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Magic World Online's open beta starts tomorrow
Magic World Online -- an MMO from Chinese company Ingle Games -- is an underdog in the MMORPG arena, what with being 2D and all. It's been in closed beta testing for a while now, but if you're curious about it, you'll be pleased to know that the open beta will begin this Friday. You can download the client right away. We haven't played MWO ourselves, but there's an item mall, so we presume it's at least partially microtransaction-based. The interface (and even the website) are ripped almost exactly out of World of Warcraft, though.MWO hosts a whole bunch of unique features, such as integrated video chat. It also has legitimate, developer-supported bots. Bots -- programs that automate tasks like repeatedly using skills to level them up -- are discouraged in any form by most game developers. According to MWO's website, though, making these tools available to everyone will make the game "the most fair MMORPG." We suppose that's not much different in practice from EVE Online's offline skill training and autopilot traveling.
Magic World Online to enter closed beta
Magic World Online is an MMO that's set to enter a second round of its closed beta on April 6th. Shot in an isometric view, it's not immediately compelling, but a closer look reveals some interesting, forward-looking features.First, and perhaps uniquely, MWO offers in-game video chat. Now, aside from the dubious wisdom of covering up precious screen real estate with a cam feed, you have to admit: that's pretty cool. Furthermore, the site makes allusions to an advanced AI that can handle certain repetitive tasks, such as traveling and leveling up. But wait, what's left for the player to do?Additionally, one can have a pretty sweet-looking house, and your own 'moving castle' (sorry, Howl) once you've joined a guild. If any of this sounds interesting to you, the game is downloadable now, but April 26 is when the actual closed beta begins.
Apple TV patent filing boasts video chat, widgets, broadcast capability
No stranger to the odd patent filing, Apple has once again delved into the dark waters of the unknown with an application for an Apple TV-like device with iChat-esque functionality, amongst others. In the patent, the company suggests a number of uses for widget overlays during video, including those triggered by content and timing, as well as widgets used for menus and navigation. The patent demonstrates how real-time widget updates may coincide with live broadcast television -- such as a scorecard overlay for a sporting event -- and also showcases a video chat function which can be used simultaneously during the playback or broadcast of content. Additionally, the filing shows a new remote which would have hot buttons for quick access to widgets, navigation, and the automatic milkshake mode (we might have wishfully made up that last one). Sure it looks good, but we'd happily take the latest Apple TV update until this comes along.
More iChat Effects
I've got two toddlers who love video chatting with grandma and grandpa. It starts out cute, but quickly deteriorates into the two of them jumping around in front of the different effects and backgrounds. More iChat Effects has made it worse.This free download adds 48 new effects to iChat, including outer space, a mildly disturbing cube effect and a pretty cool hologram. More iChat Effects is a Universal Binary and includes an uninstaller, just in case you don't want to chat as the Mona Lisa.Thanks, Grant!
Logitech unveils QuickCam / QuickCam Deluxe webcams at CeBIT
Just a few days after the zaniness that was PMA came to a close, yet another massive trade show is opening its doors, and Logitech is making sure its presence is made known. The peripheral company is kicking out a duo of new webcams aimed at notebook users, presumably feeding the flames of the video chatting bunch that we've become. Both the QuickCam and QuickCam Deluxe (pictured after the break) boast 1.3-megapixel sensors, offer up 24-bit VGA video at 15-frames per second, and a manual focus lens to boot. Both units also sport the company's proprietary RightSound technology, which purportedly throws in a dash of noise suppression, while the RightLight system supposedly allows you hold a video conversation in all but the dimmest situations. Additionally, the pair should play nice with Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AIM, and of course, Vista users won't have any issues loading either of these up. As expected, these diminutive webcams seek to perch atop your laptop's display, and while the vanilla QuickCam will only run you $39.99 when it lands in US / Europe next month, the QuickCam Deluxe (and its "intelligent face tracking") will demand $59.99 when it launches alongside.
Skype hack enables higher resolution video calls
The majority of Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick's vision of the future from 2001: A Space Odyssey has not yet been realized: popping over to the moon to have a look at the most recently unearthed alien artifact is not a common practice in the late-noughties, although one technology demonstrated in a minor scene of this science fiction epic has caught on. Video calling, once the preserve of video phones owners with expensive ISDN lines, has now become a day-to-day activity thanks to cheap broadband and a multitude of platforms that have made video chatting easy and affordable. Unfortunately, due to a variety of limitations -- lack of bandwidth, slow computers, poor quality webcams -- the majority of video conferencing solutions are of the 320 x 240 / 15 fps ilk: not something we want to hear in the era of HD. For those that do have sufficient bandwidth, a fast enough computer, and a capable webcam, there's an experimental hack for Skype that allows you to increase the resolution from the ancient 320 x 240 standard up to a much more tolerable 640 x 480. The hack only works one way, so users on both ends will have to apply it in order to see each other's zits with increased clarity. If we had a way of routing live high definition video through our PC, we'd attempt to increase the resolution even further, although that would of course require the help of something we've always found it hard to acquire: friends.[Via MAKE]Read - PCRead - Mac
LG kicks out SH110 HSDPA slider for Korea
It looks like LG's on the slider train again, adding a dime to its SH100 and calling it the SH110. This pocket-friendly phone sports a basic array of buttons on the front face, but is primarily dominated by the QVGA display. Other features on the well-styled handset is a two-megapixel camera, MP3 playback, included headphones, Bluetooth, HSDPA, and a music sharing function to stream tunes to two nearby individuals. Furthermore, this mobile supports video telephony via the VGA camera, letting you get your video chat on without having to locate a webcam. Per usual, there's no word yet on pricing or availability outside of Korea, but a little wishful thinking just might get this thing outside of its comfort zone.[Via MobileWhack]
OLPC: video conferencing for the children
Sure, the OLPC XO has had its built-in VGA webcam for a little while now, but with a mere 400Mhz processor, it took a bit of working to get the laptop up and running in a live video chat. However, those open source hax0rs aren't easily dissuaded when it comes to broadcasting their scurvy mugs across the internets, and have finally managed the first OLPC-to-OLPC transatlantic chat, with "extremely smooth" 15fps video and simultaneous audio. While the bad news here is that if you fire this thing up right now, you'll probably be looking at a dork on the other end, the eventual hope is that kids will be able to chat via the mesh network by just simply clicking on a buddy icon in the mesh view.
Philips reveals VP6500, VP6000 WiFi VoIP handsets with video
Get ready folks, there's two new Philips WiFi video VoIP handsets comin' down the pike. We just caught wind of this white hotness on the FCC site, and they do look mighty swanky. The VP 6500 and VP 6000 are similar in many ways, as they sport a 2.2-inch screen with 65,000 colors and a QCIF+ 176 x 220 display, and a rotating 240-degree VGA cam. From what we can tell, the VP 6500 also comes with a TV out mode, letting you connect your handset to a TV via a component cable (although we don't know how good of a picture quality you'll get when viewed on your sexy new flat-screen display). Further, your calls should go through those common encryption protocols WEP, WAP and WPA2 without a problem. One possible downside of this: if you thought that folks talking on their handsets in public was annoying, wait until they start making faces at their phones in public.
