ASUS Eee PC 1215N.

The words Netbook and powerhouse usually don’t float well with some people. That was until ASUS announced the Eee PC 1215N featuring the new Atom D525 processor running at 1.8GHz, dual core of course. It also comes with NVIDIA Optimus to intelligently switch between the NVIDIA Ion discrete and integrated graphics. So it will rip right thought 1080p videos with no problem no matter the display, also to thank for that is the HDMI jack. Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11n WiFi, integrated webcam with lens cover, choice of 250GB or 320GB hard disk , 500GB of ASUS WebStorage and pass-through USB to charge connected devices like cellphones when the Eee is powered off. No mention of battery performance, price, or availability on this so-called netbook. But I’m sure it wont be over 500$, and the battery might last two to three hours depending on what your doing.

Kinect Specs Reveal Two Player Limitation

UK-based online retailer Play.com has listed the full technical specifications of Microsoft's upcoming Kinect, as provided by Microsoft. While the system apparently tracks up to six people at a time, it is only capable of tracking two "active players." We're not sure exactly how an "active player" is defined, but reading the specifications, the term is again used to describe the twenty-point skeleton tracking system and "ability to map players to Live Avatars," so it would appear that for all intents and purposes, only two people can play full-body Kinect games at a time.

The full spec sheet, courtesy Play.com, is below.

Sensor
Colour and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Fully compatible with existing Xbox 360 consoles
Field of View
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m - 3.5m
Data Streams
320x240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640x480 32-bit colour@ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Live Avatars
Audio System
Live party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox Live Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple

Capcom Boss Expects New Consoles in Two to Three Years

Most in the industry recognize that Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's Move and 3D pushes are ways to extend the lives of their consoles. Capcom Europe head David Reeves, however, only expects the stop-gap solutions to last a few more years. Speaking about the new technologies in a GamesIndustry.biz interview, Reeves said, "Capcom is definitely going to embrace it and just as the first-parties are doing, we see it as another blip before we come into the next cycle. Anything they can add to revive and pique interest in the games until we have another clash of the titans in two years time." He says he hasn't been given any inside knowledge of future hardware plans, but expects "two to three years" before we see new systems. "All the first-parties have got to be working on something," he said. "The tricky thing is when do you put a stake in the ground on technology? That's the problem. You can be waiting a few extra months to implement something, but you've got to set a date to go with a certain chip at a certain point otherwise you're going to miss the key milestones." Reeves also cites titles like Wii Fit and Guitar Hero as making the most money for the industry in the last few years. "And then on the other side you've got the Activision and EA hardcore titles," he said. "They're in a box. Publishers don't want to give up their core values but they need to reach out to this wider market." He says only the games that are "purpose built for Kinect and Move" will be successful on the devices. He may be right in his predictions. Sony's proposed 10-year life cycle for the PlayStation 3 didn't necessarily mean new hardware wouldn't be introduced before it was over -- the PS2 lived healthy along the PS3 for quite a while, after all. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, is borrowing time with Kinect and treating it like a new hardware launch, but they're likely preparing for the next generation as well. Nintendo is the biggest mystery, since years of speculation about a Wii HD have constantly turned up nothing.

Nintendo CEO Makes About $2.1 Million a Year

You'd think Satoru Iwata would be making some serious bucks for being the top guy at a company as successful as Nintendo. According to an recent shareholder meeting the president and CEO don’t bring as much bacon home as you would expect. Andriasang interpreted a story out of Japanese site Asahi regarding Nintendo's shareholder meeting. Their report puts Iwata's annual salary at just ¥78 million (about $768,000), with an additional ¥109 million (a little over $1.2 million) in performance-based bonuses, reaching a grand total of ¥187 million (roughly $2.1 million). For comparison, Sony president and CEO Howard Stringer makes a cool ¥816.5 million (more than $9 million) annually. Yoichi Wada takes home ¥240 million ($2.7 million) each year as CEO of Square Enix. Meanwhile, Apple's Steve Jobs only pulls in $1 a year from his position as chairman and CEO of the company.

Microsoft hints at touchless Surface combining camera and transparent OLED

We've always wondered whether Microsoft's multitouch table would actually ever arrive, dreaming of Minority Report hijinx all the while, but after seeing what the company's Applied Sciences Group is currently cooking up -- a touchless telepresence display -- we'd rather drop that antiquated pinch-to-zoom stuff in favor of what might be Surface's next generation. Starting with one of Samsung's prototypetransparent OLED panels, Microsoft dropped a sub-two-inch camera behind the glass, creating a 3D gesture control interface that tracks your every move by literally seeing through the display. Combined with that proprietary wedge-shaped lens we saw earlier this month and some good ol' Johnny Chung Lee headtracking by the man himself, we're looking at one hell of a screen. Don't you dare read another word without seeing the prototype in a trifecta of videos after the break.

Sourced From http://www.engadget.com/

writing by : Sean Hollister

Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4

Well I’ll be damn even with antenna problems, screen related issues, and only 600,000 pre- orders Apple managed to sell 1.7 million iPhone 4 in sales this Saturday. Sunday transaction haven’t even been added up yet, I guess its another reason why Apple and Steve Jobs can walk around with that smug look on there faces. The sells number eclipsed the 3GS with only sold about 1 million units its opening weekend. I know Apples competitors aka Google has a ominous feeling larking over there shoulders with the threat of another launch by Apple.

Dead or Alive 3DS Sports Motion-Controlled Breasts Really ?

One of the biggest aspects of the Nintendo's 3DS, that is not talk about much, is the built-in tilt sensor. Until most developers have been silent on the matter or they do not have any plans in the works to utilizes the feature. Team Ninja is the first developer to reported they intend to implement motion controls in Dead or Alive 3DS. Picked up on by Blogger "Silconera" a Japanese investor who spend some hands on time with the 3DS; claims to have spoken with Tecmo representatives about their plans for Nintendo's upcoming handheld. According to a Tecmo employee, players will be able to tilt controls to jiggle female characters' breasts in the 3DS version of Dead or Alive. Shocking right ?, Nope not really Team Ninja games like Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and Extreme Beach Volleyball all have utilized motion capabilities for similar effect. Plus bouncy boobs are kind of Team Ninja's calling card.

Mini-e ER1402 for only 299$

Looking the Mini-e Pc up and down you can tell its a space saver, and doesn't it look cute standing upright like in this picture. eMachines latest, um, machine "looks like a computer of the future, or at least a idea of what desktops my look like later on down the road. Tell me it doesn't look like something you would see in BattleStar Galactica or Star Trek. The Mini-e ER1402 measures at 7.1 inches and weighs 9 pounds. While it won't handle the latest installment of Crysis running at full spec of course, but stuff like Hulu, and Youtube you'll be ok. What about the spec on this bad boy?the computer features a 1.7GHz AMD Athlon Neo processor, Windows 7 Home Premium, NVIDIA nForce 9200 graphics, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. There are four USB ports and HDMI output (VGA, too) for connecting to your TV or monitor. A wireless keyboard and mouse are included as well. So picture this baby over-clocked running at about 2.0Ghz with 3GB of Ram; its like I said before you wont be able to run Crysis at full specs but it will run most high ends games at the lowest setting. I say "better playable than not right," and at $299.99 need I say more.

Peripherals

I feel bad for Microsoft and Sony right now accorded to an news report that suggests most gamers are aware of Sony's Move and Microsoft's Kinect peripherals, but few intend on buying them. Despite the core gaming community have a high awareness of the two new peripherals, both failed to break top twenty charts say analysts at EEDAR. The report also said more gamers in total are interested in Kinect than Move, only because more Xbox 360s are in more homes than PlayStation 3s. "When weighed on a relative basis (number of consoles vs. interest in the new controllers), Move and Kinect "showed near equal popularity"EEDAR stressed. The data does not mean the Move and Kinect will have poor sales, but as new game come out the purchase sales will go up. Please note that EEDAR's report is based off of traffic data from IGN.com, which tends to skew "hardcore." Purchase intent may be much higher among the more "casual" gamers once they're aware of the products.

NVIDIA thanks Intel for saying GPUs are 'only' 14 times faster than CPUs

Well, we've gone a full month since the last episode of NVIDIA's and Intel's ongoing public feud, but it looks like Intel has now stoked the flames once again (albeit inadvertently) in a paper presented at the recent International Symposium on Computer Architecture. That attempted to debunk the "100X GPU vs. CPU myth," but it also contained the tidbit that GPUs are "only" up to 14 times faster than CPUs in running application kernels, which NVIDIA has more than a happily latched onto. In a blog post, NVIDIA's Andy Keane says that it's a "rare day" when a competitor states that their technology is only14x faster, and that he can't recall another time when he's "seen a company promote competitive benchmarks that are an order of magnitude slower." Of course, he then further goes on to note that Intel's tests were done with NVIDIA's previous generation GeForce GTX 280, and that the codes were simply run out-of-the-box without any optimization -- but, still, he seems more than happy to accept this bit of "recognition." In Intel's defense, however, the overall finding of the paper (linked below) is that the performance gap between a GTX 280 GPU and Core i7 960 processor is actually just 2.5X "on average," which NVIDIA hasn't highlighted for some reason.

Is Final Fantasy 7 That Great ?

Don't get me wrong I don't think Final Fantasy7 is a bad game; I just think it’s a very overrated and over hyped. I know of plenty hardcore fans that claim it’s the greatest Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG) of all time. But many people that adore Final Fantasy 7, because it was the first JRPG they ever played. If you played Final Fantasy 4-6 first, you would have realize that they are better games with better character growth systems, better stories, and even though the graphics are not as advanced I think they hold up better overtime. “Where to start?” I know how about the battle system and the story line the most important elements of a JRPG. Final Fantasy 7 failed to add anything meaningful or different to the {ATB} system that wasn’t already used in Final Fantasy 4-6; other than the long ass summon spells. Bahamut Zero and Nights Of The Round yeah do I need to say anymore, and don’t get me started on the use of save points and random battles. Now, the Materia System which essentially gives any character the same ability kind of breaks the system, because there’s no different between the case of characters; unlike Final Fantasy 5 which did a far better of executing the use of this system. The Materia system hides the fact that there is no real progression in the leveling system, because whatever Materia you give to one character doesn’t necessarily mean the character is good, just the Materia is. One the biggest problem with Final Fantasy 7 and other modern JRPG’s is they suffer from is a bad story lines and poor character development. The main character is a sword- wielding, spiky-haired hero, get this he Has Amnesia! Well I’ll be damn imagine that. Go and play a game called Planescape Torment and Memento; I don’t know about you but I’m sick and tired of stories using amnesia it’s the most overused plot device in JRPGs period. Also what kind of fucking name is Cloud Strife; the name is half Emo have Goth and very lame. Just joking about that previous sentence I really don’t care about the names of the characters.

But most of the characters in the game are clichés like the Mr. T clone Barret; Cid of course who is in ever Final Fantasy game; the bizarre anime character that has no place in the story Cait Sith; Aeris the girl whose magic powers will determine the fate of the world. The list goes on but I will stop to talk about one particular character I that requires a closer look. I am referring to the worst character to ever grace a video game, Yuffie. Webster dictionary defines a (Ninja) “as a member of a feudal Japanese society of mercenary agents, highly trained in martial arts and stealth (ninjutsu), who were hired for covert purposes ranging from espionage to sabotage and assassination”. Why do I hate the adorable, fun loving ninja? First of all, her name is Yuffie. Second, ninjas are neither fun loving nor adorable! Infiltration, carnage, and drinking the blood of their enemies is what makes ninjas happy. Yuffie on the other hand is the stereotypical anime chick that jumps up and down screaming “Ya-ta!”. What’s my point? Yuffie is the only ninja in the history of video games to break the tradition of ninja being awesome in spite of their lame surroundings. Final Fantasy suffers in my opinion the worst character designs ever to grace the series; I would think the story would carry the game right? Not so; the main protagonist has amnesia which is lame. The setting is cool, he lives in a technologically advanced steam punk world or so you think until you leave this highly futuristic city. Too find the entire surrounding world looks like a generic Final Fantasy countryside. It’s like leaving Neo Tokyo and winding up in Tennessee for the rest of the game. Here's a quick run down of the story, so Cloud meets Sephiroth, who is still filled with teen anger towards Shinra his Mom and Dad. To get back at them for being mean, Sephiroth arbitrarily burns down a village and summons a meteor. Aeris decides that she is going to use the power of love and hope to stop him, and gets stabbed in the back. In a scene that is poorly executed, then she dies. Whoops!, I should have put a spoiler alert for that, but you can’t ruin a story that is already bad. Cloud has amnesia so he forgets to cast resurrection. Cloud kills Sephiroth but is too late and Aeris uses her magic to stop the meteor. Oh and I forgot to mention Cloud thinks he some guy name Zack, because when Zack was about to die he told Cloud to live for him. Fin

And that’s why I don’t like Final Fantasy7, but who the hell I’m I to judge. I really didn’t even make any good or compelling points to back my argument; I guess I’m just hating to hate something a lot of people enjoy.

Film Review: Splice

Splice (2010)
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writers: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, and Doug Taylor
Cast: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, and Delphine Chanéac
Grade: B

Creature features tend to be cautionary tales: "Don't fuck with science because it will fuck with you."

It's worrying to see such a regressive message toward technology as a trope in horror sci-fi films, but honestly, it works.

Splice fully beautifully exploits common and misunderstood fears of cloning and stem cell research for a compelling sci-fi drama.

Our heroes are Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, a scientist power couple. Their discoveries include slug-hybrids which make moist, gushing sounds whenever on-screen.

In their world, Brody and Polley are so hip and cool, they hang posters of anime characters on their walls, listen to heavy metal and jazz, and have made it onto the cover of Wired.

These character flourishes are a nice deviation from the stuffy scientist archetype. They also confirm that Brody and Polley's characters, despite their breakthroughs, still have a very juvenile attitude toward life.

Their teenage personas are challenged when they introduce a third character into their life, a creature far more complex than a meaty, gooshy slug.

Pieced together from human and animal DNA, the CG and puppet rendered monster is a lovely young woman with a bisected head, goat legs, and a tail. It grows quickly, a child maturing into the attractive Delphine Chanéac.

The conflict comes when Dren, as they name the creature, becomes resentful of her adoptive parents and eventually tries to fly the coop. Literally.

This thoughtful film about the uneasy transition of parenthood becomes a standard horror movie by its third act.

Splice's careful drama falls apart as it becomes the very creep-fest its posters promise it to be. Clunky dialogue becomes far more jarring as the film draws to a close.

But the thoughtful build-up in the first two-thirds of the movie are still with worth the price of admission.

Brody's traditionally quiet performance shows a man struggling to juggle responsibilities. Polley threatens to become a cinema scream queen during the first part of the film but finally settles on a heart-rending performance where her emotions lurk just beneath her skin.

Both they and Chanéac give excellent performances, even if they are stuck in a world where scientific advancements only mean trouble.

Korean StarCraft Match Fixers Banned by Pro League

Man, talk about burn; the StarCraft Professional League Kespa has permanently banned a host of players involved in last month's cheating scandaled. Some of the greatest players to ever grace the game won't be able to play professionally anymore. Reports say team Liquid not only barred the eleven players from playing again but also took there awards and professional recognitions out of the record books. Goes to show that South Korea takes their Star Craft very serious, and how its an deep part of there cultural. So deep that matches are regular aired on T.V the way football or basketball is watched in America.

Bethesda E3 "Secret"

Japanese mag Famitsu Abstract 360 latest issue reports that several company's still have unannounced surprises to reveal at E3, including Electronic Arts, Capcom, Konami, Square Enix, Sega, and Ubisoft. Even though Bethesda studios already released their E3 lineup earlier this week, the company claims to have a "secret" announcement to reveal at E3. What on earth could Bethesda have up there sleeve's; seeing how they already announced Fallout: New Vegas, Brink, Hunted, and id Software's Rage at an early show. The net has been buzzing with rumors of the next installment of the Elder Scroll series or possible MMO base in the Elder Scroll universe. According to a source speaking to VGA247 back in January, Bethesda had plans to announce an Elder Scrolls MMO last year, but ended up pushing the announcement back (for unexplained reasons). According to court documents which involved a dispute with Interplay and Bethesda. Interplay said that Bethesda has been working on an new MMO since 2006; with a team of 100 so working on the project, but Bethesda hasn't confirmed or denied anything yet. Elder Scrolls V doesn't seem possible now after the statement made by Bethesda game director Todd Hines "we no current plans to make another game in the Elder Scrolls series." But not long after the new Elder Scroll novel was released which seem to hint at the possibility of an new game in the series, and the publisher describe the book as "[partly bridging] the gap for the next game, which is set 200 years after the Oblivion crisis." All this speculation makes me wonder what the big surprise is.

25 Best Video Game Cameos (6-25)

Mikhail Gorbachev in Zangief's Street Fighter 2 Ending

In Street Fighter 2, When you take down M. Bison as Zangief, you're greeted by the splotchy headed former President of Russia. Ol' Gorby thanks Zangief for his fighting on behalf of the Soviet Republic. Then they do a traditional Russian dance. Yes, this happens.

Not only is Rockstar willing to tip their hat to Miami Vice as a source of inspiration for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, but in the PSP game Vice City Stories, they go nearly wholesale and have you go to a Phil Collins concert to hear "In the Air Tonight."

The King of Pop was a huge video game fan, and apparently a SEGA fanboy. When shown a near-final version of Space Channel 5, he asked to be put in the game and "Space Michael" was born. His cameo in Space Channel turned into a full-fledged role in Space Channel 5: Part 2.

After his "Chaos Dunk" caused millions of deaths in Neo New York, NBA legend Charles Barkley became a wanted criminal on the outs with the law. When a second "Chaos Dunk" kills millions more, a framed Barkley becomes hunted by the "B-Ball Removal Department" led by one Michael Jordan.

Back before Bill Clinton stormed Washington D.C., he didn't fake the funk on a nasty dunk in NBA Jam. Bill and Hil weren't the only unlock-ables, which also included Al Gore, Scorpion, The Beastie Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff and a ton of others.

Mario showed up in a slew of NES games, but perhaps his best cameo is as the referee in Punch-Out!! Too bad he sucks at keeping it clean and allows magicians to cast spells and drunks to spit their booze in Little Mac's face.

By Paul Furfari of 1up.com

Predictions Anyone ?

E-Readers Vs. Books

Well I knew it would happen sooner or later. If you aren't aware E-readers are a growing business, and like all businesses there in it to win. And to show that there product is better and superior than the current norm. So what’s my point? It’s the question that no one in the industry has tried to predict yet. That is in till now, typical Sony jumping the gun as always recently made bold statement predicted the demise of books within five years. That comment comes courtesy of Sony's Steve Haber, head man of Sony (DRBD) digital reading business division. He said that: "within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content." Really, Mr. Haber I wonder, because he said "digital content" so I presume this also includes magazines, newspapers, and books too. That’s a very bold statement for Sony to make, but there more to this story than meets the eye. Haber also insisted that there is no room in the market place for a stand alone E-reader; with devices like the Ipad to compete with. saying that, "it's just like digital imaging, where you can take pictures with a cellphone - and many people take pictures with cellphones - but if they want the best possible picture they'll use a point-and-shoot camera or a digital SLR." I can't really make what Sony is trying to say; do they have plans to bring out a product similar to Apples Ipad. This would eventually lead to the fall paper-back products, just like Cds have already lost to MP3 players.

Greatest Game Of All Time.

GoldenEye

Whenever I hear the words GoldenEye I reminisced fondly of my younger days as an adolescent in junior high school. Coming home everyday racing to my friends Donelle’s house to get a spot to play. In retrospect GoldenEye change what first-person shooters were all about, and by far it's one of the best movie-based games ever created. Almost every aspect of this game is amazing; for starters the A.I was highly intelligent and unpredictable for it's time. Whenever I would encounter enemies immediately two guys would take cover shooting, while one guy ran for the alarm button. It doesn't stop there either in some encounter the A.I would run a short distance take cover and fire; then if you got within a certain distant of them they would get out from that cover and repeat the process. In a way it s kind of repetitive but for its time it was pretty impressive. Second, just the way the story float altogether it gave you the same adrenal rush as the movie did. Most of the time in movie-based games the developer throw in extra stage or add characters that weren't necessarily apart of the original story; it’s mostly stuff you don't care about, but it’s not the case with GoldenEye. The best and most Important aspect of GoldenEye is the multiplayer FPS were pretty much the same back in the day, but it was the way Rare implemented a user friendly interface with the playability to match that made GoldenEye a huge success. The huge assortment of weapons and stages to choose from the balance between catering to a hard-core audience and a casual was done to perfection. Anyone could just pick up the game and play it and be juggernaut or just okay at the game. So whenever someone started a match they could really specify what they want as far match types guns, and characters; at the time a lot of FPS did not offer this depth in playability.

The game did so many things right from the amount of characters you can choose before a match, the number of stages available. There was a real science to the game; the precision and accuracy of your shot all play a major role in whether or not you got a kill. The choice of weapons and even the character you pick all played a part and the placement of weapons it was truly a game of wits. I still remember all the nights I spent at Donelle’s house playing all the way until the next morning. Golden Eye was a game of its generation it came out at the right time to give people something to talk about, something to reminisce about later. A Nostalgic feeling comes about when I think of Golden Eye. It was more than a game it is a part of my history something I would tell my children about. Something that sets my generation apart from the rests, and you can look back on and smile upon behold this is what we had back then and we were damn happy and it's still fun to this day. Golden Eye is a game that should and always will be remembered by those who grew up on and it is by far one of the greatest games of all time.

Nvidia GTX 470 Prototype

Measuring in at 12 inch Long and Housing not one but two Fermi dies on the
same broad; with six GDDR5 memory controllers, each operating two channels of memory. This is one nasty little monster, and powering the two 8-pin power connector goes beyond the normal standard of 470's 215W TDP, this dualie card sure looks set for a similar future of pretty pictures and no retail viability. The GTX is so powerful you might find yourself using it too power a wind turbine or factory. Engadgets's Vladislav Savov reported that the GTX actually caused an power shortages in Taipei recently.

Epic Mickey Getting Graphical Overhaul

Wii exclusive Epic Mickey may be seeing a graphically overhaul this upcoming E3. The rubbery appearance presented in the first images of the game had disappointed many fans. And the creators distributed the originally concept artwork of the game; which gave a steampunk style to the world of Disney movies really let fans down. French website GameKyo reports that Disney haves plans to unveil the new visual style sometime during E3, but Disney has commented saying "it doesn't comment on speculation." But in other related news Disney said they want Epic Mickey to reach Nintendo levels of quality. Meaning something similar to Mario Galaxy a very beautiful and well polished game showing off the power of the Wii. Epic Mickey developers have also went on record reassuring fans not to worry too much about it despite the Wii lack of power compared to its competitor. But in till then you'll have to wait too weeks to see if any of this is true.