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Google helps scholars mine 1.7 million Victorian era book titles for clues to our historical attitudes
Whether we like, loathe, or never even considered the idea of it, quantitative literary analysis seems ready for its moment in the spotlight. Dan Cohen and Fred Gibbs, a pair of historians of science over at George Mason University, have been playing around with the titles of some nearly 1.7 million books -- accounting for all the known volumes published in Britain during the 19th century -- in a search for enlightenment about the Victorian era's cultural trends and developments. By looking at how often certain words appear in text titles over time, they can find corroboration or perhaps even refutation for the commonly held theories about that time -- although they themselves warn that correlation isn't always indicative of causation. Their research has been made possible by Google's Books venture, which is busily digitizing just about every instance of the written word ever, and the next stage will be to try and mine the actual texts themselves for further clues about what our older selves thought about the world. Any bets on when the word "fail" was first used as a noun?
Microsoft's experimental English-Chinese dictionary mines the web for data (video)
When it comes to quick and dirty machine translation it may not supplant Google Translate anytime soon, but for those who would actually learn another language, Microsoft's working on some fairly impressive tools. Engkoo is an search engine for Chinese speakers that scours the web for its data, finding articles that are written in both Chinese and English to create an continually-updated lexicon, plus provide interactive (and audible) sample sentences that explain nuances of the language. See a rundown (in English) of what's possible so far in a Silverlight video after the break, and try it out for yourself at our source link -- if you must, you can even search for "tiananmen."
You've come a long way, Jonathan Ive
It's gotta be tough for a guy who designs the sexiest devices on the planet. No, not the million-dollar paycheck or the international fame and fortune. When you're one of the world's top designers, you must make sure your image portrays cool and sexy. If you're a built guy with a shaved head and an English accent, you've done a good job. On the other hand, if you're wearing beige fleeces with huge collars and sporting a pretty wicked 'stache, you might have a problem convincing people that you, y'know, design some of the sleekest, sexiest devices on the planet. Oh, how the Internet is going to make all of us have to relive our worse style decisions over and over. Gizmodo has dug up this video clip of Jonathan Ive talking talking about how a computer "can be sexy" circa 1999. You've come a long way, Jonny...
Disgaea Infinite trailer makes as much sense as the other Disgaea games
That Disgaea Infinite trailer that snuck out in Japanese a little while back has now been officially released and translated into almost-English and, while it's a little harsh to call the series "the ultimate grind-fest" (unless fans want to wear that title as a badge of honor), this weird little adaptation that turns the strategy RPG into a "visual novel" adventure game still looks interesting. Last we heard, this one was due out for the PSP in May, but this trailer actually says June of 2010. We checked in with NIS America, and they informed us that the game is due out on June 8th of this year. Look for it as a downloadable title on PSN then.
Valkyria Chronicles DLC lacks English voice track
Folks who are currently working their way through Valkyria Chronicles' recently released DLC pack, Challenge of the Edy Detachment, have noticed something strange about the content's English-language voice overs: They don't exist. The add-on pack only includes two audio settings: Japanese and silent. Of course, you can still follow the DLC's plot through English subtitles, but hey -- we came here to blow up tanks with other tanks, not to read. Siliconera suggests that the absence of words we can understand could be attributed to the fact that this DLC is going live six months after the game was released in the U.S., so it's possible the English voice cast couldn't be brought back together for an encore recording. We've contacted Sega for an official explanation and to find out why the English-language omission in the DLC wasn't announced before people, you know, bought it.
Japanese gamers split on subtitles vs. dubs for Western games
Hong Kong action aficionados and anime fans have long debated over subtitles and dubs. While some prefer the ease (and comedy) of listening to English dubs, purists believe original language tracks should be preserved. The debate rages on with video games, as evidenced by the complaints of many Final Fantasy XIII fans, upset by the lack of the game's original Japanese track. The debate seems to garner the same kind of division across the Pacific, where Japanese gamers are equally conflicted about the use of subs and dubs. In fact, according to a poll conducted by games publisher Spike, the opinion amongst gamers is essentially split. The poll quizzed over six thousand individuals over the course of two years, and 49% of respondents said they prefer subtitles while 47% said they prefer dubs. With such a divided opinion regarding the subject, it seems like the best bet for publishers would be to find a way to squeeze multiple audio and subtitle options into their games. That way, gamers on both sides of the fence can be appeased -- and our sick dream of playing Gears of War 3 in Finnish with Chinese subtitles can finally come true. [Via Andriasang]
Kojima Productions working on English language Peace Walker demo
The Metal Gear saga is not the easiest thing to follow. However, it's far more difficult to understand when it's not in English. Thankfully, Kojima Productions is going to make the Peace Walker demo a lot more accessible by rectifying that crucial problem. The latest Kojima Productions podcast reveals that an English demo is already in the works. Makes sense, considering the English voice casting is already complete."One could also argue that Peace Walker could be the most innovative title in the series yet," Ludwig stated in his TGS hands-on. Perhaps, after playing the upcoming demo, you will be that hypothetical "one" he spoke of.[Via Siliconera]
The Explain-o-matic will explain your macros
This is actually a really cool idea for a site -- Fitzcairn's Macro Explain-o-matic is basically a web script that reads WoW macros, and will go, line by line, through them to put exactly what they do in plain English. Sure, odds are that if you have a macro already, you probably have some idea of what it does, but if you've ever wanted to learn how to write macros, or aren't sure exactly what the macro your friend emailed to you is supposed to do for your character, you can just throw it in a text field, and then Fitzcairn's script will break it apart for you.The site will even let you save (with a permalink) and email any macros you punch in -- though I couldn't find a way to browse them, maybe Fitzcarin is working on that. There are lots of resources online to find macros, but not so many to explain them well, so the Explain-o-matic is definitely worth a bookmark for the next time you need a little help.[via Twisted Nether]
Cities XL releases new trailer in preparation for demo
The Monte Cristo team has just released a new sample video depicting some of the major choices you can make in their city-building MMO, set to release on October 8th (EU) and 9th (US). This trailer is out now to prepare us for the new demo version of the game. While the German and French versions have released this week, the English version will release on September 8th.What exactly is the demo and how is it different from an open beta? Well, the demo is a true demo in the classic sense of the word. You can try out cities, but only build them to 22k citizens (the full version of the game lets you create megalopolises of millions of citizens). You'll have access to 3 maps, while the single player mode will give 25 maps on launch, and the MMO Planet Mode will give you 50 maps. This is Monte Cristo's way of opening the game up to all players, considering their unique business model with a single-player and multi-player modes. Check out our previous coverage and their newly-revamped website for more details.[EDIT: You can now get the demo here.]
Final Fantasy XIII's English voiceovers are complete
Klee Kuo, one of Square Enix's marketing Moogles, just dropped word that the English voice work for Final Fantasy XIII is complete. Kuo also made sure to say how impressed he was with the new Summons (marketing, ho!) and the fact that it'll incorporate a "unique level up system in FFXIII like Sphere Grid in FFX and License Board in FFXII."So, Squenix, now that you have the voice work out of the way, can you get us that demo? Please?
Using WoW for learning in schools
We've heard about WoW in schools before, but usually it's at schools of higher learning, where they're studying social networks or how society evolves. But a group in North Carolina is planning to put WoW in schools in a different way: by using situations in World of Warcraft to develop literacy, mathematics, and other competencies. WoWinSchools has math lessons and other tests based around WoW terms and knowledge: one example question asks "Which types of heals produce a greater number of recovered hit points during an encounter?" Another wants to know "Which buff (a spell that enhances a character's abilities) is more effective for your character, Blessing of Kings or Blessing of Might?" The idea is to use situations that the kids are familiar with in World of Warcraft (raiding, for example), and apply higher level thinking to those situations.There are even creative writing suggestions dedicated to the game, from writing an RP story about a character in Azeroth, to writing a song parody (that one should be taught by Professor Turpster) or designing a quest chain. And lest you think they're just joking around, there's a whole slew of research behind the idea, too, and it definitely makes sense: kids who play World of Warcraft are much more likely to be interested in problems about DPS and Healing rather than Susie and Bobby's apples that we added and subtracted back when we were kids in school.It seems like the only place this is implemented is in one afterschool program -- while there are lots of good ideas here, it's not necessarily being used in many classrooms yet (and my guess is that not every student in schools would vibe with a World of Warcraft-based curriculum, either). But it is a plan in development, and anything that better helps teachers understand what their students are interested in is probably worthwhile.
QuickArmory offers localization, boss tallying
Our friends over at QuickArmory, which is a site with a whole slew of extras for parsing and checking out Armory information, have sent along a list of updates to what they've done lately. The site itself is still pretty barebones (it focuses on getting information together fast rather than flashy graphics or layouts), but they've added new details to what you can see on a character view. In addition to the usual achievements, you can mouse over the title of each instance, and it will tell you how many times the character has killed each boss that's tracked in the game.And they've also added localization support -- next to the box where you put the character's name in, you can choose to see the site in English, German, French, Spanish, or Russian. Some of the achievements, we're told, aren't fully translated, but that's quite a feature on an "Armory lite" site.QuickArmory isn't necessarily the most robust Armory site out there, but it's still really good at getting you lots of information on one character quickly. If you do a lot of Armory searching for PuGs or just like learning about the various characters on your server, it's definitely worth a bookmark.
IBM ThamesBlue supercomputer uncovers antediluvian English words
Granted, we could personally think of much more amazing ways to put supercomputers to work, but maybe there is some sort of benefit to humanity by knowing precisely what our ancestors' first words were. All that aside, the IBM ThamesBlue supercomputer has been tapped by language masters at the University of Reading in order to find that 'I,' 'we,' 'who' and the numbers '1,' '2' and '3' are amongst the most ancient across all Indo-European languages. Comically enough, it was also found that words like 'squeeze,' 'guts,' 'stick,' 'throw' and 'dirty' were also markedly archaic, which sure says a lot about how men in particular, um, don't evolve. At any rate, these new computational powers have reportedly opened up another 25,000 years or so of language study, so we suspect the folks on this project will be occupied for some time to come.
Japanese survey links video games to learning English
Odds are, if you can read this blog post, then you know English. It's crazy, we know, but we've performed several calculations and experiments before coming to this conclusion. A Japanese company called iSHARE INC. wanted to get to the bottom of a similar issue, polling 413 individuals with a single question: If you study English, what method is good? Much to our surprise, the top choice was video games!Meanwhile, if you're trying to learn incorrect English, we suggest you check out any of the games on this list.[Via Kotaku]
English version of DS recipe application coming to America in November
At Nintendo's E3 press conference this morning, the company announced that their an English version of their popular Japanese Nintendo DS recipe application, Cooking Nanny, will be coming to America in November. More as we get it.
New European server, Blade's Edge, opens today [Updated]
The Ruin Battlegroup of the European servers will be getting a new English language PvE server named Blade's Edge, Thundgot has announced. It will be a completely new realm, which means no transfers allowed for the first few months. In addition, the Ahn'Qiraj gates will be closed -- which means this is your chance to get a group over there and start powerleveling toward the Qiraji battle tank and the Scarab Lord title. Apparently, some people have been complaining about queue times in the Ruin battlegroup for some time, so hopefully this should ease those problems once people get on and start leveling. The server will open today at 17:00 Paris time. Good luck to everyone who decides to reroll there! Update: Strike that, it looks like they decided to let the it go live right after maintenance. Thanks for the heads up, Roelof.
Nintendo's DS handheld used to teach English in Japan
We've already got Nokia handsets being used to teach math in South Africa, so we totally knew it was only a matter of time before a gaming handheld or two got in on the fun. Select middle school kids at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school are not only allowed to bust out their DS in class, they're required to. As the school attempts to make English education "fun" for everyone, it's currently using Nintendo's famed handheld along with English learning software in order to keep students interested in nailing those dilettantes, truckles and wunderkinds. There's no telling if the pilot will blossom and invade other institutions, but we have all ideas children across the country will be requesting it when asked to fill out end-of-year comment cards and the like.[Via Switched]
Japanese classrooms using Nintendo DS to teach English
We've had many Game Boy Pockets, GBA SPs and other portable devices snatched up by certain agitated educators during our formative years, which is why the recent news of a new program to teach English to Japanese students using the Nintendo DS fills us with unbridled, elderly bitterness. Think of the things our generation of handheld companions could have taught us! Geometry from Tetris! Microbiology from Dr. Mario! Animal husbandry from Pokémon!To be fair, the program (which was recently examined in a Reuters write-up) requires students at Japan's Joshi Gakuen all-girl junior high school to use special English-instructing software with the handhelds, which are collected at the end of each class to prevent any unsavory Pokédueling during recess. The program is just barely into its one-year trial period, though the school's vice principal is very optimistic -- if only he knew he was actually transforming his pupils into rot-brained, knife-wielding miscreants!
DS is an excellent tool for teaching Japanese students English
Japanese students at Tokyo's Joshi Gakuen all-girls junior high school are getting DS handhelds for the classroom, but they're not playing New Super Mario Bros. on them. They're using them to learn a new language: English. What makes it such a great tool in aiding their studies? Perhaps it's familiarity ...The handheld system is incredibly popular in the country and many students have one they enjoy using to play games on a regular basis. It's a system they're comfortable with, has an easy interface, and mixes a bit of fun in with the learning. If we would've had the option when learning another language in our schooltime studies, we'd probably remember how to ask where the bathroom is in German.
Warhammer Online interview on X-Play
We feel that we should preface this piece of news by telling you stalwart Warhammer Online fans that there's no fantastically new information about the game discussed in this interview. Even the gameplay footage is stuff we've already seen. Instead, this seems more about telling people who haven't heard of EA Mythic's upcoming labor of love Warhammer Online why they should be interested in the game. Both Paul Barnett and Jeff "The" Hickman talk to Morgan Webb about their game and while Paul looks particularly tired (with very good reason, though) he still sells the game with his usual plucky-yet-fierce demeanor.World of Warcraft is of course mentioned by Webb, but they guys do a pretty good job steering the discussion away from Blizzard's golden boy and towards why their game will be worth all of our time. We imagine that it would be tough to try and overtake a conversation when you're up against both Jeff and Paul, as they're equally charismatic guys. So check it out, the video isn't very long and should entertain you a little bit what with Paul's semi-incoherent rambling about soccer hooligans and posh English people on drugs.[via Keen and Graev]
