vanished
Latest
Audio-only horror game Vanished out now on iOS
Vanished by developer Pixel Heart is a recently launched iOS game that like, doesn't need your fancy graphics, man – in fact, it has none. Vanished is an audio-only horror game, similar in concept to Deep Sea. Vanished places you in a world without light, with no memory of how you got there or why the world is the way it is. But don't worry: Where you're going, you won't need eyes to see. The game uses your iOS device's accelerometer, compass and touchscreen for its interactions – you shake the device to attack, while movement is handled by turning the device to face the direction you want to walk and tapping the screen. "We think that imagination is the most powerful hardware a game needs," Pixel Heart's website reads. "The game itself is only part of the experience. It's your imagination that creates the world in witch [sic] you play." Pixel Heart also labels the game as an "experiment" for now, one they hope to make bigger and more complex. Experiment or no, you can download Vanished from iTunes for free until October 1 as part of its launch sale, after which it will sell for $0.99.
Vanished is a unique and compelling iPhone game
I'm not much of a gamer, but every so often one comes along that grabs my attention. Vanished for iPhone has a unique premise, clever execution, and until Oct. 1, it's free. Here's the scenario: You awake in a dark room and hear some noises. To make the effect complete, you close your eyes, and the game requires headphones so you can hear the directional clues. The game depends on your built-in compass. I heard a siren and walked toward it by moving my iPhone horizontally until the sound was centered, then tapped the screen to walk forward. As you move the phone, you can hear the sounds change. Don't get frustrated. You may have to do a lot of walking. Around me were some low rumbles and a hint of some evil-sounding entity. You will encounter some nasty beings, so you engage in combat by shaking the phone, which lets you use your knife. This is a very clever and original approach to gaming. It will take your full attention. The more creatures you kill, the more experience and strength you will have. If you are looking for fancy graphics and flashing lasers, this is not the game for you. It reminds me a bit of the Colossal Cave text adventure of long ago, but with sound instead of text. I applaud the creativity of the developers, who say more expansion modes are on the way. Vanished is iPhone only and requires iOS 4.0 or later. Your phone will need a compass, which means an iPhone 3GS or later. Vanished is worth a look, or really, a listen.
Galaxy Tab 7.7 disappears from IFA floor, not a trace left behind
Just two days after Samsung unveiled its Honeycomb-sporting Galaxy Tab 7.7, the slate (along with all traces of its existence) has vanished from the IFA floor. All demo models have been yanked from Sammy's booth, branding has disappeared, and even the large poster touting the slate has been covered up. The Korean company hasn't been entirely forthcoming about the reason behind the removal, but a spokesperson did tell SlashGear that the move was voluntary. Given that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is already barred from sale in Germany (and some 7.7 units on display bore a sticker informing handlers it would also not make it to retail in Deutschland), speculation has led many to link the vanishing act to the ongoing legal battle with Apple. For now though, all we have to go on is Samsung's confirmation that the tablet has been pulled, accompanied by a refusal to comment further.
Google restores Gmail access to one-third of affected users
If you've been following the seemingly-massive Gmail outage, you'll know that it's actually not as massive as it sounds. Google's revised its estimate again to say that only "0.02% of Google Mail users" -- roughly about 38,000 by our calculations -- were affected by the issue in total, claims that a full third of them have already had access restored, and expects the issue "to be resolved for everyone within 12 hours." As to the fate of years worth of email, Google reps wouldn't say, but promised us that engineers are working "as quickly as possible" to see the data restored as well. Keep hanging on, folks.
Gmail accidentally resetting accounts, years of correspondence vanish into the cloud? (update)
If you've got a working Gmail account, you might want to back it up every so often -- as many as 500,000 Gmail users lost access to their inboxes this morn, and some of them are reporting (via Twitter and support forums) that years worth of messages, attachments and Google Chat logs had vanished by the time they were finally able to log on. While we haven't experienced the issue personally, we're hearing that the bug effectively reset some accounts, treating their owners as new users complete with welcome messages. For its part, Google says that the issue "affects less than .29% of the Google Mail userbase," engineers are working to fix the issue right now, and that missing messages will be restored as soon as possible. We'll soon see if this is a momentary setback... or a lengthy wakeup call. Update: No fix yet, but Google's revised its estimate as to how many users might have been affected by the issue -- "less than 0.08%" -- which means we're probably looking at closer to 150,000 individuals, rather than 500,000. We're assuming that the revised estimate means that the initial count wasn't precise, and not that customers are ditching Gmail in droves. Update 2: Google's provided promising but terribly vague guidance on when the situation will be resolved: "Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change." Update 3: One-third of users have now had their account access restored, according to Google. Read all about it here. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HDTV Listings for August 22, 2006
What we're watching: After last night's season premieres, it is all reruns on network television tonight, although if you missed the first episode of Vanished you get another chance to catch it on Fox. The second half of Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke airs tonight on HBO and the Cardinals face the Mets on INHD.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
