We've written before about Brutal Legend, the just-released video game starring big-screen funnyman Jack Black. Produced by Tim Schafer, who has several cult classics (from Grim Fandango to Psychonauts) under his belt, the game has built up a lot of positive industry buzz, but is also in danger of being overshadowed by a flood of fall 2009 blockbusters, from Uncharted 2 to The Beatles: Rock Band.
Does Brutal Legend--a wide-ranging action/adventure about a foul-mouthed heavy metal band roadie who gets smacked on the head and wakes up in a D&D-style fantasy land--have what it takes to rock gamers this holiday season?
Dan:
Having seen and played a few segments of the game at different times over the past eight months, I was eager to have a chance to spend a weekend playing through a bigger chunk of the main campaign. Several hours in, Brutal Legend has done an overall excellent job of treading the very fine line between comedy and gameplay--but not without some serious stumbles along the way.
I'd be the first to say I'm not a Jack Black "fan," but this is clearly a role he was born to play. He's apparently into it as well, and shows up as himself for a clever live-action intro video. The game's writing is sharp, even if much of it is clearly constructed from contextual one-liners that Black's character, Eddie Rigg, spouts off in a semi-random fashion.
But we ended up having more fun listening to the dialog than playing the game itself. Brutal Legend doesn't seem to know if it wants to be a hack-and-slash action game, an open-world exploration RPG, or a squad strategy game--as Eddie picks up small armies of head-banging locals to order around with basic follow/stay/attack D-pad commands.
Perhaps trying to mash all these genres together caused a few of the rough, unfinished edges we saw. Cut scenes and in-game dialog crashed awkwardly into each other, cutting off characters mid-sentence. Transitions between dialog and action scenes were abrupt and sometimes disorienting.
But despite some muddled ideas, we kept going back for more, drawn in by the Frank Frazetta-style art (think '70s metal album covers) and inside baseball music biz jokes--and as someone who has spent some time in a self-parodying heavy metal band, that's high praise.
Jeff:
It's tough to name a game that has as much hype this. It's probably because of the talent involved in the game; Jack Black has sported a Brutal Legend T-shirt everywhere he's gone for the last year and voice work comes from rock legends like Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) and Ozzy Osbourne.
Brutal Legend is unique, in that you'll experience a variety of gameplay genres mashed up together inside. The game incorporates open-world driving, action/adventure, real-time strategy, and elements of role-playing.
If there's one thing the game does right, it's establishing the metal atmosphere. ... Read more
At today's Apple event, the company devoted a generous amount of time to various charts and numbers declaring that the iPhone and the iPod Touch offer much more in terms of gaming than the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS.
iPhone and iPod Touch games have a lot going for them. The titles are cheaper, they offer tilt functionality, and the graphics are better than what the Nintendo DS can display. All that aside, it's tough to consider the iPhone as a legitimate gaming platform until Apple can offer some sort of tactile button functionality.
But how do you plan to accurately deke?
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)First, let's get a few things straight. In terms of casual gaming, you cannot beat what Apple has to offer. There are countless quick and easy games that fit well on the Apple platform. No one is booting up a PSP game for the 15 minutes you'd sit in a waiting room or the time standing in line at the deli counter. So while that section of the gaming market seems sealed up, the same cannot be said for the more hardcore action/adventure and shooter games.
The way it currently stands, controlling such games on the iPhone or the iPod Touch is a frustrating mess. Players must navigate using a virtual D-pad, which isn't able to provide the accuracy or physical feeling an actual control pad offers on the PSP and the DS. We're delighted to see franchises like Madden and Assassin's Creed head to the platform, we just wish there was a better way to control these titles. Until that day comes, iPod Touch and iPhone games will be stuck under a glass ceiling of shake, tilt, and tapping.
There's no denying that Apple has the upper hand here. No one wants to carry around three devices when one can handle everything. As we've written before, Apple can easily take over the portable gaming market with just a few moves. The first step toward that goal--whether it be an add-on or hardware change--is to add buttons.
An MP3 player with buttons? How novel.
(Credit: Scosche Industries)The third-generation Apple iPod Shuffle has a ridiculously small and elegant design, but its lack of buttons can sometimes be a real buzz kill. The Scosche TapStick is a $29 case for the iPod Shuffle that bestows three buttons on the front of the device, mimicking the three controls used on Apple's headphone remote. A 3-foot auxiliary cable is also included with the case.
Frankly, $30 seems like a lot of dough to throw at an iPod that only costs $80. But if you received the Shuffle as a gift and just need a way to adapt the thing for your car stereo's aux input, the TapStick's relatively large buttons and snap-on design should do the trick.
Update: The retail price of the Scosche TapStick is $29, and not $39, as stated in the company's original press release.
On Sale Now: $74.36 - $79.00
View the latest prices for Apple iPod Shuffle (third generation, 4GB, black)
On Sale Now: $16.99 - $29.99
View the latest prices for Scosche tapSTICK
Today's gaggle of gadgets are all extremely inappropriate. Only one of them is inappropriate in "that" way.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
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EPISODE 130 |
A Bus Stop Ad that Displays Your Weight
Electric Cigarettes, with liquid nicotine, catching on in the U.S.
The reason cats act like they hate us
This belly button ring is not an alien appendage (thanks Peter!)
EMO jacket lets you feel what’s happening in movies
Tool Time
Scratchophone Breathes New Life
What the hell?!
Cole Cleaner for lazy drinkers
Apropos (of) nothing
Amphibious Lounger
Pink Watch (bling Rx edition)
Would you like some bling with your Acer Aspire One?
E-MAIL
HELLO ladies … oh and jason,
i was browsing the interwebs when i came across this: My Little Pony doll things that were transformed into movie characters. now i know its not to tech related but you know damn well you cant pass up a my little pony chewbacca.
Cordially,
phatemokid
Mad Catz delivers 11 buttons of programmable glory with Cyborg X
(Credit:
Mad Catz)
Mad Catz has unveiled the latest in the company's line of PC flight sticks, the Cyborg X. While the new hardware showcases many new features, we're most impressed with the amount of customization it offers.
A total of of 11 buttons can be completely programmed (22 if you're holding down the shift button) allowing for complete control. Compatible with most air-combat and flight-simulation games,
...Read the full post at CNET's CES 2009 blog.
In my opinion, the biggest improvement to the 2G iPod Touch is the volume rocker on the side.
(Credit: CNET/Corinne Schulze)Add dedicated volume controls to the list of dwindling MP3 player features. Most MP3 players on the market today integrate volume adjustment capability into their main navigation controls, meaning you have to be on a playback screen to tweak listening levels. With traditional iPods and devices such as the Sansa Fuze, a spin of the wheel accomplishes the task, while most others combine volume with the up and down menu navigation buttons on a four-way control pad.
There's nothing inherently wrong with this practice, but I'm a staunch supporter of the dedicated volume toggle for two reasons: simple convenience and eardrum protection. (If you're someone who's audio files are not all the same volume, you know what I mean.) It's in that spirit that I've compiled a list of great MP3 players with dedicated volume controls. And I'll tell you what: it's probably no coincidence that half of the products won our coveted Editors' Choice award.
Ever had one of those days where you're just not motivated to get any work done? You're sitting there with a ton of projects due, but you just can't pull yourself away from whatever game you're trying to run on your work computer.
Now, I could say that you should probably get your priorities straight and start taking your job more seriously, but screw that. No, you should own the half-assed effort you're putting into your career.
Just don't get caught. The best way to not get caught is to not screw off. The second best way is to use the USB Foot Pedal Security Button.
Disguised as an extension cord, the button sits under your foot while you YouTube to your heart's content. As soon as your boss or that nosy tattletale of a co-worker walks by, BAM, it instantly conceals your screen. I'm not sure how it conceals your screen just yet, though.
The button can be found for as little as $8. Just think of the amount of lost man-hours that buys you.
(Credit:
Alibaba)
It's hard to imagine someone using an item like this more than once, but the "Push Button USB Webkey" apparently isn't intended for everyday use. It's basically a keychain-giveaway type of promotional tchotchke that has just one purpose, to open up a specific Web page when pressed.
The button does include a couple of USB ports, according to Red Ferret, perhaps to encourage its presence on the desktop, rather than being tossed after the first click. The competition has gotten tougher, however, with more useful freebies like USB flash drives and even card-sized MP3 players becoming more common.
Something like the Web button might have been a bit more popular in, say, 1998.
Friday morning, I walked past a colleague's desk and--I swear--saw a basketball game on her computer screen. When I got closer, however, all I could see were a bunch of very official-looking bars and charts.
(Credit:
NCAA)
She was working hard. Real hard. Then she laughed, hit a key, and flipped back to the basketball game in a clear indication that I'm either a boss people can be honest with or a boss who doesn't exactly strike fear into the rank and file. Or both.
The "boss button" and silly office decorum strike again. For those of you who for some reason don't know what a boss button is, it's pretty simple: It helps you look at stuff on your PC at work that you're not supposed to be looking at. Hit a key, and the screen instantly flips to something that vaguely looks like something you should be looking at in the office.
News.com Poll
Boss buttons (or keys) have been around for years, of course. Some Macintosh games back in the 1980s included them (though for most of us using Macs in those days, it was more like a "parent button" because we were supposed to be doing our homework). CNET's Download.com has a list of boss buttons, and there are even entire sites dedicated to them.
Come every March, thanks to office pools on the NCAA college basketball tournament, boss buttons are as common on desktop computers as personal e-mails and photos of your friends: They're probably not supposed to be there, but we all have them. NCAA.com has even provided a helpful boss button on its Web site.
Here's a thought: Let's stop all the silly shenanigans and make boss buttons a thing of the past. Get it out in the open and let people keep track of the office pools without worrying about getting into trouble. The average American is spending more time in the office than ever. And the average tech worker spends even more time than that. There's a reason all those Silicon Valley companies offer free food, subsidized child care, laundry, auto-detailing, and swanky gyms: So you never have an excuse to go home.
So cut those hardworking people a break. We're not talking porn here, folks. Let's put a TV somewhere in the office and stop all the sneaking around.
I know what the killjoys are thinking right now: This is a slippery slope! What's next: Christmas shopping at the desk? Sharing funny YouTube videos with coworkers? Where does the madness stop?
The ultimate office killjoys at Challenger, Gray & Christmas have even put a dollar figure on the money lost to people checking out the NCAA tournament while at work: It could be as much as $1.7 billion in wasted work time over the 16 business days of the tournament. The Challenger estimate is based on "the number of people expected to participate in office pools, the amount of money they earn and the amount of work time wasted on March Madness related activities, whether it is trash talking at the watercooler or watching live videos of the games during business hours."
While I have no idea how much money Challenger wasted doing this research, it does have a few more tidbits: A 2006 Harris poll found that 13 percent of Americans aged 18 and older plan to participate in an office March Madness pool. The press release announcing the Challenger survey goes on for six pages. In fairness, it offers some workplace tips for dealing with the tournament. OK, some of them are pretty corny, but I appreciate the spirit:
• Pick 64 MVPs. This is high on the cornball meter. Bestow MVP honors on employees chosen ahead of time...for some reason. No, I really don't get it either.
• Team sweatshirt day. Relax the dress code for the first Friday of the tournament so everyone can wear the sweatshirt of their favorite team. At CNET, we'd call this "formal attire day," but I imagine that would be letting down the hair at a lot of offices.
• Offer anti-tourney prizes. Basically, start something for the people who don't care about basketball. Sure. Gotta be fair and all that.
• Offer flexible schedules. Umm, OK, I don't know about this one. The manager in me says, "Are you insane? It's just freaking basketball."
• Organize a company pool. Done. I mean, CNET in no way encourages gambling on collegiate or professional sports.
• Keep a bracket posted. Good idea. But I should reiterate, CNET in no way encourages gambling on a collegiate or professional sports.
• Keep television in break room tuned to coverage. Duh! It's what I'm saying. Let's take it out of the closet. Do away with the boss button, and accept the facts: For 16 days, nearly all of us are college basketball fans. We pretend to know the starting lineup of Western Kentucky, and feign shock when Stanford fails yet again to make the Final Four.
And please, stop with the boss button. I know exactly what you're doing.
Initiate's functionality is packed into the strip of buttons.
(Credit: Hobbyist Software)Having something come to you is always better than having to go to it. Like Launchy for Windows and Quicksilver for Mac, Duh Button Launcher Plus and Initiate save you time by getting your apps open fast. OK, it's not like the Palm OS app launcher is an irrevocable time suck, but these apps just make the process smoother.
Duh Button Launcher PlusLet's start with Duh Button Launcher Plus, because it's the free one. With just a little bit of work, you can map a list of your favorite apps to pop up with the press of one of four hard keys. According to the publisher, the Date book, Contacts, Tasks, and Notepad buttons are the only ones that are meant to be affected, though I found that the mapping varies by handset model. I had to disable the first and fourth hard key-mapping on the Treo 650, which corresponded to the Phone and Power buttons.
Regardless, mapping the apps from my phone memory and SD card (and desk accessories, if you've got 'em) to two hard keys worked well, and I liked that holding the key down scrolls through the list of apps--quickly!
Duh Button Launcher Plus lets you map favorite apps to hard keys.
(Credit: Supertruckersites.com)Though a quite decent launching shortcut, Duh Button Launcher Plus isn't a good choice if you want to keep original hard key functionality, and it's nothing less than puny in comparison with Initiate, the Swiss Army knife of app launchers. (Just remember, not everyone needs a Swiss Army knife.)
Initiate ProInitiate Pro reprograms the Home key with a pretty interface and a heap of functions. There's a short learning curve to find your way among the various buttons and views, but when you do, you'll be able to quickly launch apps, MP3s, memos, and bookmarks, and start e-mails and texts with a combination of typing, tapping, and even voice commands. For instance, one view sets you up to type the first few letters or even just consonants of an app to launch it. Another shows you just your music files or photos, and yet another shows all your device data, including what's on the SD card.
I like the ease of dragging and dropping apps from any view into the favorites category to further streamline launching. You can also drag items to and from the SD card, and to a button that lets you e-mail, beam it, or send it via Bluetooth. Initiate's extensive preferences include customizing trigger keys and hard keys, and downloading backgrounds and skins.
If there's a catch, it's that convenience isn't always free. The pro version costs $24.95 while the much more stripped-down Initiate Standard sets you back only $9.95.
Get: Duh Button Launcher Plus
Try: Initiate
