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The Daily Grind: Should games cut us off? [Updated]
Recently, Free Realms instituted a troubling feature for accounts belonging to minors. Parents began noticing that after they or their children played for three hours on an account flagged "minor," the interface announced that the player had entered "fatigue gaming time" and should log out to get some exercise for his health. Moreover, fatigue time reduced all in-game gains for the player by 50% and prevented him from completing quests and spinning the loot wheel. Gamers erupted over what they saw as Sony Online Entertainment's attempt to intrude upon the parental domain, and the company has since rolled back this feature and stated it was "unintended." Still, other games have implemented similar features. What say you, Massively readers? Are you happy for games to nanny you (and your kids), or do you think they should mind their own business? [Update: SOE contacted us to clarify that this feature is for the Chinese version only, as part of that government's Chinese Anti Indulgence System. It was accidentally included in the US version of the game briefly, hence the "unintended" statement. It's not in the US version of the game at this time.] Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Frontline footage from Call of Duty 4's new Broadcast map
Those who played through Call of Duty 4's somewhat punishing campaign will probably recognize the locale featured in the newest downloadable multiplayer map, "Broadcast", as the theater of operations for the single-player level "Charlie Don't Surf". While we wonder how the stage's apparent indoor focus will affect the usefulness of helicopters and airstrikes, we definitely dig the idea of having a stage dedicated to more intense close-quarters encounters.If you haven't played the game, and all this photorealistic gunplay bothers you, just imagine that the bullet-riddled station featured in Broadcast has a programming schedule composed only of "The Nanny" reruns and the few episodes of the short-lived prime time trainwreck, "Viva Laughlin". It makes all the violence a tad more justifiable.
KornTech's Rogun robot recognizes faces and intruders
While KornTech's Rogun won't go down as the first humanoid that sports both face recognition and intruder alerting functions, it does one-up many of the other prototypes by actually being available for purchase. The Korean startup has developed a kid-friendly one-meter-tall robot that "recognizes people through embedded cameras and high-end face-tracking software." Additionally, the bot can walk on its own and "perform various functions suitable for a security guard or nanny" such as pace the floors at night and give its master a cellphone warning if it recognizes any suspicious behavior. Rogun can even use its camera to show parents what mischief their kids are getting into at home by beaming video via its integrated WiFi chipset, and if watching the big screen is just too 2006, the youngsters can focus on the seven-inch LCD set within the device's chest. Of course, video telephony, internet browsing, and priceless companionship also come bundled in, and while the company hopes to sell these fellows for a mere $5,000 in time, snapping up your own Rogun at the moment will run you a whopping $100,000 or so considering the current BTO nature of production.[Via I4U]
