Face
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A face in Searing Gorge
Folks are saying this has been around since release, but I've never seen this before, either-- Serevarno found a face in the landscape of Searing Gorge. You can really only see it on the minimap, and while it is pretty messy, it's too clean to have happened by chance. The image almost looks like that "Andre the Giant has a posse" picture, doesn't it?Bornakk jokes that the Titans left their face there before heading off to another world, but while that's probably not the case (Titans aren't that grubby), it is interesting that he should say the Titans leave their images sitting around-- we've already seen Titan statues appear in the videos for Northrend, and it's been confirmed there's a Titan instance up there. Leaving their images sitting around is definitely something they are wont to do.But of course it's doubtful this has anything to do with the lore-- at most, it's just a developer hiding an Easter Egg, and at least, it's just a coincidence. Still neat, though.
Guess what kind of game uses the new DS camera
If you guessed any kind of game at all, sorry. If you correctly identified that as a trick question, then you win at DS fandom. That's right, the DS Lite is getting an official camera peripheral, and the first piece of software to use it is Otona no DS Kao Training (Adults' DS Face Training.) In fact, the camera is called the Facening Scan, leaving no question as to its intended use.What's Facening, you may ask? Well, it's a regimen of facial stretching designed to reduce wrinkles and sagging, and to make your face appear smaller.The camera is included with the software, as is a DS Lite stand. You bring your own ridiculous face-- you probably already got your first lesson in Facening when you read about this piece of software![Via NeoGAF]
The face of Halo's Master Chief?
Like looking into the Ark of the Covenant, there is a sect of fanboy that believes to actually see the face of Master Chief would mean the melting of your face and the imminent collapse of the universe. Then there are those so desperate to see the man (or woman), they'll look for it in the reflection of the helmet in the Halo 3 commercial, or just Photoshop it in. Ever see Chuck Norris Master Chief, how about Ellen?As for this video, the Master Chief looks half-Protoss under the mask. Maybe Bungie is hinting that Halo 3 will reveal a merging of the Starcraft and Halo universes? Wouldn't that be amazing? We could write fan fiction all day about such things. But is it the face of the Master Chief? Does the Master Chief even have a face? What is a face? All these questions and more will still be there when we finish the fight this September and Halo 3 unleashes so we can test this little video for ourselves.[Thanks, Justin and Jonah]
Kansei makes a comeback with reactive facial expressions
Quite a lot has transpired in the android universe in the past two years, and it's fairly safe to say that Kansei has made a few solid strides during that time as well. A Japanese research team has purportedly crafted a working prototype that can "pull up to 36 different facial expressions based on a program which creates word associations from a self-updating online database of 500,000 keywords." According to a professor at Meiji University's School of Science and Technology, the idea of the project is to "create a flow of consciousness in robots so that they can make the relevant facial expressions," and the device relies on 19 movable parts and a silicon face mask in order to work its magic. Developers also noted that speech abilities should be added within a few years, and while we doubt you had to guess, it's quite likely that fully developed Kanseis will one day roam nursing homes as Japan seeks to care for its quickly growing geriatric set.
Should game designers get celebritized?
Quick, name ten famous game designers. OK, now name ten famous movie directors. Which list took you longer? Even if you're a serious gamer, the list of movie directors probably came out quicker. Patrick Dugan helps explain why in an excellent post on the small but growing phenomenon of the celebrity game designer.While movie studios often sell a movie as the singular vision of a single auteur, games or more often sold as products than statements. With games, "it was far simpler to associate that content with a genre, or better yet, a franchise brand, than it was to associate it with a personality," as Dugan puts it.Perhaps this is for the best. After all, most modern games are produced by a large group of people, not just a celebrity designer that can serve as a public face for the project. Even this is changing, though, with high profile, independent projects like flOw and Super Columbine Massacre RPG being closely associated with a single designer (Jenova Chen and Danny Ledonne, respectively). In an internet world where anyone can easily make and distribute a game, literally anyone can be a celebrity designer.Personally, we just hope this growing trend of attention for the people behind the games doesn't grow into outright celebrity worship. The line between respect for a designer's vision and Us Weekly style obsession with everything they do isn't as thick as you might think.[Via Raph]
A special message from Nintendo Wii Fanboy
It's here, folks. For many of us, years of waiting ends tomorrow at 12:01 AM, a mere twenty-four hours from now. And indeed, perhaps almost as fun as the Wii itself will be the camping out, braving the elements with your fellow Nintendo die-hards. But, a word of caution.As you very well may know, the PS3 launch was horrendously chaotic. Reports are still coming in from around the country on various shootings, robberies, mayhem, and general discourtesy. It's true that Nintendo will have a larger initial stock, but the demand is no less. We at the Fanboy kindly ask that you show patience and kindness during your launch-day festivities, and remember that you're all there for a common purpose. Should you fail to claim a system on the day of, please, show respect and courtesy to those around you regardless. A few days truly isn't that long in the grand scheme of the things, and the last thing we want is to see someone get hurt over something designed to bring enjoyment and fun to the masses.And with that out of the way, it's time to rock this thing. Nintendo Wii, here we come!
Oki to provide face recognition for Pantech handsets
Okay, okay, maybe we went a little rough on Pantech's SKY IM-R100 on the first go around, panning it for offering nothing of particular value in its bizarre pivot-slide form factor. It turns out we missed one important detail: the IM-R100 will be Pantech's first handset to integrate Oki's FaceSensingEngine, a relatively lightweight face recognition system that's supposedly well-suited to devices with limited memory and processor power. Oki claims that faces can be locked onto in 115 milliseconds and tracked in just 35 in a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting situations. For their part, Pantech is initially using the system to automatically center the camera when taking pictures, but we have to assume there are some gaming applications to be found here as well. So again, IM-R100, we're sorry for beating up on ya the first time around; lesson learned.[Via Slashphone]
First half of 2006 owned by the DS
Seeing as how Japan keeps extremely accurate hardware and software sales numbers on a weekly and monthly basis, it comes as no surprise when famed Japanese gaming rag Famitsu releases composite data for the first half of 2006. The question here is not "Did the DS Lite own faces?" but rather, "Exactly how MUCH face did the DS Lite own?" (This was a weak attempt at justifying the picture you see to your right...to be honest, I just thought it was hilarious, and decided to post it.) Let's take a look. From December 26, 2005, to June 25, 2006, the DS and DS Lite have captured a whopping 63% of the hardware market (around 4 million units). That's not the portable market, that's the whole flippin' thing, folks. Second place belongs to the PSP at 16.1% of the total market, followed by the PS2 at 13.5%. GBA/GBASP/GBAMicro follow at 5%, and the Xbox 360 trails with a rather silly-sounding 1%.In terms of software, the DS managed to claim seven of the top ten best-selling games in the period. The sequel to Brain Age took first place with over 2.5 million copies sold, followed by Final Fantasy XII for the PS2, and then New Super Mario Bros. in third.That's a lot of face.[Thanks, Probot!]
