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Dungeon Runners releases characters in XML
This isn't quite the idea of MMO-to-go yet, but it's the first step towards something really huge in MMO gaming: a character API. An API is an Application Programming Interface-- basically a document or method of how to get computers to talk to each other through different applications. Facebook apps are made with the Facebook API, applications that hook into iTunes use the iTunes API, and so on. With an API, programmers can take information from one source, and do almost anything they want with it in other programs. Players have already done some amazing things with World of Warcraft's Armory (even without an actual API-- I'm pretty sure most of that is just HTML scraping), but now NCSoft's Dungeon Runners has upped the ante-- they've made all the character data in the game available to anyone as an XML file. With just a URL, you can access info on any player in the game, already marked up in XML.What does this mean to you as a player? It means that programmers can create any number of applications using this data-- they can display your DR character's info almost anywhere at any time. And a skilled programmer could even track the info over time-- tell you how fast you leveled, how often you change your armor or gear, or how fast you've earned gold in the last day. And who knows what else people could come up with-- the best part about opening up information like this is that it gets used in all sorts of ways that no one could ever predict.Jeff Freeman's exactly right: "This is really cool... just in case you don't get that." We're just scratching the surface of this stuff, but eventually you'll be able to do things like get text messages on your phone when your WoW auctions sell, or be able to monitor your guild's bank or your PvP team's wins via RSS (which itself can then plug into almost anything) When developers break out data like this for players, the possibilities are endless.
Could the Sidekick LX play video?
In the process of spelunking through Danger's latest software development kit for the Sidekick, one enterprising developer discovered a handful of dormant functions for controlling video playback. That got us to thinking: on the Sidekick LX's glorious widescreen display, isn't video support a totally obvious feature? Can't you just imagine perusing YouTube clip after YouTube clip -- or better yet, dropping a movie on the microSD card? We're being told that the specific functions aren't usable yet, but it's pretty reasonable to think that a future update could grace the LX with full support. And hey, Danger, if that wasn't in your plans, may we suggest you consider it?[Thanks, Mr. P]
EVEMon was down with API update, is now back up and working
The good news on this one is that there is no news: EVEMon, the out-of-game app that is a must-have for EVE players, wasn't working for most people after the Trinity patch this week, but a series of bug reports over on the developer website (EVEMon is open sourced) confirms that the problem was just that CCP had taken down the API for testing. By now, EVEMon should be back up and running, ready to help you plan those skill changes out.And in other EVEMon news, the New Features page over on the developer site is a fun read, too, if you haven't seen it in a while. Very cool to see all the new features planned for the next release: Battleclinic loadouts, a new plan printing feature, and updates to the Ship and Item browser. EVEMon is already a terrific app (definitely the best MMO-related out-of-game app I've ever seen), and it's great to see the devs are hard at work making it better.
Garmin Developer website unloads APIs, toolkits
If you're tired of tirelessly hacking your navigation system in order to get the features you want up and running, Garmin is making things a good bit easier, by opening up a developer website that gives users free access to a plethora of APIs, toolkits, and web services. Put simply, the idea is to give customers the ability to "make their website, applications, and data content compatible with Garmin navigation systems." Currently, the six core offerings include the Communicator Plugin, MotionBased Web Services, Content Toolkit, PeerPoint Messaging System, LBS Toolkit, and Fleet Management Interface." Of course, you can't take advantage of the niceties until you put those coding muscles to work, so be sure to hit the read link and flip a coin to see which application deserves first dibs on getting your attention.[Via GPSReview]
Wiicade develops Wiimote API for Flash [update 1]
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Wiicade_develops_Wiimote_API_for_Flash'; We get the feeling that the Wii browser game scene is about to get awesome, thanks to Wiicade, who were already agents of Wii browser awesomeness. Their new Application Programmer Interface allows Flash developers to easily make use of every button on the Wiimote in their Flash games, even allowing multiple simultaneous button presses while the pointer is in use.In addition, Wiimote buttons can be mapped to keyboard keys, for PC-based testing and play. We're a little bit interested in the possible Flash-based applications that a simple API will encourage, but we're about the games!What existing Flash games would you like to see ported to the Wii? What new homebrew opportunities do you see opening up here? Either tell us in the comments or get started![Update 1: the Wiicade API folks updated their example image for proper button placement, and we have updated accordingly.][Via press release]
Xbox 360 can't run DirectX 10, confirms ATI
1up reports that ATI has debunked a rumor that Xbox 360 could be upgraded to support DirectX 10 via a patch. "Xbox360 cannot run DX10," an ATI spokesperson told 1up. Currently, Microsoft's console runs an advanced version of DirectX 9, which, according to ATI, features "memory export that can enable DX10-class functionality such as stream-out."It's difficult to say when and if studios that are developing cross-platform titles for Xbox 360 and Vista will hit a roadblock because of DirectX variances between the two platforms, but certainly a game like Crytek's Crysis, which does support DX9 with some DX10 features, could be optimized and ported to consoles.
The real Leopard show-stopper? Developer goodies that weren't on stage
Reports are surfacing on the web that, while everything Apple showed on stage at WWDC 2006 was exciting and purty 'n all, the more exciting attractions are what wasn't shown on stage. AeroExperience, a Vista developer resource site (of all places), claims to have an exclusive list of many of the underlying changes, newly introduced APIs and other developer goodies that might simply not have been prime fodder for the news and PR spotlight session of the keynote.It's a pretty lengthy list, so here are some of the highlights for you cliffnote readers out there: Leopard will feature resolution-independent user interface and there are several functions to get the current scaling factor and apply it to pixel measurements (we've mentioned how cool this is before, and so has Mr. Gruber). Address Book adds support for sharing accounts, allowing an application to restrict content according to user (.Mac already does this, so I'm wondering if they mean some kind of framework or protocol is in place to open this up to something like WebDAV or simple FTP). Automator includes a new user interface and allows things such as action recording, workflow variables and embedding workflows in other applications. Time Machine has an API that allows developers to exclude unimportant files from a backup set which improves backup performance and reduces space needed for a backup (I was curious about how Time Machine would handle 'useless junk' types of files myself). Carbon, the set of APIs built upon Classic MacOS and used by most 3rd party high-profile Mac OS X applications, now allows Cocoa views to be embedded into the application. This could provide applications like Photoshop and Microsoft Office access to advanced functions previously only available to Cocoa applications. Text engine improvements include a systemwide grammar checking facility, smart quote support, automatic link detection and support for copying and pasting multiple selections. Mail stationery is open to developers, allowing any web designer to create fantastic-looking Mail templates, with defined areas for custom user content (bring on the stationary plugin packs!). A new framework is included for publishing and subscribing to RSS and Atom feeds, including complete RSS parsing and generation. Local feeds can be shared over Bonjour zero-configuration sharing and discovery (I suspected something like this; sounds like Safari and Mail.app might share the same RSS database, as can other apps, so users don't have to waste time exporting/importing between RSS apps). Check out the full list at AeroExperience for more of the potentially rocking Leopard features that Steve and company didn't show on stage.
Microsoft talks DirectX 10, Vista and fancy graphics
In a lengthy interview with ExtremeTech, David Blythe and Chris Donahue of Microsoft divulge some of the intricacies inherent in the tenth iteration of DirectX, the API powering much of Vista's gaming OS aspirations. Interestingly, there are several features being implemented that aren't even present in next-gen consoles yet, though the interviewees are quick to point out that, aside from the PC version of Halo 2, there will be very few games in the next few years that specifically require DirectX 10 to run.If talk of unified shaders and procedural rendering gets your heart racing (those vertex buffers are hawt), you'll find the interview pleasing in a multitude of ways. Even if you don't particularly care for the technical jargon, you may still find some merit in pulling back the curtain and seeing just how much thought and effort go into creating the tools necessary for a game developer to realize a specific vision. Of course, that often leads us to wonder which aspect of game design holds the greater influence -- do technical features come about because of the needs of the graphic designer, or does the artist gain new ideas as technology improves?[Via ars technica]
Gaming with Google Maps
Ever wondered what you can get up to armed only with a map of the world and a game idea? These game mashups use Google Maps in some pretty exciting ways, from a scavenger hunt to an online golf game.Some of them are fairly old, but they encompass a range of possibilities. If you're inspired to create your own, the site also has a list of possible ideas for Google Maps-fuelled antics; Risk and GPS-based games seem more obvious than "The World of Kingdom of Loathing". Some really cool collaborations could spring forth from here.[Via pasta and vinegar]
QuickTime Components 101
Ever wondered what happens when you can't view a QuickTime movie, and Apple's QT player prompts you to "download the missing component?" Essentially a QuickTime component is QT's version of a plug-in. Similar to how Flash plug-in allows you to view Flash content, or Windows Media Player used to do play WMV's in your browsers on the Mac. Apple long-ago started using an API of sorts for 3rd party developers who wished to extend the functionality of QuickTime. Extend it? Isn't it pretty fully-featured, what with the support for QTVR (yeah, what happened to their authoring tool anyway?), and 3DMF (haha, that's an unfunny joke there)? Even with all the toys packed inside, QT needs room for growth. Send in the clowns of multimedia: your 3rd party component developers. For example: I live a stone's throw from where venerable Web 1.0 company iPIX used to exist. iPIX, for those who remember, pioneered a way to record and play back immersive video just like QTVR. Initially their tech was only available via RealPlayer, which, at the time, had the most open architecture. Eventually they made a QuickTime version, as did about a dozen others. Recently I tried to play a training video, and I needed the TechSmith codec. I had to download the component, and everything was viewable. Perhaps the best known and widely used component is the MPEG-2 codec, which is needed for DVD authoring.Components can be codecs, but they don't have to be. The categories of QT components can be found here, although it's a bit technical. The hard part, honestly, is figuring out which components to install. But since there are only 11 on Apple's QT components page, I suggest installing them all and enjoy yourself. And shame on you lazy devs out there who have yet to implement a Mac version! In some cases, the open source community has taken up the gauntlet. Witness XiphQT, an effort to bring Ogg support to QuickTime. A lot of the furor over components has been laid to rest, however, as we see more specialization. For instance, video via Flash is now a popular method of putting videos on the web. This obviates the need for 3 different format buttons (remember those, along with hi and lo bandwidth versions?). Also, specialized content is being embedded in everything from Adobe's PDF format to specialized readers anyway, making the discussion less relevant every day. One special note of caution: the Apple page lists PowerPC components. Unfortunately, you have to check each component on their home site to find Universal Binary editions. The PPC versions will NOT work on an Intel Mac.
Skype API for OS X
Check out this announcement over at the Skype forums: "Skype API for Mac has currently Cocoa, Carbon and AppleScript interfaces. Cocoa and Carbon interfaces are implemented in Skype.framework. The recommended way to use the Skype framework is to include it in your application as an embedded framework. Copy it into your application bundle and link it to your application." This is a pretty cool tool for developers looking to work Skype functionality into their programs. Hopefully, more good apps like DittyBot will emerge. Nice.
