Warren Spector Epic Mickey Interview

At the recent Epic Mickey event, we talk with legendary game designer Warren Spector about the process of game development, and in particular about his underlying philosophy on player choice and consequences, regardless of setting.  In that regard, one of the points in Epic Mickey is to make sure that each choice the player is given actually does have consequences in the game. A choice without consequences is really kind of a waste of development effort and it’s a waste of players time.  Why do it? If there’s no consequence…

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Telus Android news round-up

Over the past week there has been some interesting Android news from Telus, and we’ve collected it all in one place, just for you. HTC Desire Android 2.2 (Froyo) update available now Telus has announced that the 2.2 Froyo update for the HTC Desire is being pushed out today through an OTA (over the air) update.  This is after a couple of false starts last week, when the update was released as a download online, then quickly pulled. Even without the update, the Desire is already in our opinion one…

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Jessica Rabbit drawn in two minutes

While attending the Disney Epic Mickey event, we had the opportunity to talk to the developers, including Warren Spector, whose interview is coming up tomorrow.  That’s not what this video is about however.  At the event, they had artists on hand doing paintings and sketches, and while going through the footage I found this video of one of the artists doing a sketch of Jessica Rabbit, which he cranked out in under two minutes.  Unfortunately, as of this writing we don’t have the artist’s name, and we’ll update this as…

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Minecraft hits 500,000 in sales prior to Hallowe’en update

[ED Note: Minecraft has now racked up over 1,000,000 sales.] Minecraft, the indie sandbox game from Markus “Notch” Persson, has racked up 500,000 units sold as of about an hour ago, according to the real time counter on the top of the Minecraft home page.  As of this writing it’s sitting at 500431. Though the game was first released back in July of 2009, the game, which is still in alpha stage, has seen a surge of popularity in the gaming community since late summer of this year. Minecraft is…

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2 million Dead Rising and counting

No, the zombie apocalypse isn’t on us yet.  Dead Rising 2, developed by Blue Castle Games for Capcom, has sold over 2 million copies since its release last month, which puts it on track to outsell its predecessor by a fair margin.  I’m ashamed to say that as a zombie fan I have yet to play the sequel, which gives players a chance to destroy the undead in a number of creative ways, including making their own weapon combos by duct taping such disparate items as chainsaws and paddles together….

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Acer announces new Aspire Predator

For those interested in full sized gaming rig that looks like it means business, without the the near $2000 starting price, Acer has announced their Aspire Predator.  Think of this as the baby Predator, the little brother to their high end rig they announced back in the summer.  The new Predator has many of the same core internals, but helps keep the cost down by getting rid of the 3 graphic card option, though it does sport available PCI E x1 slots. It’s also a slightly smaller, more subdued case,…

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Fallout New Vegas Magic Karma Pot

Fallout New Vegas is a wonderful and at times frustrating time sink, and earning enough bottlecaps to afford all the items you need is an ongoing effort. If you’re like thousands of others scattered over the Mojave Wastelands, looking for a way to get by without having to earn your bottlecaps, you’ve probably turned to the chore of gambling, and even the best of you have probably been tempted to ‘steal’ the occasional item from a home or shop. Well, thanks to the easy demonstration below by YouTube user Erozlol,…

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Chumby now available in Canada

After years of waiting, the Chumby store is now taking orders from Canada, at a price of $120 US for the Chumby One.  If you’re not familiar with Chumby, it started out about four years ago as a modified Linux OS customized to run on small screen hardware, specifically the Chumby hardware. The hardware itself is about the size of an alarm clock, but with a 3.5 inch colour touch screen, with the Chumby Classic encased in a soft leather and plastic casing, while the newer Chumby One in a…

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Arts Comics 

The Short Story is Not Dead!

Book Publishing D.I.Y. Yes, these guys want you to buy their book…today. A flash mob bestseller…can it be done? Taking their cues from the indie comic publishers, a brave band of editors, writers and illustrators are launching a short story anthology, “Machine of Death“, to make a point to the big publishing guys. Read any good books lately? If not, then check out the MoD site for an entertaining rant about why that might be. Originally inspired by an episode of Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics, MoD is edited by North,…

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Fallout New Vegas Review

Two years ago we fell in love with Fallout 3. It was a marvelously rich experience full of atmosphere and wonder. Now the wasteland is back with Fallout: New Vegas from Obsidian Entertainment. In this new title we’re transplanted to the west in and around what was once Las Vegas before the nuclear war. There is a lot to explore here so we’d better get started. It’s difficult to review this title without comparing it directly with Fallout 3. They have so much in common that playing Fallout New Vegas,…

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Netflix dominates Canadian bandwidth usage but that’s okay

Online streaming services are clearly starting to take hold in the minds of mainstream consumers, and if bandwidth usage is any indicator, Netflix is leading the charge.  Shortly after launching their streaming only service here in Canada, Netflix accounted for 95% of all Canada’s network usage duing the peak time of about 9:30pm, according to broadband analysis firm Sandvine.  This is an absolutely staggering number, but not surprising given the amount of pent up demand for just such a solution.  Combined with a free month trial, it’s no surprise that…

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Smelling Light and Hearing Shapes

Sense and Sensibility 2.0 Synesthesia: the translation of one sensory mode into another, is no longer the domain of New Age mystics and lightshow designers. A deeper understanding of the neural structures underlying perception is creating  very literal crossovers in how we think about the senses. With this, the possibility of a radical rewiring of how we experience the world is visible (tasteable, audible, touchable…). Two recent items from Science Daily: At Harvard neurobiologists are using optogenetically engineered mice that respond to light through their olfactory system; the sense of…

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