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Apple granted patent for handheld that recognizes your hands
You could probably fill a book with Apple patent applications that never amounted to anything, but here's one that's at least been granted -- a "handheld device" that uses capacitive sensors to recognize your identity just by the way you hold it, and subsequently personalize the device's buttons and settings to your hand based on your user profile. That's all that's actually been patented here, but the general idea is a little more grand -- you could theoretically grip a handheld with either hand, and it would automatically generate "button zones" under each finger using sensors (or disappearing buttons, perhaps) baked right into the chassis, making cries of "you're holding it wrong" hopefully fade into obscurity. Still, it's not the first time we've seen Cupertino reaching for digit recognition and we're sure it won't be the last, so we'll just file away our enthusiasm until or unless Jobs announces it on stage.
Germany slapping RFID tags on its populace for the sake of brisker bureaucracy
ID cards and RFID tags are similar in one key respect: they get a lot of bad press -- one for constricting civil liberties, the other for being a lousy security risk -- and yet are widely used around the world. It's fitting, therefore, that Germany has decided to marry the two for the latest version of its own personalausweis. Dutch company NXP has begun production of the requisite RFID chips for these new slices of plastic, which will roll out from the beginning of November this year. The Deutsch state sees a vastly expanded role for the modernized cards, including validating your identity for online shopping and communicating with your local authority (e-government, they call it). And, of course, your biometric data is loaded onto the chip as well, just to make things nice and neat. You know, we remember the good old days when identity theft used to be hard.
id's Carmack wants to support current franchises, new IPs unlikely
Rage represents a rather large milestone for Carmack's id team. Not only is it the first game to use id Tech 4, it's the first id game to be published by new owner Bethesda. It's also the first new IP from the team in over a decade, since 1996's release of Quake. If a recent interview in the Official PlayStation Magazine (via CVG) is to be believed, it's likely that the new new IP from id will be just as far away. "I doubt we're going to do another IP," Carmack told OPM. "We want to support Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake -- and hopefully we can add Rage onto that. ... Obviously, if Rage is a success then we'll want to do a Rage 2." Considering the lengthy development cycles at id (evidenced by the currently-MIA Doom 4) who knows when the next new IP will bubble out of the company? Especially with that Commander Keen reboot getting in the way, right?
QuakeCon: Rage to be released Sept. 13, 2011 in the US, Sept. 15 in Europe
id Software just announced during a QuakeCon live presentation that Rage will be hitting store shelves on September 13, 2011 in the US and September 15, 2011 in Europe. Kotaku reports on the release date via its liveblog, highlighting one of the reasons the game still has another year of development time -- the Xbox 360 version crashed during the presentation. If you're really itching to jump into Rage's universe, the iPhone/iPad version of the game will launch sometime this year. That could help tide you over until the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions arrive next September.%Gallery-99359%
QuakeCon pack on Steam: Every id and Bethesda game for $70
Well, every id and Bethesda game available on Steam, anyway. The QuakeCon 2010 Pack contains enough games to choke a Cacodemon, including titles from the Quake, Doom, Heretic and Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3 and more. Oh, and also Rogue Warrior. But hey, you still get 27 games for only $70, a savings of over $230. In related news, the prices of several id mobile games have been slashed as well. Doom Classic and Doom Resurrection have both dropped to a wallet-pleasing $1.99, while Doom 2 RPG and Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum have both been knocked down to $0.99. Snag 'em from the App Store quick, because the sale ends August 15.
Intel's smart TV remote will recognize you, tailor content to your wishes
It's all about how you hold it, apparently. Intel's Labs have churned out a proposal for a new user-identifying system to be embedded into remote controls. Given a bit of time to familiarize itself with particular users, this new motion sensor-equipped channel switcher is capable of correctly recognizing its holder just by the way he operates it. Taking accelerometer readings every 100 nanoseconds, the researchers were able to build a data set of idiosyncrasies about each person, which would then be applied the next time he picked up the remote. Alas, accuracy rates are still well short of 100 percent, but there's always hope for improving things and for now it's being suggested that the system could be employed to help with targeted advertising -- which is annoying anyway, whoever it may think you are.
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Voodoo Dice, Ben 10, Doom 2
Three utterly disparate games on XBLA this Week. Whether you prefer blasting demons, transforming into aliens or ... rolling dice, there's something here for you. This week on XBLA in Brief, we try out Voodoo Dice, Ben 10 and Doom 2 -- a puzzle game, platformer and FPS, respectively. One important note: Doom 2 is the only one with a chainsaw (as far as we know). [iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes. [Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly. [RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [M4V] Download the M4V directly. Xbox.com: Add Voodoo Dice trial version to your Xbox 360 download queue Xbox.com: Add Ben 10 trial version to your Xbox 360 download queue Xbox.com: Add Doom 2 trial version to your Xbox 360 download queue
The Daily Grind: Be yourself or someone like you
It wasn't one of the biggest news items of last week, but Blizzard's announcements regarding Battle.net and the RealID system did turn a few heads. The fact that it uses the real name of players was a bit surprising, but at the end of the day it's not the first game allowing people to track players across alts. City of Heroes has always had a global chat handle integrated with the client, and both Star Trek Online and Champions Online integrate your name directly with the name of a given character. On the one hand, this can be seen as a good thing. Rather than friending an army of alts that your friend cycles through on a regular basis, you friend somebody once and you know them. There's also no hiding behind alts for disrespectful or unpleasant players. On the other hand, it means that no one gets to advantage of taking a night off on an alt no one knows about, and it can raise some security and identity concerns. (Especially in Blizzard's case, what with the real names being used.) What do you think about global identities in MMOs? Are they a good move as a whole, or are they a bit too Big Brother for your tastes?
Interview: Jason Kim talks RAGE
What does a video game producer do? Well, the brutally honest Jason Kim from id's RAGE summed it up for us. "I'm just a producer; I don't make anything that actually shows up in the game." So there you have it! Okay, we're kidding (slightly). It's a producer's task on a game to make sure everything is running smoothly, that schedules are being met, budgets being adhered to, all so that one day the game can end up on your system of choice. That's no small task. Kim has been working on RAGE at id for the past several years, and has seen the project move from EA, to being an internally developed project at id, and now on to Bethesda. He's definitely enthusiastic about the project (and the word megatexture), and you can read on beyond the break for the full interview with him were he talks about the game, and why a lot of developers seem to be using the post-apocalyptic realm as a backdrop.%Gallery-92198%
Impressions: RAGE
RAGE is a gorgeous game. The Xbox 360 version of id's post-apocalyptic shooter, running at 60 frames per second, stunned at a recent Bethesda event, and removed any doubts as to whether the idTech 5 engine would hold up nearly three years after the game's unveiling. RAGE's story starts in the near future: a giant asteroid is heading towards Earth, and rather than launch a team of wacky oil-rig drillers at the problem, the governments of the world convene and decide to put most of the population into suspended animation and bury them beneath the surface in giant Arks. Years later, you're revived as the sole survivor of your malfunctioning Ark. I watched a hands-off demonstration a bit further along into the game, but there will be a brief tutorial during your revival process. %Gallery-92198%
Quake Live update makes it easier to frag friends
Worried about Stranger Danger in Quake Live? Well, the still-in-beta browser-based frag-em-up has been updated, allowing would-be murderers the ability to invite friends to their match or join their pals' sessions currently in progress. Why you would want to hurt your friends in this manner, we'll never know. On a less backstabbery note, this update brings another interesting change that's currently only in private testing: the "Start a Match" feature. This particular function grants leagues and players the ability to start their own servers. Then, you can set the game to have no password, enable invite-only servers and even designate your own map cycle. Sadly, there's no word as of when this will be available to all participants. For the full list of changes in the latest update, hit up the Quake Live forums. [Via Bethesda Blog]
QuakeCon 2010 announced for August
Ahh yes, another year, another QuakeCon. The annual mecca for all things id Software (and now all things Bethesda Softworks, as well) will be returning to Texas this year on August 12-15, presumably with the usual three-plus hours of John Carmack keynote in tow (he goes on and on because he loves!). As usual, the goings-on will be free, with the 72 hours of pure, unfiltered nerddom sponsored by parent company Zenimax Media (alright, alright -- it's very likely that the Bawls energy drink company is putting up some money as well). Little is known about the actual events of the show this year outside of the aforementioned cursory details, though, yes, the traditional event-wide network will again be available for attendees who bring PC rigs. That means order the purple neon light for your PC today, friends, not tomorrow.
Carmack and Hollenshead reflect on id sale
Six months after the acquisition deal that brought id Software under the wing of Bethesda parent-company ZeniMax, id Software co-founder John Carmack has again weighed in on the move and why he feels it made sense for the studio. Speaking with Edge Online, Carmack cited a waning interest from publishing partners -- specifically, Activision's decision to focus on internal development -- as a major contributing factor in the sale of the nearly 20-year-old company. When the deal was first announced, games media focused on the sale of a long-time independent developer; however, id president Todd Hollenshead views the situation from a different angle. "I think it's just as true that we acquired an internal publishing capacity," he said. According to Hollenshead, ZeniMax values development "for its own sake," rather than "trying to put something in a box and relying on marketing for sales." In the modern games industry where "the business is so much about either having a hit or being totally irrelevant," Hollenshead says a strong publishing partner is increasingly important to the survival of a development studio. Truthfully, we're happy for id Software. If the Activision partnership had continued, it would have been just a matter of time before the house that Doom built was tapped for some kind of peripheral-related disaster.
id 'ramping up' hiring for Doom
While id is currently keeping Rage at the forefront of its media presence, it looks like things are starting to accelerate for the next entry in the Doom series. Bethesda has made a note on its official blog that id is currently hiring, with "several programming positions open, as well as positions in Animation, Art, Design, IT, and Management." While the post doesn't directly specify that the company is hiring for Doom, it does point to the image at right as a clue to what the studio is "ramping up for." Announced in 2008, the next Doom project is "not a sequel to Doom 3, but it's not a reboot either," according to id's Todd Hollenshead. It won't be called Doom 4 either. Whatever it is, we probably won't be hearing about it anytime soon.
Samsung OLED identity card animates your creepy, disembodied head (video)
For better or worse, it looks like RFID-ified identification is here to stay. Just about the coolest threat to our civil liberties we've seen this week, Samsung Mobile Display's Specimen Display Card Prototype is a pretty bog-standard ID -- until you bring it within range of an ISO 14443 RFID card reader, at which point the OLED display springs to life, summoning a 360 degree closeup of the card holder's head.Looks like it just got a little harder to change your identity, no? Peep the video for yourself after the break.
Quake Live's 'Silent Night' map adds festive fragging fun
Click image to deck the halls with larger images This time of year is usually one of peace and safe comfort for just about everyone. The same can't be said for the land of Quake Live, where id Software has injected some Yuletide spirit into the browser-based frag-em-up's usual industrial surroundings. For two weeks, players can enjoy a Christmas-themed remake of Team Arena map "Distant Screams," now named "Silent Night." This update doesn't add particularly festive weapons to the mix, but the fresh coat of winter wonderland paint is certainly welcome. Nothing tops off the Christmas spirit tank like a little rocket play beneath giant candy canes and a star-filled sky, after all. %Gallery-80909% [Via CVG]
Zenimax gets unofficial Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake ports pulled from Android Market
Android and Me points out some ports of popular id games were once available on your snazzy superphone, including Quake, Wolfenstein and Doom. They didn't last long, however, as Zenimax has managed to get the games pulled from Google's Android Market service due to copyright infringement. It's only natural for ZeniMax to want to get the titles pulled and doubly so if the publisher is thinking about releasing id's classics on the platform, though that's just speculation on our part based on id's readiness to work on the competing iPhone platform. Head past the break to check out some footage of what you missed out on, courtesy of the unofficial Android version of Doom. We've asked ZeniMax to comment on any commercial plans for these titles on Android and to clarify the nature of Doom's open source codebase and why it was included in this takedown request. [Update: A ZeniMax spokesperson got back to use, writing: "We did issue a DMCA takedown notice to the Android store to remove the unofficial Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake games as they contain our trademarks and copyrighted assets, including graphics, artwork, storylines and audio. Open source relates to the underlying engine source code, not to a game's content, trademarks and assets, all of which remain proprietary. If the game was a total conversion and did not use any of our trademarks or assets, that would be fine. But none of our data can be repackaged and nobody is authorized to make a Doom, Wolfenstein or Quake product."] [Via Game Politics]
GE Global Research holograms increase security, redefine 'going green'
GE Global Research in collaboration with SABIC Innovative Plastics has developed a new class of holographic materials that can be processed in plastic to create a wide range of novelty products, credit, or identity cards. Instead of just being stamped onto the surface of the card like typical holograms, these new cards rely upon thermo-plastic based volume holography to store the data (binary images, 3D images of your face, fingerprints, and even animations) within the card itself for an extra degree of tamper-free security. And because the holographic material can be injection-molded, it could ultimately be applied to a variety of personalized products including laptops and cellphones. GE Global Research is intent on commercializing the new holographic materials by 2012, until then we've got a video that gives a good idea of how your 3D mug might look pressed into those government or corporate mandated ID cards of the future. Check it after the break. %Gallery-78893%
Apple seeks game guru for app development
While some say Apple never wanted the iPhone to be a gaming device, the company knows which way the wind is blowing and wants to get involved. Apple is looking to hire a game and media software engineer for its iPhone and iPod touch team, which could mean it wants to make games of its own. The job description doesn't say "games" specifically, focusing instead on "interactive multimedia experiences." However, the ad is looking for someone with "3-4 years of video game development experience," someone who has "shipped at least one AAA title," and someone who is a "passionate gamer." id Software co-founder John Carmack says higher-ups in Apple aren't overjoyed with the growing status of the iPhone and iPod touch as gaming devices. But there's big money in games. Research firm DFC Intelligence sees profits for dedicated game-device makers like Sony and Nintendo shrinking 27% over the next five years, while expecting revenue from games for Apple's handhelds to rise from $46 million last year, to $2.8 billion dollars by 2014. That's a lot of money flowing through Apple, though most of that will go to developers. With over 100,000 apps available in the App Store, only four available today are made by Apple, and only one of those - Texas Hold'em (iTunes link) is a game. [via Apple Insider]
John Carmack: Working with Apple not always easy
Folklore.org is a tremendous repository of Apple history and lore. Check it out if you haven't; you'll find some entertaining and incredible stories. I'm reminded of Folklore whenever a story emerges describing Apple from behind the scenes, like this interview with id Software's co-founder John Carmack. Speaking with Kotaku, John describes the ups and downs of working with Apple: "I'll be invited up on stage for a keynote one month and then I'll say something they don't like and I can be blacklisted for six months." We suspect such a public revelation won't get you back on stage anytime soon, John. Or maybe not, as he's now got "a man on the inside." Former id coworker Graeme Devine now works at Apple's iPhone Game Technologies division. However, the most interesting part of this interview confirms, in a small way, what I've always suspected: Apple begrudgingly promotes the iPod touch and iPhone as gaming platforms. "At the highest level of Apple, in their heart of hearts," Carmack said, "they're not proud of the iPhone being a game machine, they wish it was something else." I have no way of backing this up, but I've long suspected that Steve Jobs in particular has no interest in the world of gaming. They're certainly pushing the iPod touch as a gaming device, but I'm sure it's through tightly-clenched teeth.
