Bubble
Latest
E307: Furu Furu Park minigame list
Say what you will about Majesco's Furu Furu Park, but it's got taste. Taito and 505 Games picked some fantastic games to adapt into minigame versions. If everyone made minigames based on stuff like Cameltry, we would never have a problem with minigames.We thought it would be useful to post the full list of included games, because we hadn't seen it yet. If at least five of these are fun, we'll consider the game a winner. Arkanoid can't possibly be non-fun, so that's one in their favor!In our bleak world of cancelled Pocky & Rocky sequels, we must take what we can get. And at the moment what we can get is a Pocky & Rocky-themed shooting minigame. We can smile a little, thinking that there's still some Pocky & Rocky in the world.[Via press release]
Classifying gamers' responses to the hypothetical 'Wii bubble'
In response to remarks from Steven Kent to USA Today predicting an upcoming Wii bubble burst-- an end to its massive popularity, brought on by a high price relative to its power, Game|Life's Chris Kohler wrote a brilliant editorial looking at what he sees as the four different kinds of gamers (in terms of casual-to-hardcore) and how such a bubble burst would affect them.Most interestingly, Kohler defines the "casual gamer" not as we do now (non-gamers who enjoy some Bejeweled) but as the majority of the gaming public who buys systems following price drops and owns two or three games. The grandmas and such fit into the "expanded audience." The other two categories, "hardcore gamer" and "kid" are much easier to define.In Kohler's view, the only audience whose interest in the Wii would be affected by a "bubble burst" would be the casual gamers, who may be more willing to respond to an Xbox 360 price drop than an underpowered Wii. Unless, of course, the Wii gets a bunch of mass-market games.
Around Azeroth: Bubble x 2
Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble... I admit, when this screenshot hit my inbox, my initial thought was "Another Dalaran bubble shot? I know I posted one the very first week I started writing Around Azeroth, and I'm certain I've posted different angles sent in by different readers since. What could possibly be new or interesting about that old Dalaran bubble?" But, of course, I had to check out the image anyway. And now, I admit, I am perplexed! I have no idea what sort of bubble is surrounding Styg, our Paladin friend in this image, but it certainly does make a lovely companion piece to the larger Dalaran dome.Update: Reader Tusva informs me that the miniature bubble we see above is the Repolarized Magneto Sphere, a quest item acquired while doing the Ride the Lightning quest at Toshley's Station in Blade's Edge Mountains.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Rainbow Islands Revolution for $10
If you weren't "lucky" enough to have a glitched copy of Bubble Bobble Revolution and the free Rainbow Islands that came with the replacement, you can get Rainbow Islands now for a very reasonable price. Gamestop is offering Codemasters' sequel for $9.99 new, no broken Bobbles included. It's backordered on the website (which has happened since we started writing the story) but it may be available in a local store or following a restock online.$10 is just about the right price for a game with a Metascore of 54. The original Rainbow Islands is worth like 500 million imaginary Metascore points, and if playing this one even evokes the arcade game a little, it's worth it. Also, $10 is like 1/6 of a copy of Gundam: Crossfire. When you think of it that way, it's quite the bargain![Via CAG]
Bust-a-Move Bash looks very nice and clear
IGN posted some new screens of Bust-A-Move Bash, and we're really pleased with what we see. It's not, however, for any of the reasons you may think.The character selection looks great, there are some seriously huge levels (see above) and the 8-player mode is a nice inclusion (we assume it uses four Wiimotes and four Gamecube controllers). We look forward to seeing how the Wii controls work, sure. But out of all the features, what we're really excited about are the very clear, very colorful bubbles. We played a lot of Bust-A-Move 4 on the Game Boy Color, you see, and it got kind of hard to tell the difference between, say, purple and grey, or maybe they were supposed to be different shades of purple, or grey? The point is we couldn't figure it out most of the time. Other iterations of Bust-A-Move have been better about that, but none have shown such beautiful clarity in their bubbles. This is very important!We've posted some images from the screenshot gallery after the post break. Enjoy easily discerning the colors of the bubbles! Hey Taito, how about a Bubble Bobble game while you're at it? Get the license back from Codemasters.
New Bubble Bobble trailer pops
Many of you out there are looking for a quality Bubble Bobble game on the DS and believe us, you're not alone. We're right there with you, biting our nails in anticipation, hoping that Bubble Bobble Double Shot turns out the way we want it to. The embedded trailer, which is available past the post break, shows some promising gameplay, but we must warn you that the music is really hard to listen to. And the trailer is in German.[Via NeoGAF]
Microfluidic computer runs on bubbles, deals in chemical analysis
Flipping over to alternate energy sources isn't just the rage in vehicles, as we've seen steam-powered and string-powered computers already, and now we're witnessing an oddity that's actually energized by bubbles. The "microfluidic" computer performs calculations by squeezing bubbles through tiny channels etched into a chip, and although it runs around 1,000 times slower than you're average desktop today and takes up quite a bit more room, no AC outlet is required to churn out chemical analysis. Manu Prakash and Neil Gershenfeld of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms created the devices by "etching channels about one micron wide into silicon, and then using nitrogen bubbles contained in water to represent bits of information flowing through these channels." The computer utilizes Boolean logic functions to carry out its work, and the researchers are already envisioning it carrying bubbles of molecules or individual cells to "conduct diagnostics or detect pathogens." We'll admit, a bubble-powered PC ain't too shabby, but even proponents fessed up that such a snail isn't putting modern day machine vendors out of business anytime soon.
Around Azeroth: Bubble... what's that next step again?
Reader Gregory sent us this shot of what he describes as a brave paladin. If ever there were a time in the world (...of Warcraft!) to bubble hearth, this would be it. A lone paladin battling toe to toe with Thrall and a few dozen of his closest Orc friends... sure, the paladin could stick it out, but who has the patience to wait for such a fight to play out? Time to bubble hearth!Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! You can attach a picture file or send us a link to one -- and don't worry about formatting, we'll take care of that part.See more of your pics from Around Azeroth.
Bubble Bobble getting second chance on DS
DS-x2 has received word that Rising Star Games is developing a new Bubble Bobble game for the DS. Publishing duties are being handled by Taito and, given the last disaster that was Bubble Bobble Revolution on the DS, this installment better deliver. It's no wonder that in this latest game, titled Bubble Bobble Double Shot, the focus is to re-create the appeal of the original titles through enhanced graphics and the same grassroots approach of simple gameplay. One new addition to the gameplay, however, has players needing to switch between characters on the fly as enemies are now color-coded and, as such, only weak to certain characters. As for multiplayer, only local wireless has been reported, so cross your fingers if you want to see some Wi-Fi Connect-enabled gameplay here.
MovieBeam gets a boost from Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures, friendly day-and-date releasers of such HD flicks as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Bubble, have announced support for the MovieBeam platform. According to VideoBusiness, despite already having support from the major studios, MovieBeam thinks they can find a niche delivering HD flicks to film buffs who want to avoid the messiness of finding an arthouse actually showing limited release movies. Combined with Magnolia's unorthodox release strategies, they seem to make a good match. Also of note, if you want to check out the service without laying down $199 for the box up front, our friend Dave Zatz mentioned a coupon code (PR49B) that drops the price to $49, although we don't know if that is still valid. Ben wasn't very impressed with the quality of the HD when he reviewed MovieBeam, while Dave had a better impression of its SD capabilities. If you get your HDTV OTA, this may be the VOD service for you.
HD-DVD titles on the way from Magnolia
Magnolia Home Entertainment, the distribution side of our good friend Mark Cuban's 2929 Entertainment, has announced they will be releasing five HD-DVDs in May. Bubble, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The War Within and the TV series Bikini Destinations and HDNet World Report Special: Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission.Reuters pegs the prices for the three movies at $29.98 and the two TV sets at $26.98. No specific release dates yet although it is good to see more content announced. If my math is correct, that should give us 25 movies on the shelves by the end of May, hopefully enough to keep early adopters busy as the Blu-ray launch approaches.
HDTV Listings for January 27, 2006
What we're watching: This is an historic no-brainer for us, but you'll have to stay up late. How would you like to watch a high-def movie in the comfort of your own home on the day the pic debuts? We told you about this before and today is the day that "Bubble" makes its appearance on HDNet Movies at 11 p.m. in 1080i. It's also in theaters today is and supposed to be available on DVD,although Amazon is currently showing a ship date of January 31st. This is the Steven Soderbergh pic that circles around the murder of a single mother who was killed at an Ohio toy factory. Late nights, scary circumstances and 1080i: we'll take it! After the jump is our traditional listing of HD programs throughout the night.
Watch Bubble in the theater, on DVD and on cable, but not if you live in New Jersey
Or any of the other dozen states where movie theaters have refused to show the movie, fighting like the Luddites they are to protect their antiquated way of doing business. Director Steven Soderbergh, in partnership with our friend Mark Cuban and others is releasing his new movie "Bubble" ("the weirdest goddamn movie ever released by a major American filmmaker.") in theater, on cable and on DVD on the same day, giving viewers the choice of how they want to experience it from the beginning, instead of artificial time delays between each step.Immediate (or close to it) digital distribution is the future, and these theaters are silly to fight it. If they had any sense, they'd sell copies o the DVD on the way out. if they had offered me a copy of The Island as I exited the theater, I would have gladly dropped $20 more on top of what I had just spent on a ticket and popcorn. Any HDBeat readers live in states that won't be getting a choice of how they want to see their movies?
