3D graphics just got 3D-er.

As most gamers know, nothing in video games is really round. In order to make the game a manageable size, the 3D models in games are made up of polygons forming geometric shapes. This works great for straight objects, but the trade-off for faster loading speed is that all circles are about as round as a stop sign. The more polygons you include, the smaller the straight edges are and the closer you get to being truly round.

Unfortunately, nothing can ever be truly round in this system. The other option is a style called point-cloud data. This basically creates everything out of individual points rather than geometric shapes allowing the creation of any shape, kind of like really big atoms. The problem with this is that the strain on your poor desktop loading every individual point would probably make it crash, burst into flames, or become sentient just to get back at you for putting it through that ordeal. Looks like we’re out of luck in the round department. Unless…

BEHOLD! A proposed fix! Yes, Unlimited Detail. An interesting little program with a unique little idea. A combination of the SkyNet-creating point-cloud data and the already sentient Google, these people claim that by searching for and only loading the relevant points on screen, they can drastically cut down on the required processing power for points and actually make it a reasonable system. Should this system work as advertised, this could not only propel graphics into a whole new level, it could also allow for much larger worlds to keep their size without sacrificing detail. Imagine if World of Warcraft could run it’s cinematic graphics normally.

This:

Instead of this:

Definitely something to keep an eye on. A beautiful, realistic-looking, shimmering eye

Did ya try smacking it?

You know what the worst part about technology is? When it fails. Specifically when it physically breaks because then you can’t even shout at it and blame that one time your friend checked his email. Well fortunately computer companies agree with you and have worked hard to correct this.

Introducing the LaCie XtremKey, which is advertised as the “World’s Most Adventurous USB Flash Drive.” With it’s 2mm full metal coating, it can survive temperatures as cold as -122° F(-50° C) or as hot as 392° F(200° C). It can also survive a 10-ton truck and being submerged in 100m(333 ft.) of water. So if you need to use your flash drive while exploring the Titanic or in an active volcano, you’re set. It’s also tested by the military, so this flash drive stops terrorists and preserves freedom.

Here’s a nice little video where the coolness of the USB makes up for the fact that they’re using a Mac.

But what good is a flash drive if you don’t have a laptop to use it? Well wonder no more friends, for some fully rugged (that’s the actual industry term. I bet the man who named it has a beard) laptops are here to save the day. The Panasonic Toughbook laptops are ridiculously strong and are basically designed to survive the nuclear holocaust. While bigger and probably harder to protect than the flash drive, these babies can withstand being dropped, being run over, being submerged, or any other really stupid thing that probably shouldn’t be done to a laptop.

Panasonic isn’t the only one with that idea though. The Dell E6400 XFR was designed for military use and can literally stop a bullet. But can it stack up?

Yep. Bottom line is, if you tend to play Frisbee with your computer after taking for a nice swim, try one of these.

Connect with Kinect

Well, the name’s certainly more original than the PlayStation Move. Microsoft announced their device the Xbox Kinect, formerly codenamed Project Natal, at this year’s E3. I’ve pretty much covered it already and there isn’t much new about it to report, other than it’s officially announced and it actually seems pretty functional. It looks impressive and hopefully it will live up to the hype. Check it out here.
http://e3.gamespot.com/press-conference/microsoft-e3/

E3 gets movin’

Well, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is here. The biggest event in gaming all year has had some interesting products to show which I’m going to comment on. First off though, I’d like to bring up the PlayStation Move.

Now the PS3’s tagline is “It only does everything.” This is becoming increasingly true, though I’m still waiting for the add-on that gives you a back massage. However, they felt out-done in the motion sensing department by the Wii, so they went ahead and just made the PS3 a Wii as well. The PlayStation Move is the big news at Sony this year and they’ve put their time and the budget from the naming department into it, and the extra effort really shows. It seems to actually have some pretty awesome motion sensing when used in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera attachment. They demoed a few games, including the new Tiger Woods game which looked very impressive with it’s motion sensing. It even measures little things like how you’re angling the club and the way you flick your wrist. It looks like it might actually be able to improve your real-life game. Impressive indeed.

Besides Tiger Woods, there’s a boxing game which looks to actually register how you punch, shooting games that really let you aim, and more sports like baseball or archery. There’s even some fun stuff like a painting thing and EyePet, which allows you to play with this fuzzy monkey thing in your living room without having to clean up the mess after it decides to eat some chocolate you left lying around.

This is the first thing I’ll blog about. I’ll update more on the other consoles and other newsworthy advancements in the coming days. Look forward to it!

Here’s the complete Sony Press Conference:
http://e3.gamespot.com/press-conference/sony-e3/

Downloadable bliss

For a long time, expansion packs have been a been popular among all kinds of games. It was an easy way to make more money without having to make an entire new game, plus gamers loved them since they got more content without having to wait the years that it takes to make a whole new game. However, these still had the problem of a high cost and long development time for limited content. Until now.

Introducing Downloadable content! One of the wonders of the internet is downloading things and games are all about that now. Instead of having to wait for a complete expansion to finish, a developer can simply release the individual parts as separate add-ons. For games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, this is key, since they’re constantly adding new songs to their playlist. Now instead of having to wait for the next game to come out, you can just download the individual songs you like. Don’t want any Metallica? Then don’t download it! But maybe you’re missing that new CD that was released after the game was out. Fortunately, they’ve added that as downloadable content!

Now, you may be thinking “but hasn’t the internet been around forever? We’ve been downloading things for years!” Well, no and no. The internet has existed in an extremely limited capacity since the 60s, but it was the 90s that really started to connect the world. As for the second point, while downloading has been around for decades, it’s never been done to this capacity and there are several reasons for it.

First: The download speed. Early internet ran on dial-up, using the phone lines. This would get a max speed of about 48 kilobytes per second (kbps). That’s slow. Like, really slow. Think the classroom clock on the last day of school slow. However, now we have cable, DSL, and other broadband connections, which can theoretically get up to 30 Megabytes per second (mbps), though you usually won’t get more than about 4-6. At 1024 kilobytes per megabyte, That means it’s going at about 128x faster than dail-up. That’s as fast as you’re going when the bell finally rings.

Second: disk space. In the 90s, a typical hard drive might have about a gigabyte, or 1024 megabytes, with a game maybe taking up 150 megabytes, a ratio of 1:7, with the disk holding more information. Now, the computer I’m typing on has 581 gigabytes of space. My flash drive in my pocket has 8. My phone has enough to hold an average game at that time. An average game might be a total of 10 gigabytes, including the disk. This makes a ratio of 1:58. Because of this enormous change in available space, it’s no issue to store an entire game and all the extra content on one hard drive. If the 90’s hard drives are a 10 year old eating a cheeseburger, modern drives are a sumo wrestler eating a triple Whopper. The input might be more, but there’s so much space no one cares.

Some developers have really used this advancement to their advantage. Valve is so dedicated to it, that not only do they release free content for their games to be downloaded automatically, they even have the Steam platform on computers that exclusively deals in downloading complete games rather than buying a disk. Bioware has also used this quite a bit. Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 have long lists of additional missions, characters, armor, and weapons that can be purchased (though some are free) and downloaded to enhance your game. These are sometimes simple add-ons, but they can also be awarded for pre-ordering the game, winning a contest, or any number of other qualifications.

With information being so easily transferred over the net, this is a fantastic turn for games. It adds replayability, lengthens the experience, allows developers to fix and improve their game whenever a problem arises, and makes it so fan feedback can actually implement real change in a game. And of course, my favorite outcome is it’s put PC gaming back on the map, but that’s a post for another time.

Wiimote envy

So Sony’s decided it can’t be outdone by Nintendo or Microsoft. They’ve released their own motion sensing accessory called the PlayStation Move. Really guys? That’s the best name you could come up with? That’s almost as original as the name “playstation.” Stay tuned for the Chevy Drive, the iPod Sound, and the Verizon Call.

The name aside, it’s basically a Wii controller with a few more buttons thus making it even more original. It works in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera and supposedly is much more responsive and better at motion control than the Wiimote, which is like building a car faster than a semi. It comes with a secondary controller that’s the equivalent of the Wii’s nunchuk, though the Move is completely wireless, which will be handy.

The line-up of games they have planned looks interesting as well, including things like a bare-fisted boxing game called Dukes, a collection of mini-games called Move Party and Sports Champions. I hope I don’t need to explain that one. They’re planning on having functionality for other games as well, such as SOCOM 4 and LittleBigPlanet.

Honestly, this looks like it could be interesting. While it’s a blatant rip-off of the Wii, it has some interesting games and might allow for some cool stuff in new games. We’ll have to see and I know I’ll be watching.

Call waiting eat your heart out

You know, I really like call waiting. It’s quite convenient and I use it frequently. If I hear a little beeping while I’m already on the phone, I know there’s someone else calling me and I can just switch the conversations. Brilliant! But as much as I like that, it looks like it may have just been one-upped.

Line2 is a $1 app for the iPhone that, for such a low price tag, looks to really change the roll of cell phones. As the name suggests, it’s a second line for your cell phone. While this may seem simple, it’s not just a normal call waiting. It’s a complete second line with a completely new number on the same phone. The company TokTuMi (Ba dum tsh) suggests that it can be used as a business number while your main line can be for friends and family. It can even be a 1-800 number if you so wish.

Now, while useful, this alone wouldn’t be a game-changer. However, Line2 boasts another cool feature. You can send and receive calls over Wi-Fi networks. Think about it, where’s your reception generally the worst? Inside, perhaps in your basement. Well if you have a wireless network set up in your house, this is no longer a problem. Best of all, you don’t even need to be in a wireless hot spot. All iPhone plans have free 3G internet access and Line2 can use that as well, though the quality of the call is sacrificed. Not only will this increase AT&T’s effective area, it doesn’t even take minutes, since the call is being sent online and not through AT&T’s network. Any time spent on a call via wireless internet does’t subtract from the time bought with your plan. All your online Line2 calls are free.

Well, kinda. There’s a $15 a month service fee, though they offer a free 30-day trial before that kicks in. It also allows overseas calls, but those most likely won’t cost more than 5 cents a minute. There are also some other petty grievances to look at, such as no touch-tone when dialing, no favorites list, and no text messages, though the company is working on these things. There’s also a faint background noise to let you know you’re still connected. I can see the use, but that seems like it would just be annoying.

However, the extra features it boasts are numerous. Besides conference call capability and a call waiting of it’s own, it has a special, HD mode it can go into if you’re talking to someone else with the Line2 app, 16-bit mode for the tech literate out there. This mode really bumps up the cell phone quality to a new level, allowing you to hear every word much clearer.

Unfortunately, the app has been going up and down on the iPhone’s store due to a DDoS (Direct Denial of Service) attack on the company. Basically, this entails a hacker making a program to download the free trial thousands of times, sign up dummy accounts, and use these things to overload the companies servers so real people can’t connect. Until they can lock down this problem, TokTuMi may pull the app to prevent problems from arising. Currently the app is available, so maybe the trouble has already passed.

This is a huge step forward because, let’s face it, the internet makes things free. I personally have at least 5 different programs I can use (and do use) to contact people online with no charge at all. Cell phone companies have probably been dreading this day, since their rates may actually have to become reasonable. Free minutes, wider range, and plenty of special features all make Line2 a real revolution for the iPhone. Definitely something to watch closely.

The future is now!

Japan’s done it again! Dancing robots, fast trains, tentacles… Japan certainly leads the way for innovative and advanced tech and they aren’t stopping just yet.

A Japanese company has created a working prototype hologram projector. You heard me. The Japanese corporation Shigatsu Baka has created a projector that can create 3-D moving holograms. And as if that wasn’t enough, they’re working on an A.I. to go with it. It seems we may finally be reaching the tech level of a galaxy far, far away. Keep it away from restraining bolts.

As this is still deep in development, there really isn’t much info on it. I’m so looking forward to it’s release though, which is thought to be sometime probably late 2011/early 2012. I’m just envisioning my computer projecting a little dude onto my desk to help me out. Just don’t project that damn paper clip, Microsoft Word. He’s bad enough with only two dimensions.

Psych! Happy April Fools Day everyone!

Barriers are meant to be overcome.

Now, some of my readers might be severely disappointed that my beloved Steam platform is only accessible to the PC crowd. Now, as a staunch PC supporter, I’d like to start by saying to all you Mac users, “Na na na boo boo!” Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk unity!

Steam has been hinting for a while through some no-so-subtle images, show below, based on their most popular games, Half-life (The ones with a crowbar), Team Fortress 2 (The one with the turret and the one with the fat man eating a sandwich), Portal (the sleeker, sexier turret), and Left 4 Dead (the one with Francis hating things), that they’ll be bringing Steam to the Mac. Well, now it’s official. Steam has announced that not only will Steam be on the Mac, it will be the same as if it were on a PC. There will literally be no difference, to the point where people playing on a Mac can play in the same game, on the same servers, as someone with a PC and you’ll never even know. Sneaky. They’ve even added a new feature called Steam Play which allows people who bought the game on one system to download it for free on the other. No buying the same game twice and we’re not talking some cheap port. The game’s being made as a native version, meaning the code will be custom-built to work. No wonky errors making the game better on one system. With this and Steam Cloud saving all your presets between computers, there will be almost no hassle transferring from one system to the next. The first game to be duel-released on both systems at the same time will be Portal 2, the highly anticipated sequel to what may be my favorite game of all time.

Valve knows how to form and unite a community, and what better way to band together than with games about killing each other?

Gordan Freeman from Half-Life 2, Mac-ified

TF2 turret vs. Portal turret

TF2 Heavy eating his Sandvich.

L4D’s Francis says “I hate different.”

Steam on Ye Olde Macintosh.

HL2’s Alyx Vance immitating the 1984 Apple commercial.

Gamestop’s probably pretty steamed.

Remember when people used to buy their music on disks? Haha, man that’s so 1990’s. Nowadays, we just download our jams off of iTunes, right? Well why not do the same with games?

This is what Valve, everyone’s favorite gaming company, was thinking when they came up with their Steam platform in 2003. Steam is a unique content delivery system that can be downloaded for free and allows you to buy, download, and play games at your leisure. While I’ve already posted about things like Steam Cloud, it’s often overlooked exactly how revolutionary the Steam platform itself is. It’s changed the face of computer gaming. It starts with a large community focus, allowing you to create an account and get the platform for free, create a personalized home page with your own profile picture and nickname, and a friending feature which allows you to add people as friends, chat with other users, or even create unique groups for people to join. With over 25 million users and 21 available languages, it’s attracted some big-time names in gaming, like Activision (Call of Duty, Tony hawk, Guitar Hero), EA (The Sims, Rock Band, every sports game ever), and LucasArts (Star Wars games and, uh, more Star Wars games).

The store itself is quite attractive as well. It’s incredibly organized and expertly laid out, allowing you to sort by genre, price, or just search for titles, which is a good thing considering how big it’s become. Steam boasts a library of over 1,000 games available ranging from big-name titles like Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2 to unknowns like Time Gentlemen, Please! And no, I have absolutely no idea what that last game is, but I’m totally playing it now.

Steam is more convenient, less hassle, and has no extra cost, so why hasn’t it been done until now? Well, probably because before 2003, it couldn’t have been done. Downloading a game off the internet takes a lot of processing power which computers didn’t have, not to mention that the majority of a game is usually saved on the disk, which is why you need the disk to play even after you’ve installed something. Steam has to put the entire game on your hard drive. This takes enormous amounts of space which wasn’t readily available until fairly recently. It still takes much longer than normal. I recently bought Mass Effect 2 and it estimated it would take 6-7 hours to download it when it probably would have been ready in maybe 2 if I bought a physical copy.

These problems are becoming more and more minor, however. While Steam started as just a platform for Valve games like Half-life and Counter-Strike, it has since become a viable option for all kinds of games due to improving hardware. Cable and DSL internet connections are lightning fast and my hard-drive has just under 600 gigabytes. I have around 40 games installed through Steam and that only fills maybe a quarter of the space. As Steam becomes more and more popular, people are starting to choose computer games over the console counterparts. PC’s finally catching back up to the consoles with downloading games as the main weapon, and I’ll be leading the charge.