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Terminator: Salvation for PC recalled from front lines
If you were one of those folks that rushed out and scooped up Terminator: Salvation for PC this week, you've probably been disappointed with the game -- mostly because you haven't been able to play it. There was a replication issue when manufacturing the PC version of the game, which doesn't allow users to install the game at all, Evolved Games notes on the official forums. Right now, Evolved Games is currently recalling all copies of the game in North America, with the plan being that each copy will be replaced "in a few days." Could this actually be some plot by Skynet to keep humans from playing a game that trains us to kill robots? We doubt it, but it's fun to imagine, which is all you can really do at this point ...%Gallery-48219%[Via Terminator: Salvation: The Game forums]
Robot Hall of Fame expands to include Da Vinci, Terminator, Roomba
Forget those "sporting" Halls of Fame -- the real HOF is right here. Since 2003, the Robot Hall of Fame has been honoring robots and creators at an exhibit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now we're seeing the latest handful of noteworthy creatures take their rightful place in history. For those unaware, the Robot HOF is maintained by Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Science Center, and an international jury of researchers, writers, and designers has just selected five new bots to join the cast: Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the T-800 Terminator (yes, that Terminator), the Da Vinci surgical system, iRobot's Roomba and 'Huey, Dewey, and Louie' from the 1972 sci-fi flick Silent Running. Could you have imagined a more fitting five? If so, sound off below!
John Connor destroys a bunch of robots in Terminator: Salvation trailer
In another clip from GRIN's upcoming Terminator: Salvation, we see more of the usual: John Connor killing robots. Luckily for us, being the warm sacks of flesh that we are, that's exactly what we want to see. So, feast your eyes on the clip above and learn how to take down the many enemies of humanity. Y'know, in case you ever find yourself in Skynet's artificial dog house.
Humanity fights back in latest Terminator: Salvation video
For as much as Sarah Connor and the rest of humanity talk about John's fight against the machines, it isn't a fight that he has taken up on his own. There are many human allies behind the man, toiling day in and day out to quell the robotic onslaught from finishing off what little meat bags are left on this big, blue spinning rock. Thankfully, the folks at GRIN know that, and have sent our way this video from Terminator: Salvation that shows off some co-op gameplay. Looks like John gets by with a little help from his friends.
Terminator Salvation video has gameplay
We thought about coming up with a better headline for this post, but given our recent hands-on time with Terminator Salvation, we thought we'd let the video speak for itself. The above video is comprised solely of gameplay footage from Grin's upcoming John Connor simulator, replete with plenty of gun shootin', grenade throwin', cover grabbin' action.While we'll have to wait until next month to pass judgment on the final game, the action certainly looks decent. At the very least, the video does confirm one thing: They definitely got the music right, so that's a plus.
RAmos unveils its Skynet-approved Terminator T12 media player
Ah, RAmos -- you know what the people want, and you just keep crankin' 'em out. A worthy successor to the T10, the T9, and the T8, the Terminator T12 switches things up a bit with a thumb wheel for (hopefully) improved navigation over its touchscreen-centric brethren. And the specs seem more than sufficient, including a Rockchip RK2806 (1024 x 720) chipset, 5-inch display, Wolfson WM8988 audio, and TV out. Storage and price have yet to be announced, but you'll know as soon as we do. Since this is a tie-in for the upcoming Terminator movie, we expect to see some suitably gaudy / awesome promo material coming down the pike. You hear that, RAmos?[Via The Gadget Site]
More IPs than you can shake a lightsaber at: Five sci-fi intellectual properties that just scream "MMOG"
Science fiction isn't exactly new to the MMOG scene. In addition to the obvious - Star Wars Galaxies, EVE Online and the defunct Tabula Rasa - there's Neocron, Anarchy Online, Earth & Beyond and Planetside. But with the exception of SWG and the upcoming Star Trek Online, some of sci-fi's best intellectual properties haven't yet been tapped to invite users into their world. What follows are a few franchises that lend themselves perfectly to what MMOGs are, and what they could be.UplinkRemember, back when you were a little nerd, what you used to think hacking was like? Remember the virtual world you conjured in your head, with stealthy rogues zooming around the internet, stealing millions from banks and pilfering government secrets? Remember the awful movies Hackers and Swordfish? OK, so maybe real hacking doesn't work that way. Maybe real hacking involves an encyclopedic knowledge of Unix, PHP exploits and hanging out in IRC with people who tell you to RTFM if you ask them what time it is. Real hacking may be a lot of things, but "fun to a lot of people" isn't one of them.
GDC09: Terminator Salvation hands-on
click to enlarge Set two years before the movie bearing the same name, Terminator Salvation's, well, salvation from the realm of mediocre shooter-dom is in the hands of Bionic Commando dev Grin. Embedded within the film's production team from day one, sharing creations back and forth, the Swedish group hopes to set the game apart from every other third-person action game on the market by playing off the toughness and tenacity of the titular robots. When we sat down to play the game for the first time, we found a functional shooter that didn't manage to terminate our generally low expectations of movie tie-ins.While we were assured that the game does indeed look like the film on which it precedes in the series' canon, the wash of browns and greens which made up the first level's scenery, combined with its cover mechanic and even the look of John Connor himself, had us wondering if this really was a Terminator title or if someone had played way too much Resistance: Retribution. (It looks eerily similar at times; check out the screens.)%Gallery-48219%
Da-da-dun-da-dun, this is Terminator Salvation
Taking place two years before the movie of the same name, Terminator Salvation: The Video Game puts players in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles at the time AI-overlord Skynet rises to power. This means series hero John Connor is still a legend-in-the-making, and time-traveling Terminators have yet to learn the catchy Spanish phrases that would make them famous.We watched a live demo of Salvation earlier this month, taking in the shooter's "cover and flank" battle system, the cinematic, HUD-less interface and the constant barrage of that thematic riff (the one that goes *Da-da-dun-da-dun. Da-da-dun-da-dun*). As much as we love hearing the tune, we're not too enamored, thus far, with the game's presentation regarding its generic weapons arsenal and bland on-rails sections; however, that opinion might change once we finally get some hands-on time at GDC next week. For now, here's a trailer and some screen shots to check out.%Gallery-48219%
Trophies: Terminator Salvation
How good will a game be when the developers put this much effort into making Trophies? Unless the game is impossible on Hard, this may be the easiest Platinum in a video game to date. View Trophy List | Visit Trophy Portal
The possibility of a Terminator MMO
Let's start this post off with a bit of a warning: a Terminator MMO has not been announced, and this has nothing to do with the Terminator iPhone "MMO" announced last year. This is merely playing off of some speculation over at Ten Ton Hammer regarding a story at IncGamers. Apparently, when IncGamers interviewed Halcyon Games production executive Mic Rogers, the Terminator MMO topic came up. "You know what, it's something we've looked at," Rogers said, in regards to any MMO plans using the franchise, "and it's an interesting space for sure."The Halcyon Company recently purchased the rights to the Terminator IP, and are working on a game to coincide with the release of Terminator Salvation. While he confirmed that an MMO version has been considered, he said that there are no concrete plans.
A tale of geek purgatory
What's it like being stuck in the Japanese equivalence of a Korean cybercafe? Apparently, it's like hell, or at least it was for one gamer who wrote an article on Eurogamer discussing his several-hours within just such a place. We began reading the article with a twinge of inner pain as the place is described in such a way that would make anyone feel claustrophobic. Not very far into it though, you'll learn about some of the oddities of Japanese MMO players and their tendancy to be really, well, obsessive compulsive.We're not gonna lie, the typical Japanese MMO game and player scares the living daylights out of us -- mostly because they seem like machines. And we all know what happens when machines start posing as humans, right? The entire world is either bombed, or the human race is enslaved and sent back into time repeatedly until a paradox destorys time itself. Bad stuff.
Terminator Salvation - The Videogame - The News Post
In an unprecedented but inevitably lucrative move, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has revealed plans to distribute "a third-person action game" alongside upcoming Hollywood bot buster Terminator Salvation. Released in cahoots with Equity Games Production and Halcyon Games, and developed by GRIN Studios (the Bionic Commando guys), Terminator Salvation - The Videogame promises to push the envelope with "action packed gameplay and detailed environments." Terminator fans may initiate Salivation at the thought of controlling central franchise character John Connor, as he engages in "concentrated armed combat" against enemies from the post-apocalyptic film, as well as new opponents assembled specifically for the game. Robot bats, maybe. Cos Lazouras, President of Halcyon Games, notes that the adaptation will feature "an incredibly fluid and realistic control set," all the better to steer your way through "a fully interactive Terminator experience." Take that, partially interactive Terminator experiences of yore! As you might expect, it'll be out alongside the film, which opens nationwide on May 22, 2009.
Terminator 'MMO' comes to iPhone
Sci-fi fans of the revamped Terminator IP may have something else to be happy about: a Terminator iPhone MMO called "Ambush." Based off Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Ambush is a game played either online or through an iPhone. Gameplay is centered on predicting the movement of enemies through a virtual city, setting traps to eliminate the opposing side while evading their attempts to find you. iPhone 3G users can use their device's GPS to avoid such traps while racking up points. The game was developed by 65 Media, a marketing firm known for its past work on interactive and alternate reality games (ARGs). Ambush may not be a true MMO in the client/leveling/loot sense, but has a system of points gained through employing traps and counter-traps. It's perhaps more akin to Aurora Feint's debatable label as an MMO title, which has already proven to be very popular. Such titles are the earliest forays into that grey area of 'MMOs' for the iPhone, and more are certainly on the way. Ambush is free-to-play and available for iPhones with the 2.0 Software Update, downloadable at the Apple App Store. More information about the game, and how to play it on both the iPhone and online, can be found in the Ambush FAQ. [Via Spoiler TV]
Robot skull auditions for role in LEGO Terminator
This little creation here might not be the most impressive homebuilt Terminator bot we've seen, and a certain DVD player may have it beat for realism, but as far as talking LEGO robot heads go, it's certainly at least in the upper ranks. Apparently, this one was pieced together from a whole slew of different LEGO Mindstorms sets, and it even includes a LEGO ice pick that can be stuck in his eye if he really starts to get on your nerves, which seems a near certainty. Somewhat interestingly, the bot's creator only decided to build the skull after abandoning another mysterious LEGO project that's only described as "too ambitious." Head on past the break for a video of the bot doing its thing, and hit up the link below for a complete overview of the project.
Terminator head DVD player returns from the future to stop itself from playing a DVD of 'The Terminator'
Color us stumped and incredibly excited. We've discovered this totally useless yet endlessly amazing DVD player / Terminator head out in the wilds of the internet, but finding any information deeper than people exclaiming "this is awesome" is, in a word, difficult. Look, we're not saying that we want to find the company that makes these, order 100 of them, rip out their guts and replace them with those electronic rat brains, swap the eyes for stereoscopic cameras, tack on Darth Vader-esque voice boxes, and then mount them to the unkillable bodies of an army of robotic warriors we've been building, but... uh, well... okay you got us.
Halcyon Company planning games based on Philip K Dick novels
Fans of trippy, intelligent science fiction are likely well aware of the works of Philip K. Dick. This prolific powerhouse has released over 40 novels and 120 short stories throughout his illustrious career, many of which made their way to the silver screen (including "Total Recall", "Blade Runner", and the ever-confusing "A Scanner Darkly"). This plentiful font of sci-fi volumes was recently tapped by the procurers of the "Terminator" franchise, The Halcyon Company, who plan on publishing two games based on Dick's work following the release of their current project, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.We've got high hopes for any games based on the incredible narratives of this cyberpunk scribe, though Halcyon's blank game development resumé fills us with an appropriate amount of trepidation. We urge the fledgling publisher to follow the example set by EA's 1997 point-and-click adaptation of "Blade Runner", and to shy away from including sequences featuring a poorly rendered version of California's governor being repeatedly kicked in the penis by mutant dwarves.
HD DVD's last hurrah: Terminator 2: Ultimate HD-Edition due March 20
HD DVD fans have at least one more high profile release to look forward to, as German distributor Kinowelt is prepared to release Terminator 2: Ultimate HD-Edition (region free of course) March 20th. Produced by HDi (and Blu-ray) pioneers Imagion AG this release includes the directors cut of the film, with DTS-HD 7.1 audio and more than four hours of bonus material in a high quality SteelBook case. Expect this to be the triumphant example of HD DVD's advanced features and capabilities that American Gangster so sadly wasn't. Check out a list of features after the break or our hands-on from CES to learn more about the disc's interactive and online capabilities, and maybe a peek at the future of BD Live.
All the World's a Stage: Inspiration
All the World's a Stage is a source for roleplaying ideas, suggestions, and discussions. It is published every Sunday evening.You've probably heard that no story is completely original, that everything is copied from somewhere, and nothing anyone ever thinks or says is really unique. It's an awfully pessimistic way of looking at the creative endeavor, but there's a degree of truth in it.Any time you make up a new character, you are sure to be inspired by something you observed somewhere else. Perhaps you wondered, "What if there were a dwarven rogue, whose personality was a mix between Sherlock Holmes and Jack Sparrow?" or "My undead warrior is a lot like Frankenstein's monster, not evil so much as tragically neglected and rejected. He also likes to play with dolls." All this is fine and good for roleplaying, as long as you recognize the essential differences between your character and his or her inspirational anscestors. After all, every creative endeavor basically consists of mix-and-matching pre-existing knowledge in new and useful ways. In the same way a painter doesn't need to invent new colors, color palettes, or even new color matching techniques to make an beautiful, a storyteller doesn't need to create entirely new characteristics for each character in his or her story, only mix-and-match qualities real people already have in order to create someone compelling and interesting for other characters to interact with. Jump on in to find some great inspirations for WoW characters.
Israel developing autonomous "digital general": run, John, run
Israel is reportedly developing a sophisticated piece of software meant to help troops make quick decisions during battle and, under the right conditions, autonomously manipulate the nation's defense systems. First reported in Defense News (subscription required), the unnamed system would primarily be used for tactical decisions during periods of heavy bombardment, although in a worst-case scenario, the complex algorithm would supposedly be capable of taking over total military control. Yes, we know what you're thinking, but don't worry: Israeli officials have already sworn up and down that "there's no way we're letting this thing go Terminator on us -- no freakin' way." [Via Danger Room]
