Hovercraft Plane?

October 11th, 2013, 20:53 Posted By: wraggster


[Rudy Heeman] has been working in his garage on what we may consider a new class of vehicle. It’s a .
That’s right, you drive it on ground, water, and you can even take flight with it! However, it’s far from a new idea. After doing some digging it appears the first type of this vehicle was actually tested back in 1996 by Universal Hovercraft – a quick peruse of their site reveals you can even buy your own kits to make one! Regardless of where it came from, or who made one first, it’s a brilliantly fun concept, and would be a blast to fly. Oh and you don’t even need a pilot’s license, it’s considered a boat and follows the same rules and regulations for boating.
Stick around after the break to see one in action! Now all we need to do is figure out how to combine one of these with a Delorean Hovercraft!

http://hackaday.com/2013/10/10/hovercraft-plane/

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UK games industry spending £128m on Christmas advertising

October 11th, 2013, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster

There may be fewer games on shelves from fewer publishers, but the UK boxed games industry will spend £128m on advertising this Q4 – £30m more than last year.
The majority of that – £68m – will be spent promoting PS4 and Xbox One hardware and software, despite the fact both consoles are expected to be in short supply.
It follows last year’s figure of £99m, where the industry tightened its belt after a difficult few years for the boxed games sector.
TV will play a crucial part in all campaigns this Christmas. Ad tracker Generation Media points to the 360 launch as sign of what we can expect.
“Q4 2005 marks the high point over the last eight years,” the firm told MCV. “When the Xbox 360 was launched, 61.6 per cent of the year’s individual TVRs were deployed between September 23rd to December 31st.”
But it’s out-of-home activity that has seen the biggest increase in investment, with shopping centre, football stadium and university tours planned for PS4, Xbox One, 2DS, Wii U, Watch Dogs, Skylanders, FIFA 14 and more.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/uk-ga...tising/0122476

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Disney and Sony Animation veterans to direct Angry Birds movie

October 11th, 2013, 16:57 Posted By: wraggster

Will use their experience from Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Hotel Transylvania and more.
The Angry Birds movie doesn't hit cinemas until July 1st 2016, but Rovio is gradually catapulting details out as the months roll by.
We already know The Simpsons writer Jon Vitti, Ice Ageproducer Catherine Winder, and Despicable Me producer John Cohen are on-board, with Sony Pictures securing distribution rights.
Now, the games studio has announced Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly will direct the 3D CG-animated film.
Kaytis joins with 19 years of experience as Walt Disney Animation Studios where he worked on Tangled, Tangled Ever After, Wreck-It Ralph, Bolt, Paperman and upcoming film Frozen.
Meanwhile, Reilly has worked with Sony Pictures for the past ten years, contributing to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Spider-Man 2and The Iron Giant.
Mikael Hed, CEO, Rovio, said: "I’m very excited that Fergal and Clay have joined us, bringing with them their vast expertise. They are two of the brightest rising talents in animation, and I’m confident we are building the right team to tell the story of Angry Birds and deliver an amazing movie experience to our fans."
Rovio is already dabbling with animation through its Toons TV platform, which has secured more than one billion views.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...s-movie/022545

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Cost of cybercrime in the UK falls by £1 billion

October 11th, 2013, 16:54 Posted By: wraggster

The cost of cybercrime has plummeted by a billion pounds in the last year, a report has found.
The annual Norton Report shows that the cost of cybercrime in the UK during 2013 was £826 million, dropping from £1.8 billion in 2012.
However, despite the massive decrease in the UK, the cost of cybercrime for individuals worldwide affected has risen.
“Globally, the cost per victim is up,” explained Sian John, security strategist at Symantec, which published the report, “but in the UK the cost is down quite significantly.”
The report stated that the average cost per victim in the UK had decreased from £144 in 2012, to £101 in 2013.
“This is due to cybercriminals shifting tactics, perhaps as Brits become more aware of scams,” said John.
“Criminals also use tactics where there is a lower cost per head to victims, as they believe scams like this have a higher chance of escaping notice, and as the number of victims has remained static, they are clearly still making money from online fraud.”
John explained that the shift in tactics by criminals included the increased use of “more sophisticated attacks, such as ransomware and spear-phishing.”
The increased global cost may also be due to the increased adoption of Bring Your Own Device policies in businesses.
“Findings from the Norton Report [show] that 49 per cent of global consumers use their personal mobile device for both work and play," said John.
"This creates entirely new security risks for enterprises as cybercriminals have the potential to access even more valuable information.”

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...billion/032153

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Monster Hunter tops 2.5m sold in Japan

October 11th, 2013, 00:22 Posted By: wraggster

Monster Hunter 4 enjoyed its fourth week at the top of the Japanese software chart, thanks in no small part to the dearth of competition.
The only new entry in Japan last week was Namco Bandai's 3DS title Spec: Kan, which scraped into the top 20 with just over 3,000 sales. Monster Hunter 4 sold another 140,000 units, pushing its lifetime sales past 2.5 million.
The lack of new software was evident in the sluggish performance of almost every hardware platform. The 3DS and 3DS XL remained on top, but every platform except for the Wii suffered varying levels of decline - the PlayStation Vita' sales fell by almost half, leaving it below the PSP and the Wii U for the first time in several months.
The full software chart is below, with lifetime sales in parentheses:

• [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom, 09/14/13) - 140,538 (2,542,615)
• [PS3] Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate (Tecmo Koei, 09/26/13) - 24,612 (105,010)
• [PS3] Armored Core: Verdict Day (From Software, 09/26/13) - 14,622 (73,806)
• [PS3] The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki (Falcom, 09/26/13) - 12,734 (80,452)
• [PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki (Falcom, 09/26/13) - 11,092 (92,713)
• [3DS] Tomodachi Collection: New Life (Nintendo, 04/18/13) - 7,922 (1,458,442)
• [3DS] Yokai Watch (Level-5, 07/11/13) - 6,964 (194,790)
• [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo, 11/08/12) - 6,586 (3,431,589)
• [PSV] Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate (Tecmo Koei, 09/26/13) - 6,538 (32,021)
• [Wii U] The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Nintendo, 09/26/13) - 6,210 (36,474)
• [3DS] Disney Magic Castle: My Happy Life (Namco Bandai, 08/01/13) - 5,767 (285,326)
• [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (Nintendo, 07/18/13) - 5,614 (324,414)
• [PS3] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (Square Enix, 08/27/13) - 5,199 (221,355)
• [3DS] Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Nintendo, 03/20/13) - 4,442 (910,989)
• [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 12/01/11) - 3,734 (2,132,348)
• [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 07/28/12) - 3,454 (2,105,202)
• [PS3] Oreimo Happy End (Namco Bandai, 09/26/13) - 3,324 (34,378)
• [3DS] Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (Spike Chunsoft, 09/26/13) - 3,263 (8,832)
• [3DS] Spec: Kan (Namco Bandai, 10/03/13) - 3,044 (New)
• [3DS] Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (Nintendo, 06/13/13) - 2,384 (277,466)

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Gaming more pervasive in China than US - report

October 11th, 2013, 00:20 Posted By: wraggster

Smartphones, tablets have also eclipsed PC/MMO in terms of gaming frequency in China, according to research from Frank N. Magid Associates
A new report, provided exclusively to GamesIndustry International, reveals some interesting differences between the gaming habits of people in the US and people in China. Perhaps the biggest difference of all is the simple question of whether or not a person plays video or computer games. While in China a whopping 84 percent answered yes, that figure drops to 69 percent for America.
Magid's report shows that the pervasive gaming habit in China has been fueled primarily by increases in tablet and smartphone gaming. 79 percent of people in China play games on a tablet weekly (57 percent on a smartphone).
Because the internet itself is so intricately connected to gaming in China, it's worth noting that that can affect survey results. "The base in the study I sent is Chinese internet users - which skews younger, more urban, more educated than the general Chinese population. The US internet population is much more reflective of the US pop," said Tom Godfrey, Executive Director at Frank N. Magid Associates. "And the fact that over two-thirds of the broad US audience is gaming is a huge figure. Our latest study (Smartphones and Tablets 2013) found that 68 percent of US tablet owners and 66 percent of US smartphone owners play games weekly or more their devices."
The rise of smartphones and tablets has really taken over the gaming culture in China. Mobile gaming and tablet gaming has risen to 59 percent and 50 percent, respectively, in terms of the number of weekly players. That eclipses PC gaming and free-to-play MMOs, which stand at 45 and 44 percent, respectively.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...than-us-report

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Disney Engineers Develop Touch Screens That Mimic Tactile Sensations

October 10th, 2013, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster

"Engineers at Disney Research in Pittsburgh have developed an algorithm that creates the illusion of a 3D surface on touch screens. Using electrical impulses, the touch screen technology offers the sensation of ridges, edges, protrusions and bumps and any combination of those textures. While Disney is not alone in developing tactile response touchscreens, its researchers said the traditional approach has been to use a library of 'canned effects,' that are played back when someone touches a screen. Disney's algorithm doesn't just playback one or two responses, but it offers a set of controls that make it possible to tune tactile effects to a specific visual artifact on the fly. 'Our algorithm is concise, light and easily applicable on static images and video streams,' the researchers stated."This summer Disney unveiled AIREAL, a system designed to give tactile sensations to people using motion control devices.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...ile-sensations

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Guardian Ignores MI5 Warnings, Vows To 'Publish More Snowden Leaks'

October 10th, 2013, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger says he plans to publish more revelations from Edward Snowden despite MI5 warning that such disclosures cause enormous damage. Mr Rusbridger insisted the paper was right to publish files leaked by the US intelligence analyst and had helped to prompt a necessary and overdue debate. Mr Rusbridger said more stories would be published in the future as the leaked documents were 'slowly and responsibly' worked through. His comments come after criticism from the new head of MI5, Andrew Parker. Making public the 'reach and limits' of intelligence-gathering techniques gave terrorists the advantage, he said. He warned that terrorists now had tens of thousands of means of communication 'through e-mail, IP telephony, in-game communication, social networking, chat rooms, anonymising services and a myriad of mobile apps'. Mr Parker said it was vital for MI5 to retain the capability to access such information if it was to protect the country.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/10/...-snowden-leaks

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If Java Is Dying, It Sure Looks Awfully Healthy

October 10th, 2013, 23:44 Posted By: wraggster

Andrew Binstock writes at Dr. Dobb's that a recurring prejudice in the forums where the cool kids hang out is against Java, often described as verbose and fading in popularity but Binstock sees little supporting evidence of Java being in some kind of long-term decline. While it is true that Java certainly can be verbose, several scripting languages have sprung up which are purpose-designed to spare developers from long syntactical passages to communicate a simple action, including NetRexx, Groovy, and Scala. As far as Java's popularity goes, normally, when technologies start their ultimate decline, tradeshows are the first to reflect the disintegrating community. But the recent JavaOne show was clearly larger and better attended than it has been in either of the last two years and vendors on the exhibiting floor were unanimous in saying thattraffic, leads, and inquiries were up significantly over last year. Technically, the language continues to advance says Binstock. Java 8, expected in March, will add closures (that is, lambda expressions) that will reduce code, diminish the need for anonymous inner classes, and facilitate functional-like coding. Greater modularity which will be complete in Java 9 (due in 2016) will help efficient management of artifacts, as will several enhancements that simplify syntax in that release. 'When you add in the Android ecosystem, whose native development language is Java, it becomes very difficult to see how a language so widely used in so many areas — server, Web, desktop, mobile devices — is in some kind of decline,' concludes Binstock. 'What I'm seeing is a language that is under constant refinement and development, with a large and very active community, which enjoys a platform that is widely used for new languages. None of this looks to me like a language in decline.'"
http://developers.slashdot.org/story...wfully-healthy

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Elite: Dangerous gets Oculus Rift support

October 10th, 2013, 23:23 Posted By: wraggster

Rift version to be available to all backers at no extra cost

The maker of Elite, Frontier, will support the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset in its upcoming Elite: Dangerous game.

The studio believes that Oculus Rift lends itself perfectly to providing players of Elite: Dangerous with a more intense experience.

Frontier has also revealed that the Oculus Rift version of Elite: Dangerous will be available to of the title’s crowdfunding backers that have an Oculus Rift headset for no extra cost.

“We’ve been playing with the Oculus Rift dev kits and are excited about the potential – just glancing around your cockpit or being totally immersed in a space battle,” said David Braben, CEO of Frontier.

“Many of our backers have made it clear that they would like Oculus Rift support – and so do we! We’re very pleased with the results so far.”

Elite: Dangerous is the fourth instalment in the space trading and combat simulator game series. After going without a publisher for many years, the developer successfully crowdfunded the project, raised over £1.5m, in 2012. The PC version of the game is due to be released in March 2014, while the Mac OS version will follow later.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/e...upport/0184312

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Psychologist calls for more research into free-to-play games

October 10th, 2013, 23:21 Posted By: wraggster

Cyberpsychologist's Berni Good wants to see more studies into what affects whether or not players purchase in-game items.

Speaking during today's F2P Summit in London, Good claimed there had been extensive research into video games addiction and user behaviour, but very little into players' intention to purchase in-game content.

Specifically, there were three areas she called for researchers to explore.

She urged firms to look at the rising 'games as a service' model to help better understand what affects customer satisfaction in free-to-play titles, specifically from a psychological perspective.

Good also hopes someone will continue the work begun by Park and Lee that established the four value components of free-to-play, but this time focusing on the UK rather than South Korea.

And finally, she called for further research into the ethics of in-app purchases, primarily to identify the real issues around this sometimes controversial business model. She added that no research on this area takes player psychology into account.

Her comments do follow the Office of Fair Trading's investigation into how apps sell in-game items to children, the highest profile study on the free-to-play sector to date.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/p...-games/0184315

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CorollaCade, an arcade machine that uses the Oculus Rift

October 9th, 2013, 22:23 Posted By: wraggster

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Siobhan Reddy: Girls, Games and GTA

October 9th, 2013, 22:11 Posted By: wraggster

"I wouldn't work in a band making music I hated with people that I thought were horrible"
[h=3]Media Molecule[/h]Media Molecule was founded by a small troupe of Lionhead veterans who, bolstered by their work together...
mediamolecule.com


Siobhan Reddy might be from Media Molecule, but like everyone in the gaming world when she sits down withGamesIndustry International the conversation somehow drifts onto the topic of Grand Theft Auto V.
"I think GTA is GTA, it's an amazingly huge incredible achievement from that team, I would have loved there to be a female character but maybe there will be one? And I would rather they spend the time getting something right than just changing the skin," she says.
"I think it would be really fascinating to see them create a deeply flawed and amazing woman - I don't know what her character would be - but I'd love to see it because I think they are a really really incredible studio."
"But they don't have to though, that's the thing. They just don't have to, and they could just choose to do that forever and we'd all be like that's a shame, but they don't actually have too. But they're so influential it would be really great."
[h=3]CV: Siobhan Reddy[/h]Studio director, Media Molecule - 2009 to present
Executive producer, Media Molecule - 2006 to 2009
Senior development manager, Criterion Games/ Electronic Arts - 1999 to 2006

The lack of a female character (who isn't a whore, drunk or stripper) in one of the year's biggest titles is a fitting topic of discussion given that Reddy has just given her keynote speech at the Women In Games conference in London, where she spoke about the responsibility of women in the industry to stand up and be heard, and to make a difference by changing games they're unhappy with, or not working on them at all.

"I think that we have a choice. It's like the band analogy, and it's like I wouldn't work in a band making music I hated with people that I thought were horrible. Because you just have to take too many leaps of faith," she says.
"I do know that we who make games have choices, and that we make creative decisions every single day, thousands every day in a team, and I would love to get people within teams, both men and women. It's not just about women. And there's so many games that get that right, and there are so many games doing it which are really good, but then there are some that just do it so poorly."
Reddy made her own stand at Media Molecule. It's not a studio you would expect to think struggled with issues of sexism any more than you'd expect Santa Claus to have a crack habit, but Reddy says questioning everything is important. Including why the lead character in the studio's latest game, Tearaway, was automatically designed as male.
After some discussion with the team and some concept art gender reassignment, players can now choose from two main characters, Iota and Atoi. Reddy thinks more women can make changes like this, if they can just find the confidence to stand up.
"I don't work with anyone who was making any decisions based on being sexist, but they immediately felt that that's what I was saying," she explains.
"And I'm a big believer that if someone had come back and said, 'You know what? This is the story of Iota, this is why it is a male story', then I would have been like okay, that's cool. But we can't just walk into it without saying why didn't we choose to draw a female character? Is it just because we drew a picture? We should at least question it."
And when she did question it she found that, like most of us, artists draw on their own experiences, and their experience just happened to be being a dude.
Reddy is also trying to influence the games industry for the better in a wider context, talking at Women In Games, working with BAFTA's Games Committee and collaborating with Belinda Parmar of Lady Geek to help encourage young women to explore careers in technology.
"There are a lot of women who are here today who are all people trying to instrument big changes, in terms of perception issues or education or actually actively getting out there and exposing young girls to technology and games," she says of Women In Games, name checking Parmar and Marie Claire Isaaman of Norwich University.
"When I was looking around I was really impressed by that. Because I think what has become clear to me is that there are a lot of women who are influential, who want to do things, but actually we all just need to meet each other."
"What has become clear to me is that there are a lot of women who are influential, who want to do things, but actually we all just need to meet each other"

The decision to become more involved in helping other women in the games industry has been a fairly recent one for Reddy, but probably not an unexpected one given her riot grrl past and a brilliant sounding feminist mother. For her getting involved was about confidence, and overcoming her nerves when it comes to public speaking.
"I'm on the GDC Advisory Board and so Meggan [Scavio] asked me to be a part of that a few years ago, which is an amazing honour. So that was one thing, I just started to do more of that, I've done a producer boot camp and I did a talk last year and I realised it's my own nerves. Everyone has them, and they shouldn't be really debilitating," she smiles.
Asked if she thought there was a culture of female developers and executives being uncomfortable about putting themselves forward when it came to promoting games, she has mixed feelings.
"I think that's very real... I find that I don't talk externally for the studio for two reasons. One is I believe that when it comes to talking about our games I'm not the creative director or the designer," she explains.
"And it's so easy to say Alex [Evans] and Mark [Healey] and Kareem [Ettouney] are so amazing, they're so good at it. Alex is so comfortable on stage that sometimes you just put the best person forward. And what I've learnt is that that's fine in that context but when there are events like today or I'm doing a talk at GDC or if there are events where I am actually the best person for it and I'm choosing to put someone else forward, that's wrong."
She says people at the studio find it strange to think she might suffer from nerves, and in person it's easy to see why. To use the words of a 50 year-old advertising executive she's feisty and forthright, and you get the sense that she's very used to managing Media Molecule's mix of characters, dogs and occasionally small children.
"We've always wanted somewhere where people who have kids can actually continue to work, rather than having children and then having to go somewhere else. And that environment has been important in being flexible."
"Do we want to have dogs in the office? Well I have a dog, so yes! Are we going to have children in the office? Well, people have kids and we want them to come in! I've always liked the idea of the family thing."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-games-and-gta

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8 Users of Silk Road Arrested, 'Many More To Come'

October 9th, 2013, 21:44 Posted By: wraggster

Last week authorities shut down Silk Road, an online black market that made use of Tor to hide activity. They also arrested the site's primary operator, Ross Ulbricht, and seized his possessions. Now, an AP report indicates at least 8 more arrests have been made on people suspected to have sold drugs through the site. Four of the arrests happened in the U.K., two were in the U.S. and two were in Sweden. It looks like they're gearing up for more arrests, as well. Keith Bristow of Britain's National Crime Agency said, 'These latest arrests are just the start; there are many more to come.' Authorities are reportedly mining the site's customer review system, which contains months worth of transaction data, for further leads."

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/10/...y-more-to-come

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Disney invents textured touchscreens and electricity-generating paper

October 9th, 2013, 21:21 Posted By: wraggster

Researchers at Disney have come up with a way to make touchscreens feel like 3D textures, without reshaping the displays.
The technology uses electrovibration – a slight voltage applied to the users’ fingertips – to simulate the friction created when an object is touched. This friction is what the brain translates into the sense of touch, with different levels associated with varying textures.
When increased and decreased in reflection with an image on the display, the electrostatic voltage transmitted by the screen can mimic ridges, bumps and patterns accordingly. For example, a user touching an image of a ball would feel the smooth and gradual increase of friction to recreate the ball’s curved surface, while somebody stroking the edge of stack of magazines would feel sudden jumps in friction to copy the images’ harder edges.
Also developed by Disney researchers is the use of paper to generate small electrical currents, which are shown to illuminate several LEDs and display messages, animations and images in a children’s book using e-paper.
The cheap-to-make electrical paper uses strips of Teflon and silver-coated polyester, but can also be printed using conductive ink. When a panel is rubbed, either directly or via a button or rotation, the energy can be used for such actions as lighting up the LED lights of a spaceship, or to make the face of an astronaut (who, in the video’s example, is a cat) appear.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...g-paper/032134

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Xi3's Piston controller being made by Scuf Gaming

October 9th, 2013, 01:53 Posted By: wraggster

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Red Cross Wants Consequences For Video-Game Mayhem

October 9th, 2013, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) wants developers to consider building "virtual consequences" for mayhem into their video games. 'Gamers should be rewarded for respecting the law of armed conflict and there should be virtual penalties for serious violations of the law of armed conflict, in other words war crimes,' read the ICRC's new statement on the matter. 'Game scenarios should not reward players for actions that in real life would be considered war crimes.' Like many a concerned parent or Congressional committee before it, the ICRC believes that violent video games trivialize armed conflict to the point where players could see various brands of mayhem as acceptable behavior. At the same time, the ICRC's statement makes it clear that the organization doesn't want to be actively involved in a debate over video-game violence, although it is talking to developers about ways to accurately build the laws of armed conflict into games. But let's be clear: the ICRC doesn't want to spoil players' enjoyment of the aforementioned digital splatter. 'We would like to see the law of armed conflict integrated into the games so that players have a realistic experience and deal first hand with the dilemmas facing real combatants on real battlefields,' the statement continued. 'The strong sales of new releases that have done this prove that integrating the law of armed conflict does not undermine the commercial success of the games.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/1...eo-game-mayhem

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Credit-card sized computer Raspberry Pi shifts 1.75m units

October 9th, 2013, 00:07 Posted By: wraggster

One million devices manufactured in the UK

Tiny credit-card sized computer the Raspberry Pi has sold more than 1.75 million units around the world.

As of today, one million of the devices have been manufactured in the UK from a Sony-owned factory in Pencoed, South Wales.

The Raspberry Pi first went on sale in March last year, and after high demand manufacturing was scaled up to around 4,000 a day to allow for bulk buying.

The device was designed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and it is hoped the miniature computer will encourage students to study computer programming, as well as providing a fully fledged PC experience at a low cost.

Consumers can purchase various versions of the Rsspberry from anywhere between £20 and £30, with discounts available for bulk purchases.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/c...-units/0184186

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Sony's new headset gives consumers a 750-inch screen experience

October 8th, 2013, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster

Sony has announced a headmounted display which simulates sitting 65 feet away from a 750-inch screen.
The HMZ-T3W supports 2D or 3D, and uses two high-definition OLED screens to create the illusion for the user.
Solving portability issues associated with its predecessors, the device uses battery power, meaning that it can be used while on the go.
It’s also lighter and is said to be more comfortable, cushioning itself against the user’s head with a pad.
The HMZ-T3W can connect to smartphones and tablets via micro-HDMI, and supports 7.1 virtual surround sound.
The headmount can be pre-ordered now in the US for $999 (£622), and will be released in November.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...erience/032121

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GameCity to showcase new games from UK's indie stars

October 7th, 2013, 22:45 Posted By: wraggster

GameCity, dubbed the "world's friendliest game festival", will return to Nottingham later this year with new games from the likes of GoldenEye co-creator Martin Hollis and Thomas Was Alone director Mike Bithell.
The festival, which is a Nottingham Trent University project, runs each autumn and features a number of events that take place throughout the city.
<figure style='font: 14px/23.79px "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 460px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; white-space: normal; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;' class="responsive single-article__canvas single-article__canvas--full zoomhover" title="" data-media992="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3103/image_310310_460.jpg" data-media768="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3103/image_310310_700.jpg" data-media480="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3103/image_310310_480.jpg" data-media="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3103/image_310310_320.jpg"></figure>One of this year's highlights is the unveiling of Aim For Love, the latest offering from GoldenEye co-creator Martin Hollis. The game is a outdoor interactive experiment where two cameras fall on a random pair of people and are displayed on large public screens.
"The idea is that you're in Old Market Square and you can see yourself on these screens," Hollis said in the event's press release.
"There's someone operating a circle on the screens who can pick two people from the crowd, who then go off together. The chosen couple then become the operators of the circle who pick two more faces from the crowd. What develops between these two strangers may be friendship, it may be love in the long-term, it may be nothing - but the real game involved in Aim For Love may well be the relationships that evolve and develop between real human beings."
Also showing at GameCity is the latest reveal of Volume, the next game from Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell.
Hollis's interactive experiment that takes place every evening from 5.30pm to 6.30pm at Nottingham's Old Market Square for the duration of the festival, and Bithell will be showing off Volume at a secret location on Friday, October 25.
Other developers attending the event include Lucy Prebble (playwright) and Steve Gaynor (Gone Home). Representatives from Aniwey (Candles 2), Somethin' Else (Papa Sangre 2) and Honeyslug (Hohokum) will also be in attendance.
GameCity 8 will run from October 19-26 in Nottingham. For the full schedule of events visit the GameCity website.

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