Archive for May 9th, 2008
« Previous EntriesThis Coffee Table Thinks It’s An NES Controller [Retro]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
How cute! We love it when furniture has delusions of gaming hardware. Well, the joke's on us, because this particular coffee table does triple duty, storage gobs of video game paraphernalia and functioning as a working NES controller in addition to its coffee tabling duties. Creator Kyle tipped us off today to let us know the whole thing is finished, with helpful how-to posts and video of the thing in action embedded within the celebratory completion post. He even got a girl to go near it and she doesn't look scared. Nice goin, Kyle!
NES coffee table FINAL POST!! RAH!!!! [Ultra-Awesome]
Conan Drills Deeper Into GTA IV’s Kinder, Gentler Side… Again [Clips]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
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Late Night with Conan O'Brien is certainly getting some mileage out of its "Gentler Side of Grand Theft Auto IV" shtick. This one's more of a B-sides than a Best Of—his earlier effort was much much better—but that doesn't mean it's not worth watching. (Glad someone else noticed that Niko is partial to checking out his ass in jeans.) We're just thrilled Conan and crew are educating the public about the nice things one can do while in Liberty City.
View and Edit iPhone Notes in Your Browser with RemoteNote [IPhone]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
iPhone/iPod touch only: The lamest omission in the whole of iPhone development is the lack of sync for Notes. Let's be honest—the iPhone keyboard is nice, but you don't want to have to use it for all your notes. That's where RemoteNote comes in, a donationware iPhone application available through Installer.app. Whenever you run it, you can view, edit create, delete, backup, and even print your notes through your web browser. Similar shareware tools have been available, but RemoteNote is the first no-cost option I've seen. RemoteNote works with both the iPhone and iPod touch, requires installation of the Jiggy Runtime (also from Installer) and a jailbroken iPhone. Thanks Lee!
Poker: The Redemption [Day Note]
Friday, May 9th, 2008To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: Wife Back Home (What Fetuses Wear)
Tonight I'm meeting up with a slew of local developers for round two of our monthly poker night. If you don't recall, I managed to lose $60 at a $20 poker game last time round. This time, I plan on at least not buying in three times. Big talk, I know, but a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.
What you missed:
Bad Company Demo Coming June 5th
New SOCOM Confrontation Screens
Call of Duty 5 To Feature "New Military Theater"
New Wrath Of The Lich King Details Galore
Will Verbinski Make BioShock The First Great Game Flick?
BioWare Backs Down From Draconian Mass Effect Authentication
Spore To Use Online Authentication
echochrome Review: Poppin', Lockin' and Thinkin'
MGS4 Character Spoiler
Photoshop Express Adds Flickr Support [Photoshop]
Friday, May 9th, 2008Web-based image editor Photoshop Express adds Flickr to its list of importable sources. Now you can grab images from your Flickr account, edit them in PS Express, and put them back all prettified without downloading a thing. It's not full-on Photoshop, but still a great web-based editor for your Flickr photos.
How to locate pinhole cameras
Friday, May 9th, 2008
The method for locating pinhole cameras is the same as the method for locating field spiders. All you need is a source of light like a flashlight and decent eyesight. It also helpful to have a toilet paper tube.Get a tube
Find a tube that's good for looking through. A cardboard tube from a roll ...
By: w1n5t0n
Reminder: Get Your Gears Of War 2 Fix Tonight. … [Gears Of War 2]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Reminder: Get Your Gears Of War 2 Fix Tonight. Both GameTrailers TV and 1UP have promised a first look at Epic Games highly anticipated Xbox 360 sequel tonight so set your alarm clock and/or DVR accordingly. 1UP promises its Gears of War 2 GameVideos.com footage is exclusive, but GT TV used three exclamation points in its media blast, so we're equally excited about both.
What Are You Playing This Weekend? [Lazy Sundays]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Last night we had a bit of a gaming bender at Kotaku Towers West, a night filled with Wii Fit, We Ski, and Rock Band. The highlight, of course, was a two hour Cruis'n session—the Wii shitware title that was finally freed from its shrinkwrap confines last night to much amusement. It's absolutely the most unintentionally hilarious game I've ever played, with some of the sloppiest game design ever... even for a Cruis'n title. Rarely has a game brought me to tears with laughter, so Cruis'n should at least be lauded for that. Highly recommended for your next game night, especially if booze is available.
This weekend I'll be ditching the Cruis'n as I get back to R-Type Command and continue my Rock Band duties, now with added Boston. How about you? Weekend plans?
Convert Any Text to an iTunes-Compatible Audiobook [Audiobooks]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Web site Mac OS X Hints details how to create an iTunes audiobook (i.e., an M4B audio file) from any text in just a couple of clicks. The process involves installing a new service to your Services menu, then selecting your to-be-audiobooked text and choosing AppName -> Services -> Speak to iTunes Audiobook. When the conversion is complete, the resulting audio file is automatically imported to iTunes in the Audiobooks section. The service uses the new Alex voice in Leopard, and the results are actually very listenable.
EA Takes Out $1 Billion Loan For Take-Two Acquisition [Ea Bid For Take Two]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
SEC filings have revealed that Electronic Arts borrowed $1 billion from Morgan Stanley and other lenders to help finance a possible acquisition of Take-Two.
"There's no news here," said EA VP of communications Jeff Brown. "This is just a process point on something we announced in February."
With $2.3 billion on hand in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, EA already has the funds available to do the deal as it currently stands. With the deal not contingent on financing, why borrow more money?
"It helps us maintain maximum flexibility for any opportunities," said Brown.
Take-Two had no comment as of press time.
Call of Duty 5 Already Playable [Rumor]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Sources tell us that the upcoming Call of Duty 5 game in development is already playable, and currently going through quality assurance.
Treyarch is also said to be the developer, and the title, we're told, is set in a WWII Pacific environment and will be using Call of Duty 4's engine, the same engine on which the upcoming James Bond: Quantum of Solace movie game is being built.
Yesterday, on the company's call to investors, Activision publishing CEO Mike Griffith said CoD5 would be coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and DS, in addition to a return for the franchise to PS2 and Wii for the first time in two years.
Wii Grabs A Slice Of PSP Japanese Hardware Sales [Simple 2000: The Japanese Hardware Chart]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Inasmuch as the Japanese software story stays largely the same, as does weekly hardware sales. The PSP continues to sit pretty atop the Media Create sales charts, but regular "Simple 2000: The Japanese Hardware Chart" watchers will notice that the big black slice is starting to thin. A big Wii sales boost has plenty to do with that, but Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sales trending down—holiday boost notwithstanding—is likely accountable. Numbers were up across the board, but Nintendo benefited the most.
- PSP - 100,870
- Wii - 71,518
- Nintendo DS - 52,542
- PlayStation 3 - 10,177
- PlayStation 2 - 8,802
- Xbox 360 - 1,725
Tobu Organizes Notes and Lists Like Nobody’s Business [Featured Download]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Windows/Linux only: Freeware application Tobu is a tag-based note-taking tool with an emphasis on efficiency and keyboard shortcuts. Like most capture applications of this kind, Tobu may take some time to fully understand and integrate into your workflow, but you'll likely be rewarded once you do. I haven't spent enough of that time with Tobu, but after FreewareGenius' rave review, it looks like a strong alternative to shareware-only, previously mentioned Evernote (though it's lacking the multimedia element). Tobu is freeware, currently in beta, Windows and Linux only.
MGS4’s Old Snake Action Figure [Metal Gear Solid 4]
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Reader Tony writes it to show off this Metal Gear Solid 4 Old Snake action figure he made by heavily customizing a Dark Knight movie Batman figure. Pretty cool, though it does look a little Thunderbirds are Go! to me. More shots on the jump.
Secret MGS4 Character Leaked? [The Dead Walk]
Friday, May 9th, 2008We've seen a teaser that suggests that Metal Gear Solid 4 will feature significant flashbacks to the story's early days, so it's possible that everyone's favorite tragic soldier-turned-despot will show up alongside the other blasts from the past. But Big Boss is dead for good, right?
Right?
Possible spoilers follow the jump, so if you'd rather not speculate on anything MGS 4-related, steer clear.
Some screenshots obtained by GameGuru appear to hint at the presence, somehow, some way, of the Metal Gear Solid series' patriarch making an appearance in the upcoming MGS 4:
Muses the GameGuru:
There can be a number of ways to look at this, either Big Boss has been genetically modified and recreated once again by Liquid Ocelot in the game and Metal Gear Solid 4 ends quite like the very first original game, a classic battle between the Big Boss and his prodigy and Solid Snake cannot bear this guilt for the nth time and finally kills himself ending his family feud, and hence the saga finishes.
It sounds farfetched, but then again, so does the idea of the President turning out to be a clone, or the late Liquid, evil Big Boss copy, controlling Russian jack-of-all-trades and gunslinger Ocelot through his arm, and those did happen![*]
Solid Snake, aged and ravaged by the FoxDie virus, is not in such good health these days, and Kojima has often suggested that this might be Snake's last sortie. But if the death of the "old killer" is to be the close of an era for the Metal Gear franchise, you can leave it to Kojima to close it out well. And that just might mean giving Snake an opportunity to confront all the ghosts of his past - and what ghost is more significant than that of his dear old "dad"?
(* Oops, correction made. Total misfire indeed. I was so excited I screwed up my enfant terrible super-soldiers.)
Big Boss Returns in MGS4, Mandatory Installation Of Game Necessary? [GameGuru.in]