Tag Archives: game

Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market’s 30,000 apps

Numbers released by Flurry Analytics yesterday suggested that Google's Nexus One had sold around 135,000 units in 74 days (the same amount of time it took the iPhone to hit a million) -- not a staggering number by any measure. Now, we don't really have any way to assess the accuracy of Flurry's data, but we spoke with Google's team about a few things, and here's what they had to say. For starters, Google wanted to assert the idea that selling lots of a single handset isn't the company's primary goal, an idea which makes sense considering how many handsets are currently available with Android. In our conversation, Google actually called out the sales figures for the Droid and seemed eager to make the point that their game is more of a war of attrition fought on a variety of fronts. Read their statement -- and lots more -- after the break... Continue reading Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market's 30,000 apps Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market's 30,000 apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Rock-paper-scissors glove will learn to beat its wearer

It's far from the first rock - paper - scissors -playing device we've seen, but this glove made by Steve Hoefer (of Secret Knock door lock fame) may well be the most ingenious. You see, not only will it let you play a game of rock-paper-scissors by yourself (and who hasn't wanted to do that?), but it will actually learn to identify the weaknesses in your game and eventually become an unstoppable rock-paper-scissors-playing machine (or at least as unstoppable as you can be at rock-paper-scissors). Head on past the break to check out the glove in action, and hit up the link below for the complete details for making your own. Continue reading Rock-paper-scissors glove will learn to beat its wearer Rock-paper-scissors glove will learn to beat its wearer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Microsoft’s Game Room for Xbox ‘rewinds’ the hits in our hands-on demo

Microsoft showed off its new retro-tastic Game Room UI for Xbox 360 in playable form at GDC last week. While the "make a virtual representation of a gaming space" idea might seem ripped straight from Sony's Home , there aren't really any actual similarities -- outside of the fact they're both in 3D, at least. You dive disembodied through the different game rooms pretty intuitively, with different company collections on the bottom "level" of the mall-like UI, and upper levels set aside for your own collections of the games. Unfortunately, once you actually select an arcade cabinet, the UI gets rather overly complex, with all sorts of modes you can play the game in, sorts of scores to be tracked and an indecipherable menu tree that makes it a real chore to exit a game. We're sure arcade fanatics, ready to pit their scores against the best of them and looking for truly in-depth functionality are going to love all this, but for us poor simpletons it's a little much to take in all at once. Luckily, Microsoft saved the best for the actual gameplay. Not only does it nicely emulate inserting coins and even entering in codes on a virtual keypad, but when playing games in the non-ranked classic mode there's a "rewind" function accessible at any time with the tug of the left trigger. The screen gets those VHS-style wavey lines and you can mend your errors instead of losing a valuable life or having to start from the beginning. It's perfect for patching over the quarter-munching difficulty of some of these games, and it might even be enough to pull us away from our polygon-drenched gorefests now and then to don an inexplicable bear avatar and spelunk some Crystal Castles . Check out a video of Game Room after the break, and stand by for a launch of the service on March 24. Continue reading Microsoft's Game Room for Xbox 'rewinds' the hits in our hands-on demo Microsoft's Game Room for Xbox 'rewinds' the hits in our hands-on demo originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Carnegie Mellon student shows that 64 pixels is enough for Mario (video)

There are 2,073,600 pixels in a 1080p TV, yet Carnegie Mellon student Chloe Fan has blown our minds by showing that you only need 64 of them to have a little fun with Super Mario Bros. She wired an Arduino to an 8 x 8 LED matrix through a breadboard, then scaled the first level of the game down to a resolution that makes the 160 x 144 resolution Game Boy look positively high def. The controls are similarly simplified: one button to move Mario (the slightly more orange dot) right, and a second to jump. She also wired up a separate board to play the game's theme song, as you can see in the embed below, but be aware: the video ends before the theme song does, meaning you'll be humming it to yourself all day long . Continue reading Carnegie Mellon student shows that 64 pixels is enough for Mario (video) Carnegie Mellon student shows that 64 pixels is enough for Mario (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Record Labels: Change or Die [Music]

It's a lousy time to be a record label. Profits are tanking, bands are angry— OK Go just ditched EMI —and YouTube and BitTorrent changed the game. Still, some labels are transforming themselves to help musicians in the digital age. More
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Opinion: Why Assassin’s Creed 2 is no fun

Let's imagine this terrifying scenario for a moment. You come home from a long day of work and sit in front of your computer to try out your newly purchased copy of the video game Assassin's Creed 2, and then ... nothing happens. You face an immobile title screen. You check to make sure everything's plugged in -- yup, sure is -- and simply cannot figure out what's going on. "Why doesn't this game work? It cost me $60!"
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Rock-Paper-Scissors Playing Glove Learns Your Weaknesses [DIY]

Once upon a time being alone meant you were unable to play a decent game of rock-paper-scissors, but now you can finally amuse yourself with just your own hand. Granted you'll have to actually make a glove like this first. More
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GDC: Surviving High School And Why iPhone Games ‘Need’ Microtransactions (Gamasutra)

Microtransactions are still considered an emerging business model in the West, but EA Mobile's Oliver Miao argued that in a couple years, microtransactions could be a necessity for the most successful iPhone games. "Make microtransactions core to your game," Miao said at GDC this week. "Going forward, I think most games are going to need to have them." Miao is speaking from his own personal ...
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Motion-Sim 4DOF racing simulator will take your retirement fund for the ride of its life (video)

Race simulators like rFactor or iRacing offer the kind of gaming experience only available this side of a six-point harness, particularly when combined with a wheel like Logitech's G27 , but sometimes it's a little difficult to get into the game when perched on an office chair. The 4DOF racing simulator from Motion-Sim will provides the missing link with a somewhat dangerous looking combination of pistons and articulating arms. It's been around for a few months but we're just now getting a chance to check out the thing in motion -- pitch, roll, yaw, and heave to be specific, with a harness of its own to keep the latter of those forces from sending you across the room whilst braking for La Source. It's only available to PC simmers (games like Gran Turismo and Forza don't provide the necessary output) and only the very richest ones: €18,450.00 for the home version, or $25,000 -- enough to get into a Formula Ford and onto a real track if you wanted. For everyone else we have two infinitely more affordable videos embedded below, one showing frantic F1 action, the other rallycrossing in Live for Speed. Update : We got an e-mail from David at Force Dynamics who wanted to clarify that, despite the striking similarity between this unit and the similarly awesome simulators produced by his company, they are not in any way related. Continue reading Motion-Sim 4DOF racing simulator will take your retirement fund for the ride of its life (video) Motion-Sim 4DOF racing simulator will take your retirement fund for the ride of its life (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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GDC: Street Fighter IV for iPhone arrives (Macworld)

The seminal arcade fighting game is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch as a $10 download. Chris Holt talks to Capcom's Takeshi Tezuka about bringing the game to the iPhone platform.
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