Netflix Streaming to PS3 -- Good So Far

Image via CrunchBaseToday is the first day that you can stream Netflix to your PS3 without the disc.  And about time.


Setup takes all of about three seconds, so no concerns there. 

A much-needed improvement to the feature has been made -- you can search.  Not just your instant queue, search the whole catalog in the app.  Also, the buffering seems to have improved from what I can tell (from the first few minutes of Interview With the Vampire, anyway.)

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l'Cie Tattoo Finally Real: First Gamer Known to Get the Arm Ink

Yes, the day is here.  The L'cie tattoo has left the world of fantasy and entered the realm of crude matter.  Major kudos to Crawlerbasher for making this totally airwolf ink happen.  Follow this link for the full pic.

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8-Bit Vintners

As a gamer, when you hear the term "home-brew", you likely think of people developing software.  But there is another world out there, a world of people who make actual, real-life things.  And sometimes our world overlap.

Enter 8-Bit Vintners. 

My wine is for anyone who spent time trying to save a princess or fit odd shaped blocks together. We may have never met, but we have more in common than we ever knew. So blow out that old Contra cartridge, give the NES a good dust off, and pour yourself a glass.

Excellent!  For reasons completely unknown to me, wine says "class" to Americans more than anything.  So why not pull out a bottle for your next dinner party?  Before Rock Band, I mean.

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The Illusion of Chomp

I cannot, nay, will not get enough of this video.

Guy Applies for Bills Asst Coach -- with Gaming Resume

Image by Pete Zarria via Flickr

Gaming yields skills.  Teamwork, problem solving, negotiation, leadership, tenacity.   You know this.  I know this.  But do the Buffalo Bills know it? 

I guess we're going to find out.  This guy submitted a very professional resume and cover letter for the Bills assistant head coach position.  A few of my favorite qualifications:

• Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare - Instituted various team building exercises that resulted in avoiding Epic Fails.
• Madden 94-09 -- Responsible for in-game play-calling and execution, including the proper time to call an audible and when to "reverse the play".
• Tecmo Bowl -- Rushed 4,897,611 yards during the pre-season  with Bo Jackson.

If this dude doesn't get the job, it will be a severe setback in the movement for gamer's rights. 

The post is a must-read, so get over there and check it.   And if his site doesn't start selling 8-bit 716 t-shirts, I will be sorely disappointed.

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Gamer T-Shirt: National Joust Association

No, I've never written a fan-fic based in the Joust universe.  Who would do that?  I mean, that would just be crazy, right?  Heh heh.

Get the shirt here.

Super Star Trek -- There's an App for That

I am not alone in my interest in the archaic text-based space strategy game Super Star Trek.  Recent months have given us an iPhone version. 

Is the iPhone ushering in a new generation of homegrown games?  The direct-to-download PC market doesn't seem to be breaking any records, but perhaps the portability and general fun of Apple's money-printing machine is providing garage game developers with a new outlet.

Find reviews here and here.

 

Top Five Final Fantasy Characters... on MSNBC?

What about me?

Apparently we live in a society in which mainstream news outlets care about Final Fantasy.  MSNBC recently posted a list "the top five greatest" FF characters.  My feelings are mixed.


Pro: Hey!  FF on MSNBC!
Con: Isn't "top five greatest" redundant?

Pro: Vincent Valentine!
Con: Tidus?  I mean... Tidus?  The crybaby?  Not Auron?  Or Yuna?

Pro: Balthier!
Con: Why aren't there any characters from before 6?


Pro: Sephiroth!
Con: Sephiroth?  Obvious much?

While I am glad to see a big news site taking an interest, I am disappointed in the choices.  How were these characters selected?  Perhaps something more specific than "top greatest" would have been helpful.  Most memorable?  Coolest? 

The stories of Final Fantasy are certainly complex enough to merit actual literary analysis.  If you're going to say "greatest", I want to see a PhD involved.

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Urgent EVOKE - Week One Reactions

Could a video game change the world for the better?  Let's find out.

The concept of EVOKE -- the browser/RL mmorpg which calls itself "a ten-week crash course in changing the world" -- is to take all of the highly addictive and social aspects of online gaming and use them to turn the click-happy into engineers of social change.  Curious?  A slick online presence, with a well-made comic and  hip grunge graphics, will seal the deal. 

Naturally, I signed up for an account.  Mission #1 came today, and instead of pondering which flash game to try on jayisgames.com I found myself deciding exactly what my social agenda will be.  Do I care about the greening of the world?  Access to education? 

Each piece of Evidence (e.g. following a social innovator on twitter, reading an article and posting about it on an EVOKE blog) yields character points which you allocate to your powers.  Yes, powers.  Not Ranged Weapons or Mana Recovery, though:  Collaboration, Sustainability, Local Insight, etc.  Each action you log is reviewed, and if found suitable awarded points.  And as other users check out your stuff, they can give you points for it as well.  Forget grinding in a dungeon -- grind on the web looking for examples of urban farms.

So far it's a great concept carried out with flair.  I'm concerned about scalability, though; if it gets huge, how many staff will be needed to review the Evidence?  Either way, being a "certified EVOKE innovator" is sure to be more fulfilling than making Commodore Emeritus on Super Star Trek.  Not by much, but still.

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DSi XL Feature News: Update Your Gray Matter

Yes, the DSi is the apex of gamer lifestyle hardware.  And yes, bigger might just be better.  So much marketing has gone into selling this little guy as the magic keep-your-brain-active tool that the pressure to make the screens legible to people over the age of ten has presumably been rained down upon the R&D folks in a torrent of directives and memoranda.  While the 'nets are all hoping/assuming the DSi XL is meant to compete in the burgeoning e-reader market, perhaps it's meant for something else.

The list of included software pretty much clinches it:

• Brain Age™ Express: Arts & Letters
• Brain Age™ Express Math
• Photo Clock

What in Helsinki?  Where's the Classic Book Collection?  How about a little PDF reader action?  HEAR MY PLEA!

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Nintendo DSi XL Release Date and Price on G4

G4 has the info you need, apparently:

    "Do you like your DS? Would you like a bigger DS? Would you like this bigger DS to be called the DSi XL and be released on March 28 for $190? Well, such a prediction would lend credence to the theory that you're a psychic freak, but I'm going to let that pass for now. You got off lucky, dude.

    Nintendo of America announced the March 28 release date this morning at their media summit in San Francisco. G4 is on-hand at the event to check out Nintendo's lineup -- stay tuned."

Thanks to TRB for the heads.

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Gamer Tattoo Tuesday: Modern Warfare 2

I have yet to see any photos of MW2 ink anywhere, and that's a good thing.  This game, while certainly well-made, should raise the eyebrow of any participant.  Do you really want this much realism in a war game?  This is fun for you?  Killing Nazi zombies -- good times.  Killing people whose concepts of a virtuous life differ from yours -- worth a pause. 

Seems the most eligible image for a tattoo would be the insignia of Task Force 141.

Seriously, though.  Think about it.  Do you really want some vet stopping you and commenting on this? 

"Never seen that insignia before.  What division you in?" 
"Me?  Oh I just pretend to be a soldier on my PS3."  
".... You mock everything that makes America great."

(Note -- I had no idea joystiq had posted this Nazi zombie MW2 article mere hours before I posted.  Yes, it's an archetype.)

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Assassin's Creed II Screenshot Vs Reality

Here's a nice screenie of some architecture near the duomo in Assassin's Creed II.

Oh, wait.  That's a photo of real life.  Here's the screenshot.

You just try to tell me that's not amazing.  My dad starting playing AC2 a little while ago, and realized he could clamber his way up to a viewpoint not unsimilar to the view from an apartment he stayed in. I assume I'm not alone in eyeing churches a little differently after having played this game -- judging handholds and looking out for glowing feathers.  These two images speak to just how faithfully the developers recreated reality, and if I ever find myself in Venice I had better see haycarts all over the place, for my own safety.

A recent WSJ article with the SEO-friendly title "Time Travel Gets Closer to Reality" addresses this topic.

The game's producer-authors chose those years as the most eventful of the era and labored lovingly to re-create the environs as exactly as possible. They hired Renaissance scholars to advise on period garb, architecture, urban planning, weaponry and the like. They took tens of thousands of photographs of interiors and streets. They used Google Earth liberally to piece together the ground-up and sky-down perspectives through which the action flows.

Well, it worked. 

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Final Fantasy XIII Music -- Will You Preorder?

Image by GogDog via Flickr

Now this takes giant balls of manufacted nethicite.  Square Enix sent a polite missive today, declaring that we now have an opportunity to preorder the soundtrack for FFXIII.

Experience the music from the latest chapter in the FINAL FANTASY series in a world filled with unlimited possibilities.

Composed by Masashi Hamauzu, the soundtrack is comprised of 85 tracks on 4 CDs, and includes the Japanese theme song "Kimi Ga Iru Kara" and additional song "Eternal Love". *English theme song not included song not included

Directly imported from Japan, this is your chance to own the distinct FINAL FANTASY sound that the world has been waiting for.

Seriously?   They want us to buy a the soundtrack for a game we haven't even played yet?  Their dominance over the minds of the gamer world is hard to question, but this smacks of hubris, even for them.  Have they realized they have become Shinra?

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Star Trek Online Race Customization: Do They Own User-Created Content?

Fine.  Yes, I have considered trying out Star Trek Online.  I admit it.  Now, check out this little snippet from the FAQ: 

What’s more, anyone can create their own species in Star Trek Online, meaning you can tell your own story about how you came to be in the galaxy. Leave your mark on the Star Trek universe!

Yeah.  I'm going to have to go ahead and caution against this.  If you're a fan-fic person or heavy RPer and want to get your stuff out there, by all means go for it, but if you've had a cool sci-fi idea kicking around in your head for a while and think this might be a fun way to try it out before writing your novel, please don't.  If this world is the Star Trek world, and the Star Trek world is owned by CBS, can we assume that anything that happens in this world is owned by CBS?  Considering the successes Blizzard has had in this arena, I see no reason why not.  Either way, I think it is safe to assume that CBS has better lawyers than you do.  Be warned.

World of Warcraft Achievements on Facebook – How To

You may remember a post about PS3 trophies on Facebook, in which I suggested WoW do the same.  Well, clearly the fine people at Blizzard are reading this blog and waiting for the next pearl of gamer wisdom to drop from my lips.  They couldn’t possibly have come up with this on their own.

Here’s a quick walkthrough on how to make this happen:

• First, look for the World of Warcraft Feeds on Facebook application.  Clicky.
• You will need to link your account, done easily enough by a pop-up window upon the entry of your Battlenet info.
• Next, you will be see your characters – pick the one you want to boast about.
• The fun part comes next; picking what events you want to post.  Achievements, Boss Kills, and/or rare loot (with selectable parameters!) .

Easy peasy.  The app includes a “View in 3D” option, allowing you to show off your badassed mofo in all his or her glory.




Now get out there and tell some animals you love them!

Three (More) Literary Works Worth A Play-Through

You really must get over to this blog and read the author's response to the hope-chest which EA's Dante's Inferno has ope'd.  5 books he'd like to see made into games, albeit with tongue firmly placed in cheek.  He asks "Which great works would you like to play through?", and I, of course, live to serve.

Around the World in 80 Days, Jules MF Verne  Play as intrepid adventurer Phineas Fogg as he saves beautiful women, dodges lawmen, and sails across the Great Plains.  Think Uncharted, but with more gentlemanliness.

Utopia, Sir Thomas More.  The city-builder title.  Convince the citizens they are happy while you take their children away and enslave all the criminals.

Histories, Herodotus.  Call of Duty + 300 - naked dudes = awesome.

Five Question Friday: David Cumbo, Cinematic Layout Artist at Insomniac

In this latest installment, we get enjoy the musings of one Mr. David Cumbo.  David currently works for Insomniac as a cinematic layout artist (aka "cutscene guy"). 

#1 -- You've been working in the VG industry for a while now (Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, etc.).  What piece are you most proud of?

-I worked on Ratchet: Future 1 and 2, and Resistance 2.  Of those, I think we did the best work on Ratchet Future 2, which is good since it's the last game we did.  The quality of the work produced was higher and the story was more cohesive.

#2 -- How does directing a cut-scene cinematic compare with directing a movie?  

-Game cinematics are made through a variety of means.  Most typically, they use game assets rather than custom models.  Often, the game models are up-res'd to accommodate close-ups and various cinematic needs.  We're limited in many ways compared to film production.  We need to work within the confines of the game engine and its custom cinematic tools.  In addition, all assets to be animated need some degree of rigging to allow the engine to recognize their movement.  We need to think creatively to get around all these limitations.  Maybe we want a close up but the model is too low-res so we need to figure out a different shot.  Our cinematics are frequently located in spaces shared with gameplay.  Since fun gameplay is our highest priority, we may need to make different choices in the scenes.  In film, temporary adjustments can be made to get the shot working and then moved back.  Other than the aforementioned limitations, the creative nature of making a movie is identical to animated film production.

#3 -- What game are you most jealous of not getting to work on?  Why?

-Insomniac made Spyro the Dragon.  I think I would've enjoyed that one.  Don't know why, I just think the characters are cool and a good story can be set in that world.  I remember digging the original game in high-school.

#4 -- What old game deserves a reboot?

-Of Insomniac's?  I suppose Resistance is a sort of advancement of Disruptor, but I think the sci-fi world in that game is interesting and could use a modern lift.  Of course, Spyro was awesome.  But hey, as far as my favorite lost series?  Day of the Tentacle... Earthworm Jim... Jet Force Gemini...

#5 -- What are you playing now?

-To be honest, I don't play an awful lot of games outside of work since I have to sit at a computer screen all day ;)  BUT, I have recently been playing Banjo-Kazooie: N & B.  That game is amazingly creative.  I've always been a huge Rare fan.  The game allows you to beat its challenges in many different ways by constructing your own vehicles to tackle them from different directions.  It's like playing Mario, but instead of figuring out what they want you to do, you think about what has to be done and make your own way of doing it.  It really is impressive how much depth they put in the vehicle creation interface.  One of the bravest and most underrated games in the industry today.  The last game I finished was Haunting Ground on the PS2.  Lots of fun.  I love that type of twisted story and I'm fascinated by games that put you in a powerless role rather than trying to make you feel like a BADASS all the time.  Before that, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, which, other than Silent Hill 2, has the best story I've ever experienced in a game.  It was beautiful.


Thanks David!  And keep us posted on your latest!

Wallpaper Wednesday: Gray Fox

And while we’re on MGS, how about a little Gray Fox?

Booyah.

Gamer Tattoo Tuesday: Metal Gear

Ah, MGS; the game which taught us that a cardboard box and a pack of smokes is all it takes to be a super-ninja-spy-dude.  If one wants to sport a some ink from the game, though, what are your options?
The FOXHOUND logo?

Um, no.

Maybe a bit of the cover art?
 
If your local tattoo guy is Yoji Shinkawa, maybe.

Now, this guy’s got it right.  The Kojima Productions logo.

Simple, bold, and 100% rad.