Mirror’s Edge - Jump and Slide Gameplay HD
Watch that last step. Watch Video
Watch that last step. Watch Video
October 31, 2008
NXE Avatars coming to (some) older XBLA titles
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360
In its latest video exposé on the New Xbox Experience, the Gamerscore Blog has teamed with Major Nelson and a few project insiders to show off how Avatars will work in several older XBLA titles. Specifically, Uno, Bomberman Blast, Hardwood Hearts, and Hardwood Spades will all incorporate the virtual “yous” in various ways.
In the case of these games, player Avatars will be visible on-screen - you can’t actually play as your Avatar in Bomberman, sadly. The video does show that players will be able to be … themselves in the upcoming Ninjabee town building game, A Kingdom for Keflings. (This is likely the new title the Gamerscore crew refer to in their blog update.)
A title update for Scene It? Box Office Smash will roll out on Nov. 19 to enable in-game player Avatars (looks like the game didn’t ship ready for NXE after all.) Check out the full video below the break.
Continue reading NXE Avatars coming to (some) older XBLA titles
NXE Avatars coming to (some) older XBLA titles originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Burnout Paradise sells 20k copies via PS Store
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Driving, Business
In an earnings call yesterday, Electronic Arts revealed that Burnout Paradise had been downloaded over 20,000 times in the first three weeks of launch on the PlayStation Store. “In the future we see slower growth in the basic packaged goods business, and higher margins, greater growth and reduced cyclicality [sic] with these new direct-to-consumer businesses,” said CEO John Riccitiello, who added that the company is investing $150 million in digital distribution.
At $30 per download, that amounts to $600,000 for the publisher (and Sony, who undoubtedly gets a share of that). Riccitiello also said that on average, $14.50 has been spent per user in The Sims 2 online store. For this fiscal year, EA expects $185 million in online revenue. Burnout Paradise “Party” DLC and Ultimate Box set are coming February 2009.
Burnout Paradise sells 20k copies via PS Store originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Variety: 45 songs from catalog for Beatles game
Filed under: Rhythm
In addition to yesterday’s volley of news about The Beatles’ rhythm game, Variety has a few new details. According to the publication, who spoke with Apple Corps CEO Jeff Jones, Harmonix can select 45 songs from The Beatles’ 1962 to 1969 EMI catalog. Apologies to all who were dying for a cameo from The Quarrymen. Ladies and gentlemen, you now have a number. It’s time to start making those “confirmed track lists” you all are so fond of sending us.
Giles Martin, who served as music director to Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles Love alongside father and Beatles producer George Martin, will oversee the game’s music. Still no word on whether the original recordings will be remastered or not. Additionally, Sony/ATV Music Publishing CEO Martin Brandier told Variety that the deal was — shocker — unprecedentedly expensive. “We signed a deal that would be considered very rich by the videogame company but fair for the artists,” he said. “It will have online implications that will be enormous.”
Variety: 45 songs from catalog for Beatles game originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Iwata: DSi launching worldwide by summer 2009
Filed under: Nintendo DS
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has announced that the Nintendo DSi will be shipping overseas “by summer 2009,” narrowing the previous US launch window of “well into 2009″ set by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. According to Reuters, Iwata said, “Specific plans will be unveiled by our local subsidiaries, but an autumn or year-end launch would probably be too late.”
As of this writing, the DSi is now officially available in Japan. The DS Lite’s launch spawned some iconic photographs of people waiting in seemingly endless lines to pick up the portable. That doesn’t seem to be the case this time. According to ground reports from IGN, many stores in Tokyo opted to take only pre-orders and/or set up raffles where winning customers could come by at anytime that day to pick it up. Hype-inducing photo ops: Denied.
Iwata: DSi launching worldwide by summer 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Variety: EA making Dante’s ‘Inferno’ game, studios bidding for movie rights
Filed under: Culture, Business
Variety reports that four movie studios are currently bidding for the film rights to Electronic Arts’ as-yet unnannounced game based on Dante’s Inferno. EA’s recently been on a movie deal bender, selling the rights to films based on Army of Two (suckers) and Mass Effect, but this is the first real “cart before horse” deal we’ve heard about.
We’ve certainly seen some high-profile game-to-movie deals in recent memory, with Gore Verbinski helming BioShock and Brett Ratner taking on God of War. Maybe it doesn’t matter that movie executives are bidding on the rights to a game that nobody has seen, but for our money we’d like to know if there’s an audience for it first.
Variety: EA making Dante’s ‘Inferno’ game, studios bidding for movie rights originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Skate It on November 19
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sports
Those looking to roll down the streets of San Vanelona and perform some flips, ollies and [error: skateboarding lexicon gap] via nontraditional controllers should be pleased to note the release date of EA’s Skate It for Wii and DS. Both versions are slated to arrive on November 19th in North America and November 20th in Europe.
Skate It, which offers optional Balance Board control on the Wii, allows players to “make skate spots their own by moving objects like ramps, rails, and benches to fit their individual skating styles” and partake in several multiplayer challenges, including Best Trick and Best Line. There’s also the ominous-sounding chance of “getting worked in Hall of Meat.” Pennywise, are you in this after all?
Gallery: Skate It (Wii)
Skate It on November 19 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Siren: Blood Curse ‘Halloween offer’ scares up $10 in savings
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3
It’s Halloween! Besides being the one day of the year that your Red Power Ranger costume doesn’t upset the neighbors, it’s also a day where benevolent video game companies drop delicious discounts into your eager pillowcase. Take Old Man Sony for example, who’s slashed prices on his digitally distributed survival-horror update, Siren: Blood Curse, from now through November 6th.
Want to buy the whole game? That’ll cost you just $30, down from the usual $40 asking price. Already have one or two of the three available episode bundles? The rest will only cost $11 each, down from $15. Not interested? That’s fine, but it’s still better than the pamphlets on teen abstinence being handed out down the block.
Siren: Blood Curse ‘Halloween offer’ scares up $10 in savings originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWE Halloween Event Produces More Believable Lara Croft [Lara Croft]
Thank goodness for MTV’s Stephen Totilo’s love of pro wrestling. Without it, we never would have heard about how Lara Croft triumphed over countless female wrestlers during this past weekend’s WWE Cyber Sunday pay-per-view event. Mickie James represented gamers everywhere with her dark take on the Tomb Raider star, taking top honors in the competition, which featured the entire inventory of the slutty section of your local holiday costume store.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better than this, a fight broke out.
As you can see, James got really into character, carrying Marilyn Monroe to safety while the battle raged on. While perhaps not the most accurate Lara Croft costume out there, I could certainly see her taking on wild panthers much more readily than Angelina Jolie.
WWE Diva Halloween Costume Contest [WWE via MTV Multiplayer]
Bond Song Coming to Guitar Hero World Tour [Quantum Of Solace]
Reading through a press release about the upcoming Best Buy midnight opening launch event for Quantum of Solace, I stumbled upon this interesting tidbit:
Additionally, those in line at 10:00 PM will get the exclusive opportunity to be one of the first to play the Bond song “Another Way to Die” performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys which is soon-to-be-released as downloadable content for Activision’s Guitar Hero® World Tour.
I kinda like the song. It would be great if they released this as a freebie, but there’s not even a hint of that, so I’ll just hold my breath until they make it so. Annnnnd GO…..
Hitthejumpforthefullmidnightlaunchdetails *passes out*
Who: Bond…James Bond (and you!)
What: Best Buy midnight opening launch event for Activision’s Quantum of Solace™ video game.
Where: Best Buy store location in West Hollywood, CA
When: Monday, November 3, 2008 starting at 10:00 PM
Why: Already know who you’re voting for; sick of presidential election coverage; or just can’t wait for the new movie to step into the shoes of James Bond? Then take a break from politics and come celebrate the launch of Activision’s new Quantum of Solace video game at the Best Buy midnight opening event, with fun activities and prizes awarded throughout the evening. Prizes include but are not limited to Best Buy gift cards ranging from $10.00 - $2,500.00, one Sony BRAVIA XBR 52” 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, three PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment systems, and more…
I’m told that some “Bond girls” as well as the Aston Martin DBS agent from the film will be on hand as well.
Additionally, 136 different Best Buy stores nationwide will open their doors at midnight on Nov. 3 for the game’s launch.
How Gaming Is Approaching Uncanny Valley [Feature]
It’s a tech demo that doesn’t look like a tech demo. The clip was just a woman talking. Pedestrian stuff. That is, until the woman’s face changed colors. Literally. Months back a facial animation clip called “Emily” popped up online, showing off the strides that its software maker Image Metrics has made. “Our recent Emily project is something we’re all proud of,” says Image Metrics co-founder Kevin Walker. Damn well they should be.
That tech demo wasn’t the first time Joe and Jane Q. Public had seen what Image Metrics was capable of — nor is it the end of it. Image Metrics did face work for Grand Theft Auto IV, Unreal Tournament II as well as Gnarls Barkley’s “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” and Rock Band 2.
Traditional face motion capture uses traditional tools. Ditching pricey, special equipment or markers, the Image Metrics solution is software-based. All that’s needed is a well-lit video of the actor’s performance. Company CEO Kelvin Duckett explains: “ Image Metrics provides markerless performance-driven facial animation using its proprietary technology. Our solution starts with video footage of an actor’s performance, which is then analyzed pixel-by-pixel. The resulting data is transferred back onto the CG facial model.” That’s it, folks.
The tech is the fruits of Walker’s studying computer vision at Manchester University. After completing his PhD, Walker and a colleague created what would become Image Metrics on the hopes of getting closer to the industries that their science had so much to offer.” We were convinced that this was the best way to really understand and solve the problems that had prevented computer vision from becoming integrated into the many fields it could benefit,” says Walker.
A lifelong gamer who lost a large part of his childhood to playing Elite on my BBC model B, Walker could see how gaming would only benefit from better computer vision. Better computer vision meant better rendered faces. “As computer vision can be applied to many fields, when developing the technology, we were looking for the most difficult task to test it with,” says Walker. “Facial animation was the perfect challenge. Faces, for the most part, are quite similar, but the small subtle differences are what make us so unique. Teaching a computer to learn to recognize those minute elements that define our personas was quite a challenge.”
Coupled with the tech challenges, Walker and his colleagues didn’t have a background in animation. It was an uphill climb, there were obstacles, but they lucked out and met industry types who could see the inherent value in Image Metrics and were willing to fill in the gaps and plug the leaks. Image Metrics did the only smart they could with these experienced industry vets: Hired them.
With the new tech in hand, the differences were startling. Traditional mocap can only capture markers, losing whatever is in the space between the markers. Image Metrics captures the entire face and thus, renders a more emotive mug as seen in the the Emily demo. “While we’re always working on improving our technology, I think the Emily demo shows how real we can get with it right now,” says Walker. For film and television, the company is able to produce photo-real facial animation like in the Gnarls Barkley video. “We can produce Emily-quality animation for games as well, but it just can’t work in a real-time gaming environment,” says Walker.
We’re venturing into Uncanny Valley territory here. That’s a robotics theory that humans are repulsed when robots and androids look and act too much like real people. First hypothesized in 1970, the theory has since been expanded to encompass photo-realistic animation as well. While it’s often taken as a scientific law and not a theory, roboticist David Hanson, best known for his realistic humanoid faces (pictured), reminds: “The Uncanny Valley Theory is just that: A theory.” Walker agrees, seeing that point of heighten realism as something Image Metrics should strive for and not avoid. “If we cross it,” he says, “we know that we’ve achieved something outstanding.
Zombie BBQ Goes For the Crotch Shot [DS]
Just in time for Halloween come even more images from wonderfully titled Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ. The screens still aren’t winning me over really, but they’re also not dissuading me from that wonderful title and the concept. The idea of fairy tale creatures having to fight off a pack of ambling living dead is just wondrous. Let’s hope the game lives up to my imagination.
