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SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule suffers 'anomaly' in testing
SpaceX's dreams of crewed spaceflight appear to have faced a setback. The company and the US Air Force's 45th Space Wing have confirmed to Florida Today that a Crew Dragon capsule suffered an "anomaly" during a static test fire at Cape Canaveral. Most tests went according to plan, SpaceX said, but a "final test" led to problems on the testing stand. Observers could see smoke from miles away, suggesting that the capsule or something attached to it had caught fire.
Japan is trying to rescue its tumbling X-ray satellite
Japan's JAXA space agency is struggling to figure out what happened to its Astro-H "Hitomi" satellite after it lost contact on Saturday. Radar data from the US Strategic Command's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) initially showed that several parts may have broken off and JAXA's radar has spied at least one separated piece. Yesterday, scientists received intermittent signals from the craft, showing that it might be at least partially functional. However, amateur video now appears to show the $360 million X-ray telescope-equipped craft tumbling through space.
Amplitude: A funding freak
Harmonix's Kickstarter project to fund a successor to its 2002 cult favorite PS2 music game Amplitude will be retold time and time again as a glimmering example of success on the platform. After all, the project had all the good stuff we like to talk about: A likeable group of developers, a classic fan-favorite series and a sudden resurgence after its campaign seemed desperately bleak. What's lost in the story is that the project shouldn't have succeeded; it's the anomaly that broke the math of Kickstarter. After the project launched May 5 and earned $170,000 in two days, Harmonix struggled to pass the $250,000 mark ten days later, leaving it with less than half its campaign time to earn over two thirds of its lofty $775,000 goal. And it did just that, surpassing the goal last Thursday and netting a total of $844,127 when all was said and done. It was easy to get caught up in the drama as big names like Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson and Insomniac CEO Ted Price issued calls to action to back Amplitude and the project gathered speed, supporters frantic in their enthusiasm for its success. While the community-backed Amplitude project might inspire others to seek big paydays on the funding platform, it's more or less a red herring. Dearest project creators: You are not Harmonix, and last week's cries to join the funding party weren't the only anomaly on Kickstarter. Amplitude is a freak.
Next3D's plan to bring recorded video to the Oculus Rift
The dream of wearing a lightweight headset, like the Oculus Rift, in order to simulate physical presence isn't limited to the imaginary worlds of video games. One man's vision is that of immersive TV shows, movies and live sports. In fact, David Cole, co-founder of Next3D and an industry veteran who helps content creators and providers produce and deliver 3D, has been using his Rift dev kit to bring TV and film to life since the kits started shipping in March. The company is combining its video processing and compression technology with its experience in content production and stereoscopic delivery to offer what it's called Full-Court. Next3D hopes to leverage its existing relationships with creators and providers to assist them in jumping into the world of live-action VR content. This includes both pre-recorded and live broadcasts. We wanted to see this firsthand, so we jumped at the opportunity to witness the creation of content and experience the results. This trial run of Next3D's stereoscopic, 180-degree field-of-view camera rig, and the post-processing to adapt it to VR, was part of the production of the paranormal investigation show, Anomaly, at Castle Warden in St. Augustine, Fla. Being nearby, we braved the perils of the haunted surroundings to tell you about what we hope is only the beginning of virtual reality content.
Anomaly 2 invades PC, Mac and Linux this spring
11bit Studios has announced a sequel to its popular tower-offense games Anomaly: Warzone Earth and Anomaly: Korea. Anomaly 2 is centered around a morphing mechanic which can turn specific units into battle mechs, each with their own unique attributes. Anomaly 2 also introduces a new multiplayer style: tower offense vs. tower defense.In multiplayer, one player controls the convoy trying to make it through to its destination, while the other controls the established alien structures littering the map, with the goal being to destroy the convoy. What is it about us that aliens despise so much?Anomaly 2 is slated to launch between April and June on PC, Mac and Linux for $14.99. %Gallery-180155%
Daily iPhone App: Anomaly Korea polishes the award-winning Anomaly series even more
Anomaly Korea is, right out of the gate, one of the most impressive titles I've ever seen on iOS. Developer 11 bit Studios' Anomaly: Warzone Earth won an Apple Design Award for the way it looked and played, and as a rep from the studio told me recently, they decided to up the ante, adding even better graphics, with lots more flares, particles and other really great-looking visual elements. The core gameplay here is the same -- you're in charge of a convoy of vehicles heading through an alien tower-infested warzone, and you guide those vehicles down a path of your choice, supplying them with almost constant support power-ups as you do so. And because that gameplay didn't change very much, 11 bit was able to really polish and refine it, adding in a few new power-ups, and making the old ones even better. This isn't really a sequel to the first title, but it is all new content, and the real draw here is that 11 bit was able to make a game that was already great even better. The one issue I really have with this game is that it's not quite as direct as I'd usually like -- you are basically supporting your units, rather than actually playing as them. But 11 bit has even taken that note to task, and made the choices you make while moving around the map even more important than before. This is a great game -- odds are that you've already purchased quite a few this week, given all of the big sales and releases, but it's very hard not to still recommend this one at the launch price of just $2.99.
Anomaly Korea sequel and Marvel's mobile game get teasers
Here are two new trailers for your Sunday. First up, we have a teaser trailer from the upcoming Anomaly Korea, the sequel to the very popular Anomaly: Warzone Earth. The new game will have more of the old one, including new units, new powerups, and more. The trailer looks great -- I think that's CG, though it des have an excellent handpainted look. The game should be out in late October or early November, according to 11bit Studios. And second, Marvel has been teasing a big mobile game announcement ever since Comic-Con, and it has now released a teaser trailer for that same project. It seems a little weird to me to be posting a full teaser video for what's supposed to be an "unannounced" game, but there you go. I'm sure we'll see more on this soon -- a little Black Widow tells me that by next Thursday we'll know more. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably something related to Marvel's very popular Avengers Alliance social game on Facebook. Meanwhile, enjoy the video below.
Latest EVE dev video talks ship balance and features coming this winter
Several weeks ago, EVE Online developer CCP Games restructured its company and announced a new laser focus on in-space features for EVE Online. Since then we've seen an absolute deluge of news updates and devblogs on features due for release in the winter expansion. In the first two of CCP's new In Development video series, CCP Guard explored the art department and showed off the new nebula effects, EVE's sharpened shadows and the new tier 3 battlecruisers. In the latest In Development video, Guard talks to the EVE feature teams about the absolutely massive list of balance changes and features coming with the winter expansion. CCP Soundwave admits that developers have "probably done more rebalancing in the past month than we have in the past two years," before rattling off an impressive list of changes and new features. Skip past the cut for a brief summary of the changes and to watch the video in HD.
The anomaly of Nancy Drew games
Some of you out there may not even know the Nancy Drew adventure series exists, but like High School Musical, a lot of other people do. So much so that the latest Nancy Drew game -- there have actually been 16 so far -- is currently at the #13 spot on Amazon.com's Top Seller list for video games. A bunch of hardware is higher on the list, but the only software beating Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek is Resident Wii-vil 4, Mario Party 8 and Pokémon Diamond. The latest Nancy Drew is even beating recently released titles which don't even make it into the Top 25. Poor Pokémon Pearl is at #24, is it the name? Should they have called it something more masculine?Yes, it is Amazon.com, so it isn't the greatest tracker of what's really selling out there, but it is interesting to note. And, for all we know, gamers are too embarrassed to buy the game at retail so they shop online. The Nancy Drew series is on its 16th episode, somebody has obviously got to be buying it, and the games actually are good old-fashioned adventure titles. Anybody out there who plays this series consistently care to explain the appeal? These Nancy Drew games feel like they have a lot in common with the casual games market. We hear there's a whole independent games movement out there too. There's a lot of money being made in software beyond the $15 - $25 million dollar projects we talk about every day.
