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Sony announces launch of North American PSP Spot download stations
No need to stop when you're on a roll, right? We've seen the 3.0 firmware hit the wild, heard rumblings about a future television streaming service, and still know that the not-so-universal UMD format was dead from day one. In a presumed attempt to hit Nintendo (or more specifically, the DS Lite), where it hurts most, Sony is intelligently pushing the non-gaming aspects of its portable system by announcing the forthcoming availability of PSP Spot download stations. While our pals in Japan and Europe have been enjoying these services for the past few months, Sony is getting ready to toss wireless streaming displays into Circuit City, GameStop, Target, and Toys 'R Us locations to deliver "game demos, movie trailers, music clips, mini-strategy guides, wallpapers, and more" onto needy PSP memory sticks. While we don't have any hard dates in which to expect such kiosks to land on showroom floors (or overcrowded electronics departments), we do know that they'll start trickling into North America "beginning this month," and should top out at around "6,000 units" by January.[Via PSP Fanboy]
Air Force looking to develop foot-long subterranean defusers
While it probably won't matter much once we're pitting one robot army against another, it appears that the US Air Force is looking into new "subterranean vehicles" that could be used to navigate to underground bombs, traps, or nuclear pods and defuse the situation from beneath. Although we figured the USAF would focus the majority of its attention somewhere above the Earth's surface, the newfangled moles would be deployed a safe distance from the target and "autonomously navigate itself to the target" while cleverly avoiding buried obstacles on its route. While larger digging machines can certainly accomplish the same task, the catch here is that the life-saving worm must not exceed "12 inches" in length and be able to run off of minimal battery power. Similar to other "teams" of robotic creatures feeding off one another to accomplish complex goals, the Air Force envisions swarms of these diggers penetrating and neutralizing potential hotbeds for underground explosives, all without sacrificing human lives. Now if we only had one of these bad boys to sneak up into Best Buy's PS3 holding closet last night, we'd have a winner.[Via Defense Tech]
RCA unveils plans for travel-friendly MPC4000 HD TV tuner
Although RCA's been noticed most recently for its Lrya portable media players, the company is reportedly aiming to release a travel-friendly TV tuner in non-dongle form. Breaking the USB-stick mold, the tabletop MPC4000 tuner will pull in HD OTA broadcasts as well as standard definition signals, and even boasts an optional clip-on antenna for those out-of-the-way hotel stops. Weighing just two ounces, the device shouldn't be too burdensome in your trusty knapsack, and the USB 2.0 connector allows it to play nice on any notebook or PC (sorry, Mac brethren). The included software will supposedly enable an on-screen channel guide, as well as turning your hard drive into a virtual PVR. The MPC4000 is slated to hit stores in April of next year for a slightly above average $199, but if you need to get your portable TV tuning on in the meantime, there's plenty of other options in the wild.[Via PVRWire]
Wii to be region-locked after all?
After getting promised the beauties of region-free content by our American Nintendo PR peeps, our hopes have been shattered by Nintendo UK who has now gone on record denying the claims. They put it rather bluntly, stating: "We are region-locked," and that Nintendo America made a mistake by claiming otherwise. UK General Manager David Yarnton seems to think that Wii games and online content will be region-encoded, locking out European gamers from US and Japan titles, with the same being true in reverse. Seems to be a pretty major slip-up, though it's possible that since Nintendo America's Perrin Kaplan was only speaking of first-party titles for the Wii, Nintendo UK was merely trying to counteract the misquotes her statement had been getting. We'll be watching this one develop, but for now we're hoping the language barrier will be the only thing keeping us from a flashy first-party Wii cooking title.UPDATE: Bad new, folks. Nintendo has finally clarified this whole rigmarole, and the Wii will indeed be region-locked for both first and third party titles and online content.[Thanks, Timerider]Read - IGN: Wii Titles Region-EncodedRead - IGN: Wii Region-Free Says Nintendo VPRead - GamesIndustry.biz: Wii is region-lockedRead - Joystiq: Wii is region-free / Wii is region-locked
The great divide: UK vs US censorship
When listing the differences between the UK and the USA one usually thinks of spelling, gastronomy and driving on the wrong side of the road, rather than film and game censorship. However, this fascinating post at Terra Nova (along with its thriving comments thread) delves into the differences between the BBFC and MPAA, as well as cultural factors, to try and establish why American consumers are less happy to have age restrictions on games.The whole thread gives an international perspective to current debates over the censorship of violent games. While sexual content in games can be treated as pornography, the lack of existing US legislation covering violence across other media means that singling games out is plain unfair. In the UK, however, ratings of violent and extremely realistic games fall under the Video Recordings Act, which covers any recorded video media.We have to wonder when games will get a category of their own and stand alongside more established media such as film and TV. In the meantime, to find out more about international game classification, Wikipedia's a great place to begin.
-eNCHANT arM- coming to America
From Software's RPG title [eM] -eNCHANT arM-, currently released in Japan, will be making its American and European debut this summer under the title Enchanted Arms. It's the first Japanese RPG to appear on the Xbox 360, and by the time it's released, Oblivion fans may well be looking for a new RPG to play.IGN has previewed the game, describing it as an "eccentric, epic title rich with character, story, and an evolving combat system". While its review scores in Japan have been reasonably low, the quirky nature of Enchanted Arms may increase its worldwide appeal, paving the way for more Japanese titles to travel abroad.
Breakfast Topic: A whole new (international) world
Having recently obtained an American WoW subscription to go alongside my European one, I've been spending some time playing internationally. Surprisingly, the lag isn't a factor (at least at newbie level, because--of course--I've had to start from scratch), and the five-hour time difference hasn't come into play yet.It's a weird mix of the familiar and unfamiliar--I'm used to seeing all sorts of European languages flashing past in General, as newly created characters seek out their countrymen. That's gone, but the countryside and quests are the same. These days, General is filled with shouted insults and puerile behaviour fit more for Xbox Live than WoW. Perhaps my Live experiences should have prepared me for people's ability to be entirely rude to complete strangers--or a zone full of them--but my WoW experiences hadn't.When I move from European server to European server, I get a sense of disorientation when I walk around the cities and miss the familiar faces. Bereft of my guild, I feel defenceless and lost. Moving from European to American servers, however, is even odder. The cultures on the servers are different, as the patchwork amalgamations making up East and West in real life are different. From new in-jokes to a new Chuck Norris obsession, it's a whole new world.Am I just particularly unlucky, finding a server whose General channels (Elwynn and Stormwind) were filled with insults and abuse? Is it culture shock, or something more reflective of the fact that only kids would be playing at 5AM server time? Is the bad behaviour of characters likely to put off complete WoW newbies, entering Northshire Abbey only to be greeted with a 'your mom' joke?
Governmental ads: "give your thumbs a rest"
An ad campaign from the Centers for Disease Control is pulling no punches with their tagline "Give your thumbs a rest. Play for real." Supposedly encouraging active lifestyles rather than the way of the couch potato, the ad features an in-game style image of obese baseball players on an overgrown field.As Water Cooler Games points out, this seems to have been created with no thought for its target audience. In particular, the ad mocks rather than reaches out to gamers; not the best way to connect with a demographic. Also, as governmental propaganda goes, jumping on the anti-gaming bandwagon is a disturbing trend--a sideline political campaign is one thing, but a government-approved message seems overkill.With CDC themselves turning to games for educational purposes, we can't help but feel there's a mixed message here.
