But it’s just so fecking cool. AC130 REWARD FOR MODERN WARFARE 2! Read more at IGN, or just watch the vid.
Archive for July, 2009
I probably shouldn’t be quite so excited about this…
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Microsoft and Yahoo get hitched…
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Well almost, the two have now entered into an agreement that sees MS take control over the search functionality and Yahoo content, creating a “stronger number two” *laughs then sighs*. You can see Steve ‘Developers‘ Ballmer here giving us the down low on the situation. If you are like me and the billions of people who use Google almost as if it is another limb and can’t really be bothered about the other search engines, I just can’t see it taking much of a dent out of Google’s dominance. Discuss.
Graphics chip sales point to increased PC demand
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Graphics chip sales indicate that the PC market is all set to stage a full recovery, according to a report from John Peddie Research.
Chip sales are a good indicator of the overall health of the PC market because they are bought up for manufacturing before boxes hit the shelves. When compared to the first quarter of 2009, shipments of graphics chips rose 31% to 98.3 million units during the three months to July, the report said.
A compound annual growth rate of 8% until 2013 was also forecast, partly impelled by increasing demand for graphics software programs and the expansion of traditional market segments like CAD/CAM thanks to new design approaches in automotive, aerospace, and architectural design.
Speaking of which, AMD has announced it’s ATI FirePro V8750 3D workstation graphics accelerator which it says offers four times the processing power of its rivals. Keen gamers might want to note that it is unlikely to allow you to finally run Crysis on full spec because it was designed to “meet the extreme productivity needs of today’s CAD, Digital Content Creation (DCC) and oil and gas professionals”, rather than helping you blow up North Korean and alien baddies amid lush vegetation. It also costs around $3,000 for even the base configuration, though that may well not be enough to help the Cali-based firm avoid it’s 12th consecutive quarterly loss.
TRON Legacy
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Oooooh, like! And in 3D!
Spotifyphone
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Sorry, another iPhone post, but it is just a quickkie. Like this a lot, Spotify on the iPhone, more importantly the ability to download tracks over 3G to listen to while on the tube! Excellent idea.
What is very interesting is just how publicly Spotify have launched the application, even though it is not even available yet! Hmmm, I wonder if it is the PR equivalent of twisting someone’s arm? C’mon Apple don’t be an asshole with this one, approve it!
Portal on the iphone?
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009It’s old news now, but I thought this was sexy enough to warrant a belated post. PocketGamer recently reported that a shadowy group of developers have managed to port a just about fully functional version of Valve’s hit puzzle game Portal to the iphone.
Plenty of naysayers have since popped out of the nerdosphere to decry the video (below) as fake. If it does eventually hit the market however, then it might just be enough to tempt me to join the legions of smug graphic designers and advertising types who already own Apple’s mugger baiting handset. And if it doesn’t, well, I can always play the flash version.
Augmental!
Monday, July 27th, 2009Saw this cool iPhone 3GS application by Acrossair today on AppleInsider and it really excited me on the prospects for useful augmented reality (AR) applications, not just ones used to sell things like cars.
I think as we see more and more capable phones we are going to see a real directional shift in developing media for the mobile platform. As the interactive element becomes more noticable, instead of just point-and-click, we will have to walk to and around our applications to interact with them. At The Processor we think this is really exciting. A good example may be the developer looking to build in a public space, and through AR they could let residents know how the building will look in situ and how it may affect their environment. The AR app will allow us to engage in a very different way from just looking at a computer screen to physically getting involved.
An exciting future for AR applications lies ahead.
Rein forecast for PS3 sales
Friday, July 24th, 2009Did financial issues stop Sony from dropping the price of the Playstation 3? That’s what Epic Games’ vice president Mark Rein thinks, and he told everyone so in a mildly amusing interview with Eurogamer.
“Sony has had a difficult year and I think they had to do what they had to do to try to be profitable. They have their own financial issues to solve and lowering the price of the console would probably have made their situation worse.”
He did add that a price drop would happen at some point and that the media conglomerate would “be just fine,” which will no doubt come as a relief to Sony. Even if it doesn’t, they might find solace in the fact that the PS3 is enjoying strong sales in the Middle East, according to Emirates Business. In a touching, and frankly, suprising turn of events it also seems that Microsoft and Sony will team up to organise a series of gaming events through a new Middle Eastern gaming association.
Rein has obviously been getting about a bit recently, he told IndustryGamers that Epic would be standing by it’s policy of not developing for the Wii, and even accused adult-oriented games of being “huge financial flops” on Nintendo’s box.
The Jet set
Friday, July 24th, 2009Any possible merit the launch had has now been comprehensively stomped by the rancid TV advert I had the misfortune of seeing yesterday. A Trainspotting style voice over tells us how rubbish waiting for things is, while a herd of obnoxious yahs run about/shag/smash stuff. It looks like a trailer for Skins recast with members of Oxford University’s indefensibly cuntish Bullingdon Club. The reason? Well, because as Samsung tells us, “impatience is a virtue”. Death would be too good for the ad agency responsible.
A new (minority) report of a holographic screen
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009Waaayyy we like puns. Puns are fun. So are holographic screens! Especially when they are interactive ones like this model used by Samsung to launch their new super cool Jet mobile phone in London.
Now I actually like the look of the Jet, however it just seems to be upstaged by this amazing presentation. Now if only they could have predicted that.
