility from the NSF," Folmer said. "We're working with a massive multiplayer online game that can potentially offer opportunities for social interactions regardless of disabilities. Our goal is to improve the quality of life for millions of people with disabilities and gaming is a part of that. I'm developing a prototype client for the massive multiplayer virtual world called Second Life that offers a basic level of accessibility for the blind."

full news http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=17435

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Advance by chemists may lead to better displays on laptop computers, cell phones

UCLA chemists working at the nanoscale have developed a new, inexpensive means of forcing luminescent polymers to give off polarized light and of confining that light to produce polymer-based lasers.

_http://www.physorg.com/news109332843.html

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Radio frequencies help burn salt water

ERIE, Pa. - An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century.

John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.

The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.

Read more