Tag: video-games

Russian exoskeleton suit turns soldiers into Stormtroopers

In a bid to make its armed forces look even more intimidating, Russia has taken inspiration from science-fiction to create some futuristic-looking new combat suits. Developed by the state-owned Central Research Institute for Precision Machine Building, this very Star Wars-esque combat armor features a powered exoskeleton, ballistic protection from bullets and shrapnel and a heads-up display. While just a concept at the moment, the suit’s designers hope it will enter full production in the next few years. While they haven’t detailed what the heads-up display would be used for, the combat armor’s powered exoskeleton helps the wearer carry heavy loads, bearing some of the brunt to lower the soldiers’ fatigue. While its designers have clearly spent a lot of time playing video games, we’ve already seen that Russia’s not alone in its bid to create an army of Master Chiefs . Now, taking that idea one step further, a U.S program called Tactical Light Operator Suit (or TALOS) is underway, which is creating an Iron Man-esque suit for American special forces. With exoskeleton-powered soldiers and flying Volvos on the horizon, at this point we’re just patiently waiting for the first real-world superheroes to reveal themselves. Source: Reuters

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Russian exoskeleton suit turns soldiers into Stormtroopers

Playing Tetris on a Business Card Is Everything I Hoped It Would Be

Three years ago, Kevin Bates created a Tetris -playing business card to showcase his engineering skills to potential employers. But his creation quickly went viral on the internet, and everyone reminiscing about their beloved childhood Game Boy clamored for their own. After testing the waters with the equally tiny… Read more…

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Playing Tetris on a Business Card Is Everything I Hoped It Would Be

The arcade world’s first Easter egg discovered after fraught journey

(credit: Arcade Flyer Archive ) The historical record of video games received a strange shake-up on Wednesday from Ed Fries, the ex-Microsoft executive who had a huge part in the creation of the original Xbox . Fries took to his personal blog, which typically covers the world of retro gaming, to announce a zany discovery : he had found the world’s earliest known arcade game Easter egg. His hunt began with a tip from Atari game programmer Ron Milner about the 1977 game Starship 1 . This tip seemingly came out of nowhere, as the duo were talking about an entirely different ’70s arcade game, Gran Trak 10 , which Fries was researching separately. Starship , Milner said, had a few special twists that didn’t all make it to market, but one did: a secret message to players. The game would display “Hi Ron!” if players put in the right combination of button commands. This type of thing is better known to gaming fans as an Easter egg , and more than a few Atari games had them as a way to include the developer’s name (which Atari never put in games or on cabinets). Milner didn’t tell anyone at Atari about the secret message for 30 years, he told Fries, and one reason is because he’d forgotten how to trigger it. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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The arcade world’s first Easter egg discovered after fraught journey

Cancelled ’90s arcade fighter ‘Primal Rage II’ released online

Forget Tekken 7 , 2017’s hottest new fighting game has just arrived – only it’s 22 years later than originally expected. After being cancelled in 1995, Kotaku reports that Atari’s long-lost Primal Rage II has found its way onto the internet . Downloading an emulator will allow 90’s fighting fans to dive straight into a competent build of the ill-fated beat ’em up. While some menus are still incomplete and it has its fair share of bugs, players will find that the dino-brawling itself works. For the uninitiated, Primal Rage made a name for itself in the ’90s thanks to its cutting-edge stop motion animation. The prehistoric fighter soon found it’s way onto almost every home gaming console available at the time, prompting the announcement of a sequel. Just a year into development, however, Atari’s financial troubles gave them cold feet, causing the company to pull the plug on Primal Rage II. This isn’t the first time a canned gaming project has appeared online . With video games often costing huge amounts of money to produce, it’s no surprise that countless brilliant concepts have fallen by the wayside over the years. Thanks to the ease of communication afforded by the internet, however, not all canceled titles are doomed to the scrapheap of history. Now, let’s see more of that promising looking Star Wars 1313 please, LucasArts. Source: Kotaku

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Cancelled ’90s arcade fighter ‘Primal Rage II’ released online

Dance moves turn into music with BeatMoovz

There are plenty of gadgets out there for making music on your mobile device , but they’re relatively sedentary affairs. BeatMoovz turns things arounds with a music tool that gets you up and dancing: instead of moving with the music, you dance and create a soundtrack using your steps, spins and sashays. Developed by Daigo Kusunoki, a competitive dancer with a background in mechanical engineering, BeatMoovz is a pair of Bluetooth bands you wear on your wrist or ankles. You pair them up with the iOS or Android app, and then you’re ready to start making music. It’s attuned to how fast you go and how you move — a gentle rocking may produce a slow groove versus a faster beat you get from breakdancing. Multiple sets of bands can be hooked up to one app: the demo at Toy Fair involved Kusunoki and another dancer both wearing two sets of bands, with them bouncing, waving and kicking to produce a variety of techno and hip hop jams. Different sounds can be assigned to each bracelet for a fuller piece of music. It’s easy to imagine a street dancer using this to put on performances, as well as kids competing to create the most interesting compositions. The app isn’t limited to a small set of instruments — there are 400 different options from a whole variety of music genres, from rock to pop to jazz. There are even sounds inspired by science fiction, video games and action films. The BeatMoovz will recognize your movements and apply the appropriate audio effects — you can do the robot with all the appropriate mechanical shifting and clinking or, if you’re not into dancing, it’s also great for some physical humor as you pretend to shoot fireballs at your friends. Each set of bands will cost $70 when they’re released in August. They’ll come in blue, black, red, green, yellow or orange, so you’ll have no problem matching them to your favorite dance attire.

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Dance moves turn into music with BeatMoovz

Denuvo forgets to secure server, leaks years of e-mails from game makers

Enlarge The developers at Denuvo have been in the news thanks to cracks  against their notoriously tough digital rights management (DRM) tools , which are normally used to lock down video games from leaking online. On Sunday, the company faced a different kind of crack—not against a high-profile video game, however, but of its depository of private web-form messages. A significant number of these appear to come from game makers, with many requesting information about applying Denuvo’s DRM to upcoming games. The first proof of this leak appears to come from imageboard site 4chan, where an anonymous user posted a link to a log file hosted at the denuvo.com domain. This 11MB file (still online as of press time) apparently contains messages submitted via Denuvo’s public contact form dating back to April 25, 2014. In fact, much of Denuvo’s web database content appears to be entirely unsecured, with root directories for “fileadmin” and “logs” sitting in the open right now. Combing the log file brings up countless spam messages, along with complaints, confused “why won’t this game work” queries from apparent pirates, and even threats (an example: “for what you did to arkham knight I will find you and I will kill you and all of your loved ones, this I promise you CEO of this SHIT drm”). But since Denuvo’s contact page does not contain a link to a private e-mail address—only a contact form and a phone number to the company’s Austrian headquarters—the form appears to also have been used by many game developers and publishers. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Denuvo forgets to secure server, leaks years of e-mails from game makers

Read the first 13 years of ‘Nintendo Power’ on Archive.org

Before the yawning information-spouting chasm of the Internet, there were two ways you could get information on video games: your dubiously-trustful buddies and trade magazines. Despite being a company rag that only covered things coming out on its own consoles, Nintendo Power was one of the best of these publications for its wonderful artwork and community culture. But don’t take my word for it: Now you can parse through the first 13 years of the magazine at Archive.org. The collection spans from the first issue , published in July of 1988 with its now-iconic claymation Mario cover, to number 145 in June 2001. For some of you, these doubtless offer a trip down memory lane to a time when cartridges ruled and console affiliation split friendships. But don’t assume the nostalgia train won’t stop for those who never cracked open an issue. The dated advertisements alone are worth the price of admission for wacky fashions and the outrageous exuberance they hoped would appeal to kids zonked on high-sugar cereal. Times change, and we don’t need video game magazines like we used to. Now you can post on social media or find any title’s subreddit community to talk shop with other enthusiasts. But these publications offered a light in the wilderness for certain kinds of nerds to share experiences on the letters page, writing in to editors and seeing their heroes respond publicly. So load up a few old issues and see how things like the first 3D console games had blown people’s minds. You’ll get a new appreciation for the miracles we play today.

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Read the first 13 years of ‘Nintendo Power’ on Archive.org