The most common complaint about 3D is that the glasses give you a headache, but that's not actually true, according to the man who teaches the pros how to make better 3D. Speaking at the BBC in London, Buzz Hays, chief instructor for the Sony 3D Technology Center in Culver City, California, explained: 'It's not the technology's fault, it's really the content that can cause these problems. It's easy to make 3D but it's hard to make it good — and by "good" I mean taking care to make sure that this isn't going to cause eyestrain.' He went on to detail some of the mistakes made by inexperienced 3D film makers, from poor composition of shots, through uncomfortable convergence settings, to overuse of on-set monitors without viewing their content on a big screen. But the biggest admission Buzz made was that not even the 'experts' know all the tricks yet, which is why 3D should only get better from here. In the same seminar, Buzz also explained why 3D glasses are here to stay — at least for the next few years."

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/st...-You-Headaches ...

Codemasters had let-out the first video for racing threequel Colin McRae's: DiRT 3.

The footage shows mud-track rally driving, tarmacked race-course racing and, eventually, a car drifting underneath a lorry that explodes.

What that tells us about this third game in Codemasters' rally driving series we're unsure.

DiRT 3's existence was confirmed by Codemasters in March. Publisher bigwig Gavin Cheshire told the world back then that DiRT 3 would be "fresh and new", and "if you don't innovate, you're dead".

No date has been annnounced for DiRT 3. No platforms have been mentioned either, although we expect PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 as with previous DiRT games.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...eiled-in-video ...

Bungie has warned budding Halo: Reach quitters that it intends to punish them for their transgressions.

The developer has drummed up new ways to boot out those who leave games early so upcoming FPS Halo: Reach will be free from their horrible griefing ways.

"I think one of the new things people will be excited about too, is how we're going to be able to penalise people who are habitually quitting out of games, which isn't exactly cheating, but it creates a really negative experience for everybody else in the game," explained Bungie's community director Brian Jarrard to X360A.

"We actually have new tools now to detect that and eventually, people who do this habitually will actually be penalised.

"We want to be able to remove them from the population so they can't make everyone else keep having a bad time."

Eurogamer spoke to Jarrard and campaign designer Niles Sanky recently and discovered all sorts of interesting gubbins about Bungie's final Halo game.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ha...o-be-penalised ...

He has predicted it, Activision has denied it – but now outspoken US games analyst Michael Pachter has published his most detailed argument yet as to exactly why he believes Call of Duty: Black Ops will offer an additional paid-for multiplayer component.
“Multiplayer online game play is as strong as ever, with an estimated 15 million people spending an average of 10 hours a week playing games such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Red Dead Redemption,” he said in a note to investors.
“While downloadable content (DLC) sales have been strong (we estimate that Activision has sold 8m map packs at $15 in the first half of the year), revenues from DLC are insufficient to offset the declines in packaged goods sales resulting from the online multiplayer time vacuum created.
“In our view, it is likely that multiplayer online game play will continue to be offered for free, but we expect the publishers, led by Activision, to devise a way to extract value from consumers who are playing online.
“We estimate that four billion hours of game play have been spent on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 online multiplayer alone. 20 million game purchasers would have spent around 250 million hours finishing the single player and co-op campaign modes. The incremental 3.75 billion hours spent playing online multiplayer dwarfs this figure, and represents the equivalent of 15 full-game equivalents that were not purchased from any publisher.”


That’s not it, though, Though Call of Duty: Black Ops will be the beginning, Pachter thinks a number of 2011’s biggest titles will ask for an online subscription.
“The premium services that we expect to be monetized are the sale of virtual goods, the opportunity to play in tournaments, the maintenance of achievements, the creation of ladders and leader boards, and access to value-added content,” Pachter added.
“We are not sure which direction that monetization will take, but expect to hear about future plans for charging for premium services some time between this earnings cycle and early 2011. We think that scheduled releases like Call of Duty Black Ops, Medal of Honor and Halo Reach, and unscheduled releases like Grand Theft Auto 5 all will contain the opportunity for gamers to pay more to the publishers. While we don’t think that anyone will be compelled to pay for premium content, we think that it is highly likely that the content will be offered for a fee, and that as a result, fewer hours will be spent playing these games for free than has been spent on their prior versions.”
Critics of Pachter’s theory argue that customers who have become accustomed to years of free console multiplayer will react in horror at the introduction of a new fee-based structure. Even if that is the case, the analyst argues that the model remains sound.
“Charging for premium content is important for two reasons: first, it should drive higher revenues and profits for the publishers who charge; and second, it is likely that the creation of premium content will limit the number of hours spent playing multiplayer games for free, thereby disaggregating a large number of consumers who will likely begin purchasing packaged products again,” he explains.
“At the margin, we expect somewhere around half of the current 15 million online game players to pay something for premium content, and expect the other half to play fewer hours online if the free experience is slightly less robust in the future. Should the 7.5 million people who choose to pay generate only $5.00 per month (around 11.5¢ per hour), publisher revenues and operating profits would increase by $450 million; should the other 7.5 million people purchase only one additional game per year to make up for fewer hours spent online, publisher revenues would grow by another $450 million.”
Pachter then goes on to conclude that the introduction of such fees could actually emerge as the catalyst that lifts gaming out of its current market slump.
“We think that premium online multiplayer content will be the event that turns the negative tide of industry sales around,” he blieves. “In our view, investors value recurring revenue streams far more than those from “hit driven” packaged products sales, and we think that once a premium service is established, likely by Activision, other publishers will quickly follow suit.
“As we said above, we do not think that charges for premium content will be mandatory, and we expect the publishers to continue to provide some form of online multiplayer for free. However, we think that the opportunity to charge something is too great to be overlooked by the publishers for much longer, and we expect to see Activision lead the way by creating a new system some time before the end of the year.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40247/Pach...nline-COD-fees ...

Microsoft is offering those who have pre-ordered Xbox 360 RPG release Fable III the chance to design an in-game character who will appear in their quest when the game arrives on October 29th.
The Fable III Villager Maker, which is accessible via browsers, allows those who have pre-ordered the game the chance to create their own character.
Once the final game arrives the character will then present gamers with an exclusive quest, as well as supply them with 1,000 gold pieces. The character will also persist throughout the game.
2,000 variations are possible using the tool, including customisations to his or her appearance, back story, personality and homeland. Users will also be able to use the character is a custom PC desktop and share their creation on Facebook and Twitter.
“Whether you create a valiant ally, an evil villain, or perhaps the perfect spouse, let your imagination run free as you make your mark in the fantastical world of Fable III,” the press release reads.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40251/Fabl...aker-goes-live ...

Global shipments of Android smartphones grew by 886 per cent last quarter, analysts have found.
Researchers attribute the unprecedented year-on-year rise in Q2 to new product launches from the likes of HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG.
Android devices represented a 34 per cent share of the US market in the quarter, making Google’s platform the country’s most popular.
“Our detailed and complete country-level smart phone shipment data for Q2 2010 clearly reveals the impressive momentum Android is gaining in markets around the world,” said Canalys VP and principal analyst Chris Jones. “These products have been well received by the market, with consumers eager to download and engage with mobile applications and services, such as Internet browsing, social networking, games and navigation.”
In terms of vendors, Nokia retained its substantial lead in the global smartphone market, with a 38 per cent share. The Finland-based firm shipped a record 23.8 million units during the quarter.

RIM was once again the second placed vendor, with BlackBerry shipments rising 41 per cent, thanks to the popularity of devices such as the Curve 8520. The firm had an 18 per cent market share in Q2.
Despite the iPhone 4 antenna debacle, Apple held a 13 per cent share of the market, representing 61 per cent growth.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/34122...-up-almost-900 ...

Game Trading Technologies Inc has announced that it is to launch its first ever games peripheral.
Now it has confirmed that it has designed, developed a produced what it describes as “a revolutionary plastic hockey stick that will be bundled with a new multi-player hockey video game for the Nintendo Wii platform”.
The company has risen to prominence in recent times having played a big part in supplying software for the pre-owned games aspirations of many US retailers including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Toys-R-Us, and 7-11.
GTTI CEO Todd Hays stated: “We are very pleased with the working relationship we've established with one of the world's largest entertainment software companies.
“With world-wide distribution of this game accessory, Game Trading Technologies not only opens up additional revenue channels, but also significant new market opportunities for GTTI in the design, development and manufacturing of state-of-the-art accessories for video games.”

GTTI recently announced a new iPhone app that will allow users to sell their games via their handsets.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/40246/GTTI...to-peripherals ...

Jet Set GamesTM today announced that HighbornTM, the critically and commercially successful turn-based strategy game, is now available with high-resolution artwork as Highborn HD on the iPad for an introductory price of $2.99.

Highborn HD, now live on the iTunes App Store at http://itunes.com/app/HighbornHD features re-designed maps with enhanced, high-resolution graphics.

“Highborn HD on the iPad really showcases the hand-drawn maps and the higher-resolution artwork we’ve been working hard on over the past few months,” said Rade Stojsavljevic, president of Jet Set Games. “It’s gorgeous, and well worth the price, even if you’ve already purchased the iPhone version. Especially now that the OpenFeint integration allows for multiplayer gaming against all iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Highborn gamers.”

In Highborn, players are treated to two strategy games that combine to offer an intelligent, tactical experience without the frenetic play of a traditional RTS. Players move forces around an overhead map to secure spells and combat support, then dive into 3D combat to deploy those advantages against an unsuspecting enemy. All the fun and fighting is set against an irreverent tale, filled with wacky heroes, witty dialogue and wild assumptions.

Features:

A Light Touch – Highborn is a casual mobile strategy game that offers a satisfying experience for players, no matter if they spend minutes or hours in the game.
Time for a New Strategy – Highborn features a unique blend of strategic movement and 3D combat that caters to a variety of gameplay styles and offers a great deal of replayability.
Multiplay at Your Pace – Turn-based gaming enables players to think, then act, in round-based play via OpenFeint’s 30-million-person community. Players can have multiple games going at once, and can trash-talk their opponents in player-to-player chat.
Many Styles of Play – Players unlock hero characters as they progress through the game, giving them access to different abilities and play styles, along with different strategies to use against their opponents.
Achieve Greatness – More than 20 single- and multiplayer achievements to unlock, including judicious use of turns, using units as bait, and making it through an entire mission without capturing support structures. ...

Bulkypix, award winning iPhone and iPad games publisher today announced that following the successful launch of Snake Galaxy on the iPhone, the game has been ported to iPad and will be available on August the 4th, on the App Store.

Snake Galaxy is a three dimensional version of the classic Snake game, that has players slithering around beautifully rendered 3D planets. Your goal is simple—consume as many jewels as possible before you crash and burn. You direct the snake with your finger, guiding it toward the goodies while avoiding obstacles like giant letters, like on the gorgeous newspaper planet. With each jewel you consume, your “snake” grows a little longer, making it harder for you to avoid obstacles—and your tail.

There are point thresholds you must reach to unlock the next planet. In order to reach those point thresholds, you must eat the goodies in your path as fast as you can. There is a multiplier bar at the bottom of the screen that refills every time you feed your snake. But you must be careful not to let the bar zeroes out. If it does, you will have to start the multiplier chain all over from scratch. There are large diamonds that appear from time to time that are worth big points. Grabbing these before they vanish is critical for making it to the next stage.

The iPad makes the movement in the game feel natural and the controls make the game play beautifully accurate; you will salivate at the 3D environment of this game in motion. Snake Galaxy also features a great soundtrack, but you can listen to your own music while playing.

“The Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition has just declared that the mobile version of Snake is the most played game on the planet,” said Vincent Dondaine, COO of Bulkypix. “Snake Galaxy for the iPad is beautiful. The design of the 3D worlds is stunning. Different planets all have different types of fun obstacles to pass by, keeping you wondering what's next. You’ll enjoy yourself for hours.”

The game will be available on the iPad for 3.99€/ $4.99. ...