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Doing it wrong: A visual history of awkward iPad photography
Did you know that Apple hasn't changed the 5-megapixel camera on the iPad for three models running? It's probably fair to hope that the company adding something to the tablet's imaging prowess at tomorrow's event. That said, is it really true that the best camera is "the one that's with you," if said snapper is a 9.7-inch slate? We decided to take a little trawl through some of history's most notable iPad photography incidents to find out if people really are holding it wrong. [Image Credit: Michael Sohn/AP]
Watch election coverage on Xbox Live, get avatar armor
Xbox Live Rewards members that tune in to live election coverage via Xbox Live on three of four scheduled dates will receive Halo 4 Warrior armor for their avatars. Viewers will be able to participate in live polling as well as present poll questions via Twitter using the hashtag #XboxPoll.The four debates, of which viewers need to watch three to get their totally-not-real Halo armor, are all scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Eastern 6:00PT: October 3, 2012: Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy October 11, 2012: Vice-Presidential Debate October 16, 2012: Presidential Debate on Domestic Policy October 22, 2012: Presidential Debate
Election 2012 coverage comes to Xbox Live August 27
Your Xbox 360 could just serve as your hub for 2012 US election season, Microsoft has announced. Beginning August 27, Xbox Live members will be able to access the Election 2012 hub, which promises to include NBC News coverage, information about candidates, daily polls and live coverage of the presidential debates and the Democratic and Republican conventions. Certain events, including the debates, will also allow viewers to participate in live polls. Users will even be able to register to vote via their console.This isn't the first time Microsoft has dabbled in Xbox Live election coverage. The company hosted a similar program during the 2008 election.
Infinity Blade creators parody themselves with VOTE!!
Here's a surprise on the App Store this week -- Infinity Blade creators Chair Entertainment have suddenly released a politically-themed parody of their own game, called VOTE!!!. The app should be out on the North American App Store later on this evening -- it's essentially a battle from Infinity Blade, with the usual hacking, slashing, parrying, and dodging, but with two cartoony versions of the US Presidential candidates battling it out with "debates" instead of attacks. It looks goofy as all get-out, but it's also free, so who knows? Chair probably thought it was a funny idea, and someone on staff had enough drive to go ahead and make it real, so there you go. Presumably, it does use the same engine, so yes, you are seeing Obama wield a lightsaber above in full Unreal 3 graphics. If you want to Infinity Blade fight against Romney or Obama, Vote!!! is arriving later on this evening.
YouTube's Elections Hub is a one-stop channel for the latest US political happenings
In case you haven't noticed, it's election year in the US of A. And while we already have a slight idea of which political party your beloved neighbors prefer, why not have an all-inclusive video hub to keep you updated with the latest action taking place on the road toward America's historical White House. Here's where YouTube comes in. The Google-owned service announced earlier today the creation of its Elections Hub, which it's dubbing as the "one-stop channel for key political moments" happening now and all the way until the final US election day on the 6th of November. Naturally, the social vid giant's teamed up with some of the biggest outfits around to bring live and on-demand content to the Elections 2012 channel, including ABC News, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and, for the spanish-speaking crowd, Univision. Regardless of who's landing your worthy, priceless vote, this should be a great corner of the internet to keep you in the loop during this year's Stateside political battle.
Presidential candidates talk video game violence
Health care? Taxes? Immigration? Why do presidential candidates insist on wasting our time talking about such trivial issues? When will they address the questions we really care about -- the ones about video games? Well, actually, right now.Non-partisan, not-for-profit advocacy group Common Sense Media has quizzed some of the leading presidential candidates on a variety of media issues, video game violence legislation among them. Here's a quick summary of their views on proposed federal legislation limiting children's access to violent games: Senator John Edwards (D - NC): The ESRB and retailers are doing a pretty good job, but the FTC found that 42 percent of children under 17 can still purchase M-rated games, and that's too high. Publishers need to tone down the marketing of violent games to kids. If the industry isn't careful, the government "will need to consider further steps" to keep these games away from children Senator Barack Obama (D - IL): Video games should use technology to let parents restrict content [Note to Obama: they already do.] The rating system should be improved to make content information "easier to find and easier to understand. ... but if the industry fails to act, then my administration would." In any case, the government should spend money to study the problem. Governor Bill Richardson (D - NM): "I would consider this legislation," but it's really up to the parents. I'll give federal employees paid time off to spend with their kids. Fmr. Governor Mitt Romney (R - Mass.): I would enforce current obscenity laws to protect children from "a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion." I would "go after" retailers that sell violent games. While the responses are interesting, the lack of participation from front-runners like Hillary Clinton, Rudy Guliani and Mike Huckabee makes the information a little less than complete just weeks away from the Iowa caucuses. Still, the full questionnaire has illuminated the candidates' thoughts on other game-related issues such as childhood obesity, screen time, media literacy and the media's impact on the candidates' own kids. Be an informed voter and give it a read.
Mitt Romney presidential ad on GameTrailers
It appears former one-term governor of Massachusetts and presidential candidate Mitt Romney is looking to recruit gamers for his campaign. As the ad we captured off of GameTrailers (while reviewing the Ratchet & Clank videos) clearly shows, Romney has taken out ads to help raise campaign funds on the site. Allow us to refresh your memory if you don't remember that presidential candidate Romney is "deeply troubled" by the culture our children grow up in today. Using a dirty ocean as a metaphor, Romney says, "I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the street. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies. If we get serious about this we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and grandkids are swimming." It is interesting that this ad pops up on a site that proudly displays clips of those violent video games and has a viewership that likes them too. We have no idea how the advertising process works at GameTrailers, for all we know we could have that ad pop up soon on our own pages, but how times have changed to see political ads on video game sites. We know the average gamer's age has skewed higher in recent years, we just don't know if it's necessarily skewed to helping Mitt Romney become President of the United States. Oh, and before the conservatives get all uppity, yes we will laugh when we see Hillary Clinton ads as well -- although she has tried to change in the last year.
Mitt Romney cleaning up dirty video game water
Former one-term governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney is starting his campaign off on the great motivator of fear. Using the ocean as a metaphor based off something Columbine related, he speaks of how "deeply troubled" he is by the culture our children grow up in today. Romney says, "I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the street. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies. If we get serious about this we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and grandkids are swimming." Senator Brownback of Kansas says Romney is just a little late to the culture wars.Brownback, who's already busy with his own battle on video games, says that Romney is a hypocrite because while he was on the board of Marriott International (hotel chain) he was paid $100,000 a year by a company that makes millions of dollars a year from in-room pornography rental. Raise your hand if you like yummy gooey irony. As we move into high gear on what will be the longest US presidential election campaign cycle ever, it'll be interesting to watch how many times video games come up as talking points when, well, it's pretty clear there are bigger issues going on. But darn it, video games make for much easier talking points.
