Tech Culture

Study: Women love games but fear social stigmas

Long viewed as a male-dominated hobby, video games are increasingly attracting the interest of women--a trend that hasn't gone unnoticed by the video game industry.

In an attempt to learn more about how the growing number of social games resonate with women, Q Interactive and Engage Expo surveyed 700 women to see how they really feel.

The researchers found that about 54 percent of those surveyed play social games every day, but only 42 percent of respondents consider themselves "gamers." Just 7 percent of women say that they're "obsessed" with games.

Q Interactive also … Read more

How will Xbox Live work on Windows Phone 7?

Apple may have the iPhone, but the iPhone doesn't have the Xbox. On Monday, Microsoft leveraged its most compelling entertainment asset, the Xbox 360, into the Windows Phone 7 Series. But what does this mean, practically speaking?

(Note: If you don't understand what the heck Windows Phone 7 is, read this first.)

Here's the official word from Microsoft on how WP7 will incorporate Xbox Live.

Games--This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox Live experience on a phone, including Xbox Live games, Spotlight feed, and the ability to see a gamer's avatar, Achievements, and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox Live unlocks a world of friends, games, and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.

What we saw in Microsoft's demo Monday fleshes that concept out a bit. There will be a Spotlight section, with your Xbox Live avatar and notice of friends' achievements. And of course, there will be games--"premium titles" with achievements and multiplayer connected to other cell phones, PCs, and Xbox 360 consoles.

Don't let the simple interface fool you. Xbox Live on a phone is more than having your avatar on one more screen because of the three types of games I believe we'll see on Windows Phone 7.… Read more

Halo: Reach to go into multiplayer beta on May 3

SAN FRANCISCO--If Master Chief means something to you, then get ready. The Halo: Reach multiplayer beta will open up on May 3.

"Reach," as it's being called, is the latest iteration of the hugely popular Halo franchise for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The game is expected to ship sometime this fall, but before that, "millions" of Halo fans will get a chance to play the game and help its developer, Bungie, get the title ready for the masses.

Just this week, Halo: Reach entered private alpha, and on May 3, fans who already have Halo: ODST will be able to access the Reach multiplayer beta using their ODST discs.

For Microsoft and Bungie, Halo: Reach is a crucial title this year. The Xbox has been performing strongly over the last year, but Sony's PlayStation 3 has finally begun to make up some ground on it over the last few months. For Bungie, the game is an opportunity to take on the success of Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has set records as the best-selling console game of all time.

According to Bungie creative director Marcus Lehto, Reach is a standalone prequel to the existing Halo series, offering fans of the hit franchise an entirely new story and new characters on a scale unlike what Bungie has done with the game before.

Lehto explained that Reach will have a much darker story line and will focus on a "key turning point in the Human-Covenant War." Halo: Reach takes place in 2552.

In the new game, the planet Reach is humankind's last line of defense against the Covenant. But the planet is also home to the Spartan program, the heart of the human military. The game focuses on one group of Spartans known as Noble Team, led by Carter 259. … Read more

U.S. Army builds Web game to promote military life

Creating further proof that the U.S. Army plans to use video games to attract gamers, the organization has announced the launch of its Race for Strength online game.

To play the game, users must print out a "palm card" from the site. After printing it out, they need to start up their Webcams and point it at themselves. As the game starts, they control the Nascar car in the game with the palm card, which they move like a steering wheel in front of their Webcam to control the action on-screen.

The goal of the game, the … Read more

Keep your 20-sided dice, I have D&D on the Surface

When I initially saw Microsoft's Surface multitouch tabletop device about three years ago, the first thing I thought, as a geek, was how absolutely perfect it would be for Dungeons and Dragons games. One reason these games tend to be the domain of geeks is that they require math, and lots of it. Line-of-sight for attacks; variables for cover and concealment; modifiers for things like how much weight can be carried and whether your character is currently on fire--all these can make the game a laborious process for those who don't have a love of such things.

Then I heard that some whiz kids with Carnegie Mellon's SurfaceScapes team had been developing just what I wanted: D&D for the Surface. After a few e-mails, I got word that the team would be showing it off for the people at Microsoft and that Yours Truly, living in Seattle, would have a chance to try it out. You'd better believe I was excited.

And not just because of the novelty. The Surface did indeed live up to its potential as a gaming platform. There are no cumbersome character sheets with stats, abilities, and so forth; all that stuff is handled in the game's brain so you're free to shoot magic missiles at orcs.

The figurines--optional in regular D&D but great tools here--are "tagged" with dot codes on the bottom. The Surface is able to use its tiny cameras to view these unique codes and determine which character is where on the game grid. This means the game can automatically determine line-of-fire angles and keep track of enemy health.

This really speeds things up. A combat round in traditional D&D can take awhile. Initiative, roll-to-hit, damage, movement, and everything else has to be calculated. The program on the Surface automates all of this. Instead of several minutes, the combat round we tried (in which we killed a couple of weak orcs) took only a minute or two. And it was more fun. … Read more

Steam gamers: Windows XP, Nvidia, Intel rule

Microsoft's Windows XP, Nvidia's video cards, and Intel's processors are what computer gamers use most, if the January hardware survey of Steam, an online service of developer Valve that delivers video games straight to a user's desktop, is any indication.

Windows XP, running 42.15 percent of Steam users' PCs, remained the most popular operating system, ahead of Microsoft successors Windows Vista and the current Windows 7. January marked the first month, however, that the Windows 7 64-bit edition has surpassed Windows Vista in gamer popularity, accounting for 19.5 percent of Steam use, compared to … Read more

Man texts Greece to get rescued in New Zealand

I have come to terms with the truth: however hard I try, there are some things (and people) I will never understand.

Please let me present Marios Symeonidis. He decided to go on a trip to New Zealand. I can understand that. New Zealand is pretty. It doesn't have many inhabitants. And some of the locals like to perform blissfully threatening dances before rugby matches.

According to a Monday report by Reuters, Symeonidis decided to wander up Mount Ruapehu with a friend. I understand this too. There is some great skiing up on Ruapehu.

Our intrepid tourist then encountered … Read more

Alleged Mario pirate agrees to pay $1.3 million

Nintendo doesn't take kindly to people who put one of its major releases onto the Web before it hits store shelves.

According to a report Tuesday in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, a man has agreed to pay Nintendo 1.5 million Australian dollars (or $1.3 million) for loss of sales revenue after he allegedly illegally copied and uploaded to the Web the New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii prior to the game's Australian release last year.

Australia's Copyright Act outlaws copying and distributing video games without prior approval. Nintendo cited the Copyright Act when … Read more

EA losses drop, but sales and outlook decline

Despite job layoffs and other cost cuts, Electronic Arts is still struggling to dig out of its current financial hole.

The game maker reported Monday that its fiscal third-quarter net loss narrowed to $82 million, down from a loss of $641 million in the year-ago quarter. Its quarter ended December 31.

EA was on a tear last year to slash expenses--laying off staff, closing down studios, and trimming its product line. But sluggish game sales, especially in Europe, took their toll on fiscal third-quarter revenue, which fell 25 percent to $1.24 billion from $1.65 billion in the year-ago … Read more