Max Payne 3 is coming nearly a decade after the last game in the series, so obviously the gameplay mechanics will have to be evolved. This video breaks down how all the core elements of Max Payne are here, just altered and enhanced.
Knitting wouldn’t seem to be what cool YouTube videos are made up, but this Mona Lisa pattern would beg to differ! Leonardo da Vinci would be proud of such a design.
A new Facebook App called “60 Days of Seuss” has launched bringing daily content updates to Facebook fans feeds. From wishing a Happy Birthday to Betty White to putting the Lorax ‘stache on George Washington, postcard-like image fill up the entire Facebook preview image window with a countdown in the top right until the release of the movie.
Action Movie FX lets you add Hollywood FX to iPhone movies you shoot. You direct the action. Choose from 1 of 3 movie FX packs and select scene like “missile attack”, film a target and let the App add an incoming missile and its explosion right into your movie. Produced by Bad Robot Interactive, the app features sound design by Skywalker Sound. Additional packs for purchase include Chopper Down, Tornado Action, Airstrike or Firefight Attack. Once the scene has been rendered, share to Facebook or E-mail to friends!
Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb recently released some stats about Xbox Live that hours of video consumed globally on Xbox Live increased 140 percent from 2010 to 2011. Not only that, but the new Metro-style dashboard saw a 60 percent increase in app usage and a 50 percent increase in users using those apps.
“We are committed to enhancing and expanding our global entertainment offerings on Xbox Live in 2012,” wrote Hryb. “Moving forward, you can expect to see more of the world’s leading entertainment providers coming to Xbox and a continued roll out of additional entertainment apps.”
Source: majornelson.com
Free-to-play is an increasing trend in the video gaming industry, though game consoles have been slow to adopt the business model. Namco Bandai senior VP for Europe Olivier Comte said at Cloud Gaming Europe that F2P titles are setting standards low for games and are whittling away at AAA gaming as a whole.
“Free-to-play games can’t be high quality,” said Comte. “We need to put certain value on certain work. When you’re a big company… you can’t take risks too quickly, you can’t make a change just because there’s a fashion for a couple of years; you want to be there in 20 or 30 years.”
Source: IndustryGamers
Cryptic Studios has announced that Star Trek Online is now officially available as a free-to-play product. There is still a $15 subscription available, which grants additional character and item slots, unlimited access to in game communications and a monthly stipend of “promotional points” that can be used for in-game purchases.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Cryptic CEO Jack Emmert. “Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There’s no better way to see how sitting in the captain’s chair feels.”
Many of the old hands in Hollywood were backing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). However, the heavyweights of the internet branded the law as a form of censorship and now people are up in arms about the legislation.
“It seems that Hollywood still does not realize that it is in the information age. Knowledge moves in real time, and events move accordingly. The medium is the message in a fight like this.” writes Sharon Waxman. “Five days ago, almost nobody knew or cared about SOPA. But with lightning speed, the leviathans of the Internet, including Google and Facebook and Wikipedia, managed to brand this battle as Bad and mobilize millions of followers.”
“By Wednesday morning as Wikipedia went dark, the SOPA is Censorship message was on the cover and home page of every news outlet around the country. By midday, four senators and one member of Congress had backed off the legislation,” she notes. “What was Hollywood doing By midday the MPAA sent a press release – a press release! – with background information that offered the following: ”The PROTECT IP Act: Combating Online Infringement; Creating American Jobs, Promoting America’s Economy, Protecting American Consumers.’ Are you kidding me I’m not saying Chris Dodd did a great job speaking out on the subject (he didn’t), but honestly – that’s not how you reach people today.”
The MPAA didn’t leverage any of its various talented actors to try and make a point on the law. Their side of the debate never got off the ground, even if there were some valid points.
“Look, it’s never ideal when the government steps in to regulate speech of any kind,” says Waxman. “In fact, it’s exactly what Jack Valenti and the MPAA successfully fought decades ago, in adopting a voluntary movie ratings system and beating back attempts to have the government regulate. But some heads have got to roll here. Hollywood showed today that it is completely clueless in leveraging the tools of the 21st Century. The content creators who drive the business of the MPAA companies were failed by those companies today.”
Source: reuters.com
MLG has announced that their ninth annual Pro Circuit for 2012 which will be divided into four seasons – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The Winter season will run January 31-February 8 with some invitation-only StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty tournaments, with the eight finishers from the MLG Pro Circuit 2011 National Championships held last November will be invited to join the top eight finishers from the MLG Winter Regional Online Qualifiers for the first ever MLG Winter Arena in New York City running February 24-26.
“Our 2012 MLG Pro Circuit season is poised to be our most robust to date – with even more competition online and in person, more broadcasts and more of the world’s best players,” said MLG CEO Sundance DiGiovanni. “We listened to our community and players to update our Pro Circuit format and ensure that placement in tournaments was a direct result of player performance. Our new Pro Circuit structure is designed to further the world of e-sports and take competitive gaming to a new level.”
The Winter season will conclude with the MLG Winter Championship, a spectator event in Columbus, Ohio running from March 23-25 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The event will be viewable for local fans in-person and via live streaming.
Yahoo Inc co-founder Jerry Yang has announced his sudden departure from the company, following the recent appointment of Scott Thompson as Yahoo CEO. Yang is severing all formal ties with the company and resigning all positions in the wake of criticism for his handling of company affairs dating back to an failed sale to Microsoft in 2008.
“Everyone is going to assume this means a deal is more likely with the Asia-counterparts,” said Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter. “The perception among shareholders was Jerry was more focused on trying to rebuild Yahoo than necessarily on maximizing near-term shareholder value. It certainly seems things are coming to a head as far as realizing the value of these assets.”
Source: csmonitor.com
