Cortana bickering with Wheatley: think about it. The two are strong personalities in their own rights, but put together they make for some hilarious banter.
I would never have imagined Wheatley's deadpan humor to work so well under the seriousness of Halo's plotline, but apparently Toadking07 did and I'm all the happier for it.
Wheatley is 343 Guilty Spark - Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition [YouTube]
Quantum Conundrum's Kim Swift (because I am tired of typing Portal creator) and her team at Airtight Games have undergone a startling epiphany—mobile phones can play games. They've launched Airtight Mobile to take advantage of this discovery, with the first of these "mobile phone games" dropping next week. It's called PIXLD.
From the official announcement press release:
PIXLD is Airtight's first release under the new Airtight Mobile brand, an innovative and unprecedented venture aiming to do the impossible: allow consumers to experience the joys of video gaming on their mobile telephones.
"Seriously, have you seen these things?" said PIXLD creative director Kim Swift, gesturing at Apple's sixth-generation iPhone. "They're like tiny computers. Tiny computers you carry in your pocket. So I'm all like, ‘I know this sounds nuts, but guys, let's put some games on there.' And they did. Bam."
Man, if only I had known this sooner I wouldn't have given away my smart phones to the homeless.
PIXLD is a stunningly simple match game in which the player is challenged to make blocks of similar shades of blue. Touching one of the small bits on the screen swaps the color of it and all the bits around it. You can see where that my pose a problem.
"Is it risky betting on an emerging platform like iOS? You bet. But I have a feeling Apple just might be onto something here," added Swift. "Buying a video game that you can play on your phone for less than a cup of coffee? That's just crazy!"
That is kinda crazy. Even crazier is the fact that PIXLD will be released next week on iTunes for the introductory price of $.99—half off of the price you can figure out using math (hint—add a penny to your end result).
We'll have more on PIXLD once we figure out how to put games on our iPhones. What, we just set them on top or something?
The PlayStation 3 has been around since 2006, and since roughly 2006 hackers have been trying to have their way with it. The system has proven a relatively tough nut to crack, though not an impossible one. The last major rooting incident was back in 2011.
Sony released a major firmware update for the PS3 in 2011, update 3.60. That firmware update in part more or less plugged many holes hackers were using, and prevented modded and hacked consoles from connecting to the PlayStation Network. The work-around, for modified consoles, has been not to update past firmware version 3.55.
Eurogamer reports, however, the block keeping hacked consoles off of PSN has now been successfully circumvented with custom firmware. At the same time, the LV0 decryption keys for the PS3 have been loosed into the wild. As Eurogamer explains:
The reveal of the LV0 key basically means that any system update released by Sony going forward can be decrypted with little or no effort whatsoever. Options Sony has in battling this leak are limited - every PS3 out there needs to be able to decrypt any firmware download package in order for the console to be updated (a 2006 launch PS3 can still update directly to the latest software). The release of the LV0 key allows for that to be achieved on PC, with the CoreOS and XMB files then re-encrypted using the existing 3.55 keys in order to be run on hacked consoles.
The shortest version: the key means that a PC can now easily pretend to be a PS3, and connect and download stuff, which can then be re-encrypted and run on hacked and modded consoles. It's a comparatively painless way to approach what Sony no doubt wishes were a painful process. And Sony may not be able to stop it—at least, not without making every legitimate PS3 stop working too.
PlayStation 3: The Final Hack? [Eurogamer]
It was the art that got me.
When the first e-mail about Might & Delight's Pid showed up in my inbox months ago, I was ready to skim and delete it. But then I started up the video and saw what looked like children's-book paintings coming to life. That's when I decided I needed to play Pid.
Of course, it's never enough to just look pretty in video games. Thankfully, Pid's combo of platforming, gravity manipulation and puzzle-solving does look like it will make the most of the game's eye-catching visual template. The action happens on a distant planet where society has stagnated and the bosses, in particular, look like giant versions of playthings gone horribly awry. Pid's creators say that the designs for these giant enemies are meant to evoke certain emotional and gameplay responses from the player. I wanted to know more about how the game's unique aesthetic informs its mechanics and developers from Might & Delight responded with commentary for the images you see below. If you like what you see, Pid is out next week on Xbox Live and Steam, with a PlayStation Network relase coming later this year.
Making a boss is a boss fight in itself. It draws from all disciplines of game development and puts the team's combined craftmanship to the test. It is like a miniature take of the game. We always start with the concept/design, which at its core asks the question "what does the player do?" From this the gameplay is dressed in graphics, animations, story and setting. Each of the bosses has its own distinct flavor of gameplay, one focuses on moving yourself in the beam, one focuses on moving items in the beam, one focuses on puzzle-solving and one focuses on classical platforming.
To create the best possible gameplay, it is important that the graphics clearly convey the function of each object. A big, readable, color-coded shape makes sure that reading the screen isn't part of what makes Pid a challenging game. The bosses and enemies get their graphical language from physical toys. They have very few joints and sometimes they look as if they were cast in one piece.
Running, jumping and using the beam should be second nature to the player when facing the butler who acts as an exam of those skills. Platforms on his waist and shoulders invites the player to climb him.
Infamous villains need two things: a mask and a gun. This boss encounter puts a strong focus on lifting things with the beam. He also needs to be able to move around a lot since the fight is supposed to be very action-oriented and hectic. These two reasons motivated us to make him float freely, so why not a balloon?
The Gourmand is a puzzle-oriented boss. The slot on her stomach and the lamp she is holding was supposed to be part of the puzzle but we ended up not using the lamp. Her shape alone clearly tells you she will not be fighting you directly, although she doesn't look like a very nice robot.
Ken is an unsettling villain. His slender figure and way too many fingers make for a disturbing impression. He stalks Kurt — At first he keeps his distance, leaving creepy notes and lurking in shadows, but eventually he goes for a direct confrontation. When facing Ken, it becomes obvious that Kurt is just a child after all. There is nothing he can do against the agile, adult robot that wishes him harm.
Available today from Breach Entertainment, Shardlands is a strikingly pretty adventure puzzler set on a desolate alien world filled with bizarre creatures and strange contraptions. And that's why I wasn't paying attention to the first 10 minutes of Zynga's 3rd quarter financial call.
I suppose "more interesting than a Zynga financial call" isn't a particularly ringing endorsement—that pretty much covers everything from small jagged rocks on up. Perhaps I should have said something about the lovely graphics with their unearthly lighting effects, the simple and satisfying single-finger navigation or the wonderful atmospheric soundtrack.
Too late now.
Shardlands [iTunes]
2012 has been rough for the company behind FarmVille. Zynga has lost a total of $160 million during the nine month period from January to September 30, 2012, the company said in an earnings report today.
This includes a loss of $52 million over the past three months. Yesterday, Zynga laid off 150 staff and shut down 13 games. (We still don't know exactly which games were shuttered—I've reached out to the company for clarification.)
That's not to say they're falling apart: as the company noted in its financial report today, they're still controlling half of the top-10 games on Facebook: Words With Friends, Zynga Poker, Bubble Safari, ChefVille, and FarmVille 2.
All of these men are of the generation that grew up with Tecmo Super Bowl, one of the greatest sports video games of all time. "That was the first game I think most athletes played," Ward said, "was Tecmo Bowl."
ESPN and NFL Films this week broadcast an outstanding look at the subculture helping keep Tecmo Super Bowl alive in modern times. The documentary centered on the Tecmo Madison tournament, the undisputed world championship of the 21-year-old video game, and outstanding characters like the Vogt brothers, the enigmatic champion Sobhi Youssef, and Chet and Josh Hozlbauer, organizers of the event.
But the power of Tecmo Super Bowl comes from knowing there were guys like us, who grew up, who played that game as high schoolers and college freshmen, and then went on to enter NFL lore in their own way. Even seeing someone like Christian Okoye, an absolute beast in Tecmo Super Bowl, struggling to contain himself two decades later, is immensely gratifying. (I delight in the irony that Okoye, playing as the Denver Broncos, at some point controlled Steve Atwater in the desperate fight against his video game persona). Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl exalt none and humble all. Only your skill in this game matters, not what you or your player may have done on the gridiron.
I contacted NFL Films and ESPN by phone and didn't get any word on when or if this particular feature would air again. Update: Commenter Jikkle00 says it will air Friday at 4:30 p.m. EDT and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. EDT on the NFL Network.
The weekly NFL Films Presents features air Monday through Wednesday on ESPN2, and they have a different one queued for next week. If you missed it, I have no comfort. But Tecmo Super Bowl got its closeup with the legend-making NFL Films this week, and man, was it pretty.
Via the personal Twitter feed of Josh Olin, former community management guy for Call of Duty studio Treyarch. Now at Riot.
Olin Tweeted: "So this is the packaging that @Amazon is shipping @MedalOfHonor in.... Brilliant!!! Cc: @stephentotilo pic.twitter.com/YMFWDswO"
I've checked in with Activision PR to find out out if this was done just for Medal of Honor, for all video game mailings or what.
If any readers have received Amazon packages with the Black Ops II logo, let us know what was inside.
UPDATE: Many readers are saying that they've received this packaging for Amazon deliveries unrelated to Medal Of Honor. They've received everything from iPhone cases to Borderlands to a Kindle Fire power cable.
About this time last year, AMD's new Bulldozer-based FX series launched to bright-eyed system builders who expected the new architecture to challenge Intel's increasingly comfortable position in the upper-end processor market. Unfortunately, Bulldozer wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Its performance fell short of the then 9-month-old Sandy Bridge processors and in some cases, even failed to surpass the Phenom II range.
Following Bulldozer's mediocre reception, AMD insisted that the new architecture was still young and would serve as a "solid building block" for the FX series. Although hotfixes such as one that addressed an SMT inefficiency have boosted Bulldozer's performance slightly, little has changed with AMD's FX series in the last year—until now, anyway, with today marking the arrival of the company's second-generation FX offerings.
AMD is refreshing its desktop processors with Piledriver, an enhanced version of Bulldozer that focuses on improving instructions per clock and frequency—something we witnessed earlier this month when we tested the company's new Piledriver-powered Trinity APUs. In other words, instead of a major overhaul, Piledriver picks up where Bulldozer left off, which may disappoint those who wanted AMD to abandon the architecture.
Perhaps the most controversial topic of last year's FX series was its new integer core/module design. Bulldozer's floating-point unit featured a complete redesign with improvements to support many new instructions while also allowing resource sharing between cores. There were two 128-bit FMACs shared per module, allowing for two 128-bit instructions per core or one 256-bit instruction per dual-core module.
Although each module appears as two cores in the operating system, they don't have as many resources as traditional AMD cores. So, while AMD claimed that its FX-8150 was the first true eight-core desktop processor, it wasn't in reality and its performance reflected that. Again, Piledriver doesn't change this architecture in any significant way, meaning the module design still exists in today's Vishera FX series processors.
As we saw recently when testing the A10-5800K Trinity APU, Piledriver offered a healthy improvement in power consumption, which allowed AMD to increase the chip's clock frequency by 31% over the older A8-3850. For a sample of what this means for the new FX series processors, AMD has said that the chips will offer as much as 20% to 30% more performance in digital media workloads—a significant boost, if accurate.
The parts released today include the FX-8350, FX-8320, FX-6300 and FX-4320, which are detailed above. Although AMD is releasing four new FX chips, we're only testing the FX-8350 and FX-6300. Compared to their predecessors, the FX-8350 comes clocked a little over 10% higher than the FX-8150, though its max turbo core frequency is the same at 4.2GHz, while the six-core FX-6300 is clocked 6% higher than the FX-6100.
Interestingly, as an aside, the FX-4300 is clocked at the same 3.8GHz speed as the older FX-4150, but while the older model featured a full 8MB L3 cache, the FX-4300's cache has been cut in half to 4MB. Also of note, all of the new Vishera FX models are supported by the existing Socket AM3+ and 9xx series chipsets, they have Turbo Core 3.0 technology and they employ the same dual-channel DDR3 memory interface.
AMD has supplied us with its top-end FX-8350 processor for testing. Thankfully, the FX range is unlocked and the Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX motherboard allowed us to enable just six cores, making it possible to emulate the FX-6300. This board also allows customization of the Turbo Core and Max Core multiplier for accurate results. Unfortunately, because the FX-4300 processor features a smaller 4MB L3 cache we're unable to emulate that processor.
AMD AM3+ Test System Specs
AIDA64 demonstrates that AMD hasn't changed anything to improve the memory subsystem of the Piledriver FX processors. Although the FX-8350 had 4% more read bandwidth at its disposal, keep in mind that it is clocked 11% higher than the FX-8150. Compared to the Core i5-3470, the FX-8350 was 24% slower when measuring read bandwidth and 44% slower in write bandwidth.
We found AIDA64's reported L2 cache performance to be odd, as the new Piledriver FX CPUs had a similar write performance to Bulldozer while their read results were halved. Either something has gone drastically wrong with the Piledriver processors or, as is the more likely explanation, AIDA64 needs to be updated. In either case, we'll be looking into this over the next few days.
Steven Walton is a writer at TechSpot. TechSpot is a computer technology publication serving PC enthusiasts, gamers and IT pros since 1998.
The most recent James Bond game to grace consoles, last week's 007 Legends is, sadly, just not good. Fans of the British super-spy need not despair, however: there is a genuinely good James Bond tie-in game out this fall. And it's a text adventure.The British Intelligence Officers Exam puts players in the shoes of a would-be MI6 agent, working through a series of simulations designed to judge one's fitness for the high-stakes organization. With all of the guns, the flash, the voice acting, and the physics of a AAA game (or blockbuster film) stripped away, the Exam succeeds in making secret missions all about being quick and clever. There's a lot of tension in needing to be very resourceful, very quickly.
The branding is, perhaps, a little over the top. Sony sponsored the project, and it shows. Every mission involves not just a smartphone or a tablet, but specifically an Xperia phone and/or Xperia tablet. Did we mention Xperia? Xperia!
Still, the gadgets in the game, like the gadgets in the Daniel Craig Bond movies, are a reminder that over the last fifty years, real-world tech has gone places that even Q could barely dream of. The pocket tech also serves as a useful way to introduce useful maps and real photos into a text game, truly making it a product of the 21st century.
The strangest part, to an old text-adventure junkie, is that the game works in natural language. You, the potential MI6 recruit, are meant to be talking to an agent in the field. If you say, "look," she doesn't understand you. But if you ask, "What do you see?" or, "Where are you now?" she'll return a thorough response.
The game lets you enter an e-mail address to save progress, so you can come back and play the five missions one at a time when you have a moment. Most take about 5-10 minutes to complete.
