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York announces pay-as-you-go EV charging network, beats London to the punch
The city of York just announced a plan to install a network of pay-as-you-go charging stations for electric vehicles, the first such system to launch in the UK. York is already home to 12 free charging points, but these are located in lesser-known areas such as private parking lots. The new stations will be installed in public lots in the city center as well as near supermarkets and hotels. According to the City of York Council, the charging technology can add a 30-mile range to a car's battery within a half hour of use. EV owners will be able to track energy usage and find nearby charging stations from their phones -- via an app, we can safely assume -- and by registering their credit cards, they'll be able to pay instantly by phone or text message. It remains to be seen whether other English cities will follow suit. The capital has Source London, which requires an annual fee of €100 for use of 900-plus charging points in the city, but there will be even more drivers in need of power-ups when the Tesla Model S hits Old Blighty's shores.
Editorial: 2-year-old dies after beating
Late Monday night, 2-year-old Darisabel Baez died from injuries sustained from a brutal beating by her mother's boyfriend on Sunday. The boyfriend, Harve Johnson, reportedly used a video game controller.We've received numerous tips and followed various developments about this horrific story over the past few days. We've decided to post about it now, in part, to open up a space for shared discussion through which we may experience relief. However base it may seem in light of the real tragedy, many of us are particularly concerned about the opportunity for mainstream media and those ignorant persons who target our industry to sensationalize a trivial fact about Darisabel's death. That Johnson had in his hand a game controller is no evidence that the game controller and, specifically, the games he likely played with the controller were in any way a catalyst for his heinous crime. But that's a message we fear might be spread.In our struggle to comprehend the merciless death of an innocent 2-year-old we might grasp at understandings that are wrong. The best you can do is to know and uphold that video games did not cause this unimaginable expression of violence. Please feel free to share your own respectful thoughts and feelings in the comments below.
Go to NYC for launch, get a Wii handed to you by Reggie
In sitting down with ABC News, Reggie Fils-Aime does the usual PR thing to promote the Wii, talking up the innovative features of the console and the company's goals to bring their product to people in all walks of life, hardcore gamers and those who do not traditionally play games alike, but more interestingly reveals that he will be on-hand at Nintendo's store in New York city to hand out consoles during launch (he says "a store in NYC," but it's safe to assume it'll be at Nintendo's store). Obviously, he makes no mention of needing to kick your ass and/or take your name to get your hands on a Wii, so we assume you'll need your check card, or the good old cash standard. [Note: Read link will take you directly to ABC News' video interview]
Wii news and how the DS was affected
Nintendo's US press event recently concluded and while all of your Wii information needs have probably been satisfied, nothing else was discussed about Wii-DS connectivity. We know that Iwata already said that the WiiConnect24 service could be used to download content to the DS, whether it be a demo or something else, and also that the DS could also be used as a controller through the Wii's menu interface, but this was not demonstrated at the event or further discussed there.So what does this mean? Probably nothing. We should still see Nintendo's handheld play a large role in the Wii's interactivity and extra content. We should still see the DS downloading demos from the WiiConnect24 service. We should still see the DS being used as a controller to navigate menus in the Wii's interface. Just because Nintendo didn't show any of the features you'll be able to access on the Wii through the DS doesn't mean they aren't coming. We should be seeing and hearing more on the two consoles interacting as the launch date for the Wii draws near.
Reminder: Grandparents contest tomorrow
We've already informed you of the contest and like the tough, determined reader you are, you've no doubt abducted your grandparent of choice from their nursing home or other place of residence and put them on a strict gaming regimen much like that of a fictitious boxer. We know you take these things seriously and look forward to winning those 2 DS Lites and 10 games. But, in case you decide you'd rather disappoint us, you could stop by for the 10% discount on all things purchased. Any of you readers planning on stopping by the event? Take some pictures and send them in. Maybe tell us how the competition went down?
A tourney for the older folk
On the 9th of September, Nintendo plans to hold a contest for "Coolest Grandparent of the Year." Now, visions of beautiful pageantry are most likely flooding your head as you soon violently cringe, thinking to yourself of how the swimsuit section of the competition might go, but rest assured that this contest is more a tournament of gaming prowess than vocalizing a desire to shelter the homeless. To Nintendo, in order to be the coolest, you have to showcase some skills in Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. At the Nintendo World store in New York City, between 12 pm and 5 pm on the aforementioned day, Grandparents with the "skillz to pay the billz" will walk away with 2 DS Lites and 10 DS games, making for one happy Matlock fan club back at the home or a few happy grandchildren.[Image credit: Old Grandma Hardcore]
Gaming has image problem, Nintendo to fix
Seth Schiesel, a writer for the NY Times, recently put up an article about the image problem with the videogame industry and how it was, for the most part, its own fault. An attendance at the recent Ziff Davis Electronic Gaming Summit provided the inspiration for this piece, which talked about the state of gaming and its effect socially. Stating that gamers are often outed as socially inept at the mention of enjoying video games, the writer claims that even given the financial success the industry has seen, its still not the mainstream and widely-accepted activity that we all think it to be. Seth noted that Nintendo was the only company who seemed to "get it."Enter Carl Howe of Blackfriars Communication, who agrees that the industry is not innovating like it should beyond first-person shooters and becoming the entertainment power house it needs to be. Carl sees hope, however, in a company who decided that the standard controller just wasn't cutting it and that people don't just want flashy graphics on their handheld. They might want to teach a puppy to sit or see how quickly they can solve 100 math problems. And Nintendo is going to be the one to reach out to those looking for entertainment beyond plasma grenades and rocket launchers, to casual gamers who might be curious, but aren't looking for a free-for-all deathmatch where whoever gets the sword first wins.We can still have those games, but we want something new, something fresh, something that will once again make our eyes open wide and our mouths fall to our chest, something that will make that small stretch of hair on the back of our necks straighten and cause a chill to run down our spine. We want to experience the feelings we did when we first got into gaming and if anyone can make that happen, it's Nintendo. Maybe then your dad won't laugh at you when you say you've been playing a game for the last few hours, instead asking if he can give it a whirl.[Via N-Sider]
