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Daxter, more PSP games re-rated for PlayStation Certified devices
The ESRB has rated Daxter, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, eight tables worth of Pinball Heroes and flOw for release on PlayStation Certified devices, including the Xperia Play and Sony Tablet series. It's unclear whether flOw is a port of the PSP version or the original PS3 version, but we feel safe in assuming that it's the former, considering the PlayStation Suite's track record with repurposing PSP titles.We can't imagine that playing a Syphon Filter game on a capacitive touch screen would be a rewarding experience, but flOw and Pinball Heroes sound like they'd translate well to the tactile interface of the Sony Tablet. We'll keep our ears to the ground for pricing and release information as it becomes available.
thatgamecompany's Kellee Santiago on Vita, and her ongoing argument with Roger Ebert
With Flow and Flower, Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen's 12-person dev studio, thatgamecompany, completed two thirds of its three-game contract with Sony. And when Journey arrives some time in 2012, that three-game contract will come to an end, leaving Santiago and co. to an unknown future in the game industry. At a recent Sony press event in New York City, Santiago wouldn't say what the future holds for TGC ("Right now we're really focused on finishing Journey," she told me), but she did speak to her own interest in the PlayStation Vita. "I could definitely see all of thatgamecompany's titles on the Vita," Santiago said. "But, as you said, we're a team of 12, so for us in each title we just try to focus on the specific platform we're distributing on, and then leave the future to the future." The studio's first game, Flow, ended up on Sony's last handheld system, so the idea of Flower and Journey ending up on the Vita isn't exactly a far-fetched one. Given Santiago's apprehension at speaking about TGC after Journey, I instead prodded her about her interactions with famous (infamous?) film critic Roger Ebert. Had anything transpired since her last note? Santiago laughed before telling me, "He seems to have conceded that while he has his opinion, he can't really have it 'cause he doesn't play games anyway." In her last response, Santiago even offered to send Ebert a PlayStation 3 with Flower. "We did send him a PlayStation 3 with Flower," she said. But has he played it? "At least of the last writing on it, he has not played it." Maybe she should've sent an employee to play the game for him as well? [Image credit: TED Blog]
IBM sees stacked silicon sitting in fluid as the way to power future PCs
Generally, the combination of microchips, electricity and fluids is usually considered an incredibly bad thing. IBM, however, thinks it can combine those three to make super small and super powerful computers in the future. The idea is to stack hundreds of silicon wafers and utilize dual fluidic networks between them to create 3D processors. In such a setup, one network carries in charged fluid to power the chip, while the second carries away the same fluid after it has picked up heat from the active transistors. Of course, 3D chips are already on the way, and liquid cooled components are nothing new, but powering a PC by fluids instead of wires has never been done before. Bruno Michel, who's leading Big Blue's research team, has high hopes for the technology, because future processors will need the extra cooling and reduced power consumption it can provide. Michel says he and his colleagues have demonstrated that it's possible to use a liquid to transfer power via a network of fluidic channels, and they to plan build a working prototype chip by 2014. If successful, your smartphone could eventually contain the power of the Watson supercomputer. Chop, chop, fellas, those futuristic fluidic networks aren't going to build themselves.
Amazon's Flow app is augmented reality shopping goodness
Amazon quietly released a new iPhone app last week that aims to give other bar code scanning apps a run for their money. The free app, called Flow, isn't revolutionary in its bar code scanning capabilities. Oh, it scans bar codes just fine, but the beauty of Flow is that it does more than just bar code scanning. Flow allows the user to point their iPhone's camera at an object, like a book, DVD, Blur-ray disc, or video game (and Nutella, apparently) and get an instantaneous augmented reality overlay of the product information right on the iPhone's screen. The overlay is more than just a Buy It Now link to Amazon.com. The app utilizes Amazon's large digital media collection and allows users to instantly get audio previews of CDs they've scanned or video previews of DVDs, video games, and more. I used the app to successfully scan The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, the Captain America DVD, and the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine with Steve Jobs on the cover. All were found in Amazon's huge virtual catalog instantly. It's no wonder Amazon released Flow now. They want to get it in the hands of as many iPhone users as possible prior to this holiday shopping season. The app works exceedingly well both in bar code scanning and photo recognition. It's also really nice to be able to get audio and video previews of products and be able to instantly buy them on your phone. However, Flow isn't a huge threat to other bar code scanning apps, like RedLaser, just yet. Flow obviously only shows you products on Amazon's site, where RedLaser gives you the prices of products across multiple sites. Brick and mortar stores like Best Buy and Target should be extremely worried about Flow and its future iterations. When Flow gets to the point that you can scan larger items like TVs or laptops (items that typically don't have the bar code showing on the store's display) those big box retailers could then become largely nothing more than a glorified showroom to which people go to see products, quickly scan them, and then order them at a significant discount from Amazon. Flow is a free download.
Amazon Flow strikes low blow to brick and mortar, converts barcode scans to online sales
Remember when you had to "walk" to a "store" to buy things? Our grandkids are gonna weep uncontrollably when we explain queuing up at Our Price to buy VHS tapes. We'll recall the date the final nail was driven into brick and mortar's coffin: November 2nd, 2011 -- the day Amazon's A9 released Flow free on the App store. With Flow, you just walked into a store, scan the barcode of a book, DVD or jar of Nutella and it came back with Amazon's price, reviews and "multimedia content". It wasn't the first app to do the job, but we just couldn't help ourselves indulging in another. It wasn't long before the store detectives cottoned on to all the barcode snapping and started issuing automatic take-down tackles if they saw you holding a phone. After that, of course, war was inevitable. (But hey, it was worth it.)
Joel Bylos on building a better Secret World
If you were given the chance to build your very own world from scratch, how would you do it? What would you include? Would it be a world of beauty or dark dreamscapes? And would the inhabitants enjoy their stay or flee in terror? To the team at Funcom tasked with fashioning The Secret World's... world, this isn't a hypothetical question, but a practical one. In a new developer blog post, Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos returns to share a behind-the-scenes view of how a game world is made. Bylos says that there are four aspects to world-building: identifying purpose, research, building flow, and prototyping and production. Because The Secret World takes place on our planet in the here-and-now, the team has a reference point to begin, but layers a "secret history" on top of it. Bylos explains by saying, "This is the history of an area as only a member of The Secret World can experience it; the footprints of the secret societies and their past conflicts; the truth behind the local myths and legends; the echoes of ancient magic and forgotten rituals." Of course, it's one thing to design something what you think is interesting and fun -- it's another to see if it works out in practice. All of this planning on paper is just the first stage of getting it in the game, which Bylos promises will come in an upcoming post.
Kickstart the Flow: a capacitive touchscreen paintbrush
It must be stylus month on Kickstarter, with first the Cosmonaut and now the Flow appearing on the funding website. Like the Nomad Brush, the Flow by Joystickers is modeled after a paintbrush. The Flow has capacitive bristles rather than the traditional foam tip to more closely match the tactile experience of painting with real paint. One of the things that's always frustrated me when painting on the iPad is that the friction from both my finger and any of the styluses I've tried isn't quite right. It can work very well for sketching, but when I open up ArtRage and start using a paint tool, there always seems to be a bit of a tactile disconnect from what I'm doing. A paintbrush that works with the touchscreen seems like the best possible solution short of pulling out real paint and using your iPad as a canvas -- which we definitely do not recommend.
Flow now available, keeps your tasks beautifully in sync
Flow, the long-awaited task management system by Metalab, is finally slipping out of beta today and opening its doors to the public. First and foremost, Flow is a web app that many will find very similar to MobileMe in aesthetics. Through this interface, one can add and manage tasks through projects or even delegate tasks to other Flow users (a handy feature for teams). The real killer feature we're seeing with Flow, however, is the cloud-based architecture. Combined with Metalabs' new Flow app for iPhone and its Mac companion app, it's a pretty great way to keep things in sync. Flow has a 14-day free trial, which I highly recommend trying out. Beyond this time frame, Flow has a monthly cost of US$9.99. Metalab is also offering a yearly subscription for the very MobileMe-esque price of $99.
Vulkano Blast and Flow due this month, streaming your media all over the place
You know what was missing form Vulkano's last release? More pun-ful names, that's what. Enter the Vulkano Blast and Flow do-it-all media boxes. For $99, the latter boasts watching live TV, browsing episode guides, and accessing recorded content via PC, Macs, smartphones, and various tablets -- iOS, BlackBerry, and Android for now, according to the press release, with Windows (Phone?) 7 and Symbian on the horizon. Meanwhile, the Blast adds HDMI out, UPnP support, and a 160GB hard drive for $199. Both have a 802.11n router and both are due out this month, if ya dig.
thatgamecompany's flOw recreated in StarCraft 2
It's been a while since we've seen a really unique application of the dark magic-fueled creation tools behind StarCraft 2, so we're glad the video posted below could come along and decisively end our dry spell. Behold: Origins, a recreation of thatgamecompany's microcosmic PSN title, flOw.
Undulating Flux project uses Wiimotes, Arduino boards to transmit dancer's movements
Undulating Flux is UC Irvine student David Resnick's attempt at creating a "sensory augmentation system" that uses a dancer (or "vibrationist") to "transduce music into tactile sensations." In layman's terms, a dancer's movements are sent via Wiimote to an Arduino-equipped chair. The chair's vibrations correspond to the dancer's movements, allowing an observer to see, hear, and "feel" the dancing. There's a lot more to it than that, actually -- feel free to hit up the source link for all the nitty gritty, and make sure you peep the video after the break.
flOw wireless speaker concept flips jams based on your handling
She's but a concept at the moment, but David Boyce's flOw mockup certainly has legs. The five-speaker set can be arranged in a fanciful iPod docking station for in-home use, and on a whim, any of the speaker balls can be grabbed and taken elsewhere, all while the music follows via a touch of wireless magic. But that's hardly the kicker -- each ball has integrated gesture sensors and accelerometers, enabling the user to quiet the volume by turning it over or switch from "Smooth Operator" to "Master of Puppets" by simply jostling the speaker with an intense level of force. Talk about revolutionizing a played market sector. [Thanks, Paul]
GDC 2010: From student game to success
Believe it or not, many of the best games start out as student development projects. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, flOw and even Portal all began life as student projects. Speaking at a GDC panel, the developers of the games listed above gave their advice on how budding student game designers can see their own projects become a success. The panel included Kim Swift, designer of Portal and currently of Airtight Games, Matt Korba and Paul Bellezza of The Odd Gentlemen (P.B. Winterbottom), and Kellee Santiago of thatgamecompany (flOw). The advice was wide-ranging, though all the panelists agreed that the best way to get a game noticed is to submit it to as many competitions and festivals as possible. Swift specifically noted that it's a good idea to literally drag people to come and play your game at festivals and shows like GDC. The game itself should "grab" players as well, with Korba saying that a festival showing of a game should be get players involved within five minutes.
New Chromium OS build brings full NVIDIA Ion acceleration, hope for the future
Chrome OS. Man, seems like Google has gotten its hands into quite a few things since we last heard of that, but the underground is keeping things lively with new builds of Chromium OS -- you know, to keep us satisfied while we wait for the real deal. Hexxeh has just unleashed its latest build, dubbed Flow, which makes a few critical improvements, particularly if you're planning to install the system onto an Ion-based rig. Flow includes full NVIDIA Ion acceleration, and it also "improves battery life" while making the automatic update... um, work. Hit that source link to get your download on, and if you've been holding out for fear of trying something new, you've got your whole weekend to fix things should things go terribly awry. [Thanks, Amrita]
PSA: Download flOw for free until midnight EST
Listen, we know how hard Valentine's Day can be on some of you jilted lovers out there, so we went ahead and got you a little something to keep you occupied tomorrow: A copy of ThatGameCompany's microbiotic PS3 title, flOw. You can download it right now from the PSN for free, without having to deal with any cumbersome coupon codes. Our generosity only extends so far, however -- the free download will stop being offered at midnight EST tonight. Hurry up and grab it -- and don't say we never gave you nothin'! (Fine, we're not the party responsible for the game's free-ness. We suppose you can say we never gave you nothin' to your heart's content.) [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
European gamers finally get flOw trophy update
While North American gamers have had the update for quite some time now, thatgamecompany has announced that European flOw fans are finally getting Trophy support for the moody, aquatic microorganism simulator. According to the dev's official blog, the Trophy update is now available to European and UK players. If you're looking for a leg-up on the additions, make sure to check Joystiq's own flOw Trophy list. %Gallery-15561%
Trophies: flOw
0 Platinum 1 Gold 3 Silver 10 Bronze Difficulty: Easy Online Trophies? No Time to Completion: 5 hours DLC Trophies? No View Trophy List Read More About the Game %Gallery-15561%
New 'flow router' may save the Internet from collapsing under the weight of all your v-blog posts
The prospects of a Future Inevitable Internet Collapse™ has some of our readers seriously freaked out. You know the type -- they live in places like Idaho and Montana, in fortified mountaintop retreats, where they hoard digital media like it was canned food in December 1999. And concerns over bandwidth aren't limited to a lunatic fringe -- no less august a publication than IEEE Spectrum has recently posted an article by Lawrence G. Roberts (who pretty much helped invent the modern router) in which he discusses the state of the Internet. According to Roberts, our current routers are still designed to handle much smaller amounts of data than they are currently pushing. Streaming data only works at all, he says, due to extreme over-provisioning -- "Network operators," he says, are throwing "bandwidth at a problem that really requires a computing solution." One possible solution is something called "flow management." Instead of routing each packet individually, a flow router attaches an ID to each packet in a specific stream ("flow"). After the first packet is routed, each subsequent packet with the same ID is sent along the same route -- cutting down on time and on the amount of lost packets. Roberts' company, Anagran, has one such device on the market now -- the FR-1000, which he says consumes one fifth the power of a comparable (traditional) router, one tenth the space, and should reduce operating costs in GB/s by a factor of ten. And this, dear readers, may be the key to the survival of the Internet -- that is, until the robots get us.
Original soundtrack to flOw coming soon
thatgamecompany's first PSN game, flOw, captivated players looking for a relaxing game experience. The soothing visuals and unique motion controls are certainly vital components of creating the feel of flOw, but the music is certainly driving force behind the game's soothing presentation. A recent PlayStation.Blog post has an interesting orchestral rearrangement of flOw's soundtrack, which you can watch after the break. Replacing the electronic sound of the original game with live instruments creates a totally different feel. After watching the performance, we wouldn't mind playing the game with a full choir cheering us on. Those inspired by the performance will be saddened to know that this orchestral rendition will not be available for download "for various contractual reasons," according to Austin Wintory, the composer of flOw's score. Wintory does appease fans, however, letting them know that "an original soundtrack is in the works featuring the actual music from the game." Hopefully, the flOw soundtrack follows the steps of the PixelJunk series, releasing on PlayStation Network sans DRM.
Palm's ad agency 'loves that you're creeped out' by new TV spots
Advertising Age has taken a deep dive into Palm's latest string of unsettling, polarizing ads -- you know, the ones with the girl -- in an attempt to explain the company's intention with the creepy spots. The industry paper spoke with Gary Koepke, the co-founder and executive creative director at Modernista, the company which developed and produced the short clips. According to Gary, he's happy that viewers find the commercials upsetting, stating that "The Pre is probably being talked about more than other phones right now because of the marketing and advertising, and that's a good thing. Could the ads work harder to show exactly how the phone works? Yes, but we knew it would be polarizing people to have a woman not shout at them and tell an interesting story." Apparently the agency is taking its own stab at Microsoft's Seinfeld / Bill Gates strategy, which means viewers don't necessarily have to like (or even understand) the ads... as long as they keep talking about them. Of course, that game plan may work for a company like Microsoft, which arguably has nothing to lose if they run a few ill-received spots. Palm, on the other hand, won't get a second chance to make a first impression with a lot of people, and since its fortune is currently riding on the device these ads attempt to sell to consumers, it's a pretty risky proposition. C'mon, how could the folks that brought you the Foleo be wrong?
