Parental guidance: why gaming with kids is bad for your health

January 31st, 2014, 00:22 Posted By: wraggster

Parents be warned: letting your kids play LEGO Marvel Super Heroes might prompt a real-life Hulk smash to the kneecaps.

When the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched in symbiotic style at the end of 2013, many a gamer capable of recalling the transition to a whopping 56 simultaneous onscreen colours and Mode 7 wizardry, when Sega and Nintendo doubled their bit counts, could be forgiven for wondering when the console wars became so beige.Sure enough, Microsoft and Sony had (metaphorically) fired their share of (rhetorical) shots over the (proverbial) parapets in the run up to each company’s new hardware hitting shelves – but where were the once-bold battle lines? Where were the playground divisions, the office debates? Didn’t we once display our allegiances with a “Mario Sucks” pin badge?I did, for a bit (it might’ve come with an issue of Sega Pro). But as time’s trickled, so it’s become increasing evident to the maturing follower of digital culture that one man’s donkey is another’s ass – ergo, what one shiny new console offers, the other pretty much matches. Unless you upgraded to a Wii U recently, in which case: there’s always Mario (and, really, he doesn’t suck at all).And yet, it’s to Sony’s console that I find myself turning – and not because its launch roster is markedly better than Microsoft’s. My attention was piqued, primarily, because of marketing. I know, I’m terrifically shallow – but I’m not talking about how the PS4’s share function was sold, or Resogun’s frenetic action, or even Knack’s particle effects. I was hooked by their identifying of one kind of modern gamer, the kind I could relate best to.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...r-your-health/

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30 Minutes Inside Valve's Prototype Virtual Reality Headset

January 31st, 2014, 00:19 Posted By: wraggster

Owlchemy Labs, the developers behind the excellent Oculus Rift ready game, Aaaaaaaculus!, share their impressions of their time at Steam Dev Days and detail their experiences using Valve's secretive virtual reality HMD prototype. An excerpt: 'I was told to walk off of the cube and it was physically difficult to step forward into the space where there was no solid footing, even though I knew that there would be a solid floor with a rug right there for me. It's amazing how the mind can trick you.'

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...eality-headset

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Retailers unfazed by empty release schedule

January 30th, 2014, 02:05 Posted By: wraggster

UK game stores have played down concerns over a quiet start to 2014.
The first six weeks of 2014 is notable for a significant lack of titles, prompting worries that the good momentum from the end of last year could slow.
However, buyers at top UK stores have told MCV that with PS4 and Xbox One sales still strong, now is an opportunity to shift more launch games for the consoles.
“Q4 was an incredibly exciting period for new releases magnified by the launch of two brand new formats, so it’s inevitable that early 2014 would appear slower,” said SimplyGames purchasing director Steve Moore.
ShopTo purchasing director James Rowson added: “The constant deliveries of PS4 and Xbox One consoles mean more and more gamers are converting and therefore buying into the launch titles for these consoles.”
Rowson certainly seems correct, with seven of the Top Ten games in this week’s chart available on the new machines.
However, Games Centre MD Robert Lindsay feels publishers may have missed a trick in not taking advantage of a quieter schedule.
“January and February are the perfect months for titles that may have been overlooked by consumers during the busier period. Unfortunately, most publishers don’t seem to spot this gap and take advantage,” he said.
Despite the soft start to the year, retailers are bullish about the rest of 2014, with big franchises, returning brands and blockbuster new IP set to arrive from March onwards.
GAME’s category director Charlotte Knight told MCV: “This year there are some highly anticipated launches in the first half of 2014 that our gaming community are really excited about, including Tomb Raider, Watch Dogs and Titanfall.
“We are working closely with publishers to ensure we will be bringing the excitement of these launches as soon as possible to our stores, website, social media channels and more.“
Steve Moore added: “With huge games like Thief and Titanfall due in the next couple of months, we’re already looking forward to very busy year.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/retai...hedule/0127348

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EA expects console full game digital download growth

January 30th, 2014, 01:53 Posted By: wraggster

Full game digital downloads on PS4 and Xbox One are a sector that is of particular interest for EA, the publisher has said.
Speaking to investors, COO Peter Moore has suggested their sales are likely to increase once the launch window has passed, although conceded that meaningful data won’t be available until the end of the year.
“I think it's a little early. Certainly, digital extra content, full game downloads is something we watch and something that we're keeping a very close eye on,” Moore told investors, as reported by Seeking Alpha.
“I think what you see, typically, in the first couple of months is that consumers have gone to retail to pick up their boxes, and as a result, they probably bought the packaged goods version of that software.
“I think it's a good question for 12 months from now when we have a full year of data behind us.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ea-ex...growth/0127355

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The next-gen cash grab: why ‘paymium’ fundamentally compromises console game design

January 30th, 2014, 00:43 Posted By: wraggster

Every car in Forza 5 can be bought with standard credits or the alternative ‘token’ currency. Tokens can only be purchased with real cash at an exchange rate of 100TK to 79 pence. Buy 10,000 for £64.99 and you’ll receive another 10,000 for free.

The name is as ugly as the concept. ‘Paymium’, where you’re encouraged to buy content in a game you’ve already paid for, has been lurking in the shadows for years, but it’s become overt with the arrival of a new generation. This is particularly true on Xbox One, where the model has been embraced wholesale, with developers even compromising design to make the cynical system work.Almost all of Microsoft’s launch exclusives featured in-app purchases of some kind. Take Forza Motorsport 5. While players could pay real money for virtual vehicles in Forza 4 and Horizon, the system moved to the foreground this generation. Your real cash currency is forever visible in the game’s menus; the value of in-game currency is now limited, with reduced prizes for victory and huge price tags on the most desirable cars; and the Free Play mode has been gutted to force you to spend more money just to sit behind the wheel of a Lotus F1 car.Internet forums are filled with gamers reacting with indignant horror to the paymium creep, while game sites post hand-wringing editorials on where it will lead. Players’ reactions to Forza 5’s use of the model were so hostile that the game was patched within a month, slashing car prices by up to two-thirds and upping the prize pots.The problem is fundamental, though. Paymium means pairing two diametrically opposed business models. In free-to-play titles, there is an understanding that the basic experience is free, but in return the studio can encourage players to pay for certain elements throughout the game. Indeed, free-to-play titles are designed from the ground up as monetised systems, their core compulsion loops built around concepts of friction and conversion. Everything is geared towards getting the player to the point at which they’ll spend.“We call it the threshold of engagement,” Chris Wright, CEO of research company GamesAnalytics, says. “We have done a lot of work to understand what motivates players to spend money and when that crossover occurs. We find there is an optimum point in all [F2P] games where players who spend money exhibit a very different behaviour. These players will become very engaged in the game, change how they play and often become advocates, driving viral activity. Getting players to this point and not pushing them to spend too early is very important.”Forza 5’s most expensive vehicles are the Ferrari 250 GTO and the Lotus E21 F1 car, at 6,000,000 credits (or 2,334TK), pre-patch. The December update cut both the credit and token prices for the highest-end cars by two thirds.

In a retail purchase, the contract is different. You have paid a premium price, which is ostensibly for all the content necessary to enjoy the game. In this context, free-to-play conventions can feel exploitative. “F2P evangelists will insist it’s about player choice,” says Size Five designer Dan Marshall. “They’ll insist that you can skip all this nickel-and-dime stuff if you want, but it’s not even remotely true. Gameplay is bent out of position right from the off to accommodate F2P mechanics, and the whole game crumples flat as a result. It becomes about how you get the player to pay, not how you get the player to have fun.”Microtransactions in full-price games aren’t new. As soon as broadband speeds allowed for widespread digital distribution and seamless post-release billing systems, the business model started creeping into mainstream retail titles. EA’s The Godfather was among the earliest examples. Borrowing the ‘grind or pay’ mechanic from the eastern MMORPG world, the title allowed players to purchase in-game money to boost their crime empire’s fortunes. The Godfather might be patient zero for paymium but FIFA Ultimate Team made it viable as gaming’s most toxic revolution. Ultimate Team charged for packs of player ‘trading cards’, the constructed teams available to play with online. It was fun and players loved it, in part because it felt fair and because it felt like it belonged – the kids who traded World Cup stickers in the playground could now trade virtual men in FIFA 09.Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3 microtransactions followed, and in February 2013 EA’s chief financial officer, Blake Jorgensen, told delegates at a media and telecoms conference that the company would be putting paid-for content into all its titles. “Consumers are enjoying and embracing that way of business,” he declared.It’s easy to see why the model is so appealing to publishers. During an investor call in September 2012, Ubisoft’s worldwide online director, Stéphanie Perotti, stated, “Free-to-play is a very flexible business model. The player has the capability to spend more than in a traditional model.” And when players are already paying £50 on FIFA before doubling that on Ultimate Team with a smile, it must seem like
a model to emulate.But FIFA Ultimate Team is special. It’s a part of the game kept separate from the main career modes – an opt-in extra lots of players have come to enjoy, rather than the entrenched game-compromising cash grab Dan Marshall mentions

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...e-game-design/

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See the first Google Glass game prototypes

January 30th, 2014, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster

In an effort to make Google Glass wearers appear even loonier than they do already, Google has created a handful of very basic mini-games as a way to inspire developers to make games on the platform."We built the games to play well on Glass by utilising its unique features and design," Google explained on its official blog. "Each game is visually simple and straightforward to play. We intentionally wanted games that are quick to get into when you have a few, free minutes and just as easy to get out of when you want to turn your attention back to reality."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ame-prototypes

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With No Guidance From Google, Makers Creating Own Glass Accessories

January 29th, 2014, 00:09 Posted By: wraggster

Google remains tight-lipped about its roadmap for Google Glass, and its population of early-adopter 'Explorers' remains small. Nonetheless, a growing collection of engineers, designers, and artists are creating their own accessories and add-ons for Glass — some of them useful, others totally whimsical. For example, there's Brooklyn designer Todd Blatt, who's relying on a 3D printer to churn out Glass accessories such as tiny flower-pots and pencil holders (not so useful) as well as a plastic camera cover (useful, at least for anyone in the vicinity who likes their privacy). Small firms such as GPOP and Remotte are likewise exploring how to best skin, dangle, screw, and attach hardware to Glass that makes it operate in whole new ways. (The avenues for exploration have opened up with the second generation of Google Glass, which includes a small screw in the right arm that can double as a mounting point for new tech.) Google seems to have no choice but to let this growing ecosystem thrive, even if some of the modifications (such as camera covers) don't necessarily suit its interests. But will the company actually say something about it?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/01...ss-accessories

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Samsung developing Galaxy Glass as frames launch for Google Glass

January 29th, 2014, 00:01 Posted By: wraggster

Samsung is currently developing a competitor to Google’s Glass, which could make its debut at the IFA trade show in Berlin this September.
A report from the Korea Times quotes unnamed Samsung officials saying that "the market potential for smart glass is huge. It will be used in trucks, cars and has a greater impact on related industries such as glass- and coatings-makers.”
The report says that the Galaxy Glass will connect to a smartphone to let the user handle calls and listen to music.
In other wearable tech news, Google has launched four frames to accompany Glass. Meaning those with eye prescriptions can now use the tech.
The four frames are available in a choice of eight colours and are separate to Glass, costing $225 each.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...e-glass/033053

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Create, share, play: the new era of expressive games

January 27th, 2014, 22:43 Posted By: wraggster

Games like Minecraft have turned players into more creative, social beings – as singleplayer games become less important, connected multiplayer experiences are showing us the potential future of play.

Back in 2006, the Far Cry 2 team went to Paris to present the game concept to Ubisoft management for approval. One of the biggest hurdles we needed to overcome was to prove that we could deliver the ambitious goals of the project under the time and budget constraints we were given. We were pitching the idea that we could deliver a 50km2 open-world firstperson shooter with about 100 hours of gameplay, built by a team smaller than the one that had delivered the 12-hour linear experience of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.A huge part of our pitch was a video that showed a 60:1 time-lapse screen capture of eight hours of work from a single level designer and a single artist working together to build 1km2 of our game world, delivering both visuals and gameplay to a shippable (for pre-alpha) quality, starting completely from scratch.The artist started by using noise patterns and filters in Photoshop to generate a grayscale image that would become the height field for the environment. He then painted in textures and foliage, set a water level, painted in a road and river, created a foliage system, and generated a jungle and a savannah. He threw a few structures in a clearing, adjusted the entire environment to look good in different lighting and weather scenarios, and handed it off to a designer.The designer moved the buildings around, added some AI, and threw in some patrol paths and guard points. He added some mounted weapon emplacements, cover, vehicles and animals, and set up some burnable areas (this was before fire propagation was a fully systemic feature). He tweaked and tuned the gameplay by diving into and out of the game repeatedly (the game could be compiled and launched from the editor in an instant, even at this early stage) to make sure everything was working and fun. The eight-minute video and the playable output that it produced was instrumental in convincing Ubisoft we would be able to materially deliver on the promise of the game.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...ressive-games/

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All eyes on Epic: Unreal-powered games, major VR support and more incoming

January 27th, 2014, 22:42 Posted By: wraggster

Epic has a relatively muted 2013, but this year it’ll be back in the limelight with the forthcoming announcement of several new Unreal-powered console games, a big VR push and news on its own game projects.

Mike Gamble knows things. As Epic Games’ EU territory manager he’s privy to a plethora of yet-to-be revealed PS4, Xbox One and PC games powered by his company’s popular Unreal Engine, and has seen and worked with major new titles slated for release as far forward as spring 2015.Epic counts Microsoft, Irrational, Ninja Theory, Arkane, Gearbox, Firaxis, BioWare, Rocksteady and many more as its clients, but it’s not giving up game development itself just yet. First announced at the end of 2011, Fortnite is Epic’s own UE4 game, but the developer has been strangely quiet about it ever since. Besides a glimpse of Epic’s next-gen engine in its ‘elemental’ video and Microsoft’s acquisition of the Gears Of War franchise today, Epic seems to have been uncharacteristically quiet of late. There’s a good reason for that, says Gamble.“There haven’t really been any announcements of the games still under wraps [that use UE4] – as soon as they start going live, then you’ll see suddenly see that we’re everywhere again,” he tells us. “You’ll be thoroughly sick of us!”There will be announcements from Epic at GDC this year, Gamble confirms, and the expected generational leap in visuals on console is coming for real soon after, he says. And he should know. “It’ll happen this year, toward the Christmas period,” he tells us. “Knowing the games that are in development, there are some crackers. The first quarter of 2015 is also where a lot of them seem to be aiming. This year there seems to be alot of cross-gen, but that’s publishers and developers being safe, isn’t it? It’s still a good revenue stream.”

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The case of the disappearing video games

January 27th, 2014, 18:09 Posted By: wraggster

61 video games have been 'delisted' from Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service to date. Some, such as the recreations of pithy 80s arcade games like Defender, Robotron 2084, Double Dragon and Gauntlet are readily available to play in compendiums elsewhere or, if you've the budget, on their original cabinets. But others, such as Microsoft's experimental virtual game show 100 vs 1 or Sumo Digital's elegant tribute to arcade racing games OutRun Online Arcade or Double Fine Happy Action Theater (a game designed by Tim Schafer as a way for his two-year old daughter to interact with a TV screen) are no longer available to buy anywhere. These video games may be lost forever in the ebb of digital distribution's uncaring tide.Microsoft is evasive on the reasons behind the disappearances. Pressed on the issue a spokesperson provided the following tepid statement: "We work closely with our development partners to ensure that gamers have access to great titles through Xbox Live, which sometimes includes the removal of content due to expired rights and licensing or other circumstances specific to developer/publisher terms." Expired rights and licences limiting the sale of video games is nothing new - it's one of the reasons that we're yet to see a re-release of 1997's seminal, James Bond tie-in Goldeneye 007. But in the past, a licensed game would remain available to buy on the second hand market. In the digital age, there is no physical artefact. Once it's removed from sale, it's gone without trace.Indeed, while these 61 games remain on Microsoft's servers (anybody who previously bought one of these games and deleted it is currently still able to re-download the game), the moment those servers are shut down, a great swathe of video game history is wiped away. Where once we could place our treasured games and memories in cardboard boxes and store them in attics, increasingly video games are ephemeral things, fleeting and formless.

"It's a big problem already, and I suspect it's going to be even bigger 20 years from now when historians find themselves unable to experience significant works like World of Warcraft."
Frank Cifaldi

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UK chart: FIFA 14 nets another win

January 27th, 2014, 18:07 Posted By: wraggster

No exciting new releases means no exciting goings-on in the UK video game chart this week.FIFA 14 remains top for a fourth week in a row (nine top-spots in total), trailed by Call of Duty: Ghosts in second and Battlefield 4 in third. Lego Marvel Superheroes is fourth and Asassin's Creed 4: Black Flag fifth.Minecraft Xbox 360, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Grand Theft Auto 5, Need for Speed: Rivals run sixth to ninth in that order.In 10th is new entry Dragon Ball Z: Battle for Z on PS3, 360 and Vita. It's the strongest first week for a DBZ game in recent years.There's another new entry further down in the shape of Mario Party: Island Tour on 3DS, placed 17th.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ts-another-win

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ChipSiP Smart Glass Specs Better Than Google Glass?

January 26th, 2014, 23:06 Posted By: wraggster

Google Glass is in for a fight even before they hit the market. The Taiwanese company Chipsip has just released plans for a competing product that beats Google Glass on all specifications. (Seen on the Swedish Elektronik Tidningen — warning: written in Swedish) Nine sensors on the Taiwanese product 'Smart Glass' can detect speed, altitude, temperature, light and position. It has built-in GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and a microphone. The processor is based on Rock Chips Cortex A9 system RK3168 running at 1.5 GHz. While Google Glass supports 802.11g communication, Chipsip Smart Glass supports 802.11n. The camera and screen resolution also top Google Glass by a notch, and with stereo sound on the Smart Glass compared to Google's mono sound, it seems that the Taiwanese company has hit all the right spots to make Google goggle. Or not. Google Glass is still in Beta, so specs on the final product may change.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...n-google-glass

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Gone Home on Oculus Rift scrapped - for now

January 23rd, 2014, 23:24 Posted By: wraggster

The Fullbright Company still "actively investigating" possibility of console version
Indie hit Gone Home was in development for Oculus Rift but creator The Fullbright Company has confirmed that this project has been put on hold.
Instead, the studio is "actively investigating" how it can bring the game to consoles.
Speaking to the International Business Times, Fullbright co-founder Steve Gaynor said: "Oculus Rift we have basically stopped active development on. We looked into it and what we discovered is that really, for a game to be good on Oculus you have to design it for Oculus.
"We don't have any body-awareness in our game and a bunch of UI pasted to the screen – 2D UI. Both of those things are tough with an Oculus game and we're not going to go back and remake our UI or add a player body to make a good fit for Oculus."
Gaynor added that his team hadn't ruled out the idea of returning to an Oculus Rift version of Gone Home in the future. For now, however, the priority is finding a way onto consoles.
"We are actively investigating getting it onto consoles and we think it would be a great fit," he said. "I mean we designed the game to use an Xbox controller and to be playable on the couch. It's really just a question of how we make that happen. So we're looking into it and we hope it will happen but we don't have anything to announce at this point."

http://www.develop-online.net/news/g...or-now/0188389

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Call it a comeback: 2013 in numbers

January 23rd, 2014, 23:06 Posted By: wraggster

The UK physical games market staged a comeback in 2013 with the help of new consoles, Grand Theft Auto V and FIFA.MCV analyses the figures.
It was not quite a full recovery for the UK games market in 2013, but it was a record-breaking year nevertheless.
Grand Theft Auto V took the plaudits becoming the fastest selling launch in history. It sold more in week one than Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, Batman: Arkham Origins, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Battlefield 4 put together, and by the end of the year had shifted an incredible 3.67m units. That's over 1m more than its nearest rival.
Not that its nearest rival had a bad 2013. FIFA 14 had a softer launch than in previous years, with sales down 24 per cent after week one. But by the end of the year it had recovered (thanks to an Xbox One hardware bundle) and sold 2.65m units, putting it ahead of what FIFA 13 had managed at the same point a year before.
In the end EA retained its position as the UK's most successful games publisher, although it was fought all the way by Take-Two, which managed second place for the first time in over five years thanks to GTA V and BioShock Infinite.
Overall, the UK boxed software market declined slightly in 2013. Revenue made from boxed game sales fell slightly by three per cent, while unit sales were down a more significant 13 per cent to 34.5m games sold.
As this suggests, the average cost of physical games last year increased quite significantly to £29.42. That’s a huge £3 increase over the year before. The reason for this is due to the decline of the budget games sector, plus the launch of pricer video games on PS4 and Xbox One.
It was better news in the hardware front and this was entirely down to the eagerly awaited arrival of Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Together the next-gen devices sold almost 900,000 units (530,000 PS4s and 364,000 Xbox Ones), but it was actually the Nintendo 3DS family of consoles that were 2013's biggest sellers. Overall 2.9m games machines were sold last year, a rise of four per cent over 2012.
A rise in hardware sales had a positive impact on the accessories market, although it was primairly first party controllers and chargers that sold best.
The other big winners of the year included Xbox 360, which once again dominated the software share by format charts and was the No.1 selling console. Meanwhile, Warner Bros continues its rise up the publisher rankings. The Batman and LEGO publisher has risen from No.12 to No.6 in just four years. Software data courtesy of UKIE/GfK Chart-Track. Console and accessory stats via GfK Chart-Track.
CONSOLE BOOST

The boxed software market declined in 2013, although this is mostly due to a drop in the sales of budget games. Revenue generated from full priced games actually increased year over year.
Meanwhile, the arrival of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One had a huge impact on console hardware sales, up 38 per cent in revenue, and accessory sales benefitted sightly as well with Xbox One and PS4 peripherals selling strongly.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/call-...umbers/0127108

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How eSports is becoming a legitimate sport

January 23rd, 2014, 23:05 Posted By: wraggster

Millions of people around the world are playing their favourite games right now.
The majority do so for fun in their free time. But others are seasoned professionals, celebrated for their gaming prowess – and even make a living through their in-game abilities and accomplishments.
And then there are the millions who aren’t even playing themselves, instead fixated to online video websites as these ‘sportsmen’ face off in imaginary arenas for real cash prizes in excess of $2m.
The name of the game is eSports. And it’s now bigger than ever.
Its most popular games range from FPS goliath Call of Duty to PC-based MOBAs such as Dota 2 and League of Legends. The latter of these has become one of the flagship brands for the sector.
Season three of the League of Legends World Championship took place last year and over 32 million people tuned in to Twitch to watch – that’s almost a third of the viewership achieved by last year’s Super Bowl and a huge increase over the previous tournament, which attracted just 8.2m viewers.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/how-e...-sport/0127144

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Kirby holds number one in Japan

January 23rd, 2014, 22:01 Posted By: wraggster

3DS software remains dominant due to absence of new releases
Kirby: Triple Deluxe held the top spot in Japan last week as a dearth of new releases saw the software chart remain static.
According to data from Media Create, 3DS games once again occupied every one of the top five in the software charts. Kirby sold another 80,000 units to stay at number one, while GungHo's Puzzle & Dragons Z showed real staying power by selling another 50,000 units six weeks after its launch.
The full software chart is below, with lifetime sales in parentheses:

• 1. [3DS] Kirby: Triple Deluxe (Nintendo, 01/09/14) - 81,069 (295,276)
• 2. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons Z (GungHo Online Entertainment, 12/12/31) - 48,788 (1,265,209)
• 3. [3DS] Pokemon X and Y (Nintendo, 10/12/13) - 23,600 (3,893,725)
• 4. [3DS] Yokai Watch (Level-5, 07/11/13) - 19,039 (327,985)
• 5. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo, 12/26/13) - 17,897 (341,398)
• 6. [3DS] Sentouchu Densetsu no Shinobi to Survival Battle (Namco Bandai, 10/17/13) - 17,057 (241,926)
• 7. [PS3] Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster (Square Enix, 12/26/13) - 14,026 (255,759)
• 8. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom, 09/14/13) - 13,297 (3,192,848)
• 9. [PSV] Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster Twin Pack (Square Enix, 12/26/13) - 12,805 (207,212)
• 10. [Wii U] Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo, 11/21/13) - 10,500 (463,020)
• 11. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, 11/08/13) - 8,491 (3,649,813)
• 12. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two, 10/10/13) - 7,381 (682,216)
• 13. [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 (Konami, 11/14/13) - 5,834 (296,844)
• 14. [PS3] Shin Gundam Musou (Namco Bandai, 12/19/13) - 5,507 (207,036)
• 15. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 12/01/11) - 5,401 (2,263,720)
• 16. [PSV] Shin Gundam Musou (Namco Bandai, 12/19/13) - 5,352 (103,234)
• 17. [3DS] Tomodachi Collection: New Life (04/18/13) - 5,334 (1,651,030)
• 18. [PS3] Gran Turismo 6 (SCE, 12/05/13) - 5,081 (302,433)
• 19. [3DS] Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy Big Bang / Supernova (Level-5, 12/05/13) - 5,062 (222,026)
• 20. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 07/28/12) - 4,817 (2,236,013)

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Anti-piracy circumvention may be legal, EU court rules

January 23rd, 2014, 21:58 Posted By: wraggster

Ruling finds value in thwarting Nintendo protection measures for reasons other than pirating games
[h=3]Nintendo[/h]nintendo-europe.com


Unlicensed devices designed to circumvent console anti-piracy measures may be legal, the European Union Court of Justice ruled today. The Court had been asked to clarify the extent of Nintendo's legal protection against such measures by the Milan District Court.
The lower court had been dealing with a dispute between Nintendo and PC Box, a mod chip seller whose products allow unlicensed software (including homebrew as well as pirated games) to run on Nintendo systems.
"The Court of Justice next states that the legal protection covers only the technological measures intended to prevent or eliminate unauthorised acts of reproduction, communication, public offer or distribution, for which authorisation from the copyrightholder is required," the court rules. "That legal protection must respect the principle of proportionality without prohibiting devices or activities which have a commercially significant purpose or useother than to circumvent the technical protection for unlawful purposes." [All emphasis in original.]
However, the Court also noted that the Milan District Court must look at the ways people actually use the devices in question, and if Nintendo could implement other effective protection measures that would curb piracy while minimizing negative impacts on homebrew software and consumer choice.
A Nintendo representative had not returned a request for comment as of press time.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...eu-court-rules

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Watch Oculus Rift let people virtually swap bodies, genders

January 23rd, 2014, 21:09 Posted By: wraggster

A collective of artists and scientists called Be Another Lab have created a way to use the Oculus Rift to see what it would be like to occupy someone else's body.Now if only my actual body could pull off red stripes.

While we're still sorting out how to swap people's brains like in every cartoon ever,Be Another Lab has created the next best thing by staging a symmetrical set of two identical spaces, then having two participants wear Oculus Rifts to see what the other person is seeing. By doing this the participants are able to virtually body swap and live out their Trading Places / Freaky Friday fantasies.Entitled The Machine to Be Another, the goal of the project is to explore empathy and the nature of the self. "More than individuals, we are part of a social collective called humanity," the collective explained on its official site. "As members of this collective, the perception of our own identity is based on our relation with other people and our social environment: how people see us, how we do act and interact with them, and what self image we project to this society and to ourselves.""As part of this collective society, it is clear the importance of understanding the 'Other' and 'Each Other' to better understand ourselves. This artistic investigation plans to use the recent neuroscience approach of 'embodiment' and apply it to investigate the perception and comprehension about the Self based on the comprehension of the 'Other.'"In other words, how would we behave differently if we had a different body? It would certainly change things like our confidence and the way we're perceived, and those factors in turn would alter how we'd behave around others. It's a fascinating philosophical query, and The Machine to be Another can only get us one tiny controlled step closer to understanding by allowing users to virtually swap bodies in a tightly controlled environment.Unfortunately, the only way to get the simulation to work is if both parties follow the same movements, lest the illusion be broken. Still, it's a neat way to at least catch a fleeting glimpse of what it's like to be someone else.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...bodies-genders

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The PiBoy

January 23rd, 2014, 00:04 Posted By: wraggster


What do you do with a broken Gameboy, a 3″ LCD, a pile of wires, a USB SNES controller, a 32gb SD card, and a Raspberry Pi? You make a pocket emulator, of course!
[Anton] decided he wanted to build an emulator awhile ago. He had a few specific goals in mind: it had to be hand-held, portable, child safe, and usable without a keyboard. He started by stripping the broken Gameboy down to its external shell, then removing all of the internal plastic mounting features with a hot soldering iron. Next was the challenge of fitting everything into the case and powering it. Because his 3″ LCD runs off 12V, [Anton] needed a way to get 5V to the Pi. Lucky for him, it turned out that his LCD’s controller board had a 5V test point/expansion pin-out!
From there it was just a matter of reusing the original Gameboy’s speaker, closing up the case, and loading the emulator! As always, there’s a demo video after the break.

http://hackaday.com/2014/01/20/the-piboy/

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