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PAX East 2014 panels bring you joy(stiq)
If you're one of the few that managed to pick up tickets to PAX East 2014 in the narrow window they were available, then your schedule of events is now available to view. The Joystiq staff will be at PAX East this year in full force, and they're even headlining the event's list of fascinating panels. If you're looking to maximize your odds at high-fiving folks like Joystiq's Managing Editor Susan Arendt, News Content Director Alexander Sliwinski or Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell, you'll want to attend panels such as "Was I Wrong? Revisiting Controversial Reviews," "We didn't start the DLC fire, but we fed the monster. Now what?" and "Keep Your Opinion to Yourself: The Myth of the 'Objective' Game Review." We promise that not every panel will take multiple tweets to tell your friends about. When you're not attending every one of Joystiq's panels, the PAX East Indie Showcase appears to be a good destination for PAX-goers, as six mobile indie games will be on display this year. PAX East 2014 will be held in Boston on April 11 through April 13. [Image: PAX East]
Dragon Age Inquisition includes time-disrupting 'tactical view'
Dragon Age: Inquisition will feature a familiar method for calling out actions for your party, BioWare's Mike Laidlaw and Mark Darrah revealed during a panel at PAX Prime. The game will include a "tactical view" function, which has players shifting seamlessly to a top-down view at any point above a battle, similar to Dragon Age: Origins. With the game frozen in place, players can then issue commands for their companions at will before shifting back to the game's traditional over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective and resuming action. The in-game action demonstrated during the panel took place in a location called Crestwood, which Darrah said is "bigger than all of Dragon Age 2 put together." The game's delay to fall 2014 allowed the developers to bring multiple playable races back to the series, and it was revealed during the panel that both male and female horned Qunari characters would be among those playable races.
PAX Prime 2013: Guild Wars 2's anniversary bash
It seems that more and more studios at PAX are electing to avoid the convention hall altogether and go for off-site venues, especially when it comes to parties and fan events (I was told that even a small booth on the exhibit floor can cost a company $100,000). So while Guild Wars 2 was notably absent from the PAX Prime exhibit hall this year, it was quite a different story a few blocks away at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle where ArenaNet set up camp for the title's anniversary bash. Players began lining up for the panels, playthroughs, and party hours in advance, all sharing the same glow of enthusiasm for the game they've enjoyed over the past year. By all accounts (I wasn't there a year ago), the launch party for Guild Wars 2 at last year's PAX was far more insane. Yet I think that this year there was a better feel to it. It wasn't about hype and anticipation for the fans but about experience and shared affection for the title they'd been enjoying since last August. So join me as I recap the anniversary bash, step by step, and perhaps we'll learn a thing or two about where this game is going in the near future.
WildStar team hosting panel and gathering at SDCC
Heading out to California for San Diego Comic Con? As long as you're out there, would you like a nice dose of WildStar entertainment? The team at Carbine Studios is hosting a panel on Friday discussing how story and narrative are developed in the game, featuring lead narrative designer Chad Moore, content director Mike Donatelli, creative director Matt Mocarski, and design producer Stephen Frost. Anyone attending the convention will want to be at the panel if you've got even the vaguest interest in the game. But what if you're in San Diego and aren't attending the con? You can still get some special face time with WildStar at the fan gathering on Friday in the Hotel Palomar. More to the point, this gathering promises to allow players a look at two new races -- in all likelihood the last two playable races that have been teased for some time. So Friday should be a good time for fans of the game in San Diego, and anyone else watching from afar. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Sharp shows off 14-inch and 15.6-inch 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO panels (eyes-on)
It was only a few hours ago when Fujitsu announced its UH90, the first laptop to feature a 14-inch 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO display. While the device won't hit Japan until June 28th, we were lucky enough to stumble upon the panel itself at Sharp's Computex booth. In fact, the company also had a 15.6-inch IGZO panel with the same QHD+ resolution, 400 nit brightness plus 1000:1 contrast ratio, and both looked super crisp to our eyes. Alas, IGZO is still a bit behind LTPS panels when it comes to viewing angle, but we had absolutely no problem when looking at the displays straight on. With the UH90 rolling out soon, we should see more devices shipping with these panels very soon. %Gallery-190394% Mat Smith contributed to this report.
Samsung to exhibit 13.3-inch notebook display with 3,200 x 1,800 resolution
On top of yesterday's 4K announcement, Samsung has also given us a quick heads-up on one of the prototype displays it's planning to show off at this year's Display Week event. It's a highly gawp-worthy 3,200 x 1,800 ("WQXGA+") panel destined for 13-inch laptops that insist on taking things further than the Retina MacBook Pro (2,560 x 1,600) or Samsung's Series 9 prototype (2,560 x 1,440, shown above). As an added advantage, the panel is promised to deliver "30 percent greater power-savings" compared to existing LCDs thanks to a reduction in the number of driver circuits as well as more efficient backlight units. Display Week starts today, so we should soon have a first-person account of this unheard-of pixel density straight from Samsung's stall.
Bungie discussing 'Destiny' at GDC 2013
Bungie and Activision's new IP, Destiny, will be the subject of a session during this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Dubbed a "Brave New World: New Bungie IP," the talk will cover the studio's approach in putting together Destiny's original setting, "a place where the next ten years of great Bungie adventures will unfold."The Destiny leaks last year suggested a "fun and accessible" multi-platform project, set in the future and featuring a large-scale war between man and alien (bearing a strong resemblance, in other words, to Halo). Having been teased with Destiny and its iconography for months now, we expect some insight into just how Bungie's new universe is shaping up.The Game Developers Conference runs from March 25 until March 29. The time and date of Bungie's panel has yet to be announced.
Panasonic 4K OLED TV eyes-on (video)
Panasonic wasn't about to let Sony one-up it in the 4K OLED arena, and announced its own 56-inch UltraHD prototype the day after its competitor outed a very similar panel here at CES 2013. We'd never tire of the luscious combination of 4k and OLED, so we couldn't wait to high-tail it to the Panasonic booth to gaze at new screen in its full glory. As with the Sony model, it sucks you into the screen with the level of detail, brightness, ultra-dark blacks and vivid colors -- which looked accurate to our eyes, an area in which OLED can fall down. Other than that impression, there were no other technical details or specs for the prototype display, and none of the Panasonic types we spoke to had any idea either. We're not likely to see such a model on sale anytime before 2014, and when it does arrive, you'll probably need all the digits on one hand for the number of figures in the price. Check the gallery below for images, or head after the break for a short video -- which doesn't remotely do the panel justice, natch. %Gallery-175366%
US court finds Apple and LG did not infringe on Alcatel-Lucent patents
With all of these patent wars ongoing, it's actually astonishing that these companies have any time to get anything done. In fact, we often wonder how much more could be done if needless, incessant litigation weren't around to muck things up. All that aside, Apple and LG Electronics are likely celebrating a victory today, as a verdict in a San Diego courtroom has found that neither company infringed on an Alcatel-Lucent unit's patents for "electronic devices including phones and computers." The trial at hand began on November 27th, as it saw A-L accuse Apple and LG of infringing up a "video-compression technology that allows data to be sent more efficiently over communications media, including the internet and satellites, or stored on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Various versions of the iPhone, iPod, iPad and MacBook were named on the Apple side, while LG's Chocolate Touch VX8575, Bliss UX700, Touch AX8575, Lotus Elite LX610, Mystique UN610 and Samba LG8575 were also pinpointed. Of course, Apple can only rejoice so hard -- earlier today, it lost a patent verdict to MobileMedia.
GDC Online 2012: Paul Barnett reimagines Ultima with a chicken and a spoon
Paul Barnett is a great storyteller with a passion for games. Anyone who followed Warhammer Online early on can't forget the engaging speeches and videos Barnett made through beta and launch. But it's no longer 2007, and he's long since moved on from Warhammer. Instead, he's been working on Ultima Forever, a browser-based, online rendition of Ultima IV. This week at GDC Online, he told the story of how the game came to be. He was given a chicken and a spoon and told to go away and try to make something. The only boundaries was that he couldn't have any other stuff, the game had to be good, and he had to do it quick and without help. Did Barnett succeed with his chicken and spoon? Read on for Barnett's tale of Ultima Forever as well as a look at the lessons he learned along the way.
Watch a live stream of Joystiq's PAX panel with Erik Wolpaw, Tim Schafer, Kotaku [Update: It's over!]
Joystiq's Ben Gilbert is sitting down with Valve's Erik Wolpaw (writer on the Portal series), Double Fine's Tim Schafer (company president and fundraising maven) and Kotaku's Jason Shreier at PAX Prime today, to talk "Plot vs. Play."This ragtag group will dissect the importance of narrative over gameplay, vice versa, inside-out and inverted, and it's all captured live for you to watch below via Twitch TV. The panel begins at 3 p.m. ET, or as the indoctrinated few call it, right now.Update: The panel and live stream are now finished. If you missed the action, keep an eye on the PAX Prime 2012 page on Twitch TV, which should update with the day's recording.
Sharp's IGZO low-power, high-res display technology gets its time to shine at IFA
Alongside the slew of 90-inch TVs, Sharp also used this year's IFA to show off something a little less glamorous. Its IGZO technology (that's indium gallium zinc oxide, kids) was developed in conjunction with the Semiconductor Energy Laboratory. According to Sharp, the displays "have a significantly higher translucency [compared to traditional LCD TFT displays]. This improvement means that smaller or fewer LEDs are needed for the backlighting." The result is less power consumption for high-res displays and higher sensitivity on touchscreens, with far less noise to contend with. The company plans to create three panel sizes to start: 10-inch (2560 x 1600), seven-inch (1280 x 800) and 32-inch (3840 x 2160). Sharp was also demoing a prototype seven-inch tablet (which you can see in the gallery below) alongside the displays. The representative we spoke with wouldn't reveal anything about specific products the company plans to produce using the technology, but did tell us that we can expect to see some IGZO products in 2013. Check out an explanatory video after the break.%Gallery-163988%
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online in Las Vegas
This weekend, Massively, along with Trek Radio, hosted the formal Star Trek Online Discussion with the Devs panel at the official Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. And if I judge by the personal feedback received and the unanticipated (yet much appreciated) turn-out from players who attended the panel, all seems to have been very well received. Join me past the jump to learn more about what the STO developers said in response to questions posed by Massively and those in attendance at the convention and on the game's forums.
Sharp: we're making displays for new iPhone and shipping them this month
In an effort to end today's dismal earnings report on a high, Sharp's president Takashi Okuda has purposefully let slip that his company is among those contracted to manufacture displays for a new iPhone. We already have numerous reasons to suspect the iPhone 5 will be announced around September 12th, and Okuda has now corroborated that by saying that "shipments will start in August." If earlier rumors and component leaks are to be trusted, the screen will be significantly larger (likely around 4-inches) and slightly less rotund than that on the iPhone 4S.
ViewSonic announces a duo of budget-friendly LED monitors
As gorgeous as huge, expensive monitors are, most situations just don't call for the inches or wallet-dents associated with today's luxury screens. With this in mind, and barely a breath after outing its $299, 27-inch LED offering, ViewSonic is back with two budget displays from the VA12 series. First up is the VA2212m-LED, which rocks a 1080p widescreen, 21.5-inch panel, 10,000,000:1 contrast Ratio, DVI and VGA inputs, as well as a pair of 2W integrated speakers. Its little brother the VA1912m-LED shares most of the same genes, but with an 18.5-inch, 1,366 x 768 resolution screen. Running with ViewSonic's eco-friendly theme, both mercury-free LED monitors also boast the eco-mode feature for low power consumption and a longer life. If either of the new displays are grabbing your attention, you'll be able to pick up the $149 VA2212m-LED imminently, with the $125 VA1912m-LED hitting North American retailers in mid-August.
Epic shares Gears of War insight and trivia at Comic-Con panel
Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director at Epic Games, along with Production Director Rod Fergusson, voice actor Fred Tatasciore (the voice of Baird as well as "most of the Locusts") and writers Rob Auten and Tom Bissell all took the stage at Comic-Con 2012 for a panel about Gears of War: Judgment. The biggest piece of news out of the panel was that Judgment has a release date: We'll be killing grubs as Baird in the prequel on March 19.The rest of the panel, however, contained a few juicy bits of Gears trivia, just for fans of the series. If you've lived and died with the COGs for three games now, read on.
2012 iPhone's maybe-finished front appears with center camera, may straighten our FaceTime chats
A claimed test sample of the 2012 iPhone's complete body has already made the rounds, but it was using a rough front panel that wasn't supposed to be wholly representative of the finished work. Frequent part leaker Apple.pro has uncovered a sample which might be closer to the real deal: the white example shows the space for the taller screen that we've come to know, just with a conspicuously shifted FaceTime camera that now sits above the speaker. It's a small change, but it suggests Apple is going for much more of a family resemblance this time around -- a previously claimed 2012 iPod touch panel was merging the fourth-generation iPod's already centered camera with the taller display. While there's still room for this to be a creative fake or an interim design, the consistency hints that Cupertino is keen to shake things up a bit for the iPhone's fifth birthday.
Utah researchers create 'Spintronic' LED, claim it's 'brighter, cheaper' and eco-friendly
Spintronics? Not exactly a new term 'round these parts, but University of Utah physicists are applying it in a unique way that may eventually make TVs look even sharper than they do today. The entity is trumpeting a new "spintronic" organic light-emitting diode (that's OLED, for short) that's said to be "cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the kinds of LEDs now used in television and computer displays, lighting, traffic lights and numerous electronic devices." Z. Valy Vardeny is even going so far as to call it a "completely different technology," and better still, a prototype has already been made. The professor expects that the newfangled tech -- which produces an orange glow today -- will be able to product red, blue and white spin OLEDs within a few years. It's a lot to wade through, but here's our question: will these things make the Galaxy S XI impeccably visible in outdoor sunlight? (Please say "yes.")
Sony, Panasonic OLED partnership is official, aims for mass production in 2013
The rumor that Japanese electronic giants Panasonic and Sony would team up on OLED HDTV technology has been confirmed by a press release (included after the break), and the two plan to establish mass production in 2013. Together, they'll be able to utilize the core and printing techniques that each has so far developed separately to roll out HDTV-sized OLED panels. Still, while they will be BFFs behind the scenes don't expect any crazy cross-branding of releases, as the release notes each company plans to "develop and commercialize its own competitive, high-performance, next-generation OLED televisions and large-sized displays." Can this combination help them catch up to Korean counterparts Samsung and LG? Those two will individually put super-skinny, ultra high contrast ratio OLED HDTVs on store shelves this year, but if Panasonic / Sony can get prices down from the $10k~ range then we're sure most consumers will be able to overlook their tardiness to market.
Transformers Universe to leave Earth (someday)
We're getting some solid information about Jagex's upcoming Transformers Universe from the recent London MCM Expo. The team took to the stage to talk about the title, revealing quite a few new details -- including the revelation that the game won't be confined to just Earth. The team is making Transformers Universe with the intention to keep the game going for at least 10 years; it has latched onto the "Universe" moniker to indicate it will eventually expand the game from our terrestrial ball to the stars (including Cybertron). Transformers Universe will use Energon as the game's currency, and while the team will use microtransactions to fund this free-to-play title, the exact model has not been finalized. Players will be able to pick between male and female characters and will use their alternate (non-robotic) modes for more than just transportation. At the game launch, players will be able to transform only into vehicles, but Jagex says that there are plans in the works for other forms such as animals. [Thanks to Austin for the tip!]
