Tech Culture

Atari dig aims to uncover infamous E.T. game cartridges

There's a special place 200 miles south of where I live. It's a place of legend, an ancient burial ground. Supposedly, a stretch of land near Alamogordo, N.M., is the final resting place for one of the most infamous disasters in gaming history: the Atari E.T. game.

According to a New York Times report from 1983, Atari dumped 14 truckloads of unsold game cartridges and other detritus into a landfill. "Guards kept reporters and spectators away from the area yesterday as workers poured concrete over the dumped merchandise," it reads.

The E.T. game earned its status as one of gaming's biggest bombs by pretty much stinking up the entire video game industry at the time. Critics and gamers alike hated the plot, the way it looked, and just about everything else about it. That's why Atari got stuck with several million unsold copies.… Read more

'Life': A comic book for the blind

Although the invention of the Braille system means the blind have access to the printed word, one printed medium, based as it is in visual storytelling, is impossible to enjoy without seeing it: the comic book. At least until Philipp Meyer, a design student at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, Germany, got involved.

His idea was twofold: create a story that's as graphically simplified as possible, and realize it in a way that is equally explorable to both the sighted and the blind. Thus was born Life: a simple tale told using only circles of varying textures … Read more

Internet ad sales reach new high of $9.6 billion

Revenue generated by online advertising hit a new record in the U.S. last quarter.

Total first-quarter sales hit $9.6 billion, up 15.6 percent from the $8.3 billion seen in the first quarter of 2012, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The latest numbers reflect an ongoing shift to Internet advertising on the part of marketers as revenue continues to grow by double digits.

"Consumers are turning to interactive media in droves to look for the latest information, to connect with their social networks, and simply to be entertained," IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg … Read more

Analyst: Expect sweeping console price cuts at E3

The E3 gaming conference that kicks off later this month might turn out to be a boon for deal-seekers.

In a note to investors Monday, Wedbush analyst and long-time gaming industry evaluator Michael Pachter said that he expects Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all to announce console price cuts at the show. He believes that Sony and Microsoft will both cut prices on their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, respectively, by "at least $50." Pachter also believes that the Wii will drop to $99 -- down from the $129.99 the company is currently selling some bundles for.

Perhaps … Read more

Oculus VR co-founder, 33, killed by speeding car

Andrew Scott Reisse, co-founder of the company that made the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset, was struck and killed while walking in a crosswalk Thursday, ABC has reported.

The 33-year-old co-founder and lead engineer at Oculus VR in Irvine, Calif., was hit in Santa Ana, where he was a resident, by a speeding car being pursued by police, KABC TV Los Angeles said.

"Andrew was a brilliant computer graphics engineer, an avid photographer and hiker who loved nature, a true loyal friend, and a founding member of our close-knit Oculus family," the company said in a statement.

According to … Read more

LAPD faces off with Call of Duty statue in game studio raid

In this day and age, perhaps it's not the best idea to erect a life-size statue of a gunman and place it in the front window of your office.

Yet this is precisely what the Los Angeles Police Department confronted late Thursday night when officers stormed the building of game studio Robotoki. The LAPD, guns drawn, faced off with a gun-wielding, very human-like replica of soldier Simon "Ghost" Riley from Robotoki's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- that and a very startled Robert Bowling, the company's president, who happened to be working late that night. … Read more

For science: The ultimate Portal bedroom

Some videogame worlds are just incredible. From Hyrule to Columbia, from the instant you set (virtual) foot inside, you'd be happy to stay there forever.

Although the Aperture Science laboratories aren't necessarily on the same scale, the world and backstory of Portal are rich, and the character of Chell so full of possibility and strength, that we couldn't blame anyone for wanting to spend more time there.

Especially a fan who goes by the Reddit handle BlondeChell. After acquiring her own home where she could do whatever she liked, her penchant for interior decorating and Portal led her to create her very own Portal-themed room. … Read more

Google Street View catches end of beautiful relationship?

The heartless are everywhere.

Sometimes they are men, sometimes women. Sometimes they are simply beings beyond definition.

Why, I remember one proud woman telling me that she had dumped her man. He came to reason with her, to plead even.

"He was crying," she gloated afterwards, as if she'd scored some great victory. And to think the only reason she'd dumped him was that she'd discovered he was a drug dealer. Yes, it was only pot.

It's interesting, therefore, to witness the reactions to a Google Street View shot that has been propelled to … Read more

Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov launches iOS game Marbly

Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov has launched a new game designed exclusively for mobile devices.

Dubbed Marbly, the title is available for both Apple's iPhone and iPad. The game's description in Apple's App Store says that it's an "easy to get, but tricky to master real puzzle game" It comes with over 180 puzzles that users must work their way through.

Pajitnov has been developing games for decades, but he's best known for creating Tetris -- the massive hit for Nintendo's Game Boy.

Marbly is available now as a free download in Apple'… Read more