The US space agency NASA said it successfuly conducted a first test of a deep space communications network modeled on the Internet.
"This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an interplanetary Internet," Adrian Hooke, NASA's manager of space-networking architecture, technology and standards, said in a statement.
The US space agency said Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers used software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking, or DTN, to transmit dozens of space images to and from a NASA spacecraft some 20 million miles (32.4 million kilometers) from Earth.
NASA said the software protocol, which must be able to withstand delays, disruptions and disconnections in space, was designed in partnership with Vint Cerf, a vice president at Internet search giant Google.
DTN sends information using a method that differs from the normal Internet's Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP... More »
Before even receiving a set release date, GTA: Chinatown Wars, the upcoming GTA installment for the Nintendo DS, has joined the ranks of GTA IV PC and Xbox 360 downloadable content as delayed.
At a press conference today, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed GTA IV DLC’s delay rumors stating that it may arrive as late as Spring 2009.
Zelnick also stated that Chinatown Wars isn’t scheduled to be released in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year (January 2009) as initially expected, but will arrive within Q2 2009, which ends in April.
Capcom's John Diamonon shared the following today via PS Blog:
Hey PS Fam! Long time no blog. It’s my pleasure to announce that Age of Booty will finally become available today on the PSN for only $9.99. I know there was a delay bringing this title to you, but we had to make sure we fixed all the bugs before we deliver one of the most original digital games on this platform.
Anyway, Max Hoberman, the President of Certain Affinity and the developer of Age of Booty, wanted to give you some insights into this critically acclaimed game. He’ll also answer any questions you have about the game. Without further ado, heeeere’s Max!
This is a follow-up to my previous post, where I described the genesis of our upcoming downloadable pirate action RTS, Age of Booty. I left off with us signing a publishing deal with Capcom and beginning production. That was a year ago, and since then we’ve had a lot of time to improve upon the original design.... More »
The infamous Xbox 360 "red ring of death" (indicating a failed unit) has caused Microsoft - and its customers - untold pain in the three years since the console's launch in 2005, and cost it $1.15bn (£738m) last year.
Microsoft has never said publicly why the console was plagued with faults: it seems that poor production quality was at the heart of the failures - an all-round problem with no single cause except impatience on the company's part as it tried to become the leader in videogame consoles.
It was an ambitious attack. Microsoft's engineers started working on the Xbox 360 at least a year after Sony's engineers began work on the PlayStation 3, yet wound up shipping a year earlier. With the first Xbox, the company lost $3.7bn (£2.3bn) over four years, mostly because costs of the box - particularly its hard drive - were too high.
Bill Gates didn't really care about the losses; that was simply the ante for getting into an exciting ne... More »
We know some of you put off playing Grand Theft Auto IV when it launched earlier this year on "video game consoles" – instead, preferring to wait for the inevitable PC port.
After all, if there was any chance of some hidden hot coffee action, the PC would be platform of discovery. So you waited. And waited. And finally word came through the tubes that GTA IV would see a PC release on November 18th of this year.
Now, if listings on popular online video game retailers like Amazon and GameStop are any indication, we're hoping you circled that date on your Friends of GTA charity calendar in pencil because you may be in for a two-week delay.
We put a request out to Rockstar early this morning and have yet to hear back, leading us to believe this del... More »
Update: The LittleBigPlanet servers are now up and running once again.
It appears that even with the last minute delay they still could not get the servers working properly. It may have helped detect the problem if the BETA had been open to more people or if they released a demo to PSN a couple of weeks prior to official release.
To quote: As is the case with many online-integrated games these days, the LittleBigPlanet servers appear to have imploded by the weight of a large influx of gamers trying to play, create and share.
According to Media Molecule, "the servers are down while we try to fix the glitching issues some players have experienced. They will be back online as soon as we have fixed the problem."
While many are eager to jump online, let's not forget that these kind of issues are sadly common during the first few weeks of a product launch. (Examples: SO... More »
Per Mike Skinner of Team RamRod via PS Blog today:
Hello everyone! Team RamRod is here again this week to introduce some new High Velocity Bowling (HVB) goodness. I know it’s gonna be tough to compete with last week’s release of the FREE HVB Online Play update in North America, but we have more great news for our fans here in the States.
To all our fans in Europe who are waiting for the online action and new content, please know that we are working as fast as we can to release it to you as well.
Anyone that has played HVB knows that it is filled with an eccentric mix of characters and bowling alleys. Joe and Jill might be your average family playing in a common setting, but it’s not everyday you can mix it up on the lanes with a biker who wants to be a Viking.
Most of you know that HVB hasn’t had any new faces in the neighborhood for quite a while, so without further delay, I am proud to introduce everyone to our newe... More »
A few days back Media Molecule announced that a LittleBigPlanet patch was ready for release to rectify the alleged offensive material included.
Anyone who has managed to get their hands on LittleBigPlanet early will now be able to download patch v1.01. The offensive song in the game, however, still remains... but it is being assumed that they have cut out the offensive lyrics.
To quote: LittleBigPlanet has seen it’s first patch this morning for anyone with the game already (or at least the European version) taking the game to version 1.01. Interestingly, it appears the song in question is still there, we’re assuming they’ve removed, censored or looped around the troublesome content, though.