Entries tagged with gaming - Channel 10

Use Any Object as a Controller With Cam-Trax

sarahintampa — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:39:00 GMT

Cam-Trax lets you play any PC game you want using almost any object you can find as a game controller - you just need to have a PC and a webcam to do so. The software uses the webcam to scan the object you’re holding and then the object can be used to control your game! (See it in action here). Crazy! What’s even crazier is that I just discovered that the Xbox 360 can do this, too, but not many people know about it. The Xbox can be paired with a camera and through XNA, casual game designers can experiment with their ideas. In fact, here are a couple of videos of people doing the machine vision thing with their Xbox: video 1, video 2. Want to give that a try yourself, this guy documented some of the techie details on how to access the elusive camera frame buffer. The documentation is available as a download here. Now, who’s got a machine vision system that works with XNA?

LEGO Indiana Jones Demo Available

Larry — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:49:00 GMT

The LEGO Star Wars video games are one of my personal favorites. The inventive title is also great for kids too, because a lightsaber that breaks a few lego bricks apart is much easier to pass by parents than the alternative. Now there's a new LEGO game based on Indiana Jones and the only place to get the game demo (on any platform) before the movie comes out is at GamesForWindows.com.

The full game has 60+ playable characters and plenty of familiar scenes. The PC game also supports widescreen and Xbox 360 control (for Windows).

Guitar Hero @ your Mobile!

jukkaw — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:29:00 GMT

Do you have a Windows Mobile phone? Are you ready to Rock???

Now it's time to Rock with your Mobile. Magmic Games will take mobility to the new level!

Get you're own http://www.winplay.com/game/GuitarHeroMobile.

Guitar Hero® is now available on mobile! Rock out anytime, anywhere with this rhythm-based, three button game that stays true to the original.
Rock out anytime, anywhere with this rhythm-based, three button game that stays true to the original. Open with 15 jamming tracks, all taken from the Guitar Hero console series.
· Grow your set list with 3 new songs monthly*
· Play through 3 venues each with 4 set songs and an encore
· Shred as your favorite characters on four authentic Gibson guitars, in three killer venues
· Unlock guitars, earn achievements and break records
· Hit the right notes to drive the crowd wild with star power!

The initial game comes with these 15 tracks from some of rock’s greatest acts:

(1) Santana - Black Magic Woman
(2) Wolfmother - Woman
(3) AFI - Miss Murder
(4) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss
(5) Alice Cooper - School's Out
(6) Pat Benatar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot
(7) Van Halen - You Really Got Me
(8) KISS - Strutter
(9) Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
(10) Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin on A Hole
(11) Matchbook Romance - Monsters
(12) Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
(13) Black Sabbath - Paranoid
(14) The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
(15) Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane

C9: XNA Games on Xbox & Zune

Larry — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:10:00 GMT

If you're still hungry for info about XNA games for Xbox Arcade and Zune, check out this video from GDC where Charles met up with James Silva, winner of the XNA contest. James built his game, Dishwasher Death Samurai, based (hopefully loosely) on his life as a dishwasher in a restaurant.

It's a little programmer-centric but worth a look to see what's coming over the horizon with Xbox Live Arcade and possibility of a cottage industry of independent game developers.

Poker Smash on Xbox Live Arcade

sarahintampa — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:09:00 GMT

I'll admit it: I'm a casual gamer. While I like watching others play the long, intense Xbox games, when I need a break, I'd rather spent 10 minutes with Bejeweled than getting wrapped up in a saga. So I'm excited for this new Xbox Live Arcade game called "Poker Smash" which has just arrived. The game, essentially a match-3 style puzzle game, may not sound like anything special at first, but wait until you see its stunning HD graphics! Talk about nice visuals! Poker Smash also offers single and multiplayer modes in several different formats, including Action mode, Puzzle Mode, Custom Playlist Mode, Practice Mode, Split Screen Head-to-Head Mode, and even Multiplayer Tournament Mode. There are features like super slow motion and card blasting bombs that make this fast-paced game really fly.

Games for Windows at CES 2008

Laura — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:55:00 GMT

You may have noticed that we haven't shown you much from the Xbox team yet this year from CES- but that doesn't mean Microsoft didn't have a stellar gaming presence. Games for Windows went from two titles announced last year, to 60 this year! In fact, 20% of the games sold for the PC were Games For Windows branded. I stopped by to clear up some confusion Tina was having about what exactly "Games For Windows" means and take a look at their new titles. Also...there's been buzzing on the show floor about a "Secret Game" that they're keeping behind closed doors and under lock and key...so I opened the doors and picked the lock.

The next best thing to really getting shot!

Laura — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:16:00 GMT

We all want a little more realism in our video games, thats the goal right? So what better than actually feeling a *thud* against your chest or side or shoulder when you get fragged in a first person shooter?!? That's what TN Games is offering us all. They've created a vest that recreates the forceful impact that a bullet would. But how real can it really feel? Really real. Take a look and see.

Silverlight Time Wasters

sarahintampa — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:50:00 GMT

I have to say, I'm good at finding ways to waste my time. I just spent a good 5 minutes goofing off here playing a Silverlight demo game called Breakout. I stumbled across Vectorform's Silverlight Demos site thanks to Steve Clayton's blog post. After watching the Silverlight Twitter widget for a while, I spent a minute demoing this cool video player that automatically resizes itself as the browser resizes. Next, I checked out the photo viewer and flickr photo viewer as well. You can view all the demos from this link. Nice! I can't wait to see more of these in action on the web.

An intimate discussion with Will Wright.

Laura — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:50:00 GMT

Did you know that ants live in highly structured societies with very advanced means of communication? Yep, it's true. What does this have to do with Will Wright - designer of legendary games like SimCity and The Sims? A lot, actually. I chatted with this genius for a while and he broke it all down for me plus threw in his thoughts on gaming as a whole and where he sees it going in the future. Then - you know that new game he's been working on....Spore? Only here on Channel 10 can you get the kind of insider scoop that he dishes out.

The reviews are in for E for All's first year

Laura — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:56:00 GMT

I'm sure you've all seen and heard plenty about the gaming conference, E for All. I've posted a few videos here, here and here about the games and content on display there- but what I really wanted to see was what people were saying about a gaming conference at the Staples Center, in a post E3 era. Needless to say, there were some pretty big shoes to fill.

BlackBird HP Gaming System....sexy and sweet

Laura — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:52:00 GMT

The first true collaboration between HP and Voodoo PC has arrived: the HP Blackbird gaming system. This system—named after the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane—gives HP the weapon it needed in the fight against rivals such as Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Overdrive PC, and Dell (with its XPS line). Little touches and consolidated improvements from both HP and Voodoo make the Blackbird the most compelling gaming system I've seen. This is a system I would show off if I had one. (hint, hint)

What is E for All?

Laura — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:46:00 GMT

There is no denying that gaming conferences are changing. The big conventions were tremendously scaled down this year while other gatherings like PAX and GDC really ramped it up. In fact, newcomers like E for All might not have been a possibility in year past as all things paled in comparison to E3. But now, thankfully, there's room for all- there's E for All. So power up and play.

Microsoft sponsors the World Cyber Games

Laura — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:47:00 GMT

When Samsung, Curcuit City and Microsoft all come together to sponsor an event- you know it's going to be huge. While I was touring the floor amongst hundreds and hundreds of exhausted, jet-lagged, nervous and excited gamers, I ran into Jeff Bell. You may remember Jeff from my Halo 3 launch piece. He's really diving head first into the gaming community and here he tells us why.

Beautiful Katamari Demo up on Xbox Live Marketplace

Nic — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:11:00 GMT

And if your cable/DSL modem hasn't been hammered enough for one week The King of All Cosmos and his son (The Prince) make their way onto Xbox 360 for the first time via the Beautiful Katamari demo; now available on Xbox Live Marketplace.

For the uninitiated, the Katamari series revolves (ha!) around rolling sticky balls across the globe collecting objects to help rebuild the stars. It's bizarre, silly, cute, challenging and fun all at once.

The demo is available (at this stage) for North America, Mexico, Japan and Asia with the full game expected to be on shelves later this year.

Major Nelson has more details

Xbox.com Beautiful Katamari page

BioShock Demo available on XBL Marketplace

Nic — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:50:00 GMT

Possibly the most highly anticipated game of 2007. The demo for E3 2006's Game of Show - BioShock - is now available to download on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Bioshock was recently awarded 10 out of 10 from Official Xbox Magazine UK. The game launches next week starting in the US on August 21.

As per usual, check out Major Nelson for the full details.

http://www.bioshockgame.com/

(Wow; that's two XBLM demo posts in one week!)

Stranglehold demo now up on Xbox Live Marketplace

Nic — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:25:00 GMT

John Woo's Stranglehold, the spiritual sequel to his 1992 Hong Kong based action epic Hard Boiled, is due to hit shelves later this month.

But for all you Inspector Tequila fans out there (like me) eager to get an early taste the demo is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace for free for all regions (except Germany).

Major Nelson has the scoop.

More Info: http://strangleholdgame.com/

Capcom updating DirectX 10 support in Lost Planet

Nic — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:46:00 GMT

Capcom will release a new features patch for the PC version of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on August 16.

From the Lost Planet community site:

The Aug 16 patch "will contain specialized DirectX 10 Geometry Shaders designed to take greater advantage of DirectX 10 capabilities to improve overall visual quality, including depth of field effects, motion blur and fur shading".

Also included in the update are new PC multiplayer maps and a basic chat system.

More info: http://blogs.capcomusa.com/blogs/news.php/2007/08/09/new_lost_planet_patch_coming_august_16th

Happy Father's Day! Featuring gaming Dad Duncan Mackenzie

Tina — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 02:32:00 GMT

So you all know Duncan Mackenzie right? He's one of our Devs here for Channel 10 and he is also an avid gamer. I've had my head blown off quite a few times by him in Halo. Not pretty. And he's the author of the book Xbox 360 for Dummies. Duncan also writes articles for Xbox.com on Xbox dads. Answering questions like "Should I allow my four year old daughter to play Postal"? He is a Dad himself and takes pride in the fact he actually plays games with his kids. He sits down with Channel 10 and gives all you Dads some tips on gaming with your kids and hands out a few recommendations on game titles. Happy Father's Day!

The Geek Stories: Studying Gaming at College

nhodge — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 05:28:00 GMT

Gaming is a large business world-wide, employing many thousands of talented engineers, designers and producers. Where do these people learn their trade? In College!

Queensland University of Technology (QuT) has nearly completed the first semester of their Bachelor of Games and Information Entertainment.

On a recent trip to Brisbane, I interviewed Dr Ross Brown (aka Dr Groove) and Penny Drennan.

Studying gaming is more than the coding: it encompasses the process of creating storylines, working in teams, programming and design. Penny and Ross talk through what students are learning, and the job prospects (good!) at the end of the course. With a combination of software engineering, business and creative industries - working in gaming is cross disciplinary. And will use all your brain.

In the interview, we also take a quick visit to their offices, sneak a peek at Elvis and find out how to fill your office with Xboxes.

... and of course, I also find out both of their geek stories.

Xbox 360 architect Nick Baker interviewed on Channel 9

Jesse — Fri, 25 May 2007 18:57:00 GMT

The silicon guts of your favorite game console (and ours) had to be designed by someone right? Charles from Channel 9 interviewed Nick Baker, the managing architect for Xbox 360 hardware. Their candid discussion covers the interesting motivations behind putting PowerPC technology at the core of the console. Though it shouldn’t be a big surprise, the architecture was constrained by schedule and final cost, which drove most of the decisions on Nick’s team. Nick and Charles also talk through the issues around compatibility, operating system design, and plenty of other nitty gritty details about that gorgeous white box.

Competitions galore!

Paulfo — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:42:06 GMT

The XNA UK user group have just launched their first competition! There are three categories one for each of the key skill sets required by modern games: Artist, Musician, Game Dev.

There is a fantastic prize fund of £5000 worth of software and hardware including the latest graphics cards, tablets, XBOX 360s, and specialised products like Sonar 6 and SoftImage XSI - all of which are built to exploit Windows Vista features. Open to UK residents only.

The theme for this years competition is Ocean Odessey. If you are missing one of the key skill sets you can sign up to the user groups 'lonely hearts' forum to advertise your skills or request the skills you need. All part of the user groups goal of bringing the skills to make great games together.

Garage Games XNA development tools and engine are also available for 30 days free trial if you need that 'drag and drop' games development experience to help you enter!!!

To find out more go here.

Digital Lifestyles also report on the Xbox Soundtracks Competition. Here you can download a game trailer, fit your own musical composition to it and up load it again to the site. The gaming public can then vote for the trailer they like the most. See here for more detail.

Technorati tags: Competition, Music, XNA+Games+Studio+Express, Microsoft, Gaming

Halo 3 to dent GDP starting on 25 September

Jesse — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:20:00 GMT

Cancel your summer vacation and hold onto those sick days, because the end of this fall is when you’re going to need at least a week off from work. The release date for Halo 3, the most anticipated game since lava tag with the cute girl you met while finger-painting, has been proclaimed as 25 September 2007. Before that, you full-blooded fan boys and girls can pre-order the Halo 3 Edition Zune from GameStop. Also if you’ve been wanting for luscious video content, be sure to check out the Halo 3 Betalicious video post by Bungie last week.

All Games Radio: Scot Rubin brings you daily gaming goodness!

Laura — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:23:00 GMT

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away Scot Rubin and I made video game programming on the information super-highway. Cut to 8 years later and he's back. All Games Radio is more than entertainment, it's a community of devoted gamers and fans all coming together to celebrate life digital. Take a look at this piece and join in the fun.

Web 2.0 Expo: All these virtual worlds

Jesse — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:30:18 GMT

One of the most interesting talks at the Web 2.0 Expo came late on the last day, and it was clear from the people occupying the back wall and the floors that the title, “Reality Bites: The Future of Gaming + Virtual Worlds 2.0” had caught a lot of eyes. Susan Wu oversaw a panel of enthusiastic men who were each very compelling when they spoke about their creations.

Lane Merrifield of Club Penguin showed off a kid-safe Antarctic wonderland for young children to make friends and socialize. The entire team behind this world consists of parents who couldn’t find an age-appropriate place for their kids online, therefore compelling them to build one. This fact, combined with their sole priority of security, makes Club Penguin a great example of a well-executed small idea.

Ginsu Yoon from Linden Labs made a short presentation about the state of adoption of virtual worlds. According to the team behind Second Life, only in the past couple of years has the concept of virtual worlds reached the Gutenberg Press moment on the timeline. There are miles and miles of uncharted territory and development left, and the definition of a virtual world is still very much hot liquid sand at this point.

Craig Sherman of Gaia Online gave an energetic talk about his project, which allegedly made its rookie conference appearance at Web 2.0 Expo. The tried and true method of using Anime-style illustration to create Gaia to appeal to American teens has proved extremely successful, with on average 50,000 users online at once. The most interesting part of Gaia was certainly the creativity shown by its users, who have created towns, banks, shoppes, and even live theaters all on their own. These destinations and activities all make Gaia more than an augmented 3-D chat room.

Joi Ito of Creative Commons and Neoteny gave the talk that contained more, “Ah-HA!” moments for the audience than anyone else. If you subscribe to the belief that, ‘Japan is the future,’ then what Joi delivered is right up your street. In a few early slides he illustrated the difference between content and context; music is content that is valuable to a large number of people but offers very little interaction, whereas text messages are highly contextual and demand interaction, but are essentially valuable only to the recipient. Ito spent the back half of his talk discussing World of Warcraft and the real world skills that can be learned while playing. Pointing to John Seely Brown’s digital learning concepts, specifically on the important differences between simulation and metaphor, Ito stated that character traits that are developed and displayed in-game fully translate into the real world.

To close the talk, Susan asked the panel a handful of questions, the most interesting of which was focused around how the market of virtual worlds will mature (the ‘who will win’ question). The panel all seemed to agree that the market is so very young that there’s nothing but growth ahead for the next few years. Beyond that, the obvious analog, at least for us, is virtual worlds are the television channels of the new generation. There will be numerous worlds that don’t necessarily have to connect or interoperate, so long as they have sufficient followings.

GO3 07 - Keita Iida talks NVIDIA, SLI and Direct X 10

Nic — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:04:00 GMT

I met up with Keita Iida at GO3 to talk NVIDIA, Direct X 10 and SLI. Keita was in Perth presenting on the future of graphics; specifically the new technologies and tools that NVIDIA is bringing to the table in conjunction with DX10 and Windows Vista. Keita helped answer a few questions of mine around the inner workings of SLI and we spoke about some of the new DX10 titles currently in development. Now about my free 8800 GTX,..? ;)

BTW: The maroon behemoth behind us is the winning machine from the GO3 LAN PC Case Modding competition and belongs to a fellow by the name of Relic. For more details on his crazy Chevvy rig check out his web site.

Once again thanks to Dan Armstrong for his camera work.