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Paris Hilton as an E3 booth babe
The press release arrived with a subject line that screamed, "DON'T MISS THIS E3 CELEBRITY APPEARANCE." A split second away from hitting the delete hotkey, I paused when I noticed that Paris Hilton was the celeb who'd be making an appearance. But this will be no typical Paris Hilton gaming appearance. This time, Ms. Hilton will be working the chubby hordes who visit the West Hall to snag her signature and maybe check out the game that will bear her name, Paris Hilton's Jewelry Case. (No joke.) Paris will be hanging out (and we do mean hanging out) at the Gameloft booth (#2200) on Thursday for two hours. We wonder if she'll have to abide by the new E3 booth babe rules, which state: "Material, including live models, conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative, including but not limited to nudity, partial nudity and bathing suit bottoms, are prohibited on the Show floor, all common areas, and at any access points to the Show." Break the ESA's rules at your own risk, Paris. No sexual provocation, or we'll have you bounced. Be a good girl, got it?
Parisian billboards enabled for interactive advertising
In what may be the first step towards a possible "nightmare scenario" where you can't walk around an urban area without your phone being deluged with spam, a French advertising firm has installed small transmitters on billboards and posters around Paris that offer downloads or discounts to passersby. Luckily the Bluetooth-based system being deployed by JCDecaux is strictly opt-in, meaning only those mobile users who want the swag-on-the-go will be bothered, and they can further limit intrusions by choosing to just receive ads about topics that interest them. Ironically, this commercial endeavor evolved out of a project by France's National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control to provide assistance for the disabled, but the project was scrapped and JCDecaux purchased the exclusive license for the underlying technology. The same team that worked on the government research is also developing another innovative fusion of advertising and cellphone, in the form of billboards called UbiBoards that change their displays based on characteristics of the majority of the people in the vicinity by pulling demographic data from their handsets.[Via textually, picture courtesy of Kameleon]
Call of Duty 3 announced; leak confirmed [update 1]
Call of Duty 3's just been confirmed, and it looks like we were right on the money with our early leak of the WWII-related game.Back in early March, we printed the following information (and a whole lot more) on the focus of an upcoming sequel: "'CoD 3' ... is being produced by Big Red One dev Treyarch. ... The next Call of Duty World War II-based title will return gamers to the battlefields of Normandy as the Allies take on Nazi Germany to drive them out of France once and for all. This time around, American and British forces are joined by Canadian troops, Polish tanks, and French freedom fighters in a reenactment of the bloody Normandy Breakout campaign spearheaded during the summer of 1944. In the push to Paris, you'll get to choose how you approach each mission, free of menu screens and jarring non-interactive cut-scenes."Here's what IGN quoted from Activision for the announcement yesterday: "Through the eyes of four Allied soldiers, Call of Duty 3 brings players closer to the fury of combat as they fight through the Normandy Breakout, the harrowing offensive that liberated Paris and changed the fate of the world. Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty 3 is the follow up to the #1 next-generation game and is scheduled for a 2006 release." Fingering the developer and the setting? Not too shabby -- while Joystiq pats itself on the back.Check out the IGN trailer below for a first-person look somewhat reminiscent of the FPS sequence in the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer from TGS. At the end of the "official E3 teaser" trailer, a number of platforms are listed, with the major manufacturers (including a small "Nintendo Revolution" in text) and publisher/developer combo listed. We suspect that versions for the PC and possibly the current-gen consoles will be covered with ports as well. Now all we have to do is wait for the word on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. (Infinity Ward, we're looking at you!) More info obviously hitting at E3.[Thanks, icemorebutts, jason, & Hiro Protagonist][Update 1: Had to fix a verb. Thanks, Hiro Protagonist, John Q, & Jiiiiihad!]See also: Official E3 teaser trailer for Call of Duty 3 Next Call of Duty leaked: Modern Warfare tackles terrorists Rumor: Call of Duty joining the Revolution Kojima interacts in real-time with MGS4 trailer at TGS
Apple Expo 2006 registration now open
Apple Expo 2006, the Apple shindig in Paris, has started accepting registration. If you plan on being in Paris between September 12 - 16th you should check it out. I mean, there isn't that much to do in Paris anyway, so you might as well hang out with some other Macheads.Thanks, Nik.
No Jobs keynote at Mac Expo Paris
Apple has confirmed today that Steve Jobs will not be delivering a keynote speech at Mac Expo in Paris later this month. Instead, Apple executives (including Jobs) will host a Q&A with members of the media. "Yes, Steve will be at Apple Expo with other members of Apple's executive team," said Apple spokesperson Bill Evans in a comment to Macworld.No reason was given for the cancellation.Thanks, Fabienne!
We'll always have Paris... or will we?
Apple unveiled the iMac G5 at Apple Expo in Paris last summer. The Powerbooks were introduced there in 2003. In other words, there's a history of Apple announcing super-cool hardware at the Apple Expo. This has many speculating about what this year's Paris Expo (Sept. 20-24) has in store for Apple fans. Steve Jobs is expected to give the keynote at the Palais des Congres on the morning of September 20, and we know from experience that Steve doesn't get out of bed too early in the morning for just anything. Still, Apple won't officially confirm or deny Steve's flight plans for that week.So what, if anything, do you think will be unveiled? Will we get a 2.0GHz G4 Powerbook as a fond farewell to the PowerPC line? Or a Powerbook G5? Maybe a renamed portable lineup (Gigabook has a nice ring to it)? A color-screened iPod mini? A higher capacity iPod shuffle? Will the Power Mac G5 finally hit or break the 3.0GHz barrier? A new Mighty Keyboard to match the Mighty Mouse? A pony? C'mon... everyone loves ponies!Your guess is as good as ours... so start your predictions below.
