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Classic Games (Games)

Hank Chien Reclaims Donkey Kong High Score 122

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

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

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

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.
Announcements

Submission + - Edge 2008: What did you change your mind about? (edge.org)

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?"
Education

Submission + - OLPC CTO Quits to Commercialize OLPC Technology

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."
Power

Submission + - Silicon Valley Startup ships $1 / Watt solar panel (andrewrondeau.com)

GWBasic writes: "At $1 per Watt, the iTunes of Solar Energy Has Arrived A Silicon Valley start-up called Nanosolar shipped its first solar panels — priced at $1 a watt. That's the price at which solar energy gets cheaper than coal. While other companies have been focusing their efforts on increasing the efficiency of solar panels, Nanosolar took a different approach. It focused on manufacturing."
Christmas Cheer

Submission + - Tech Gifts for the Holidays (blogspot.com)

MrCopilot writes: "Here is a list of tech gadgetry, I'd like to see under the tree. This year on my list 3 items run on a Linux OS, including the Nokia n810, Asus eePC and the XO Laptop. I fully expect twice as many next year, with the imminent release of Google's Android.
Of course, there is no shortage of Xmas Tech Lists.

What do you, the Slashdot Tech Geek, want to open up this Christmas/Kwanzaa/Chanukah/Pagan Winter Solstice Holiday?"

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