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'Fallout,' 'Doom' and 'Skyrim' will launch in VR this year
The biggest beef for VR gamers is the lack of, well, VR games. That's about to change soon thanks to Bethesda, which revealed that all three of the VR titles it announced previously will be coming to the Playstation VR and HTC Vive by the end of the year. And those titles should have you salivating: Doom VFR arrives on December 1st to the PSVR and HTC Vive, Fallout 4 VR hits the Vive on December 12th, and Skyrim VR will land on the PSVR on November 17th.
How do you get 'verified' on Tinder?
I, Mat Smith, through the gift of working as a journalist here at Engadget, am verified. On both Twitter and Facebook. It's the social networks' way of certifying that I'm better than the muggles that people are who they say they are. I get a ticket to digital VIP room. Am I somebody? Not really. But you get certain bragging rights when you have that blue tick next to your name. Now Tinder's jumped on the bandwagon: It, too, has verified profiles. To be clear, there's no honorable, journalistic reason for me to be verified, but when I joked about getting such a certification on the online dating app, I received a flood of direct messages asking for confirmation (skeptics!) and for advice on how they could get the same treatment. Can I get Tinder Famous? Do I even want to?
Runner2 out tomorrow on Wii U and Steam, Wednesday on Xbox Live
Gaijin Games' Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien sequel was submitted to its various platforms earlier this month, but we now have official dates and prices for the title, courtesy of Gaijin's co-founder Alex Neuse himself. CommanderVideo will start his run on the Wii U and Steam (for PC, Mac, and Linux) tomorrow, February 26, and then be available on Xbox Live on Wednesday of this week, February 27.The PSN, iOS, and Vita releases are coming later: Neuse says "hopefully March 5" for the PSN release, "but Early March for sure!" iOS and Vita versions are due out sometime this summer. The game will be $14.99 no matter what platform you buy it on, and Neuse notes that there's still a few hours for a Steam preorder if you want the various bonuses and discounts. If you've been waiting a long time to hear the voice of Charles Martinet narrate the long-awaited BIT.TRIP sequel, your wait is almost over.Update: March 5 on PSN is confirmed, according to Gaijin's other co-founder, Mike Roush.
AppleScripting Dates > Elapsed Time Calculator
Since Valentine's Day is this week, I thought I would take this opportunity to share an AppleScript I wrote to calculate how long my wife and I have been married. With this baby, I'll never be accused of forgetting how long it's been when our anniversary rolls around. The script determines the elapsed time between now (the current date and time), and a prior date and time (such as our anniversary). It then displays the result in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. Note: If you're into the whole "traditional anniversary gift" thing (I'm not), you can find a list of gift categories on Wikipedia. Creating the Script Note: If you have any trouble following along, you can download the complete script here. 1. Launch AppleScript Editor in /Applications/Utilities and create a new script document. 2. Insert the following code: Some notes about this script... * I used some of the number calculation handlers in the Essential Subroutines section of macosxautomation.com, although, I made some slight modifications to them for the script. If you're interested in learning more about AppleScript, there are some other useful handlers there, as well, and I encourage you to check them out. * The final display dialog sets as its icon the FavoriteItemsIcon icon file, which is embedded in the CoreTypes bundle in /System/Library/CoreServices. It is, coincidentally enough, a heart. Using the Script To use, just run the script within AppleScript Editor, or save it as an application to be launched and run whenever you wish. First, the script asks you to enter a date and, optionally, a time. Next, the script does its calculations and displays the result. Just take a screenshot of the dialog and send it along to your significant other. Until next time, Happy Scripting and Happy Valentine's Day Week!
Mac Productivity > 10 TextExpander Date Snippets
TextExpander (Smile Software) is a utility I use each and every day on my Mac to save time and increase productivity. One of the things I use it for is formatting and inserting dates and times -- adding the date or time to a file or folder name, into an email, a document and so on. In this post, I've shared some of my most used date and time snippets. I hope you find them as useful as I do. If you're not a TextExpander user, I encourage you to give it a try. You can download a trial version on the Smile Software website. Let me give you a little background on how it works. The concept of TextExpander is simple. You start by creating snippets of text. You then assign abbreviations to those snippets. Whenever you type an abbreviation into any app on your Mac, presto! The corresponding snippet is inserted, replacing the abbreviation you typed. TextExpander also includes some power-user features, such as macros, which let you to insert variable information into your snippets, like dates and times. This is what I'm sharing here -- some of the macros I use for inserting dates. I've provided a brief description of each snippet, as well as the snippet code (the macro), and the abbreviation I use. Feel free to adjust accordingly to meet your own needs. 1. Current Date -- Long: This snippet actually comes with TextExpander as an example. It's used to insert the current date in Month, D, YYYY format, i.e. January 9, 2013. I consider this a long date, and changed the abbreviation, so as not to conflict with my other snippets. Snippet: %B %e, %Y Abbreviation: CDATEL 2. Current Date -- Short: This snippet inserts the current date in YYYY-DD-MM format, i.e. 2013-01-09. This is a good format to use when applying dates to file and folder names, as it allows them to be sorted by year, month and day. Snippet: %Y-%m-%d Abbreviation: CDATES 3. Current Time - Long - This snippet inserts the current time in H:M:SS AM/PM format, i.e. 10:00:00 AM. While this format is good for inserting into emails or documents, it's not so good to use on file or folder names, due to its use of colons. Snippet: %1I:%M:%S %p Abbreviation: CTIMEL 4. Current Time -- Short: This snippet inserts the current time in HH-MM-SS format, i.e. 10-00-00. This is a good format to use when applying times to file and folder names, as it doesn't contain any colons. It also uses 24-hour time, in order to avoid potential file name conflicts. Snippet: %H-%M-%S Abbreviation: CTIMES 5. Month and Year: This snippet inserts the current month and year, in Month YYYY format, i.e. January 2013. I often need to reference the current month in this manner when writing emails. Snippet: %B %Y Abbreviation: MDATE 6. Yesterday: The following snippet subtracts one day from the current date and inserts it in YYYY-MM-DD format, i.e. 2013-01-08. Snippet: %@-1D%Y-%m-%d Abbreviation: YDATE 7. Tomorrow: The following snippet adds one day to the current date, and inserts it in YYYY-MM-DD format, i.e. 2013-01-10. Snippet: %@+1D%Y-%m-%d Abbreviation: TDATE 8. Future Date: The following snippet can be customized to add a specified number of days to the current date, in YYYY-DD-MM format. I have several versions of this snippet for two, three and four days in the future. Snippet: %@+(INSERT NUMBER OF DAYS HERE)D%Y-%m-%dd Abbreviation: FDATE(NUMBER OF DAYS) I.e. For two days in the future: Snippet: %@+2D%Y-%m-%dd Abbreviation: FDATE2 9. Next Sunday: I often need to refer to next Sunday in emails, invoices and so on in YYYY-MM-DD format. This goes beyond what TextExpander's built-in macros can do, so I resort to AppleScript. Just set the content type of your snippet to AppleScript, and paste in the following code: Snippet: Abbreviation: NEXTSUN 10. Current Week Range: I also sometimes need to insert a range of dates representing the current week. Again, this goes beyond the capabilities of TextExpander's build-in macros, so I use AppleScript. Again, set the content type to AppleScript, and paste in the following: Snippet: Abbreviation: CWEEK
The Mog Log: When the lights go off in Eorzea
The current version of Final Fantasy XIV is redefining the term "lame duck." This is a duck that is so lame it can no longer move under its own power, relying instead on a specially trained squad of ducklings to occasionally move its head toward food. How it trained the ducklings, I don't know; that's not really the point. It's not a perfect analogy. We're very close to a final character copy and a server shutdown, at which point... the servers get turned back on again, I guess. Naoki Yoshida quite openly stated that if there is a large enough chunk of players who wanted the servers back on, he will make that happen, even though nothing more would get saved. This raises a variety of questions -- chiefly, why anyone would want to keep playing the game with the explicit understanding that the whole game is getting rolled back before too much longer, but I'm not one of the ones who voted for the reactivation. But as we enter the final phase -- which is basically just through early next week, if you're not keeping track -- it seems as if it's worth discussing the servers going down and then coming back on. Really, what else do we have to occupy our minds regarding Final Fantasy XIV right now?
Google wants you to join the party, announces Google+ Events (video)
At the tail end of today's Google I/O keynote, the company demoed Google+ Events, which, as you might imagine, let's you invite your virtual buds to an in-person hangout. You've probably already guessed that there's some pretty tight integration with Mountain View's other virtual properties, including Calendar, which means that sending your friends or coworkers a "save the date" to brunch or brainstorming no longer requires clunky email, or a phone call. That's not to say that your contacts need to opt-in to the search giant's social networking site to join the fun -- email invites are still available by typing your friend's address alongside your circles, or individual friends should you wish to plan an awkward inter-group soiree. You can choose from a variety of themes for your e-vite, which integrate motion or static banners. Once the fun begins, you can hop into Party Mode from your mobile, and photos you shoot during the event will appear beside the invite -- friends can add pics to the page as well, which you can later download. For now, please accept our invitation to jump past the break, where a Google demo video awaits. Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub! %Gallery-159279%
Google search now shows upcoming concerts, helps you find the next gig
Google may stir controversy from time to time, but you can't deny it's one of the better provider of virtual tools that help make your life a bit easier. In this case, the Big G's bringing along some concert listings to its world renowned search engine. All you've got to do on your end is show up, pop a simple hunt query for your favorite band / artist (Kanye, Swift or whatever you're into) and within milliseconds you'll know where and when the next gig's taking place. That is, if that certain musician you're looking for is on tour or has some booked shows coming up (no, it won't get Daft Punk to come play at your house). The fresh tidbit's available now for those G-searching in English, though the plan's to "expand the feature to more countries in the future." You can also make your boy band's next gig show up in results by dropping a rich snippets markup on your site -- hit up the source link below for the full deets.
Dates outlined for Star Trek Online's free-to-play conversion
The cat is officially out of the bag: Star Trek Online is switching over its new free-to-play model on January 17th, 2012. And if you're looking forward to the shift in payment models, you might think that's the only date you need to be concerned with at the moment. But there are a few more milestones for players to look for, starting with December 1st. That's the day when players will start receiving their point stipends for subscription, with a stipend of 400 points on the billing date for the account. Another major date listed in the latest Path to F2P blog is December 8th -- that's the latest date that the team is planning to push the current test build on to the live servers. Sometime between the 1st and the 8th, the build will go live, with several enhancements and upgrades for existing subscribers even without the inclusion of free players. So mark your calendar because these are some rather important dates to keep watch on as the next month of testing and refinement rounds out.
Square Enix releases new Chaos Rings 2 trailer, promises Final Fantasy Tactics soon
Square Enix has released a new set of "trailers" for the upcoming Chaos Rings 2, but you'll need to know Japanese to get anything out of them, unfortunately. They're all about the voice actors for the game, and don't really show any gameplay footage -- it's just the actors talking about the new title and how it works for them. There are some screenshots over at Famitsu, though, and if nothing else, we can at least take these as a sign that the game is closer to release than before. In other Square Enix news, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is still coming to iOS, but Square says on Facebook that it obviously couldn't get the game out this Spring as planned. Instead, they're now targeting a release for later this month, and the date written on the wall (in dry-erase marker, not stone, of course) looks to me like July 27. That would be next Wednesday, so stay tuned. Final Fantasy Tactics is pretty much considered the best tactical strategy RPG around, so it'll be great to have a game like that on iOS.
Intel's Ivy Bridge coming Q1 2012, growing festive moss while you wait
If you were religiously awaiting the fruition of last month's Intel leak, brace yourself: we've got another one. Although Intel's updated roadmap hasn't changed anything per se, it does offer a few specifics. Whereas the previous schedule only suggested we'd be crossing the Ivy Bridge in the first half of 2012, the new roadmap shows the 22 nanometer processor penned in at the end of the first quarter. The Sandy Bridge E series is still on schedule for Q4 however, so unless you just have to have native USB 3.0 and DirectX 11 support, you still have plenty to look forward to. Otherwise, we'll see you in April.
Intel Roadmap charts rollout dates for Ivy Bridge, Cedarview, Sandy Bridge E-series
What's that? You can't get enough of Intel? Well, it's your lucky day, because we just got our hands on the chip maker's roadmap for 2011 and 2012. According to the leaked slides, we can expect to see the Sandy Bridge E-series in Q4 of 2011. Alternately, the 22nm Ivy Bridge is slated for a somewhat less specific release in the first half of 2012. We're also likely to see the new Pentium and Celeron-based Sandy Bridge models in Q3 this year, and the Atom-equipped Cedarview in Q4. The roadmap's also giving us a rather vague look at pricing for the chipsets, and from what we gather, we can expect the E-series to sport a hefty price tag and Cedarview to bring the value. If that's not enough to sate that animal appetite for Intel news, you can hit the source link for more roadmap goodness.
International iPad 2 launch still on track
Apple has confirmed that the iPad 2 launch in the UK is still planned for this Friday, March 25, according to TechRadar. There was concern that the launch would be delayed due to supply issues, but an Apple spokesperson apparently says that the company is still following the date listed on the website, which means the UK will get iPad 2 on Friday afternoon. The launch has definitely been delayed in Japan due to the Sendai earthquake and its consequences, but supposedly (according to an Apple Store employee), it's on everywhere else, including Canada. If you are trying to get an iPad 2 somewhere in the world this weekend, be warned that the international launch will probably suffer from the same issues that the US launch did, with long lines, long waits and not a lot of solid information to go around. Update: We've heard from sources connected to Apple's sales operations that there is no way iPad 2 inventories can be effectively shifted from one country to another; each country's product is unique in terms of regulatory certification and the back cover part, so once it's built for a place, that's the only place it's going to be sold. If manufacturing was going to be adjusted to shift the balance of iPad 2 production in favor of US models, that call would have needed to happen several weeks ago -- before the US rollout and corresponding availability crunch. But aside from all of that trouble, here's hoping you get the iPad 2 you're looking for. Good luck! [via TheAppleBlog]
HP TouchPad coming June, webOS for PC beta by year's end
We may have to wait until summer to purchase a webOS slate, but it won't be summer's end -- PreCentral reports that the company has confirmed a June release date for the HP TouchPad. At the enterprise-oriented HP Summit in San Francisco, CEO Leo Apotheker finally offered the month of release, and also reportedly said that the company's full-force webOS on PC initiative will begin in a humble way -- the beta will run in a web browser, and we'll see it by the end of the year.
Motorola pushes up Atrix 4G launch to Feb. 22, shoves Xoom pre-sales back to Feb. 20th?
The best laid plans of Motorola may be in disarray, as we hear the device manufacturer is shuffling release dates for its hottest new Android devices. Supposedly, AT&T customer service reps are getting the above message in their inbox, which suggests the modular Atrix 4G smartphone may arrive more than a week earlier than planned, while a Best Buy memo (image after the break) pegs Xoom tablet pre-sales for February 20th, three days after the date originally communicated. Still, we haven't heard anything to suggest that the Xoom won't be 100 percent ready for purchase on February 24th, so you should be just fine saving your eight Benjamins for then. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Palm Pre 2 swims across the English Channel in three days, launches November 12th in the UK
French citizens have been enjoying webOS 2.0 with their morning baguette for over two weeks, but it's one step closer to home today -- Pocket-lint reports that the Palm Pre 2 will launch in the United Kingdom this Friday. What's more, the 1GHz handset won't be chained to a British carrier, but rather released into the wild completely SIM-free, which probably means future Just Typists will need to buy it direct from HP. As for the promised pre-orders for US students, we're sorry to say they've failed to materialize; the Facebook page that once clearly stated "preorders begin 11/8" now simply reads "Palm Pre 2 coming soon." Soon enough for you?
AT&T changing eligibility dates for new iPhone
MobileCrunch reports that AT&T has been quietly tweaking the upgrade eligibility dates for the next iPhone. While most of those who purchased the iPhone 3GS at launch had an upgrade date available sometime in November, far be it from AT&T to stand in the way of a new iPhone purchase. They've been changing the dates without fanfare to as soon as June 21st, 2010. That doesn't really confirm anything, but it's almost a forgone conclusion at this point that Apple will release a new iPhone in June. I would say (as a guess/prediction) that we'll first hear about it during WWDC, and that it'll hit store shelves near the end of the month. Unless there's a big surprise in the pipeline, we've probably already seen this phone as well -- you've probably seen the leaked shots that precluded the whole "left in a bar" situation (that is still under investigation, as far as we know). It's possible that phone was just a prototype, and that Apple won't go for those weird silver buttons, but most likely, that's the phone we'll see Steve holding on stage in just over a month. Excited?
Save the date: GDC 2011, Feb. 28 - March 4
This year's Game Developers Conference has barely started and already we're anticipating the inevitable sequel, which promises to feature bigger news, improved visuals (we're all working out for the next year) and dynamic crowd motion. According to event organizers, GDC 2011 will run from February 28 through March 4, 2011 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. That's five days of gaming bliss (six if you're a malfunctioning PS3). As much as we'd like to express further enthusiasm, we should probably get back to covering GDC ... 2010. Which is going on, like, right now.
Speculating at the patch 3.3 release date
All right. Nethaera says that Blizzard can't actually tell us the patch release date before it's out, because they don't want to be wrong. Fortunately, sites like ours don't have any such compunctions, so we're free to speculate on when we might finally see this patch on the live realms. Note that I said speculate -- this is not a guarantee, and we have no secret knowledge save lots and lots of experience at watching Blizzard create, test and release content. Don't use any dates we mention here to plan any vacations from work or family events -- as anyone who's ever tried to log in and do anything significant on patch day will tell you, you're going to be disappointed. And we don't want the patch to come early anyway, so Blizzard can delay as much as they want to. Anyone who complains otherwise has to go into the Octagon with Rossi. That said, testing is moving relatively smoothly on the PTRs, and lots of the content seems like it's pretty well put together. We aren't nearly done with testing yet, though -- we haven't seen most of the Icecrown raid, and we're still waiting on Halls of Reflection, the 5-man where we'll face Arthas. Gear still needs to go into the game and be tuned. There are around 15 different bosses and encounters in Icecrown (that we know of), and if Blizzard continues on the schedule of testing one or two per week, we're looking at six to eight more weeks of testing for just that content. The PTR itself went up just under a month ago, and it seems that we've got at least a month or, likely, more of testing and updating to be done.
Guessing on the patch 3.1 release
bridges_squares wants to know, and we're getting really, really close, so let's finally go out on that limb, shaky as it may be: when's the patch coming out? Turpster predicted it would be this past Tuesday on the WoW Insider Show last week (since Noblegarden and the equipment manager got delayed, he figured they wanted to hurry for a release), but obviously no dice on that one. And on the other end of things, April 26th is the date we're told Noblegarden will start, so it's a pretty good guess we'll see the patch by then.If you follow that line of reasoning, that just leaves the next two Tuesdays, April 14th and 21st. And since we had rolling restarts last week, it seems like maintenance this week will bring us the patch on Tuesday, the 14th. But of course there are other factors in here: the PTR should go down before the patch comes up, and since the PTR it still up, we be waiting until the 21st. Also, just because Blizzard said Noblegarden on the 26th doesn't mean they won't delay it again, so we may still see the patch on the 28th or after that. And Tuesdays are usually when the live realms get patched (Fridays are usually when the patch the PTR, in my experience), but technically they could do it anytime, right?So let's do a poll. I'm going to go with Tuesday the 21st (since there's no sign of the PTR going down yet), but when do you think patch 3.1 will drop? And no, "when it's ready" is not an option -- we'll just assume (hopefully correctly) Blizzard will make sure of that anyway.%Poll-28913%
