Joe Siegler, 3D Realms webmaster, has been quoted as saying “it is not a marketing thing”, so we at least know that it isn’t some weird release event for DNF.

Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever is STILL in development. *sigh*

Here’s an excerpt from the article,

Sources said that the Mortal Kombat team has become increasingly “frustrated” with the handling of Midway’s bankruptcy filing. MK staffers also expressed irritation from being in the position of delivering million unit-selling titles on time and on a bi-annual schedule while other projects at the company languish in development.

Midway representatives, when contacted for comment, opted not to discuss the Mortal Kombat team’s plans, saying that the team was in “good shape.” They did, however, want to stress that Midway itself is not withholding any owed payment to the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe developers.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the Mortal Kombat team evolves and moves onto being a full fledged game developer.

We regret to inform you that due to the current economic conditions we are forced to indefinitely suspend the FileFront site operations on March 30, 2009. If you have uploaded files, images or posted blogs, or if you would like to download some of your favorite files, please take this opportunity to download them before March 30th when the site will be suspended.

We would like to give a warm thank you to all of you who have been part of the FileFront communities we have built together. Your support has had a meaningful impact for all of us here at FileFront. Again, we want to give you a sincere “thank you” for your support over the years and wish you all the very best.

Keep gaming alive,

FileFront Management and Team.

Contact_us@filefront.com

TGM wishes them the best, and hopes that a service can step up and fill the void that we’re sure will be left after March 30th.

• Stereo Bluetooth
• In-App Downloadable/Purchasable content
• ‘Spotlight’ Device-Wide Search & App Launcher
• Push Notification
• Cut, Copy & Paste between apps
• Turn-By-Turn GPS Apps allowed (just not using Google Maps)
• Embed Google Maps in non-Turn-by-turn apps
• Apps can now inter-operate with iPhone and iPod Touch accessories
• Landscape keyboard in most core Apps
• MMS support, send pictures or audio to other cell phones
• Voice Memos
• CalDAV and .ICS support in Calendar

The SDK Beta is available now to members of the iPhone Developer Program and will be released this Summer.  The update will be free to all iPhone owners and cost $9.95 to all iPod Touch owners.  Original iPhone owners will not, however, recieve Stereo Bluetooth or MMS.

As it stands, the current graphics coming out of the CryTEK DPs are already over the top of what the everyday system can handle. It stands that Crysis still won’t run on my system on it’s lowest settings, and I can currently play World of Warcraft on it’s highest settings without any hiccups or issues. With that kind of benchmark, I really scratch my head and ask myself what CryTEK wants to do by advancing their platform, graphics, and tools even more. I understand they’re out to sell copies of their software and prove they’re the premium game developer that they feel they are, but seriously? More powerful graphics? Do they want no one to be able to play their games? This is silly in my opinion, you have to let the general public catch up with what you’re putting out.

This has been a random opinion from your neighborly CEO, Leto.

The new Mac Mini now includes the NVidia GeForce 9400M (128MB to 256MB shared memory) integrated graphics while supporting up to 4GB of internal memory itself.  Not really a “power-house” for gaming in the graphics chip side of things, but definetly a Mac system with some staying power.  This update also sports 802.11-N wireless networking, five USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, Mini-DVI and DisplayPort video outputs.

The new Mac Pro tower system now comes with either a 2.66GHz, 4-core or two 2.26GHz 4-core (called 8-core) Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processors, 18x dual-layer SuperDrive, 640GB hard disk, 3GB or 6GB internal memory and an NVidia GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of memory.  This is the great grand-daddy of the Mac Mini, sparing no expense with the power it delievers.

Before now, the Airport and Time Capsule line of devices have all been single-band, broadcasting either a B/G, G, or N based wireless network.  With the new Airport and Time Capsule will have the ability to broadcast two seperate wireless network, allowing for better placement of your wireless devices that currently fight for wireless bandwidth.  Currently, I use an Airport N for my main computer and an Airport Express B/G for my iPhone/Wii/360/DS.

See more at the Apple Store…

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Valve Software, makers of the Half Life series as well as the online gaming service Steam, are no exception to this.  Valve discovered a number of players that have been cheating in the game Team Fortress 2, and as such has enacted a punishment upon them.  Some have lost their unlockable TF2 gear for a few weeks, others suspended from Steam, and some potentially banned from Steam all-together.  This is all well and good, as Valve not only have a community to manage (the Steam community) but a number of online games as well (TeamFortress 2, Left4Dead, etc).  However, statements made on the official Team Fortress 2 blog makes one wonder: was Valve’s head screwed on when they wrote this, or do they really think of us as their “pets”.

On February 25th, 2009, a post made to the TF2 blog by the poster “TF Announcer”, a similarity was made regarding players that cheated.

I feel like a dog owner who’s rubbed her pet’s nose in a mess on the carpet, only to turn around and discover it setting fire to the drapes.

Now, one could say that this statement is just a joke statement, a little off the cuff joke under the guise of “The TF2 Announcer” (which I am assuming is supposed to be a joke on the female announcer in game who always tells me that my intelligence has been captured).  Lets look at this statment a bit.

“I feel like a dog owner” – okay, a person who owns something else, that being a dog

“who rubbed her pets nose in a mess on the carpet” – DON”T CHEAT!!!!  NOOOO, BAD DOG!!!

“only to turn around and sicover it setting fire to the drapes” – this would be in reference to the people who still cheated even after Valve made the first post saying not to do it.

I understand what the statement is “trying” to do.  It is an attempt to make the cheating players look like lame dogs yet at the same time it seems that the statement is calling all players “dogs”, and that the bad ones (cheaters) are the issue.    I could see something like this coming out of a fan forum or even the steam forums from some fanboy doing what all fanboys do, that being name calling.  For an official post from a company, especially a company like Valve that has large investments into Steam as a platform, throwing around statements where you are calling your users dogs, regardless of if they cheat or not, seems to me to be dangerous.

My final word on the matter is this: Attention Valve Software and Gabe Newell, I AM NOT YOUR PET!  I do NOT bring in your slippers.  I am a paying customer who enjoys your products.  Poorly written statements such as this will, if it continues, make me no longer buy your games.  Its not a gameplay/balance or anything those fanboy kiddies like to complain about like there’s no tomarrow.  No, it is about respecting your customers.

And yes, the statement could be “role played” from the perspective of the TF2 female announcer who could quite possiably be having a bad day (the character, not the voice actress), however if that is the case, statements regarding the management of Steam as well as the banning/suspending of players should be made in a more official and proper manner and not some comedy club act.

TwitterFriends – joining the dots (fasterfuture.blogspot.com)
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Arvind Narayanan’s journal – Why Craigslist needs to die.
This is an interesting post which discusses (and complains) about Craigslist.  I’m not entirely sure they “get” Craig and his plan – but they do get some interesting points correct – Craigslist has a horrible UI and the technology is way over [...]

Why 99% of Entrepreneurs Fail: Because they don’t do anything.
There are three types of amateur entrepreneurs out there, and in my young life, I’ve been every single one of them. By coming to terms with my failures, I’m more prepared to classify which type of amateur entrepreneur I am, and thus [...]

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how newspapers and media must move forward – and then, it started.  So now what do I do – that boat left the harbor…or is at least boarding.

I know – time to pick on the sales department!  Here’s the post that sparked this convo:

Revenue growth is priority #1 for most businesses today. So, good salespeople are in demand, and management wants to give them the best possible tools to make them productive. Selling is a numbers game. As long as you do reasonably sensible things, the time invested tends to corelate to revenue earned. Therefore, productivity really does matter. This is not an area to skimp on. If you can make somebody who brings in $1 million in revenue 10% more productive, that would mean an additional $100,000. So, what is happening in the market with tools for those who hustle on the front lines of business, the people who sell the products and services, who get capital for your business and sell it when the time comes, who hire the people who can grow your business? What will they be using in future?

Sales departments must get it together.  It is time to change or be rolled over.  The potential is huge here – the consumer wants to get the best deals they can.  Business’s need education on what their type of business needs and we (media outlets) have to be the people the business’s turn to.

But have we figured it out yet?

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Chief Executive Steve Jobs stunned shareholders and the tech world by announcing that he was taking a leave of absence until the end of June due to health reasons.

“During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought,” Jobs said in an email to Apple employees.

This comes on the heels of Jobs not giving the keynote at the Macworld expo in California, and only a week earlier, it was revealed as to what his medical issue actually is.

The news came just a week after Jobs revealed that a hormone imbalance was at the root of weight loss that has prompted speculation about his health.

Will any luck, hopefully Jobs will recover speedily and continue to lead one of the most successful and popular tech companies to ever have existed.

I had a feeling something was up since 1UP hadn’t put out a new podcast over the holidays and since then. No Retronauts, no 1UP Yours, no 1UP FM.

Joystiq has posted a list of the 1UP staff who have been let go after the acquisition, many of them were 1UP’s top guys. You can find the list here.

My suggestion if you were a fan of 1UP’s podcasts. DOWNLOAD ALL OF THE PAST EPISODES YOU CAN!!!

Starting now, however, you can upgrade your 128Kbps AAC Protected songs to iTunes Plus 256Kbps AAC non-DRM files for a small upgrade fee of 30¢ per song.

I have already upgraded all of my iTunes purchased songs to the higher quality and flexible format, total cost for the 40-something tracks came out to around $12.

Apple has also added new pricing tiers to their music selection. Songs will now be available for 69¢ and $1.29 in addition to the current 99¢ pricing.

I have a ton of ideas – most of them are just plain nuts.  But when I rea this post from andydrish.com – I got mad.  I had this idea about 1 1/2 years ago – and don;t et me wrong, I know it wasn’t revolutionary at the time…but it’s the point.

Here’s an opportunity that any twenty-something should be checking out… Ramit Sethi is giving away $2500 to a twenty-something with an entrepreneurial idea.   I started reading Ramit about a month ago.   He’s a genuine guy that is truly interested in helping others reach their dreams.

This scholarship is looking for someone with past entreprenurial experiences, a socially innovative idea, and lots of passion.   The winner will get a one time donation of $2500 and Ramit will mentor them as their projects begins to grow.

What I really want is a better way to track my brainstorms, I need to find a guy who knows flash.  I know of a cool wiki plaform which had a killer API and would work perfectly.

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What doesn’t change?

• Our voice, content, or independence.
• The blog stays free and open, no paid-subscription required.
• You keep your same commenter login and name.

We look forward to to serving you for years to come with the info and news you need to stay savvy. Onwards and upwards!

Read the full report.

Image via Wikipedia

Trying to get back the 6 months of google reader starred content and I found a link to an article that hits way too close to home this week…the traditional workplace is broken. It was a 37 signals post, which referred to an azcentral post:

…employers need to rethink their rules a bit. Forget rigid 40-hour workweeks. Forget traditional company hierarchy.

Now, without a doubt this utopian wave of change might not be possible in all work environments, but the way we approach the workplace, and how these post-college employees are challenged, might set the tone for a much more symbiotic relationship when it comes to bringing them aboard.

This really hits me in the gut this week after a moderate company “workforce development” plan has seemingly left the company I work for in a bit of a re-org stupor.  Kind of like a mashup of “who moved my cheese” meets “musical chairs”.

My favorite line might be:

“Simply put, employees are treated like children. They are not allowed to think for themselves, and there are too many layers of approval, just too much insulation that prevents anyone from doing anything. The traditional workplace is broken, and until someone realizes that, there’s always going to be conflict.”

Some of the best stuff happens after these two posts int he comments:

Vicki H:  I think a lot big part of it is hierarchy in company’s. Most larger company structures are built on layers of structure and command. To do something truly innovative most larger company’s cannot get past levels.

Tim Jahn:  Couldn’t have said it better (although I tried)! -The average employers are stomping the creativity and vision of their employees through bureaucracy, processes, endless meetings, paperwork…

David Andersen: Most people don’t agitate for significant change – and most managers aren’t interested in leading such change – because doing so does not follow the path of least resistance. That’s my theory.

I really hope it all smooths itself out in the name of corporate culture change – but man…it sure feel like a bad prostrate exam right now.

ATTENTION CORPORATE BLOG PATROL – IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE – PLEASE READ THIS:

To counter the “traditional workplace…We challenge them. We give them different, interesting projects. We encourage them to do something outside of work and teach us what they’ve learned. It’s no help to our company to hire someone based on a skill or to get stuff done.”

A new action/puzzle game has just appeared on iTunes for the iPhone/iPod touch, thanks to ngmoco – Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon M.D.. Now, I know Dr. Awesome’s finger pointing stance, and the title, may lead you to initially think this is some sort of Trauma Center knock off, but it isn’t. Instead, it focuses more on the puzzle element of removing a virus from a patient by cutting down the area space it can infect.

I may be dating myself, but it looks like Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon M.D. is a lot like that old puzzle game, Qix. You have to narrow down the playing field and contain the virus in a small area to save the patient. There are also powerups that you can collect to make lifesaving easier. An interesting touch is that your “patients” are actually people in your contact list – adds a nice personal touch to the game.

Honestly, for $1.99, Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon M.D. may be worth a quick try. Its only a 14.1mb download. It does need iPhone 2.1 software though, if you want to play it. Its also great for all audience, as its rated for ages four and up and can be played in English, French, German, Japanese or Spanish, according to the iTunes product page. Besides, with a name like Dr. Awesome, its got to be good.

Read [Yahoo Finance] Also Read [Centre Daily Times] Site [Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon MD] Product Page [iTunes]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Scanning through the old Google reader last night I came across a post at psdtuts.com called “9 Information Design Tips to Make You a Better Web Designer” – I’m not sure if I have been sheltered, not paying attention – or if this article is just that good…but this is a definite thought changer for me.

It’s probably the least glamorous part of web design, but information design is by no means the least important. Locating and consuming information is the quintessential web task, far surpassing buying, playing and communicating, all of which include a good portion of information design themselves. How users find and then avail themselves of all that information is affected by how it is structured and presented. Thus every web designer should be equipped to make qualified and informed decisions on just how to do this.

TOM: That is a great statement – just nails the point.

He fist point is right on:

1 – Be methodical
1. Understand the Site’s Content, Processes and Purpose
2. Prioritize and Look for User Paths
3. Organize the Information

TOM: Simple – but right on.  You cannot design if you have no concept of the content and then, pay attention to how the user will navigate the site – what things do they need instant access to and what things can be more organically found.

The rest of the article is good – and hopefully you’ll read it, but one more quote:

5 – Design text that wants to be read

I’m not sure if I’m just getting older, or if spending all my time in front of a screen is just making me picky, but lately it really bugs me when I’m presented with text that doesn’t compel me to read it. The aim of a site design is usually to transmit information and most of that is written text, so focusing on displaying it well should be a priority.

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It’s our second edition of the App Store gaming update! This week wasn’t as bad to put together as last week’s, though the insane amounts of turkey didn’t help things.

In this edition of the update we added two new sections entitled: “What’s Free” and “Games you might like.“ I won’t bother explaining to you the complex definitions of these sections, as I’m sure you folks can figure them out. Since we are still in beta, we can tinker around with the list week to week to find just the right format for you guys. As always, feedback is appreciated so feel free to let us know how much you love the list or heaven forbid, hate it!

We also hope to provide reviews for these games at some point so look out for those as well! Now, on to the list:

Games You Might Like

• Rogue – “A favorite on college Unix systems in the early to mid-1980s, Rogue popularized the dungeon crawling computer game dating back from 1980 (and spawned entire class of derivatives known collectively as “roguelikes”). gandreas software now presents the classic for the iPhone/iPod Touch.“
  Price: FREE
• 80s Galaxy – “This is a retro-style 3D shooting game.“
  Price: $2.99
• Hamster House – “Six fantastic Worlds to explore while searching for all the pieces you need to build out your Hamster House. With every level you clear you gain more powers that will help you bring back the lout. In your house you can meet other Hamsters, Customize your house & add objects including Drums, pictures, TV’s, furniture, Audio players and even a dance floor to impress your other Hamster friends with your skills.“
  Price: $0.99
• Disney Fairies Fly! – “Fly with the Fairies through Pixie Hollow in the Disney Fairies Fly!, based on the Tinker Bell movie! Pick your favorite character and glide with the wind as Tinker Bell, Iridessa, Silvermist, Rosetta or Fawn, tackling the many challenges that await you in five magical worlds.“
  Price: $4.99
• 1112 episode 01 – “1112 episode 01 is the Pilot of the world first episodic adventure game exclusive to the iPhone and iPod touch. Louis Everett is leading a quiet life and minding his own business as the most average middle class citizen. He lives with his beautiful but rather nosy wife in the peaceful Jalonsville New jersey. Take a journey to explore this intriguing mystery and discover the reasons behind his constant headaches and strange dreams. Meet a bunch of colorful characters, dive into bizarre situations until an unpredictable event occurs and turns everything upside down!
  Price: $7.99 (Limited Time Only, Regular Price is $9.99)
• French Alphabet L’Alphabet Francais – “The French alphabet is the perfect tool to start. This application will allow you to hear the sound of each of the 26 letters. You can repeat the sounds to learn pronunciation. Just touch the desired letter and voila! Each letter will play at the touch of your fingertips. Use this to imitate the sounds as the native speaker says them.“
  Price: $0.99
• Fast Food Nation – “Choose your character in more than 160 000 possibilities and take him to the glory throughout his career. Master all the elements, ads, menu prices, ingredients and the size of your kitchen. Be aware of the goal of the day and try to make your customers happy!“
  Price: $0.99
• Virtual Dolphin – “Take care of your virtual dolphin. You can clean him, train him, feed him, and make him study, amongst other things. He can die if you let him starve or grow sick if you leave him alone for too long.“
  Price: $0.99

What’s Free

• ChocChocPop Lite – “This is the lite version of ChocChocPop, the sweetest Match-3 game ever on App Store! With the chocolate theme and the fun gadgets, it offers you a completely new experience in Match-3 genre!“
• Xmas-a-Mass Free – “This is the free version of our popular Christmas title Xmas-a-Mass featuring the village location and a Christmas night finale!“
• Aerolite Free – “Aerolite Free brings unlimited levels of classic asteroid destroying fun to your iPhone and iPod touch.“
• Blackbeard’s Assault Lite – “Ahoy Matey! The object of this fast-paced puzzle game is to remove all the balls as they travel along a path. Simply tap where you want to fire. When you match 3 or more balls of the same color, the group will be removed and you will earn points.“
• Santa Lite – “This is the lite edition of “Santa” and it has two levels. The full edition has 20 levels and more challenges. You are to help Santa deliver mountains of presents personally.“
• Python Lite – “Python is a great variation of the classic snake game. Control the snake using the accelerometer / tilt sensor.“
• Resco Bubbles Lite – “Resco Bubbles Lite is an action puzzle game where the idea is to clear the grid of bubbles in order to advance to the next level.“
• Steppin Lite – “Steppin Lite is a new kind of racing game that makes innovative use of the iPhone & iPod touch screen. You use your fingers to ‘run’ across the screen as fast as you can.“
• Tower Lite – “Tower Lite is played by building up layers of blocks. At each layer, a platform of blocks moves horizontally back and forwards across the screen.“
• Christmas Rock’n’Roll – “Christmas is coming to Flint Island but the evil sky spirit clearly hasn’t heard that this is supposed to be the season of goodwill! While stealing the children’s presents from under the Christmas tree he accidentally takes our hero ‘Rock’ and will only let him go if his good friend ‘Roll’ can collect all the musical notes from his favourite Christmas carols. Just to make matters worse the notes have been scattered across a number of Flint Island’s most dangerous mazes.“
• PokerLogica Lite – “Sudoku and poker meet! PokerLogica is a logic puzzle game in which you must determine the identity of the face down cards by eliminating the impossibilities. To guide you in this task, each column and row is designated as a poker hand (e.g. four-of-a-kind). Knowing this, along with what cards are currently visible, you must use your keenest deductive reasoning to determine exactly what card is where.“
• Checkers Online Lite – “Play checkers against people from all over the world! You will find players in a few seconds!“
• Descramble Free – “Descramble Free is an electronic version of the classic 15-puzzle game. Concentrate and plan ahead to properly order the numbered tiles or pieces of a picture. When you have successfully completed the puzzle, shake it to start a new game.“
• iChess (Evaluation) – “An evaluation version of iChess. This is a fully functional version of iChess which includes an evaluation reminder which is displayed before each game.“
• Perilar Lite – “The kingdom cries out for justice! For centuries, the Temple of Darkness was sealed, guaranteeing peace for the kingdom above, until the treacherous imp Ascaroth crept into the castle, slipped past the guards and the watchful King Minox, and broke the seals! The Temple’s opening spells doom, the kingdom overrun by powerful monsters! Perilar Lite is a turn-based, classic computer RPG. You create a character with old-school game mechanics, then explore a vast, dangerous world.“
• Rogue – “A favorite on college Unix systems in the early to mid-1980s, Rogue popularized the dungeon crawling computer game dating back from 1980 (and spawned entire class of derivatives known collectively as “roguelikes”). gandreas software now presents the classic for the iPhone/iPod Touch.“
• Scratch-It Lite – “Scratch-It! And solve it! Designed uniquely for the iPhone, experience the true sensation of touch and scratch on Apple’s innovative touch screen technology. Scratch the screen to reveal the image and solve when you think you’ve got it! But beware, the more you scratch and reveal, the more points that are lost. So scratch less and gain more! Think you can tell a bird apart from a bunny or a pen from a plane? Scratch-It and see if you’re up to the challenge!“
• Mines – “A simple, elegant minesweeper game for the iPhone and iPod touch, with intuitive controls and customizable difficulty. High scores coming soon.“
• Know How LITE – Think and play outside the box! – “Try it free: This lite version contains seven tricky levels and will whet your appetite for more, guaranteed! The full version “Know How – Think and play outside the box” is available for $3.99 at the AppStore.
• Toobz-Free – “Your goal is to create a system of “Toobz” (pipes) beginning at a randomly-placed starting point. Your Toobz network must allow water to flow without any spilling. As you advance through levels, you’ll have less and less time to place the pieces before the water starts automatically. You can start the water at any time, allowing you to quickly advance to the next level and earn extra points.“
• Splash ‘n’ Dash – “Splash ‘n’ Dash trains your momentary vision and focus abilities in a simple and fun way. Spot the 6-digit number that flashes for only a quarter second on the screen, then enter them in.
• iTrivia Lite – “The iTrivia craze is sweeping the iPhone, and now you can get a free taste with iTrivia Lite, featuring 100 super-charged, mind-bending questions ripped from the worlds of movies, television, business and entertainment!“
• Trivia Bingo Lite: Sports Edition – “Think you’re a sports nut? Try playing Trivia Bingo Sports Edition either alone of against your friends to see how good you really are!“
• iBear Flags CIS – “Learn all the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), their capitals and flags! CIS is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics.“
• iBear Flags OPEC – “Learn all the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), their capitals and flags!“
• UGuess – “UGuess is a fun and simple game. Your iPhone has a unique four digit number in its mind. It is your job to guess that number. After every guess you will get a hint that will help you for the next guess.“

What’s New

Action

• Bugs War – “Bugs War is a simple, brief and extreme game to reduce the stress. Kill the roaches that threaten your house and save your house.“
  Price: $0.99
• Christmas Stack – “Christmas Stack is a stacking game in which you control Elfis the Elf, one of Santa’s adorable little elves who is trying to catch and stack as many falling presents as possible.“
  Price: $0.99
• Pocket Skiing – “Itching to hit the slopes? Let Pocket Skiing take you there! With three tracks, you’re sure to have the ski experience you crave.“
  Price: $0.99 (On sale! Regular: $2.99)
• Nanobot – “The goal of the game is to ensure the cells are kept in a particular partitioned area. If a nanobot is destroyed by an invader, a new one will be injected in after a few seconds.“
  Price: $0.99
• 80s Galaxy – “This is a retro-style 3D shooting game.“
  Price: $2.99
• BallZup – “Keep all the BallZup to smash brickz, uncover hidden powerups and collect the falling multipliers to increase your score.“
  Price: $6.99
• Coins n Rainbows – “”Toss” the coin towards the “Rainbow Table” by moving the iPhone or iPod touch in your desired direction (horizontally).“
  Price: $0.99
• Hamster House – “Six fantastic Worlds to explore while searching for all the pieces you need to build out your Hamster House. With every level you clear you gain more powers that will help you bring back the lout. In your house you can meet other Hamsters, Customize your house & add objects including Drums, pictures, TV’s, furniture, Audio players and even a dance floor to impress your other Hamster friends with your skills.“
  Price: $0.99
• 1944 : WWII Edition – FIGHTER PILOT – “Shoot Guns and Rockets while dog fighting your way to victory!“
  Price: $0.99
• Armageddon Squadron – “Polarbit present Armageddon Squadron, an arcade flight simulator giving you control of some of the best known aircraft of the WWII era in a variety of mission types and environments.“
  Price: $5.99
• Virtual Ninja – “By tracking your movement through your device’s accelerometer, it determines what method of ninja attack corresponds to your motions. Use your special Ninja Powers to access a total of ten different attacks.“
  Price: $0.99
• Block Builder – “Block Builder plays as a game where you start with 3 blocks. Blocks accumulate by the right timing of each row of blocks. When the rows of block(s) stack, they create a tower that will hopefully reach the top of the screen.“
  Price: $0.99
• Disney Fairies Fly! – “Fly with the Fairies through Pixie Hollow in the Disney Fairies Fly!, based on the Tinker Bell movie! Pick your favorite character and glide with the wind as Tinker Bell, Iridessa, Silvermist, Rosetta or Fawn, tackling the many challenges that await you in five magical worlds.“
  Price: $4.99
• Egg Splat! – “Eggs are falling from the sky!!!! Your mission is to utilize all your Mind Powers to prevent the eggs from falling too fast and exploding on the pan!“
  Price: $0.99
• Sky Thunder – “Sky Thunder is a classic shooting game which brings you back exciting arcade shooting games. You are the captain controlling a powerful aircraft to challenge enemy’s headquarters, with a large variety of obstacles ahead.“
  Price: $0.99
• VolleyTennis (VS Com) – “This game is like tennis volley. Play with computer. Count is same tennis. six game match.“
  Price: $0.99

Adventure

• 1112 episode 01 – “1112 episode 01 is the Pilot of the world first episodic adventure game exclusive to the iPhone and iPod touch. Louis Everett is leading a quiet life and minding his own business as the most average middle class citizen. He lives with his beautiful but rather nosy wife in the peaceful Jalonsville New jersey. Take a journey to explore this intriguing mystery and discover the reasons behind his constant headaches and strange dreams. Meet a bunch of colorful characters, dive into bizarre situations until an unpredictable event occurs and turns everything upside down!
  Price: $7.99 (Limited Time Only, Regular Price is $9.99)

Arcade

• Cookie Catch – Christmas – “It is Christmas time and Casey is ready to catch some gingerbread cookies! Get into the holiday spirit by helping Casey catch all the yummy gingerbread cookies while making sure to avoid getting hit by falling snowballs as those will turn Casey into a snowball-head, and Casey really hates when that happens.“
  Price: $0.99
• Bomboozle – “Draw lines and detonate bombs to destroy the cutesy blobs in this relaxing yet addictive collapse style puzzler. Colorful graphics and a jaunty soundtrack accompany you through the game and the intuitive touch interface makes this a great pick up and play title.“
  Price: $2.99
• <iArchery on myHIP – “The game is simple, use your bow and arrow to hit the practice targets, but NOT the squirrels or rabbits.“
  Price: $0.99
• Christmas Swap – “”Christmas Swap” is the fun and exciting new puzzle game from TacoLamp! You must help clear the levels of all the falling pieces in ways that will test your brain and challenge your reflexes! Christmas fun for the everyone!“
  Price: $1.99
• Marble Worlds 2 – “Welcome to Marble Worlds 2 for the iPhone. Explore one hundred play areas across 5 different themed worlds. Tilt your iPhone, or touch the screen to navigate Marble Worlds collecting gems and solving puzzles as you go. Use features such as bounce pads, air blowers, jet holes and exploding bombs whilst avoiding the evil marbles. Marble Worlds is a highly addictive and playable challenge, and hours of fun.
  Price: $2.99
• Jingle Balls – “Get into the Christmas spirit with Jingle Balls! Roll your ball around the garden, collecting Stars before your time runs out whilst avoiding those nasty Puddings and flying Icecubes… Collect random appearing presents to increase your time limit. Don’t lose your balance on the SeeSaw.
  Price: $0.99
• Bat Master – “One player. Two bats. Three levels. Do. Not. Blink.“
  Price: $0.99

Board

• Monkey Memory – “Monkey Memory is a memory game based on a scientific test made with chimpanzees. The object of Monkey Memory is to remember the location of numbers and correctly recall the sequence.“
  Price: $1.99

Amidakuji – “Amidakuji is a Japanese classic method of lottery that looks like ladders. It is designed to create random pairings of arbitrary numbers of two sets of start points and goals, each with an equal number of elements.“
Price: $0.99

• Chinese Chess Professional – “ZingMagic’s critically acclaimed Chinese Chess application is renowned for its superb playability for players of all levels from beginner to expert. Whatever level of Chinese Chess you play at, you can be sure that ZingMagic’s Chinese Chess will give you a stimulating and challenging game.“
  Price: $2.99

Card

• Poker Rulz – “Poker Rulz is not an actual poker game – it is a reference to the rules for popular “dealer’s choice” poker games (the kinds of games you play with your friends and family for fun). It seems like there is always somebody who is unsure of “what’s better” so Poker Rulz includes a list of the standard poker hands and how they rank. There are also some “general guidelines” to help newer players.“
  Price: $0.99

Casino

• iWinPoker – “Learn how to correctly play video poker. Use iWinPoker to play while you learn! Single Play and Triple Play options that can be played with all of the 31 included video poker games!. Change modes from the options screen, or just swipe up to pull up 3 hands or swipe down to take it back to one.“
  Price: $5.99

Educational

• English Alphabet ABC – “Here is the perfect tool to help your child learn the alphabet while having fun. This application will help keep your child entertained while in the car, a long line or at a restaurant. This application will allow you to hear the sound of each of the 26 letters. The sounds can be played over and over agian in order to help learn pronunciation and memorize the characters. With just the touch of each letter. Children also love the colorful backgrounds, which helps with association in order to learn them better. We are sure you and your child will love this application! If you have any suggestions please feel free to contact us, and stay updated for future releases.“
  Price: $0.99
• French Alphabet L’Alphabet Francais – “The French alphabet is the perfect tool to start. This application will allow you to hear the sound of each of the 26 letters. You can repeat the sounds to learn pronunciation. Just touch the desired letter and voila! Each letter will play at the touch of your fingertips. Use this to imitate the sounds as the native speaker says them.“
  Price: $0.99

Family

• Pocket Yacht – “Pocket Yacht is an exciting new dice game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You may also know this game as Cheerio, Yot, Yam, or General. Take turns rolling five dice to score big with a straight, full house, four of a kind, Yacht, or Chance combination.“
  Price: $2.99

Music

Nothing.

Puzzle

• Miners – “Help your team of miners to collect gold by redrawing the level underneath them. Just be careful to avoid the slime!“
  Price: $0.99
• Slide It! – “Slide It! is a brand new puzzle game for both casual gamers and enthusiasts. In the tradition of Bejeweled and Hexic, Slide It! provides the player with an addictive game mechanic that is simple to learn, yet difficult to master.Your goal is to slide tiles off the board into their corresponding slots. The challenge is learning how to think ahead and maximize your score by growing your multipliers. As you progress through the levels, there will be fewer obvious solutions, so you must plan your moves carefully while keeping an eye on the timer.“
  Price: $3.99
• Christmas Puzzle – “An excellent puzzle game with a lot of beautiful Christmas and New Year’s Eve images that will put you in a happy Christmas mood!“
  Price: $0.99
• Shade – “Shade is a unique and challenging puzzle that tests your positional memory. When the game starts, you are shown a board with colored tiles. Your task is to rebuild the pattern as quickly as you can.“
  Price: $4.99
• Twin Cubes – “Yes, the twin cubes! The twin cubes introduce a novel concept of pairing rotation between the cubes. When you turn faces on one cube, you simultaneously drive the virtually coupled faces on the other cube. This synchronized movement requires algorithms in solving the puzzle which you have never faced on any Rubik’s cubes in the real world.“
  Price: $0.99
• ZAB – “Are you ready for a totally new, fast-paced, addictive puzzle game? ZAB will test the limits of your mind and fingers. Easy to Learn. Simple to Play. Labyrinthine to Master.“
  Price: $1.99
• Kakuro – “Kakuro is a game that is like a cross between Sudoku and Crossword. This game generates millions of unique boards of varying difficulty, so you never have to play the same game twice. This game can be quite addictive!!!“
  Price: $0.99
• National Geographic: Herod’s Lost Tomb – “Explore the ancient biblical world, uncover hidden archeological clues and help researchers solve the mystery Herod’s Lost Tomb in this hidden object game from National Geographic. Based on a major television event, Herod’s Lost Tomb allows players to join archeologists as they excavate masterpieces of ancient architecture and examine clues that reveal the final resting places of one of the Bible’s most infamous characters.“
  Price: $3.99
• Traffic Jam 2Your poor Beetle is trapped amongst a sea of cars during rush hour! Itís up to you to free it from each of 250 horrendous Traffic Jams. Your task is simple, yet challenging – move vehicles forward and back until you’ve cleared a path between your Beetle and the Exit Circle.“
  Price: $0.99

Racing

Nothing.

Role Playing

Nothing.

Simulation

• Fast Food Nation – “Choose your character in more than 160 000 possibilities and take him to the glory throught his career. Master all the elements, ads, menu prices, ingredients and the size of your kitchen. Be aware of the goal of the day and try to make your customers happy!“
  Price: $0.99
• Virtual Dolphin – “Take care of your virtual dolphin. You can clean him, train him, feed him, and make him study, amongst other things. He can die if you let him starve or grow sick if you leave him alone for too long.“
  Price: $0.99
• Fish Bling Bling – “Fish Bling Bling is a real-time simulation game. The fishes continue to live even when the game is turned off. Recommended for fans of Koi Pond that want virtual pet-like features or those who enjoy simulation games in general.“
  Price: $1.99
• Pet BugsThis fun application lets you carry around your very own bug collection wherever you go. You choose your companions from a variety of different bug types (all loosely based on real bugs, Ladybird, Stag beetle, Goliath beetle). You also get to choose from a multitude of environments/backdrops in which to place them.“
  Price: $0.99

Sports

• Zen Table Tennis – “It is a long way from the pick up ping pong matches in the filthy back alleys of Lhasa to the ethereal mountaintop temple of the Ten Thousand Paddles. But here you are, one match from enlightenment. There is just one problem—an invisible demon who has seemingly mastered the physics of the sport. Well, two can play at that game. Remember the teaching: “Become the ball.“
  Price $1.99
• Pocket Mini Golf 2 – “Pocket Mini Golf 2 – winner of “Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine”‘s Best Software Award 2007 & 2008- is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Get ready for some extreme mini golf fun! Masses of features (including multiplayer) and superb graphics make this the most enjoyable and addictive golf game available. Pocket Mini Golf 2 features a massive variety of holes, including fairways, rough, sand pits, beaches, loads of interesting objects to negotiate and much much more…“
  Price: $2.99
• Basketball Game – “Play basketball on your iPhone. First practice and then try to hit as often as possible with 20 shots. Adjust the difficulty by adding a ceiling, fixing the basket and changing the gravity.“
  Price: $2.99
• iMarksman Arcade – “So you think you can shoot? Well take your best shot with iMarksman Arcade, exclusively available for iPhone and iPod Touch. iMarksman Arcade is 2 games in 1 and combines the skill of marksmanship with fun. Take your pick between Duck Hunter and Carnival Shooter.“
  Price: $1.99

Strategy

• Bugz – “The aim of the game is to pop as many bugz as possible by starting a chain reaction of bugz popping. To do this you have to tap the screen to create an initial pop which will expand and then shrink again. If your pop hits another bug then that bug will pop, starting a chain reaction effect.“
  Price: $0.99
• Smiles Zen – “SMILES ZEN is a relaxing strategic puzzle game. It uniquely combines matching games like Bejeweled with patience games like Solitaire and Mahjongg. Sudoku fans will appreciate the depth and strategy ZEN offers. Make and break matches as you light up the board.“
  Price: $2.99

Trivia

• Film Trivia – “Take the film trivia challenge with unique questions on an eclectic mix of films, from Casablanca and early horror films to the latest future releases!“
  Price: $4.99

Word

• Smile*Man (British) in the U.K. (Also available in a Germany edition) – “A Fun, Challenging, Exciting game with Cool Crisp Animations and Funky Music! Smile?Man is Fun and Addictive! Select a Category … Go! … The timer is running …Touch letters to spell the hidden word … Try to beat your High Score! … 9 Wrong answers and “OH NO!!“ try again … Watch out for that crazy Devil?Man! …“
  Price: $1.99
• Russian Flip – “Russian Flip is a learning tool similar to flash cards, but with an intelligent progress tracking system that helps you learn faster. After you “flip” to the answer, you pick if you were Right or Wrong.“
  Price: $5.99

Konstroo This! – “The object is to decipher or formulate words by rearranging letters. This is accomplished by touching and dragging letters into the proper order. If you need inspiration you can shake the device to shuffle the letters randomly!“
Price: $0.99

Site [Appletell] Site [Apple App Store]

Full Story » | Written by Kris Rosado for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Google Chrome was an awesome toy when it first appeared on our internets. Then came the talk of how it has an identifier and how it means that Google knows even more about you. Some people became frightened and ran away from Chrome, seeking solace in her older counterparts Firefox,  Safari, and Opera. Others, who were on Mac and other platforms chose to work with the Chromium backbone and build there own browser.

Far be it from me to rain on those folks ideas, but I decided I wanted a portable version of the browser and waited patiently for someone else to code it. Iron which also has a standard install version which I run on my main PC, has a handy little USB stick friendly edition which caters to my need to keep my favorite software in my pocket. Both flavors of Iron grant the user the sense of security they may want, and help keep the open source train going. Also, Iron comes packing a newer build of Webkit

Whether you believe Google software is going to become self aware and start cranking out Terminators, or even if you don’t mind a single corporation knowing just about all your business, Iron will probably suit your needs.

No related posts.

Samsung WEP200 Bluetooth Wireless Headset Price after rebate: $4.99

Sharp Aquos LC42D64U 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Price after savings: $999.98

Canon PowerShot SD770 Digital Camera with OIS Price after savings: $159.94

HP 2133-KR922UT 8.9-Inch Mini-Note PC Price after savings: $299.99

TomTom ONE 125 GPS Price after savings: $99.99

Pentax K2000 DSLR with 3 Free Accessories Price after savings: 599.94

Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse Price after savings: $46.99

SanDisk Sansa 32 GB View Video MP3 Player Price after savings: $199.99

SimpleTech PRO500Q Pro Drive 500 GB Quad Interface External Hard Drive Price after savings: $104.99

George Foreman GRP90WGR Removable-Plate Grill Price after savings: $99.94

La Crosse Technology Wireless Temperature Station Price after savings: $17.99

Pure Komachi by Kai 4-Piece Stainless-Steel Knife Set Price after savings: $39.99

Breadman TR875 2-Pound Breadmaker Price after savings: $94.37

V-MODA Bass Freq Earbuds – Bling Bling Black Price after savings: $19.99

Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn’t performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.

So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.

It isn’t an entirely bad story for Tabula Rasa, those with active accounts as of November 21st at 10:00 AM will receive some fine buffs from NCSoft, as well as the entire gaming community receiving this prize:

Before we end the service, we’ll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.

We can assure you that through the next couple of months we’ll be doing some really fun things in Tabula Rasa, and we plan to make staying on a little longer worth your while.

You can read the full press release right Here.

Image by hyku via Flickr

After our CEO Chuck decided to live blog the API Summit – it stirred up some interesting convo.  Some was positive, some not so much, but I think the end result will be very good.  He posted a very nice summary on his blog.

From the “non-CEO crowd”, there was my buddy Jason.  He’s also had some very good comments on his blog:

I don’t envision an environment where the likes of Jeff Jarvis, Steve Outing, Alan Mutter and those types get up and preach to the choir. They are fine and do a lot of good and I have no problem with any of them.

But the kinds of people I want in a room that can really end up making real change in our industry are those like Nick Bilton, Ryan Sholin, Pat Thornton, David Kohn, beat blogger Matt Neznanski, Tom Altman, and those on the Crunchberry team.

What it boils down to is we’ve got to stop talking and do SOMETHING.  Yes, let’s get it on.  And the best way “we” know is to treat this like any other “new”, “new media”, “web 2.0″ problem…we must BarCamp.

Now presenting BarCamp:newsinnovation (not me – Jason set it up and a bunch of people have already said “yes”).  I like the verbiabe he uses:

The idea is to get energetic, tech-savvy, open-minded individuals who embrace the chaos in the media industry because the ability to do really cool things still exist. We also need find those people outside of our industry who love to consume news and information and are great thinkers and innovators.

So we’ll see how it goes…please join in and help out.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Calling on the American Press Institute to go one more step
• Young journalists challenged to work outside of mainstream media
• Still debating over blogging?
• Looking for blog recommendations
• Big Daddy Newspaper Left Journalism. It’s Just Us.

Image by hyku via Flickr

After our CEO Chuck decided to live blog the API Summit – it stirred up some interesting convo.  Some was positive, some not so much, but I think the end result will be very good.  He posted a very nice summary on his blog.

From the “non-CEO crowd”, there was my buddy Jason.  He’s also had some very good comments on his blog:

I don’t envision an environment where the likes of Jeff Jarvis, Steve Outing, Alan Mutter and those types get up and preach to the choir. They are fine and do a lot of good and I have no problem with any of them.

But the kinds of people I want in a room that can really end up making real change in our industry are those like Nick Bilton, Ryan Sholin, Pat Thornton, David Kohn, beat blogger Matt Neznanski, Tom Altman, and those on the Crunchberry team.

What it boils down to is we’ve got to stop talking and do SOMETHING.  Yes, let’s get it on.  And the best way “we” know is to treat this like any other “new”, “new media”, “web 2.0″ problem…we must BarCamp.

Now presenting BarCamp:newsinnovation (not me – Jason set it up and a bunch of people have already said “yes”).  I like the verbiabe he uses:

The idea is to get energetic, tech-savvy, open-minded individuals who embrace the chaos in the media industry because the ability to do really cool things still exist. We also need find those people outside of our industry who love to consume news and information and are great thinkers and innovators.

So we’ll see how it goes…please join in and help out.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Calling on the American Press Institute to go one more step
• Young journalists challenged to work outside of mainstream media
• Still debating over blogging?
• Looking for blog recommendations
• Big Daddy Newspaper Left Journalism. It’s Just Us.

• Google Street View in the Maps app (accessible via map pins)
• Enhancements and stability improvements to Mail app
• Podcast downloading via iTunes Mobile Store
• Mobile Safari stability improvements and redesigned Address Bar/Search Box
• Decreased Drop-Calls
• Auto-Correct Spelling toggle switch
• Home screen button (when viewing any of your home screen “pages”) scrolls back to the first page of your home screen.  (that’s a mouth full)
• Visual Voicemail sound quality improvements

You can get the latest update via iTunes on Mac or Windows.

Ever since founding Yahoo! with David Filo 13 years ago, I’ve been passionate about this company, its brand, its employees, and the millions of people around the world who consider it their online home. That’s why I accepted the Board’s request to become CEO in June 2007, taking on the challenge of transforming Yahoo! at a time when the industry was evolving quickly and we needed to rethink and restructure our business.

[...]

And now I believe the time is right for us to bring in a new leader…

You can read the whole post here

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here is why it is unoriginal…

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I last spoke with Zach Wigal, founder of Gamers Outreach Foundation, he was just finishing up a Halo 3 tournament in January to raise funds for his community.

I caught up with Wigala few weeks ago and learned he has just earned the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award.

Wigal said he only became aware of the program a few months ago after doing an interview with Chris Erickson of 360StyleCast podcast and added that Erickson has been an MVP for a while, this year being Erickson’s third award.

“He was really the person who introduced me to the award,” Wigal said. “Prior to meeting Chris (Erickson) I hadn’t heard of it. Roughly 2 to 3 months ago, Chris told me he wanted to nominate me for the MVP award. I still only had a very basic understanding of the award, so I more or less went about my business without saying much to any of my friends. Sure enough, I got a few e-mails from Microsoft, and on October 1, (2008), they welcomed me to the MVP program. Now, I’m very familiar with what the award is.”

I contacted Michael Fosmire, MVP Lead, to find out more about this MVP award.

”The MVP Award is a worldwide program intended to express Microsoft’s appreciation for those who are leaders in the technical community as it relates to Microsoft products,” Fosmire explained. “We recognize individuals who voluntarily share their expertise with others – either in online communities such as forums, newsgroups and websites or in offline communities such as user group meetings or industry conferences. There are no hard and fast criteria about how an individual receives the award. It’s meant to express our appreciation for exceptional contributions over the past 12 month period.”

Fosmire said Microsoft’s goal is to recognize those few who really stand out as making significant positive impact in the community.

“We were thrilled to recognize Zach for his Xbox community participation and leadership,” Fosmire said and explained what happens after receiving the award. “He’ll have a number of benefits that are offered to all MVPs and he’ll have opportunities to provide feedback to Microsoft about our products and we’ll ensure that he’s enabled with information that he can use to serve the community.”

I asked Wigal what the awards meant to him personally and he said he was more than excited to receive it.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the MVP program. I’m very passionate about what I do, so to me, this award is like a form of encouragement. I’m very thankful that Chris nominated me in the first place, and I’m equally thankful to Microsoft for taking the time to consider me as an award recipient,” Wigal said. “To me, receiving this award is like Microsoft’s little ‘wink of approval.’ So, from that perspective, I suppose Microsoft felt like I was qualified because of Gamers Outreach Foundation, to become a part of the MVP program.”

Wigal said earning the award would not change his role within Gamers Outreach Foundation, instead the award will help provide potential opportunities for GOF and Microsoft to work together on future projects.

“Only time will tell. At the end of the day, I’m just the guy that happens to provide direction for our foundation’s activities,” he said. “There’s a whole group of guys I work with who are the ones that really make everything possible.As far as Gamers Outreach Foundation is concerned, this is something I believe in. Gamers Outreach Foundation has gone from a few high school kids wanting to host their own Halo tournament, to a vision of helping others through the use of video games. It’s come a long way in a very short period of time, but it still has much further to go. Interview me again in 5 years, I’ll fill you in on our progress.”

The MVP Award Program has been in existence for about 15 years, having grown from 30 MVPs to over 4,000 today Fosmire said. “Originally, we recognized those individuals who were leaders in English speaking technical newsgroups. But we’ve grown to recognize MVPs from over 90 countries and 30 languages who are active in online and offline communities spanning almost 90 Microsoft products and technologies.”

Read [Gamertell] Site [Microsoft MVP] Site [Gamers Outreach Foundation] Site [360style.net]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

How does Sony say thank you for your awesome productivity and quality of digital downloads? By giving you your own storefront on the Playstation Store.

That’s what Sony has recently granted Capcom, publishers of the highly praised Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando: Rearmed. The storefront will go online in November 2008 and will catalog all of Capcom’s downloads in the one place.

“Out of all of the third-party companies making use of the digital space, [Sony] recognizes Capcom is one of the best partners for content,” said John Diamonon, product manager on all Capcom digital titles told Edge.

Christian Svensson, VP of business development and strategic planning for Capcom added that “…Sony’s taking advantage of, in a very real way, one of the benefits of digital, in that there are multiple ways to sort, search and put things in front of people. In a physical store, that physical object can only exist in one physical space. With digital, that object can be highlighted in about 20 different ways.”

This is only the first of what Sony is hoping to be many “publisher portals” that will allow users to find downloads easier by simply picking the publisher or developer. Users already have the option to search content by: Top Downloads, Genres, and New Releases. These “publisher portals” will allow shoppers to more easily find quality titles by visiting that publisher’s store where that publishers games will be allocated. As of now there is no announcement for price changes on titles.

On the subject of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade giving the same treatment to publishers, Svennsson added: “As far as Microsoft goes – how can I say this diplomatically – there are things I think they’d like to do to promote content in multiple ways, and I think they’ll get there eventually… but they’re not there yet.”

Read [Edge] Via [Joystiq]

Full Story » | Written by Kris Rosado for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

A bit bigger than a card will technically be, but it’s a good start for sure! Hopefully we’ll have more updates to post on convention activity and what not in the coming months.

Affiliates: Rob and I haven’t even sat down to talk about accessibility to you guys yet, so just sit tight and as soon as we get to that we’ll post something in your forums. Thanks!

Hey suckers! Did you buy DRM music from Wal*Mart instead of downloading MP3s for free from the P2P networks? Well, they’re repaying your honesty by taking away your music.

What is not mentioned in the above “Straight From Digg” news posting is that Wal-Mart is giving their customers fair warning about the DRM server shutdown and telling them the following…

If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.

Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.

Not the best method of keeping your music (as you are turning an MP3 into PCM then back to MP3 if you want a non-DRM’d MP3 on your computer), but it appears to be the only method Wal-Mart has looked into.  iTunes, for example, has their iTunes Plus tracks which are 256Kbps AAC that has no DRM.  If you bought any standard iTunes DRM’d music, check out iTunes Plus to see if any of the songs you already own have been updated to iTunes Plus.  You will have to pay an extra fee to upgrade each song, but in the end it expands the bitrate from 128 to 256 AND removes the DRM.

read more | digg story

read more | digg story

less than 25% of EA users attempt to install the company’s games on more than one computer, and less than 1% attempt to install it on more than three.

This begs the question, what’s the point of that crazy little SecurRom program that ships along with as the primary source as the DRM for Spore, considering it restricts owners of Spore from installing it on more than three computers from the same disk? Apparently it’s there for EA to be sued over.

The San Jose, California courts will soon be burdened with the weight of another suit against EA, this time in regards to the SecurRom software that Spore installs. The suit, filed on the 23rd of September, claims that the SecurRom software is installed without the awareness of the user, and once installed is only removable through the wiping of the drive. Furthermore, the class action lawsuit claims that the SecurRom software not only sends data back to the Electronic Arts database, but do it without the knowledge or acceptance of the user of the program.

Not only is this a major lawsuit targeting EA over one of their new major hits, but it’s class action, meaning everyone that can prove they purchased a copy of the game could get not only a refund, but equivalent provable damages. That’s a major blow to EA should they lose this lawsuit considering their only other cash cow right now is Mythic’s WarHammer Online. One side that many people may not be looking at, though, is what will happen to DRM law if Electronic Arts is found not guilty? No matter what happens, this lawsuit’s going to affect the gaming industry, and we’re going to keep our geeky eyes glued to the newswire about this.

The hotel staff immediately asked him to put it out. He was very grandiose in his gestures while a staffer got him a paper cup with some water in it for the stogie. Then he just started talking and being really loud. Eventually a few people walked over to him. I realized he was some basketball player I’d seen (I don’t really watch basketball.) My client told me it was Dennis Rodman. He sat about 10 feet away from us and was so loud and obnoxious we could hardly hear.

His voice and mannerisms were all completely over the top, like he was some ostentatious regent or something. Here’s some highlights:

Dennis threw a slinky away from the table which landed with a thunk on the floor and said, “Don’t need that.” (Where did he get a slinky?)

He also threw a guy’s cell phone on the floor, then later said to the guy, “You’re gay. You’re gay. You’re gay!” Then the guy said loud to his buddy, “Hey! Dennis Rodman says I’m gay!”

Later more random people were crowding over to where he was sitting, and a cute pair of women in business suits came over. He pointed to one, and then to a stool, and kept saying, “Sit down. Sit down. Sit down!” like she was some kind of animal or something. (She eventually sat down.)

He left before my meeting was over and I didn’t want to interrupt my client since he is working on producing a 20 million dollar movie (that I’m going to write) so I didn’t get a picture or an autograph. Hell, I was kind of afraid to get near the guy anyway. Oh, and if you’re wondering, I’m not getting paid that much for the script, apparently the market has experienced writers begging for work so I’m lucky I’m even getting to do this one. Well, according to the client. But hey, I gotta eat. Hollywood is rough.

In the course of my life, I run into people who are just inexplicably rude, unprofessional, or worse yet — pretend to my face that they like me. This brings me to my main point today. I have a list. This list is people who missed out on the coolness of being friends with me because they were one of these types of people. When I think of this list, here are some of the people who specifically come to mind:

• Girls who say they will call/email me and never, ever do

I tried to think of who else would be on this list but got stuck. Seriously, this is most of them. Tell me if this has happened to you:

You meet a pretty girl (or guy if you prefer), she shares common interests in you, she isn’t married, she doesn’t have the Hep, and she talks to you like she really likes you. She even gives you her phone number or email (or business card, as it happens here in L.A.) Then you call, and get voicemail — no call back. I’ve even had some girls on Myspace who read my messages to them but just don’t reply. They don’t even tell you why. Even if you ask, “Hey, so why did you friend me but don’t ever talk to me?” or “Why did you give me your card, anyway?” (Yes, I’ve asked.) Sure, they add you as one of their 34,962 friends, but answer your mail? What a chore.

A lot of these girls I just want to be friends with (who will believe that?) or keep them as business associates as an actress I can call for later projects. Regardless, I’ve been blown off by more women than I can possibly count. And they will be sorry, very sorry, when I have buckets of money to swim in and I’m on the cover of every major magazine in the news stand. I bet they will say, “Gee, maybe I could have given that Steve guy a chance?” So they will dig up my card out of their enormous pile, or they will actually search Myspace for me, and they will give me a call, or an email.

And then… I won’t answer.

For this article I will be talking about everyone’s favorite social news mash-up Digg.com. Recently there were rumors of Digg potentially being acquired by everyone’s favorite internet search monster, Google.com. Kevin Rose, founder and chief architect of Digg, outright denied the rumors as being anywhere close to truth, but that didn’t stop the internet from being the internet and going on and on about the acquisition regardless.  Continue reading via the link below.

Now that the history is out of the way, on to my baseless opinion. Internet based companies tend to acquire other internet based companies for one reason, the users of that company. Same can be said for other non-Internet based companies, such as Verizon acquiring Alltel. However, when it comes to the internet it is more about “who” the acquisition gives you rather than “what”.

A number of years ago, Yahoo Inc acquired Flickr. Did Yahoo really NEED Flickr; not really? After all, in this day and age where computer and web programmers are as abundant as sweat dripping off of the hairy flesh of my… chin, Yahoo could have just as easily and for far less money paid a group of programmers to just overhaul the Yahoo Photo service into something that could compete. What Yahoo would not have gained going that route was the already large Flickr user-base.

Another example is Google’s acquisition of YouTube. Google already had it’s own video sharing service, but they still bought up YouTube. Was the technology behind YouTube amazing? Not really, it was a video sharing site. Any two-bit fly-by-night porn site has a video sharing service now (most of which, oddly enough, have the word TUBE in the title). Again, in this example, what Google gained was the YouTube’s user-base.

So what, if anything, would Google get out of Digg that they don’t already have? They have GoogleReader, which is a great “personal” news aggregation service. I say personal because the individual user has full and complete control of where they get their news. Digg, on the other hand, is more of a social aggregate of news, with new articles being posted by the users themselves.

Would Google buy Digg because of their back-end technology? My baseless opinion is no, since Google could throw money at a brick wall and turn it into the second coming of Yahoo Serious. Is it the people working there? Again, no, as I have already said that computer and web programmers are a dime a dozen, or more realistically “a dime a deluge”. So what does that leave for Google? The user-base, and there lies the problem.

No company in their right mind would ever want the Digg.com user-base, unless of course the company is 4chan, but even 4chan has more viability to be acquired by a porn company than Digg has being acquired by a large scale tech company.  What sets Digg’s user-base apart from sites like YouTube or Flickr is in the Comments section.  The whole point of Digg is the “social” aspect, people having a voice and the ability to hear other voices as well as block out those voices that you don’t wish to hear.  The problem arises when the comments become to largest aspect of the website.

I know many people that don’t use Digg anymore simply because of the immaturity of the comments.  Beyond that, many comments appear to be pretending to be mature but still show that they are not anywhere close to being that.  It is true that you can comment on photos on Flickr or videos on YouTube, however, the major difference is that the comments are kept so far down on the page from the main content and are not promoted to the degree that the average user would notice while browsing.  Flickr and YouTube have the idea that “content is king”, and I will add “comments are fluff”.

In contrast, Digg’s design is almost the opposite.  We have the news title and 1 paragraph describing the news article in question.  The “content” takes up about 600px by 100px, just slightly larger than the average internet banner ad.  Below the “content” is about 3 football field-lengths worth of comments flip-flopping between every single extreme end of the spectrum that it makes the partisan nature of the average Fox News and CNN viewer seem like a kindergarten slap fight.

Why on Earth would Google, or for that matter, ANY company want to bring in a user-base that is so greatly against anything corporate?  You only have to look at the latest story about Digg.com protecting their trademarks against a website known as digpix.com.  Digpix, for those unaware, had a website that almost looked identical to Digg.com circa-2004~2005.  I say had because it appears that the website owner, rather than simply complying with Digg’s request and make the subtile changes to make the website not look like a carbon copy clone of Digg, desided to be the big man on campus and shut down the site.

And now the Digg user-base has flipped on Digg itself, blasting both the company and it’s co-founder, Kevin Rose, about how they have a double standard when it comes to trademarks.  You see, a year or so ago the crack for HD-DVD was posted on Digg and it was removed.  The “Digg Army” went into high gear spamming the website with the usual RIAA/MPAA hate speech, but this time rolling up Digg into the hate speech as well, saying that it was unjust for a site based on social media to get censored like that.  To make matters worse, the user-base called out Kevin Rose on this as well since he used to do a hacking podcast called “The Broken”.  In responce to this, Kevin and the rest of the Digg team reposted the information about the crack, and in my baseless opinion, solidified the win for BluRay as the next generation HD disc format since, at that time, BluRay had yet to be cracked.

The problem is that the aspect of Digg that harms it’s resale viability is in the very community that they built, and the ideal around what they built it from, that being “social”.  Social is fun when you have a few people getting together, talking around the proverbial water-cooler.  When the number of people around the cooler grows to such a number that would make an infinate number of monkeys run away leaving their infiniate number of typewriters behind them, things begin to break down.  Things break down even further when each and every one of those people, myself included, think that their voice really and truly matters in the great sceme of things.

Trust me when I say, no one gives two flying fig-newtons ™ about your opinion, just like you don’t care about my opinion (but if you have read this far I salute you).  Now, you may be asking: “If no one gives a care about their opinions, then why would Google care about them if they bought Digg?”  That’s simple really.  Digg started out small, and as such had a small, relativly sane community.  As Digg grew so did the user-base.  However, rather than the sanity level growing at the same pace, it dropped like a lead balloon submerged in a pool full of pure fail.

What was one of the major points being made by a good number of the Digg community during the rumors of a Google acquisition?  “All users of Digg who post stories should get a cut of the sale money.”  What a bunch of “I do nothing but copy-paste, please give me money” jerk-offs.

Now don’t get me wrong (which if you are a Digg user you most assuredly WILL), I don’t hate Digg itself, nor do I hate Kevin Rose.  I love Digg for the things that I get out of it.  I filter out political stories because if I want crummy spin-doctored political non-sence I will just turn on any of the cable news networks or listen to political talk radio.  I use Digg for seeing interenting news that I WON’T find at those other places.

Also, for any of you that want to blow my baseless arguments out of the water by saying that I also comment on Digg and am therefore no different from the comments that I am talking about, guess what, that is fully, 110% accurate for you to say.  I comment there because I do have a voice there and can put forth my opinion, which is what makes Digg great for the community, just not for a billion+ dollar tech company.

As you can see, some basic changes have already been made (Thanks Rob!) and, more changes are on the way. Probably sometime tomorrow we’ll look over the suggestions made and decide which ones are going to be carried out. We’ll be choosing which changes take priority as well.

Slowly but surely, you guys will see some changes in the look and feel of the site. Hey, if you have a suggestion get yourself on FriendFeed or give a tweet to @TheGeekMedia on Twitter! Thanks again!

- TGM