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Dartmouth's robotic tackling dummy is a mechanized Weeble-Wobble
Robots are replacing humans in a lot of roles. At Dartmouth, a robot may soon replace tackling dummies during football practice. Designed by engineering students at the Ivy League school, Mobile Virtual Player (MVP -- yes, really) gives training sessions a more realistic feel over those regular ol' stationary bags. It's also looking to reduce the risk of head and neck injuries. What's more, it's remote controlled. There's still work to be done, though, as the team behind the MVP is working to make the controls easier for coaches to use and the robot's maneuvers more realistic. Hopefully they're also installing a kill switch, so when the tech gets fed up, it doesn't start wrecking fools on the gridiron.
Well-known druid blogger Lissanna lowers the boom(kin) on autism research
It's only been a couple of weeks since we reported on the crowdsourcing effort to fund the autism research of well-known Restokin blogger and Blizzard MVP poster Lissanna, aka Dr. Elisabeth Whyte of the Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience at Penn State. So far, supporters have boosted Dr. Whyte to just over a quarter of her funding goal for the project, which focuses on how children and adolescents with autism understand language and process information from faces (such as recognizing people or understanding emotional expressions). Her goal: designing a video game to help kids with autism improve these skills. How does an MMO-playing grad student transform from anonymous gamer to well-known WoW blogger, Blizzard forum MVP, and Ph.D.-level researcher bringing gamification to the treatment of autism? If you follow the example of this lady: with ease. WoW Insider: One-fourth of your funding already under your belt -- congratulations! Our readers already know that WoW can be beneficial to kids with autism, so it's exciting to hear about a gamification project designed to help kids with autism. Lissanna: Many kids and adults with autism seem to enjoy playing video games. We have some evidence that using fun activities can motivate learning. Our goal is to develop and test the efficacy of an educational game that impacts face processing abilities and social skills. With much of the research focused on important early intervention work, there is a huge gap in the services that individuals with autism can receive when they are older. We think that a sophisticated game can fill the need for social skills services targeting older individuals to help with tasks like preparing them for jobs or developing friendships with their peers.
Blizzard green poster Alona on the challenges facing WoW today
We all know the Blizzard blues -- no, no, not the pre-expansion doldrums (although yeah, we know those too), but rather the fine folks from Blizzard who come out on the official forums to clarify and enlighten with posts highlighted in bright blue text. Supporting them are the greens, best described by Blizzard blue poster Zarhym as "a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition." Most greens shepherd issues in a particular part of the game that's captured their heart -- for instance, green poster Eldacar specializes in PvP. And then there's green poster Alona. Alona's area of interest is -- well, everything. A self-described "frantic personality," Alona turns up all over the forums to lend a helping hand. With such a broad perspective, you can bet she's developed some rules of the road for making the best of a World of Warcraft experience -- and some insights into what sorts of things detract from that. We've got her top five tips for a good WoW lifestyle, plus her own thoughts on the most challenging issues facing the WoW community and Blizzard itself.
Behind the scenes with a Blizzard forums MVP "green"
Who are the "greens," the shining emerald jewels of the posting community on the official World of Warcraft community forums? How does one go from being, say, Eldacar the PvP enthusiast to Eldacar the forums MVP, who recently unleashed a volley of questions on the current state of WoW PvP that gathered a virtual storm of opinions and insights on the official PvP forums? Who is this guy, and why is everything he posts on the forums in bright green letters? Here's your answer -- the scoop on a green straight from one of the blues, Blizzard Community Manager Jonathan "Zarhym" Brown: "Eldacar's posting style and contributions to the community first crossed my radar during Cataclysm beta," Zarhym explains. "He had created some very useful guides on the beta forums detailing good feedback and bug reporting etiquette. I stickied his information and had brief contact with him via email and in the beta around that time. "In the fall of 2011, once the community team solidified plans for expanding the MVP program, his name popped back up in part because of some PvP-related posts he was working on," he continues. "I really make an effort to try and hang onto the names of constructive, eloquent posters -- whether or not they're critical of some of Blizzard's decisions. The MVP program is really meant to be a reflection of the diversity within our community. Its members are just a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition. I think Eldacar's a damn fine example of this." A "damn fine example"? Frankly, we're with Zarhym -- Eldacar's thoughtful approach and obvious passion for his subject matter made trumpeting his recent call to arms for player feedback a no-brainer. So who is this guy? And how'd he get so damn fine, anyway?
Blizzard forums MVP calls fellow PvPers to arms
MVP Eldacar has dropped WoW Insider a line asking for a hand directing all our wonderful PvPing readers over to a feedback post on the official forums to give feedback on Cataclysm PvP and thoughts on improving PvP in Mists of Pandaria. I think this sort of player participation is really important. Much as I'm a fan of pew-pew over QQ, constructive criticism is a great thing. Eldacar wants to know your opinion on the current Mists of Pandaria PvP proposals and what you love about PvP, as well as what your PvP gripes are from Cataclysm. What's great about our particular omniscient deity in Azeroth is that Blizzard not only listens but responds. And, if it gets enough consistent feedback about something, it may well do something about it. So if you have something constructive to say, get over there and say it! You could shape the future of Azeroth. However, what nobody is looking for is OMG Blizz nerf mages like now! -- so just don't, OK? Here are Eldacar's guidance questions to think about when posting: What are your biggest PVP-related quality of life issues (things that are an inconvenience but don't significantly affect gameplay or balance)? What Cataclysm BG changes and additions did you like? What Cataclysm Arena changes and additions did you like? What Cataclysm general PVP changes and additions did you like? What are your top issues with Battlegrounds in Cataclysm? What are your top issues with Arenas in Cataclysm? What are your top issues with general PVP in Cataclysm? I can definitely think of some things to point out, and I'm sure you can too. Go to Eldacar's thread right now and make your voice heard! Do you want to capture flags, attack towers, invade cities, and dominate the Arena for your faction? Do you dream of riding your War Bear with pride? We'll steer you to victory with the secrets of PvP, including proven addons and keybindings that win!
Work, play on a single phone: LG teams up with VMware to deploy Android handsets with virtualization
VMware has been chatting up seamless, sexy virtualization among multiple operating systems on a single smartphone for some time -- and it's finally getting the opportunity to deliver en masse thanks to a new partnership with LG. Targeted at the enterprise, Korea's number two phone maker -- which is going into 2011 with a big Android push -- will be integrating VMware's virtualization technology into some of its models next year, starting with Android but potentially moving to other platforms (Windows Phone 7 comes immediately to mind) if the market demands it. You might think that being able to virtualize a second operating system on your phone doesn't have much consumer relevance, but VMware's got a point: with smartphones becoming more of an end-user phenomenon than ever before, it's getting tougher for IT departments to sell employees on giving up their personal phones in favor of a secure, managed, corporate-provided alternative. With the virtualized setup, the work phone lives as an app within the personal phone -- two phone numbers, two complete environments, and only the work environment can be controlled by the IT nerds. Long term, the concept would be that employees could use whatever phone their little hearts desire -- companies would merely need to dump their VMware setup on top and you've suddenly got your work phone integrated. Follow the break for the press release and a video demo of VMware's virtualization software (on a Nexus One, not an LG) in action.
Ngmoco's We Rule is live, but buggy
Ngmoco's We Rule is now available for download worldwide in the App Store -- it's the first ground-up game developed for their big freemium experiment, in which they give away a game and then support it with periodic updates, bringing in revenue with in-app purchases driven by social interaction and game design. I got to play the game at GDC a few weeks ago, and if you've ever played Facebook's Farmville, you'll find most of it very familiar -- you can plant crops, build a town, and earn money both by waiting in real time for investments to pay off, and trading/giving items among friends. Early App Store ratings are pretty good, and while the app doesn't seem to be charting yet, Ngmoco's Neil Young made it clear at GDC that this is a slow burn model -- they're not worried so much about charts as building up average daily users. Unfortunately, it seems the app suffered from some early bugs -- the game requires a 'net connection to run (like Farmville, it's very server oriented), and many users were having trouble connecting. Young wrote a blog post himself about the issues the other day; he says that it's primarily a server problem, and that the teams are working as quickly as they can to fix issues. Not unexpected -- Ngmoco's model calls for an "MVP" ("Minimum Viable Product") to be released on the App Store, so again, they're more interested in how the app does long term, not in the first few days. Other than the hiccups (which did result in a few bad App Store reviews and ratings), We Rule appears to be taking off carefully. We'll have to wait and see if the Farmville-style click-and-wait gameplay is enough to bring in those average daily users that Ngmoco is craving from the App Store.
VMware MVP weds Windows CE and Android in unholy matrimony on dual-boot N800
This is just too good. We knew VMware was working on this sort of thing, but watching it in action is almost too much magic for our fragile hearts to comprehend. VMware MVP lets you run multiple mobile operating systems on a mobile device as virtual machines. It works exactly as you might hope something like this to work -- you can switch between operating systems on the fly, with full graphics acceleration and touchscreen interaction. You can even view both operating systems running simultaneously (in this case Windows CE 6 and Android), with info on just how much power each OS is swiping from your poor little mobile CPU. Performance isn't perfect, of course, but as mobile hardware gets better and the desire for multiple mobile operating systems on the same device becomes unbearable, we see good things happening here. VMware expects to release the software in 2009, video is after the break.
WoW Rookie: Embracing the official forums
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. I spend most of my evenings perusing the North American and European WoW Foums for interesting topics for our Forum Post of the Day feature. I've come across all kinds of threads from the uplifting, to the whiney, to the popular discussion. They are a great resource for tips and strategies. Blizzard welcomes constructive criticism and suggestions from the WoW community. You are welcome to be a part of it as well. There are a few things you should know about the forums.
EU MVP Schwick takes a break
EU Forums MVP and community member (and friend of WoW Insider) Schwick, he of the Warcraft Weekly and the occasional "what we know" roundups, has decided to take a step back from posting as much in order to finish up his schooling. He's aiming to be a game developer, and so while he's still planning on doing the occasional roundup, he's stepping away from his weekly posts to focus on schoolwork.Which is kind of a shame, as his posting was a huge boon to the community. But on the other hand, school is much more important-- focusing on school now will definitely let him do this kind of work more later.So a big thanks yet again to Schwick for all his hard work, and here's wishing him good luck in his studies.
About the bloggers: Brian Karasek
What do you do for WoW Insider? I just recently started as a blogger here. I focus mostly on Engineering. I try to take a mostly in character approach, as though I'm writing not just an article for WoW players but an actual training lecture for Engineers. Outside of WoW Insider, you might also know me as Palehoof, if you read the official forums. What's your main right now? I play, as I have for three years, a Tauren Hunter named Palehoof, currently on Lightninghoof (RPPVP). I'm a niche market gamer, and always have been. My first main was a Tauren Hunter named Palehoof on Kel'thuzad (PVP), and I played him for a year before rerolling him as essentially the exact same character when a new RPPVP server opened. The wisdom of leveling one hunter to 59 before starting the same hunter over again has been mentioned to me. Palehoof is a Gnomish Engineer with mining, having 375 in both, as well as fishing, cooking, and first aid. I've been into Karazhan enough to get some loot, but not enough that I'd call myself a raider or even a regular. I call myself a second string filler DPS/CC. That's how I've gotten into Kara most times, a friend will ask if I can fill in for them on one boss. I've had excellent luck with that sort of run.
Advanced animatronics: The creations, calibrations, and controls of combat companions
Or "You call that a sheep? I'll show you a sheep!" Welcome to the latest in a series of lectures by Hoof & Horn Research & Development. These lectures explain, or attempt to explain, some of the ins and outs of Engineering. For advanced technicians and amateur tinkers alike, the finer points of Engineering can never be too often reviewed. Engineers will tell you: your life may just depend on it!Advanced Animatronics An Engineer is a threat to his enemies. At any moment he might deploy a device, activate an assembly, or engage a gauge which can destroy his target, himself, his immediate environment, or his reputation with the local druids. With this in mind, Engineers are often asked, and in some cases required by local statutes, to refrain from employing their most potent creations in public, or mixed company, or at all. In light of this unreasonable stricture placed upon us by those laypeople who are unusually fearful or have unfairly accurate memories, Engineers over time have devised a way in which we may quite literally throw our own party. Throw it at our target, to be sure. Herein we will discuss the various forms of self-motivated Engineering devices which may be used in combat, as well as the varying results which one might see from the use thereof.
Alexander sidelined, Madden curse to blame?
With word that Madden 07 cover athlete Shaun Alexander has sustained a left foot fracture, sidelining the Seahawk star for at least two weeks, comes renewed speculation about the existence of a 'Madden curse.' Indeed, since 2000, when EA began featuring athletes on the Madden cover, a series of unfortunate events, in varying degrees, has befallen the stars who allegedly risk their careers for EA's "dirty" money. Here's a brief history of the curse: 2000 - Barry Sanders abruptly retires before training camp (was he warned of the impending curse?) 2000 - Dorsey Levens is cut by Green Bay the following season 2001 - Eddie George enjoys career year, until costly turnover leads to Titan's playoff exit 2002 - Daunte Culpepper leads team to dismal 4–7 record before season-ending knee injury 2003 - Marshall Faulk suffers ankle injury; career diminishes thereafter 2004 - Michael Vick fractures right fibula in preseason game, just one day after Madden is released; sidelined for season 2005 - Ray Lewis fails to post a single interception (after grabbing 6 the previous year), and injury forces him to miss the final game of the season; the Ravens also fail to make the playoffs after winning the division in the 2003–2004 season 2006 - Donovan McNabb suffers sports hernia in first game and undergoes season-ending surgery in November; T.O. feud escalates; Eagles finish 6–10 after reaching the Super Bowl the previous year 2007 - Shaun Alexander fractures left foot in Week 3 ... [Thanks, Shadyrudy]
Mobile ESPN slashes price of Sanyo MVP handset, plans more phones
Mobile ESPN has slashed the price of its sole handset offering, the Sanyo 9000-based MVP, bringing its price to just $99, down from the $499 that the MVNO charged when it launched in February. Mobile ESPN is expected to at least one more handset by June, with more to follow later in the year.
