At Hack a Day, we’ve seen dozens of intervalometer builds that open and close a camera shutter remotely. [Luke Skaff] decided to take these builds to the next level byautomating a camera’s focus and shutter with a Nintendo DS.
[Luke]‘s build is based on the Open Camera Controller project that puts the power of an intervalometer, sound trigger, sequencer, and HDR bracket shooting into the hands of professional photogaphers. The Open Camera Controller is built to run on a Nintendo DS with an AVR-based card attached to the Game Boy Advance cartridge port.
The Open Camera Controller attaches to a camera’s shutter port, but [Luke] stepped things up a little bit by using a USB host controller and implementing the picture transfer protocol. Now, instead of [Luke]‘s controller telling his camera when to open and close the shutter, the focus of the camera can be adjusted as well. [Luke]‘s build uses an Xilinx CoolRunner-II CPLD and a USB host controller to convert the DS cartridge port to a USB port every DSLR can connect to.
[Luke] still has a mess of wires on his hand, but even we can see the power that inexpensive automation would bring to the world of digital photography.

http://hackaday.com/2012/03/13/contr...a-nintendo-ds/ ...

Former McAfee Chief Security Officer Brett Wahlin talks about securing the network
PlayStation Network's major breach last year, and subsequent hacking attacks on other publishers, put a spotlight on just how weak the security at some game companies has been - ironic, given the tech-focused nature inherent in video games. Now Sony has one of the top security experts on their side - former McAfee Chief Security Officer Brett Wahlin - and he's looking to ensure that Sony never gets hacked and embarrassed again.
Wahlin, speaking to Secure Business Intelligence, outlined some of the key aspects of the new and improved security for Sony Entertainment Network. The entire security operations center (SOC) run by HP and Arcsight, reports to Wahlin, who also served as a counter-intelligence officer in the US Military for eight years during the Cold War.
For Wahlin, one of the crucial aspects of securing the network is to understand the enemy. "The types of attacks we see are by groups with social agendas," he said, referring to the infamous group known as Anonymous. "The methods they use aren't the same as the state-sponsored guys."
An important distinction is that groups like Anonymous aren't in it for money; they simply want to do damage and make a statement. "At Sony, we are modifying our programs to deal less with state-sponsored [attacks] and more with socially-motivated hackers. It will be different," Wahlin noted.
So what does this mean? It means that Sony's security experts have to think more like social engineers. That entails constantly monitoring staff and users across the globe. Each Sony staffer is viewed as a potential target with varying levels of access to the network and different levels of vulnerability.
To combat the threat, Wahlin is aiming to craft a new strategy based on psychological behaviors. As the report puts it, "The strategy combines social engineering psychology with data analytics and user education, using Wahlin's counter-intelligence, FBI-inspired human behaviour profiling methods and advanced fraud detection systems."
"We are looking to see if there are there key elements within a person's interaction with their environment. That could be interaction with badging systems, with telephones - when and who do they call- and with systems like browser habits and applications used," he explained. "All these things allow us to set up a pattern for users, so when something different happens we can respond."
All of this information would be quickly streamed to the SOC where it's analyzed. The normal would have to be separated from the abnormal in an automated process that would put up red flags in case something unusual is detected.
"If we detect unusual activity, it may be that someone's been owned by a Trojan that we don't know about, and we can stop data flying out the door," said Wahlin.
At least last year's attack did appear to send a wake-up call to Sony - and hopefully - the industry at large.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-user-behavior

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Another graphical upgrade isn't quite enough to get the God of War creator excited
David Jaffe, designer of the newest Twisted Metal game, is already over the next generation of consoles. Having worked in the video gaming business since the early '90s, he's seen the cycle for game consoles before.
"I couldn't care less about next-gen," said Jaffe toEdge. "I started at Sony Imagesoft doing Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games, and I went through that to PS1, then PS2, PS3, Vita… You go through the cycle enough and you realize today's 'Oh my f***ing God' is tomorrow's 'Ehh, whatever'. Ultimately, this is all going to be yesterday's news and it's about the experience, the game. Unless we're talking about holodecks, or AI that's so amazing it can actually write a compelling story around you procedurally based on your choices, I'm not interested."
Jaffe also believes that another set of consoles will hamper the ability to get more ambitious projects out the door. He hopes that instead of focusing on horsepower, console manufacturers instead will work on functionality and speed up the slow "ramp-up time" that most modern console games suffer from.
While Eat Sleep Play recently wrapped up the development of Twisted Metal, he's preparing to depart the developer he helped found with Scott Campbell in 2007. He will turn his focus on another studio in San Diego that will look to focus on mobile, browser and possibly console games as well.
Update: Jaffe has now further clarified his stance in a long-form Twitter post, which we've published below.
To clarify: I've been around the block long enough that while better, more realistic graphics are always impressive, a jump in visuals for games doesn't excite me near like it used to. The thrill wears off very quick and because it does, the increased budgets and time needed to create these next-next-gen games becomes a more frustrating pill to swallow. So when Edge asked if I was excited about new consoles, and when I said- in essence- I was not, I was referring to this. I was referring to the fact that UNLESS the next gen of consoles are unique and fresh and bring something substantially more to the table, I could not care less about next gen from a sense of WHAT the new boxes will let us- as game makers- create.
When I went on to say I was looking at doing a next-gen game, I was NOT contradicting myself. Just because I'm not excited about the new tech (from what little I know of it...hell, if it is really innovative and lets our games be better and not just look better, I WILL be excited for it)...but assuming that's not the case: just because I'm not excited for next-gen tech, doesn't mean I'm not very excited to make a next- gen game with our new studio. Big budget, character/story*, new IP games often times NEED to be on the latest consoles and while the next-gen tech of consoles so far has me very 'whatever', the desire to work with an amazing team to help create a big budget, character/story, new IP has me very jazzed!
David
* And before you show off your poor listening comprehension skills and claim I hate stories in games, please re-watch the DICE speech that some1 is SURE to reference when telling me I'm a contradictory douche . Thanks!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...on-of-consoles

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Every part of the games business is transforming. That's both terrifying and exciting, argues Johnny Minkley
The death of specialist retail? The end of optical media in consoles? The last stand for dedicated gaming handhelds? Now more than ever the defining mood of the video games industry is uncertainty.
Take retail. GAME Group, which accounts for a third of the market in the UK, is on the brink of administration. Will GameStop step in, interest piqued by the lure of instant market leadership, to salvage specialist retail?
Or will games lose their presence on the high street, denying casual shoppers the chance to browse and try before they buy, and stripping variety from shelves, as the remaining supermarkets stock the key chart titles and little else?
Entire conferences are devoted to weighing the pros and cons of the business models available to content creators, but no-one is sure which way the wind will blow

The shift to digital is inevitable, but there is no "mp3 moment" for video games given the file sizes involved and current broadband speeds. Intuitively, everyone knows digital is growing rapidly, but by how much? How big is the market?
The official story, based on Chart-Track numbers, is one of decline - yet this analysis is fatally undermined by a lack of data, stubbornly tied as it is to physical sales.
Efforts, coming to fruition, to deliver a digital software chart in the UK are laudable and overdue, but will only ever paint part of the picture without giants like Apple and Valve in the mix - the latter's Steam service now so significant and powerful in PC gaming the man in charge of it is a billionaire.
Take the media. British magazine publishers weep at the might of Game Informer in the US as their circulations collapse and, having wrestled for years with the division of content between dead tree and online, now fret over how to handle the exploding tablet market.
Meanwhile, for professional publishing houses that have scarcely come to terms with the temerity of amateur bloggers to encroach all too successfully onto their hallowed turf, they now have the new broadcasting stars of YouTube to contend with, like Tom Syndicate, a lovely young chap who's amassed tens of millions of hits and hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers with his ultra-lo fi, hyper-enthusiastic videos - making a small fortune in the process.
Even reviewing a game is no longer a straightforward task, when it's increasingly hard to determine when a title can be considered "finished"; where games can be transformed with a free content update, and where the day-one patch has flung timings into chaos. And it's probably for the best I don't have the space to go anywhere near the can of worms marked "embargoes".
No longer, too, can the media rely on the old PR blueprint that ensured the press were the gatekeepers of new product information. In the age of the app, with hundreds of games going on sale every day made by studios with zero PR or marketing budget, the roles have reversed, with professional publications now heavily reliant on their readers for word-of-mouth tips.
Those stranded in-between, still peddling resource-intensive console titles without the marketing or franchise clout of the big beasts, are feeling the squeeze. More will inevitably fail

Take hardware. In the limbo of transition from one generation of console hardware to the next (which, most seem to agree, will be the last cycle as we know it) the clamour grows for news on what's next, hence the frenzied reaction to whispers that the next Xbox will not feature a disc drive.
Yet, as David Cage demonstrated so powerfully at GDC with his Quantic Dream's Kara short running in realtime on PS3, and as the release this week of thatgamecompany's phenomenal Journey shows with equal force, there's plenty of life left in these ageing platforms.
As the medium has matured, many games have come to be defined by the limits of technique, not technology. After all, Nintendo only joins the "HD era", ushered in so noisily by Microsoft in 2005, later this year.
And anyway, what on earth is a third-party developer supposed to make of Wii U? What about cloud gaming? A TV made by Apple that could easily do games? A Steambox from Valve?
Speaking of which, take developers and publishers. The old distinction means little to digital micro-studios bursting into life. Gaming's audience has expanded wildly and the market has polarised, with success enjoyed by heavyweight franchise blockbusters at one end and cheap apps/freemium casual titles at the other.
At the same time, those stranded in-between, still peddling resource-intensive console titles without the marketing or franchise clout of the big beasts, are feeling the squeeze. More will inevitably fail.
Entire conferences and acres of analysis are devoted to weighing the pros and cons of the business models available to content creators today, all very thoughtful and worthy, but no-one is sure which way the wind will blow.
Mills, who heads up UK app developer ustwo, offers a fascinating real-time case ...

Microsoft says on the official Xbox site that the issue was a temporary one which has since been resolved. Those who are yet to see their Gamerscore restored are advised to log out and back in.
ORIGINAL STORY: Microsoft is investigating a bug that is wipingXbox Live users' Gamerscores when they unlock an achievement.
Forums - including Microsoft's own - and the Xbox Support Twitter account are currently awash with complaints from users who have unlocked a new achievement to find their Gamerscore being reset to zero.
On Twitter, the Xbox support team has suggested users try logging out, clearing the console's cache and recovering their Live profiles, but it appears doing so does not correct the issue in every case.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/xbox...d-update-fixed ...

BioWare's Star Wars MMOG The Old Republic will be free to play this weekend.
Those interested can create an account at the source link below, and will be able to download the client from 5.01am GMT on Thursday and play for free until 7am on Monday.
While all server types will be available, there are in-game restrictions, the most severe of which caps player progress at level 15. Players are limited to certain areas, will not be able to participate in chat, trade or send messages; for more, see the FAQon the game's official site.
When the trial expires, accounts will be held on EA's system but flagged as inactive. Player's characters will not be deleted, and can be accessed in the event that users choose to pay for a monthly subscription.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/old-...e-play-weekend ...

snydeq writes with the opinion that Microsoft can afford Windows 8 failing on the desktop. From the article:"Windows 8 is an experiment that may well fail, but Microsoft will cull invaluable feedback for Windows 9 in the process, long before Windows 7 runs out of gas, writes InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp. 'Can Microsoft really afford to alienate one of its biggest market segments for a whole product cycle? In a word: Yes. In fact, doing something this risky might well be vital to Microsoft's survival,' Yegulalp writes. 'Microsoft needs to gamble, and right now might well be the best time for the company to do it. The company needs to learn from its mistakes as quickly and nimbly as they can — and then turn around and make Windows 9 exceed all of our expectations.'"Microsoft has managed to weather several OS flops (Windows Me anyone?) thanks to their domination of the market, but with Android gadgets and iPhones becoming pervasive can they pull it off again?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/03...with-windows-8 ...

'From Ashes' bonus content built alongside main game, but sold separately

Publishing giant Electronic Arts has responded to mounting accusations that its studio BioWare had pre-packaged DLC within Mass Effect 3’s retail discs.
The accusations are unfounded but originate from some customers’ complaints that DLC for Mass Effect 3 was available on the first day of the game’s release – making it certain that the digital content was developed in parallel the main game.

The publisher said its ‘From Ashes’ DLC is bigger than 600 MB, and the content “was completed while the main game was in certification and are not available on the disc”.
In a statement sent to GameInformer, EA said it was necessary to include certain “framework elements and character models” on disc.
Mass Effect 3 sold more than 900,000 copies on its first day of sale, following rave reviews from critics.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...s-Effect-3-DLC
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Former Sony studios boss 'excited to be with Microsoft at such a pivotal time'

Former PlayStation development boss Phil Harrison is to head up the Microsoft Studios European organisation, Microsoft has confirmed.
The experienced industry executive, with a history steeped in PlayStation development, has been appointed corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB).

“I am excited to be joining the senior team at Microsoft at a pivotal time for our industry,” said Harrison.
“I am really impressed with the company’s long-term vision for growing the market for interactive entertainment globally, and also with the incredible wealth of talent, technology and resources the company has available to succeed.”
Microsoft said Harrison will also have a hand in “influencing the broader performance of IEB’s European business through strategic partnerships and by bringing culturally relevant entertainment experiences to Microsoft platforms”.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...Microsoft-role
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