dark
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Opera's latest version gives any web page a dark mode
Tech companies and device manufacturers have long touted ways to reduce a screen's dreaded blue glare -- the light that disturbs the natural circadian rhythms of the body and affects sleep. Now, Opera is rolling out a revamped night mode function that promises even dimmer night-time scrolling.
Scientists created a psychopathic AI using Reddit images
There's no shortage of films and TV shows that speculate on the dark side of artificial intelligence -- 'robot goes wrong and chaos ensues' is a pretty popular Hollywood trope. Now, in a study that sounds like the plot of a movie itself, researchers have actively encouraged an AI algorithm to embrace evil by training it to become a psychopath. A psychopath called Norman.
New screens emerge from vampiric stealth game Dark
If you've ever wondered what a stealth game with a hoodie-garbed vampire protagonist looks like, then these screens for Dark are here to serve. The sneaky, bitey offering from Realmforge Studios comes to PC and Xbox 360 in Q2 2013. %Gallery-171941%
Atlus and Kalypso join forces to publish Dark, Omerta, more in NA
Kalypso Media USA is teaming up with Atlus to publish the following Kalypso games in North America: Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants, Tropico 4 Gold Edition, Omerta: City of Gangsters and Dark.Under this partnership, Port Royale 3 is heading to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 9; Tropico 4 Gold Edition drops November 13 for Xbox 360 and PC; Omerta is out in early 2013 for Xbox 360 and PC; and Dark launches in March for Xbox 360 and PC.The most mysterious game in that list is Dark, a stealth game featuring a freshly turned vampire as he takes down elder vampires, modern corporations and young adult paranormal romance writers worldwide. OK, we made that last part up. We can dream, can't we?
Dark is a stealth game with vampires, sneaking to Xbox, PC
When you think of stealthy individuals, a few things come to mind: Snake, Sam, Garrett and, of course, vampires. Kalypso and developer RealmForge are really banking on that last one with their upcoming stealth title, Dark. The game "puts players in the role of a vampire out to discover the secrets of the mysterious global GeoForge Corporation."Players will use their vampiric abilities – such as the power to turn into smoke and vanish – in order to take out enemies and generally be sneaky. Also aiding in the sneakiness: A hoodie. Dark is scheduled to arrive on PC and Xbox in early 2013 and, one way or another, it's going to suck.Because vampires, get it?%Gallery-155163%
R2-D2 Dark Roast Edition makes your coffee astromech-style, puts brew into 'homebrew' (video)
Has there been a gaping R2-D2-shaped hole in your gadget life ever since the Motorola Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition bowed out? The good crew at Instructables knows your plight and has designed the R2-D2 Dark Roast Edition to give your astromech desires an almost literal jolt of energy. The team's do-it-yourself project modifies a BUNN industrial coffee maker -- no slow-drip home unit here -- with a float valve and a generous mix of aluminum, brass, copper and steel welded on top. If you're particularly ambitious, you can even make R2 bleep his delight when you've got a fresh pot lined up. Constructing a Dark Roast Edition requires a good amount of electrical and metalworking savvy, but it might be worth your time while you wait for C-3PO to reach stores.
The Daily Grind: How dark do you like your MMO nights?
I spent some quality time with the Firefall beta build last weekend. One of the things I noticed is that the game's version of night bears more than a passing resemblance to actual night. As in, it's kinda dark and stuff. Helpfully, the devs at Red 5 Studios have provided flashlight functionality in the form of your X key (because the night is dark and full of terrors, according to the cheekily written patch notes on the launcher). Anyway, it was a refreshing change from most of the MMOs nights I've experienced, which are basically MMO days with a blue lens filter. What about you? How dark do you like your MMO nights? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Star Wars: The Old Republic goes dark in preparation for launch
It's as if a million gamers cried out in... you know what? We've done that joke too many times, as has everyone else. We're officially declaring it off-limits for the remainder of this game's history. It's a trap, trust us. And you thought that intro smelled bad... on the outside! OK, it's all out of our system -- as is Star Wars: The Old Republic. As the game nears its official December 20th launch date, BioWare is bringing down both the servers and the website in preparation for the momentous event. From 7:00 p.m. until 12:01 a.m. EST, SWTOR will be inaccessible. BioWare says that as the game comes back online at midnight, the studio will be adding "a large number of new servers" to facilitate the influx of launch players. Even so, the studio predicts that queues on popular servers will be present and urges players to consider rolling characters on lesser-populated realms. Because of the recently instituted grace period, early access players have until 3:00 a.m. EST on December 22nd to register their product codes or be cut off from gameplay.
Flex Lighting's LED film will brighten your e-reader, mood (video)
The slogan pretty much says it all: Flex Lighting has developed a new front light LED film that could drastically change the way you interact with your e-reader. According to the Chicago-based company, this film is part of a new lighting system that promises to bring smooth, nighttime reading to E Ink displays everywhere. Flex Lighting's setup is rather simple, consisting of nothing more than a single LED and a thin layer of film, laminated onto a device's reflective screen. At a thickness of just 50 micron, the film essentially acts as a light guide, spreading the LED's beams across a reader's display and creating a "soft glow" that many predecessors have thus far failed to replicate. The folks over at the eBook Reader managed to get their hands on a brief demo video, in which the system performs rather impressively. See it in action for yourself, after the break.
More on The Secret World's Templar and Illuminati
Looking for further information on The Secret World's equally secret Illuminati and Templar societies? We're going to go ahead and assume that you are, as they're quite interesting aspects of Funcom's upcoming third MMO. Actually, considering much of the game's story and conflict revolves around the three warring secret societies, we'd say these two Illuminati and Templar interviews are required reading for anyone who considers themselves interested in the game. We're all about picking sides in MMOs here at Massively. When it comes to The Secret World, there's a lot to consider, although something about the Illuminati is quite alluring. We're of the opinion that their high tech nature combined with their fashion sensibilities is going to be quite attractive to many a person. Oh, plus it doesn't hurt that they're the "bad boys" of the game.%Gallery-72399%
Achtung, T-Mobile: if Project Dark is $50 unlimited, you're in trouble
Put yourself in T-Mobile USA's shoes for a moment: rumor has it that the guys who pay the bills aren't happy. History, happenstance, and the realities of electromagnetics have left you with an oddball 3G frequency that literally no other carrier in the world uses (at least, not for HSPA). Larger competitors don't take you as seriously as you'd like, and you don't have smaller ones -- they're all regionals who don't play in the same space you do. So what's your next move?
Video: Panasonic's next-gen IPS-Alpha panel is uber quick, dark
We've seen some dark, dark panels in our day, but Panasonic's next-generation IPS-Alpha has us all sorts of hot and bothered. Unlike Pioneer's plasmas of yesteryear, the prototype seen here at CEATEC has wide angle viewing down to an art, and the image quality was simply stunning. Fast moving objects slid in with nary a jagged edge in sight, while the production unit on the left produced a noticable and continual blur. When portraying a pitch black background, it's easy to see just how much darker the IPS-Alpha panel was compared to the next best thing. Have a peek at the video below for a more personal peek, and look forward to us prying out some sort of price and release estimate when the company shows this again at CES. You will have that information at CES, right Panny? %Gallery-74744%
Panasonic's next-gen IPS-Alpha panel is uber quick, dark (video)
We've seen some dark, dark panels in our day, but Panasonic's next-generation IPS-Alpha has us all sorts of hot and bothered. Unlike Pioneer's plasmas of yesteryear, the prototype seen here at CEATEC has wide angle viewing down to an art, and the image quality was simply stunning. Fast moving objects slid in with nary a jagged edge in sight, while the production unit on the left produced a noticable and continual blur. When portraying a pitch black background, it's easy to see just how much darker the IPS-Alpha panel was compared to the next best thing. Have a peek at the video below for a more personal peek, and look forward to us prying out some sort of price and release estimate when the company shows this again at CES. You will have that information at CES, right Panny? %Gallery-74744%
Samsung's SCH-W760 with infrared video conferencing is ready for your parole hearing
We get it. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes when you're staring into the sad abyss of an empty Tennessee fifth, the idea of initiating an impromptu video conference in total darkness seems mighty compelling. That's where Samsung's SCH-W760 with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and front-facing infrared camera can help. It's available now in Korea and could be the difference between making a solo bed-spin performance or 3- to 6-months served at county for violating your restraining order. The choice is yours for KRW580,000 or about 445 of the green stuff.
One Shots: Something in the water
The dark and twisting corridors of Moria are definitely not for the weak of heart. But today's One Shots sent in to us from Isndyl of The Old Timers Guild on the Gladden server in Lord of the Rings Online shows that Isndyl certainly isn't one of those overcautious souls. As Isndyl writes: After nearly a year long journey, I find the hidden entrance... Someone on the bank shouts 'get out of the water you fool!' I turn around only to see my journey is near its end! Hopefully our brave adventurer didn't get nommed on too badly.Screens like this certainly show off why Lord of the Rings Online remains a steady favorite for people to send in! Do you have a great screenshot of your character wandering around; in caves, over hill, or across plains? If so, pack it up and send it to us here at oneshots AT massively.com along with your name and what game it's from. Epic stories are always welcome, but never required to get your screenshot posted here.[Note: Image has been lightened slightly to bring out detail.]%Gallery-9798%
Blast from the Past: Lunatic Fringe
If you're a long-time Mac user, the words "After Dark" conjure memories of flying toasters, Star Trek, city lights, and -- my favorite -- Lunatic Fringe. Lunatic Fringe was a Maelstrom-like game built-in to After Dark, a screen saver utility for Mac and Windows popular in the early- to mid-90s. Fringe Player, from Sealie Software, is a app that brings Lunatic Fringe back to your new, Intel-based Mac. It supports Leopard, and there is a version for PowerPC processors as well. You have to obtain the original screensaver module separately, however. You can get the module from your original After Dark disks (or online, if you're clever with the Google.) Now if you'll excuse me, my Friday afternoon is suddenly spoken for.
One Shots: Not your everyday landscape
Shadows loom in the darkened forest, swallowing the intrepid explorer Twarsong and creating today's eerie One Shots image. While we can assure you that this is indeed Lord of the Rings Online, the Trollshaws isn't an area we see here too terribly often. It certainly isn't as bright and cheery as many others we do get, but we think this just adds to the beauty of a game. There's nothing quite like seeing creepy overshadowed areas where layers interplay with light, to make you appreciate how much the designers were paying attention to details.Do you know of any great creepy, spooky or foreboding areas in your favorite game? Run into any big nasty monsters lately? If so we'd love to see them! Just send them into us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Screens of all games and situations are welcome! %Gallery-9798%
Alone in the Dark confirmed for Wii ... later than others
Score one for logical deduction: Alone in the Dark developer EDEN GAMES posting a job offering for Wii programmers did in fact mean that the game is headed toward everyone's favorite shiny white console. We're so smart. A recent interview with German gaming site AreaGames has confirmed that the title is headed to pretty much every platform under the sun ... in two waves. Gah.The game is scheduled for the 360, PC, and PS2 in late 2007, but the rest of the bunch (Wii, DS, PSP, and PS3) will have to wait until an undisclosed period in 2008 for the goods. If you can stumble through a horrendous Google translation, head on over to the transcribed site and check out some more details.
Italian village gets lit up thanks to gargantuos mirror
Considering nobody (well, mostly) likes to be alone in the dark for months on end, a group of Italians have devised a method to brighten everyone's day. Due to their position around numerous mountaintops that cut off direct sunlight and warmth during the winter months, the villagers were previously left to fend off darkness and cold without any external assistance, but thanks to a ridiculously large mirror (and some clever engineering), all that's changed. The sun-challenged hamlet nestled in the Ossola Valley now has a "towering 26- by 16-foot mirror installed on the flank of one bluff," and it utilizes a "computer to follow the sun's path and cast its rays back on Viganella." The project, seven years in the making, was reportedly difficult to construct and fund, but now that they've forked out the €100,000 ($131,260) and rediscovered the sun, we imagine the current population of 185 will likely be on the rise when envious folks from neighboring towns start to move in.
Nintendo Wi-Fi page updated
The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect homepage has been updated to reflect two of the newest titles to hit the DS bearing the Wi-Fi logo. Both Star Fox: Command and Tenchu: Dark Secret get the red carpet rolled out for them with tons of information and screens for you to gawk over. Tenchu's page even has some interesting Wi-Fi information, such as a listing of the top players including login details, as well as the top cities and a nifty graph showing player logins during the day versus at night.
