stars
Latest
Gaze at the stars in Hoshizora Navi, feel like an insignificant speck
From this March, DS owners in Japan will be able to navigate the night skies, thanks to astronomy magazine publisher Astroarts. Hoshizora Navi (Starry Sky Navigator) was first revealed in March 2008, but now an official site has opened, rich with details.Apparently, the software comes packed with star charts containing 9,300 stars, the sun, planets, the moon, various constellations, and assorted meteor groups. Also, budding astronomers will be able to view the night sky at any point between 1900 and 2099, and even stargaze from several viewing locations across the globe. To help you differentiate between your Apastron and your Aphelion, there's an onboard astronomical dictionary of more than 400 terms.But allow us to remind you of the best bit: the Hoshizora Navi cartridge will come with a built-in positional sensor, meaning that as your DS moves, so does the view on your screen, to match your own! It's undoubtedly very clever, even though the tech has clearly pushed the price sky-high -- Hoshizora Navi goes on sale on March 26 for ¥8,190 (around $90)!
WiFi-enabled Crestron touchpanel aids in stargazing
We've seen home automation touchpanels used for some -- shall we say, unorthodox -- activities, but this is taking things to another level galaxy. Franklin, NC-based Dan Quigley has whipped up a way for his WiFi-enabled Crestron TMPC8X to actually control a giant telescope. Rather than manually getting the 'scope into the right position, he simply touches a button and watches it automatically check to see "if and when that object is viewable." While he's at it, he can dim the lights around him and check the local weather, and once a celestial body is in view, he can snap a photograph or have the system channel the image to any computer / TV. Suddenly, astronomy has become entirely more attractive.[Thanks, Chuck]
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a night elf
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the seventh in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.The night elves are probably the most difficult race to roleplay well in all the World of Warcraft, which is particularly ironic considering how very popular they are. Many a roleplayer has been disappointed by seeing player character night elves who are 21 years old, who were born in Darnassus or Teldrassil, or whose mother or father is human -- all of which would be next to impossible according to the actual lore of the game. The only way to make things like this is to change the lore to suit your own preferences, or to rely on cliche devices such as time travel and special magics which really go too far into the realm of the abominably self-centered Mary Sue.Night elves can also be difficult to understand, and full of contradictions: they can be over 10,000 years old, and yet they often do not possess the vast wisdom that would seem to come with such an age; they are deeply connected to nature, and yet they sometimes act without the blessings of nature; their women are supposed to be very fierce warriors, and yet their animation in the game has them bouncing up and down like teenage girls at their favorite boy-band concert.And yet much of this is just the sort of thing that draws people to the night elves. There's a youthful passion combined with ancient grace and sadness that many roleplayers just love to get into. Also, for those who love to develop long and complex background stories for their characters, there is a great deal of history about the night elves' ancient past which can serve as good inspiration for many of your own character's life events. We won't go into every detail of ancient history today, however; instead we'll cover the basics that you'll need to know in order to start out with a night elf that fits in the Warcraft story, and direct you to some more resources if you'd like to make one with a really deep and complicated background.
Rumor: Nintendo selling songs in exchange for Stars?
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Nintendo_offering_downloadable_songs_in_exchange_for_Stars'; This update just appeared in Nintendo of Europe's RSS feed, yet mysteriously leads to a dead 404 link when clicked. As such, we can only really draw information from the title and brief description (at the time of writing, there is nothing on Google about this story), which suggest Nintendo will soon be selling music -- specifically music from artists signed to EMI -- in return for Club Nintendo Stars!So what's happened here, exactly? Well, we suspect Nintendo has accidentally released a story, and then swiftly pulled it again. Either way, downloadable pop music isn't really something we'd have expected from the Wii, and raises new questions about Nintendo's storage strategy (unless these are playable on your PC). Keep your eyes here for updates as we learn more!
Stargazing with Starmap
Starmap 1.1 (iTunes link) is a pocket-sized map of the sky that packs a great deal into a small package. One thing that strikes you immediately is the challenge of incorporating all the options available into the iPhone's limited UI space. The button panel at the bottom of the screen is a 3D object that you can spin round to reveal more controls. And you need them, because there's a lot Starmap can show you. Not just the stars and constellations, but also planets, expected meteors and "deep sky" objects like galaxies, clusters and nebulae. Features I particularly like include: the night-vision mode (tints everything red to minimise your iPhone's own light pollution); the fact that, by default, only objects you're likely to see are shown in lists of stars and planets (you can toggle this on and off if you'd rather see a list of everything, below the horizon or not); and the general feeling that a great deal of thought has gone into building the app from the outset. The main issue with Starmap, and it's one you'll notice pretty quickly, is speed. Right now, the app does not use any accelerated graphics and subsequently, the frame rate is 3 FPS. Dragging the night sky around beneath your finger is slow and the animation jagged; as a result, it can be a little frustrating to use. Consider this before you buy. This is a known issue, though, and work is under way on a fully optimised 3D version running at 20 FPS. It might be released as soon as October, we're told. That (and one or two crashes) aside, Starmap is a fantastic educational app and very good value for the price ($11.99). Existing users should hold out for future updates -- if they deliver what's promised, Starmap will be an almost irresistible purchase. Oh, and one other thing would be nice: a function that controls the appalling British summer weather, and clears away the almost permanent cloud cover so that we actually have a remote chance of seeing some stars.
Stars Catalogue now offering GBA titles [Update 1]
Two Game Boy Advance games have randomly appeared in the Stars Catalogue, leading us to surmise that Nintendo has been spring-cleaning its warehouses and found a bunch of old, unsold stock. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Mario Power Tennis are both decent purchases, we suppose, even if the price (5000 Stars each) is steep (you'd need to buy at least 20 DS games to amass that many Stars). We're still waiting on the warehouse with all the sealed Super Famicom consoles to get cleared out (it must exist somewhere).Some other new tat has also been added, including a Pokémon sports bag, and three further items that have (inexplicably) sold out: a Raving Rabbids T-shirt, a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon bookmark, and a Brain Training pen. Don't all rush at once, please.[Update 1: And the Kirbster has sold out!]
Europeans: Get rid of those excess Stars now!
Hey, Euro folk: those Club Nintendo Stars you've spent the last seven years compiling in the vain hope that you might bag something as glorious as this? Well, forget about it. From tomorrow at 17:00 (the time zone isn't specified, but we have a hunch it might be GMT), any Club Nintendo Stars that have been in your account for more than two years are getting atomized by Nintendo.In other words, now may be the time to resign yourself to the fact that you'll never get anything better from the Stars Catalog than some natty Animal Crossing wallpaper. Life's unfair like that at times, believe us. Alternatively, if you've got enough Points, you could always buy Wii Points!
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup looks up at the stars
Have you ever just looked up at the stars, trying to make your own constellations ... and suddenly everything becomes a star cluster of Pac-Man-related shapes? (Imave via The Librarianist) Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics; voting after the break. Real Life Application (Sharcbate) Battle Fighter III: Hyper Edition (Truck Bearing Kibble) Starcraft Blues (Extra Life) p=mv (Digital Unrest) The Expected Result (Penny Arcade) Oh, you're choosing fire? (Super Effective) Options (CAD) Grand Theft Dinosaur (Dino Comics) Define Addiction (2P Start) It's DYN-O-MITE (Dueling Analogs) "I'd be less nervous" (A Softer World)
One Shots: A brisk evening run
Ah, how we love the spring -- perfect for spending some time outside and enjoying the night. Unless, of course, you're in an MMO! Then it's all about "what cool adventure can we go on next, and how fast can we get there?" Today's One Shots comes from Gabe, who caught a picture of this group taking just such a run in Lord of the Rings Online recently. The above image is of Saal, Raenynn, and Stevieray, who were enjoying a brisk evening run through the Lonelands between Weathertop and Ost Guruth. We hope that wherever their feet took them, fun and adventure found them!Do you have a screenshot of your group setting out for fame and fortune? Perhaps you just like the way a particular area looks? Whatever the case, we'd love to see your screenshots. Send them to us at oneshots AT massively.com. Yours could be next!%Gallery-9798%
Three web apps for space cadets with iPhones
If you're a space freak, then you'll want to have a look at these three super-cool web apps for your iPhone or iPod Touch. iSkyGaze tells you where to find various objects in the sky, depending on your location and the time of day. Sure, it'll show you where to look to see the sun and moon, but iSkyGaze also helps you spot things in deep space, like the Orion Nebula. This cool app even tells you how far away the object is, and the best time to see it.Want to know how the sky looked on any given date from the past 10 years? Starry Night Mobile will tell you. It can also predict what your overhead view will be 10 years into the future. Just enter a zip code, landmark, or address and let the app do the calculating for you. If checking out satellites or the International Space Station as it passes overhead is more your thing, then you'll love LookUp. Once you enter your location, the app will tell the precise time various orbiting objects will zoom by, complete with exact elevation stats and how much time you'll have to see it before it dips below the horizon.Oh, and here's a bonus app for all you werewolves.
Breakfast Topic: Casting the WoW movie
I have to admit, this one caught me by surprise, but with the continuing fashion of adding "murloc" into every possible movie title available (this is especially funny with James Bond films, IMO -- "The Murloc who Loved Me", "Live and Let Murloc" but I digress...) I suppose it was the next progression of silly things to overhear in /guildchat, or in the /trade channel late at night.As rumors of the WoW movie travel around, people are talking about who would be the perfect casting choices for the various characters that they might present if they're touching upon the lore in World of Warcraft. As you can see from the image above, one of the people I heard suggested was Reese Witherspoon, cast as the powerful but somehwat naive Jaina Proudmoore. I've heard a lot of other interesting choices, but rather than bogging down this post with the ones I overheard, I figured I'd toss this one out and see what you all thought. If they do a live-action film based on the Warcraft universe, who would you pick for the roles, and why? For that matter, what race and class do you think some of your favorite stars would be if they were cast -- but just as non-lore characters? (And a bonus cookie* if you can name -- and justify -- which star would make the best murloc!)*cookie available in .jpg format only. The real one will be eaten in your honor, if that helps any.
Translate! Ultimate Stars
Jump Ultimate Stars is one of the most popular DS games with importers. Since it's a fighting game, it's not a huge deal to play Jump without knowing Japanese, but there are a lot of missions that may be difficult to figure out. Also, the game actually tries to tell a story, which is rare for a fighting game. Abel Tamayo wrote in to tell us about a wonderful wiki project he's managing, called, appropriately enough, the Jump Ultimate Stars Translation Project. We've seen amazing fan translation projects from single translators, but never a project done in a collaborative wiki format. It's a great idea, one that will allow tragically busy people to help out. If you know Japanese, why not sign up? Translating a fighting game-- that's another rarity. SNK never bothered to do it.
AMD Phenom FX, X4, X2 Stars to shine in Q3 / Q4
When it's been nearly six months since we've seen an elusive PowerPoint slide pointing to future AMD processors, it's been far too long, but it looks like the forecasting can begin again thanks to information about AMD's star-packed Q3. According to a roadmap slide charting out the future of AMD's "Stars" family of processors, a number of dual- and quad-core processor options will be headed to the desktop market sometime in the third and fourth quarters, and while the firm's "value" Athlon 64 X2 and Sempron chips will also see minor overhauls headed into Q1 of 2008, the focus seems to be on the Phenoms in the crew. The flagship quad-core Phenom FX (dubbed Agena FX) will clock in from 2.2GHz to 2.6GHz, sport 4 x 512KB of L2 cache, 2MB of L3 cache, and sport bus speeds of 3,200MHz or 3,600MHz. The X4 chips ratchet down in speed a bit, and only handle the AM2+ socket while the top-end FX plays nice with the 1207+. The X2 CPUs go the dual-core route, top out at 2.8GHz, but won't be ready for ordering until Q4 of this year. Be sure to hit the read link for a (larger) peek at the chart -- unless you just completed an order for a current-generation chip, that is.[Via RegHardware]
Explore the heavens with your handheld
Still in the alpha stage of development, Constellations DS already looks like a useful tool for amateur astronomers. The homebrew application combines the portability of a star chart with the lighted display and interactivity of a notebook computer. Users will be able to zoom in and out of clusters, panning the night sky with their styli. Tapping a particular star displays its name, position, and other relevant information. Only thirteen constellations have been mapped so far, but developer Nameless plans to add 75 more. Future builds of the program will also use the date and your location to lay out an approximation of how the night sky should look. If anything, Constellations DS serves as a great excuse to escape the light-congested city limits and spend a warm evening outside.[Via Drunken Coders]
DS Daily: Adapting anime
We recognize that the fanbase for video games and anime overlap quite a bit, and so do a lot of companies out there. It's no surprise, then, that popular anime properties get adapted into game form quite a bit. We've seen it on the DS with Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach, not to mention the ultimate in anime tie-ins: the Jump Super Stars series.If you like anime, does this kind of thing have any influence on you? Do you get excited hearing about a game version of your favorite show, despite the years of punishment licensed games have dealt us? Or do you get worried that a game will somehow tarnish the reputation of the source material? And if you don't like anime, have you run across any anime-based games that you love separate from the license? The GBA slot in our DS is often occupied by Sega and Treasure's brilliant Astro Boy: The Omega Factor despite our not being the most devoted Astro Boy fans.
Some celebrities shying away from HD cameras
It's all but unanimous that sports programming looks entirely more appealing in high definition than in SD, but for folks on the other side of the cameras, adding all that detail can be intimidating, if not embarrassing. While the "grain structure of film allows for a softness" that lends a hand in covering up the not-so-attractive signs of aging, HD cameras tend to capture that raw, unassailable truth that some celebrities are less than fond of. Diane Sawyer, the 61-year old host of ABC's Good Morning America, reportedly acknowledged that the puffiness under her eyes could no long be covered up, as viewers looking on in HD "could see every flaw." To combat the newfangled "problem" posed to many on-camera stars, makeup firms are devising new "airbrushing" techniques to add glamor and remove blemishes without looking like a shot of Botox gone horribly awry. Interestingly, reports indicated that viewers tended to enjoy the rough, disclosing look on men, but would rather see dames looking their best through those pixel-packed lenses. Nevertheless, HD cameras are making flaws more and more noticeable, and apparently causing quite the ruckus from overly concerned celebrities all the same, but hey, that's the price you pay for being in the (1080i) limelight.
Japanese hardware sales, 11 Dec - 17 Dec: ARG edition [update 2]
Update 2: Congratulations to Kurifurisan, Mr. Scolex, Oro, and Jennifer for successfully completing the ARG! The clues are explained below.Clue 1: As you can see below, the word Wii and the numbers 10 and 29 are highlighted in bold. This obviously refers to the Wii Fanboy blog in particular, on the date October 29th. Only one article was published on this date: Toys R' Us nonsense.Clue 2: In this post, we can immediately see that the post picture has been altered. It features four DS games: Spyro: A New Beginning, Contact, and Nintendogs (presumably the newer Dalmatian Edition). These games were all released on the same week, and thus, should have led you to the DS Fanboy post DS Releases for the Week of October 16th.Clue 3: This post had an extra final line added: "4 leaves take 5 4 good, 6 feet under. A shame, really." Silly numbers games aside, the death and departure of four leaves refers to the untimely dissolution of Clover Studios, makers of such fine games as Viewtiful Joe and Okami. This should have referred you to the final destination post, Clover Studios Goes Six Feet Under on Nintendo Wii Fanboy. If you found the cross-linked post on DS Fanboy, there was a message saying you had the wrong blog.We hope you enjoyed the game, and if you failed to complete it, you'll have some chances next year to prove your mettle. If you gain any, that is. Hah!For the uninformed, ARG stands for "Alternate Reality Gaming". That's really just a silly hype-word, we think, but here we go. Your task: follow the sequence of clues to various past posts in both Nintendo Wii Fanboy and DS Fanboy. Should you manage to defeat our ingenious riddles, post a comment on the final post to declare your victory to the world. Heck, we'll even go back and give you a star for doing it, too ... the feature is temporarily out of service, but our tech guys should have it back up and running soon.Below are the sales figures for this week, and contained therein, the first clue.- DS Lite: 319,708 10,078 (3.25%)- Wii: 108,237 22,798 (26.68%)- PS3: 70,942 20,771 (41.40%) - PSP: 48,962 20,032 (69.24%) - PS2: 37,730 7,270 (23.87%) - Xbox 360: 17,168 18,175 (51.42%) - GBA SP: 1,867 29 (1.53%) - Game Boy Micro: 1,491 64 (4.12%) - Gamecube: 1,152 583 (102.46%) - DS Phat: 158 9 (5.39%) - GBA: 42 25 (147.06%) - Xbox: 3 3 (50.00%)[Source: Media Create]
Real stars in Wii weather
Gamer, Josef Faulkner poked around in the Wii Forecast Channel, discovering that the stars generally correlate to actual astronomy patterns. He identified a few constellations, including Orion and Ursa Major on his Wii.Have you tagged other constellations? Southern Hemisphere gamers, are your stars in the right place?[Via digg]
Japan set to implode: Dragon's Quest IX is a DS exclusive
You heard it, folks: at Square-Enix's annual Jump Festa event, they let the bomb drop: the next entry in the venerable Dragon's Quest series, entitled Dragon's Quest IX: Defender of the Stars (another silly "DS" subtitle) will be coming exclusively to everyone's favorite little handheld. This is huge news: this franchise is second only to perhaps Final Fantasy in Japan, and still one of the most respected names in gaming worldwide. Having the title being developed exclusively on a Nintendo system is a clear show of faith from SE (they're also releasing a Final Fantasy XII sequel, Revenant Wings, sometime next year), and hopefully, even more Wii and DS support will follow.Development of the game is being passed over to Level 5 (also working on White Knight Story for the PS3), and it'll feature a four-player co-op mode as well. Of course, there's no definite release date, but the team mentioned that they'd like to have it out sometime in 2007.Let this news wash over your Tuesday, and make it full of glee and joy. Bring on DQIXDS![Thanks to everyone who sent this in, and GoNintendo for the pic!]
Jump Ultimate Stars imported, reviewed
Jump Ultimate Stars, the sequel to a title we wanted localized (and we weren't the only ones) because it's the best fighting game on the handheld, has recently been imported and reviewed by the folks over at Siliconera. Their verdict? It's pretty much the cat's pajamas.Citing the new character evolution system allows for a more import-friendly game overall, as well as incredibly large cast of characters, the game has a ton of depth. Also, let us not forget the Wi-Fi Connect-compatible multiplayer. We curse our inability to read and speak Japanese as this game truly is something that needs to be localized for territories outside of Japan. See also: Jump Superstars 2 announced Jump Ultimate Stars website launch
