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John Carmack id tech 5 demo from WWDC
Here's the demo of id tech 5, id Software's new graphical engine, running on a Mac at the WWDC keynote. It looks very nice (it should, at 20gb of textures), and Carmack says the engine will allow programmers to come in and get the game right first, and then let their artists loose on it. Levels can be designed before anything else, and then artists can come and design the landscape and the colors around that.I'm not sure how well that works, but we'll see soon: Carmack also says he'll have this showing on both consoles and desktops (Mac and PC) at E3, as well as "another Mac related announcement" that he can't quite bring himself to tell us about at this point. Considering all of id's games are already available on OS X (released by Aspyr, who have to be shaking in their boots after all the announcements this week), we have no idea at all what that might be.
Hudson Entertainment president talks about TG16 and Virtual Console
As you may have guessed, we're big Turbografx-16 fans here, so Brandon Sheffield's interview with Hudson USA president John Greiner, who was with the company through that system's lifetime, was an especially good read for us. The interview is long and detailed, and covers a lot of Hudson's lesser-known franchises like Tengai Makyou, as well as the fantastic Kato-chan and Ken-chan, which we got as JJ & Jeff. It also talks about how Hudson got into the Virtual Console biz.Here's the quote of the freaking millennium for us: "We're looking at...you know, eventually all Turbo Grafx games will be on the Virtual Console, because they're going to be emulations." Oh, no, wait, that's awesome, but here's the quote of the millennium: "We're going to work on the Turbo Grafx titles, but there were 600 some-odd PC Engine titles, and there were only 150 or so Turbo Grafx titles, so I think that if people tell us they want these games, absolutely." We cannot control our dancing. It is difficult to type at the moment.
Hudson celebrates the 20th anniversary of the PC Engine
2007 is the twentieth anniversary of the PC Engine (the Japanese Turbografx-16) and Hudson, who co-created the console with NEC, is honoring the little console and its little HuCards in two ways this year: By releasing lots of awesome games on the Virtual Console, and By featuring a multipart PC Engine retrospective on their home page We're so happy to see the Wii bringing the PC Engine back into the limelight. It brought us a lot of games that deserve a second look, and deserve to be played by a new audience. Please, tip your hat to NEC and Hudson's masterpiece. Go check out the first part of the article, and then check out some Turbo games on the VC if you haven't already!
Crytek shows CrysisENGINE2, innocent trees shot
Crytek occupies a medium-sized booth space at this year's GDC show floor. The company, showing its CryENGINE2 to developers, announced that it found its first customer in Avatar Reality, Inc. Hoping to land more interest, the company is hosting a series of rotating presentations about its level editor, sound system, character animation, engine, and other features.Harald Seeley, Development Director for Crytek briefly spoke with us about the engine and its outlook, saying that it's at alpha now for the PC, and they'll ship the SDK to AVI in four to six weeks. Seeley said that Crytek is working to bring CryENGINE2 to the PS3 and Xbox 360, but those plans don't mean that Crysis will be released on those platforms.Modders and indie designers should look for a PC version of the development environment bundled with Crysis. Seeley said that the consumer tools offer nearly all of the features of the fully licensed engine, and that modders may be able to work out terms to release commercial software created with the free editor.Seeley thinks that the commercial version of CryENGINE2 will lead other middleware engines because it was developed for DirectX 10 instead of being prettied up from an older version of the API. He said, "This will become the standard. ... [Gamers] won't be willing to settle for titanium trees any longer. If it looks breakable, if it looks like you should be able to pick it up, [you will.]"%Gallery-1976%
All-aluminum Front Runner hydrofoil watercraft plays in the kiddie pool
Sure, it's no USS Ronald Reagan, but Joey Ruiter's conceptual Front Runner is one sweet ride if you're looking to exercise 215-horsepower on a slick body of water. Shown at the recently concluded Grand Rapids Boat Show in Michigan, the designer unveiled his latest concept watercraft, a hydrofoil with "twin forward-mounted jet-drive motors." The futuristic design is fairly easy on the eyes, and would certainly garner quite a bit of positive attention skimming across the shallow end at your local YMCA. Aside from being crafted entirely of aluminum without a hint of glue holding anything together, the unique construction allows the boat to cruise in "extremely shallow water," which could definitely brighten up an extremely rainy day if you're in a low-lying area. Still, we've no idea if Joey has plans to commercialize this gem, but if he adds a hovering feature in the near future, count us onboard.
Today's leafiest game video: Crysis footage [update 1]
We're interested in upcoming shooter Crysis based on our time playing, but we're not yet sold on the graphic hype the game has been gathering. Today's video pick from GameTrailers shows off footage from the game the game engine, mostly highlighting plants and their shadows. We held on to our skeptic streak through the video, but the movement of the plants and the intricate shadows chipped away at our cynical shells; the engine looks good. But we'll have to wait for the Crysis release to decide how much praise -- and hype -- the game warrants.See the lovely leaves after the break.[Update 1: Thanks to the commentors who pointed out that the video is a tech demo and not directly from the game.]
Import VC games possible: Europe edition [update 1]
We recently brought you the news that Nintendo was still open to the possibility of bringing import Virtual Console games to the American Wii. In an interview with Eurogamer, a Nintendo UK spokesperson indicated that they're open to the possibility in PAL-land, as well. This possibility has added significance for European gamers, because it opens the door not only to Japanese and US games previously unreleased in Europe, but superior, faster NTSC versions of previously released games (PAL versions of which suffer from slowdown even now on the VC).So, European Fanboys, what would you like to see on the Virtual Console? Rondo of Blood? How about Dracula X? Or maybe that Castlevania game that only got released in Japan on the PC Engine Super CD Rom? The possibilities are endless.[Update 1: added a link to previous VC story.][Via Game|Life]
Researchers develop closed hydrogen fuel cell system
If EEStor's elaborate claims are to be believed, we suppose all these other fuel alternatives should just hang up the gloves while they're at it, but just in case things don't pan out so well, we suppose the continued research in hydrogen fuel cell power isn't such a bad idea. Although we've seen glimpses of hydrogen-powered vehicles (and um, crafts) in the past, most of these modes of transportation have been large-scale, and now it seems that a closed system has been crafted which would make these techniques suitable for more diminutive applications such as chainsaws and lawnmowers. The research team has reportedly found a way to better control the way the fuel is used, thus eliminating the need for costly recycling stations, and they insinuate that their findings are "ideal" for devices currently using small internal combustion engines that lack emissions controls. Of course, the system has yet to be broadly trialed, but if things go as planned, there's even hopes to link several of the new cells together to rival the power of cells currently being tested in the automotive industry.
Engineuity developing hydrogen-creating, emission free vehicle
Just in case there weren't enough alternate fuel developments going on around the world, it looks like we've got yet another vying for business over in Israel. Engineuity, a company started by Amnon Yogev, has reportedly developed a method for vehicles to "produce their own fuel" using metals such as magnesium and aluminum to create hydrogen and steam. Similar to a solar-powered "zinc-to-hydrogen" approach that gained attention in 2005, this method utilizes a "long metal coil" which would be inserted into a metal-steam combustor that stands to "separate hydrogen out of heated water." After intense heating, the metal atoms would purportedly bond to the oxygen from the water, creating metal oxide; the result would free up hydrogen molecules to be sent to the engine alongside the steam to provide the juice. The firm also insinuates that "refueling" the vehicle would be "remarkably simply," and construction could be completed on current production lines without requiring entirely new infrastructures. According to Yogev, the "running cost of the system should be equal to that of conventional cars today," and hopes to have a full scale prototype ready to rumble in "around three years."[Thanks, Mike]
Super Star Soldier now available on Virtual Console
Well, Nintendo sort of promised us Virtual Console updates on Mondays, and no, they technically didn't lie. Late last night, Nintendo added a single new game, Super Star Soldier (of TurboGrafx-16 fame), available for 600 points. For those of you who aren't familiar with the title (you know ... everyone), Super Star Soldier is a vertically scrolling arcade shooter, resplendent with eight whole stages and seven whole bosses. There are even two-minute and five-minute time attack modes! Golly!Cynicism aside, those old 2-D shooters are fan favorites, and may add a lovely bit of retro to your gaming life. Anyone excited? Or just pissed that Nintendo is on its merry way to breaking its ten-game-a-month promise?
MIT developing an "engine on a chip" to beat the battery
After busting out those floating windmills earlier today, you'd think the MIT types would take a little break, maybe relax for a nice evening of D&D, but instead they're still hard at work, bringing power to the people. This time they're thinking small, with a new gas-turbine engine the size of a quarter designed to supplement or replace the battery in consumer electronics. The new "engine on a chip" technology builds all the traditional parts of a gas-turbine engine using silicon, allowing for utterly tiny, reliable and efficient components. The turbine blades spin at 20,000 revolutions per second, and the mini-generator produces 10 watts of power once up and running. Unfortunately, the MIT wiz-kids haven't quite got a working model yet. Each component has been successfully built and tested, but they haven't squeezed them all together, though they should have it all up and running simultaneously by the end of the year. The tech could be a boon to the Army (which is funding the project), since troops are often required to carry up to three days worth of laptop batteries for a field mission, but we're totally stoked to start smogging it up in Starbucks with our little turbine a-whirring and spreadsheet a-crunching. Other than that spreadsheet part. Those suck.[Via Slashdot]
Ready at Dawn ready to develop another PSP game
Didier Malenfant, President of Ready at Dawn Studios, was recently interviewed by QJ.net. The team is famous for development on the technological marvel Daxter, and he had a lot of great things to say: "I think people were quite shocked to see what we pulled off on the PSP so far and our next game is already lightyears away from what Daxter achieved in terms of performance."Other interesting tidbits: If the PSP were running at full speed (333 MHz), Daxter would be able to hit 60 frames per second. The team is now providing their engine, "Ready at Dawn Engine," as a middleware solution. A lot of studios seem interested in harnassing the power of the no-load-time engine. This is a very good thing. The next game that the team is working on is a continuation of an already established franchise, akin to Daxter. Time to start guessing. Feel free to continue reading the interview over at QJ.
Opera 9 goes Universal
Opera, the little browser that could (and did - go free, that is), has finished its beta and reached version 9, going Universal in the process. New features include: a built-in BitTorrent client adding your favorite search engines to Opera's search bar simply by right-clicking them site-specific preferences for cookies, pop-ups, etc. thumbnail previews of tabs when hovering over them widgets (hey, at least they didn't call 'em 'gadgets') customizable content blocker and more This version definitely seems snappier now that it's Universal, and (say what you have to) these new enhancements like a built-in BitTorrent client show that Opera is blazing a trail faster than its competition. Give this version a whirl if you haven't touched Opera in a while but are still curious about it. If you need help with a browser transition, why not check out some of the del.icio.us tools (like my personal favorite: Delibar) we've blogged that take the 'bookmarks bar' out of the browser and into Mac OS X's menubar, removing the need for worrying about which browser you're using.
