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Sony's NGP at GDC 2011: more video of the quad-core marvel in action
The headline just about says it all -- we've got some new footage (as opposed to what we've seen before) of Sony's NGP for all you gamers to drool over. Today at GDC 2011, we saw a live demo of Uncharted, Little Deviants, and the NGP's augmented reality capabilities. We were, once again, impressed by Sony's latest piece of gaming hardware, but don't take our word for it, see for yourself in video footage above and after the break. And, oh-by-the-way, we gleaned a few new tidbits about the handheld powerhouse that developers may want to know -- retail game cartridges will be only 2GB or 4GB in size (notable because the average PS3 title is 9GB), and Sony recommends that devs looking to port PS3 titles to the NGP should simplify their models, shaders and textures to make them work. Now if only Sony would spill the beans about how much the thing'll cost. Update: We didn't completely care for how our original Uncharted footage looked, so we uploaded a slightly higher-quality version. Enjoy!
HP TouchPad shoots down planes, shows off next-gen Snapdragon's GPU (video)
We're willing to bet Qualcomm's Adreno 220 GPU is an abstract concept to most readers, but we can put it into perspective real quick -- here it is in the HP TouchPad, pumping pixels and mapping textures to a seriously stunning little air combat game. We got our hands on the webOS 3.0 tablet and gave Polarbit's Armageddon Squadron II a whirl at GDC 2011, and the experience felt pretty solid overall, framerate only dipping significantly when unleashing a hefty barrage of rockets upon your foes. What's more, the tablet easily -- and automatically -- paused our game when flexing webOS's multitasking muscle to check a text message that had just come in. What's that you say? You're wondering how the HP TouchPad does text messages? Well, it doesn't quite -- it requires a webOS smartphone paired via Bluetooth to share the cellular modem for texts and calls. But you knew that already, right? Armageddon Squadron wasn't the only title Qualcomm had handy to show off the power of the Adreno 220, though, as SouthEnd Interactive's Desert Winds seems to be the feather in the company's cap. It's a 3D action-adventure title starring some very fancy lighting effects for a mobile game -- not to mention a buxom female swordslinger who dredges up memories of ATI's Ruby. See that after the break! Update: Adreno 220 is actually a single-core GPU, part of the dual-core Snapdragon 8x60 system-on-a-chip.
GDC 2011: Halfbrick's Machine Gun Jetpack
Halfbrick Studios is one of my favorite developers on iOS. While they've released games on other platforms before (including the PS3 and the Nintendo DS), here at GDC 2011, they told me that "iOS development is always our focus." They've found a huge hit with Fruit Ninja, but they're not resting on their laurels. Fresh off Monster Dash (my favorite Canabalt-alike on the App Store) Halfbrick is going to return to the running genre with a new game called Machine Gun Jetpack. If you've played Monster Dash, you'll know that's one of the special weapons from the game -- a machine gun pointed down that allows you to hover in the air. And the Machine Gun Jetpack game lets you do just that. As hero Barry Steakfries runs along, he has to jump up and hover past obstacles and enemies, adding a vertical component to the Canabalt setup. Just like Monster Dash, things get fast and furious, though unlike Monster Dash, you haven't got much room for error -- one hit and it's game over (unless you're lucky -- read on).
TUAW's Daily App: Infinity Blade
Odds are that you already know what Infinity Blade is, and you might already have it on your iOS devices, too. But just in case you don't, we're spotlighting one of the best iOS games of last year, which happens to be available on the App Store right now for the sale price of US$2.99 -- for this game, that's a steal. If you haven't picked up this big-budget example of how experienced developers can do iOS games right, today's your chance. The game's already received one content update, and another big update is coming soon. Even if you already have Infinity Blade, you can check out Joystiq's fine writeup of how the game was made, straight from the floor of GDC 2011. Chair Entertainment talks about how they had tons of game ideas (from a physics puzzler to a card game -- I'd like to play either of those), but eventually boiled down what worked on a platform like the iPhone to what they came up with in Infinity Blade. It's a great game at a great price, so definitely grab it as quickly as you can.
GDC 2011: The future of Imangi Studios
The husband and wife team of Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova make up Imangi Studios, the iPhone developer behind line-drawing hit Harbor Master. We've been following the duo for a while now, and we last talked to them at WWDC, when they were pretty far along in development with a game called Max Adventure, a dual-stick shooter with a plucky kid with a laser gun for a hero. Max Adventure was released last December (and has since been updated), and Imangi tells me at GDC that the launch went well -- mostly. "It was the best launch we've had on our own," says Shepherd, adding that both the ratings and sales numbers were great after the game released in mid-December. "But then...," says Luckyanova, trailing off. Then, it turns out, came the EA sale, filling the App Store charts with 99-cent sales of premium EA titles, and Imangi's carefully crafted Max Adventure got "crushed" in the Christmas rush. But the best part of the story is what happened next: a little while after Imangi had a blue Christmas, EA called them. The company liked Imangi's games and wanted to talk about a possible publishing deal.
Google gifts Xoom tablets to game devs at GDC 2011
Google's notoriously generous at developer events, tossing out free devices like candy on Halloween, but here at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco it's letting them flow like wine. Each attendee at Google's Web Developer Day yesterday got a free Cr-48 laptop, and today the company dished out even greater prizes -- either a free Motorola Xoom tablet or a Nexus S smartphone to every soul listening to some exceedingly well-attended technical sessions on Android. That's certainly one way to attract game developers to your platform.
GDC 2011: Smule's retrospective
Our friend Dr. Ge Wang of Smule kicked off the 2011 Game Developers Conference with a panel providing a nice overview of all of the company's apps so far. The theme of his talk was basically what we spoke with him about at CES earlier this year: as computers grow from mainframe to personal computer, and now to smartphones and mobile devices, the technology is disappearing into the background, and the connections it creates between us are coming to the forefront. Lately, he said, "technology is so personal, it's pervasive." That's the realm Smule has tried to enter into with its apps, from the early Sonic Lighter up through Magic Fiddle. "Old computing is about what computers can do," said Dr. Wang, "and new computing is about what people can do with them."
Intel outs SSD 510 Series with 6Gbps SATA interface, 500MBps transfer speeds
We didn't think the previous generation of SSDs, topping out at around 280MBps read speeds, were in any way hampered by their celerity, but Intel's bringing the future to us whether we like it or not with its new 510 Series SSDs. These Marvell-controlled flash storage drives will zip data to your processing unit at a rate of 500MB per second and write anything you send back at a clip of 315MBps. That's mostly thanks to the 510 being one of a new breed of consumer SSDs with a 6Gbps SATA interface, which has effectively removed a bottleneck from the performance equation and uncorked the extra vroom now contained within. When bought in bulk, a 250GB SSD 510 will cost you $584, while the slightly slower (450MBps read, 210MBps write) 120GB model will set you back $284. Full press release after the break.
Apple's announcement timing is uncanny
Tony Bradley at Macworld points out something interesting that I've also been thinking about: Apple is being awfully sneaky with its timing when it comes to product announcements. The upcoming March 2 event happens to land not only right around the time that Motorola's much-anticipated Xoom tablet will hit consumers' hands, but also right in the middle of next week's Game Developers Conference, when quite a few developers will be announcing new games for both the iPad and Android tablet platforms. The timing seems more than coincidental, especially with all of the announcements we've seen today. And this isn't the only recent Apple announcement apparently targeted at shaking things up: The Mac App Store's launch date was set for January 6, right as this year's CES was underway in Las Vegas, and much of that show's sidetalk was taken up by rumors of the Verizon iPhone, which was announced a few days later on the 11th. You could argue that this is just good business, and you'd be right -- with its keynote events, Apple is the uncontested leader in product messaging for tech, and timing is a big part of that. If Apple is going to announce an iPad 2, why wouldn't it be right when everyone's focused on tablet software? (Not to mention that the event is being held at Yerba Buena, right next door to the convention center). But at the same time, it's quite a coup, hijacking the attention of press and developers without any official involvement in the event they're there to attend.
PlayStation Move headed to PCs under official 'Move Server' project
Oops. Looks like Sony's plans to make its PlayStation Move controller an official PC accessory have been unceremoniously revealed in a description of a Sony Computer Entertainment America talk scheduled for Game Developers Conference 2011. According to the synopsis, John McCutchan, SCEA's lead for Game Systems and Developer Support, will be on hand to discuss the "Move Server project that will make it possible for academics and hobbyists to develop software using the PlayStation Move controller on their own PCs." Hmm, sounds like somebody feels left out by all of the unofficial Kinect hackery which could be treated to official Microsoft support sometime this summer. Now go hit up the source link below to read the description for yourselves.
Epic Games to reveal new IP at GDC 2011
Cliff Bleszinski said recently that Epic Games would unveil a brand new IP at next year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. This will be a brand new universe, unrelated to anything Epic has done before, according to Bleszinski. "Gamers votes with their dollars and they often like established IP, but those IPs came from somewhere, right?" he told EGM. "Call of Duty was crafted by the original Medal of Honor guys. Gears of War was crafted by the original Unreal Tournament guy. I look forward to creating what's next." We pinged Bleszinski ourselves to try and find out what platform Epic is aiming for, but he tells us there's "not much to say yet." The company has had a lot of success with Infinity Blade on iOS recently, and has also been rumored to be working on a Kinect title. GDC 2011 kicks off on February 28 -- we'll be there in San Francisco to cover any announcement for you.
