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YouTube app goes live on Vita today for all your gaming-video needs
The YouTube app for Vita is going live today, available for download through the PS Vita Store on PSN. We knew previously that the app would hit Vita by the end of June.YouTube on Vita will play HD videos up to 720p, with the option to toggle between standard and HD. The app will have many standard YouTube features, including recommended videos, comments, history, favorites and the all-important "search" function.Most importantly of all, the YouTube app will allow Vita users to access the shiny new Joystiq YouTube channel, revamped with new content, fresh videos and original features. We guess people on computers, using smartphones and browsing tablets can access the Joystiq channel, too, but can they do it while stroking the back of their screen? Well, yeah, but that would just look weird.
Star Trek Online adds a new flavor of cat people
Do you like cats? Hopefully you do, as Star Trek Online has just seen the felinoid Ferasan added to the C-Store. But wait, didn't the game already add Caitians? Yes, but the Caitians are a Federation race, while the Ferasan are exclusive to the KDF, thereby allowing you to play as a kitty on whichever faction you choose. The Ferasan are related to the Caitians but apparently are not quite the same species (presumably akin to the Romulans and Vulcans). The Ferasan possess only one specific trait, Predatory Instincts, which increases jump height, melee damage, exploit damage, stealth, and perception. Unlocking the race costs 480 Cryptic Points and also unlocks new customization options for Caitian characters on the Federation side. On the other hand, if you just want to have one on the bridge, you can place a requisition for a Ferasan bridge officer for 400 Cryptic Points. So if you've felt that there's a distinct lack of feline members in the KDF, you've now got an option to rectify that situation.
The Road to Mordor: Ten things to do in East Bree-land before you die
It's been a long, long time since I've been able to work on this series, going through each Lord of the Rings Online zone quest by quest and pulling the top 10 locations, points of interest, or missions for the aspiring adventurer to check out. There are many reasons I've been tardy in continuing it, but no excuses today! Today we dine in the Prancing Pony, for tomorrow we die! I decided to divide Bree-land into two separate articles, with this one covering the eastern portion and Bree proper, and the upcoming one tackling the western and northern areas. This is not just because Bree-land is a pretty dang big zone but because it's pulling double-duty: East Bree-land and Bree serves as the 1-15 leveling area for Men, while the west invites all four races to continue the journey to level 20. While it may seem like a generic fantasy zone on the surface, Bree-land is actually teeming with interesting details, stories, and activities. I've never regretted leveling in the area (it's a darn sight better than Ered Luin), and it was pretty tough to limit myself to just 10 activities for this list. So what should you do in East Bree-land before you die? Let's take a look!
Cavanagh's ChatChat teaches the finer points of feline life
ChatChat would be an entirely sensible game if not for the second half of its one-sentence description. We were totally on board through "ChatChat is a game about being a cat," but we threw up our hands in incredulity at "and talking to other cats." We'll be a cat, sure, but a talking cat? Too far, Terry Cavanagh. Too far.Cavanagh is the (mad)man behind VVVVVV and At a Distance, and ChatChat (we assume pronounced "Chat cat," with the second "h" as a soft "whipped" sound) is one of a few smaller projects he's working on this year. It involves running around various forests, "mush rooms," alleyways and secret areas, and figuring out the ways you can interact with the environment and other cats. Yes, you can talk to the other cats in your room, but you can also meow, purr, screech and turn into a dog to play tag with your cat friends.You can play ChatChat on Kongregate right now and learn why cats seem to find it so amusing to lurk around abandoned alleyways, kill mice and, as the game's instructions suggest, "be a cat."
eSleeper combines cats, Arduino and Twitter in an eMac shell (video)
If we had to imagine our dream DIY project chances are it would involve Arduino, Twitter and, of course, cats. How we'd combine those things we're not sure, but we'll admit to being big fans of Samuel Cox's eSleeper, which turns a hollowed-out eMac into a bed for his feline. Inside the shell is an Arduino Ethernet connected to an IR sensor, some LEDs and a sound shield. When the cat breaks the infrared beam it triggers the iconic Mac chime and turns on a series color-shifting LEDs for a little mood lighting. From there the clock starts ticking. When little Fluffy (Captain Whiskers? Matlock? Penny? Greg?) decides she's had enough napping and leaves the white plastic cocoon, tripping the IR sensor again, a random phrase is tweeted, along with the length of the cat's siesta. Check out the video after the break to see the eSleeper in all its adorable DIY glory.
New BattleBlock Theater video throws a little surprise party
It's been a while since we last saw The Behemoth's Battleblock Theater in action, so if you're forgetting all of the pertinent deets, let us remind you: The game, by the creators of XBLA superhit Castle Crashers, throws a few players with strangely-shaped heads into a theater run by cats and tasks them with navigating a maze of traps and troubles for the cats' presumed entertainment. You can see some of that entertainment in this brand-new video, which features Prisoner 10321 and the game's co-op "throwing" mechanic, which allows players to launch their frienemies across gaps, into portal-like devices ... or into spikes and pits, if they happen to not be so fond of them at a given moment. The official Behemoth blog says there's complexity here, too: you'll go farther when both characters are facing the same way, or not as far if they're facing apart. And while players can slide tackle each other while fighting, the throw move can cancel that out, blocking the slide and instead sending the slider into danger. We tell you that now so that when it happens in the game, you're not actually thrown for the proverbial loop.
No Comment: Friskies makes iPad web games for cats
So it's come to this. Originally, discovering that cats liked to play with the iPad was just a matter of coincidence -- Felix just liked to bat around the Magic Piano, and that was fine. But pet food maker Friskies has blown that idea right out, releasing a line of three full web-based games for the iPad meant to be played entirely by cats. It's true. Cat Fishing!, Party Mix-Up! and Tasty Treasures Hunt! are all games accessible from that website and built in HTML 5 just for the iPad, and as you can tell from the video after the break, all three of them are designed to attract your cat's attention. With bright shapes that move around in a jerky yet lifelike manner and flashy graphics that respond to paw touches, your cat now has its own games to play on your iPad 2. Friskies even warns that while cat claws can't scratch the iPad's glass screen, certain plastic covers might get scratched, so be careful. What they don't warn about, however, is that you might lose all of your Angry Birds free time to a game-addicted kitty. Beyond that, we have no comment. [via Laughing Squid]
Ask TUAW: Apple pricing, which cat is which, and laptop batteries you can't replace
Welcome to Ask TUAW, your favorite weekly question-and-answer column. Now, we can never have too many questions, so please, go to the comments of this post and ask away. To get fabulous answers, we need your fabulous questions. You can also email your questions directly to ask [at] tuaw.com, or ping us on Twitter. Now, off to the questions! David asks: Why doesn't Apple let me replace the battery myself in any of its current products?
Kinect hack: Minecraft statues (now with animation!)
Building upon the previous Kinect hack that allows you to scanify yourself into MineCraft, this latest update allows you to scale said model and, even better, now supports animations for up to three seconds. Imagine it: your faithful recreation of BioShock can now have an actual moving, talking head of Andrew Ryan greeting you upon entry into Rapture. Who wouldn't want that? Or you could just tease your cat with a laser pointer like in the video demonstration past the break, we guess.
Game for Cats does what it says, but it isn't truly free
I spend a lot of time trying to keep my cats off my iPad, but thanks to the The Daily What, we got wind of a game specifically designed to have your frisky felines play with your iPad. iPad Game for Cats is a free download through the App Store, but the "free" part is very misleading. Even though the game's website and the App Store page say that it's gratis, you actually can't get anywhere unless you make a 99-cent, in-app purchase. Edit (12 AM 12/21): The developer got in touch with me regarding this via Twitter and has since updated the app description to clarify that the mouse game is an in-app purchase. Thank you so much! But, you do get a little time with the game, and there's only one way to test it and that's with a cat ... or in my case, three cats.
Addon Spotlight: Addons for clickers
Addon Spotlight focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week, please don't berate the clickers too badly in the comments. Addon Spotlight strives to educate and empower, bringing you tips and tools to enrich your World of Warcraft experience. Playstyles are as varied as the addons that support them, and as a comprehensive writer, I try to cover everyone's specific setups. One playstyle that is a bit of a foreign concept to me is mouse clicking. Clickers are often derided and ridiculed for their point-and-click interaction with the user interface. Sometimes, you will be watching that YouTube video of a heroic kill, and the cursor is flying around the screen a lot more than you are used to. You've found the elusive clicker.
Amputee cat gets bionic back legs and a new attitude
When Oscar the cat got both of his back legs severed by a harvester, his prognosis was undoubtedly grim. Luckily for him, he was referred to a veterinarian, Noel Fitzpatrick, who had some pretty interesting ideas of his own. Dr. Fitzpatrick has successfully given the cat two back prosthetic legs, but they're completely unlike any prosthetic we've ever seen. Oscar's been given Itaps (intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics) which were developed at University College London. Itaps are custom made pegs which allow the bone and skin to grow to them, meaning that the "prosthetic" actually becomes part of the appendage itself. The surgery has been in testing for humans since 2005, and this one was the first performed on an animal. Hit up the BBC source link to check out a video of the kitty getting mobile.
Cat@Log, the tiny Twitter box for tweety bird hunters
Your cat's Twitter account just got real, yo. With an embedded accelerometer, GPS and camera in a lightweight neck-mounted package, this "Cat@Log" can figure out what your feline friend is doing at any given moment, and automatically send status updates accordingly. Should Sony Computer Science Laboratories and the University of Tokyo ever commercialize the thing, we're sure they'll sell plenty -- but please don't try to friend us with one. Why? Um... we're allergic... to anthropomorphic social networking. Yes, that's it. Your cat? Cute as a button, we swear.
iriver takes the leash off new black Hello Kitty PMP
iriver's newest dedicated PMP is something to behold. A shiny black (with gold accents!) version of its no doubt beloved Hello Kitty player, this newest addition is all about its looks. The little player comes in 2GB and 4GB storage varieties, comes with a USB cable, ear buds, and a cute little lanyard for attaching it to things like your beltloop. The cases they make for the Hello Kitty PMP -- such as the red devil horns -- essentially sell themselves. They're going on sale just in time for the holidays and the new year -- but this one's a Japan-only release for the time being. It'll run you ¥7,980 (about $90) to grab one. There's one more shot of this glorious product after the break!
DIY cat feeder now enabled by a Cisco switch, streams food and video
You know, there are times when you have to part ways with your adorable kitties at home, and you might not be so keen on getting a cat sitter in case he or she touches your precious game consoles (even if it's an old granny). We've seen the lazy man's solution before, but Britain's Mathew Newton has brought us a new DIY internet-enabled cat feeder just in time for a new decade. Rather than using a CD-ROM tray to push-release unknown quantities of cat food, Mathew's version has a motor-driven cereal dispenser controlled by signal from port status LEDs on a Cisco switch -- an ingenious way to avoid expensive Ethernet relay units. When it's feeding time the user logs onto a web interface to choose the dispensing quantity, or you can also have an automatic feed schedule set up if you trust the system -- Mathew said he "can rely on it 100%," and his cats do appear to be healthy. Fortunately, you can always check the live video stream just in case you have doubts. All is explained in the video after the break.
Fans campaigning for President Cat
Against all odds, a completely random Japanese Wii game starring a cat blogger has become a hot topic among some fans. Sukeban Shachou Rena Wii, published by Jorudan, stars a cat named Rena, from a popular Japanese blog, as the CEO of Cat Queen Inc. You play as a cat going through the initiation into the company, performing various minigames to earn Rena's respect.The Orange Lounge Radio podcast discovered the game, which they have dubbed President Cat, then began Tweeting the Wii game's official account. Fans started sending messages of encouragement and support to the #presidentcat hashtag, and the Rena account has started responding in both Japanese and English, revealing that the publisher is excited and a little confused about all this sudden attention.It would be hilarious if this grassroots movement resulted in the localization of a weird licensed game. However, it would also be pretty sad if the publisher turned out to lose money on it. It's definitely something we want to play, but we're not exactly representative of the mainstream audience.[Thanks, act_def]
Delving into the iPhone's DCIM folder
Today, Dave Caolo discovered what happens when your iPhone camera rolls past picture number 99999 (or so). As he and other Apple users have found, a picture count that goes too high can lead to unforseen errors. Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. Or a camera roll that doesn't acknowledge new photos. Snapped images are stored on your iPhone in your home folder. As user "mobile," that home folder is /var/mobile and the folder that stores your iTunes library, your voice memos, and your photos is /var/mobile/Media. Inside that media folder is a subfolder named DCIM. Read on for more details.
Mining the armory for Hunter pet statistics
With Hunter pet information recently added to the armory, Data Miner Zardoz has wasted no time getting his hands on the raw Hunter pet data and breaking it down. The data is only for level 80 Hunters, and only 10,000 of those at that, but it still gives a very interesting snapshot of what's going with the Hunter's best friends. It might not be too big a surprise that Cats are far and away the most popular pet at a count of around 9500, nearly doubling again the amount of Wolves, who come in just under 5000, which are in turn used in numbers over twice as much as the next popular choice, Gorillas, who are just above 2800 in number. Now mind you, this information does take into account pets that are in the stables as well, and there's certainly the possibility that a lot of them have just stayed in the stables for a long time.
Sega Toys' Dream Cat Venus is sure to be your favorite fake pet ever
Sega Toys has unveiled yet another iteration of the fake cat we've come to know and love, and this time, it's even more "real" than before. Dream Cat Venus -- as this one's been dubbed -- has sensors in its forehead, and touch sensors in its body so that it can react when petted. Apparently more lifelike than previous version Smile, Venus also purrs when certain words are spoken. Sega Toys says this is the right choice for those who just don't have the time for a real pet. We're also pretty sure it's non-allergenic (unlike real felines), cheaper to own (doesn't eat or need to see the vet), and totally won't mind if you head out on vacation for three weeks at a pop without telling him. We'll still feel the guilt though. This kitty's going to be available starting July 30th in Japan for about $110. Warning: Read link is a PDF[Via Slashgear]
The real new Night Elf cat forms
You have probably seen the new Night Elf cat forms by now, the last of the four feral forms that are going to be revamped in patch 3.2. Reaction to them has been mixed; many players love them, while many think they leave something to be desired in the ferocity department. As our newest columnist Eddie put it, "You have to love the little 'bells' on the colors. Just like a nice little kitty cat." I fall on this side as well - they look more delightful than dangerous. Evidently Anik of Rexxar agrees with me and Eddie, because he was inspired to make the above image showing the logical extension of the direction the cat forms seem to be taking. What gets me is how little editing really needed to be done - they really look like that already, for the most part. Of course, several of our writers are extra-excited about these newest forms; Zach and Manda both promise that they are rolling druids just to get access to them. Sailer Moon Cosplay Cat and Scene Kid Cat are their picks, in case you were wondering. %Gallery-19003%
