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The Art of Wushu: The limits of human reaction time
We're finally back on track with the kung-fu lessons, and today we're going to talk about something very important: how being human limits what you can do in an Age of Wushu duel. Like a lot of skills relating to dueling and strategy, this is a fairly broad skill that can be applied to a lot of games. Reaction speed is one of the most difficult things to train in Age of Wushu, especially for old-timers like me. Reacting to things in a timely matter is a massive advantage; it lets you punish feints, interrupt sluggish normal attacks, and stun people out of dance-like moves. The trouble is, we're human, and humans are slow. This time, we're going to look at exactly what that means in hard technical terms.
(Delayed) Reaction Time: An addendum to 2012's best games
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." Now that the Joystiq staff has recuperated from the verbal immolation and bizarre "hipster" categorization of their Game of the Year choices, I've decided to rescue and share my own runner-up list before it sinks even deeper between the couch cushions. These are all games worth playing, and I'd be irritated if I closed off my 2012 before talking about them just a little more.(Besides, we have a guy on here who writes about games that are much older than, you know, Far Cry 3.)
Meeting Atypical Aliens and Assassins
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. This holiday's unceasing glut of games is a go, with store shelves making room for the onslaught of snarling aliens, sneering assassins, and slow-mo soldiers walking away from large explosions – or sometimes partially melted helicopters. These are the usual, commercially sexy suspects.It's best not to judge a game by its cover, though, and this week's front-facing embellishments are exceptionally deceptive. At a shallow glance, XCOM: Enemy Unknown may seem like another case of meathead military dudes mowing down extraterrestrials. Dishonored, meanwhile, conveys a stylish stab-a-thon with its masked, supernaturally talented anti-hero out for revenge. Look longer and you'll find that both have roots in classic PC gaming, and both sell something console owners might not even know they want.
Making a Monster out of Resident Evil
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. The internet-borne response to this week's arrival of Resident Evil 6 has been illuminating. A surprising number of critics are ready to cast the game into a bonfire, and some incredulous fans wish the reviewers would join it. There's a perceptible feeling of disbelief amongst everyone involved, as if such a big, glossy production - with hundreds of developers behind it – could never lead to divided, divisive opinions.It's happened before, of course, with Assassin's Creed in 2007. But that game landed on different expectations, its future as a franchise uncertain. The historical action game won fans and detractors in almost equal numbers at first, and went on to become one of Ubisoft's most powerful and most nurtured franchises. Players expect Assassin's Creed 3 to maintain the upward curve of quality, and the game's familiar mechanics and motifs make a massive critical failure almost unthinkable.Therein lies the deceptive assumption of "AAA" games. With enough history, fan feedback, financial support and developers, we expect a well-tuned machine to emerge every time. There's a balance in the dialogue between players and creators, however, and Resident Evil 6 is a good (or bad, depending on your viewpoint) example of what happens when one drowns out the other. I couldn't even tell you if fans demanded too much, or if Capcom was too intent on placating them, to the point of ignoring its own design expertise.
The Sound Summer of PSN
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. Remember when the summer lull signaled a blissful break from the year's onslaught of new games? July was the perfect pitstop, where you'd catch up on that bloated backlog and shake off that vague, gnawing stress that comes from wanting to play everything and knowing you never will. There used to be a gap, right over here.If things felt lethargic to you in August, you must not have been too keen on the downloadable games finding their way to the PlayStation Store – or the ones getting horribly lost and asking for directions to some nested nightmare in the current Xbox 360 dashboard.Sony's efforts this year have been especially strong, with several standout games forming a loose alliance around music. The PlayStation Network hosted the debut of Dyad, a tumultuous, trippy shooter that puts your brain in a slingshot and fires it straight down a LED-lined tunnel. It's a product of Toronto's indie game scene and designer Shawn McGrath, who says it was relatively easy to gain Sony's stamp of approval.
Darksiders 2: Death for a Salesman
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. As a mascot for what remains of THQ's 2012 lineup, there's no choice more awkward or more apt than Death. The stoic star of Darksiders 2, and one quarter of the world's scariest equine club, has become the de facto face for a troubled publisher. It's mean, clearly aligned with THQ's hardcore identity, and shows obvious signs of unkemptness and decay.The company has resorted to drastic measures to stay in business and rebuild its pipeline, which was once packed with hastily assembled licensed fare and colorful games meant to enthuse a younger demographic. In shifting fully to hardcore products like Darksiders 2, THQ shirks the playfulness implied by its name – derived from "Toy Head-Quarters" – and gets down to serious business. If not irreversible, the situation has at least begun to reek, no thanks to the bodies sacrificed on an altar of second chances. The studio closures, layoffs, executive shuffles, and major cancellations (like Insane, a horror game conceptualized with film director Guillermo del Toro) are beginning to pile up.We look to Darksiders 2 as a portent of THQ's recovery, though Death is not the single savior so much as an ironic proof of life. If the beleaguered corporation can effectively produce and market this important milestone – the kind of high-quality, traditional game that must sustain it from now on – it gives us reason not to write off the other THQ franchises that are on the cusp of widespread popularity. The "AAA" market is probably the worst place to make a last stand, considering the endangering expenditure required to make a big impact.
Distro Issue 52: Does the MakerBot Replicator signal the dawn of in-home 3D printing?
Almost every day it seems like folks are finding a way to add to the number of practical uses for 3D printers. What was once a hobbyist's dream gadget is now being used to produce faux arteries for lab-grown tissue and Magic Arms. As the pricey peripherals work their way into the mainstream, are they soon to be found in most homes? That's the quandary we tackle in this edition of our weekly tablet mag as Brian Heater spends some quality time with the MakerBot Replicator at Engadget's NYC Headquarters. Not really into $2,000 output devices? No sweat. The Meizu MX 4-core, Toshiba U845W and Parrot Zik headphones all get the proper review treatment. "Hands-on" visits SIGGRAPH, "Weekly Stat" examines the shortcomings of our handsets, "Reaction Time" discusses THQ, "IRL" packs in three more of our gadget confessions and GameStop CEO Paul Raines admits his affinity for Jelly Bean in this week's Q&A. Go on and usher in the weekend by hitting up your download link of choice down below. Distro Issue 52 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
A Week Between Blockbusters
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. Thanks to a shared caution between movie studios, you were saved from seconds of paralyzing indecision last weekend. Had Total Recall and The Bourne Legacy stuck to a shared release date in theaters, as originally scheduled, you'd have become a seated participant in an extravagant and mutually destructive showdown. Between Colin Farrell and Jeremy Renner, which pouting action star would have gotten your twelve bucks and two hours?If you're a movie buff, you might not even hesitate spending time and money on both consecutively. But what happens when you bump the price up to $60, and extend the temporal investment to something between 8 and 80 hours? Now you see the dilemma squeezed in-between this holiday's most anticipated shooters, Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and all of a sudden one week doesn't seem like much of a buffer at all.
Distro Issue 51 arrives with an in-depth look at Apple's Mountain Lion
In case you hadn't heard, Apple released the latest version of OS X recently. As expected, the newfangled Mountain Lion operating system touts a number of added features -- some of which bring it even closer in sync with iOS. In this week's issue of our e-magazine, the beast steps out into the spotlight and we offer a word or two (a few thousand, to be exact) in our full-length review of the software. If the work of the folks in Cupertino isn't exactly your cup of tea, we also give the new Outlook.com and T-Mo's version of the Galaxy Note a close examination with the Engadget fine-toothed comb. HTC's Eric Lin takes a shot at the Q&A, "This is the Modem World" discusses gadget smells, "Reaction Time" chats about blockbuster releases and "IRL" exposes more of the devices that we use on the regular. Trust us, you'll want to get comfortable this time around. Kick your shoes off and head to your download link of choice to get started. Distro Issue 51 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Can I Get a Pulse?
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. Psst. Hey, Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Are you dead? Don't answer that if you are.The fate of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which has rarely been seen outside of lavish computer-generated video since it was announced in 2007 2006, has been debated and doubted enough to push the game well into the realm of vaporware. Yoichi Wada, the CEO of Square Enix, took to Twitter this week to euthanize our latest, seemingly premature obituaries. "It seems someone is spreading a false rumor about Versus being canceled," he wrote. I hope he lets us know as soon as someone starts spreading the real one.His comment, while without evidence, represented the first proper answer to come out of Square, which up until then had done nothing to mitigate the "false rumor." The games press would love nothing more than to quash or confirm the story, and it's one that shouldn't be simpler to resolve. Is your game still in development? Y/N.
Distro Issue 50: the travel edition packs geotagging and offline navigation
Here at Engadget HQ, we're looking to take a bit of a breather after a long week of analyzing last quarter's numbers. With that said, a road trip or weekend respite of some sort is definitely in order and this week's edition of our e-magazine offers some insight into getting just a bit more out of that next excursion. Front and center, the globe trotting Darren Murph offers some tips for geotagging your shots from that next Blue Ridge Parkway trek and also takes Nokia Drive's offline navigation for a spin on a Lumia 900. The super thin $1,400 Acer Aspire S5 and the sub-$100 Motorola Atrix HD each get in-depth reviews while "Hands-On" is overrun by some new shooters -- including the much anticipated Canon EOS M. Fable: The Journey designer Ted Timmins takes his turn with Q&A, "Switched On" takes a look an Ouya, "Reaction Time" chats about pre-release secrecy and "IRL" has our personal gadget arsenals. That said, we're taking some Friday solace in one of the download links below, where you can grab a brand spankin' new issue of your very own. Distro Issue 50 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
The Steam Summer Sale trap
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. I've already bought several games during this year's Steam Summer Sale, including Legend of Grimrock, an old-fashioned dungeon crawler with a modern veneer. Good for me! Oh, except Legend of Grimrock is a PC game. I don't even have a PC right now, and I've never bothered to set up a dual-boot partition on my MacBook Air. The dread of missing out on the deal was so great, it overwhelmed the fact that I don't even have the preferred equipment for the game.It happens every year, as Valve gets more and more adept at carving off costs and doling out deals at the perfect pace – slowly enough to keep you coming back, but not fast enough to let you realize you're spending something you don't have.Money isn't the problem. Spending five bucks on the latest indie gem, even if it's buried in a shopping minecart of indie gems, won't be the death of you. The actual death of you, however, might be slightly more prohibitive when it comes to buying all these games. When are you going to find time to play all this stuff?
Distro Issue 49: a visit to the craft and hackerspace at Artisan's Asylum
While Yahoo was busy hiring its new CEO away from Google, we were hard at work crankin' out this week's edition of Distro to help feed your slate reading desires. Let's just say that if a CNC gantry router that implements a Wiimote piques your interest, you're in for quite the treat this time around. We head north to Massachusetts to visit Artisan's Asylum for a glimpse of the craftiness and general hackery that takes place in an old office supply warehouse. We throw down the review gauntlet for the Nintendo 3DS XL, LG Optimus 4X HD and Sony VAIO T13 and offer some detailed reactions on said trio. AllThingsD's Mike Isaac has a go at the Q&A, "Switched On" discusses the next Office, Steam's annual sale occupies "Reaction Time" and "IRL" returns. As you might expect, all of the requisite download links await your clicks below. Update: Make sure you're downloading the newest versions of the Distro app when they're made available. This will allow you to keep tabs on all of the content and functionality packed into each issue. Distro Issue 49 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Distro Issue 48 arrives with the Nexus Q, Levar Burton and more
After a brief respite to recover from last week's hot dog and homemade ice cream comas, our tablet mag is back in action. Getting our e-publication affairs back in order, Brian Heater sits down with Levar Burton to chat about Reading Rainbow, a new iPad app and Star Trek gadgetry. Hitting on another bit of childhood nostalgia for many of us at Engadget HQ, Alexis Santos drops by NASA's Launch Control Center (LCC) for a tour after more than three decades of operation. On the review front, we roll up our sleeves and put both the Nexus Q and the Samsung Series 9 through the wringer while offering some in-depth impressions. "Eyes-On" takes a peek at the Google booty offered to I/O attendees, "Hands-On" our latest gadget outings and Gaikai's founder admits his reliance on the PowerPoint gods in the Q&A. Don't take our word for it. Snag your copy of the e-magazine with a few clicks on the download links that follow. Distro Issue 48 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Distro Issue 47: Made in the USA edition
It's that time of the year when folks in the US of A tend to get a tad bit patriotic. Pretty soon, those of us in the States will be all about grilling and putting back a few hot dogs and / or hamburgers before rushing off to catch some fireworks. We're looking to keep the spirit alive in our weekly, too. This time around, we offer up a Made in the USA edition with editorials that tackle Nevada's solar-geothermal hybrid power plant and just how much coin it takes to offer internet in American Samoa -- along with a few more stops in between. The Nexus 7 and Nexus Q were revealed at Google I/O and we offer some initial thoughts on the pair of gadgets from the folks in Mountain View. Find yourself jonesin' for a closer look at that fancy Tesla S? You're in luck. You'll find some detail shots of the new $50,000 EV in "Eyes-On" this week. So what are you waiting for? There's a monster truck on the cover for crying out loud! Dive right in to the latest issue via your download method of choice. Distro Issue 47 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
Breaking Down a Broken Game
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. "Why don't you just do your job and review the game? Stop shoving your opinion down our throats!"That's one bit of criticism, nested between comments both cordial and caustic, that I sometimes see at the bottom of Joystiq's thoughtful, pretentious, accurate and downright incorrect reviews (depending on whom you ask). For some, a bit of punditry only pollutes the product evaluation they signed up for. Less thought and more report, please.That's not how game reviews work at all – not unless it's their goal to confirm factual observations about the video game, which is indeed functional and playable from the first-person perspective, and features a sequence of steadily increasing challenges that must be overcome with considered manipulation of the controller's buttons. And there are graphics!But the ease at which the mythical "objective review" is dismissed nearly obscures an unusual facet of writing about games. When critics played Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor this week, they encountered a game that had clear, unavoidable faults beyond the usual suspects in level design, storytelling, play mechanisms, and emotions evoked by the premise. What happens when the game just fails to function properly?
Wink If You've Seen the Future
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. E3 is always on the verge of devolving into a chaotic, inescapable din of competing mega-screens and marketing megaphones yelling over each other. Everyone is selling their own piece of the future. That's why, whether intentional or not, this year's show felt weirdly and stubbornly on message, as if a tacit agreement between every manufacturer and publisher ensured that nobody would step out of the here-and-now. If a gnawing absence of surprise and excitement pervaded the show, it's because everything we saw and discussed is expected to come out within the next twelve months.Ubisoft was willing to venture much further into the future, surprising attendees of its own press conference with a snippet of Watch Dogs, a game that seemed too good to be true amongst E3's barrage of solid sequels. Here was a new intellectual property, with a serious and topical premise, and graphics too sophisticated to be running on a console from 2005. It's okay to talk about the next generation, apparently, as long as you don't explicitly call it that.
Distro Issue 45: a brief history of Motorola and WWDC 2012's top stories
Still recovering from last week's barrage of fitness gadgetry? Yeah, we are too. This week, we take a less active approach to the latest issue of our tablet mag. Motorola's influence on the tech that we all know and love extends far beyond flip phones and pagers. Our own Brian Heater takes a look at the history of the company in the issue's editorial feature, offering a glimpse into the timeline that led up to Google's $12.5 billion purchase. The folks in Cupertino had an event a few days back that offered a handful of juicy tidbits -- to say the least. If you fear you might've missed something or just need a quick refresher, we run down WWDC's 10 most important talking points. Speaking of which, the "Hands-on" section this week is devoted entirely to the next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina display -- in case you've been napping and haven't had a look for yourself. In terms of device reviews, we offer our thoughts on both the Sony Xperia P and Xperia U for your weekend read. If you're still reminiscing about E3, "Reaction Time" looks at Ubisoft's new title in a week that chock-full of sequels while "Eyes-on" takes a gander at the Nest thermostat and "Time Machines" visits the roots of the TI-30X IIS. The download links are just a click away, so hit yours to get started. Distro Issue 45 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (For sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
The Essential E3
You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. It's easy to separate fresh freelancers from deeply ingrained industry curmudgeons on the E3 show floor. The former group barges into the Los Angeles Convention Center with a spring in their step, a sparkle in their eye and the reverent willingness to strip down and be consumed in wonderment, as the show caresses and dazzles them with gaming's finest wares. Cynicism and numbness haven't had an opportunity to creep in yet.Meanwhile, the other guys are having a cigarette and talking trash on the other end of the spectrum. They're more likely to describe the Electronic Entertainment Expo as a disorienting nebula of noise that flattens the senses and squeezes the humanity out of you from bottom to top, like it's the last bit of toothpaste in the tube. To them, E3 is an exhausting act of catching bullets in a burning ammunition depot, with breaking news and rapid-fire developments flying in from all directions.What makes E3 so fascinating to some – and so irritating to others – is that it doesn't have a filter. It's not particularly aimed at just press, consumers or retailers anymore, so it just spills over everyone and blasts out light and sound in 360 degrees. Joystiq sends a massive team of writers to cover the event every year because there's so much of it, and so much of it is in need of filtration and packaging. From the perspective of readers and podcast listeners, the press should function as both translator and bulletproof vest.
Distro Issue 43 has arrived with Thomas Dolby: TED talks, cellphone deals and the Floating City
What's that? You've already worked your requisite 40 hours this week and you're ready to throw in the towel? Well, we've got something far more enjoyable for your Friday afternoon relaxation. Hot off of the e-presses, this week's issue of Distro is packed with a week's worth of leisurely readings. The focus this time around is on Thomas Dolby and our own Brian Heater details the '80s pop star's journey back to the stage with TED, cellphones and his own virtual world. As far as reviews go, we spend some quality time getting to know the latest Chrome OS arsenal from Google, ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A and the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III. Our hands-on section is still a young Padawan, but this week we breakdown Nokia 808 PureView sample shots and the recently outted Facebook Camera app. Do you have gaming on the brain with E3 less than a week away? If so, Reaction Time should hold you over with new releases and a discussion of the aforementioned gaming expo. Stat takes a look at copyright and piracy claims, we go eyes-on with the Lumia lineage, BAROBO's Graham Ryland stops by for the Q&A, Switched On tackles Cisco, IRL let's you get cozy with our gear and Rehashed looks back at the week that was in 140 characters or less. The days are winding down until it'll be too hot to enjoy that hammock, so don't waste any more time. Hit your weekly download link and snag a copy of our tablet mag. Distro Issue 43 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (For sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
