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Revisiting the defining moments of CES history
Iconic CES devices like the Apple Newton, CD player, VHS VCR, Sony PlayStation and Oculus Rift "Crystal Cove" didn't necessarily seem groundbreaking at the time. Experts and the public often gave prizes to gadgets like the Creative Zen Vision:M and Hitachi's G1000 Pocket PC that we've since deleted from our collective memory banks. With that in mind, here are 10 of the most memorable CES shows that yielded products that were instant hits as well as some that weren't appreciated until later.
The winners of the 11th Annual Engadget Awards: Editors' Choice
We trotted out some truly precious puppies to announce the winners of this year's Readers' Choice Awards, but now it's time to get down to business. As we do every year, we tasked our editor's with the monumental feat of sifting through the previous year's biggest innovations to select the absolute best in show. While there's some crossover with our Readers' Choice winners (sorry Fire phone), there were a few notable exceptions. But you'll have to check out the gallery below to find out what made the cut.
The (damn cute) winners of 11th Annual Engadget Awards: People's Choice
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-389333{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-389333, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-389333{width:570px;display:block;} The votes for the 11th Annual Engadget People's Choice Awards have been tallied and the winners are in. As is always the case, there were some very polarizing products on the ballot and many of the honorees won by a very small margin. But the real winners this year were the cute and adoptable puppies at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control (SFACC) shelter. The only thing we love here at Engadget more than true innovation is man's best friend, so we teamed up with the SFACC for a special awards ceremony. Early last week, a set of the most eligible animals in San Francisco accepted "trophies" on behalf of the companies that created your favorite gadgets and software of 2014. To find out who took top honors check out the video above, and to take home one of our special guests, please visit the SFACC for more information. And check back this afternoon to find out what won this year's Editors' Choice awards.
Presenting the Best of CES 2015 winners!
One week in Vegas, several halls filled with tech, but only one official Best of CES Awards. After a few tortuous nights of shouting at each other, debating the merits of each of our finalists, we eventually decided on our winners. Congratulations to all our finalists and winners, and to anyone who's survived this week of tech announcements, Vegas razzle-dazzle and occasionally-dubious celebrity endorsements. Photos: Will Lipman
WWE 2K14 alternate cover art contest wins with Daniel Bryan entries
Both winners of 2K Sports' alternate cover art contest for WWE 2K14 featured Daniel Bryan in their entries, the developer announced today. The winners, Mike Rodriguez of Corona, CA and Alexis Zankowitch of Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, France will see their art appear as an insert on the inside of every copy of the game in their respective regions. The cover art on the front of every box features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. 2K Sports also recently unveiled the game's 30 Years of WrestleMania mode, which has players completing over 45 matches across the event's 30-year history. WWE 2K14 is slated to launch October 29 in North America and November 1 internationally on PS3 and Xbox 360. %Gallery-196046%
Dota 2's The International tournament will return August 7
The Dota 2 tournament called "The International" is set to return for a third round this year, with two different qualifiers leading up to a championship on August 7. The West Qualifier will run May 13-19, and be hosted by eSports outfit GDStudio, and the East Qualifier, hosted by BeyondtheSummit, will go from May 20-26.Those two qualifier winners will be joined by last year's winners from Invictus Gaming, twelve other contenders, and a special Wild Card contender, to be determined from the qualifier runner-ups right before the final showdown.The contest itself will take place at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, WA, and all of the matches will be broadcast online to watch for free. No official prizes have been announced yet, but traditionally The International boasts a $1 million payout for the winner, so the stakes will undoubtedly be high.
AVP Evolution hosting a contest to put fan art in the game
Fox recently released an official Aliens vs. Predator action game on the App Store called AVP Evolution, which you can pick up if interested right now for US$4.99. Unfortunately, we weren't that impressed with the game here at TUAW -- it's a pretty boring action game with some solid graphics (and a good representation of the two sci-fi licenses), but some less-than-stellar gameplay. But AVP fans might get a kick out of it, as there are plenty of Super Predators and Alien queens involved. Plus, Fox is now hosting a big art contest for the game on their Facebook page. To enter, you'll need to go over to the Facebook page, Like it, and then submit your art there. Works can't be any bigger than 3 MB, and Fox asks that they're at least 300 dpi (presumably so they'll work when included in the app). Entries will be chosen based on originality, quality, a fit with the AVP storyline and a popular vote, and one winner will see his or her art included in the app itself. Four other runner-ups will also get an AVP DVD collection for their trouble, and of course the rest of us get to see some sweet AVP art.
Wings Over Atreia: PvP tourney produces victory for winner and Aion
Well, speak of the devil! No sooner did I get done exploring the topic of whether or not PvP is player-generated-content than I stumbled upon some players generating content based on PvP in Aion. And by "stumbled upon," I mean "noticed on the launcher while loading up for some winged fun." The group Epidemic Gaming was set to host a PvP tournament on the Tiamat server. As an obvious fan of PGC, I immediately made plans to attend. I'll be the first to admit I am not by any means a master of PvP (so you can quit your laughing over there before your sides split), but both the announcement and the message itself brought a smile to my face and more hope to my heart. Heck, I may even have more spring in my step! Why? I'll tell you why! Join me as we check out this battle royal where the Daevas of Tiamat duke it out until there's only one standing as well as what an event such as this means for Aion.
Asine Hitama's Team claims top prize in EVE Online New Eden Open
Although in-game tournaments are nothing new to EVE Online, one with a cash prize is. And over the past few weekends, teams have been vying for a $10,000 jackpot in the first ever New Eden Open. After working through the brackets of the double-elimination tournament, the final match-up pit the top two teams in a best-of-five series. In the end, Asine Hitama's Team ultimately beat RONIN and the Pixies to claim first place and the cash along with in-game prizes. Third place was determined in a best-of-three match series, where Goggle Internet Crime Fighters topped the Expendables. Congratulations to the winners! For more details on how the tournament played out, see EVE Evolved's in-depth look and watch the matches in their entirety on CCP's own3D channel.
IndieCade 2012 winners get their crowns, IndieCade East in 2013
This year's great indie battle has come to an end with the victors crowned. The 2012 IndieCade winners were selected by a band of merry developers, including Kellee Santiago, co-founder of Journey studio thatgamecompany, Braid developer Jonathan Blow, and J. Stewart Burns, producer and writer for The Simpsons and Futurama.Winners include Molleindustria's Unmanned, which took home the Grand Jury Award, Jason Roberts' Gorogoa for visuals, RSBLSB's Dyad for audio and Amanita Design's Botanicula for story / world design. Davey Wreden's The Stanley Parable snagged the special recognition award, the audience choice went to Ramiro Corbetta's Hokra, and developers' choice to wallFour's Renga.IndieCade is looking to expand its reach, launching the first annual IndieCade East on Saturday and Sunday, February 16 - 17, 2013, in New York City's Museum of the Moving Image. IndieCade East will feature some of the IndieCade 2012 finalists, winners and official selections, and will host a game jam hosted by PlayStation Mobile.Check out the complete list of IndieCade winners below.
Dream Build Play finalists for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone announced, winners soon
Microsoft has announced the 40 finalists in its latest Dream Build Play competition, featuring standout titles developed with the Windows Phone Software Development Kit for the Xbox 360 or Windows Phone operating system.The games entered were judged on qualities like innovation, the production quality, and the fun factor, and all of the entries were narrowed down to these 40, with 20 on each system. The final prize-winning games will be announced in a few weeks from now in early September.The finalists come from developers all over the world, and include games like the zombie fighter RPG Dead Pixels, "fantasy flight game" Windhaven, and the electricity-powered puzzler, Super Volt. The final prizes in the competition include cash prizes and possible publishing agreements, but odds are that we'll see more than one of these titles make it out to public release after the competition, with or without Microsoft's involvement.
2012 Apple Design Awards showcase standout apps on iOS, OS X
While we tend to get caught up in keynote hoopla, Apple's WWDC event is about connecting with the third party developers of software for its various platforms and it highlighted a few with its annual Design Awards yesterday. While 2011's winners included standouts like Infinity Blade, selections for 2012 included high profile pics like the Paper sketchbook app for iPad, the game Limbo on OS X, National Geographic's National Parks iOS app and several others. Hit the source link to see all the winners including student projects daWindci and Little Star, along with descriptions of why they were picked. Unsurprisingly, tight integration with the various APIs and services Apple is pushing (plus a polished and widely appreciated user experience, of course) is the way to its heart -- worth keeping in mind for those hoping to be in the winner's circle for 2013.
Winners announced in Champions Online Design a Villain contest
Who could resist the opportunity to see one's very own custom super-villain face off against the heroes in Champions Online? One glance at the contest's forum thread shows that many couldn't; a wide variety of nefarious villains were proposed in page after page of contest entries. After much deliberation, Cryptic has finally announced the winners of its Design A Villain contest. However, with so many entries, Cryptic upped the number of winners from five to seven and promised that another round of winners will be announced at a later date. The grand prize winner who will see both of his creations featured in an upcoming 10-man Alert is Fryguy8544. Runner ups are Ubusunagami, Akwartz, Rianba, chezpizza, Azathoth-Sothoth, and CCat76; their villains will also be featured in the game. Congratulations to the winners! To check out the winning submissions with their corresponding costumes, visit the official announcement linked below (you'll need to log in to the forums to see the pictures). And for those whose submissions weren't chosen this time, keep watch for the next waves of winners.
Winners and losers of Cataclysm
Forum poster Breccia put a lot of thought into his list of the top 10 winners and top 10 losers of Cataclysm. I don't agree with all of his choices, but I definitely agree with what he has to say about Neptulon being one of the losers -- we need a resolution of that storyline and soon. It got me thinking about who I'd consider the winners and losers of this expansion. The status quo got a pretty serious shake-up in Cataclysm, and a lot of fortunes were changed for good or ill. Personally, I really think the worgen took it on the chin this expansion. Not only is the female model lacking (in my opinion) compared to the original preview (that semi-permanent snarly and atrophied muzzle needs to be redesigned badly), but worgen players got to see their cool storyline concluded Horde-side while they were traipsing around in the night elf starting zones. Even today, most of Gilneas is a ghost zone. I love the worgen, and I really hope we get to see them get more involved in Mists. As for winners, I'd definitely put Velen up there as a stealth winner. While the draenei still haven't been as active as I'd like, the quest in the Swamp of Sorrows where Velen appears is a huge lore goldmine for the future. Not only does Velen spell out the true nature of the conflict at hand, he sets the stage for a war so vast and terrible it makes all previous struggles on Azeroth pale to insignificance. He also flat out corrects the idea that the Light hates the broken, showing that it's the draenei themselves who have a touch of bigotry in their souls to conquer. I could go on all day, but it's more interesting to see what you think. Winners and losers of this expansion? What are your choices? World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
The Guild Counsel: Why is it so hard to say congratulations?
When was the last time you said congratulations to someone in game? And no, I don't mean the spammy "congrats" when someone in guild gains a level, an AA, a skill up, a crafting combine, or any of the dozen other milestones that pop up every day in chat. Those are the easy congratulations because the accomplishment has no direct effect on you. I'm talking about the congratulations when someone beats you in game. You might be in a duel or battleground, and the other guy ends up taking you out. You might be racing for a named mob, and the other guy gets there first. Or you might be in that guild that always seems to fall just a bit short and winds up the bridesmaid when it comes to guild progression. There is plenty of competition in MMOs, but you rarely see much sportsmanship from players. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at why it's so hard to say "congrats" and why that has an effect on guilds as well as on the communities overall.
2011 Best App Ever winners announced
Jeff Scott of 148 Apps has announced the winners for the Best App Ever for 2011, and you can review at the official site right now. Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick was the overall winner in the iOS devision (which is a great app, but probably also benefited from actually promoting the Best App Ever vote inside the app itself). There are several other winners across various categories like Most Innovative (Codea), Most Useful (Amazon Mobile) and Best Time Killer (Tiny Wings). Scott tells us that 148 Apps received a record 1.5 million votes this year, which is three times the total of last year's choices. Before voting began, there were 287,643 nominations across 7,243 apps. This year also featured Android winners in many categories, but Scott says that iOS topped the Android votes by a factor of 10:1. The Best App Ever awards are always an excellent check of what's available on the App Store, so review the list and find some great new apps. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to 148 Apps for putting the whole thing together.
Fez, Johann Sebastian Joust win at the IndieCade 2011 awards
The 2011 IndieCade Awards were held in Santa Monica last evening and, in a pretty informal event, Phil Fish's Fez came away with the biggest wins of the night. It received two awards, one for Story/World Design, and the second for the Best in Show prize. Johann Sebastian Joust, a physical game that challenges players to hold PlayStation Move controllers still while getting audio feedback in musical form, also picked up two awards: one for Best Technology, and another award for Impact on the community. Tom Sennett's manic Deepak Fights Robots won the award for best Gameplay Design, Superbrothers' Sword and Sworcery EP picked up the award for Visuals, and Proteus, in which players are offered up a musical environment to explore, won for best Sound. Interaction went to German physical game Ordnungswissenschaft, and the Special Recognition award went to side-scrolling puzzler platformer The Swapper. The ceremony itself was short but wacky. Presenters like Samm Levine and Martin Starr (of TV's "Freaks and Geeks"), as well as web video stars Team Unicorn and Sandeep Parikh, cracked sometimes awkward jokes, while the indie developers themselves acted (unsurprisingly) indie. Joust's team used one of their awards speeches to silently demo the game, and Tom Sennett took the stage to simply announce, "I'm Tom Sennett, and I don't give a fuck!" Fish himself (above) laughed maniacally after winning his second award, and then joked that he thought the Canadian Sword and Sworcery team was going to win. "Take that, Toronto!" he joked. We'll be at IndieCade over the rest of the weekend, so stay tuned for more coverage.
EVE contest winners announced, free Aurum for everyone
Back in July, EVE Online developer CCP Games opened a visual museum of EVE artwork, screenshots, and videos to record the game's ongoing history. Players were invited to upload their work to the site in exchange for entry into a huge contest, with 20 Nvidia graphics cards and an expensive Alienware laptop to be won. Players voted for their favourite videos and pictures on the website during August, and the winners were officially announced on Thursday. The grand prize of an Alienware gaming rig went to Tez Saurus of Test Alliance for his video I Love New Eden, which received a massive 1800 votes (almost 1000 votes more than the next-most-popular video). The song beat legendary videos like Clear Skies III, War Has Come, and the popular official trailer EVE: A future Vision from 2011's Fanfest. At the start of August, CCP gave every active EVE account 1000 free Aurum to spend on Incarna clothing as a thank-you for sharing EVE museum pictures and videos on Facebook. The second sharing milestone for the visual museum was reached this week, and all active EVE players will soon receive 1500 Aurum free of charge. As clothing bought with Aurum can be sold on the normal in-game market, this is a big financial boost to new players. The total value of the Aurum being distributed is around $1.75 million US.
Google Science Fair winners announced: grilled chicken, ovarian cancer, asthma take center stage
Google's first-ever science fair came to a close yesterday, as 15 finalists, ranging in age from 13 to 18, showed off their smarts at Google HQ. Top honors went to three young ladies -- score one for the girls -- in three separate age groups, but there could only be one Highlander Grand Prize winner. The big win went to Shree Bose for an experiment which focused on improving treatment of ovarian cancer, following accumulated resistance to chemotherapy drugs. Lauren Hodge and Naomi Shah also took home trophies for their experiments which dealt with carcinogens in grilled chicken and reducing reliance on asthma treatment, respectively. Along with trophies built of Legos, these young brainiacs took home prizes that included lifetime subscriptions to Scientific American and big-money scholarships ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. A very long video documenting the award ceremony can be found -- featuring a shocking lack of baking soda volcanoes -- after the break.
City of Heroes reveals billboard contest winners
The devs at Paragon Studios recently threw open the doors of creativity for City of Heroes players in the form of the CoH Billboard Contest. Players were asked to come up with signage for a theoretical new business that would be opening somewhere in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. The competition ran from December of 2010 through the end of last month, and NCsoft has finally announced the winners (many of whom walked away with substantial prize packages that include free game time, in-game items, and oh yeah, the pleasure of seeing their artwork plastered all over various billboards in the long-running superhero MMO). Hit up the official website for more details, including images of the winning entries.
