giant robots
Latest
ICYMI: Wave-generated power, British films and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-12096{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-12096, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-12096{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-12096").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The British Film Institute is releasing thousands of mostly personal historical films online, but you'll need a VPN to watch them from the U.S. We particularly enjoy this Sean Connery-narrated film. Google's Artificial Neural Network is being used to make Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas even more fearful, and for that, we thank the creators for new dog anxieties. And the U.S. Navy teamed up to produce the first wave generated power machine that basically looks like a bulky buoy.
ICYMI: 3D-printed art, a Pac-Man satellite and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-137378{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-137378, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-137378{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-137378").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The giant robot duel challenge response is in from a Japanese mecha-manufacturer (aimed at some lippy Americans with a super paintball gun) and it's throwing hella shade y'all. Switzerland's EPFL space agency realized its old cubesats were cluttering up space so it came up with a hungry hippo of a satellite that should start gobbling up its smaller kin by 2018. And an architect hacked a 3D printer with LEDs and is creating beautiful paintings with light.
Giant Japanese robot will fistfight America's MegaBot
Get set for a live-action version of Transformers, as the company behind giant Japanese robot Kuratas has accepted a duel challenge from upstart US challenger MegaBot. However, it'll only fight on one condition: Combat must be hand-to-hand with no guns. Kuratas has been around for three years and even went on sale for $1.35 million at one point. Since MegaBot was only just completed, the Japanese company was taken aback by the offer to fight. Still, it couldn't resist needling its new rival. "My reaction? Come on guys, make it cooler. Just building something huge and sticking guns on it is... super American," said CEO Kogoro Kurata.
You can buy a giant mech suit on Amazon Japan for $1 million
We've been tracking the Kuratas mech suit -- a 13-foot-tall tribute to anime fandom that you can actually ride -- for a few years, but now it looks it's finally ready up for order on Amazon Japan. That is, if you've got $1 million ... and live in the Kyoto region of Japan. Oh, and you better be comfortable assembling large machinery, because it's just a starter kit. And be prepared to pay extra for arms, because you can't leave home without those. When the Kuratas first appeared it just seemed like some geek's dream project, but surprisingly, its creator Suidobashi Heavy Industries has apparently stuck with it. Better move fast though, as there's only one unit on sale (and we're not sure if it really exists). Unfortunately, there's no sign of the smile-activated BB gatling guns we saw a few years ago -- but really, that would be asking for too much.
Project HON trailer offers half an hour of mechanized action
Project HON appears to be more or less the sum total of everything you could expect to see from a mecha shooter. What's the story? What's the main game mechanic? What's the business model? The correct answer to all of those questions, as you can see in the trailer past the cut, is that none of those questions matter right now because just look at how gorgeous it all is. And it's not just the Unreal Engine 4 graphics on display. Over the course of the video you will see a robot that transforms into an aerial weapon platform or a motorcycle, a robot wall-running while shooting, and giant robots that climb into and dock with even bigger robots to have a Pacific Rim-style smackdown fight. No other details needed. Jump on past the break to watch the full trailer; let's not sully this moment any further with words.
Massively Exclusive: City of Heroes previews the upcoming Mecha Armor
Do you dig giant robots? Of course you do. The team behind City of Heroes apparently likes them as well, seeing as how the game's next major update, Issue 23, allows you to dress up like one. The newest Tier 9 VIP reward is the Mecha Armor costume set, and the fine people at Paragon Studios were kind enough to give us a chance to take a sneak peek at the costume set before it's available on the test server. The gallery below contains an image of a male, female, and huge character in the new costume set, complete with wings, backpacks, and other armor reminiscent of any number of Gundam designs. Like other Tier 9 VIP rewards, the armor will only be unlockable for a limited time, so if you're feeling a desperate need to play with these costume parts -- and we can't blame you -- it's best save up your reward tokens now. %Gallery-9156%
New zones and artifacts in latest Perpetuum devblog
Perpetuum has been stomping its way along after its fairly recent launch, doing its level best to prove that everything really is better with giant robots. While the development team has been a bit quiet the past few weeks, the newest devblog entry explains some of the reasons behind the silence. A lot of the team's focus has been on adding new zones to the game for players to explore, with six new zones in development -- three of them remaining safe and three allowing for the unrepentant robot warfare that drives the core game. The game's artifact scanning minigame is also nearing completion, and while the blog entry states outright that the mechanics will be fairly similar, it sounds like a good way to pass some time while there's nothing for your robot to shoot at. There's also official support for an emulation platform on Linux and OSX, which makes the game available to a wider range of potential players. Perpetuum players should take a look at the full entry for all the details. [Thanks to Roy Ary for the tip!]
Command line execute: Perpetuum powers up open beta and early access
Do you like robots? We know, look whom we're talking to -- of course you do. Who doesn't? Well, let us ask you this: Do you like piloting hulking robots with enough ordinance to take out a smallish city? Again, that's a mostly rhetorical question. Ergo, it might be of interest to you to know that Perpetuum, the giant city-killing robot simulation MMO, has not only booted up its open beta, but is looking ahead to an early access program as well. Avatar Creations is coming off fresh from a year and a half of closed beta testing and has its sights set on a launch in the not-too-distant future. Interested parties may get their hands on the open beta starting October 18th, and if the game tickles your fancy, you can pay €9.95 to enter the Early Access program, which includes the first month of launch and an extra week prior to Perpetuum's release. Perpetuum boasts a single persistent world where one robot can, in fact, make a difference. We've been intrigued by some of the interesting ideas this dev team has whipped up, so it will be great to get our hands on the beta at last. You can read the full press announcement over on the official site.
Starr Long talks Personal Armor Units
Destination Games have been talking quite a bit recently about what's to come in Tabula Rasa, but the main focus is on ... giant robots! TenTonHammer have a sneak peek up, talking to Starr Long, discussing the Personal Armor Units -- no screenshots or concept art, unfortunately, but there's decent descriptions.Personal Armor Units, as they're known, are TR's version of mounts. The names of five are known so far -- Angel, Ghoul, Grendel, Shiva, and Spectre. According to Paul Sage, Lead Designer of TR, you'll get access to your PAU at level 40. All we know so far is that Grendel is Grenadier only, Spectre seems to be Spy only, and that you can fight in them. These ain't no horses!There's some details about other end-game content in TR, though whether that will come in the same update as PAUs is anyone's guess.
