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'Game of Thrones' is now a pinball machine
Stern Pinball, a regular at CES, usually bringing along its latest machines. The company has a history of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist and that explains why we're here playing Game Of Thrones through the medium of pinball. (Update: There are also, predictably, GoT slot machines somewhere in Vegas. So that's this evening sorted.) With a dragon to aim at, and red LED-reproduced animations from the TV series, the pro machine is fun enough for GoT and pinball dilettante alike. Take a closer look after the break.
My Keepon: Kinect-ing hackers and goths through the art of dance (video)
If rhythm is a dancer, then My Keepon is a goth. The adorable, Snowman-like (yellow snow, in this case) bot just recently received a wallet-friendly retail debut, so join us in the not-surprised-to-see-this-get-a-Kinect-hack (by way of Arduino) camp. Granted, the lil' guy's moves may be stilted, but he's clearly not the star of this YouTube show. We were more impressed with his gesture-cuing Gepetto's discotheque living room get down. So, do you think you can dance to industrial music and mod this $35 holiday hot toy? Then clearly you need to hit up the source for all the necessary coding bits. But first, be sure to take a gander at the industrial grind after the break.
Leaderboard: GW's Gwen vs. EQ's Firiona Vie
Like breakfast cereals and discount tire retailers, MMO companies have a long tradition of cultivating mascots to promote their games. Typically, said mascot is on the cover, shows as much cleavage as the ESRB allows, and is shooting rainbow magic from her navel. Or something. Today, Leaderboard is pitting two of the more well-known MMO mascots against one another, sort of like Top Model if Top Model contained three-dimensional characters. In the left corner is Guild Wars' Gwen, an orphan, refugee, warrior, and storybook princess all rolled into one. In the right corner is Firiona Vie, the Vanna White of EverQuest box art. Firiona may be flaunting a bit more skin than battle protocol requires, but it's certainly served the purpose of getting players to pick up the box and wonder whether true Elfy love lies within. Gwen's recent marriage to Keiran Thackeray unfortunately takes her off the market to those hoping that a sentient computer would digitize and throw them into a video game in the hopes of (ahem) mesmerizing her with charm. It's Elfish mage vs. human mystic, blonde bombshell vs. goth cutie in today's knockout poll! Hit the jump to cast your vote.
One Shots: We can't stop here
While we normally hear about Goons in EVE Online, the group has an enormous presence that spans many, many different games. And when it comes to doing crazy things purely for their own enjoyment, that's absolutely in the Squad's nature. Today, we have a great visual treat from Final Fantasy XIV due to two intrepid Goon Squad adventurers -- Drinkfist and Goth -- who decided to set out on a long, strange trip. Since their note is lengthy, I'll simply say if you'd like to take part in One Shots, send in your screenshot, name, and story to us here at oneshots@massively.com. With that said, on with the letter: "This is the end result of our three hour hike through the amazing scenic MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. We set out from the island city Limsa Lominsa and landed in a desert that spanned quite some distance. After dropping off the kids at Ul'dah in the desert, we headed north for Gridania, only to have to navigate the labyrinth that is the Black Shroud to reach the city. After changing our Nikes, we set out for a more dangerous zone to the west called Mor Dhona, which looked like a god smote the zone due to all the destruction and insane-looking mobs. Discovering that Evil Eyes are in fact evil, we fled north to Coerthas. Rather than being relieved to see such a cool looking mountain range, my friend had to open his mouth and ask about the tower labeled on the map 15 malms (clicks) to the north. We raced each other to it, setting death checkpoints at Aetheral Gates and camps -- even the deer of the zone didn't appreciate our presence. (They hit for 4000 when we only have a max hp of 800.) Finally, we reached the spot on the map and bore witness to a locked city that could only be called one of the coolest castles I have seen in a game. That image is what you see here. Now all that's left is exploring the actual zones we just walked straight though. (:sigh:) Lots of area to cover." %Gallery-85937%
Video shows CCP's incredible cloth and hair simulation
We've known for some time that CCP planned to use physics simulation to make the clothes in EVE Online's Incarna expansion and their upcoming World of Darkness MMO more realistic. They even gave a talk on using NVidia's APEX cloth simulation at the 2010 Game Developer's Conference. Until now, all we've seen are technical details and the occasional screenshot, which makes it hard to work out how the end product will look. NVidia have released a new video this week of CCP's cloth simulation in action, giving those of us that are interested a sneak peak at the incredibly impressive results. Although APEX cloth simulation will be introduced to EVE when Incarna is released, the video looks much more like something out of World of Darkness. As an added bonus, the system seems to simulate realistic hair and not just clothes. Hair in most MMOs has always been limited to shorter styles which would look alright without animation. The ability to simulate complex clothes and long hair styles make character customisation in World of Darkness and EVE's Incarna expansion look very promising. Skip past the cut to watch the video in HD. [Thanks for the tip, Patrick!]
Evergreen's Goth Keyboard for "meat-loving people"
We think it's dark and it looks like rain. The wind is blowing like it's the end of the world, you said. It's so cold, it's like the cold if you were dead. And then you smiled for a second, and told us the $19 Evergreen Goth keyboard is available in Japan only. Sigh.%Gallery-14627%
Ask Joystiq: Hot Topic and Warcraft
Yesterday we received a letter from Ryan, a perplexed Hot Topic shopper and Warcraft addict-to-be. He writes:"Hello. I was at the mall yesterday. I happened into Hot Topic while lookingfor an awesome Halloween costume and came across a $1.99 14-daytrial DVD of World of Warcraft. I thought, What the hell. Everyone else is addicted, why not me? So for 2 bucks I picked it up. I haven't installed it yet but, what I wanted to know was if you have seen these and if I only get it for the 14 days and then have to go buy a $20 box copy, or if I get the 14 day trial and then just have to sign up for an account? There seems to be a bunch of back and forth on this on the message boards. I tried to search your site but didn't find mention of it ... (I wish Weblogs inc. would upgrade their search engine). Anyway, thought it was interesting also that Hot Topic was selling WoW, it not being a game store and all. It begs the question, how long before my local 7-11 sells MMORPGs over the counter."Check out what we discovered after the jump.
