Forgot your password?

typodupeerror
Classic Games (Games)

Hank Chien Reclaims Donkey Kong High Score 122

Posted by Soulskill
from the barrels-of-fun dept.
An anonymous reader writes "If you can say anything about Hank Chien, it's that he evidently doesn't take defeat very well. Sure, he knew not so deep down that his Donkey Kong World Record score wouldn't last forever, but he couldn't have foreseen that it would have been toppled so quickly. Twice, even. But he also knew that more Kong competition would be coming his way; namely Richie Knucklez Kong-Off in March. So Hank had something to prove, and prove he did. Scoring a massive 1,068,000 points in less than three hours, Hank has officially reclaimed the high score in Nintendo’s 1981 arcade classic."
PC Games (Games)

DC Universe Online To Launch January 11th 49

Posted by Soulskill
from the dust-off-your-cape dept.
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that their long-awaited superhero MMO DC Universe Online will be launching on January 11th in the US and January 14th in the UK. The game will be available for Windows and the PlayStation 3. Massively recently wrote up their impressions from the beta test, and a preview at The Escapist said this of the combat: "Based on my early experiences, the action of DCUO is a lot of fun. You can lock onto targets, but there is no auto attack button. To take down enemies, you must click a button to punch or fire a ranged attack. The brawler-style action feels like a wham-bang comic book. Scenery is not just difficult terrain; picking up barrels and tossing them at your foes is sometimes necessary for tough encounters. Leveling up your skills unlocks combos, with varying effects that can interrupt enemies from pulling off that devastating fire breath or stunning punch. ... The only downside with such frenetic combat is that the keyboard and mouse interface isn't really conducive to all this action. It's hard to follow up nine short left clicks with a long right button click. While I was visiting SOE's offices, I was able to play with a PS3 controller, and this control scheme was preferable."

Comment: Re:Only the engine was released (Score 4, Insightful) 74

by MrCopilot (#32221898) Attached to: <em>Penumbra: Overture</em> Goes Open Source

These games from the Humble Indy Bundle have not been released under a free license, nor does it appear they will be. All that is being released are their engines.

Following the ID tradition.

There are already dozens of free software game engines available with no free software games which use them.

And because of Engine only releases Open Source developers have been able to produce a host of new games. From the Quake engines alone we have Tremulous, Warsow, Alien Arena just to name a few.

Having a proven Engine under your Project allows developers to focus on Assets and Level Design and tweaking the gameplay to a much larger degree than is possible if developing the engine as well.

There is another benefit to the original developers and users in that their games survive onto the next era of computing and gaming devices.(iPhones, Androids and insert your favorite tablet device here)

Businesses

Could the RIAA Just Disappear? 114

Posted by ScuttleMonkey
from the don't-hold-your-breath dept.
BlueMerle writes "Ars Technica is running a story about how EMI is disappointed with RIAA and ultimately they (RIAA) may disappear. 'Is the RIAA as we know it about to disappear? As rumors continue to swirl that EMI will pull its funding from music trade groups like the RIAA and IFPI, an IFPI spokesman tells Ars that the group is in the middle of a major internal review of its operations.'" I wouldn't bet the farm just yet.
PC Games (Games)

Free Platformers, Open Source Gamers Guide 3->

Submitted by
MrCopilot
MrCopilot writes "A Roundup of the best Platformers Open Source has to offer the latest in the Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games (OSGGFG) series.

Part 3: Run and Jump For Joy.

Mario is well represented, plus Tux, a Ninja, a Blob or 2, and a couple cute widdle fuzzy bunnies ..... that explode, and more! As usual with the games in the OSGGFG, all Games are Free with a capital F, no cost and Open Source. All games have builds or installers for Windows, and Linux, sometimes theres even a Mac in there, once in a while.

Did I miss your favorite?"

Link to Original Source
Announcements

Edge 2008: What did you change your mind about?->

Submitted by
chrisd
chrisd writes "The Edge 2008 question (with answers) is in, and it is "What did you change your mind about and why?". This year features answers from scientists as diverse as Richard Dawkins, Simon Baron-Cohen, George Church, David Brin, J. Craig Venter and the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees, among others. Very interesting to read. For instance, Stewart Brand writes that he now realizes that "Good old stuff sucks" and Sam Harris has decided that "Mother Nature is Not Our Friend". I hate to pander, but what did /. readers change their minds about in '07?"
Link to Original Source
Education

OLPC CTO Quits to Commercialize OLPC Technology

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes "The One Laptop Per Child project suffered a blow Monday, with CTO Mary Lou Jepsen quitting the nonprofit to start a for-profit company to commercialize technology she invented with OLPC (the first of Jepsen's pending OLPC patents was published by the USPTO on Dec. 13). The OLPC project halted consumer sales of the cheap laptop at the end of November."
United States

57 mpg? That's so 20 years ago 6

Submitted by
maclizard
maclizard writes "I wish my car got 57 miles to the gallon.

From the article:
'The CRX HF got an Environmental Protection Agency-estimated 57 mpg gallon in highway driving. Today, the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid Civic you can buy gets an EPA-estimated 34 mpg on the highway. Even today's Honda Civic Hybrid can't match it, achieving EPA-estimated highway mileage of just 45 mpg. The Toyota Prius, today's fuel mileage champ, gets 46 mpg on the highway.'"

I'll turn over a new leaf. -- Miguel de Cervantes

Working...