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Instacart's 'Ready Meals' are a grocery store alternative to take out
With its new Ready Meals Hub, Instacart now offers pre-made and hot food delivery from grocery stores including Publix, Kroger. Stop & Shop, and more.
Good luck tilting this massive pinball machine
If you're in Wolfsburg in the near future, you could do a lot worse than to head over to the Phaeno museum, which is currently playing host to one enormous pinball machine. The outfit teamed up with the Pacific Pinball Museum for an exhibit on the game. At the same time, they commissioned artist and maker Niklas Roy to build a customized machine that would comfortably sit on one of the center's famously steep walls. The result is Galactic Dimension, a pinball machine with a playing surface that's nearly 10 x 20 feet.
The Daily Grind: Are giant characters at a disadvantage?
As a player who usually chooses a small character, I will once in a while push myself out of my comfort zone and select the biggest slab of avatar beef to play (literally in the case of my World of Warcraft Tauren). When I do venture over to the other side of the size slider, I'm struck by how many downsides there are to being big. For starters, speed normalization means that big characters appear to run very, very slowly (even though they're going just as fast as everyone else). Your character is blocking more of your screen view and is sometimes hated by other characters for blocking theirs. And then there's the lovely fact that larger toons are easier to target in PvP. So do you think giant characters are at a disadvantage? Do they have enough pluses to compensate if so? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Here are a couple of Black Desert beta reviews
Steparu and MMO Culture are both playing Black Desert's second Korean closed beta, and both sites have published recaps of their various adventures. Steparu details the fantasy sandbox's combat and skill system as well as the process of catching a mount with a lasso! MMO Culture focuses on the melee brawler Giant class. Both sites have uploaded gameplay videos, which you can sample after the cut.
Army spy blimp to launch within weeks: 300 feet long, $500 million, 'multi-intelligent'
It can't go faster than 34MPH and it's already a year late for its planned deployment in Afghanistan, but Northrop Grumman's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is now set for its maiden flight. The test run is scheduled for sometime between June 6th and 10th over Lakehurst, New Jersey, whose residents ought to be forewarned that it is not a solar eclipse or a Death Star, but simply a helium-filled pilotless reconnaissance and communications airship that happens to be the size of a football field. After floating around for a while, the giant dirigible is expected to journey south to Florida, where it'll be fitted to a custom-built gondola that will carry the bulk of its equipment, and by which time her enemies hopefully won't have come into possession of an air force.
Visualized: Arduino gets super-sized ahead of Maker Faire
This is Make's John Edgar Park, manfully clutching his Arduino Grande. The oversized device isn't just for show though, it's a fully working unit for those projects where a standard sized PCB just won't do. He'll be taking excited modders though the process of building it at Maker Faire on Saturday, just head over to the demo stage at 5:30pm with your pre-written Super Size Me jokes close to hand.
Fantastic Skyrim Gameplay that looks like a Bug #1: Giant physics
So there you are, quietly guarding Whiterun Hold, when a massive, dumb giant comes stomping up the path and hits you with its club, trampolining you miles into the beautiful autumn sky, never to see your family or friends again. Rude. Ok, maybe you shouldn't have taunted it with your shield or said its mother was that particular brand of professional, but you didn't deserve such a severe punishment. But who knows, maybe you did, and maybe this video is why they call it Skyrim.
This giant military spy blimp is really hard to miss
What's this spy blimp doing next to an 18-wheeler? We're not entirely sure, but it's certainly not being subtle about it. This jumbo-sized floater, codenamed "Blue Devil Block 2," measures some 370 feet in length and comprises a whopping 1.4 million cubic feet. Originally inflated in September, the definitely-not-blue Blue Devil took flight for the first time last week in North Carolina and, if all goes to plan, should head to Afghanistan by the middle of next year. The Air Force says the blimp will hover above the country for five days at a time, collecting surveillance data from 20,000 feet above the ground and transmitting its findings to US intelligence officers on the ground, via laser. When that's taken care of, it'll be used to make the biggest omelette ever.
ZT Online 2 open beta attracts 435K concurrent users
For the past couple of years, EVE Online and World of Tanks have been duking it out to see which game can outfox the other in the hunt for the MMORPG peak concurrent user record. As of this week there may be a new contender for the crown if ZT Online 2's open beta period is any indication. The game is a sequel to Giant Interactive's popular ZT Online martial arts title, and the recent open beta period featured an impressive 435,000 simultaneous players online. Gamasutra has the details, culled from a Giant press release, and the company also indicates that approximately 400 developers have worked on the title over the past three years.
Patch 4.2: Druid tier 12 revealed, new tier armor information and models
Wowhead has put up some excellent shots of the previously unseen druid tier 12 armor set called Obsidium Arborweave, as well as new information about the names of other classes' tier 12 sets. Also, we were anxiously awaiting the new molten giant model -- and lo and behold, it is awesome and is definitely the source of inspiration for the warrior tier 12 set.
Screen Grabs: Newly minted Bengals wide receiver AJ Green rocks Dell Streak during NFL draft (video)
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. A tipster sent us video from ESPN's NFL draft coverage, asking us to identify the giant phone in University of Georgia wide receiver AJ Green's hand. Turns out it's a white Dell Streak, perhaps the only phone on the market capable of dwarfing the Cincinnati Bengals' fourth overall pick by comparison. Keep in mind, Green is a big guy -- he's 6 feet, 4 inches. He also catches footballs for a living, so we figure that, at the very least, he's got to have average hands for a man of his size. We're happy to report he didn't spike the phone after hearing the news. Videographic evidence after the break. [Thanks, Ramon]
AMD Radeon HD 6990 shows up in its metallic flesh, looking larger than life
What does the next great superpower of desktop graphics look like? Well, it shares an unmistakable family resemblance to the current champ, but its dimensions have somehow been made even larger. Yes, we're talking about AMD's Radeon HD 6990 -- a dual-GPU monstrosity that's set to serve as the company's 2011 flagship -- which has just been shown off at an Asia Pacific Fusion Tech Day gathering. Aside from the crazy imagery (one more after the break and a gallery at the source), we've found a promise that this polygon deliverator will be available in late Q1 2011. Which gives us just enough time to rent out a room big enough to house it. Now, when's Crysis 2 coming out? [Thanks, Christopher]
Visualized: when backpacks attack!
We spotted this giant backpack from Everki here at CES and couldn't help but put it to the intern test. Sadly, Sam Sheffer decided to open the backpack and was never heard from again. %Gallery-113447%
42-inch Nexus S stomps into Best Buy, terrifies shoppers and demos interactive Gingerbread UI (video)
This isn't Google TV, though we can see why you'd ask. No, this monster is merely the world's largest fully-functional Nexus S handset. Presently on display in a Best Buy store in San Carlos, California, the enormous Android is equipped with a 42-inch multitouch screen, rigged to a real Nexus S that does all the processing. There's a working camera, internet access and the whole Android 2.3 user interface to explore, though it does look a mite difficult to navigate in the video below. Did we mention there's a video? Stop reading, hit the break, and get on with the show!
The Daily Grind: If you could play another race, what would it be?
Whether it be Lord of the Rings Online's four, Warhammer Online's seven or EverQuest II's whopping 19, sometimes MMOs never quite have the race you really want to play. Although race selection is often overshadowed by class picks, a character's race is still quite important to most players. Whether it be the aesthetic style, the implied attitude or the inherited place in the world, a race matters. Yet there usually comes a point where the mind starts to wander over to the forbidden valley and dabble in the "What if?" of racial choices. Maybe there's a race/class combination that's forbidden in your game, and you're denied your favorite race just because you are in love with a class. Or perhaps there's a race that you've encountered in your journeys that you think would be a popular player pick if only the devs would return your phone calls. So if you could play another race in your MMO, what would it be? Would you love to be a giant, towering above all others and crushing your foes with impunity? Would you like to be a monster that looks more terrifying than anything else you might encounter? Or have you latched onto the idea of being a cyborg zombie -- Zomborg, they're called? Speak up, sonny -- I can't hear you! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Caption contest: Gulliver's iPhone makes it big in Hollywood
So apparently the hidden island of Lilliput has cellular coverage, but who cares -- it's still gonna be another crap movie. Way to ruin Gulliver's Travels with Jack Black. Joe: "Finally, Angry Birds the way it was meant to be played." Darren: "That's a big iPhone." Josh T.: "The monolith taught the monkeys to kill, also, how to make conference calls." Paul: "Time-traveling Jack Black plants hidden iPhone reference in Jonathan Swift novel." Thomas: "It's holding you wrong." Tim: "Eighteen months ago, the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried forty feet below the lunar surface, near the crater Cupertino." Vlad: "It's just a jumbo iPhone, I don't see what all the fuss is about." Sam: "What does this mean? It's so bright, so vivid." Sean H.: "And so did the tiny scholars toil for decades to unravel the mysteries of the blue block, and the significance of its question marks." Richard Lai: "Paul Miller makes a cameo appearance in this scene, tut-tuts at the low pixel density." Myriam: "I'm crushing your head! I'm crushing your head!"
Chinese online games market saw 63% growth in 2008
Business is booming for online game operators in China. The market grew by 63% in 2008 according to analyst group Pearl Research. They also predict that online gaming in China will be a $5.5 billion market by 2012, as reported by Gamasutra's David Jenkins. In a country where broadband speeds are continually improving coupled with the widespread adoption of the web, China's netizens have embraced the relatively low-cost entertainment that online gaming offers. This is good news for gaming companies, particularly in these lean economic times. Jenkins writes, "Online operators in China have apparently seen little downturn in their business during the world economic crisis, with six companies now making revenues greater than $200 million (Tencent, Changyou, The9, Netease, Shanda and Giant)." You can see the full story on China's online games growth over at Gamasutra.
Mabinogi's associate producer helps us pioneer our way through Iria
Mabinogi's latest expansion, Pioneers of Iria, has recently gone live on the servers after much anticipation by the fans. Now players are able to not only explore the brand new continent of Iria, but also able to take advantage of new races in character creation, such as the giant and the elf, and the brand new exploration system.We here at Massively recently had a chance to catch up with Nexon's Matthew McCullough, the associate producer on the North American version of Mabinogi, to ask him some questions about their brand new release. Is all of this new content truly real? Is it really free? Can elves and giants live together with one another in harmony?Hit the continue reading link below, if you want the answers to these burning questions! Also, if you're a Mabinogi fan, look forward to our hands on with the Pioneers of Iria expansion later on in the week!
New races, continent, skills, and more coming to Mabinogi
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Pioneers_of_Iria_expansion_brings_new_continent_to_Mabinogi'; Nexon America as just informed us of a huge expansion coming to Mabinogi, titled Pioneers of Iria, which will be featuring a huge brand new continent, two new races for players to create characters as, new skills, new magic, a new exploration system, dungeons, cities, the works.Pioneers of Iria, due to release sometime late in February, will introduce the brand new continent of Iria -- a land mass over three times bigger than the current continent of Ulad. Iria is also the home of the races of Elves and Giants, which will be featured as brand new player races.
