Technomaly » gaming

Play Songs From “Lost” in Rock Band

J. Matthew Zoss — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:21:03 +0000

What did you think of the Lost finale? Love it? Hate it? Didn’t watch it? The show is over, but that doesn’t mean that Lost doesn’t live on. Two tracks from the series are about to be added to Rock Band 2, courtesy of the Rock Band Network: Driveshaft’s “You All Everybody” and Geronimo Jackon’s “Dharma Lady.” If you’re a fan, you’ll probably recognize Driveshaft as Charlie’s band, and Geronimo Jackson is one of those “easter egg” in-jokes that appears throughout the show, a 1970s jam band with posters, shirts, and music that popped up in the background from time to time.

The Rock Band Network is a service that allows anyone to upload their own music to the Rock Band game and make it available for purchase. Anyone uploading music to Rock Band Network must have the original tracks, so you don’t have to worry that these are some fan-made covers. They’re the real-deal songs straight from the cast and crew of Lost.

3D Nintendo DS Game Available This Week

J. Matthew Zoss — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:48:53 +0000

Not long ago, Nintendo announced a new 3D-enabled version of the Nintendo DS. While details on that upcoming system are still scarce, a new game may suggest how the glasses-free machine will work. A new game called Looksley’s Line Up has you searching for hidden objects in 3D dioramas and will be available this week through Nintendo’s downloadable store. The scenes don’t pop out of the screen but definitely have depth, achieved by overlaying images on the DS’s two screens. Check out the video for a pretty impressive demo.

Nintendo Announces 3D Gaming Handheld

J. Matthew Zoss — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:18:14 +0000

In a surprising move, Nintendo announced today that the company will be releasing a new handheld platform sometime before the end of March 2011. More information will be revealed in a few months at the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), but we know the primary selling point of the system already: 3D gaming.

Currently called the “Nintendo 3DS” the new platform is an entirely new hardware line, although it will be backwards compatible with software from both the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi handhelds. Nintendo claims that 3D glasses will not be required to experience 3D on the device. Few other details have been revealed, other than that it will also feature two screens and both forward-facing and backwards-facing cameras like the DSi. Additional speculation about the device from tech site Engadget suggest that it may also have an iPod-like tilt sensor and higher resolution screens than previous DS systems.

After the success of Avatar and the advent of 3D televisions, it looks like 3D technology is here to stay. It’s unclear how Nintendo will offer up 3D without glasses, but their recent track record of innovation has earned them the benefit of the doubt for now. Let’s just hope this turns out better than the company’s previous attempt at 3D gaming, the Virtual Boy.

Source: BusinessWeek

Modern Warfare 2 Hits 25 Million Unique Players

J. Matthew Zoss — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:49:54 +0000

There’s been a lot of bad news in the press lately regarding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developers Infinity Ward and its parent company Activision. The founders of Infinity Ward have been fired for insubordination and are suing Activision, which is in turn suing them right back. It’s ugly. Then again, it’s to be expected in a way. The Call of Duty franchises is one of the most popular, profitable video game series in a long, long time, and when so much money is involved it’s only natural that there will be some disputes over who gets how much of it.

As an illustration of how popular the game is, Infinity Ward’s community manager Robert Bowling just revealed through his Twitter account that 25 million unique users have played Modern Warfare 2, making it one of the most popular online games of all time. That’s across all versions of the game (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC) and doesn’t necessarily mean that 25 million copies have been sold (gamers playing on a friend’s copy of the game would be counted as unique users). But no matter how you break it down, that’s a huge number and it’s no surprise that people are fighting over the money the game is bringing in.

3-D 3-D Gaming Playable At CES 2010

Nick Upton — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:51:09 +0000

Got a chance to goof around with 3-D games, in 3-D omg!

I was surprised how sleek it looks. I really thought it would give me a headache or seizure or just blow my head up, luckily it didn’t. It did add another dimension to the game (pun intended). It really puts you into the action better than just 3-D on a 2-D screen can.

I cannot wait until this is tweaked and ready for a commercial sale.