Gamespot has posted a preview ‘hands-on’ of the latest Turok game in production. They present a few game scenarios and it seems as though Turok will be more than just a straight-forward shooter. Turok looks to require some real thinking to overcome obstacles and enemies. This, of course, taken with a grain of sand coming from the source.
E3 2007 Trailer:
TFAW is selling Flux Capacitors, the device which makes time travel possible. If you have any inkling to go back to the old west and ride alongside Wyatt Earp; Into the future and drive a flying car – this device is for you! You can pre-order it for $220 dollars. It even lights up!
Gamasutra reports that 42 Entertainment (I love bees), FASA (Battletech), and WizKids founder Jordan Weisman has reacquired the ‘electronic rights’ to his intellectual property from Microsoft – which recently shut down it’s FASA Game Studios. This means the original creator of Mechwarrior, Shadowrun, and Crimson Skies can begin to create any new game he wants to, based on his franchises.
This is great news for fans of these franchises, as Microsoft’s closure of FASA Game Studios basically halted any further development from them and their recent production of Shadowrun was a critical flop.
GamesRadar reports that there are apparently two versions of the Deus Ex 3 trailer floating about. The original featured the date ‘2027’ written on the ‘Biopolitic’ ballot box. The other version has the same scene, but no date on the box, a last minute detail catch? If that is the date at which DE3 takes place in, that means it will take place 20 years prior to the events of Deus Ex.
VideoGamer has posted regarding the recent BioShock patch that allows gamers to use the originally intended widescreen field of view. This, as you may recall, was a source of controversy as the retail copy of BioShock included a ‘widescreen’ mode that was actually a cropped ‘standard’ mode, not a full widescreen resolution. This has been fixed and 2k invites you to enjoy the game as it was originally intended. Below is a pic from VideoGamer that shows the contrast in widescreen field of view with and without the patch.
MSNBC reports that a Tucson, Arizona couple, using their hard earned money from their swap meet business, has constructed the world’s largest moonbeam collector.
The Shogun is not making this up. Click the link!
The ‘Interstellar Light Collector’ has cost the couple $2,000,000.00 so far, and currently consists of a series of parabolic mirrors 5 stories high.
‘Some dress in robes, others strip to their underwear to bask in the moon glow from the glittering bank of mirrors, spending anywhere from three minutes to 15 minutes at a time.’
‘Some visitors to the site believe that exposure to the moonlight has helped alleviate some medical conditions. After bathing in the moonbeams, Carr said he noticed an improvement in a long-standing asthma condition.’
The article concludes with statements by actual scientists stating that there is no proof that the moon’s ‘effects’ are anything other than placebo. If anyone is willing to donate $2,000,000.00 to the Shogun, he will construct a similar facility in California, except that there would be more plaster, wood, windows, and stucco, and less mirrors. The Shogun will conduct experiments in the device which he will name the ‘Huge Outside Unbelievable Space Enclosure’ and will attempt to publish his findings in any scholarly journal which accepts them.
Yahoo reports that Chuck Norris’ endorsement of GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee caused a 457% increase in the amount of web searches for the presidential hopefull.
Though the Shogun does not normally post political stories, the mighty Chuck Norris blasts right through our normal content restrictions. The Shogun humbles himself before Chuck Norris. If Chuck Norris desires the Shogun to vote for Mike Huckabee, the Shogun knows better than to refuse.
Joystiq is reporting on a cool idea started by a Gamespot user named ‘Subrosian’, who has called for a total boycott of Gamespot or it’s affiliate’s website today. This, of course, is due to the firing of Jeff Gerstmann, which has been surrounded in controversy and allegations of Gamespot being in the pocket of game companies.
Reprint of Subrosian’s posting:
Blackout Monday
Attention.
Please do not go on GameSpot, GameFAQs, CNET, Download.com, TV.com, et cetera… do not go on ANY CNET site. Logout and DO NOT GO ON AT ALL from 12am EST on Monday (that’s midnight tonight) until 12am EST on Tuesday. Don’t come on the site, don’t Google the site, don’t click on a link to the site – don’t do ANYTHING that generates a page view, search engine hit, or *anything*
A lot of Gamespotter’s more prominant posters will be taking this action to show solidarity with the staff (and Jeff) who have to fear their jobs being lost if they speak their mind. So for their inability to speak on this issue *we’ll show CNET our silence*.
This issue is bigger than you, it’s bigger than me – it’s bigger than GameSpot. This is about big business being able to use *buy* public opinion. Rather than live in a world where the media is controlled entirely by those with the most money, I want to live in a world where gamers who are living for their hobby (these guys truly work because of their passion for gaming, not the paycheck) can say what they truly feel about a game.
I was very excited when I stumbled, quite by accident, on this product. Due to an internal error at SanDisk, details of the Sansa TakeTV player were inadvertently released to the world a good month before planned.
The Hype: A USB flash drive with a built in hardware media decoder. When docked with its cradle, the supplied A/V cables turn the flash drive into a digital media player you can connect to your big screen television. Illegally downloaded the latest movie? Tired of sitting 1-2 feet from your monitor to enjoy it? Well, the TakeTV player is for you! (I want to stress that this device is not a Tivo-like recorder, only a media-player.)
The Shogun is not yet on the SanDisk list of reviewers, so we had to order this product for the review (I wanted one anyway). It arrived in a sleek black box containing the USB flash drive/Player, remote control, cradle, and audio visual connectors.
Bad News: The TakeTV player only supports RCA composite (the red, yellow, and white plugs), and S-Video. There is no DVI output, so your dreams of watching unlimited-download high definition porn on your 60inch … television are dashed for now.
The TakeTV Player itself is about twice the size of a typical flash drive. It’s slightly thicker, and about twice as wide, presumably to incorporate the additional decoding hardware. The TakeTV Player plugs directly into the remote, when not in use, to form a sort of protective cocoon (See pictures below). When connected to a PC, the TakeTV Player acts exactly as a USB flash drive. Simply drag and drop media files onto it. No drivers or other software installation is needed. There were some cheesy preloaded videos on the drive. I deleted them.
Connecting the cradle to a television is as simple as finding the right inputs and pushing the plug in. Monkeys can be trained to do this, so I have faith in your ability. The cradle is powered by the included A/C adaptor. Very very straight forward. Very very easy.
Once connected, the user is greeted by an inelegant, but simple user interface which contains a listing of the files available to play. There are video setting controls to fine tune the image, and they work relatively well. Video quality easily matches or surpasses what I attain by connecting my PC directly to my television via a FX5500 with tv-out. According to Sandisk, the TakeTV Player will display video files of up to 720×576 (D1) at a bitrate of up to 7Mbps. The player supports both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios and supposedly works on both PAL and NTSC televisions.
Everything is controlled by the remote which basically consists of arrow keys and a play button. The buttons are not very sensitive and, in the case of the play button, needed to be quite firmly mashed in order to register. The TakeTV Player can fast-forward and rewind to 2x, 4x, 8x, and 16x speeds, as well as go in slow motion. Most of the buttons worked wonderfully, but it was quite frustrating to be scanning, want to stop, and not be able to. I’d press the play button and it would audibly click, but not register. I had to really mash it to get it to function. The remote is powered by a small watch-type battery which should last a long time, and is easily replaced when depleted.
Overall, I was pleased with it’s performance. Colors/images were sharp, and playback was smooth.
As some concluding thoughts, however, this device has its limitations. It does not play MP3s and cannot display images, i.e., cannot be used as a slideshow player for your digital photos. I also ran into a problem playing older AVI files. Some worked, some didn’t. The ones that didn’t were all within the parameters of what should have worked. I have no explanation, and neither does SanDisk tech support. All the files played which were from about 2004 forward worked beautifully. There are no firmware updates yet, but I leave alive the hope of future format expansion. All that being said, if you want something to watch newly downloaded media on, this device is for you (presuming you do not already have a DVD player which supports DivX, and I’ve even seen DVD players with USB inputs but have yet to test one). I don’t want this review to come across as negative. The TakeTV Player did exactly what I expected it to, and well. The rating below, therefore, is based on how well the device performed as advertised, not on what it could have been.
Gamespot, the recently reviled gaming site, is reporting on a rumor from a ‘trusted-source’ who is claiming that BioShock 2 is in development at 2K’s latest studio in Marin County, CA. Unfortunately, if this is true, it means that 2K Boston will not be helming it this time around, although there are several BioShock alums at the new studio. Most startling, however, is that 2K Boston is rumored to be working on ‘Project X’…
From the article:
‘As for Levine and co., Surfer Girl states that she has confirmed with
one of 2K Marin’s new staffers that the mysterious Project X will be
set in the X-Com universe. ‘Project X is a new X-Com title, as
previously reported by the Internet, and this post has been confirmed
by one who left for San Francisco,’
Thats right, looks like a new X-Com is on the way! Gamers rejoice! Also, we should be happy it is being helmed by VERY talented people.
