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Google's Arduino-based ADK powers robots, home gardens and giant Labyrinth (video)
Sure, it looks just about like every other Arduino board found at Maker Faire, but this one's special. How so? It's Google-branded, and not only that, but Google-endorsed. Shortly after the search giant introduced its Android Open Accessory standard and ADK reference hardware, a smattering of companies were already demonstrating wares created around it. Remote-control robots? Check. Nexus S-controlled gardens? Check. A laughably large Labyrinth? Double check. It's already clear that the sky's the limit with this thing, and we're as eager as anyone to see 'em start floating out to more developers. Have a look in the gallery for close-ups of the guts, and peek past the break for a video of the aforementioned Xoom-dictated Labyrinth. %Gallery-123306%
Prospero the robotic farmer robotically plants seeds, makes humans even more lazy (video)
Let's face it -- humans are lazy, yet incredibly industrious. We've seen everything from a self-making bed, to a channel-changer to even a touchless keyboard. And now, we're blessed with a robot that plants seeds for us. That's right, the image you see above is of a five-legged machine that has the ability to complete all of the necessary steps to grow a plant. Thanks to a Parallax Propeller chip that's mounted on a Schmart Board, Prospero is able to autonomously navigate in any direction and avoid obstructing objects. There's a sensor that lies under its body that senses where seeds have been deployed. If the robot detects that the ground is in need of a seed, it'll dig a hole, drop the seed, move the soil back over the hole and then spray paint the ground white to note that the process was successful. The belly of the bot is also equipped with fertilizers and herbicides, and Prospero can 'talk' (via infrared) to other robots in order to maintain crop-creating efficiency. You can check out a 48-second clip of the planting process after the break. Or, if you're a harvest-enthusiast, hit the more coverage link for 5 minutes of glorious green thumb action.
The Game Archaeologist and the NeverEnding Quest: The highlights
To many veteran MMO players, the opening horns of EverQuest's score are enough to trigger vivid memories, violent hallucinations, and an unstoppable desire to leap through the computer screen to return to Norrath. It all depends, of course, on which MMO you first cut your teeth, and while many gamers would claim titles like World of Warcraft as their first, there is a large contingent who will confess that EQ was their first MMO lover. In fact, before WoW came on the scene in 2004, EverQuest was the gold standard of MMOs for a half-decade -- it was insanely popular, perfectly addictive, and absolutely revolutionary. It was a giant that roamed the virtual lands of those days, a giant that continues to forge new grounds well over a decade from its inception. It was 1995 when John Smedley realized the potential for online gaming and roped in Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover to start putting together an online RPG for SOE. What began as a small project ballooned into a crazy endeavor as the growing team created a monster RPG the likes the world had never seen before -- a game that would forever shape the MMO genre. This month, the Game Archaeologist is going after one of the biggest treasures of recorded history as we unearth the secrets to EverQuest's popularity, legacy, and longevity. The first step on our journey is to look at some of the highlights that made EQ what it is today.
Please give me something to grind
I realized the other night that I have quite possibly the strangest complaint about Wrath of the Lich King possible: There is nothing that you can just go grind if you want to do something mindless. By grind, I mean endless killing of mobs for some minor gain. One of the biggest reasons I play WoW is for social purposes. I play WoW with a lot of my friends, and sometimes when I log on I just want to use the game as glorified IRC while I stab things.This worked well in The Burning Crusade, because there were a lot of quests that required you to pay attention to what you're doing, but there were also a few reputation grinds that you could do just by murdering lots of mobs, which was great for those lazy days. Zaxxis Insignias, Warbeads, Marks of Sargeras, all of that stuff. If I didn't want to do anything complicated while I chatted away in guild chat, I could just round up a bunch of mobs and killify them, and I would still be making progress toward some game goal.
Shaun the Sheep screens taste good with mint sauce
Mention anything associated with Nick Park to animation aficionados and you will be met with squeals of delight. On second thought, don't mention anything -- just take solace in the fact that you know all about the mega-popular creator of Wallace & Gromit, Creature Comforts and now Shaun the Sheep.Our first look at Shaun was a positive one -- despite the possible trappings of the standard mini-game compilation, the light-hearted, mischievious nature of the trailer had people talking. D3 has released a whole batch of new screens today, which show the farm map along with several other characters. Judging by the dual-screen displays, it appears gameplay might mix with stop-motion cutscenes simultaneously -- which would be awesome. The overall polish of Shaun the Sheep is making a strong case for a decent game when it arrives in Q3 2008.%Gallery-26222%[Via press release]
Natsume makes us a happy blog with new Harvest Moon screens
The fine folk at Natsume just sent over a couple of new screens from latest installment in their popular Harvest Moon franchise, upcoming DS title Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. For those of you familiar with the franchise, you should pretty much know what to expect. Farming, tending to livestock and interacting with NPCs is usually the order for the day, so we don't expect this title to be any different. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you. We like taking care of virtual cows as much as the next DS-obsessed blog. Hit up our gallery below for the new screens from Island of Happiness. %Gallery-15230%
Shaun the Sheep is the best character ever
There's nothing quite as charming as a Nick Park creation. After the worldwide success of Wallace & Gromit, a show with 7-minute episodes was devised starring an above-average farm animal. This animal now has its own DS game, and it's awesome. Why? It just is, man -- Shaun the Sheep owns all.The premise of the game involves Shaun herding the rest of the flock back to the barn before the nondescript "Farmer" character returns home. Not much else is known about the gameplay at this point, beyond maneuvering around obstacles to safely guide the other dumb-as-donuts sheep. However, an additional mini-game mode is included - standard fare for children's games these days. Hey, if you're a kid or not, this is a fantastic game -- Shaun rules. Check out the trailer above and the first screens in our new gallery!%Gallery-26222%[Via press release]
Officers betting against the raid
After the 20th Supremus kill the game can get a tad boring. There's no doubt about it. Raiders know well that you have to spice things up to keep it fun. One way to do that is to have a lively bunch of people you raid with. With them things can get "interesting" at times. The fellow officers and I in my guild have decided to make things interesting by betting on the number of people that will die during Supremus.For some reason Supremus always manages to kill a few too many people. Not too many that we can't one-shot him, but enough that it makes you scratch your head. No one dies on Illidan, Council, etc... but Supremus? Run for the hills!So to keep the fight interesting someone picks a number, say nine. That number is "the line." Myself and a couple others will take under the line, and a couple others will take over. If less then nine people die, each of us gets 20g. If more than nine die the other folks get 20g each.Is betting against the raid like this a good thing?
CoX: The right to farm?
City of Heroes Issue 9, Breakthrough, might also have been titled the Agricultural Revolution. Sure, we'd had power leveling before, and plenty of it. But until the Invention System came along we didn't really have full-on farming as such. Some players reared healthy stocks of Hatched Krakens down in the sewers or tilled the soil for Freaks on the Dreck map, but back then we knew little of the ways of the farmer.Then came Issue 9 with its Rare Drops and later Issue 11 with its Even Rarer ZomgPurple Drops. The more level 50 enemies you defeat, the more likely you are to grab one of the purples; and that's on top of the guaranteed XP, Prestige or Inf that rolls in. Now, of course, farming is ubiquitous.
Rising Star picks up Rune Factory for Europe
Chalk this one up in the "better late than never" category, Europe. Rising Star, niche game publisher extraordinaire, will be bringing Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon to the continent in September, only a year after the game came out in North America and two years after it first released in Japan. In case you're confused, yes, we mean the first Rune Factory, not the hopefully-soon-to-be-localized sequel.Still, for what it's worth, this blogger thoroughly enjoyed the game. Are any of you European Harvest Moon fans excited about this news, or has that ship sailed long ago?[Via press release]
2008's Biggest Blips: Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
Developer: Marvelous Publisher: Marvelous/Natsume Release: June 8 When it comes to light-hearted, adorable games that make us want to smile, the Harvest Moon games top the list. The formula is relatively simple: grow and harvest crops, woo boy/girl, forge friendships, lather, rinse, repeat. Yet, if playing Harvest Moon doesn't tug at your heartstrings even a tiny bit, you're probably the kind of person that eats babies for a living. Not that there's anything wrong with that (in fact, we have an excellent barbecue sauce recipe, if you're interested). In case you need even more evidence that the Harvest Moon series is full of feel-good games, the two upcoming entries for the DS are subtitled Cute and Island of Happiness. How much sweeter can you get without dying from an immediate sugar coma? Borrowing a page from Lost in Blue, Island of Happiness kicks off with your character and a handful of friends stranded on a deserted island. As the game world changes and the number of buildings increases, more and more people start settling there. The game features 100 different NPCs, some of whom are bachelors (or bachelorettes, depending on whether you start the game as a girl or boy) that you can woo and marry. The game also features 3D graphics and utilizes stylus controls, thereby making full use of the handheld's capabilities. We only wish more games could be as relaxing and refreshing as those in the Harvest Moon series. As far as we're concerned, all games could use a good dose of Harvest Moon in them. To prove our point, we've made a few suggestions of game mash-ups that we'd like to see happen. 1. Harvest Moon meets Contra in Super Seed Is it just a coincidence that one of the heroes of Contra is Lance Bean? If you ask us, this game is just begging for a Harvest Moon infused sequel. 2. Harvest Moon meets Resident Evil in Mansion of Magical Itchy ... Tasty Did you ever stop to think that zombies need a little love, too? Did Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine ever take the time to invite the zombies to a festival, or try to gain some heart points with a platter of fried brains? Maybe impaling people is just the tyrant's way of indicating that he'd really like someone to bring him a kebab. 3. Harvest Moon meets Metroid in Metroid Prime: Gatherers Samus has done enough hunting. It's time for her to switch gears. 4. Harvest Moon meets Castlevania in Dawn of Happiness Castlevania needs to turn that frown upside down. Dawn of Sorrow? No thanks, Debbie Downer IGA. 5. Harvest Moon meets Dementium in A Wonderful Ward Ending up in a mysterious place without knowing why you're there isn't uncommon in the Harvest Moon games. If one of these protagonists ended up in Redmoor Hospital, we're sure they'd spend their time planting crops and making friends with the locals. %Gallery-15230% N+ Back Come the revolution
Wearable farming robot suit takes the load off
Hard to believe we're seeing yet another wearable robot suit emerge from Japan, eh? All sarcasm aside, there actually is a newcomer to the curiously growing market courtesy of Shigeki Toyama and colleagues from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. The aptly dubbed farming robot suit is a strap-on contraption that makes lifting objects much easier than nature intended, reportedly reducing the wear and tear (read: force) placed on one's joints, knees and back by around 50-percent. Additionally, the suit will be programmable depending on the type of work being done, but we've no idea if any third-party attachments (you know, rubber band launchers, integrated HMDs, etc.) are in the works. On the real, you'll be looking at around ¥500,000 ($4,559) to ¥1,000,000 ($9,117) to ease your load, but that could dip as low as ¥200,000 ($1,823) per suit if mass production becomes viable.[Via The Register]
Breakfast Topic: To farm or not to farm?
My guild-mates have told me more than once, "You shouldn't buy X (or Y, or Z) on the auction house! Farming it yourself is much cheaper!" I don't doubt them at all -- after all, farming something makes it free, doesn't it? But for some classes and specs, going out in the world and farming for items is a slow, slow process. And when the time spent farming is longer than it would take to do dailies to acquire enough gold to buy it on the open market... do you go out and farm, or do you hit the auction house when you need items? And even for classes that have an easy time farming whatever they might need, sometimes you find yourself with limited playtime, but you need one more primal fire to craft your epic thingamajig? Food or potions for tomorrow's raid? The Goblins tell us that time is money, after all. So today I ask you, readers. What do you find to be easier? Farming or buying?
Rune Factory 2 screens give us deja vu
As we see more and more Rune Factory 2 screens, it's becoming pretty evident that the game is going to be almost exactly like its predecessor, only with slightly altered characters and possibly a kind-of-different storyline. Does the prospect of an extremely similar game excite you Rune Factory fans, or was one time around enough? Since we loved the first game so much, we're going to go with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra, although it'd be nice to see a few more changes made to the sequel.You can check out some more screens that probably won't surprise you after the break.
Rune Factory 2 manufactures some fresh screens
If checking out screens of in-game characters conversing is your idea of a good time, then put on your favorite jig-dancing shoes and prepare to get down. Dengeki put up some new screens for Rune Factory 2 and they're focused on the fun conversations one will have in the game.So, be sure to head on over and check those out, should you be so inclined.See also: Additional screenshots and the Japanese extras
The Rune Factory also manufactures videos
The website for the fantasy-farming sequel*, Rune Factory 2, has been updated with new character art and, most importantly, a new trailer. Marvelous is throwing everything they can at the audience, pulling out the full bag of Japanese trailer tricks: anime intros, soaring J-pop background music, and, on occasion, footage of the game.While the trailer smartly focuses on aspects of the game that play well in trailers, like romance and fighting, you can also see plenty of the farming action that Harvest Moon series fans care for. If you look over at the monsters page, you can check out some of the creatures that your hero Kyle can capture and tame, many of which look suspiciously similar to livestock. Or Gollum. All of these creatures can be found in the previous Rune Factory, with the exception of the "Orc Viking," who is not nearly as cute as the Woolly seen here. Also be sure to hit the system page for new screens.*That is, a farming game in a fantasy sequel. You don't actually grow fantasies.
University of Illinois students show off Lego-based crop harvester
Believe us when we tell you that we've seen Legos used in ways its creators could have never, ever imagined. Thankfully, a team from the University of Illinois found a way to demonstrate a rather useful (read: not bizarre) technology with everyone's favorite building block. By setting up shop at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Minnesota, students were able to show off an autonomous crop harvesting system that transferred heaps of BBs onto unloaders, which then hurried them away to meet artificial deadlines. The setup was configured using Robolab software, and aside from requiring the creators to dump BBs into the harvester, the entire show was put on sans human interaction. Granted, the idea behind all of this is far from fresh, but there's just something strangely satisfying about putting a stash of spare Legos to work for you.
Harvest Moon DS Confusion
The new entry in the Harvest Moon series, called Harvest Moon DS Cute, is something of a mystery to us. Why is this specific one cute, compared to all the other cute Harvest Moon games? Do you grow teddy bear plants or something?We think we've figured it out. What has happened is that two Harvest Moon games have gotten mixed up-- a confusing situation that we will do our best to untangle.We're guessing that the Harvest Moon DS Cute we're getting early next year is the female-focused version of the first Harvest Moon DS. Like other girls' Harvest Moons, it's the same as the original, with the genders swapped on the protagonist and the love interests. Thus, the 'cute' is a hint at its girl-targeted design. This is all speculative, of course.The game we've seen recently in scans and in this new GAME Watch article is a sequel to these Harvest Moons, called (roughly) Harvest Moon: The Sparkling Sun and Friends. It's a new game with Wi-Fi integration. We don't think this one is Cute, mostly because it's too new and unlikely to make that release window.There are too many Harvest Moon games.
Get peaceful with Harvest Moon
Okay, maybe everybody's going a little overboard with the chibi look. Sure, we understand that this is Harvest Moon and there's no reason for them to change anything, but after seeing the new trailer and screens, we started to realize that everything looks pretty familiar. Where have we seen this style before ....Harvest Moon: Tree of Peace aside, since it gets a pass, do you think it's possible that after all these other tiny-people-games come out, we might have a short break from childlike characters? Don't get us wrong. We love their big heads like ice cream and think they're just as cute as can be. It's just everywhere. But don't let us distract you from what's important -- like the trailer after the jump and the fresh new gallery. %Gallery-3745%
Hello! Are you a farmbot?
I've run in to more than a few farmbots in my day -- often in Winterspring, while farming Timbermaw reputation. The furbolg you had to kill to gain favor with the Timbermaw also happened to drop good coin and runecloth, making them lucrative targets for farmers. The bots (characters controlled by a computer program of some sort rather than a human being) were always easy to spot. They'd follow a set circuit around the area, taking down targets one at a time. When the area was empty, they would return to a spot near its center and spin around in circles until they managed to target a fresh spawn -- and then they'd begin running an identical circuit. Depending on the particular farmbot, sometimes I could game their system and let them farm reputation for me. See they've targeted something? Assist them and use an instant attack to tap it before they can -- back when I was doing my reputation farming, the farmbots didn't have seem the intelligence to notice if something had been tapped after they've targeted it and sent in their pet to attack. (They were, of course, always hunters.) A real person would certainly be annoyed by this behavior, but the farmbots would simply continue their cycle.However, a post up on Kinless' Chronicles makes me wonder if the farmbots have managed to get smarter. Kinless noticed an orc hunter constantly (from 4AM to 4PM, server time) mining thorium in the Eastern Plaguelands. That information alone simply screams farmbot to me, but there's more to the story that makes me wonder. On one encounter with this suspicious hunter, Kinless decided to follow him along his farming route. The hunter dismounted in Hearthglen and started to fight the elite guards there. Figuring that anything worth this much effort to an obvious bot must be wealth indeed, Kinless ventured inside to see what was there. And inside? He found not a single thorium vein and he barely made it out alive. But in his chat box, our friendly farmer was kind enough to wave him farewell before mounting up and leaving. Kinless explains the quandary:This is a live player, with brains, who does nothing but farm mineral nodes across Azeroth. (I later noted him in the Barrens, Winterspring, Burning Steppes.) He does nothing but farm, and plays round the clock, and does not own the expansion. He's certainly not funding a main, or a twink, since he's got no time. And it's a live player since he played that little trick on me.This isn't possibly an entertaining way to play the game, so what's happening here? Is it an improved intelligence bot? (Now with new player-baiting technology!) Or are we seeing live players out farming for real world profits? Unless we can get them to start answering whispers, we may never find out.
