Author: tim

Meetup iMingle for the iPod Touch

[Meetup] lets you manage groups and RSVP to your group events. They have an [api] so that applications like [iMingle] can manage events, comments, and RSVPs. The API does not provide access to [private groups] if you don’t belong to them. Location data may not be available which cripples the app, so you may have to submit location data to [Skyhook Wireless] which provides location data for the iPhone.

3d in a Web Browser

[DrawLogic reviews Silverlight 3 – Beta] is planned to have shader model 2.0 support, but it is not GPU hardware accelerated. Suggested alternatives are: [Papervision3d], [Away3d], and [Sandy].

[Papervision] – performance is [too slow] to be ideal. PapervisionX due out later is based on the Flash 10 APIs aims to have better performance. [API]

[Away3d] – boosts good performance with a 100k [cached] triangle scene. [API] [examples]

[Sandy] – does not offer hardware acceleration [API] [examples]

[Torque3d] – [api] [blog] [forums] [videos] [videos] [albumbs] [videos] [wiki]

Canon PowerShot A1000 IS

Linae picked up a [Canon PowerShot A1000 IS] to replace our [Olympus Stylus 800] which has problems opening. This is in addition to our [Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI]. According to the Flicker camera finder, each camera has different memory cards and the [Canon PowerShot A1000 IS] is less popular than the [Olympus Stylus 800] and [Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI].

The Canon PowerShot A1000 IS, was not very durable and had to be returned.

Unreal Tournament 3

[Unreal Tournament 3] has a new update that enables a cool Juggernaut mode. Fill up the Titan bar and activate the “Titan” key and your player grows to monolithic size +1, +2, and +3. In Titan mode, the camera switches to a Gears of War – 3rd person perspective letting you rapid fire homing missiles and shock rifles. I find the capture the flag mode fun for about 30 minutes before the game gets repetitious. That’s the fun part of the game. The unfun part is that all the servers use bots that look like players. I like playing against people not AI.

Dark Messiah Might and Magic

[Dark Messiah Might and Magic] is a fun single player game for a change, which combines FPS and RPG elements. Leveling is based on objective completion, rather than monster killing similar to Dungeons and Dragons Online. I got stuck a few times, be thankful for [YouTube walkthrus]. Dark Messiah uses the Half-Life 2 Engine, which makes accurate physics more enjoyable. The multiplayer version of the game is completely different, and I didn’t find it fun at all.

FarCry 2

[FarCry 2] doesn’t live up to the hype. The opening drive around scene is too long. And then if you try going in any direction other than the defined area, you pass out from Malaria. When you pass out you start back at the safe area, your car magically transported with you, and you have to fix the car’s engine again for the 14th time with a lug wrench. This game is visually good, but it’s not Crysis. You can’t shoot down trees. You can’t shoot enemies in key areas. Basically unrealistically, you have to shoot rebels 12 times in the foot, arm, head, or whatever to take them down. So the physics is just meh. The multiplayer component doesn’t work at all for me. I get a punk buster communication error when I attempt to join. I’m not impressed. Crysis had multiplayer issues until the sequel came out to be fair.

Next Wave of Technology

[OnLive] is the next generation of game delivery that makes [Steam] and [Direct2Drive] obsolete. OnLive will also make a dent in the hardware market, by remotely hosting your games, effectively lowering your hardware requirements. OnLive has beefed up servers that play your games at full resolution and max detail while piping an image back to you. This type of technology is going to require the Internet infrastructure in the US to upgrade. If you have a slower Internet connection, this service won’t be for you. If you’ve got broadband, the game video will be piped in at standard tv resolution. If you have fast broadband, you’ll be playing in HDTV quality.

These beefed up servers are based on cloud computing which pushes the envelope for server hardware. [Slashdot] reports servers with 384 GB of RAM are becoming available.