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Ubisoft getting greener by ditching paper manuals
Ubisoft will cease including paper instruction manuals inside its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 boxed games, starting with this holiday's Shaun White Skateboarding (as revealed in an announcement that quietly confirms the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Shaun White Skateboarding). In place of a paper manual, a digital manual will be provided and accessible in-game. Digital manuals are often more convenient than paper ones (except if you're trying to read one on your way back from the store) and are already becoming commonplace with the proliferation of downloadable games. Plus, we're not exactly going to lament the loss of the no-frills, black-and-white manuals most games include nowadays. But how does Shaun White feel about it? "It's pretty cool that Ubisoft is making a conscious effort to go green with its new video game packaging," White said in a canned statement. "I'm excited for my new skateboarding game to come out and stoked that it will be the very first Ubisoft game to be part of their green packaging initiatives." In addition to saving money for Ubisoft, scaling back on paper manuals -- no plans to extend the initiative to Wii, DS or PSP games were announced -- is part of an environmentally-conscious program from the publisher that also introduces a new recycled "ecoTech" case for PC games packaging. Splinter Cell: Conviction will be the publisher's first PC game to sport the new box when it arrives at retailers next week.
Nissan shows off latest electric car prototype with battery monitoring system, iPhone app
Nissan's started showing off its latest prototype electric car, based on the Versa. This one will house a 108 horsepower / 206 pound-feet electric motor to drive the front wheels, and a 24 kWh, lithium ion battery pack will be fitted under the floor for storing electricity, with an expected range of 100 miles. To top things of nerd-style, the newest prototype will have a navigation system which will show the current life of the battery, and the mile range its current amount of juice will support, and will boast the ability to download info about nearby charging station locations. And need we say, "there's an app for that?" That's right, Nissan also has a working prototype of an iPhone app making the rounds in Japan which would allow users to communicate with their car remotely and find out the state of the battery's charge. Can this get any cooler?Read - Nissan shows off new Versa-based electric vehicle protoypeRead - Nissan dials iPhone for car remote control
Engadget's recession antidote: win an Ecogear Genus backpack!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got an Ecogear Genus 'Black Rhino' pack on offer, perfect for those of you stuck in summer school or gearing up to backpack through Europe (and never return). Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!Major thanks to Ecogear for providing the gear!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive an Ecogear Genus 'Black Rhino' pack. Approximate retail value is $59.99 If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Monday, June 29th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
