If only we had had access to this sort of technology back in 1983. The movie WarGames would have been so much better. "Would you like to play a game? How about Resistance: Fall of Man?"

IBM unveils fast new computer for US Energy Dept. [Newsday.com]

Ma Bell, meet Joe Gamer: Sony Online Entertainment Ushers in New Era OF voice chat FOR ONLINE GAMES with powerful suite of Communication services

- SOE Gives In-Game Chat an Audio Overhaul in Agreement with Vivox® -

San Francisco, Calif. — February 20, 2008 — Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, is poised to revolutionize the way gamers stay connected with sophisticated new voice services where fellow gamers and guild mates are never more than a shout away.

Need standard chat for groups and raids? Check. Don't want to tie up your own bandwidth? Roger that. Want your voice to sound completely different? Done. Late for your raid but want to take part in the group setup by cell phone? Can do. Dream of having in-game voicemail? There ya go. Playing a non-SOE game but want to use this service, free of charge? Aye.

These powerful community building features and tools are coming to SOE games at no additional cost to players and go far beyond basic real-time chat with the usual headset and microphone setup that is commonly used today.

In an agreement announced Wednesday at the Game Developers Conference between SOE and Vivox Inc., an established provider of high quality voice communications, players will be able to access a suite of voice communication tools including voice mail, voice fonts to synthesize player voices into in-game character voices, and the ability to receive external calls in SOE games.

"We're proud to offer this level of communication power and flexibility to gamers. These new voice services not only replace many of the voice chat options currently available but add a broad range of capabilities that streamline communication and empower gamers to maintain their online relationships in both the real and virtual worlds," said John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment. "We are giving gamers the ultimate one-stop shop to stay in touch at all times."

Beyond voice and guild chat channels, North American players will get a special PIN number to dial in from either a land line or cell phone and connect with fellow guild members. SOE anticipates adding additional features including voicemail, broadcast messages, SMS text messaging and an initial offering of six high-quality voice fonts that replace a player's actual voice with something completely different.

With the 3D voice chat, players will be able to walk their avatars into the taverns in EverQuest II, for example, and strike up a conversation with players like they would walking into a tavern or restaurant in the real world. Gamers can manage their conversations with buddy lists, volume controls and commands to leave and join audio channels at will.

SOE's plan is to add these services to SOE's games, as well as integrate it with SOE's Station Launcher, so anyone who uses the Station Launcher, even if they don't otherwise subscribe to an SOE game, can take advantage of these powerful voice chat capabilities. Furthermore, the voice features will be hosted and professionally managed on the Vivox Network so users won't be cutting into their valuable bandwidth.

"We are thrilled to team up with SOE to bring Vivox voice chat and related services to their game community," said Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox. "SOE is an industry leader with a long history of offering exceptional games and innovative services to players. Their plan to offer such a comprehensive voice service to their gamers is just another reflection of their commitment to delivering the best possible game experience and fostering community."

SOE's current catalog of massively multiplayer online games includes EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Star Wars Galaxies, PlanetSide and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, as well as upcoming titles such as The Agency.

Havok Gives Artists Unprecendented Control With Introduction of Cloth and Destruction

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ — Havok(TM), the premier provider of interactive software and services to digital creators in the games and movie industries, today unveiled Havok Cloth(TM) and Havok Destruction(TM) at the 2008 Game Developers Conference (ES162, West Hall). Available for the first time in mid-2008, these two products provide artists with dramatically increased control over interactive cloth and destructible objects within games.

Built on Havok's award-winning modular suite of run-time technology and artists tools, Havok Cloth(TM) and Havok Destruction(TM) will feature out-of-the-box integration with Havok Physics(TM) and Havok Animation(TM), dramatically accelerating the development of cross platform, cutting edge electronic entertainment across all leading game platforms.

"With the release of Havok Cloth and Havok Destruction, the company adds both depth and breadth to our market-dominating suite of physics tools," said David O'Meara, Managing Director of Havok. "Innovative and easy to utilize, Havok Cloth and Destruction are powerful, flexible tools giving art teams more control in the design process, resulting in a more realistic interactive experience for gamers."

David Coghlan, Vice President of Development for Havok said, "Havok Cloth and Havok Destruction will further increase the standard of realism and immersion in games. Havok Cloth enables scalable clothing that will significantly enhance the visual impact of on-screen characters. Havok Destruction will drive high-adrenaline action scenes with unprecedented levels of physics mayhem."

Havok Cloth(TM) is a new performance-optimized development tool designed to minimize the time that game artists spend on animating the behavior of character garments and environmental cloth. It enables increased realism for cutting-edge games, is easily customizable and fits into today's workflow without burdening artists, animators or programmers.

Havok Cloth(TM) features:
— Highly realistic physically-based simulation of cloth and character
clothing with low CPU and memory overhead
— Multithreaded and platform-optimized (including PLAYSTATION(R)3)
— Artist-driven control of the full range of cloth behavioral properties
such as stretching, damping and bending
— Artist-friendly, modeller-based, cloth setup tools

Havok Destruction(TM) is the cross-platform tool for simulation of rigid body destruction. Destruction gives the game artist total control over the simulation, drastically reducing the production time and cost of creating large numbers of realistic destructible game objects. Havok Destruction can create a completely new game play experience by giving additional realism to structural mechanics, graphical effects and game level design.

Havok Destruction(TM) features:
— Dynamic fracture of game objects including: shattering, fracture and
deformation.
— Software Development Kit that is fully multithreaded, optimized for
the PLAYSTATION(R)3 and Xbox 360(R) and makes optimal use of Havok
Physics
— Art Tool Support

Physics is extremely demanding in terms of resources and some of the ideas that I have developed here are not currently achievable — but the advances in the tools and technologies are foreseeable, giving us the power in the future. From now on, gameplay can be improved with uses that are not just cosmetic. The development of dynamic game environments that the player can change on the fly is already a trend in today's level design. Physics makes this evolution possible.

Physics is more than skin deep? It's a short article and not too heavy on the science speak.

Physics in Games: A New Gameplay Frontier [Gamasutra]

In another experiment a hammer was swung towards the neck of the 3D construct, causing subjects to start to sweat, feeling as if they were about to be struck.

"This was a bizarre, fascinating experience for the participants - it felt absolutely real for them," Dr. Ehrsson says.

"This is essentially a means of projecting yourself, a form of teleportation. If we can project people into a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications. The experience of playing video games could reach a whole new level."

My one worry about the technology used in gaming applications is that it could be far too real. I've been scared out of my wits playing horror games in the past. What if it were so real I felt I was in the game itself? I could easily see gaming-induced panic attacks occurring. How real do we want to get?

How to be in two places at once [globeandmail.com - Thanks Julian!]

Using the Xbox 360 platform it will be possible to target gamers based on behavioral data and distribute alpha and beta game builds to select consoles. Gamers will be able to test these early stage game builds privately in their homes and builds will be rapidly deployed across the network.

It is an interesting concept, surely, and one that could be implemented across all existing platforms. Imagine using data gathered from the Everybody Vote Channel on the Wii to develop a focus group, or tracking PS3 store purchases for a similar purpose? It would be much easier for developers, and of course platform producers would have an entirely new revenue stream to tap into by hosting such services. Sounds like a win all around to me.

The entire article is a fascinating look into the past, present, and one possible future for game concept testing. Hit up the link below, but beware if you are afraid of long words - Owen Davis knows all of them.

Using Xbox Live for Concept Testing [Next Generation]
Image via bits, bytes, pixels and spriteshttp://www.thebbps.com/blog/

amBX is a very cool and innovative technology that allows your games to stand out in a very crowded marketplace," commented John E. Williamson, President, Zombie.

Sure, I can see it making your game stand out, but is their enough consumer interest in the technology to make it more than a niche novelty sort of thing?

I find it amazing that the technology is gaining such support from the industry, seeing as it basically makes developers add in extra software hooks to their games to support equipment that the end user may or may not even have access to. I remember when rumble technology was in its infancy that often times developers opted to forego supporting it simply because not everyone would be using it, and that was nowhere near as complex or expensive as needing a specialized monitor or television to produce colored light.

Could I be completely off about the viability of amBX? Ten years from now will integration with Philips' technology be part of standard gaming review criteria? Of course it won't, and even if I turn out to be horribly wrong I'll have adopted a pseudonym and a very convincing wig by then and you'll never be able to find me to rub it in.

PHILIPS GIVES SIX OF THE BEST AT DEVELOP
Develop, Brighton, United Kingdom - Philips today announced six new developer license agreements to its popular amBX platform. Gearbox Software, Zombie, Riot Games, Brain in a Jar, Invictus Games and Instinct Technology, have all become amBX licensees.

Shorthand for 'ambient experiences', amBX revolutionises the gameplay experience by extending the gaming world out of the screen and into the real world. amBX delivers a full 'sensory surround experience' by equipping game developers with a tool box to use light, colour, sound and even air flow through enabled devices, including the Philips amBX PC Gaming Peripherals range of LED colour-controlled lighting, rumble peripherals and desktop fans.

The developer signings represent a strong cross section of the worldwide development community, including Hungary-based Invictus Games, Los Angeles-based Riot Games and Seattle-based Zombie joining Texas-based Gearbox Software, developer of the hugely successful and critically acclaimed Brothers in Arms and one of the largest independent developers in the world.

"amBX is a very cool and innovative technology that allows your games to stand out in a very crowded marketplace," commented John E. Williamson, President, Zombie.

The agreement with Ireland-based Instinct Technology will see amBX used through Instinct Studio as part of future middleware solutions to the game development industry.

"We're really thrilled that Philips has partnered with us to allow amBX features to be exposed through Instinct Studio, furthering our aim of offering best in class support for complementary technologies within the Instinct Studio development environment," commented Mike Gamble, Business Development Director.

Representing the best of British, amongst the raft of amBX signings, is Cheshire-based Brain in a Jar.

"With our move to latest generation technology in the form of our soon to be announced Xbox 360 and PC racing game, Philips amBX is the perfect partner for enhancing the gaming experience on offer from our studio," commented Carl Dalton, Creative Director.

Philips is setting a global standard by licensing the amBX technology to computer game developers, publishers and peripherals manufacturers and Gearbox Software, Zombie, Riot Games, Brain in a Jar, Invictus Games and Instinct Technology join a rapidly growing list of games industry companies supporting amBX-enabled games and peripherals, including Codemasters, THQ, Introversion, Kuju, Revolution, Sumo Digital, Rivers Run Red, Philips Peripherals & Accessories and SpectraVideo. Philips is currently in the closing stages of agreements with a number of other high profile companies regarding amBX-enabling all kinds of games.

Tilt sensing is pretty useless.

Okay, not exactly true. A game built around tilt sensing like flOw or that damn duck game can be downright entertaining, but the 360 doesn't have any of those games...so why? Should you void your warranty, crack open your controller and drip solder onto the circuitry to create something far more complex than you'd ever need?

Everything required to enjoy the latest sensation in console gaming on Xbox 360™ comes in a convenient package and requires only seven wires to solder.

Talismoon's Xbox 360 Tiltboard [Product Page at Talismoon]

Just in time for me to purchase an ATI X1950! Feel free to tell me in comments if I made a good purchase there, as my knowledge of video cards is second only to my knowledge of basket weaving. All I know if there is colored fog in C&C 3 where once there was none, and I am happy.

Meanwhile, the new NVIDIA cards should be showing up in stores everywhere by the beginning of next month, so you can pick one and feel bad you didn't spring for the 8800 instead. Press release in full 3D, after the jump. Michael Fahey

NVIDIA BRINGS CUTTING-EDGE DIRECTX 10 GRAPHICS AND HD VIDEO TO ALL PC USERS

Features and Performance of GeForce 8 Series Now Available at Lower Price Points

SANTA CLARA, CA—APRIL 17, 2007—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced the extension of the award-winning NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series line-up to include three new graphics processing units (GPUs), bringing high-resolution gaming, stunning Microsoft Windows VistaTM graphics, and stellar HD DVD and Blu-ray video playback to virtually everyone regardless of budget. The new GPUs that complete the world's first top-to-bottom family of DirectX 10 GPUs include:

NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT

These three GPUs join the previously announced NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS, rounding out the product family.

"With Windows Vista being the first operating system to require a GPU to fully realise its graphics potential and with the growing list of popular software applications that take advantage of a dedicated graphics processor, GPUs are no longer a luxury required only by hardcore gamers," said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of the GPU business unit at NVIDIA. "These new GPUs extend the reach of our award-winning GeForce 8 Series and offer cutting-edge, next-generation features to everyone from the hardcore gamer to the casual PC user."

"DirectX 10 means higher performance and better looking PC graphics," said Chris Donahue, group manager, games for Windows at Microsoft. "We are thrilled to see that NVIDIA has taken the first step to help application developers and end users adopt the newest 3D graphics API, by making DirectX 10-compliant GPUs available from top-to-bottom for every type of desktop PC user."

All three new cards feature PureVideo HD technology which leverages the revolutionary second-generation video-processing engine in the GeForce 8500 and GeForce 8600 GPUs to deliver the highest-quality playback of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies on everyday PCs. The new programmable video processing engine takes on all of the high definition H.264 HD video decoding, freeing the CPU to perform other tasks and significantly reducing power consumption, heat, and noise.

"Sony Pictures is enthusiastic about the ability to play Blu-ray movies on the PC," said Don Eklund, executive vice president, advanced technologies at Sony Pictures. "The new state-of-the-art NVIDIA GeForce 8500 and GeForce 8600 cards will enable consumers to enjoy Blu-ray movies on mainstream PCs."

With GeForce 8600 GTS and GeForce 8600 GT-based graphic cards, NVIDIA is enabling exceptional performance at price points PC gamers love. The GeForce 8600 GPUs are ideal graphics solutions for the latest NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI -based motherboards, which are designed to deliver maximum performance to gamers. The combination of the nForce 650i motherboard and the GeForce 8600 GPU forms a hardware foundation that allows consumers to build their own killer, PC-gaming platforms, enabling high-resolution and high-performance gaming, plus stellar high-definition visuals, at prices that don't break the bank.

Built for Windows Vista, GeForce 8500 GT cards are designed for both casual gamers and for non-gamers, delivering the ultimate in HD video playback along with unprecedented levels of graphics realism, gaming performance and value.

GeForce 8 Series GPUs are the only DirectX 10 GPUs currently available and are the reference GPUs for DirectX 10 API development and certification. GeForce 8 Series GPUs include all required hardware functionality defined in the Microsoft Direct3D 10 specification, with full support for the DirectX 10 unified shader instruction set and Shader Model 4 capabilities. In addition, every GeForce 8 Series GPU features the NVIDIA PureVideo HD video processor, the NVIDIA Lumenex engine for superior image quality, and the NVIDIA Quantum Effects technology for simulation and rendering of stunning visual effects in games.

Graphics cards based on GeForce 8600 GTS GPUs are available now from leading retail outlets, system builders, and OEMs. Graphics cards based on GeForce 8600 GT and GeForce 8500 GT will be available on or before May 1, 2007.

###

"Experiences tell us kids or adolescents simply don't stop playing games when faced with forceful measures. Such attempts can also cause many side effects,'' (Xtive president) Yun said. "But our newly developed sound sequence tells them to stop playing on their own. We think this can make a real difference in the war against obsessive game play.''

Acoustic Wave Prevents Game Addiction [Korean Times, via GamePolitics]

Game controllers seem to be lawsuit magnets. First Immersion sues Microsoft and Sony for the use of patented rumble technology, and now a company called Fenner Investments from Texas claims that the aforementioned plus Nintendo have willfully infringed on their controller related patent. The company does indeed hold a patent on a low voltage joystick port similar to what you'd find on the GameCube, Xbox, and PS2, so it should be interesting to see how this all plays out for the big three.

So how does an investment company end up with the patent on such a prolific device? It's most likely a case of patent trolling, where companies actively search for something widely used and unpatented, then sue the people who are using it once the patent goes through. The patent in question was filed in 1998 and awarded in 2001, and I am pretty sure such ports were in use before then.

Steve Bryant at Google Watch did some digging and discovered that Fenner Investments had also sued various cell phone companies over a patent they hold on "a method and apparatus for managing a communications network for mobile users." Yep, low-life patent trolls. Michael Fahey

Off Topic: Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo Sued over Joystick Design [Google Watch via Slashdot]

A group of computer graphics tech students at Purdue's Envision Center for Data Perceptualizatoin have thrown together a bunch of cool technologies to create a virtual world designed to teach deaf children math.

The world relies on stereoscopic glasses, a device to track head movement, a wrist tracker and telemetric "pinch gloves" to monitor hand and finger movement

The idea is that the child can go into this virtual world and interact with a cartoon rabbit, robot and pig with sign language, learning to count and do basic math in the process.

They wear lightweight stereoscopic glasses so the virtual reality images appear three-dimensional. A device monitors the student's head position so the environment is consistently redrawn to match the user's perspective. A wrist tracker and telemetric "pinch gloves" monitor the student's hand and finger movements allowing interaction with the virtual environment and prompting responses from the characters.

The virtual reality program is designed to provide early elementary school age students with disabilities with a number of active, individualized learning conditions:

The ability to control their environment.

The ability to engage in learning activities at their own pace.

The ability to repeat activities as needed.

The ability to see or feel items or processes in concrete terms.

The ability to practice daily living tasks in a safe and barrier-free
environment.

Motivation to succeed.

For example, in a virtual candy store environment the student communicates to the storekeeper in sign language, some of which is specific to mathematics. Pinch gloves allow students to count candies and to add and subtract by putting candy on or off the counter. The task can be repeated over and over at the student's own pace while providing consistent and understandable feedback.

What an amazing use of technology and computer games. While I'm blown away with the concept and its real word use a tiny part of me can't help but think "When can I play Gears of War with this set up?" Brian Crecente

Now, let's have NewScientist's Barry Fox, original source for said Gamespot news blurb, slow that down for us, with a little layman commentary for bonus points.

Sony's Tokyo labs are working on a clever way to get bulky electronic devices into small pockets. Their plan is to create handheld computers, phones and portable games consoles that fold up for carrying and then become rigid for use. The company's patent adds that the transition from soft to hard takes just milliseconds. It suggests that the same technique could even be used in a video game controller to make it jolt or change shape in response to on-screen action.

Cool. But why'd you have to get rid of the Dual Shock rumble feature, you cheapskates? Michael McWhertor

High-tech Sony patent has gaming potential [Gamespot]

Blu-Ray acolytes Matsushita is saying that talks of a unified format are now over. Slapping a truncheon capped with the gilded skull of a fetus into the palm of his hand, Matsushita executive officer Kazuhiro cried out: "We are not talking and will not talk!" He then added, "Stinking HD-DVD Imperialist Swine!"

What does this mean? Well, you might want to save your money on one of those brand new Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players until Sony's Playstation 3 kicks the HD-DVD standard like a fat kid at recess face first into the ground.

HD-DVD, Blu-ray Talks Over [1UP]

Just kidding, I love my Wavebird!

Mental Typewriter and Game Controller Becomes a Reality

It's not Jay-Z meets Weezer mash-up, but Ogle Earth points at a way to mash images from games together. The tech at OGLE (OpenGLExtractor) "observes the data flowing between 3D applications and the system's OpenGL library, and recording that data in a standard 3D file format." Basically, the tech allows 3D images from different sources to be formatted the same and then, integrated with each other. To continue with the mash-up reference in the first line, it'd be like modulating the key a song was in, so that it'd work alongside another song. Or something.

Ogle This: Screen Grabs [Ogle Earth]