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Drones help find World War II's missing soldiers
The BentProp Project has spent years finding American soldiers who went missing in the Pacific during World War II, but available technology has limited its success. Team members have frequently had to scan wide areas themselves, slowing down their efforts to find downed aircraft and unexploded bombs that might hide human remains. However, the outfit's searches have just taken a big step forward after it got cutting-edge drones from both the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Delaware. BentProp can now automate much of its scanning, and CNET notes that the organization's latest expedition found two Navy airplanes. That's a breakthrough for a group that only occasionally makes a big discovery.
Goodbye Nokia 600, we hardly knew ye
Symbian just scored another blow. The Belle-installed Nokia 600 was announced in late August, destined to be a great music-centric phone for anyone trying to stay on a budget. Sadly, it appears its fate has been sealed before its release, as the company's taken down any pages on its websites that are related to the product. Then, if that weren't enough confirmation, it also broke the news of the handset's demise to a disappointed Facebook fan. We haven't been given a reason for the sudden decision to cease and desist, but we're not discounting the coincidence of this happening so shortly after the Lumia series was revealed.
Bigpoint unleashes new Mummy Online site and trailer
It's been almost a year since Bigpoint announced The Mummy Online, and we were starting to suspect that the project had been sealed back up in a tomb... forever. We even listed it as one of our top MMOs that went MIA in 2010. But it turns out that Bigpoint was just running quiet as it whipped up a whole new site and trailer for us to enjoy. The Mummy Online is a continuation of the hit film series, which seeks to meld high adventure with historical horror. Bigpoint's Arash Amini feels that there's a lot of material for the team to mine: "Working with such a rich franchise not only enables us to leverage an incredible story; it also lends itself to further exploration and development perfectly suited for an online game that can evolve over time." This free-to-play browser title is set at the southern tip of the Nile, where tombs, burial grounds, oases, and ruins wait for the intrepid grave robber. It looks to have fast-paced action (with guns!) in a 3-D isometric viewpoint. Bigpoint's hoping to get The Mummy Online to release by this fall, but in the meantime you can check out the lore and screenshots on the official site as well as the teaser trailer below.
DJ Hero: The Scratch Perverts and DJ Yoda contributing songs, ridiculous names
Activision today announced a number of DJs who will be contributing mash-ups to its upcoming game, DJ Hero. As if to play right into our expectations of a DJ-themed game, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" has finally made it into the track list (it took so long!) by way of The Scratch Perverts mixing Eric B. and Rakim's "Eric B. is President" with it. Also revealed was DJ Yoda, who will be mashing up two tracks for the game. In case that news wasn't exciting enough for you, we've got six (!!) more gameplay videos of the game, five of which can be found after the break. That brings our grand total of gameplay videos of DJ Hero in the month of August to 13. Clearly, the marketing push leading up to October's tentative release date has begun in earnest. Maybe we can have a solid, official release date now?%Gallery-64592%
Garona's return to Azeroth
Apparently DC first announced this last October, but it's the first I've heard of it: Garona Halforcen is coming back to World of Warcraft. Garona has been a fan favorite character ever since the early RTS games -- she's a half-orc Rogue who originally assassinated King Llane of the Alliance (under one of Medivh's spells and working unintentionally for the Shadow Council). But she's been MIA for a while -- until now. DC's next World of Warcraft comic, number 18, has Garona reappearing in Azeroth, supposedly working with the Twilight's Hammer, and possibly even secretly aligned with the Scourge.Not necessarily an auspicious re-entrance, but with Garona, just like Jack Bauer, you never know who she's really working for or why. Blizzard has always made it clear that they were going to have her appear in World of Warcraft -- early in the beta, she was actually the leader of the Rogue Ravenholdt faction, though she was later removed from the manor there. The DC comic drops on April 15, and it wouldn't be a surprise to finally see everyone's favorite half-orc rogue in the game sometime after that.
Thwap! Rose & Camellia demo hits the homebrew scene
When we first played Rose & Camellia -- a Flash game in which you slap Victorian noble women who've sullied your good name while listening to classical music -- we thought to ourselves, "As fantastic as this is, it would be even more fantastic, the fantasticest even, on the Wii or DS."We quickly dismissed those dreams, as parts of the game didn't seem to be compatible with the Wii's internet browser, and the idea of someone bringing a Flash project to the DS seemed ridiculous. Homebrew developer Mia (Everlasting Love) also saw the potential for a DS port and put up an incomplete proof of concept to demonstrate its viability.Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to add any bells and whistles, the bells being the soundtrack, and the whistles symbolizing the game's mechanics. Are you a bad enough dude to finish Rose & Camellia DS? Get in touch with Mia and let him know!
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trailers and Tribulations
We were just coming down from our adrenaline-fueled reverie over Contra 4 when this came along and OBJECTED its way into our lives. TAKE THAT!, normal heart rate! It's a trailer for Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations! What's more, Capcom USA bloggers promise frequent updates on the official blog and in the forums! It's so nice when a company thinks about all of us non-E3-goers who just want to see some cartoon arguing. [Via NeoGAF]
Everlasting Love is worth the effort
Why haven't we seen more rhythm platformers since Donkey Kong Jungle Beat? And while we're at it, how come there aren't more games that feature primates? We were on the verge of sending out subpoenas and demanding answers from the video game industry's "top people," but then we stumbled upon Everlasting Love, a charming, monochrome game from homebrew developer Mia (Ninja & Zarbi, Oil Panic DS).Following the single-song soundtrack (from We Love Katamari) and the monkey protagonist's head movements, players tap the A button to the beat. Just hitting the A button at all makes the simian character bounce around, but he jumps higher depending on how rhythmically accurate you are. You can use the directional pad to face which direction you want to pounce, but all movement is limited to hopping around.While there's a lot of emphasis on staying with the rhythm, jumping as high as possible isn't the goal of the game -- you're actually meant to complete the levels with as few measured hops as possible. Some of the portions actually require you to jump off-beat, keeping your head down to avoid low-hanging spikes.Everlasting Love can get pretty frustrating at times, but we're not sure if it's the fault of the game's or our own lacking abilities. Clearing the first pit took us a few tries before we could put it behind us, and the obstacles get exponentially harder after that. At version 0.1 though, Everlasting Love has a lot of potential to be the rhythm platformer we've been waiting for all these years.[Via DCEmu]
BenQ-Siemens goes girly with EF61 Mia Special Edition
If the lack of a built-in compact mirror was turning you off from Philips' 588, BenQ-Siemens has you covered with the just-launched EF61 "Mia Special Edition." Besides the mirror and the phone's artsy shell, you'll get a 1.3 megapixel shooter, microSD slot, and "5 Minutes to Fabulous," an app that apparently guides you through the process of applying makeup in (you guessed it) five minutes. Running £99.99 (about $180) when it drops in September, we can see this gussied-up EF61 appealing to a few members of the fairer sex -- but if you really have to rely on your phone to put your face on, we suspect you might come away sorely disappointed.
