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On safari with Amazing Animals
Amazing Animals may sound like another slice of god-awful Wii shovelware, but the first screens hint at something more promising. Based on a Japanese TV show about animal tricks, Amazing Animals (or Doubutsu Kisou Tengai as it's known in its homeland) sees players don their best khaki and take to the plains of a freshly discovered, totally uncharted island near to Japan, accompanied by a robot as a guide (visible in the screens after the break).Things become a bit murky from this point onwards, though Siliconera recently speculated that photography could be involved, or that players become the animals in a series of minigames. That last one sounds a little too close to Wild Earth: African Safari for our liking, and there's only room for one totally ludicrous animal-themed minigame series in our collection! Follow the post-break trail for more shots.
Insert cute pet story here
About 3 months ago I got my first pet. His name is Max, and is a grey domestic short hair cat. He was a stray that was scratching at my apartment door on a very cold November evening. At the time it was decided that he was just going to stick around for the night, but he grew on us so quickly that we weren't able to let him go. He now is a happy member of my family, and just like the rest of them, he has to put up with me playing World of Warcraft.Except, it's not really "putting up with" WoW, it's more like "intensely interested in what's going on." Max will often times spend the whole four hours of the night's raid spread across the desk staring at my computer screen. He'll react to the sounds, the bright flashes of light, and occasionally even other in game cats. When someone says "lol" and their character laughs, he'll jump and stare down the speaker the laugh came from.
Is it okay to kill animals for money and experience?
The time-honored tradition of starting out as a noob fighter, taking down the local wildlife to level up, has probably not been the subject of too much consideration. After all, you gotta kill something, right? Well, actually, that's another discussion completely. Now, I'm not one to trot out the 'Won't someone think of the children?' complaint, but this is a topic that's been on my mind ever since Pokémon arrived on our shores.Sure, we can all tell the difference between reality and a videogame. And the average game wolf critter is no substitute for the real thing, of course. But it's a casual element that's easily rectifiable, and at some level, the message is clear: it's okay to kill animals for fun. At least with humanoids, there's provable intent to cause harm. With animals, you're just treading on their territory, and you should leave. I'm under no illusions about where my meat comes from, but this isn't about survival. Gaming or not, this is poaching.Now, I can appreciate that this is a silly argument to some extent, but as game designers (and I include myself in that category, having worked in the industry previously), we ought to be able to develop ways to level up that don't involve predation. It sets a bad example, at this stage of MMO development history it's lazy, and there's no real excuse to use animals in place of people. A warrior should practice his combat skills on opponents who behave like he does, not on creatures with their own innocent agendas.
Austrian researchers train dogs to use computers
Yeah, teaching a canine how to operate a computer may sound pretty complex, but considering that one such animal was actually trained to sniff out and snag cellphones for its dubious owner, we guess it's not too difficult to conceive after all. In a recent study published in Animal Cognition, researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria taught four dogs to use computer automated touch-screens in order to carry out classification tests, theoretically eliminating any "potential human influence." In experiments that sought to see if dogs could indeed visually categorize pictures and transfer learning to new scenarios, the four subjects "were shown landscape and dog photographs and expected to make a selection on a computer touchscreen." Eventually, the authors concluded that using computers in animal testing could open up new windows of opportunity in testing cognitive abilities, but c'mon, you know those pups were just clicking around to see if their testing station would in fact play Doom.[Via TheInquirer, image courtesy of Itchmo]
In Development: Earth Eternal
Earth Eternal is an upcoming MMO by developer Sparkplay Media, and it's definitely something different. In EE, you'll be able to play as one of 16 races, each one an anthropomorphized animal form, known collectively and colloquially as 'Furries'. It should be noted that Sparkplay apparently didn't even consider the Furry lifestyle when they created EE; they're more fans of the talking animal genre of fantasy films, as put forth by Disney, et al.Gamebunny recently caught up with CEO and Creative Director Matt Mihaly for a second interview concerning the game and everything that's happened since their first conversation. There's no hard release date so far, but it will be a free-to-play MMO, so if you're at all interested, give these interviews a look and start thinking about what sort of animal you most identify with; chances are it's in the game! Personally, I'm dying to be a plant creature, as shown above, running around in my own little pot and everything![Thanks, David!]
Robotic cockroaches influence, exploit living clans
Strangely enough, we've seen robotic roaches in action before, but a new report focusing on nature's influence on mechanical creatures substantiates some of our worse fears. Apparently, a team of researchers led by Jose Halloy of the University Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium crafted "cockroach-sized robots that interacted with their living counterparts." The critters themselves did not actually resemble cockroaches, but they were doused with chemicals to mimic the authentic aroma; subsequently, these autonomous pests were able to persuade a clan of real roaches to choose a poor (light) shelter over a dark alternative, sparking worry that humanoids may one day use these very tactics to lead us straight to our demise. On the real, the gurus behind the research are looking at the trials to "explore decision-making mechanisms in group-living animals," which when you think about, really isn't any less frightening.[Image courtesy of ETHZ]
DIY'er makes a pet access control system
If you're looking for a way to get your pups eating what you want, when you want, you might want to check into one DIY'ers clever solution for an RFID feeding scheme. The trouble all began when a gentleman named Mike Larsen needed to feed one of his dogs a special diet even though food had to be out constantly for his canines -- thus making that goal quite difficult to achieve. After discovering no commercial products to suit his needs (likely due to an apparent patent-hoarder), he decided to put his own solution together, using some RFID key fobs, a small proximity card access kit, a Radio Shack AC adapter, some loud buzzers... and a little bit of elbow grease. The system works by essentially "scaring" the special-diet-dog away from the food by the use of a loud buzzing sound, which isn't subtle, but certainly effective. Check the video after the break to see the system in action.[Via Make]
Leaping robots could embark on interplanetary exploration
Just as ASTRO and NextSat get ready for decommissioning, a duo of lightweight leapers are getting geared up to take the proverbial next step from testing to interplanetary exploration. Jollbot and Glumper, crafted by a group of mechanical engineers from the University of Bath, could provide solutions to "traveling across rough terrain, such as climbing stairs and jumping fences, that normally create obstacles for wheeled and walking robots." The machines utilize biologically inspired mechanisms that enable them to clear heights of up to 1.17-meters and capriole forward about two-meters at a time. Researchers are hoping to equip the devices with solar panels in order to keep them juiced up and ready to pounce at a moment's notice (you know, in case a stray asteroid comes zipping in), but there's been no plans made yet to get devices such as these launched into orbit.
WoW Moviewatch: Think of the animals
ZeusJones sends along this movie he made, in support of his new organization seeking to protect the apparently innocuous wildlife around Azeroth. How many innocent lives have you mindlessly snuffed? Please, stop the slaughter. Now, I'm all for Zeus' little campaign (and he's even got a blog up and running for it), but I want to warn him: those animals might not be as harmless as they seem. True story: I was in Heroic Underbog this weekend, and a frog hopped by while we were waiting for mana. I clicked on him, and Frost Shocked him out of his little froggy existence, as I usually do whenever we see critters around.And I kid you not-- I was very surprised to see a little red 1 roll up my scrolling combat text. I checked the combat window, and sure enough: "Frog hits you for 1." Completely true. I don't know how he did it (it was an instant spell! he's a critter!), but that frog tried to take a bite out of me. Maybe I should have bought Griftah's amulet.
Cellphones are dangerous/not dangerous, bee killing edition
Apparently, we should all feel incredibly guilty for simply using our cellphones, as not only are we encouraging the growth of ear tumors within our bodies, but now we're hearing that radiation flying out from our mobiles are demolishing the world's supply of crops. All jesting aside, a controversial report is now claiming that "radiation from mobile phones are interfering with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving (and pollinating) species from finding their way back to their hives." The comically-named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is reportedly being seen on a much larger scale in the US and Europe, and elusive "evidence" is purportedly backing these dodgy claims up. Backers of the shocking data are even going so far as to suggest that in the future, our refusal to set aside the cellphone could cause "massive food shortages as the world's harvests fail." Man, this sounds worse than Y2K, for sure.[Via Slashdot]
Autonomous robotic fleas could create distributed sensor network
We've seen a fair bit of mesh networking approaches lately, and thanks to a unusual project going on at the University of California, Berkeley, the next great ad hoc network could be started by a horde of bugs. Sarah Bergbreiter has developed an "autonomous robotic flea has been developed that is capable of jumping nearly 30 times its height," thanks to what could possibly be hailed as the "world's smallest rubber band." Interestingly, the creator hopes that the minuscule bugs could eventually be used to "create networks of distributed sensors for detecting chemicals or for military-surveillance purposes." The Smart Dust initiative could eventually be expanded to grow wings, but for now the solar-powered bugger will stick to hoppin' via a "microcontroller to govern its behavior and a series of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) motors on a silicon substrate."[Via BoingBoing]
RoamEO GPS system tracks your pet
Apparently, keeping your pet indoors or ponying up for a fenced in a yard just isn't in style anymore, as the RoamEO GPS tracking system for pets joins the crowd of other locating devices, texting adornments, and inflatable collars that folks seem to prefer over the more traditional methods. This particular setup is geared to work on all roaming pets, but certainly has its limitations. While the GPS-enabled collar sends the exact location, movements, and velocity to your handheld tracking unit, your pet still turns MIA if it wanders more than a mile away. If you're fairly certain Fido isn't apt to stray all that far, you can setup a GPS fence that will send audible alerts if that perimeter is breached. This seems to be a decent system for multi-pet owners who have a tough time keeping things on a leash, as you can maintain a keen eye on three creatures simultaneously -- but it'll cost you $459 for the first one, and $149 for each additional collar. [Via The Raw Feed]
Chimpanzee plays Ms. Pac-Man, gets eaten by ghost
There are a plethora of reasons for teaching a banana-munching mammal how to play a classic game such as Ms. Pac-Man. A plethora. The prime one, of course, being that it's an excellent and completely unpredictable strategy in obtaining complete world domination. The world's defences would have little choice but to collapse in the face of an army of chimpanzees highly skilled at traversing mazes, collecting various fruits and evading ghosts. Evil dictators and mad scientists would be well advised to watch the YouTube clip (embedded after the break) and see exactly how it's done.Another reason could be to provide commentary on the game's depth (even a chimp can play it!), the chimp's intelligence (he pwn3d my high score!) or the sheer irritation caused by a backseat gamer fingering your screen and telling you which pellet to go after. Whatever the reason, we're glad someone did it. Next week: Hedgehog plays Sonic the Hedgehog, researcher loses eye.[Thanks Franco!]
FrienZoo's back!
Wow, was it really all the way back in 2004 that we first saw the FrienZoo? And they're just now beginning to ship the PC-less versions of those saccharine little monitors of theirs? Well, guess it takes a little while to raise a barn full of computer-animal hybrids; looks like they're still "intended" for nursery and preschools, but we'd like to import a few over here to the wrong side of the Pacific just to show Hanspree a thing or two about how it's really done when you slap some crazy junk onto monitor bezels. Expect the versions with a display you don't add yourself to have a 1280 x 1024 17-inch screen with a 600:1 contrast ratio and 300cd/m2 brightness -- nowhere near enough to offset those bright, adorable colors (save the koala in back).
VR video game gets your hamster in on the action
Traditional playtime between humans and their pets has generally been limited to fetch, tug-of-war, and the occasional chase around the coffee table before bedtime. Well if researchers from the Emerging Art and Architecture Research Group, or RASTER, and Singapore's Mixed Reality Lab have anything to say about it, pet owners will soon be able to kick those old fashioned games to the curb in favor of video games that let their animals get in on the action. The group is in the midst of designing a game called "Mice Arena", wherein the human player is pursued by an on-screen avatar controlled by a real world hamster, which chases a piece of motorized bait corresponding to the human's position on the in-game map. What's more, the hamster's game space -- a specially designed tank -- actually adjusts its terrain to match the on-screen action through a series of actuators underneath the floor. Future games from the collaborative -- and we'll leave the jokes to you on this one -- will incorporate decidedly less pet-like animals in the fun, with tentative titles such as (we're not making this up): "Chicken Petman" and "Jellyfishtrone."
