Channel 10

BlizzCon 08: Diablo III Class Design Panel

Sampy — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:08:00 GMT

One of the first panels I attended was the Diablo III Class Design talk featuring Jay Wilson and other members of the D3 team. We had just witnessed the unveiling of the brand spankin' new Wizard class so this panel promised to give us a sneak peak behind the newest defender of Sanctuary as well as other behind the scenes information. They talked about the skill system and how animations and graphics feed back into making a class shine.

The D3 designers want to give players that glass cannon that so many of them love. Sure it can blow things to pieces but get in their face and they aren't exactly the sturdiest of heroes. The Wizard is for that player who looks at the character selection screen and says, "I want to blow stuff up." For those Diablo 2 fans out there, this is an iteration on the fan favorite Sorceress class but with a different focus. Rather than summoning the elemental powers of Fire, Ice, and Lightning, a Wizard uses what Blizzard is calling "High Magic." This involves channeling the raw forces of the universe. The designers described the powers warping the laws of physics, weather control, and even time control to lay waste to foes. They even went into detail of the history of the Wizard. "She didn't study for her Conjuration class... but she aced it," one developer joked. "Her teachers said, 'Don't study that, it's forbidden.' So she said, 'That's what I want to learn.' We'll have to see if that gets her into trouble down the line." Take a look at how she looks in the preview video and you can see how this plays into character design.

They showed off a few skills for the Wizard. Magic Missile, a fantasy classic and very useful for shooting into the darkness, is the first spell a Wizard uses. In raw numbers terms, it's not much different than a Fireball or Ice Bolt but the designers explained that even a simple choice like this has design implications down the road. Players expect a Fireball spell to upgrade into burning damage or an explosion, an Ice Bolt slowing foes or freezing them. A Magic Missile, however, fires more and more bolts as it increases in power or starts homing in on targets. By starting from here, more skills start to come into view as the design evolves.

The other Wizard skills detailed were:
Electrocute - Part of the weather control power set, it's like a beefed up Chain Lightning spell that bounces electricity from target to target.
Slow Time - This is the bubble that the Wizard uses in the preview video. Time control isn't something you see often in RPG games, especially multiplayer. They originally wanted the slow to be gamewide but the implications for multiplayer seemed pretty un-fun. As it stands, it's a great defensive power that really makes the Wizard feel powerful.
Disintegrate - Another pen and paper RPG classic, this powerful spell rarely makes it into computer RPGs. It began it's life as a Barbarian skill called great swing. The idea was for the player to hold down the mouse button and build up a big attack. For the barbarian though, it ended up not being very fun. Monsters would shoot the player from range, well meaning friends would kill the foe before he got too close, etc. On the Wizard, however, holding down the button and sweeping firey death across the battlefield is pretty fun. As the spell hits a single target, it "heats up" doing more and more damage.

The next bit of the panel was about the skill system. They went through a ton of iterations. I chose one of the craziest above to show you that they really considered everything. They have a saying at Blizzard though, "Different but worse isn't better, better is better." This brought them back to something a little closer to those who've played Diablo II. Check it out:

On the left of each tier, you can see active skills. These are just like the kind of abilities you spend points on in Diablo II. To the right, you can see passive skills that allow you to beef up your abilities without adding too many actions to your bar. They want to keep that Diablo feel of fast clicking action rather than something like World of Warcraft where you need at least a dozen skills. Now what are those little circles under the active skills you ask? Why, those are Rune slots of course!

For those who can remember way back to the original Diablo, skills dropped from books. They liked the way this mirrored the random drop feel of items but it was too random. Runes are a middle ground between D1 and D2. The runes aren't class specific and can be put in any skill. The trick is that each skill changes differently depending on what rune you put into it. A lethality rune makes Electrocute cause foes it kills to explode and damage everything around it. Also as pointed out many times, explosions are cool; cheers showed that they were right when they said, "we have our finger on the pulse of the Diablo community." Multi-strike causes the Witch Doctor's Flame Skull to skip across the ground before exploding and the Wizard's teleport spell to create duplicates of the caster to confuse foes.

After covering classes, the technical effects designer talked a bit about player skills and monster deaths. Each class has their own feel: Barbarians display great physical power, Witch Doctor's use various voodoo items and swarms to damage foes, and the Wizard was described in two words: Light Show. All of these help add a visceral feel to playing Diablo. Of course one of the best parts of Diablo is watching hordes of monsters die before you. They added basic physics to monsters so they would fall as they were cut down but didn't stop there. Critcial deaths can occur with crushing swings, exploding with blood. Different damage types leave monsters in pieces or glowing with purple energy. Disintegrate leaves nothing behind and swarm leave only bones. All of this plays into the fun of Diablo: battling the minions of the Lord of Terror and mowing down his hordes.

All in all, Diablo III is looking like a great edition to the Diablo series. It still looks a ways off at this point but what I've seen so far makes me quite excited.

Are you excited about Diablo III? What class are you going to play? Let us know what you think!

Guitar Hero: World Tour up close and personal-like

MaxPowerhouse7 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:32:00 GMT

I’ve been sitting on this one for a little bit until closer to launch… that’s right, it’s almost Guitar Hero: World Tour time (October 26th to be exact).

“But Max, I already have Rock Band… what’s the big deal with this?!?” I don’t know which one is better yet, but based on what Brandon told me about the track editor where you can make your own instrument tracks for your own songs and share them online, this might be the killer “must have” feature of the video-console-rockin’-out-style-games. I also really liked the symbol additions to the drums, the pressure sensitivity, and not mentioned is the ability to use the drum header to plug in a real electronic drum set to rock out in some real style………… ohhh man I must do that!

So here’s the question ladies and lads: are the new features of Guitar Hero: World Tour compelling enough to get you Rock Band owners to buy another set, or did you all just wait for this game anyway??

BlizzCon 08: Sampy and Dan at the show!

Sampy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:54:00 GMT

Hey all you PC gamers out there, didn't get tickets to BlizzCon? Don't have DirectTV Pay Per View? Don't worry! Dan and I are on the case!

We're here right now in the BlizzCon convention hall recording and blogging the even just for you (well, and Channel 9 too). We just witnessed the opening ceremonies with Blizzard's Mike Mordheim kicking things off. He showed off the Wrath of the Lich King opening cinematic on the big screen as well as revealed the third Diablo III playable class: the Wizard!

We'll be taking lots of video and pictures of panels and fans and pushing them up as soon as we can tear ourselves away from the action. Stay tuned!

Gigs in Gaming: Part I

Laura — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:11:00 GMT

The gaming industry is so vast and diverse, and people are always asking what is the best way to get their foot in the door. There are tons of positions you'd never think of and a few that should pop into mind immediately. The obvious method would be : you want a job in gaming? Then make games! Hero Engine is offering one of the most sophisticated and complete development tools for building an amazing online experience. Bioware has even selected Hero Engine as the tool to build their next MMO. Check out what they're offering and see if this could work for you. And check back for more ways to get Gigs in Gaming.

Halo 3 Recon Announced

sarahintampa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:28:00 GMT

At the Tokyo Game Show, a new release of an Xbox 360 exclusive, Halo 3 Recon, was announced. The Recon game is a standalone expansion that extends “Halo 3” with several hours of a new campaign and multiplayer gameplay. Although Recon is being released after Halo 3, it’s really a prequel that predates the events in Halo 3 while giving you a look at the Halo universe through the eyes of a new hero, a special forces ODST (Obital Drop Shock Tropper).

ODSTs are known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, and are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these “Hell Jumpers” more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.

The new chapter will have the feel of Halo 3, but players will need to employ more stealth and cunning than before. The game is slated for a 2009 release. Go here to watch trailers.

New Xbox Experience Arrives November 19th

sarahintampa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:28:00 GMT

You’ve probably heard about the new Xbox Experience, the major user interface makeover that’s coming to the Xbox 360. But now we have a firm date as to when: November 19th. if you haven’t been paying close attention to the news, here’s what you can expect when the new UI goes live:

1) Gamercard Changes: When you click on your Gamercard in the New Xbox Experience, you’ll be able to read messages, edit your profile, update your avatar, manage your account, switch profiles, and change the theme. You’ll also be able to see every game you’ve ever played on your Xbox 360.

Oh, does any of that sound familiar? Well, check out what it looks like!

On the first card, you’ll have your overall Gamerscore and to the right you’ll have every game you’ve ever played on another card. Each game has its own card that fans out to the side to show you what achievements you’ve unlocked per game.

2) Avatars! Forget little icons, the New Xbox Experience offers real, full-bodied, customizble avatars.

3) New Games Store: In the new Games Store, you’ll be able to check out screenshots of the game, watch trailers and read the back-of-the-box description like you are shopping at a retail store. The Games Store will also show you every available download for the game you searched for including reviews, trailers, gamerpics, themes, game add ons, game images.

4) Themes: These are no ordinary backgrounds, the new themes are even more detailed and dynamic. They’ll be present in every channel where they’ll present in cool and unique ways. Check out Major Nelson’s flickr stream for more pics.

5) Friends: You can join a LIVE party with up to 8 people (you + 7 friends) and roam from game to game, voice chat, and share photos.

6) Video Markeplace: Get access to high-def movies, TV, and other video content from Warner Bros, Constantin, USA Network, MGM, SciFi Channel, NBC Universal, Universal Studios, and more. Over 10,000 films and shows! And, of course, Netflix. With the launch of the New Xbox Experience, Netflix subscribers will also be able to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from their 360.

8) Community Games: Games created by students and hobbyists form around the world will be available in the Community Games Channel.

9) My Xbox: Get easy access to your games, videos, music, and pictures from the “My Xbox” menu. You’ll also be able to access system settings and view your Media Center content from here, too.

6) And more…

The new guide loads faster and smoother.
Your old stuff (gamerpics, themes) still work.
“Inside Xbox” available from the Marketplace will offer tips from Major Nelson, reviews, and other tips which are refreshed weekly.

New From Office Labs: Touchless

sarahintampa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:27:00 GMT

A new project from Office Labs has just been unveiled: Touchless, a multitouch software app and SDK that lets you create and experience multi-touch applications of your own...with no need for expensive hardware or software. The way it does that is with the use of a standard computer webcam and colored markers that are defined by the user. These “markers” can be anything you want – just so long as you can hold them in your hands. Or, heck, the markers can even be your fingers themselves.

Sound familiar? Probably because it’s very much like Cam-Trax, which I mentioned earlier this year. The difference is that unlike Cam-Trax, with Touchless there is an open source application and SDK available, which anyone can see, use, and contribute to.

The app features four demos of the technology: 1) Snake – where you control a snake with a marker, 2) Defender – an up to 4-player pong game, 3) Map – where you can rotate, zoom and move a map with 2 markers, and 4) Draw - where you can draw with a marker.

Check out Touchless in action in the video below:

WWT Comes To Virtual Earth

sarahintampa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:45:00 GMT

The amazing WorldWide Telescope got a lot of hype pre-launch but you haven’t heard much about in recent days. Although now the WWT is being used by a number of astronomers, scientists, students, and space enthusiasts across the globe, the Microsoft Virtual Earth team decided to give it a little more exposure to the general public. To do so, they’re going to include a little WWT in Virtual Earth. According to Chris Pendleton, the Virtual Earth data centers host all of the data for WWT and the Earth in WWT is actually made of Virtual Earth tiles. So, in latest release of the Virtual Earth 3D control, the Virtual Earth team has now included the accurate placement of stars in space. Cool - now we have Earth and Sky in VE!

Live Search Now In Facebook

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:16:00 GMT

In case you hadn’t heard, Live Search has just now been integrated into one of the biggest social networks in the world: Facebook. As Facebook announced on their blog, this is the “first step in giving you the ability to find content from across the web while using Facebook.” What this means is that when you’re doing a search on Facebook, you’ll now see the option to “Search Facebook” or “Search the Web.” This a big deal for those of you who live your entire lives on Facebook – now you can find the additional information you need without having to leave the site. One thing you may have noticed, as those over at VentureBeat did, the Facebook-flavored Live Search results appear somewhat different than the same query performed on www.live.com. According to a statement from Facebook, that’s because Facebook removes sponsored results (those results which people have paid for) in addition to using a few different filters, according to the company.

What’s really exciting, though, is that this is only the first step involving the integration of Live Search and Facebook, according to Agnus Norton, Senior Director, Live Search Product Management: “As we evaluate user feedback and results we'll explore additional ways to integrate Live Search more deeply into the Facebook experience.”

What do you think of the Live Search integration? You can communicate to the team directly on, where else? – their Facebook page.

New DeepZoom Poster Web Designers Will Love

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:52:00 GMT

If you love Deepzoomable stuff as much as I do, you'll love this. The latest example of Silverlight’s cool DeepZoom technology can be found in action here on a poster created to “capture the organized chaos that is website design and development.” (Well, at least that’s what it does according to Shane Morris, a Microsoft User Experience Evangelist.) There’s really nothing much to the site, awebsitenameddesire.com, itself beyond some links to various web design-related conferences. It's the poster that is the main focal point. But still, wow - what a riot! It’s definitely one of those things you can explore forever, finding funny little details along the way. For example, look for the monkey on the rooftop, or, as Shane points out, the hilarious body language between the Graphic Designer, the Information Architect, and the Interaction Designer. If you want a copy of the poster for yourself, follow the user sitenameddesire on Twitter and stay tuned for an update.

IE8 Web Accelerator for Zune

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:50:00 GMT

In the new version of Internet Explorer, accelerators, you can get easy access to online services like email, search, maps, eBay, Encarta, facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, and so much more all from the web page you’re on – no need to open another tab or window and navigate elsewhere. Now, in addition to the accelerators currently available from the IE8 accelerator gallery, other developers are creating their own accelerators and posting them to their blogs.

One new accelerator that I recently came across is the Zune accelerator created by Sean Alexander. This particular accelerator lets you look up music-related info like Artist or Song info in the Zune Marketplace, all from the right-click menu. He mentions there are other accelerators that do similar things, but they are broken out to look up Artist separately from Song; this one combines both into one. Nice! To install Sean’s Zune accelerator click here.

HP’s New TouchSmart PCs

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:02:00 GMT

On the Windows Experience blog, Brandon has the scoop on the next generation of HP TouchSmart PCs: the IQ804 and IQ816. These new PCs are bigger than the previous models (25.5” vs. 22”) and, like the older ones, they let you shine ambient lighting on your keyboard. However, now, you can change the color of that light. As someone who wanted to purchase the HP MediaSmart WHS just for the Easter egg where you can customize the lighting scheme, I have to admit this makes the new TouchSmart PCs look pretty sexy to me. But those pretty lights aren’t all the new PCs have to offer: they also come with a pocket media drive for portable media, built-in TV tuners, giant hard drives (804 = 500GB, 816=750GB), a wall-mounting kit, a Blu-ray drive, screens with an image resolution of 1920x1200 pixels, and, of course, a natural user interface that works via touch.

My Movies Plugin, Now For Home Server

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:57:00 GMT

The upcoming My Movies plugin for Windows Home Server has a lot of people excited. Already available for Windows Media Center users, the plugin will soon allow Home Server users to organize their extensive movie collections and use their Home Server as more of a media server. According to a new post on the We Got Served blog, the plugin will function as a standard server for My Movies clients, will include an automated “Disc Copier,” will automatically monitor movie folders added to or located on a WHS share, and will function as a metadata provider without the need for a My Movies client for Microsoft DVD library, Niveus Movie Library, Open Media Library, Media Portal, and hopefully soon XBMC. The plugin isn’t available in its final form just yet, but if you just can’t wait to try it out, a pre-release version is now available for download from here.

Make Any Site Printer-Friendly

sarahintampa — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:08:00 GMT

You know what’s really annoying? When you go to print out something from the web but the site has no “print” button to reformat the website for the printed page. What you usually end up with (if you’re not careful about configuring the options after doing a thorough “print preview”) is a bunch of wasted paper as excess content like ads and page footers end up on separate pages. There should be a better way, don’t you think? Well, there is. A site called PrintWhatYouLike.com lets you simply plugin a URL and then click the parts of the page you want to print. You can also choose to get rid of things like the site’s background, images, or other hand-selected content you choose. In absence of a real print reformatting engine, this is the next best thing. (via MakeUseOf)

Silverlight Books

sarahintampa — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:08:00 GMT

Are you interested in Silverlight developing and looking for some guidance? If so, you’ll definitely want to bookmark this resource: SilverlightBooks.net. The site helps developers, whether novices or experts, locate the books they need to learn about the new Silverlight technology. However, in addition to Silverlight books, you’ll also find some books on the general topic of .NET technologies, too. You can group books together by categories “Introductory,” “Beginner,” “Advanced,” and “Expert,” to better help you find the books that are on your level. There’s also a “Top Rated” category which features those that other users like the most. The site also features sections on industry news, development tools, training courses, jobs, and downloads, but unfortunately, these sections haven’t been filled out yet, although the site does announce they will be available soon.

Mark Russinovich Discusses Vista Peformance

sarahintampa — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:06:00 GMT

Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich is joined by ZDNet blogger Ed Bott and other industry experts in the latest edition of the popular Springboard series of webcasts which discuss Vista in-depth. Typical Springboard topics include Vista adoption questions, resources, tools, and more. In this latest webcast, Mark and the others focus on Windows Vista performance. They detail how to assess, measure, improve and optimize performance. Mark shares some tools and tips and also dispels some of the myths about Windows systems. If you’ve ever wished you could just sit down with Mark Russinovich and have a chat, this is pretty much the next best thing. You can check out the web cast here.

Create Dynamic Display Pictures In Messenger

sarahintampa — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:08:00 GMT

From Windows Live Chronicles, I just learned another great trick for use in the latest version of Windows Live Messenger, v9.0 beta. In this newest version of Live Messenger you have the option to create your own, dynamic display picture by using your webcam. To do so, go into Tools –> Change Display Picture. You’ll see a new option (a button) that reads “Webcam Snapshot.” Select this button and you can record a quick snapshot of you in motion. Make a funny expression, hold up a sign, whatever, then click “Save” when you’re finished recording. The new video snapshot will then become available to choose from among all the other static images already available in Messenger. Set the new video as your display picture and from then on, your friends will see that when they’re IM’ing you in Messenger. To view a quick demo of this in action, check out this video on Soapbox.

PageRage Dresses Up Your Facebook Profile

sarahintampa — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:08:00 GMT

I’m not sure why you would want this, but a new app called PageRage will let dress up your Facebook profile so it looks more like a profile found on MySpace instead. (Yikes!) That’s too bad because one of the nicest things about Facebook is it’s clean and simple look and feel, without the busy backgrounds and image-heavy designs that are so prevalent throughout MySpace.

With the new Facebook app PageRage, you now can customize your Facebook profile with new themes that change both the background and the color schemes of your Facebook profile page. Some of these themes are basic, solid backgrounds, but others are quite busy.

Before you freak out and think this is the end for Facebook, take comfort in the fact that you can only see the new themed profiles if you have the PageRage application installed yourself. If you don’t want to see themes, just don’t install it.

The app works via a browser plugin which uses something called Yontoo Layers. Yontoo Layers create a virtual layer over your browser window. I’m not sure entirely how that all works, but it sounds a lot like what the Firefox extension Stylish offers.

I know. Facebook themes, ick. I definitely won’t be…oh wait…is that a pink one? Awesome.

PDC 2008 is coming...and I can't wait!

Tina — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:06:00 GMT

Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference 2008 is hitting the Los Angeles scene late October (27-30) and we got our best ad-agency guys and gals together to figure out how best to get the word out.

Why? Well, PDC is the place where Developers and Architects can network with their peers, get their questions answered by the Microsofties who are writing the code during Ask-The-Experts and take home all the bits on a 160 GB hard drive-including pre-Beta Windows 7!

Yeah, that’s PDC.

This is an inside look at one of our early brainstorming sessions… let’s just say things got a little out of hand.

But hey, make sure you don’t let it pass you by, register for PDC… NOW, oh did I mention the student discount?!

And don’t forget to be friends with 4 Softies and a Pizza Guy… or be a fan!

Add-In Cleanup For Windows Home Server

sarahintampa — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:17:00 GMT

If you have a Windows Home Server then you’ve probably been having fun trying out the numerous add-ins that have been made available for WHS users. These add-ins let you do all kinds of things from running Outlook to syncing your TV shows from Media Center to listening to the radio and so much more. But what if you’ve been having a little too much fun and have overloaded your server with add-ins? Or, even worse, what if you installed an add-in that wasn’t quite ready for prime time and now it won’t uninstall? Well now there’s an add-in for that!

The Add-In Cleanup Tool helps you clean and uninstall up whichever add-ins you need to get rid of. It will even remove them from the registry, too, after first doing a backup. The tool is installed via Remote Desktop by connecting to your WHS and putting the file ‘addincleanup.exe’ into the C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server folder. You can then choose to add the shortcut to your desktop, if desired. The tool is a free download available from here (zip file). (via We Got Served)

Login Here, There, Everywhere With Window Live Messenger

sarahintampa — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:17:00 GMT

Recently, the Windows Live team introduced all new versions of the Windows Live products and tools including new Windows Live Hotmail, Live Messenger, Live Photo Gallery, and more. As I’ve been using them, I keep coming across new features. One new feature that I discovered today in Windows Live Messenger is the ability to stay signed in on one PC even when I sign in to another. This is available under Tools –> Options –> Sign In. In order to customize this setting, you have to be currently signed into Messenger. Once you are, you’ll see the option becomes available instead of greyed out. Now you are able to stay signed in to your PC even when you sign into another PC, something I discovered today when I moved from the office to the laptop. You can also configure the name of this place to be something you’ll recognize like “home pc” or “laptop” for example. The name will default to your PC’s name, and that may be fine for you. The only problem I had was when I used Windows Live Messenger for mobile from my mobile phone later on – that signed me out on my PC.

Upgrade Task Manager

sarahintampa — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:17:00 GMT

Anyone who runs Windows is familiar with Task Manager, the program that shows you which applications and processes are running as well as displaying real-time statistics as to how much CPU and memory those programs are using, among other things. I knew that there were programs available (like our very own Sysinternals app Process Explorer) that let you see far more info than what Task Manager displayed, but I didn’t know that you could actually upgrade Task Manager itself.

However, it turns out that there is an add-on for Task Manager called Task Manager Extension which will add more features to this program. With Task Manager Extension installed, you’ll have new features like icons in the processes window, Windows processes will be greyed-out so you’ll know to leave them alone, and you’ll have tons more features from the right-click menu including options for displaying the system path and time the process has been running.

I think for casual users a simple tool like this would be much more friendly to use than Process Explorer, for example. Unfortunately, this program only works on XP and lower, and not on XP 64 or Vista. How disappointing! If anyone knows of any similar program for Vista users, please let me know.

(thanks DownloadSquad)

Election News Comes To Media Center

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:59:00 GMT

A recent post on the Windows Vista Blog provides info on a great new resource for Media Center PC users just in time for the vice-presidential debates tonight: Election News! Under the TV + Movies section in Media Center, you’ll now see a new title called MSNBC News Beta. This title will be available to Vista Home Premium and Ultimate users in the U.S. and Canada.

Here, you’ll find a selection of MSNBC’s top stories and weather listings, including Editor’s Picks and Most Popular videos. Under the Politics section, there’s a category for “Decision ‘08” where videos pertaining to the current U.S. Presidential elections will be displayed. As you browse through the videos, you may notice a plus sign “+” appears when you click on a video. Using this plus sign, you can create your own custom news video playlist which you can play back any time you want. There’s nothing to download to start using this new feature so you can simply begin using it the next time you run Media Center.

The Xbox and Politics

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:59:00 GMT

According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, a poll of Xbox Live users showed that gamers prefer Obama. The presidential poll, a part of Rock the Vote’s new partnership with Microsoft, returned results showing that 43% of gamers would vote Obama, 31% would vote McCain, 13% were undecided, and another 13% were “Other.” Perhaps they support Master Chief?

No matter what your political preference, you have to applaud the effort of the joint Microsoft/Rock the Vote campaign and how they’re using the Xbox platform as way to reach out to young voters.

Through Xbox Live, gamers can download Obama or McCain Gamerpics and add them to their Xbox Live profile. There are also voter registration forms and info and Rock the Vote videos. Gamers don’t have to hunt through the various blades within Xbox to find the content, either. Thanks to banner ads right on the dashboard, the content is only a click…errr…a button press…away.

To date, more than 55,000 voter registration forms have been downloaded through the service. That’s a pretty impressive number given the typically apathetic nature of young voters. It’s a testament to not only the efforts of the Rock the Vote campaign, but also those of the newest generation of young voters.

Generation Y, the first generation of “digital natives” is finally old enough to vote so Rock the Vote is trying to reach them on the platforms where they’re known to congregate: on blogs, on YouTube, on Facebook, on MySpace, on flickr, and on the Xbox, too.

There has been much said about this generation; their use of technology, their unique work ethic, their lack of brand loyalty, and their commitment to social change are a few of the hottest Gen Y topics. When it comes to social change, the U.S. election will be the first real test of whether this generation is paying more than lip service to their ideals. Will they actually go out there and vote? We’ll just have to wait and see. But if Rock the Vote can get tens of thousands of new voters engaged enough with the political process when they were just planning on chilling out with an Xbox game, then they are doing something right.

Are You Running The Latest Version of Delicious?

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:32:00 GMT

According to a post on the Delicious blog, the company has been working on their Internet Explorer add-in quite a bit since its recent launch. The plugin works on IE versions 6 through 8 beta 2, although they point out that the plugin won’t be official on IE8 until the browser is out of beta itself. The blog post mentioned that many people submitted feedback about the plugin and they have been listening and responding. Last week, Delicious released a a major update that fixed a number of the reported bugs. If you have already installed the IE add-on, you may want to make sure that it’s up-to-date. If you haven’t yet installed it, you can do so from here, assuming you have a Delicious account. With the plugin installed, you can save and tag links, search delicious, and even sync your IE favorites to the Delicious service. As far as bookmarking services go, Delicious is one of the best and the site’s makeover only makes them that much better.

If you are using Delicious now, you can join the conversation on the forum where you can share your own thoughts and suggestions.

Live Search Perks Launches

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:26:00 GMT

To complement Live Search Cashback, the program that pays shoppers to search for products using live.com, there now comes another incentives program from the Live Search team: Live Search Perks. With this new program, available in the U.S. only, you simply download a program to your computer which tracks how many times you use Live Search. The program doesn’t track what you’re searching or any other info about your search habits, only when you use Live Search. As you search, you’re given “tickets” for using Live Search which can then be redeemed for prizes. Those prizes aren’t too shabby either: 525 tickets gets you 5 free music downloads; 1800 gets you 1,000 free air miles. You can also choose to donate your tickets to charity, if you would like. The program is being limited to the first 250,000 users who sign up through December 31. The program ends April 15, 2009.

New Vista Sidebar Gadgets Let Your Track The Elections

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:48:00 GMT

Are you a political junkie? Here in the U.S. it's hard not to be when it's election season. With so much going on - rallies, debates, and economic crises - it seems that the poll numbers change every day. Now you don't have to wait on the news to give you the latest info from the presidential polls - you can just look at your desktop. The new Gallup Poll Vista gadget lets you obsessively watch the Gallup daily election polling numbers to see who's ahead on a day-to-day basis. And the new Election Countdown gadget will count down to the next important political event in the presidential election calendar, including all three Presidential debates, the Vice Presidential debate (which is tonight) as well as Elections day and Inauguration Day. The gadgets are non-partisan and include links to both Obama and McCain's web sites. The countdown gadget can be themed with either Obama or McCain skins, too. What great finds!

A New Themed Zune: Gears of War 2

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:48:00 GMT

If the Joy Division Zune wasn’t quite your speed, then you might be interested in the next themed Zune instead: the Gears of War 2 edition. This Special Edition 120 GB Zune will go on sale in the U.S. at Amazon.com and Walmart.com and in Canada at Amazon.ca, BestBuy.ca, FutureShop.ca and TheSource.ca for the estimated price of $279.99 starting November 7th. However, you can pre-order it now (just click those links).

The Zune will feature a laser-etched Crimson Omen on the back of its black casing, collectible “Gears of War” themed packaging, and, perhaps most importantly, 244 pieces of “Gears of War” media. That media will include the original soundtrack, behind-the-scenes videos, and concept art and galleries.

The Zune is set to go on sale November 7th because that’s also the launch date for the new Gears of War game, a highly anticipated sequel that continues the saga of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad as they fight to save humanity from the overwhelming onslaught of the Locust Horde.

You can keep tabs on the latest Gears of War news from the game’s homepage available here: http://www.gearsofwar.com.

Just In Time For The Holidays: A Red Xbox Controller

sarahintampa — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:47:00 GMT

Now available for a limited time only, Xbox 360 controllers are going to come in red, too…and just in time for the holidays! The red controllers with black accents will be available in U.S., Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia for $64.99. They will be sold together in a bundle with the Play & Charge Kit and red rechargeable battery which lets you wirelessly game from up to 30 feet away and for up to 25 hours of gameplay on one charge. Pretty cool, but I have to admit, I like Engadget’s suggestion: sell the green one, too!