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Sony keynote at London Games Summit, Games Festival hotting up
This October, the London Games Festival will be hitting the UK's capital with a whole bevy of gaming events. (If you're in the industry, or you want to be, that is.) First up, we have the European answer to GDC, GDC London, for the development types -- sessions range from the excitingly-titled-yet-probably-dull "Combat: The Ninja Way" through to a Molyneux special on design inspiration.More a business sort? The Games Summit is up your street, with buzzword-compliant "hard-hitting business content" for all tastes, from ARGs to -- surprise! -- another Molyneux special, this one on Lionhead. The newly-announced Games Summit keynote will be given by Michael Denny of SCEE, focusing on the networked age and digital distribution, which should provoke some interesting thought.Other events in the Games Festival lineup include the London Game Career Fair and the BAFTA Video Games awards (a British Academy Awards, for games, with more swearing). For those of us interested in playing games, celeb-spotting and the slightly offbeat, events throughout the week of the Festival -- 2-7 October -- will hopefully deliver, with a showcase at HMV's Oxford Street branch and a 'fringe' show which both look to be worth attending.
Video Games Live hits London on November 25th
Those of us this side of the pond may have been reading the various Video Games Live tidbits with a detached air of mild interest, but finally we'll be able to get in on the musical action. The concert of videogame music will be hitting London's Hammersmith Apollo on November 25th, and tickets went on sale last week. We'll be there, so watch out for the Joystiq t-shirt amidst the crowds; now, if only the concert would do a UK or European tour for those of us aware that London isn't the only city on this continent.
London theatergoers: "Jam our phones"
Losing reception can be a downright nerve-wracking experience for some of us, but if there's one place no one wants to hear a ring -- much less take a call -- we have to believe it's in live theater. It really comes as no surprise then that a recent poll conducted among theatergoers in London suggests that a full 72 percent would like to see jamming equipment installed to prevent calls from interrupting performances (if anything, we're surprised it's not higher). For the record, said equipment is currently illegal in the UK, but support is growing to legalize it for these kinds of environments. If it can all go down without jeopardizing legit signals, we suspect they'd find support for similar measures virtually everywhere in the world.[Via Techdirt]
WiFi camera takes "photos" of networks
Those good folks across the pond sometimes amaze us, and other times they just plain confuse us. From what we can gather, this cantenna (made with wasabi cans -- nice touch!) scans for WiFi networks in its vicinity and takes "snapshots" of those networks, and then translates that data into a visual representation -- a color SSID. Once the data stack is large enough, all those SSIDs get project on the wall, but if each SSID gets its own color, then why do we see repeating colors in this photo? Maybe if you're in the Riga, Latvia area sometime in the next couple weeks you can fill us in as to how this exactly this sucker works. Anyway, it sure livens up a room, don't you think?
Gorenje Eye-Catchers: Get an iced out fridge for 10,000
Clearly there's one niche market that the über-rich must have been clamoring for to the appliance manufacturers of the world: how to combine a fridge with obscene amounts of shinyness? Fear not, Gorenje UK, the British division of a company from <strike>the former Yugoslavia</strike> Slovenia, has developed an extremely limited line of refrigerators (known appropriately as "The Eye-Catchers") lined with rows upon rows of Swarovski crystals (7,000 to be precise). Act now kids, because Gorenje is only making 10 of these, and they retail for £10,000 (nearly $19,000). For that price, the combined 331 L (87.4 gallons) capacity fridge-freezer also comes with a radio receiver, a "cookery book" (we assume that's a cookbook), voice messages and a voice alarm. You can catch a glimpse of one of these on the company's website, and at Harrods in London. This fridge too rich for you? Don't worry, there's a budget model priced at only £1400 -- but it only comes with 3500 crystals, so really, what's the point of that? More photos on the flip side. [Via Pocket Lint]
Passport to London is your somewhat dumb guide to London
Eurogamer has reviewed Sony's interesting non-game, Passport to London, which acts as a guide of sorts to one of Europe's most popular destinations. The idea of this software is pretty interesting: for example, let's say you're walking around and want to find a museum nearby. Or, how about a hotel? When the sun sets, of course you'll want to find a pub of some sort. Passport also includes pictures, videos and audio features: it has a very Talkman-like feature that gives you some popular phrases translated across multiple languages.While Passport seems to be an intriguing idea, the execution appears to be weak, at best. There is a distinct lack of information: there's only four pubs, one theatre, and even the more famous restaurants like Nobu are nowhere to be found. The review concludes that Passport is "a missed opportunity." Hopefully, future versions will allow for some more interesting features: GPS integration, internet access (so you can make hotel reservations via wi-fi), and downloadable updates are just some of the few ideas that are popping up in my head.
Traveling to London? Stay at the Canary Wharf's Four Seasons for in-room HDTV
Hotels are suppose to feel like home away from home but sometime those non-detachable coat hangers just make the place seem so, um, staged, but if need to get your high-def fix when travel abroad, check out London's Four Seasons on Canary Whalf. NXTV has outfitted 142 rooms with high-def VOD along with high speed Internet, and a customized guest interface. We are wondering what kind and size HDTVs these rooms are outfitted with...wonder if Weblogs INC will foot the bill to fly the four of us over there to check out the rooms HDTVs?
London thugs grabbing iPods
Its hard out there for a London iPod listener. It would seem that muggings are up on the streets of fair London and the Bobbies blame iPods (and other expensive portable electronics). Luckily, the good fellows at Crave Talk have a few ways of concealing your iPod from would be attackers. Most of the methods are rather imaginative (some are even rather impressive) though I think they might be more fun to write about than actually do.I say, wear black headphones and be ever vigilant. It is a dangerous world out there.
Private gaming with a PSP face scarf
Joe Malia, a student at the Royal College of Art in London, created a series of face scarves with special attachments that, at least in the above example, "lets PSP players explore their passion in complete privacy". There's also a special design that fits neatly over a CRT; the perfect way to prevent your roommate from copying your finely honed Counter-Strike tactics.
London Residents: HDTV trials are starting, apply now!
Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about the BBC trials? Well, the network is taking applications for the trial that will take place in London. So, not to state the obvious, but you have to live in London and the not so obvious is that you have to have Freeview. The network will then provide a select couple hundred households with set top boxes to receive the signal.Not sold yet London residents, this trial would allow you to watch the coveted World Cup games...
London Zookeepers try to reform cellphone-snatching monkeys
Solving a problem that we didn't even know existed, staff at the London Zoo have trained their resident squirrel monkeys not to snatch visitors' cellphones while they attempt to photograph the little rascals. Apparently unable to resist the cacophony of sounds and blinking lights that emanate from today's handsets (especially those that have been modded with aftermarket "enhancements"), the monkeys were taking advantage of their barrier-free environment to reach out and touch unsuspecting guests and their mobiles. Instead of lecturing the monkeys on the possible health risks of cellphone usage, or scaring them with tales of bloated roaming charges, zookeepers decided to go the Pavlovian route and simply coat several old phones with an unappealing goo -- which we've tried several times to break our own gadget addiction, but we always just ended up getting addicted to the goo.[Via textually]
Cool Regent Street Apple Store animation
As someone who has only visited the CambridgeSide Apple Store in Cambridge, Mass. (one of the earlier stores, and a modest one), I haven't seen the spectacular flagship stores in New York City and London. That's why I found this animation so entertaining. It's a nice representation of the Regent Street store that's annotated with the various features of that location. Click on one of those features, like the theater for example, and see a photo.Ah, you lucky Londoners. Enjoy your gorgeous store. Incidentally, the upcoming Arndale Centre - Manchester store is still looking for employees. Good luck!
8bit musicians announce world tour
Former cellmates Nullsleep and Bitshifter have announced plans to embark on a world tour, blasting their blend of bleeps, bloops, and blizzasts from Boston to Brussels and back again. If you're not an 8-bit believer yet, nothing will win you over except trying it out for yourself. To that end, here are links (1, 2, 3, 4) to some MP3s these torturers of Gameboys, Famicoms and other old-school video game consoles have kindly provided for downloading. If you like what you hear, check the tour page and maybe even drop a few dollars in the donation bucket to help make it happen.
Fuss over Sony PSP ads in the UK
In the wake of Sony's graffiti-fuelled advertising campaign, the games giant has tried a fresh start, plastering public transport in the UK with enticing slogans. However, the slogans seem to have caused more trouble than necessary; an advert on a Manchester platform encouraging travellers to "take a running jump" has been deemed inappropriate and is due to be removed.Elsewhere, in London, large Tube ads encouraging users to seemingly fill their PSPs with porn have caused some confusion. Could this be another attempt to whip up interest in Sony's advertising campaign, or are they simply a couple of misguided messages that looked better in the boardroom?[Thanks, Dave]
Gamers, flash mobs, and London -- the Perplex City Academy Games
Gamers in London enjoying an afternoon at the Trocadero may have seen a strange sight yesterday: every fifteen minutes, groups of people wearing stickers were escorted by wardens in matching t-shirts towards a DDR, Daytona or Guitar Freaks machine. While some members of the stickered teams competed at these games, others huddled around maps mumbling about Trafalgar Square or the National Gallery, pulling out beeping phones every few minutes and hurriedly composing messages.This wasn't some strange terrorist activity--instead, it was the live counterpart to a long-running alternate reality game, a day of challenges which saw over two hundred people navigating around London armed with little more than a question sheet and a mobile phone. Alternate reality gaming exists in the overlap between video games, traditional puzzles and live-action roleplay; it reached the attention of gamers in 2004 with the I Love Bees promotional ARG for Halo 2, followed by another for GUN, Last Call Poker.
Apple Store Brent Cross: Your reports
Earlier today, Apple opened its newest retail store at Brent Cross in London. As usual, we asked any TUAW operatives who may have attended to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you go, and if you did, how was it? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt.
Latest UK Apple Store opens this weekend
This Saturday, January 28th at 9:00 AM in London, Apple will open its newest Apple Store at Brent Cross. This store is located in the Upper West Mall of the Brent Cross Shopping Centre. You can find complete travel directions here. As usual, the first 1000 visitors will be rewarded with commemorative t-shirts. Visitors can also enter to win the “Grand Opening Sweepstakes,” which will award one winner with an iMac, an iPod nano, a Canon digital camera and camcorder and an HP inkjet printer.If you're going to attend the opening at Brent Cross, please send us links to your photos and reports! Good luck and have fun.
iPod "school" opens in London
File this one under "I am absolutely going to do this in my own town and make a ton of dough." Selfridges in London is offering classes to iPod-toting Londoners to the tune of £65 (about $115US as of this writing) each, with topics like using iTunes, creating playlists and downloading podcasts.Classes can be attended at Selfridges' Oxford street location, or in your own home. If I had know someone would give me a hundred and fifty bucks to show them how to make a playlist, I would have set up shop years ago. So good luck to the enterprising geeks at Selfridges (and may London's iPod owners not realize that they can walk to the Regent Street Apple Store and get the same thing for free).[Via Australian IT]
