heartless_ - Slashdot User

Submission + - Valve Release: Steamworks (rockpapershotgun.com)

Submitted by

Heartless Gamer

on Wednesday January 30, 2008 @05:21PM

Heartless Gamer writes: "Valve are rocking the boat in a really big way, especially for PC gaming piracy. They have just announced the release of a complete collection of publisher power, called Steamworks, available to developers and publishers completely free. Valve describe it as, "A complete suite of publishing and development tools — ranging from copy protection to social networking services to server browsing — now available free of charge to developers and publishers worldwide.""

Submission + - Why Gears Of War (and other titles) Cost $60

Submitted by

Heartless Gamer

on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @10:07AM

Heartless Gamer writes: "Forbes.com has an interesting article detailing what goes into the $60 price tag for next generation games. The remaining $59 per game goes into many hands. The biggest portion — nearly 45% — goes toward simply programming and designing the game itself. Then the console maker, retailer and marketers each get a cut. Add in manufacturing and management costs, and depending on the type of game, a license fee. Some gamemakers also have to pay a distributor to help get their titles in stores."

Submission + - First independent benchmarking system for mice

Submitted by

Heartless Gamer

on Monday December 11, 2006 @10:20AM

Heartless Gamer writes: "Why benchmark a mouse? From ESReality; "In this environment where performance is king, it's ludicrous to think that mouse performance has never been measured for reviewing the products. Imagine reviewing the latest graphics card in the same way. Without benchmarks, reviewers would have to resort to loading up their favourite game and commenting on how their frag count improved. You would have no way to compare NVIDIA and ATI cards apart from the quality of the packaging. Without benchmarking, graphics card reviews would be almost entirely useless. So why do we put up with mouse reviews that are just as useless?""

Submission + - Pete Hines From Bethesda Says No Oblivion Exp Pack

Submitted by

Heartless Gamer

on Tuesday September 12, 2006 @04:21PM

Heartless Gamer writes: "Pete Hines From Bethesda Says No Oblivion Expansion. It is being widely reported around the web that there is an expansion in the works for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion called " Knights of the White Stallion." This stems from a cryptic Gamestop website listing. Well, not being satisfied with rumor, we went directly to the source, Pete Hines V.P. of Marketing and Public Relations Bethesda Softworks, to ask about this expansion. Here is what he had to say:

There's no expansion in development called Knights of the White Stallion. That's the name of a quest in Oblivion.

Right now we have no announced plans for any new content, add-ons, or expansions. If that changes, we'll let folks know."

Submission + - Xerox reveals transient documents

Submitted by

Heartless Gamer

on Thursday September 07, 2006 @08:41AM

Heartless Gamer writes: "Xerox has lifted the veil from some of its research and development work in the field of printing. They demoed the very intriguing 'transient documents'. This offers the prospect of reusable paper in the sense that the content is automatically erased after a period of time, ready for fresh printing. Inspired by the fact that many print outs have a life-span of a few hours (think of the emails you may print out just to read, or the content you proof read on the train journey back home), the specially prepared paper will preserve its content for up to 16 hours."

Submission + - New chip promises better AI performance in games

Submitted by

Heartless Gamer

on Tuesday September 05, 2006 @03:00PM

Heartless Gamer writes: "New chip promises better AI performance in games. A new company called AIseek announced what it describes as the world's first dedicated processor for artificial intelligence. Called the Intia Processor, the AI chip would work in conjunction with optimized titles to improve nonplayer character AI. Similar to the way in which physics accelerators can make a game's environment look much more realistic, Intia would make the NPCs act more true to life."

Submission + - PS3 downgraded again

Submitted by on Monday August 28, 2006 @08:34PM

heartless_ writes: PS3 downgraded again . From the article; "We can't tell you why the GPU lost nearly 10% of it's clock, it could be an NVidia screwup, or it could be Sony/Cell. Either way, it just became much less of an overwhelming value, but you get a DRM infected drive for 'free' either way."

Submission + - How Strategy Guides Affected Gaming

Submitted by on Monday August 28, 2006 @08:45AM

heartless_ writes: 2old2play has another great story up looking into how games have become more complicated due to strategy guides. From the article; "Strategy guides have affected gaming by making games harder for all of us. That's right, it's not a typo — strategy guides have created more difficult games. Lend me your eyes and attention spans, and I'll explain. Admittedly, it may be a rambling explanation, but bare with me and we should get there eventually.

Submission + - New Guitar Hero 2 info revealed

Submitted by on Wednesday August 23, 2006 @02:25PM

heartless_ writes: New Guitar Hero 2 info revealed. The game will feature in-game endorsements and real-world venues. There will be at least two new characters: Dax DeVille, the Rockabilly formerly known as King Kendall after Harmonix' Jason Kendall, and a still unnamed Norwegian death rocker.

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