Those of you who frequent the rumor mill will remember reports earlier in the year that PC hardware specialists Acer were going to release a console to compete with the likes of the Xbox 360 and PS3.
Of course it all turned out to be a load of horse shit, but even this outlandish rumour had an element of truth to it. Acer were working on a game specific machine, although it is actually a highly specialized PC and God damn it’s a sexy looking thing!
In Sydney this week, we were given a chance to rub its sunset orange Lamborghini-inspired exterior, poke about in its innards and give Call of Duty 4 a hammering and we have to say, it was hard not to be impressed.
Aimed specifically at the extreme gamer category, three tiers of the Acer Aspire Predator are in stores right now, ranging from around $4,000 - $8,000, depending on just how big you want your e-peen to be. This is the top end of the spectrum, pushing the latest and greatest tech – from 4... More »
Akop has updated his Sinclair Spectrum emulator for the PlayStation Portable today.
For those not aware, the Sinclair Spectrum was released in the UK in 1982 and become one of the most popular computer systems at the time. It's an 8-bit computer that runs on Sinclair BASIC which was a deviation of the BASIC programming language. As always, the changelog is detailed below.
- A Spectrum joystick button/keyboard key can now be assigned to multiple PSP buttons
- Sticky key status will now be correctly reset when the virtual keyboard is toggled on/off
Electronic Arts today announced that it has a signed a publishing agreement to distribute titles from leading developers Epic Games and Grasshopper Manufacture.
Under the agreement, EA will publish an all-new action game in development at Epic’s Poland-based People Can Fly studio, responsible for the Gears of War PC port and the Painkiller first-person shooter franchise. The title will be released on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
“Epic is excited to work with EA Partners to launch our next big IP on the global stage,” said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. “EA Partners gives independent developers like Epic the muscle of a global publisher like EA, along with the focus and flexibility of a smaller team committed to working with our individual needs.”
On the Grasshopper side of the spectrum, EA inked a deal to publish an all-new “action horror game” produced by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and directed by Suda51 ... More »
Sony's handheld is far from unsuccessful. The little device absolutely destroys in the Japanese market and it provides a nice alternative to the DS here. In the world of handhelds, some consider it a Yin to Nintendo's Yang.
It's the other side of the spectrum, it's the PSP. Capable of playing music, video games and the so awesome UMD, this sucker came to the table loaded with possibilities upon its release several years ago. (/sarcasm)
Even with that, Robbie Bach, President of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, sees Sony's device as a road map of how not to handle a portable.
The PSP is a reasonably successful product at the profit-and-loss level. But as a product concept, there are cautionary tales to learn from it...
While it is good at producing audio, it's not a good music player because it doesn't have local storage (except for flash memory slots). You can't keep your music there. It has a beautiful screen, ... More »
Microsoft and Yahoo were pushed to the brink of a multibillion-dollar marriage and then to a sudden breakup this weekend by the same player. It was Google, in the odd dual role of both unwitting matchmaker and self-interested spoiler.
Google’s phenomenal rise, after all, prodded Microsoft, the dominant technology company for more than two decades, to court Yahoo. And Google’s success also weakened Yahoo enough to give Microsoft the sense that it could buy the company at a good price.
A combined Microsoft-Yahoo would create a powerful competitor, and Google early on indicated that it would fight the merger on antitrust grounds in Washington and Brussels.
But Google played a part in killing the deal, for now at least, by acting more as friend than foe. It offered to let Yahoo use its more sophisticated search advertising technology, which by some estimates would have meant $1 billion in additional cash flow a year for Yahoo. The partnership wou... More »
Deborah Mars, Senior Producer at SCEA Santa Monica, has revealed some new details about the new PixelJunk Monsters Encore expansion pack which is coming in May 2008.
Some highlights includes: 1 new island (Toki Island), 15 new levels, 5 new music tracks from Otograph, Ice Tower is now a stock item and a reduced gem cost to buy the Tesla Tower.
To quote: Of course we’re huge fans of all things Monsters, and totally biased about spreading the PixelJunk gospel but first, here’s a quick overview of some of the highlights in PixelJunk Monsters Encore:
* 1 new island, Toki Island
* 15 new levels
* 5 new music tracks from Otograph
* Ice Tower is now a stock item
* Reduced gem cost to buy the Tesla Tower
* Releasing in May 2008
We had loads of questions for Dylan and team, so we’re splitting this interview into two parts. Featured below are my top five burning questions for Dylan, and be sure to chec... More »
And that middle-age is fast setting in... You used to play videogames all night. Your Quake prowess was unmatched; your skills at Command & Conquer unparalleled. You have a gaming history that stretches back beyond the PlayStation generation to the SNES, Megadrive, Amiga and ZX Spectrum. You were there at the dawn of gaming.
Tick-tock... Time passes. You've quietly come to realize that you're not the hard-core gamer you used to be. Even your Xbox 360 Gamertag seems far too 'sensible'. How do you know that a mid-life gaming crisis is setting in? Watch out for these warning signs:
You prefer playing against the computer
Online gaming against real people has become depressing – it exposes your faded, spoon-sharp reflexes and you abhor the trash-talk from 12-year old fanboys. You prefer playing offline against the computer because a game's algorithms are slightly more predictable. And, once you master the scripted patterns of play, you stand ... More »
On Tuesday the Advertising Standards Agency banned adverts for a new computer game, Kane & Lynch, because it deemed them too violent. It is interesting that adverts for last year's "torture porn" film Captivity were not banned, even though they were heavily criticised in the US. And no one even raises the possibility of banning such films outright. But then, computer games are our society's straw man for panic about moral decay, thought to have some special power to harm and corrupt.
Dr Tanya Byron's eminently sensible report last month on children and new technology emphasised the many opportunities for fun and learning that games provide. But the media coverage focused on the usual fears and worries. Byron said that we need to move away from talking about computer games "causing harm"; in response, TV and newspapers showed stills from games with titles like Manhunt and God of War. Byron said children need to be "empowered to keep themselves safe"; newspapers said comput... More »
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