After reading this article a few days ago - I have been utterly unable to settle on a definite side of the argument. Using your brain to control things in the physical realm has been a major section of science fiction for many decades now and it only makes sense that scientists and sci-fi fans would push the limits of technology as far as their imagination.
Wired posted an article back in May explaining and showcasing the progress of two different companies in the field of brain controlled video games. If you snoop around a little and head to the Emotiv website, you will see a lovely journalistic video showing off a game which allows the player to move parts of Stonehenge with purely the power of your mind.
My question to you is, how do you feel about this? of course it looks kinda cool but on a more realistic level, won’t this just lead the way to even-less active couch-potatoes? Not only that, but how do you feel knowing that technology has access to your brain signals and thought patterns? how would you know that it wasn’t just your active brain signals that were being monitored digitally?
True, the cost of getting your Wii to play DVDs is your product warranty and a lot of effort installing chips and soldering parts of your beloved console - it may just be too much to ask.
However, those of you wanting to watch DVDs on your Wii now have a solution. Gizmodo reported last night that the team of mod chip developers ‘Team Symbiote’ have managed to find a fix through software which will allow you to play your beloved movie collection on the Wii. It does require quite a bit of work but once done will open up all sorts of convenience for you if you just want one machine setup by your television.
Of course, the most interesting thing about this news is that it is actually possible for the Wii to play DVDs through a software fix. Whether or not Nintendo will make use of this function in the future through some sort of downloadable ‘DVD Channel’ is most probably on the cards. Presumably though the only thing stopping them is the licensing issues involved in inputting DVD playback into a device.
Thousands of gamers will descend on Paris over the next few days, to watch over 750 professional gamers compete in the Grand Finals of the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris.
Tournaments include Counterstrike (including a womens-only event), Quake 4, Warcraft 3 and Pro Evo 6, with a total prize fund of 180,00$ USD (approx £90,000), not bad money i think you’ll agree. Since its start in 2003, the UK has never won an event, or even come in second or third.
PC users, get jealous. As if the trendiness of the iphone weren’t gadget enough to make me a smug Apple fan, this week I discovered that Mac ads have a Japanese counterpart. Seriously, best. ads. ev3r.
As a prelude to the release of the third (and final?) part of the ‘Resident Evil’ movie adaptions, Sony Pictures have unveiled a lovely little box set comprising of both of the currently released movies and some extra footage to tie the two with the third part.
For the retail price of $20 (probably more over here, £10 is a little cheap for two dvds) you will also get a ticket to the third movie when it hits cinemas later this summer.
Hit the jump for the lowdown on all the extra features of the set.
If your with me and are a little undecided on machinima, let me just show you a video that could well change your mind.
‘War of the Servers’ is just a perfect example of how a generation, growing up with the medium have taking hold of it and finding a way to expand its life. Machinima by definition is using a programmable video game system to create a work of film. Just watch this trailer and let me know what you think.
The video is comprised of the Source engine from Half Life 2 manipulated by ‘Garrys Mod’. People have been using the tool to create comics, mods to the game and new content since its creation. Lets hope more and more creators put things like this into their games in the future to allow even more great projects like this to get started.
Imagine meeting someone in an MMO and finding out s/he was literally born and raised in Second Life. The concept is not all that implausible, if you’re talking about a future decade.
AI researchers at a Silicon Valley company called Novamente are currently at work programming and training artificial intelligence software for use in simulated environments like Second Life, designed to demonstrate multiple facets of humanlike conscious awareness. Last week, Dr. Ben Goertzel, the computer scientist and mathematician who founded the company, gave a videotaped Google TechTalk at the search engine magnate’s Northern California headquarters, in which he discussed Novamente’s goal of integrating “narrow” AI programs together to form lifelike “artificial general intelligence.”
The talk gets pretty technical, but gives a good sense of how human-equivalent computer intelligence is currently developing in theory and in practice. For even more future shock, check out Ben Goertzel’s “Ten Years to the Singularity.”
It’s funny, I was told only last week by someone at work that Gamestation was to be bought out by American company Gamestop - turns out he was half right. The second largest games retailer Gamestation from today onwards is owned by UK based GAME.
MCV is reporting today that the number one games retailer in the UK has purchased rivals Gamestation for £74m. They did write a lot of business things like overheads etc but what does this mean for game fans?
Well apparently the two names will still be kept separate but all the money will be going to the same group of shareholders. So I assume Gamestation will still be aimed towards the more ‘hardcore’ of gamers wereas GAME stores shall continue to aim at a general audience.
It would be cool if they integrated the brands. I don’t think it’s going to happen because then it might just ‘look’ like a monopoly.
Okay so today Pokemon Pearl came in the post from America. I couldn’t see myself waiting god knows how long to play a game I’ve been anticipating since it was announced.
I just managed to defeat the first gym - anyone else got this game/looking forward to it? So far it’s pretty much exactly like the other games in story and setup. If something isn’t broken why improve it right? Apart from new pokeman’s and the touch screen stuff there isn’t really that much new to the game at the moment. However, I have read that a lot of new stuff like contests and championships as well as Wifi later on in the adventure is pretty sweet. Expect a review this time next week
As happy as I am to see that Toriyama can’t keep his hands off his long-finished, massively popular ‘Dragon Ball’ series, I’m just not sure an MMO is the best idea for it.
The game was revealed recently by Japanator via scans from ‘V Jump’ - a Japanese games magazine. All that has been said about it so far is that you will be able to create a character from one of the many races in the series and that, like in Fable, your character will age as the game progresses. The game is also set 200 years after the series so, there won’t be any of the recognizable characters from the show except from ‘Future Trunks’.
To be perfectly honest, I’d be quite happy to play this game however, I just think there are too many MMOs out there at the moment. Let’s just hope they bring it here and stick badly dubbed voices into it like the other western Dragon Ball games.
And in other news, I’ve got thumb cramps from playing Final Fantasy 12… great.
True, the cost of getting your Wii to play DVDs is your product warranty and a lot of effort installing chips and soldering parts of your beloved console - it may just be too much to ask.
Thousands of gamers will descend on Paris over the next few days, to watch over 750 professional gamers compete in the Grand Finals of the 
It’s funny, I was told only last week by someone at work that 
To be perfectly honest, I’d be quite happy to play this game however, I just think there are too many MMOs out there at the moment. Let’s just hope they bring it here and stick badly dubbed voices into it like the other western Dragon Ball games.