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MMO Family: First Impressions of Project Exonaut
Lately, I've been moving away from my "sword and board" mentality and instead checking out some MMOs that have faster gameplay, such as Vindictus' physics-based, arcade-style combat and Global Agenda's jetpack shooter battles. But while I've had fun grabbing gnolls by the throat and crushing them against the wall in Vindictus and fending off waves of zombies and chupacabras in Fallen Earth, the content isn't necessarily kid-friendly. I wanted to find a game that had action, fast-paced combat, and jetpacks but still touched on all the things that make for a good family game. I stumbled on Project Exonaut, made by Cartoon Network, and decided to check it out. It's a browser-based, free-to-play game that pits you against other players in a futuristic setting. It's not quite an MMO and would probably fall under our Not So Massively heading, but I decided to try it out. Read on for a look at the game and my first impressions!
Computerworld releases long version of 1995 Steve Jobs interview
Computerworld has a piece of Apple history that Apple fans should watch. In 1995, a then 40-year-old Steve Jobs sat down with Computerworld's Daniel Morrow for a 75-minute interview. The one-on-one talk was recorded as part of an oral history project organized by the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. At this point in time, Jobs was still at NeXT and involved with Pixar. It was before he returned to Apple and took the technology world by storm with the iPod, iPhone and iPad. The interview is available as a single 75-minute clip for registered Computerworld users and as several shorter clips for those who don't have a free Computerworld login. The video interview discusses the early days of Steve Jobs's career -- his Silicon Valley roots, his removal from Apple and his time at NeXT and Pixar.
John Lasseter receives star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honors Jobs
Pixar head (and current Disney chief creative officer) John Lasseter recently was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in addition to being honored for all his great work on Pixar's movies and Disney's animations, Lasseter himself passed on some of the honor to Steve Jobs. Jobs famously purchased Lucasfilm's digital animation division back in 1986, and founded Pixar, which was purchased then by Disney in 2006, making Jobs Disney's largest shareholder. And Lasseter honored Jobs' memory at his ceremony, saying that "Without Steve, Pixar wouldn't exist. These films wouldn't exist. I honor him." Pretty touching. Lasseter also said that Jobs's only mandate to him was to "make it great," and obviously with all of his work at Pixar, he's been able to do just that. Jobs is of course best remembered for his work with Apple, but his influence at Pixar was obviously strongly felt, and Pixar returned that love in its movies as well.
Journalist Brent Schlender shares memories of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs interacted with many people over the course of his career at Apple, NeXT and Pixar. Employees and journalists covering his companies became part of his inner circle and got a rare glimpse of the real man behind the public persona. One such journalist was famed Fortune writer Brent Schlender. Schlender followed the career of Steve Jobs starting in 1987, covering him when he was at NeXT and then again as head of Apple. In a recent Fortune article, Schlender recounts his time with Jobs over the past two decades. He tells the story of how Jobs laughed when Schlender called him the "graying prince of a shrinking kingdom" in an article that appeared before Jobs introduced the iPod and turned Apple around. Schlender also recounts a time when Jobs invited him and his children over on a Saturday to show them an early version of Toy Story. Jobs wasn't interested in Schlender's opinion, he was watching the kid's reactions. Even though most of it was an animated storyboard and not fully fleshed out, the children were captivated by what they saw. You can read more about Jobs's interaction with Schlender and the media in his piece at Fortune. It may not be as comprehensive as Isaacson's biography, but it's still worth a read for those interested in a personal look at the man who co-founded Apple.
Kinect adds Sesame Street and National Geographic to Xbox Live, makes motion control wholesome fun
Kinect -- it's the Xbox 360 peripheral that just keeps on giving, now with more edutainment. Yes, that collision of worlds typically yields cringe- and boredom-inducing interactive experiences. Not so with this marriage of MS' motion-controlling sensor and the fine folks behind TV mainstays like Sesame Street, National Geographic and Disney. The newly inked content partnerships will see the creation of specifically tailored episodes of Kinect Nat Geo TV, in addition to a season's worth of Kinect Sesame Street TV for Xbox Live, letting your youngins play virtual connect the dots with Elmo. Plans are also underway for a virtual storybook effort, codenamed Project Columbia, aimed at indoctrinating children into the fundamentals of reading, and Rush, a videogame that'll lead adults and their tots alike through Pixar's virtual worlds. These various family-friendly titles and TV shows are set to rollout sometime next spring, so if you need to get your little ones' blood pumping (and slim down those love handles while you're at it), it looks like X's prepping to mark that spot. Official presser after the break.
Steve Jobs on Apple in 1996, prior to his return
In 1996, Steve Jobs sat down with PBS' Wall $treet Week host Louis Rukeyser and discussed his current business ventures - Pixar and NeXT. He also touched briefly on his former project, Apple, which in 1996 was at an all-time low and considered to be "one of the failure stories of Wall Street." You can almost feel a twinge of pain in his voice when he says the company that he helped create has failed to innovate and lost its 10-year lead on the computing industry. Little did everyone know, Jobs would soon return to Apple and restore the company to its former glory.
Arduino hack imitates Pixar's living lamp, disses IKEA in the process (video)
Oh, look -- it's Pixar's iconic lamp brought to real-world Frankenlife. Okay, not really, but the automated, voice-enabled mod is as close to the movie studio's icon as a hacking kit and five euros in a Swedish furniture store can get you. The prototype, lovingly named "The annoying IKEA lamp" or SM-1, is ArduinoArts' finalist entry for SeeedStudio's Grove Toy Kit contest. Headed by industrial engineer Javier Lander, the project weds two servos (one in the base and one in the lamp), sensors for motion and sound, a three axis accelerometer, LED light and audio board to an Arduino shield, springing the modjob to programmed states of alarm and irritation. We commend Javier for eschewing the cutesy road well-traveled, and giving the mundane desktop light a grumpy, old man makeover. Click on past the break to see this curmudgeonly home office accessory in action. [Thanks, Javier]
Pizza Planet invades LittleBigPlanet 2 with Toy Story costumes and level kit DLC
As if the Toy Story universe wasn't endearing and heartwarming enough, Pixar's plastic pals will be upping the adorable ante by donning sackboy skins and setting foot on LittleBigPlanet 2. Come August 8, Buzz Lightyear, Slinky Dog, Rex, and Hamm costumes will be available individually for $1.99, or as a toy-chest of memories for $5.99. Costumes aren't the only thing The Claw managed to grab however, as a Toy Story Level Kit will also be available for $5.99, featuring 9 new levels and 2 new music tracks, as well as materials, decorations, stickers, and an Alien costume exclusive to the pack. To quote a great philosopher: "OOOOOOOooooooo."%Gallery-129610%
Wall-E meets his Canadian DJ maker, turns into a real robot toy (video)
What do you get when you cross a dj with a "Canadian roboticist?" An almost true-to-fiction Wall-E, that's what. In this rendition of garbage-bot gone cute, amateur robotics enthusiast DJ Sures (yes, he makes music) hollowed out a U-Command Wall-E toy and fixed him up with some servo guts. The voice-activated, semi-autonomous modjob has a built-in eye camera that recognizes motion, colors and faces, coming the closest we've seen to replicating the CG-romantic. The whole AA-battery powered affair runs on the EZ-B Robot Controller software shown off by Sures in the video below. And unlike other past re-creations, this little guy knows how to get down without the need for sped up video tricks. Clearly, the Pixar-bred bot's become the unofficial icon of the homebrew robotics community, so where's his official counterpart? You listening Disney? Get cracking.
Antitrust class action lawsuit filed against Apple, others over anti-poaching agreements
The law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein has announced that they have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and other major tech companies on behalf of a Lucasfilm employee. The lawsuit alleges that the tech companies took part in illegal "no solicitation" agreements that barred them from poaching each others employees. These anti-poaching agreements led to "eliminate competition and cap pay for skilled employees" according to the lawsuit. MacRumors notes that in addition to Apple, the suit names Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar as defendants. Former Lucasfilm software engineer Siddharth Hariharan said in a statement, "My colleagues at Lucasfilm and I applied our skills, knowledge, and creativity to make the company an industry leader. It's disappointing that, while we were working hard to make terrific products that resulted in enormous profits for Lucasfilm, senior executives of the company cut deals with other premiere high tech companies to eliminate competition and cap pay for skilled employees." The lawsuit goes on to say the the anti-poaching agreements first took place among Pixar and Lucasfilm in 2005. Shortly thereafter, Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel, and Intuit all joined in. The anti-poaching agreements were allegedly in place until 2009.
Labor union opposed to Steve Jobs' reelection to Disney board
Steve Jobs' position as a director of Disney is being questioned as the company's annual shareholder's meeting takes place in Salt Lake City today. The AFL-CIO federation of labor unions has already voted against his reelection, citing his absences for health reasons and full-time responsibilities as Chief Executive of Apple. They own 3.8 million shares in Disney, compared to the 138 million Steve Jobs received when Disney took over Pixar. He's the company's largest shareholder, in fact. Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services says he's attended "less than 75%" of meetings in three of the past four years and that this "raises questions about his ability to fulfill his responsibilities as a director of the company." Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and received a liver transplant in 2009, and he has been on medical leave from Apple since January this year. Disney admitted in a regulatory filing that month that his health problems had hampered his ability to attend board meetings. That said, Jobs' influence on Disney does seem to have been valuable to the company. His experience with the highly successful Apple retail stores has been welcomed by Disney, and many cite his influence as being one of the reasons behind Disney's early forays into the world of digital distribution. And, frankly, it's hard to imagine many companies that wouldn't welcome Steve Jobs as one of their directors. Don't expect to see other shareholders voting against him. [Via AppleInsider]
The Incredibles Blu-ray officially announced, arrives with new extras April 12th
If retailer updates and a trailer on other discs weren't enough, consider this notice that The Incredibles really is coming out on Blu-ray at long last now that Disney finally officially announced it today. The press release after the break has all the details, but other than the 1080p widescreen picture and 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack you'd expect, it also includes all the original DVD extras and a few new ones just for Blu-ray: The Incredibles Revisited roundtable discussion, Paths to Pixar: Story Artists, Studio Stories: Gary's Birthday, Ending With a Bang: Making The End Credits and "The New Nomisan" Island Redevelopment Plan. The four disc combo pack (two Blu-ray discs, one DVD, one digital copy) still has a $45.99 MSRP, Amazon price is $29.99.
The Incredibles Blu-ray release date revealed as April 12th
One of the most anticipated Blu-ray releases left finally has a release date, as Blu-ray.com points out an early announcement to retailers from Disney pegs The Incredibles to arrive on Blu-ray April 12th. We'll wait for an official release to find out more, but so far the only details are that it's a four-disc combo set with a $45.99 MSRP, current preorder price on Amazon is $31.99.
Toy Story director is a Mac addict
Lee Unkrich is one of the creative minds behind the Toy Story series, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. Those are, of course, just a few of his accomplishments. He's obviously a fairly important part of the Pixar creative empire, and his movies have inspired millions of people. He's also a self-proclaimed Mac addict. In an interview with Cult of Mac, Unkrich fessed up to his undying love of Apple products. His first was the Apple II Plus, which is about as much Apple street cred as you can hope to get. Unkrich says he's owned nearly every Apple product since that first machine, even the much-maligned Newton. He's remained a devoted follower through the good times and the bad and is looking forward to even more Apple advances in the future. To me, the most interesting bit came pretty early in the interview with Unkrich. When asked what he loved so much about Macs, Unkrich replied that it was Apple's "unrelenting quest to make beautiful, functional devices. [Macs] practically drip with the care and attention that went into their creation." Isn't that really the thing that inspires us Mac users? That solid, remarkable design and careful consideration of every aspect of the Mac experience. It's good to see the appreciation for Mac poetry shared by such a creative director. Edit: Edit to make Unkrich's role a little more clear -- MG
VUDU, Walmart and Disney join forces, add a free streaming copy to Toy Story 3 Blu-ray discs
Walmart is showing how it might make use of VUDU after purchasing the 1080p movie streaming house earlier this year, now that the two have teamed up with Disney to throw in a free digital copy of Toy Story 3 with each one purchased at the store on DVD or Blu-ray. When the movie goes on sale today, customers will receive a download code they can use on their nearest VUDU player (now including Boxee on the Box, PC or Mac) to stream some Buzz and Woody at any time without a disc involved. Walmart and VUDU are quick to describe this mix of physical and digital access as the future of content, and we're thinking this type of promotion is about to become much more widespread since Amazon's already offered a similar deal with Disc+, and Best Buy purchased CinemaNow specifically for this type of offer. The only question now is if customers will start asking "which streaming service does this connect to?" before they run out to buy a new Blu-ray instead of simply looking for the lowest price or other promotional tie-in.
Toy Story 3 pack-in confirms The Incredibles on Blu-ray in Spring 2011
Looks like the rumors were spot on, as our friends at MovieWeb cracked open their copy of Toy Story 3 on blu-ray disc and found this flier inside promising The Incredibles Blu-ray combo due early next year. No word on any special features or extras, but we can prepare to cross one more off of our still-waiting-for-the-Blu-ray list.
Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel Intuit and Pixar: now free to cold call each other's employees
Attaboy, DoJ! Out of (almost) nowhere, the United States Department of Justice announced today that it was requiring six well-known technology outfits to stop entering into "anticompetitive employee solicitation agreements," and we're guessing you will have heard just a few of these names: Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit and Pixar. As the story goes, these six companies were all mixed up (but not all together, mind you) in agreements that forbid each other from cold calling employees from a rival firm in order to offer them a different job. According to the DoJ, those arrangements acted as a "significant form of competition to attract highly skilled employees," and it has now filed a civil antitrust complaint today along with a proposed settlement that, "if approved by the court, would resolve the lawsuit." We're also told that some of the agreements were put into place as early as 2005, and they were "formed and actively managed by senior executives of these companies." Yikes. Hit the source link for the full report, and feel free to call back that "Unknown" caller that keeps hitting you up on your Adobe line -- it's probably Pixar with a seven-figure offer.
Is The Incredibles Blu-ray due early next year?
Just when we'd plotted out all our future Disney disc purchases, TheHDRoom is back with a roundup of Blu-ray release date rumors and what's included but one of our favorite flicks, The Incredibles. It's a bit shocking we haven't seen this movie (among many, many others) on Blu-ray yet, but the site says to keep your early 2011 calendar open for now.Other, more specific predictions peg release dates for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Salt and The Frighteners, but right now we're wondering what movies are on top of your waiting-for-the-Blu-ray list?
Toy Story 3 Blu-ray listed on Amazon for December 10, could it be 3D?
If you're hoping to see more domestically released Blu-ray 3D titles this year you may want to raise your alert level as Blu-ray.com reports, among other retailer information, on a mysterious listing for Toy Story 3 on December 10. The regular release has already been listed for November 2, in both two disc Blu-ray set, three disc BD/DVD/digital copy combo pack and 10-disc trilogy form, but since it's not among the exclusives announced earlier this week from Disney, seeing the top grossing flick of 2010 at home in 3D this year seems like a real possibility.
MMO Family: A parent's look at World of Cars Online
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. How could you not fall in love with a Disney/Pixar movie? I'm not sure that's even possible. Cars revved up belly laughs in the theater back in 2006, earning two Oscar nominations and raking in more than a dozen other industry awards. Kids were captivated by the feisty little car characters, and grownups chuckled at voicing from such high-octane stars as Owen Wilson, Paul Newman and even Cheech Marin. The MMO version of the franchise, which officially launched last month, pulls away from the starting line without this full tank of charisma. World of Cars Online hits on all cylinders yet somehow fails to throttle up into the type of completely engaging world we've come to expect from a Disney/Pixar creation. It's a 2-D, minigame-centric experience with lots (and we do mean lots) of point-and-click racing. Still, if you've got a young boy around the house who's hankering to burn a little online rubber, World of Cars is an inexpensive, kid-friendly way to do it.
