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March 29th, 2012, 00:35 Posted By: wraggster
Dungeon Defenders on Steam will have a new character, Series EV, available this week. EV is a defense-based protector of dungeons, using adjustable nodes that have unit costs tied to the length of the beam.
EV can also build projectile reflection walls to bounce back long-range attacks and plant tower buffs to enhance other defenders' structures.
Pick up the automaton tomorrow, March 29, for $3 -- if you dilly-dally on grabbing the latest dungeon defender, EV's services will require an investment of $4 next week.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/28/se...vates-march-2/
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March 29th, 2012, 00:30 Posted By: wraggster
Adobe has already hinted at its plans for Flash Player 11.2, but today, those plans finally became official. The company formally announced both 11.2 and AIR 3.2 this morning, reaffirming its commitment to browser-based gaming. With 11.2, Adobe is bringing support for mouse-lock, right and middle click events, and multi-threaded video decoding. The software also supports 2D and 3D graphics at speeds of up to 60 frames per second, and, when running on Windows machines, will automatically update itself in the background. As for AIR 3.2, it now supports Stage3D graphics on both iOS and Android, promising "jaw-dropping visuals" with monstrously fast GPU rendering. A new partnership with Unity, meanwhile, will allow developers to easily upload 3D games to Flash Player, as part of its premium features package. Devs will be able to use these higher-tiered features for free until their apps accrue $50,000 in revenue. Once they do, they'll have to siphon off 9 percent of their earnings to Adobe, though these conditions only go into effect as of August 1st. (AIR 3.2 apps are exempt from this charge.) For more details on the new releases, check out the source links below, or the explanatory video after the break.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/28/a...ir-3.2-gaming/
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March 29th, 2012, 00:13 Posted By: wraggster
Linux is generally considered the go-to OS for under powered computers. Wanting to challenge the preconceived notion that Linux requires ‘a computer made in the last 20 years,’ [Dmitry] built the worst Linux PC ever around a simple 8-bit microcontroller.
The ATMega1284p [Dmitry] used doesn’t have a lot to offer as far as RAM and storage goes; just 16 kilobytes of SRAM and a paltry 128 kilobytes of Flash storage. While this may be voluminous in the embedded world, it’s peanuts compared to the gigabytes of RAM and hard drive space on even a low-end netbook. To solve this problem, [Dmitry] threw an antique 30-pin RAM SIMM at the problem. It’s wired up directly to the microcontroller, as is the 1 Gigabyte SD card that serves as the PC’s hard drive.
Linux requires a 32-bit CPU and a memory management unit, something the puny microcontroller doesn’t have. For [Dmitry], the best course of action was emulating an ARM processor on an AVR. We’re not sure if we’re dealing with genius or madness here, but it did prove to be a valuable learning exercise in writing a modular ARM emulator.
How fast is it? [Dmitry] tells us it takes two hours to boot up to a bash prompt, and four more to load up Ubuntu and login. If you want a Megahertz rating, good luck; the effective clock speed is about 6.5 kilohertz. While the worst Linux PC ever won’t win any races, its simple construction puts it within the reach of even the klutziest of hardware builders; the entire device is just a microcontroller, RAM, SD card, a few resistors, and some wire.
If you’d like to build your own worst Linux PC, [Dmitry] has the firmware and disk image available to download. If you want to watch the time-lapse of this thing booting, check out the video after the break.
http://hackaday.com/2012/03/28/build...linux-pc-ever/
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March 28th, 2012, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster
Has anyone, besides those that worked on byte queue limits, and sfqred, had a chance to benchmark networking using these tools on the Linux 3.3 kernel in the real world? A dent, at least theoretically, seems to be have made in bufferbloat, and now that the new kernel and new iproute2 are out, should be easy to apply in general (e.g. server/desktop) situations."Dear readers: Have any of you had problems with bufferbloat that were alleviated by the new kernel version?
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/0...in-bufferbloat
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March 28th, 2012, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster
F2P Summit: Majority of people don't pay yet play the most, says Ngmoco Sweden manager
Ngmoco Sweden executive Ben Cousins opened the inaugural Free to Play Summit with a staunch defence of the freemium monetisation model that sometimes divides audience and industry opinion.
Addressing attendees at the Shoreditch, London event, Cousins said he’s often asked by journalists whether freemium pricing strategies are ethically sound.
“My response always is: Any business model where 95 per cent of people who don’t pay cannot be exploitative,” he said, referencing the common understanding that only about 3-6 per cent of customers will pay for extra goods in free games.
His comments come as the free-to-play model is increasingly utilised by developers and publishers – a trend which results in more customers playing such games and, in turn, more occurrences of people claiming they were ‘fooled’ into spending more than expected.
One of the most famous of such issues was with Smurfs Village; a game which made national newspaper headlines after an infamous incident where a young customer maxed out his mother’s credit card.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...t-exploitative
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March 28th, 2012, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster
F2P Summit: Story-driven triple-A games will thrive when sold for free, Ngmoco Sweden manager claims
Ngmoco executive Ben Cousins has made a striking long-term prediction that triple-A games, with budgets perhaps as high as a billion dollars, will shape the future of free-to-play gaming.
Speaking at the inaugural Free to Play Summit in London, Cousins claimed that the freemium model will not forever be synonymous with lowered risks and small budgets.
“I am totally 100 per cent convinced that we will soon have a game like Skyrim that’s free to play,” he said.
He was not speaking on Bethesda's plans specifically, but using Skyrim as an example of the quality people should be expecting.
Cousins said that a single player, story-based, scripted game – the kind that Bethesda has a renowned acumen for – will soon be available for free and monetised through a rich mix of virtual items.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...play-is-coming
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March 28th, 2012, 23:30 Posted By: wraggster
28 titles kickstart Bloomsbury Publishing's entry into the app space.
The products have all been made specially for iOS by Tagstar, and address specific verticals including Dictionaries of Law, Politics, Accountancy, Nursing, Banking, Business, Sport Science, Wine, Food, Computing, Food Science, and Environment.
Features include: a vertical ‘frame in frame’ view for accessing the index and the definition entry at the same time; unlimited bookmarking; ability to log 100 entries; email sharing.
Steve Tagger of Tagstar Publishing, said: “We have created an invaluable resource for anyone requiring specialist knowledge at a moment’s notice, from doctors and nurses, to lawyers and accountants. We’re making people’s lives less cluttered by delivering the information they need through a format which suits their lifestyle – the modern day smartphone.”
The range is available at an affordable price of £4.99/€ 5.49/US $7.99 per dictionary
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...onaries/017567
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March 28th, 2012, 01:33 Posted By: wraggster
Battlefield 3 received a one gigabyte mega update today on PlayStation 3, with the option to rent servers also now available on the console. The patch will arrive "soon" to PC and Xbox 360.
The short version of executive producer Patrick Bach's explanation for the delay on PC: The PC version is held until the console versions are certified, which helps prevent the patching of patches.
Those interested in renting a server can access that through the conveniently named "RENT A SERVER" menu in the game. Servers can be rented in increments of 1 day ($1.49), 7 days ($6.99), 30 days ($24.99) and 90 days ($64.99). DICE is ramping up this service, so if the option is grayed out, it means rentals are currently at capacity.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/27/ba...-and-pc-serve/
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March 27th, 2012, 23:30 Posted By: wraggster
Retail naysayers would have you believe the good ship ‘boxed product’ is sinking, and salvation lies in the new world of digital games.
But this strange land has perils of its own. It is a realm of different rules and unfamiliar seasons, where developers become publishers and publishers become retailers.
Companies can take solace in the knowledge that – whether releasing their titles on console, PC or smartphones – not everything about the digital space is foreign.
“We try to treat our download titles in just the same manner as a retail boxed copy,” says Team 17’s communications manager Nick Clarkson. “Then we factor in the fast-paced and dynamic nature of digital publishing. The result is a long campaign followed by an extended tail through DLC and promotions.”
Long-tail marketing plans are essential if firms want to harness digital’s unique sales trends.
While retail sales plummet after a week or two, downloads can peak and trough at any time and slow-burn successes are commonplace.
The iPad chart, for example, is often populated by apps that have seen second or third-week surges in popularity, usually driven by word of mouth.
A new IP like current iPhone hit Draw Something is as much a testament to this as a long-running brand like Team 17’s own properties.
“Worms games traditionally have an exceptionally long tail,” says Clarkson. “Week one sales usually account for around 10 per cent of lifetime revenue for a digital Worms game. And carefully planned marketing can extend its lifecycle.”
THE FIRST BYTE
However, as with any retail product, early adopters are vital to kickstarting sales momentum and publishers must support the initial launch.
“We focus on a game’s release but we need also some campaigns for all post-launch promotion or additional content,” says Thomas Paincon, Ubisoft’s digital publishing manager for EMEA.
“Day one, first week and first month sales are crucial. The long tail effect is only valid if you raise first week and month sales to the highest level.”
It’s a strategy that works. Ubi’s XBLA, PSN and PC?god sim From Dust has sold more than 500,000 units since July, and the publisher reports recent XBLA?release I Am Alive is on course to match this.
Choosing the right time to release a game is also important. While the digital marketplace is less affected by the seasonal patterns that steer retail, High Street sales trends still have an affect on ambitious download blockbusters – particularly on console.
“January to September are the best months to release downloadable games because the triple-A titles released over the Christmas period prevent us from being visible in players’ mind,” explains Paincon.
“That is not the right period for consumers to try original games. They want to focus on triple-A games – whereas during quieter periods, it is easier to convince players to test and buy new titles.”
Clarkson concurs: “Weekly sales remain pretty level and consistent throughout the year regardless of seasonal variation. Spikes in sales can be directly traced to promotional activity, either actioned directly by ourselves or as part of an online store’s strategy.”
As with any product release, aggressive and clever marketing is crucial. Competition in the download space is increasing all the time – especially on the already packed PC scene – making it even harder to stand out in online marketplaces than it is on shelves.
Even established players must go the extra mile to maintain their success. Rovio is treating the launch of Angry Birds Space like a Hollywood blockbuster, even teaming up with NASA to promote the game.
GETTING NOTICED
Many digital publishers say that websites and social networks are more efficient at targeting their audience than the highly sought ad space available in print and on TV.
Paincon observes that consumer attitudes to new releases are also different, requiring new approaches to advertising: “Downloadable games are seen more as impulse buying – like candies near the cashier store.
“So advertising at the point of sale [Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Store, Steam] is just compulsory. The goal of the advertising is mostly to drive players to know about the brand and the availability of your titles but also to push them to try the demo.”
Clarkson adds that developers need to “adopt a publisher’s mentality” in order to promote their game effectively – and that means targeting the most relevant medium.
“While there is an argument that print media is the bastion of core gamers, I believe online is by far the most effective vehicle for reaching consumers, especially when you consider its global nature,” he says.
“The agility and ability to respond to stories and communications in such a fast manner makes both online and social media ideal channels for Team 17.”
Paincon agrees: “Online campaigns enable us also to monitor performance metrics and be more efficient in terms of ROI.
“We also favour cross-promotion tools such as the Branded Experience Destination tool on XBLA that enable us to communicate one game but also tease our next titles or reinforce titles that have already launched.”
There are also other techniques that don’t fit into the traditional sense of marketing.
Press coverage is still important. Rave reviews propelled indie PC hit Dear Esther into the Top 10 on Steam. Meanwhile, early previews of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare are calling out to lapsed fans.
Releasing a demo can help build anticipation for an upcoming digital game. These are particularly well received in the console space where consumer attentions are more divided between boxed and digital.
“A demo is crucial because on downloadable games you can test the titles in advance,” says Paincon. “From Dust was a best practice in terms of demo. The demo doesn’t need to be a tutorial but should offer a taste of the whole game experience in five minutes.”
Securing a place in download charts is also a great way to raise the profile of both a new game and the company behind it. So it could be beneficial for firms to sign up to the various chart initiatives, such as the UKIE?PC?download chart.
Finally, the big thing publishers can do is team up with the platform holders. Whether that is doing a week of deals with Steam or taking part in Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade promotion.
“Getting games included in first-party promotions helps,” says Paincon.
“And word of mouth is really crucial for post-launch sales. There is a lot of competition and the goal is to have a clear window for each launch. Support from first parties guarantees you some advertising and marketing support.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/featu...l-games/093428
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March 27th, 2012, 23:28 Posted By: wraggster
Syndicate and The Chronicles Of Riddick developer Starbreeze has revealed that its next game will be free-to-play.
Only the title of the project, Cold Mercury, is known at this time, but Starbreeze CEO Mikael Nermark moved to assure players that the studio would not "leave the AAA segment".
“We are discussing with several leading game publisher on publisher financed games, but we will broaden our product portfolio of games in the new business models and segments that have arisen in the games industry," he continued.
"I am convinced that Starbreeze will be successful with the new games.”
The developer is also now looking for a distribution deal for its P13 project, a game being developed in collaboration with Swedish film director Josef Fares.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/star...e-be-free-play
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March 27th, 2012, 23:09 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has begun blocking web links to The Pirate Bay posted via the software giant's instant messenger client Windows Live Messenger.
User's of Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger found that they were unable to send their contacts any web link based on the Pirate Bay domain, instead seeing a message that the link was blocked "because it was reported as unsafe."
Microsoft released a statement saying: "We block instant messages if they contain malicious or spam URLs based on intelligence algorithms, third-party sources, and/or user complaints. Pirate Bay URLs were flagged by one or more of these and were consequently blocked."
TorrentFreak reported that The Pirate Bay was the only major torrent site that has been blocked by Microsoft's IM client to date. Comments on that story pointed out that modifying the domain, such as using URL shortening, side-stepped Microsoft's block entirely.
While it's tempting to suggest that Microsoft is blocking the Pirate Bay due to concerns of the firm's own software being pirated openly on the site, it's just as likely that the block is indeed part of the firm's increasing attempts to tackle malware.
Microsoft recently unveiled another operation in the firm's efforts to tackle botnets with Operation b71 targeting the Zeus family of malware. The firm worked with law enforcement to shut down malware command and control servers but Sophos said that the action had not so far resulted in "significant disruption" of Zeus.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ate-bay/028130
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March 27th, 2012, 23:07 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview managed to beat Windows 7 in a series of benchmarks run by PC World with the promise that the OS is "promising to be the leanest, most efficient incarnation of Windows to date."
The test version of Windows 8 beat Windows 7 in most performance tests including benchmarks such as PC World's own WorldBench 7 benchmark and web browsing performance. That said, the preview software failed to beat Windows 7 in office productivity benchmarks.
The Windows 8 Consumer Preview managed a score of 114 in Worldbench 7 versus a baseline 100 for the mature Windows 7 OS. PC World also pointed out that Windows 8 boots considerably faster, taking just 37 seconds from a cold start, versus Windows 7's 56 seconds, a speed up of 35 per cent.
It seems that Windows 8's web browser Internet Explorer 10 also runs faster on the new OS, delivering 29 frames per second in a benchmark that managed just 19 on Windows 7, a fact attributed to greater levels of hardware acceleration supported on the OS.
"Even in its early form, this is promising to be the leanest, most efficient incarnation of Windows to date," PC World concluded.
That said, they did repeatedly draw attention to the fact that the new Metro interface of Windows 8 was controversial and that it wasn't a "runaway hit" with their readership.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...chmarks/028131
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March 27th, 2012, 01:29 Posted By: wraggster
The contentious DRM systems that often accompany Ubisoft's PC releases may be made obsolete, should the publisher's plans for enhanced post-launch/community support prove as effective as its hoping.
The plan is to make pirating the least attractive consumer option by updating, supporting and providing "companion gaming" services for Ubisoft's PC releases, similar to how MMOs generally function. "As the rest of the game industry continues to evolve, the more you hear about cloud gaming, the more you hear about companion gaming, the less a pirated game should work in all of that environment," said Ubisoft VP of digital publishing Chris Early during an interview with Eurogamer.
By providing a healthy regiment of ancillary content and post-launch support, Ubisoft's PC gaming ecosystem will be so irresistible that people will stop pirating, and once that happens the publisher will be able to relax its DRM standards. Now, eradicating the whole world of theft sounds like it'll take some time, but Early maintains that Ubisoft's DRM will be as convenient as possible in the meantime: "We want to find ways that don't inconvenience that player who is paying for it. We've had a variety of degrees of success as we wind our way down that path. Our plan, our hope is we stay on the less intrusive, less cumbersome side of that path as we go on."
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/ub...rt-and-conten/
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March 27th, 2012, 01:16 Posted By: wraggster
Ronimo Games is currently working toward bringing its upcoming 2D MOBA title, Awesomenauts, to PC. Speaking to Joystiq, Ronimo's Jasper Koning and Olivier Thijssen revealed that the company is actively pursuing a PC version to follow the XBLA and PSN releases later this year. "It is our number one request, actually," said Thijssen, noting that the MOBA genre is very popular on PC. He added that Ronimo is "not 100 percent sure yet [that] we are going to do it, but we definitely want to do it."
Koning stated that Ronimo is in talks with Awesomenauts' console publisher DTP regarding a possible PC port. The biggest hurdle for a Steam version would be rebuilding the game's backend, something the studio doesn't currently have the capacity to do, though it is currently talking to Valve about the issue. Ronimo is also working on mouse and keyboard control schemes in order to support a broad range of players. "If we go to PC, we want to do it full on," said Koning, referencing League of Legends, which receives new content on a regular basis and has plenty of unlockable content to begin with.
The jump to PC would certainly make sense, as we've already seen other other downloadable titles find success after making the jump from consoles to PC. Recent examples include Monday Night Combat and Dungeon Defenders, both of which see copious downloadable content and frequent updates on PC, something rarely seen on PSN and XBLA thanks to costly and lengthy certification processes.
Stay tuned for the rest of the interview and an Awesomenauts preview later this week.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/ro...menauts-to-pc/
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March 27th, 2012, 00:55 Posted By: wraggster
Last week marked the launch of Wing Commander Saga: Darkest Dawn, a fan-built companion to Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger that's been in the making for the past ten years. It's a real labor of love. Now that the game is available, the question is, how good is it? "The game dropped on Thursday, I started playing Friday, and as of this writing (Sunday afternoon), my weekend chore list is gathering dust on the fridge. I've been too busy cursing my decision to chuck my Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 to notice. 'If I'd kept it just one more year I wouldn't have this problem,' I mutter, fingers splayed over the keyboard in a vain attempt to convince my Hellcat to bank like something other than a Centaurian Mud Pig. Wing Commander Saga is a fan-made game that's good enough to be worth paying for. Not only is it better than a lot of schlock companies expect you to pay for, it pays homage to its source material while improving on Wing Commander's classic gameplay and graphics.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...oodness-reborn
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March 27th, 2012, 00:54 Posted By: wraggster
New submitter petval tips another amazing Minecraft project: a functioning scientific/graphing calculator. "On a virtual scale, the functional device is enormous — enough so that anyone in the real world would become a red blot of meat and bone staining the road if they fell from the very top. Honestly, his virtual machine looks more like a giant cargo ship ripped from a sci-fi movie than a working calculator. Yet type your problem out on the keypad, and the answer appears on a large white display mounted on the side of the monstrous brick structure." The creator says it can do "6-digit addition and subtraction, 3-digit multiplication, division and trigonometric/scientific functions ... Graphing y=mx+c functions, quadratic functions, and equation solving of the form mx+c=0." We've previously discussed the creation of a 16-bit ALU in Minecraft.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...r-in-minecraft
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March 27th, 2012, 00:53 Posted By: wraggster
Ever since the tablet market exploded, we've seen a wide range of designs find both success and failure. But most of the tablets on the market have something in common: they are primarily designed for adults or at least children old enough to be responsible for a fragile device. Particularly for the popular iPad, we have seen a number of specialized cases design to protect the tablet for use with young ones. But a small cadre of tablets aimed specifically at kids -- including preschoolers -- begs several questions. Are tablets good tools for kids? Is there value in optimizing them for kids? And if so, how should they be optimized?
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/25/t...oys-no-really/
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