Slated to release the same week as the movie is G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, the video game, for all major consoles.
This third-person shooter has an exclusive storyline that picks up where the film leaves off. With 20 levels of game play, three character classifications, (Commando: Does well at close range, Heavy: Possesses extraordinary shooting skills, but does it best from a distance, and Combat Soldier: Balanced between the two) and 16 playable characters to choose from. At certain stages in the game players can board drivable Cobra and G.I. Joe vehicles designed for two-player co-op mode. A total of 75 intelligence cards are scattered throughout the game; once collected they can be used to unlock characters, missions, and four PSAs
The Nintendo DS key features are: Create your own G.I Joe battles vs. Cobra via Wi-Fi. Choose from six Joe characters and five Cobra. The game promises twenty plus missions on this unique shooter for the DS.
We got to do a little hands on with G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and it was an easy pick up. At first it seemed like a new rendition of Commando 2. The control scheme is simple, making the game fun for the casual gamer. The graphics didn't blow us out of the water, but the co-op play makes up for it, especially with power-ups like the accelerator power suit, which allows the player to become invincible and have increased firepower for a short period. During this mode you hear that nostalgic G.I. Joe theme music that just takes you back--if you go that far back.
The one complaint not only with this particular game but all movie games is that they all have a short shelf life. Due to this, we think this game would be great as downloadable content (DLC), Like the Watchman video game. G.I. Joe is priced at $49.99 for the Wii, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation3, $39.99 for the PSP, and $29.99 for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS. All games will include a Hasbro action figure from the toy line. The Watchmen game is $29.99 for the new combo of the two episodic parts. "Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Yo Joe!"
Has there ever been a movie-to-video-game title that would stand alone without the movie?
The zombies have spread in the years since the original Dead Rising, and now the masses of the undead come to Las Vegas in Capcom's upcoming Xbox 360, PS3, and PC release.
(Credit:
Daniel Terdiman/CNET)
The Microsoft press conference at E3 2009 offered a detailed glimpse into the Xbox 360's video game line up for the rest of 2009 and into 2010 as well. Things started off with a giant Beatles Rock Band introduction climaxing with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr appearing on stage.
Tony Hawk then helped show off the new skateboard controller to be used with Tony Hawk Ride, a new game that abandons the conventional control scheme. Players can use the board to kick, turn, and do grab tricks.
Next, Infinity Ward premiered a snow-covered level of the highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 (see: Call of Duty) with dazzling graphics and intense action game play.
A very brief combat scene from Final Fantasy XIII was on display, officially removing console exclusivity from the Sony PlayStation 3. This debut wrapped up the multiplatform games that are going to be available for the Xbox 360. In a refreshing change of pace, it was announced that all games shown off from here on out will be available exclusively on the Xbox 360.
Kicking off these titles was the DLC (downloadable content) game Shadow Complex from developer Epic Games (Gears of War)--an action/exploration game very much in the vein of the original Metroid and Castlevania series.
Joy Ride will allow you to race as your Xbox Live Avatar with friends online. The free DLC title looks a lot like a Mario Kart inspired racer where you'll be able to purchase additional tracks for use with friends as well.
The follow up to the open world over-the-top crime-fighting title Crackdown has gotten a sequel in the form of Crackdown 2. Zombie apocalypse fans will be happy to hear that Left4Dead 2 will see the light of day this November. ... Read more
(Credit:
Boston Dynamics)
Here's another offering from Boston Dynamics' zoomorphic line: the RiSE V3, a multi-legged, beaver-tailed robot that can skitter along the ground, shimmy up a pole, and then quietly cling there and stare at you.
The legs are powered by a pair of electric motors and equipped with small surgical needle micro-claws, which allow the unit to dig into and climb up textured, convex, cylindrical structures at a rate of 21 centimeters per second, or just under a half a mile an hour (PDF).
"RiSE V3 is the first general-purpose legged machine to achieve this vertical climbing speed," said University of Pennsylvania Professor Daniel Koditschek, who worked on the project.
The RiSE was the result of a collaboration between Boston Dynamics, the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, and Lewis and Clark University, with funding by DARPA.
As with the company's now famous BigDog, what distinguishes this robotic creation is its freakishly familiar gait. RiSE uses a distinctive, koala-like climbing pace, or behavioral gait, propelling the body forward while passively maintaining yaw, pitch, and roll stability. Locomotion--leg motion, strain, and joint position and foot contact sensors--is controlled by an onboard computer, naturally. The front legs are just long enough to hug a telephone pole.
The development team's aim was to reproduce movements they had observed in climbing insects. This is something else that sets this wall climber apart. Most other climbing robots have generally relied on "surface-specific attachment mechanisms," i.e. magnets and suction devices.
Watch a video of RiSE V3 below.
Now that the beginning-of-the-year game drought has passed, it's time to start getting excited for releases coming in the near future. This month we got a taste of what the next "Dead Rising" game will look like, along with a closer peek at the graphic novel-inspired "Madworld" for the Nintendo Wii.
Make sure you catch a last glance of "Killzone 2" before its release this Friday. The PlayStation 3 exclusive looks to live up to the hype of the original trailer, which blew audiences away back at E3 2005.
Also check out how "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" is shaping up, with actual in-game footage featuring the voices of the original four cast members. Finally, we invite you to see the first game in the Tom Clancy franchise to tackle combat flight simulation in "Tom Clancy's HAWX."
(Credit:
Tonic)
Good: You're in an up-and-coming band. Bad: Hurricane Katrina comes along and destroys all your gear. Good: A charity, Music Rising, is set up to try to raise money. They're doing this by auctioning off iPods that music celebs like Gwen Stefani, Faith Hill, and The Britney have loaded with their favorite playlists. Sounds like a win for everyone involved, but it might be too good to be true.
Don't get me wrong, as a former musician and survivor of my own environmental catastrophes (no, not my messy bachelor pad), I understand the need for relief. I fully support what Music Rising is trying to do and I wish them the best of luck. You should definitely check out the current auctions--Mariah Carey's iPod was in the lead at the time of this writing.
But I can't stop thinking of the RIAA. It has long maintained that distributing playlists--on burned CDs, iPods, smoke signals, whatever--is a massive and egregious type of copyright infringement. Will Tonic, the group putting on the auction, have to pay royalties to the very artists who are donating the playlists and iPods?
We hope the RIAA lets this one slide, though that's not normally in its nature. This is a way to help those that it claims to represent, musicians.
See how the DVI connection is blurry and the HDMI is clear? Clever, huh? No, just a lucky mistake. Works, though.
(Credit: Eric Franklin/CBS Interactive)It seems almost inconceivable that just five years ago I purchased a digital TV without a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port. Today virtually every computer monitor that comes through CNET's testing labs has an HDMI port, even the smallish 22-inchers. Some even only come with an HDMI port, forgoing the DVI port altogether.
The rapid rise in HDMI integration by vendors isn't just my imagination, either. In-Stat has released a new report on the quick adoption of HDMI and Digital Visual Interface's (DVI) slow decline.
According to the report, HDMI ports were found in 95 percent of digital TVs shipped worldwide in 2008. It also states that DVI's biggest customers are still the PC and PC peripherals markets.
The report goes on to claim that HDMI is beginning to take off in the mobile PC market as well. The report suspects that camcorders, digital camera and portable media players will adopt the technology more frequently in the near future. Especially with the introduction of smaller HDMI connectors like HDMI mini.
DVI-enabled product shipments will decline at an annual rate of 30 percent through 2012 while at the same time HDMI-enabled products will increase at an annual rate of 23 percent over the same period.
The full report is available at In-Stat's site, but my guess is that most of us will stick with this abridged version since the report runs you a whopping $3,695. Talk about information at a hefty price.
Popular Mechanics has compiled a lovingly researched gallery of all the Terminator models, from the original Schwarzenegger model to the present-day, and even speculating into the future of the television and film series. Carefully cataloged according to model number, chronological sequence, nanoscale composition, special skills, and fighting techniques, as well as fairly sophisticated cross-references to historical works of science fiction, this might go down as the definitive listing.
Ah, it all makes me nostalgic...not.
As much as I loved the first two movies back in the day, as much as I played the video game, I just can't get excited about the new Terminator series on TV. It's because my beliefs about the future are so deeply inhabited by Battlestar Galactica's Starbuck, Adama, and No. 6 that the Sarah Connor scenario seems like...science fiction.
But for those of you who remain true to the cause, which one would win in a fight? Check out the exhaustively researched photos at Popular Mechanics and see if they stack up against your picks: The toughest, smartest, best Terminators of all time
It's 6:20 a.m. "Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Slam." Sleep in peace for 9 more minutes, then repeat.
There has to be a more humane way to wake up. My snoozing habits drive my husband crazy, and unexpected power outages have ruined my morning ritual more than once.
I tried waking up to Howard Stern's radio show years ago, figuring that it'd definitely wake me up because the stuff he says would never naturally make its way into my early-morning dreams. When it eventually did, I went back to the traditional jarring beeps. The Shock Jock has since made his way to Sirius Satellite Radio, which I have only in my car, anyway.
So I've been toying with the idea of getting a new alarm clock--one that at the very least has a backup battery. But some tech innovator just might have come up with a better way to ease (quickly) into the early-morning start.
Let's face it: no alarm clock is going to completely fool a heavily sleeping body into thinking that it's a leisurely Saturday morning after it has barely gotten the required seven (or is it eight?) hours of rest. But some innovators are at least attempting to come up with an alarm clock that isn't, well, alarming.
I've already ruled out the Clocky, invented by some geniuses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I don't care how fuzzy or colorful the clock is. Any alarm that runs away from you, making you actually chase it under your bed to turn it off, is not only alarming but mean.
Reuters on Wednesday reported about several new types of so-called bio-alarm clocks worth mentioning.
Three of them--the Sleeptracker by Innovative Sleep Solutions, the SleepSmart by Axon Labs and the Sleep Phase Alarm Clock by Axbo--are designed to wake you up when you are already sleeping lightly.
The Sleeptracker and the Sleep Phase Alarm Clock, which you wear like a wristwatch, supposedly read "specific movements common during light sleep," according to Reuters. The SleepSmart, worn as a headband (sorry, couldn't find a picture), apparently tracks brain waves to detect how heavily--or lightly--you are sleeping. Each of these alarms is designed to sound when you're likely already tossing and turning.
While the concept of waking people up when they're almost up, essentially forcing them to either be fully awake or to get deeper sleep, is interesting, I'm not sure that such an alarm would go over so well, given that "sleep cycles vary from 90 to 110 minutes, so the bio-alarm clocks have a roughly 30-minute margin of error," according to Reuters.
And certainly, a couple's sleep cycles are not easily synchronized. My fear is that we'd actually get less overall sleep with one of these bio-alarm clocks, regardless of the quality.
So that leaves a couple of really wacky wake-up ideas from the tech world. One is imitation sunshine, via the SunRise Clock Radio by BioBrite. Instead of repeatedly emitting a jarring beep, it pleasantly brightens the room, simulating the sun. While that certainly sounds pleasant, anyone who has lived with me knows that I can easily sleep until noon, regardless of how bright the sun is shining onto my face. Combine the SunRise with cheek and temple kisses, and we can talk.
The last item on the shortlist is the Wake n' Bacon.
"Frozen bacon is placed in the built-in oven the night before and starts sizzling 10 minutes before wake-up time," Reuters reports. And advertised on its site, "This clock gently wakes you up with the mouthwatering aroma of bacon, just like waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of Mom cooking breakfast. Unless you're Jewish."
Sounds great in theory, but I'm pretty sure that I'd wake up hungry, not to mention annoyed that there are no eggs and toast and orange juice, and that I need to clean up bacon grease. Yuck.
Back to the beeps for now.
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