Every Single Article Written by N - All 1343
Book Review: David Kushner’s “Masters of Doom”
Long before Bulletstorm and Gears of War, long before Unreal Tournament and Halo, before deathmatches, WAD files, and the ESRB rating system, there was id. I’ve wanted to pick this book up for a while, even though I never really played Doom or Quake growing up, but it was my obligation as a PC gamer in the late 90s to know who these guys from Mesquite, Texas were. id Software was a champion of industry in my youth and even if they’re no longer the Kings Of The World they were back then, and their engines are no longer being licensed left and right, the journey of id Software and the birth of the first-person shooter is an incredible read.
Movie Review: Paul
Don’t you remember the 80s? No, I’m not talking about New Wave music, purple mohawks, or Ronald Reagan; I’m talking about the legion of movies and TV series involving an alien that crash lands on Earth, bonds with a kid and his family, avoids government authorities who want to cut him up for science, and hitches a ride back to his home planet. E.T., ALF, Mac & Me – everyone was infatuated with the stupid things. And of course, they were the first thing that came to mind about twenty minutes into Paul, a film in which an alien crash lands on Earth, bonds with two nerds, avoids government authorities that… Oh, sorry, spoilers.
Game Review: Killzone 2
There was precisely one moment where I thought Killzone 2 would break out of its polished, brown husk and show me a transcendental experience worthy of its pre-release hype. In a siege piece near the end of the game, I had pushed forward against the Darth Vader-ish Helghast with my AI soldiers, fighting in the multi-tiered grounds before a massive palace. At a point, I had taken higher ground, wiping out four Helghast soldiers and creating a new forward position for our march. The Helghast swarmed in, and we were forced level by level back to a landing below. The fight ebbed and flowed and I felt a stalemate come on against these unrelenting foes. Later, I found an underground tunnel which brought me beyond the Helghast barricade and the fight behind me immediately evaporated, as if a flipped switch had dismissed my opponents into oblivion.
This epitomized my time with Killzone 2.
Movie Review: Limitless
Don’t you kinda hate it when you watch the trailer for a film and in the studio’s attempt to sell you on the concept of the film, you get that gut-twisting feeling they may have told you everything? I thought Limitless would be one of those films. Thankfully, it isn’t. Writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a bit of a bum. He’s living off a book advance that currently amounts to a document with a word count of 1. He’s sloppy, his girlfriend is leaving him, and he has a hard time connecting dots in simply explaining the concept of his book to others. That is, until he meets his drug dealer of a brother-in-law, Vernon…
Roxio Wants You To Capture Video Game Footage For Only $100
One of the most common questions I got as a gaming associate at retail was for capture cards, enabling gamers to record footage right from their consoles to upload and share with friends (or, y’know, start gaming web sites). Decent solutions usually cost in the neighborhood of $300 and a PCI-Express slot in your computer, but today Roxio unveiled the $100 Game Capture Kit that will allow you to capture footage on the cheap. There’s a catch, though…
Game Review: Torchlight (XBLA)
I can’t really explain why, but I could just never get into dungeon crawler games. I bought the Diablo Battle Chest back in The Day for cheap and put an hour into it before the constant clicking to do anything and everything drove me mad. I wanted to love Silicon Knights’ Too Human, but its repetitive enemies and other fatal flaws made it one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever played. Even watching footage of Torchlight wasn’t endearing, but the 30 minutes I experienced with the demo? Well, needless to say, I pulled out the card and bought 1600 points immediately. And then bought the game with those 1600 points. (Yes, it was that drawn out).
Zune Is Dead! Long Live Zune!
Today, the news is finally rattling out that Microsoft is retiring Zune. As you may know, I have a certain affinity for the device. Being a long-time iPod fan by the Zune’s debut in 2006 (with a dead iPod, mind you), I vowed that as soon as Microsoft brought an MP3 player to market, I’d be on it. And I was. So what’s in the future for Zune?
The Engadget Exodus, Brought To You By AOL!
It’s unfortunate, but Engadget’s Editor-In-Chief Joshua Topolsky made an eye-swelling departure today, the latest in an exodus of staffers from the best gadget site on the web. While he’s not out for good, who knows what’s next for the tech ship Engadget?
The Future Of Foursquare Check-Ins Requires Literally Swiping Your Phone? AWESOME.
Use Foursquare? What about Facebook Places? If the latter, why? Did you know Foursquare exists? Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Many of us know that location apps are hindered by a legion of wrong check-ins or outright cheating: a portion of the system hinges on some honesty about where you’re checking in. For those who play by the rules, there’s a real sense of satisfaction when you unlock that one elusive badge where you’ve visited all of the best dental museums in the world (it doesn’t exist, but it should…). Well, it looks like Foursquare is figuring it out and I’ll explain how after the break.
Windows Phone Hits 10,000 Apps, Nick Still Doesn’t Have One
Outpacing Apple’s App Store and Android’s Marketplace in their respective five months after debut, Microsoft’s Windows Phone has surpassed 10,000 applications, a great sign for the platform as it goes forward. Oh, sure, those other stores have been out for years and Microsoft has to compete with existing standards, but the momentum being where it is (and building!), signs are looking up for the fledgling Zune phone.
Some day I’ll have one, too. *sniff*
Source: Engadget via Windows Phone 7 Application Listing
