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New CryEngine available, supports next-gen systems
A new version of the CryEngine (Crysis 3, Ryse) is now available to developers, Crytek announced. Simply called "CryEngine," the now-numberless technology supports both current-generation systems as well as Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One. In its announcement, Crytek also noted the merging of its CryeEgine research and development and licensing departments, "a move designed to double the level of one-to-one care game licensees can tap into." The free Cryengine SDK also received an update this week, giving it "a raft of the new features" and lifting restrictions that "prevented users from working offline." The free, non-commercial SDK has been downloaded over five million times since it launched two years ago, according to the company.
The Daily Grind: If your favorite game relaunched, what one thing would you fix?
When Final Fantasy XIV relaunches, my greatest wish is that tanking will actually feel fun. I've done my best to enjoy tanking, but the way the game expects you to tank isn't what I'd call a fun ride. Even if everything else stayed exactly the same, I'd declare the relaunch a screaming success if that changed. A lot of games don't relaunch -- the majority, even, unless you count now-ubiquitous free-to-play conversions. But those that do so change a lot about the game, some of it good, some of it bad. Today, we're not asking for all of the things you'd change if you had the choice; today, we want to pick a single element of a game that you like. A lone thing that bothers you that you would want changed. Maybe you'd like to enhance the game's crafting. Maybe you'd like to improve the storytelling. Maybe you even would just add in a few more travel options around a particularly annoying point. If your favorite game was relaunching, what's the one thing that you would want to see fixed in the new version? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Final Fantasy XIV shows off A Realm Reborn on the PlayStation 3
When Final Fantasy XIV first launched, it was with the promise of a PlayStation 3 version in the near future. That was before the game underwent numerous staff changes, and after two years, it may have seemed to fans as if the game would never come to consoles. But the PlayStation 3 version is a reality, and the team at Square-Enix has released new screenshots of the game's UI and in-game graphics on the console version to prove it. The overall look is a bit cleaner than the PC version of the UI that players have seen previously, although the graphics are a bit softer around the edges. But it's still recognizably the same game. This batch also includes some concept art for new role-focused chocobo barding, something that's sure to excite fans of the yellow birds. Take a look at the gallery for all of the screenshots and concept art. [Source: Square-Enix press release] %Gallery-157176%
Google Goggles now solves Sudoku, taking an interest in ads, clearly entering middle age
There are no surer signs of the apocalyptic onset of middle age than a preoccupation with puzzle-solving and an unhealthy interest in adverts and barcodes. And those just happen to be the three new features Google has added to version 1.3 of its Goggles software. The visual search application for Android is now intelligent enough to decipher tricky Sudoku puzzles (and thereby suck all the fun out of them), while its algorithms have also been tweaked to make barcode scanning "almost" instant. Popular printed ads will be recognized as well, taking you to a Google search on the relevant topic. US newspapers and magazines from August 2010 are being supported for now, but we can't imagine the rest of the world should have to wait too long for this added convenience. Video of the new Goggles' Sudoku skills after the break.
Google Images get spruced up, don't need no stinkin' text
Those alchemists over in Mountain View have been fiddling with their search engine again and the product has been one of the biggest redesigns ye olde Google has received to date. Gone are the little captions and size measurements under each image -- well, not gone, just hidden away until you hover over a pic -- to be replaced by a densely packed compendium of your results, which just keeps going and going. Seriously, the new Images search can fit up to 1,000 pictures on one page, with thumbnails loading in a logical top-to-bottom order. A new landing page has also been implemented, showing you the image you selected superimposed on top of the website it belongs to, making for a more streamlined search experience overall. We like it, it's fast and it's pretty cool, but is anyone working on result relevance at all? Try looking for an iPhone 4 snapshot and you'll have to scroll past 43 mockups before finding the real thing.
OmniWeb 5.5 public beta
Earlier this month, the Omni Group offered a sneak peek of their upcoming 5.5 release of OmniWeb, their feature-rich web browser that pre-dated Netscape by a year. If the preview piqued your interest, you might be interested in their public beta. While this new release doesn't pack in a boatload of up-front whiz-bang features, they have implemented some great back-end stuff like using a more recent version of WebKit than Safari, a Site Inspector (also known as a DOM Inspector) and allowing site-specific CSS rules that update in real time.John Hicks of hickdesign has a few more details of what's new and upcoming in the final 5.5 release, and if you want to get in on the public beta, you'll have to register in the Omni Group's forums in order to see the forum thread with details on how to download your own copy.
