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New federal employee IDs coming this fall, biometric firms giddy
As The Washington Post reports, a slew of fresh government initiatives are set to begin to take effect this fall, starting with new biometric-loaded ID cards for federal employees. In addition to requiring all employees to undergo background checks (don't they do that already?), the new standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology will require the cards to include fingerprints at a minimum, and likely also include magnetic strips, personal identification numbers, digital photos, holograms, and watermarks. That should cover some 10 million employees, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what's really getting the biometric companies excited: the prospect of tricking out every driver's license in the country with biometric goodness (or badness, depending on your perspective). While standards for that have yet to been set, the Real ID Act has set mid-2008 as the cut-off date to settle on the format of next-gen licenses once and for all.
Carmack: Nintendo isn't really our thing
If you don't know the name John Carmack, then it's likely you aren't one who's ever traversed the hellish landscape of both Mars and, well...Hell. You've never taken a chainsaw to an Imp's face and you've likely never obliterated a Cyberdemon with a Big F**king Gun. Well, John Carmack, who is the id Software co-owner/technical director and helped bring all these wonderful scenarios to PC gamers the world over, recently spoke at Quakecon, commenting on both Nintendo platforms.In regards to the DS, John stated that he could possibly see the company bringing its cell phone games to the handheld, but didn't really express much interest to do so, which goes against earlier reports. Stating that even if this were to happen, which he obviously could care less if it does by the sound of things, Carmack stated that the games would be instead published through another third-party rather than Nintendo directly. Eh, who needs him, anyway?
Mobile MMOs in Carmack's future?
After recent mobile efforts including Doom and Orcs and Elves, John Carmack may have a new trick up his sleeve. Speaking to CNN Money, Carmack outlines his fears for the industry -- the unexpected cost of episodic gaming, along with security problems, make up his main concerns.With id's recent move to the mobile phone platform, Carmack's got plans. By trying out franchises on cell phones before risking a big-budget console or PC title, games become a safer bet; Carmack's also "really into the idea of a massively multiplayer cell phone title". While some MMOs have made forays into the mobile world, an exclusive massively multiplayer mobile game is a fairly novel idea -- it may even help the flagging mobile market.[Via Gamesindustry.biz]
John Carmack talks Cell and PS3 development
During E3, the saint of first person shooters sat down to talk with G4TV and discuss the PlayStation 3's development strategy. Seeing as how he pioneered the modern day shooter and single-handedly codes some of the most cutting-edge graphics engines, people listen when he has something to say about this sort of thing. During the interview, he admitted that the PS3 will have more power backing it than the other guys. That's exactly the way Sony wants it though, and the price reflects that. However, the most interesting part came when Mr. Carmack said Sony made a mistake with the PlayStation 3. The mistake wasn't with the price though, it was with the Cell architecture. We're months away from launch, and it's still no secret that the PS3 is hard to develop for. Okay, so this isn't the first time John has said this. But he reiterated that the fragmenting of code which developers are going to have to do for development is an unnecessary evil. Even so, he still thinks the PS3 will bank on Sony's core following, despite these issues. We'll have to wait and see how much the price affects that following though.
Carmack returns to cell games with Orcs & Elves
MTV News has a story on Doom co-creator, and gaming guru, John Carmack's latest FPS megahit Orcs & Elves; only thing is, it's not based on some new super-engine that he hand-coded -- using only one hand, mind you -- while building rocketships with the other. Nope, it's a cell phone game. And it's not even an FPS really, it's "an interpolated first-person action-adventure sort of RPG." Err, right.So why return to cell phone gaming so soon after the unlikely hit of last year's Doom RPG? Sure, Fountainhead, the game design company working on Orcs & Elves for EA (who bought Doom RPG's publisher Jamdat last year) is run by Carmack's Mrs., but there has to be more to get one of PC gaming's biggest power-developers trading in his Ferrari for a Yugo. His vision: "'I do sort of have this grand scheme of, we do Orcs & Elves and we do a sequel and we go into this massively multiplayer Orcs & Elves world.' He sees people connecting across their cell phones, using the phone's built-in speaker and earpiece to communicate through the fantasy world."Some Verizon customers can get the game this Sunday, with additional cell phone platforms available in July.
Police ID woman with her iPod
Here is an odd story for your Sunday morning. A woman was out jogging in San Francisco when she was struck by a car and left unconscious by the hit-and-run driver. She had no ID on her at the time, but police did take the iPod she was using to a local Apple Store. The employees then used the iPod's "...identifying information" (serial number?) with Apple to ID the owner. All of this begs the question:Is there nothing this device can't do?!?
Mod summit looks at modmaking from all angles
Computer Gaming World has (by way of 1up) a roundtable chat with various game developers and modders. If you've ever flirted with modding or downloaded a mod or two then it's a great read, looking at mods from both sides of the game engine.A couple of interesting points for would-be modmakers include the fact that modmaking is becoming more complex, linked to the increasing sophistication of game engines, and a tip from modders that FPS seems to be the genre of choice. While modmakers have no salary or loyalties, meaning that their creativity can run free, sometimes modding is a hard and unrewarding business. Fortunately, there are also success stories from modders who have moved into the games industry as a result of their work.[Update: Corrected CGW, thanks Stevo.]
Romero moves into MMOs
We've already heard from Carmack today; now here's some news about what that pesky John Romero is up to. According to Computer and Video Games, Romero's working on a secret MMO project at an as-yet-undisclosed company.This could point to something interesting; Romero hints that "This is not a typical games company and we're not making typical games", and reveals that the title has a lot of money behind it--with funding in the millions, and cryptic hints about how "special" the MMO is, this is either intriguing or just extremely bad hype. Let the speculation commence.
