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Valve's Gabe Newell recognizes the innovation of MMOs
Think the PC is losing its grip as the dominant platform when it comes to gaming innovation? Not so fast, says Valve's Gabe Newell. In fact, he even cites MMOs as a leading cause of the PC platform's continued innovation. And when Newell speaks, gamers and game makers listen, as his company is an industry heavyweight responsible for the likes of Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Counterstrike (not to mention the Steam digital distribution platform). Yesterday, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Newell sung the praises of Intel's new GPU/CPU and also offered a counterpoint to those who feel that consoles like the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 have overtaken the PC as industry catalysts. "We see [the PC] as the center of innovation of everything that's going on, whether it's microtransactions, MMOs, free-to-play, or something like CityVille which -- after its first month -- has 84 million people playing," Newell said. "To us, this is just an indication of why open platforms are where innovations are going to occur."
Nintendo will not have a booth at CES this year
Yesterday, we posted that Nintendo would attend CES this year, effectively ending a 16-year-long hiatus from the show -- one of the biggest hardware and tech conventions each year, annually held in Las Vegas. The news came via the Consumer Electronics Association, who runs CES, but today it's told PC World that Nintendo actually won't have official representation on the show floor. The original report was a misprint on the CEA's part. Talk about an inconvenient tpyo. Instead, the CEA says Nintendo will offer smaller meetings in conference rooms during the event. Honestly, we don't know what's worse: the CEA accidentally reporting Nintendo is returning to its show after over a decade-long absence, or Nintendo largely ignoring one of the biggest hardware shows of the year when it's planning to launch the 3DS.
CES Watch: Apple accessories from the show floor
CES 2010 is in full swing in Las Vegas, and while we aren't there, we have been able to scour the webs and bring you the latest, the greatest, and the weirdest new Apple-related peripherals and accessories from the show floor. Griffin has announced a few new devices, including a Display Converter ($40) to send your display out to HDMI or DVI video, a car charger ($30) that opens up another charging spot, and something called the TuneFlex Aux ($60), a cradle that sends iPhone audio out to an AUX port in your car. They've also got new versions of the RoadTrip and iTrip FM transmitters/cradles coming out later this year for the iPhone . IvySkin sent word of their Zappack unit, a battery backup for the iPhone available for $50, the SmartCase, a case with an integrated battery pack for $80, and the CardClip, a case for the iPhone with a money/wallet clip attachment for $20. Engadget posted a hands-on with Parrot's AR.Drone, which we mentioned yesterday. Short take: it's awesome. Geneva Labs has the most beautiful set of iPhone/iPod speaker docks we've seen yet. They're still useless, but they do look good. On the other hand there's the Trik / Triq iPod dock (above), a speaker dock so wild that Sony named it twice. Yeah, that is... wow. Pioneer announced a car nav unit that will stream Pandora via the cell connection on your iPhone. I'm sure there are induction power charging pads aplenty on the show floor, but this is the only one we're bothering to link to. Macally has announced another round of accessories, from earbuds to chargers. The most interesting is probably the PowerGo charger, which will use an AC adapter, a car lighter, or a USB plug, so no matter where you are, you can recharge your iPod. iPod accessories, everywhere! CES continues through the weekend -- we'll keep an eye on anything else Mac or iPod-related that shows up in Vegas.
Global Agenda announces North American tour
The team at Hi-Rez Studios announced they're taking Global Agenda on the road for a North American tour. It'll be a chance for fans, or anyone curious about the shooter-MMO hybrid, to get some hands-on time with Global Agenda and meet the developers from Hi-Rez Studios. The Global Agenda tour kicks off this week at QuakeCon in Dallas and will hit the major gaming events through January. The tour dates announced thus far are: August 13-15 -- Dallas, QuakeCon September 4 -- Atlanta, DragonCon September 4-6 -- Seattle, Penny Arcade Expo October 22-24 -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Games and Media Expo January 7-10 -- Las Vegas, Consumer Electronics Show %Gallery-35351%
Mia Rose interview with Allakhazam
Mia Rose chatted it up with Andrew Beegle, aka Tamat, from Allakhazam at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES).Mia is known around the World of Warcraft community for her work in WoW related adult entertainment. However she also is a known Warlock with a penchant for raiding. Mia talked about her opinions on Wrath and how excited she was to get it initially, but is now kind of so-so about it. In the interview Mia laments about how easy the current raiding content is, especially compared to how hard you had to work to get into the Black Temple back in Burning Crusade raiding.Head over to Allakhazam and take a watch. This video is completely safe for work, as well.
'Minna no Theater' streaming video service could come to the US this year
Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii was the first Wii-exclusive video content delivery service to be announced -- and it'll be the first to be released, if it makes its January 27 date. The service is set to provide animated content like Astro Boy and Transformers, on a rental basis in which Wii Points buy a certain title for a certain amount of time.Fujisoft was at CES (!) and told GameCyte that they are planning on bringing the WiiWare video service to the US. "We can't quite tell at the moment," he said, "But if the negotiations are a success, maybe within the year." Of course, they'll have to compete with Nintendo's video service here like they will in Japan -- and, as GameCyte points out, it's Nintendo of America they're negotiating with. They'll have to convince Nintendo that Minna no Theater isn't a threat to their own offerings. However, since Nintendo plans to produce original content, and Fujisoft's is based on licensed anime, it seems like there is plenty of room for both.GameCyte also got a demo of the service at CES -- read their impressions, and see video of the service in Ultra-action, here.
CES 2009: Zapper crossbow lets you shoot Gorons in style
We were impressed by the "WeeP 5" Zapper mod, but did have one reservation: Link would never use an MP5 to mow down a herd of Stalfoses (Stalfi?). Enter CTA Digital, who were displaying this Zapper crossbow shell at the recently finished CES 2009 (which is strange, because apparently this has been around for a while, but it's the first we've seen of it). This bad boy comes equipped with a laser sight (we seriously question the historical accuracy of this) and, as you can see, a fetching "woodgrain" finish. It looks way, way nicer than the fugly crossbow peripheral we previously covered, and is roughly the same price: a rather eye-watering $29.99. %Gallery-42051%
Guitar Hero III first game to make $1 billion
You may recall a similar headline from the past, where the Guitar Hero franchise earned over $1 billion. Well, another milestone for Activision comes thanks to the previous title to release in the franchise, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. That game alone has generated over $1 billion in sales, making it the first game in history to do so. The news was presented by Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith during a keynote speech at CES. We're not sure how much an impact the Wii version itself has had, but consider it to be significant. The Wii version of the game has been very popular for quite some time now. Well, up until World Tour released, anyway.
Despite 3.4 million downloads, PlayStation Home announced too early
The new virtual world we've written about at Massively, PlayStation Home, seems to have garnered itself a large user base despite getting off to a rocky start. Kaz Hirai of Sony Computer Entertainment mentioned in his Consumer Electronics Show speech that 3.4 million PlayStation 3 users have downloaded Home. It was, however, announced too early according to key members of the Home team in an interview with Develop.Announcing Home back at the 2007 Game Developer's Conference had the effect of stoking the interest of third parties (not to mention gamers and virtual world residents), but there was no where to run with their projects, given the early stage of Home's development at that time. Indeed, Home's Game Director Peter Edward feels that initially some developers were reluctant to get involved, but that situation is beginning to change. Edward says, "The feedback we've been getting is that, in the early days, it was a bit thin on the ground in terms of support and tools, but now it's mature and everybody's starting to produce some really interesting stuff."
New SDXC cards to allow for greater MMO portability
Massively multiplayer online games tend to take up less space on your hard drive than your standard PC game, as the bulk of the data is stored on farms of servers that power your MMO of choice. However, despite the fact that most of the underlying magic is happening far away from your own screen, MMO clients still take up a number of gigs of space, as laptop users who regularly play different titles know all too well. But since an MMO client is really just an access point then, there's no reason why it has to be tied to any one machine or location, particularly if you're on the go for much of the time.While the typical solution for some MMO gamers with a preference for portability is to keep their game clients on a portable drive (myself included), even these small drives are beginning to look downright clunky compared to some of the other options available, or soon-to-be available.
CES 2009: Will Nyko's Wand work with MotionPlus?
We'd like to say one way or another, but when Joystiq stopped by Nyko's booth at CES yesterday to try out the Wiimote alternative, the rep couldn't commit. Nyko hopes the Wand will be compatible, but they're not ready to say one way or the other.On top of that, Joystiq offered up some general observations while testing out the Wand at Nyko's booth. You can check out the hands-on piece right here.%Gallery-41092%
CES 2009: ezGear showcases 'most advanced music game controller'
Even though it has been thoroughly thrashed with the ugly stick, ezGear's "You Rock Guitar" is actually a nifty bit of kit. Labeled "the world's most advanced video game and music controller" by its maker, the guitar is compatible with all current music games on the Wii, and swaps out the traditional strum bar and colored fretboard buttons for real strings and a multi-touch pad respectively (despite how it looks, there are no strings on the fretboard).There's a bunch of non-Wii functionality in the You Rock. It can hook up to your PC or Mac (where it works with programs such as Garage Band, Sonar, and Finale), and can additonally link to your iPod, iPhone, or MP3 player, allowing you to "jam along" with your favorite Showaddywaddy tracks (yes, we know). You can even connect it to a guitar amp or mixer!Alas, the peripheral's many functions mean it will launch in Q2 or Q3 with a price tag of $149.99. If you think you could get some use out of this besides playing on the Wii, that might make this worth it. While you wait, make the jump for the cheesiest trailer we've seen in forever.%Gallery-41114%
CES 2009: Nyko's Wiimote imitator is lawsuit-proof
It's genius, really -- Nintendo sued Nyko for making the Kama Wireless Nunchuck too similar in design to Nintendo's own. But there is no way Nintendo would ever even suggest that Nyko's "Wand" looks at all like the Wiimote, out of respect for the Wiimote. Nyko has replaced the clean lines and muted color scheme of the Wiimote with an odd-shaped body, weird, jagged D-pad, and brightly-colored, square buttons. In addition to the garishness feature, the Wand has one rather cool ability: when connected to compatible extensions, Wiimote functions can be transferred to the extension. For example, their pistol grip for the Wand rumbles and has a real B button on the trigger, rather than a mechanical lever that pushes the Wiimote's B button -- not to mention that there's an A button on the back.They also introduced the Charge Station EX, a revision of the popular Charge Station that adds battery level indicators, and a Kama Charge Kit that includes a rechargeable Kama Wireless Nunchuck and a rechargeable battery pack for the Wiimote. Pictures of all of these new accessories are in our gallery! All are expected to be in US stores this April.%Gallery-41092%[Via press release]
CES 2009: Opera's new SDK could mean better Wii browsing down the line
So, uh, we guess that bit about the updated Internet Channel being done and on the way out the door was spurious after all. Awesome. We're basing that evaluation on two pieces of evidence: first, December came and went; and second, Opera has just now announced a new version of their software development kit for "devices" (as in, not computers). And if Nintendo is just now getting the updated tools, we can expect to wait for a new version of the browser. If Nintendo finished a new version already and Opera just now released an updated SDK, then, uh, there are some grumpy programmers over at Nintendo right now.The new SDK includes Opera Link, which lets users create persistent bookmarks and Speed Dial nodes, which means Wii users could update their bookmarks and such in a less annoying interface. It also includes an updated version of Opera Zoom, for smoother zooming and panning. What it doesn't include is Flash -- updating the Flash Player SDK is Adobe's business.
CES 2009: Sony Pictures leaks Ghostbusters game release date
Ever since it was revealed that the upcoming Ghostbusters game wasn't dead and is in the hands of Atari, we've been incredibly excited to check out the collaborative effort. Now, thanks to the ongoing CES show, we've got a date for the game's release.Sony Pictures fired off a press release for the Blu-ray release of the original Ghostbusters movie, but tucked away in that release is a listed release of June 15th for the Ghostbusters game. Sadly, that's all we've got to go on right now, so it's uncertain if all of the versions of the game will release simultaneously. Hopefully, that'll be the case, and us Wii owners won't be forced to wait longer than the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC folk. %Gallery-27664%[Via Joystiq]
CES 2009: SanDisk brings the power of the Rock Band 2 logo to a new SD card
SanDisk's new 2GB Rock Band 2 SD card is sure to nab some confused gamers and parents when it comes out this spring. It's got the Rock Band 2 logo on it, you see, and that means it works with Rock Band 2. Also, it's white, so you can tell it's a Wii accessory! And it's only about twice as much as you could pay for a 2GB SD card from reputable brands like ... SanDisk!Compared to some other Wii accessories, this one's not so bad. It actually is a working SD card that is just as usable as any other for Rock Band 2, copying VC and WiiWare games, and saving photos and stuff. It's just that you lose a lot of money when you buy an SD card from the video game aisle -- like, for example, SanDisk's Gaming SD card --instead of the camera accessories aisle.
CES explodes with ever more iPod-compatible gadgets
This is yet another bonanza year of the iPod-docking-station compatible device if early reports from CES are to be believed. New docking solutions include jack-equipped cars, digital photo frames, iPod-compatible pacemakers, genetically modified cattle with horn-implanted docks, wearable dockware, iPod-compatible beer, and so forth. Or something like that. I got a little bored reading through today's press releases and may have embellished a bit. Actually, the iPod-compatible news from CES this year is a bit on the slim side. After last year's Macworld-CES head-to-head grudge match, CES seems to have realized this year that it doesn't produce all that much in the way of interesting Apple-related news.
Guitar Hero champ plays Guns n' Roses song with Slash on real guitar
Closing out this year's CES keynote, Microsoft's Robbie Bach invited Guitar Hero champion Kelly "TipperQueen" Law-Yone on stage to play Guns n' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" on Guitar Hero 3. Not willing to be outdone, keynote speaker Bill Gates brings out Slash - of Guns n' Roses fame - to play "Welcome to the Jungle" on a real guitar. We'll leave the real vs. virtual guitar debate to you and South Park. Instead, we'll just spend our time wishing for this performance - and The Office parody from earlier in the keynote - show up as online video soon.
UK telecom company BT Group first to use Xbox 360 as set-top box
Having previously announced its intentions to have the Xbox 360 as a set-top box (STB) at last year's Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates told the audience at this year's keynote that British telecommunications company BT Group will be the first company to use the console as a set-top box, whose interface was most recently seen by accident in a repaired console.Said Gates, "The final announcement, last year we talked about the 360 being an STB -- this year we're excited to announce that BT will be the first to provide that capability. Buy a 360 and use it as an STB for your TV." No other details are given (what about DVR?), but we're hoping to hear some more soon. Check out our hands-on with the service from last year's show.
Despite Guitar Hero skills, Bill Gates can't join U2
So what's Bill Gates going to do now that he's retiring? As noted at in Engadget's liveblog of his CES keynote, Gates produced a video showing his final day in office. Said U2 singer Bono to Gates, "Bill, we've talked about this before. We're full up in the band. All positions are filled. I know... I know... I can't just replace Edge because you got a high score on Guitar Hero."Bono is seen talking in a confessional akin to NBC's The Office. "Bill's always had a passion for music... and as long as it's not my music, I'm fine with that." So much for that. How about setting your sights a little lower - say, Coldplay?
