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Spielberg of gaming and Spielberg of movies play Wii
The AP managed to snap some shots of Shigeru Miyamoto -- often called the Spielberg of video games -- and Steven Spielberg -- the, uh, Spielberg of movies -- playing a quick round of tennis in LA last week, as celebrities are wont to do. Couple things though: they played using Nintendo's new Wii console, and they did it in amidst the frenzy of E3. Really wish we got in there for this although, judging by the relatively empty space behind them, it appears Nintendo had these VIPs isolated from the unwashed masses. That reminds me, things to do before I die: play a Nintendo game with Shigeru Miyamoto.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Engadget Podcast 080 - 05.15.06
The show's over and we've headed back to our respective homes across the globe, but before we fled LA, Ryan headed around the show floor to get final thoughts from members of the Joystiq crew, including former Editor-in-Chief, Ben Zackheim. Hear their thoughts on how the show went, whose booth was superior, why Sony kind of blew their chance, and even what the fairer sex thinks about this year's lack of booth babes. We'll be back with normal podcasts soon, but enjoy this final E3 edition, straight from the noisy floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, recorded in earshot of Sony and Nintendo. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Host Ryan Block Featuring Joystiq's Chris Grant, Ross Miller, Jennie Lees, and AOL Games' Ben Zackheim Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 1:02:43, 28.7 MB, MP3 Program 00:00 - Ross Miller 23:40 - Ben Zackheim 45:14 - Jennie Lees 50:00 - Chris Grant LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
Peter Moore gets grilled ... by Space Ghost
We weren't the only ones to get an interview with Peter Moore at E3. Space Ghost was asking "the hard questions" at the GameTap booth during E3 (hint: Turner owns GameTap and Cartoon Network). Hear Peter's responses to SG's ideas for a dermatology game for teens, listen to him talk some serious trash on Sony, and then watch him drop it like it's hot (seriously). If you didn't think Peter Moore was a good sport before ... Click the "Continue" link to check out the embedded video, or head over to YouTube. Warning: the video is NSFW; you've been warned.[Via Gamerscore]
Metal Gear Solid movie confirmed definitively
Metal Gear Solid creator, Hideo Kojima, has already ruled out Uwe Boll ("it's impossible") as a directorial candidate of a possible cinematic adaptation of the celebrated series, without confirming that such a project was even under way ... until now, that is. Gamespot reports that the Kojima Productions spoof of the E3 Show Daily, dubbed "Show Maybe," teases, "In a late-breaking surprise announcement, director Hideo Kojima revealed that his most famous creation -- Metal Gear Solid -- is getting the live-action treatment."On the back page Kojima writes, "I have received many offers to adapt Metal Gear Solid. It has taken a long time, but we have finally settled on an arrangement ... False facts aside, a movie project is underway. I have finalized a Class-A contract with a party in Hollywood." Now that the cat's out of the bag, expect periodic updates leading up to the 2007 release of Metal Gear Solid 4. Who's directing? Whose starring? For once, fans can't complain about lengthy cut scenes!
Who's got a Joystiq T-shirt?
Our limited-edition Joystiq T-shirts are rolling out to our biggest (and speediest) fans right now. Then there's our not as limited-edition Joystiq E3 shirts that we were giving out at the show. Did you grab enough business cards from Joystiqers on the show floor, like the Joystiq luchador did? Did you make it to the AOL booth during our short, one-hour handout? Or were you gracious enough to grant Joystiq an interview, like Peter, Perrin, Shane, and Miyamoto-san? If you're sporting a Joystiq tee, let us know what you think. Didn't get one? We'll be giving away the orange shirts on the site so keep your eyes peeled. And if you see somebody sporting one on the street, stop 'em and say hi. They're either Joystiq readers or one of us.Big thanks to Philip and Yann for the incredible designs. Seriously, we're humbled.
The Engadget & Joystiq Interview: Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan
On the last day of E3 we got to sit down with Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Affairs. We still had a lot of questions for her to field after interviewing Miyamoto-san the day before, specifically regarding the naming of the Wii (yeah, we had to ask), what Nintendo's online strategy actually is, what they're doing with launching first party titles like Smash Bros. on the Wii, why the GameCube was suspiciously absent this year, and exactly where homebrew gaming fits into the final equation.So I guess we should get started. Thank you very much for meeting us. Everybody here has this badge that says "what's your brain age?" so I'm curious to know what your brain age is. Oh my gosh, I haven't played in a good couple of weeks. I guess down to 30 or so. Really? Yeah, I need to work on it. Our President [Satoru Iwata] is very proud that his is 20. Today is the last day, everything is pretty much behind us. How do you guys think you fared? Even better than we thought. I think we were all really excited coming in, with pretty much trying to say to people, "It's not about what you see, you have to try it," which is why our theme is "playing equals believing." I think you really have to try and take the products for a ride yourself. And that people are embracing that and lining up at record lengths and number of hours and really enjoying it -- saying it was worth the wait is fantastic. One of the things I've been hearing from a lot of people in the industry is they felt that Sony really fell flat this year, and I was curious to know what you think they could have done better. That's a hard one. I have my own personal rule: I don't hold a media briefing that's over 60 minutes. I think it's really hard to have a captive audience be engaged that long. Even in school, I could have had the most stimulating presentation from a teacher and an hour starts to get a long time. That's probably one thing I would do differently. But their product line is what their product line is and their approach is their approach, so what I would do differently is really hard for me to say because we're over here doing something really different and it feels really great. I think being innovative, at least for us, is exciting.
Games for Health: the industry's unsung heroes [update 1]
Last Thursday, we had the chance of traversing through Kentia Hall to meet with Ben Sawyer to talk with us about Games for Health, an effort to use videogames and game technology to promote healthy behavior and alleviate patients' pain and the burden of illness (and a part of the Serious Games Initiative). Some of the highlights, from both Games for Health and the Serious Games Initiative, include: Elemental -- a "falling brick" puzzle game that teaches you where elements are located on the periodic table, their relations to one another, and basic common compounds. Intended to help with early Chemistry courses. Free Dive -- a virtual reality/underwater exploration game intended to control pain during procedures such as a spinal tap. A Force More Powerful -- a strategy title that sets up scenarios where players can resolve international conflict using nonviolent outlets. This title was developed with aid from experts on nonviolent conflict. Re-Mission -- a third-person shooter from inside your body, promoting cancer knowledge and antibiotic usage. We had a chance to play this game and will have hands-on impressions for you later this week. Take Back Illinois -- a title that teaches players about the important political issues and promotes voter registration. Rest assured, sponsor Tom Cross has made games for both sides of the political spectrum. Stone City -- A training game commissioned by Cold Stone Creamery. Imagine learning how your job works with just a few clicks of the mouse. What surprised us most about these games was not the educational value, but the fun. Many of these games were really entertaining, and we think that is the key to their effectiveness. We'll have more on Games for Health, including a hands-on with Re-Mission and an interview with Ben Sawyer, as the week progresses.[update 1: clarified that many of the games listed were also part of Serious Games Initiative]
Post-E3 swag shopping on Ebay
If you thought selling your E3 swag haul on Ebay was going to pay for your bus ticket back home or, fancifully, your $600 PS3, consider the frustrating law of supply and demand. Currently a luggage bag worth of junk is going for around around $50-$70. Smaller lots are fetching far less, while single PS3 lanyards -- the pennies of the E3 swag economy -- are going for a mere $.99. (Sony distributed these things with the zeal of Hare Krishnas doling out flowers on doomsday -- their apparent substitute for an accessible PR operation). Adopting a Marxist perpsective, making the gullible fanboy proletariat pay for swag is a cruel capitalistic joke anyway. If, like me, you believe free crap should remain free, stick around. Joystiq will unload it's treasure trove of cheaply-produced, Chinese-made chotchkeys to our loyal readers in due time.
Joystiq won't let Tim Buckley cut in line
Tim Buckley's Ctrl+Alt+Del comic strip has a pretty massive following. So it's an honor, really, that Tim gave us a little nod in his E3 recap comic. As many of you have pointed out, one of the guys standing in line for the Wii is wearing our new T-shirt.According to our calcultions, the distance from Los Angeles to the Utah border is approximately 380 miles. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, and the average person in line took up around 2-1/2 feet of breathing room, resulting in approximately 802,600 attendees* in front of us waiting in line for the Wii. So yeah, sorry Tim, we weren't going to let you in -- we had been waiting in line since Wyoming.[Thanks to everyone who tipped us off; image courtesy of The_Wind_Waker8](Update: Corrected spelling of Tim's name; although the paraprax "Time" could still be accurate ... sort of.)
Young and Wired
In the continuing saga of our nation's youth being taken over by evil computer overlords, the San Fransisco Chronicle has jumped into the scene with an article about technology use among teens, and what the consequences might be.According to research by the Kaiser Foundation (apparently they study more than just rolls), young people spend over 6 hours per day engrossed in some form of media or the other, which is up an hour from five years ago. And yes, of course WoW gets to share a little bit of the blame.It's hard for me to even imagine growing up today as a kid, with the internet & all the other technology we have available. There's a pretty good chance that if I'd had a modern PC when I was 13 or so, I would have never left the house...especially if my parents were as lax about monitoring it as they were about cable TV.
E3: Gears of War mural, completed
Apologies for the delay in updating you on the status of Kurt Wenner's giant chalk Gears of War painting adorning the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Our photograph didn't turn out so well but -- lucky for us -- we managed to find one on Flickr, courtesy of user da.budhha. We'll let you know when Microsoft releases the time-lapse video of the process.See also:Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4
PS3: Let there be vents
When Sony first unveiled the PlayStation 3, everyone wondered in unison, "Where's the vents?" If this thing was half as powerful as they were claiming, the box on display until this point couldn't have been more than just a prototype. Sure enough, the final form factor revealed at E3 has one major difference: vents! Placed on the right side, they will allow for proper ventilation in both hortizontal and vertical configurations. Phew, glad we can put this one to rest.(Update: Check out this thread for a great side-by-side comparison of the newer, well perforated PS3 enclosure and the older, ventless one. Thanks, David)
Blizzard Not Relying on it's Cash Cow
With over six million subscribers to WoW, and with no end in sight, it might be understandable if Blizzard focused all of their rescources on support for World of Warcraft. According to this Gamespot article, however, WoW is only one iron in Blizzard's fire, as they plan to actively develop a wide range of new games, for both PC's and consoles.Of course, there's no mention of what these new games might be, or exactly which platform they will appear on...but they're working on it, apparently. Which is fine with me, as long as they don't spead themselves too thin & allow WoW to suffer as a result. You know what I mean by suffer; long queue times, server outages, lag.....oh, wait a minute...
Best PSP driving game ever
So this is why that Gizmondo dude mutilated his $1 million Ferrari (other than street racing while drunk). Lumines on the sun visors.
OMG SPORE R0X0Rz!!!1!
While I was busy banging out uber sweet videos, a lot of people were standing in lines at E3. Two main groups camped out for hours just to get a glimpse of the future of gaming: in one, the line stretched the length of the entire hall, brimming with gamers eager to get their hands on the Wii; meanwhile, at EA's booth, eager gamers had a chance to see Spore played by the designer himself, Will Wright.While you may have seen our demo video earlier -- which it turns out is virtually the same demo shown on the show floor -- I didn't get a chance to post my perspective until now. It may sound hyperbolic to say that Spore will change gaming forever and surpass Wright's other franchise, The Sims, to become biggest selling PC game of all time, but once you look at the video for yourself and get to actually, y'know, play the game, you may feel the same way.
More Dev Interviews from E3
Tentonhammer has an exclusive piece from E3, featuring interviews with WoW developer Tyven, where he discusses much of the news we've already heard from E3; the main subjects being Draenei, flying mounts, and the rest of the announced content. Nothing shockingly new, but for all you E3 news completists, there's some good info there.Also included are a few tidbits of information from Blizzard's Mac team member Rob Barris, discussing Bootcamp on the Imac & other platform news. The full article can be found here.
How to Spot a Bot Farmer
I'm not sure if this counts as racial profiling or not, but the official Blizzard forums have an interesting thread on ways to spot a bot farmer. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a bot farmer is a program, running without direct human control, used by lowdown, cheating gold farmers to collect money in the game without even having to actually play it.The thread lists several different, highly debatable (all alliance bots are Night Elf females?), criteria for spotting a bot , and even gives some screenshots & video examples to back them up. I don't know how close to the truth it actually is, but it's an interesting read. I've never knowingly come across a bot myself (although I probably have & didn't realize it), but I'll be keeping a curious eye out after reading this...
Interview With WoW Producer Tom Chilton
The news from E3 keeps pouring in, and the folks over at WorldofWar.net have secured an entertaining video interview with Tom Chilton, one of the producers of WoW. The interview is rather lengthy, and split into two parts, but it's well worth watching, as Mr. Chilton discusses the Burning Crusade, changes in upcoming patches, and more.The interview can be seen via streaming video right here.
PixArt to provide object tracking tech for Wii
Ever wonder who will be responsible for the motion sensing part of Nintendo's motion-sensing Wii remote? PixArt Imaging Corporation, "a market leader in CMOS sensor SoC (System-On-a-Chip) and related application semiconductors," has issued a press release announcing a strategic relationship to provide object-tracking technology to Nintendo:PixArt's Multi-Object Tracking™ engine (MOT sensor™) technology can track multiple objects in an unbelievably quick and responsive way. As a result, Nintendo can enable its new gaming controller to interact with people by tracking the movement of the Wii Remote. The playing experience will be unprecedented, exciting and easy, even for young children or older people who cannot operate the traditional gaming controllers. It's not clear from the release whether PixArt's tech will improve the performance of the remote or if this is what was used in the E3 demo units. God know there are plenty of people who can't operate traditional gaming controllers. Some of them write for this blog.
E3 Fashion: Glowing red teeth
I found the man with the brightest smile at E3 roaming Kentia Hall in the closing hour of E3. "Mr. Silver" told me he sells patented mouth lights and bodypaint on his website, but I don't see a link, so you'll have to email him if you really want to show off your tartar control. He claims he can eat and drink without difficulty or risk of electrocution. Of course, there's also a medical model for serious dental applications.
