Mega Man 10 Confirmed For WiiWare 104

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday December 10, 2009 @02:01AM from the with-new-bosses-chair-man-and-bread-man dept.

The upcoming issue of Nintendo Power revealed that Capcom is working on Mega Man 10 for a release via WiiWare sometime in the future. "Like Mega Man 9 (released for WiiWare in 2008), Mega Man 10 remains true to the series's roots with 8-bit-style graphics and sound, and tried-and-true Mega Man gameplay." According to the early look at Nintendo Power's article, the game may include an easier difficulty mode, likely inspired by complaints that the previous game was too hard. It also previews one of the new bosses, who is apparently called "Sheep Man." Make of that what you wool.

Brain-Control Gaming Headset Launching Dec. 21 112

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday December 03, 2009 @06:20AM from the oh-hey-it's-real dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Controlling computers with our minds may sound like science fiction, but one Australian company claims to be able to let you do just that. The Emotiv device has been garnering attention at trade shows and conferences for several years, and now the company says it is set to launch the Emotiv EPOC headset on December 21. PC Authority spoke to co-founder Nam Do about the Emotiv technology and its potential as a mainstream gaming interface." One wonders what kind of adoption they expect with a $299 price tag.

Nintendo Upset Over Nokia Game Emulation Video 189

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @02:45AM from the super-mario-takedown dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Nintendo is investigating potential copyright infringement by Nokia during some video demos of their N900 phone, which can be seen emulating Nintendo games. Nintendo spokesman Robert Saunders says: 'We take rigorous steps to protect our IP and our legal team will examine this to determine if any infringement has taken place.' In the video, Nokia says, 'Most publishers allow individual title usage, provided that the user is in possession of the original title.'"

Herschel Spectroscopy of Future Supernova 21

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 28, 2009 @01:50PM from the that's-a-big-star dept.

davecl writes "ESA's Herschel Space Telescope has released its first spectroscopic results. These include observations of VYCMa, a star 50 times as massive as the sun and soon to become a supernova, as well as a nearby galaxy, more distant colliding starburst galaxies and a comet in our own solar system. The spectra show more lines than have ever been seen in these objects in the far-infrared and will allow astronomers to work out the detailed chemistry and physics behind star and planet formation as well as the last stages of stellar evolution before VYCMa's eventual collapse into a supernova. More coverage is available at the Herschel Mission Blog, which I run."

Computer Games and Traditional CS Courses 173

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday November 25, 2009 @02:12AM from the terrible-terrible-games dept.

drroman22 writes "Schools are working to put real-world relevance into computer science education by integrating video game development into traditional CS courses. Quoting: 'Many CS educators recognized and took advantage of younger generations' familiarity and interests for computer video games and integrate related contents into their introductory programming courses. Because these are the first courses students encounter, they build excitement and enthusiasm for our discipline. ... Much of this work reported resounding successes with drastically increased enrollments and student successes. Based on these results, it is well recognized that integrating computer gaming into CS1 and CS2 (CS1/2) courses, the first programming courses students encounter, is a promising strategy for recruiting and retaining potential students." While a focus on games may help stir interest, it seems as though game development studios are as yet unimpressed by most game-related college courses. To those who have taken such courses or considered hiring those who have: what has your experience been?

Proton Beams Sent Around the LHC 115

Posted by kdawson on Friday November 20, 2009 @05:40PM from the going-in-circles dept.

feldhaus writes "The BBC reports that the first beams for over one year have been successfully sent around the complete circumference of the Large Hadron Collider. Engineers do not yet have a stable circulating beam but they hope to by 0600 GMT on Saturday."

Modern Warfare 2 Not Recalled In Russia After All 94

Posted by Soulskill on Friday November 20, 2009 @04:14AM from the it's-the-thought-that-counts dept.

thief21 writes "After claims that console versions Modern Warfare 2 had been recalled in Russia due to complaints from politicians and the gaming public over the infamous airport slaughter scene, it turns out the stories were completely untrue. Activision never released a console version of the game in Russia." Instead, they simply edited the notorious scene out of the PC version. They did this of their own volition, since Russia doesn't have a formal ratings committee.

EA Shuts Down Pandemic Studios, Cuts 200 Jobs 161

Posted by Soulskill on Friday November 20, 2009 @01:01AM from the say-goodnight-folks dept.

lbalbalba writes "Electronic Arts is shutting down its Westwood-based game developer Pandemic Studios just two years after acquiring it, putting nearly 200 people out of work. 'The struggling video game publisher informed employees Tuesday morning that it was closing the studio as part of a recently announced plan to eliminate 1,500 jobs, or 16% of its global workforce. Pandemic has about 220 employees, but an EA spokesman said that a core team, estimated by two people close to the studio to be about 25, will be integrated into the publisher's other Los Angeles studio, in Playa Vista.' An ex-developer for Pandemic attributed the studio's struggles to poor decisions from the management."

Feed New Scientist: Reduced genome works fine with 2000 chunks missing (newscientist.com)

From feed by nsfeed on Wednesday October 21, 2009 @08:32PM

The first systematic scan for non-essential DNA has given an estimate of the minimum genome a healthy person needs, as well as clues to our evolution

Feed news.com: Google, Verizon Wireless agree on Net neutrality (cnet.com)

From feed by cnetfeed on Wednesday October 21, 2009 @08:13PM

A week after announcing a partnership to collaborate on Android handsets, they issue a joint statement regarding the FCC's consideration of Net neutrality rules.

Submission + - Google partners up with Twitter for search (indiblogger.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21, 2009 @06:30PM

An anonymous reader writes: According to the Google blog, it has partnered up with Twitter to bring tweets into its search results in the next few months. While this is an exciting news, how the feature is going to present itself is a huge question. Indiblogger presents a comprehensive list of how it should be. Quotting from the article, the points discussed are: relevance of tweets with the search term, twitter and Google advertising, even a Google-Twitter API.

Wearing a Computer at Work 92

Posted by Zonk on Friday November 30, 2007 @05:06PM from the practically-do-anyway dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "The European Union has funded an ambitious project related to wearable technology. The project, named WearIT@work, will end in one year and invested funds are expected to exceed 23 million euros. The goal is to replace traditional interfaces, such as screen, keyboard or computer unit, by speech control or gesture control without modifying the applications. This wearable system is currently being tested in four different fields including aircraft maintenance, emergency response, car production and healthcare."

Judge Orders RIAA to Show Cause in DC Case 104

Posted by Zonk on Saturday November 17, 2007 @01:29AM from the and-all-the-other-little-cases-as-well dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA's 'bumpy ride' in its 'ex parte' litigation campaign against college students just got a whole lot bumpier. After reading the motion to quash filed by a George Washington University student, the Judge took it upon herself to issue an order to show cause. The order now requires the plaintiffs to show cause, no later than November 29th, why the ex parte order she'd signed at the RIAA's request should not be vacated. She's also requested information showing why her ruling should not be applicable not only to John Doe #3, but to all the other John Does as well. p2pnet called this a 'potentially huge setback' for the recording companies."

Comment Is piggybacking really illegal? (Score 1) 459

by zetahoff on Thursday November 15, 2007 @11:36PM (#21374197) Attached to: Wi-Fi Piggybacking Widespread

I think internet access is alot like road access. Some places you can get access for free, some places you must pay, same as a tollway. If I pay for my bandwidth, I should be able to allow any amount of computers on my network as I would like. Similar to driving a bus on a toll-road. If I pay for this size vehichle to drive on this road (if I pay for this bandwidth on this ISP's network), I should be able to put as many people in the bus as I want I(I should be able to put as many people on my network as I would want). If someone hitchhikes, or jumps on the bus without me knowing (if someone connects to my network with my permission or piggy backs my network), it should be nobody's bussiness but my own. If someone were to jump on the bus without my permission, it is my responsibility to make sure they don't do it.

I DON'T KNOW OF A ROUTER SOLD THAT DOESN'T COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SET UP YOUR SECURITY!

Should piggy-backing be illegal? Well, how are you really going to prove that you didn't say I had permission to access your router if it is open to all for access? And from the other point of view, what if you did tell me I had access and then turned me in for "stealing" bandwidth? I'm trying to be very open-minded about this subject, but there is little to sway me into thinking that piggy-backing should be illegal...any arguments to the contrary are not only welcome, but encouraged.

US Internet Control To Be Topic #1 In Rio 325

Posted by kdawson on Sunday November 11, 2007 @12:31AM from the because-it's-my-ball-that's-why dept.

Crazy Taco writes "It looks as though the next meeting of the UN's Internet Governance Forum is about to descend into another heated debate about US control of key Internet systems. Although the initial purpose of this year's summit was to cover such issues as spam, free speech and cheaper access, it appears that nations such as China, Iran, and Russia, among others, would rather discuss US control of the Internet. In meetings leading to up to the second annual meeting of the IGF in Rio de Janiero on Monday, these nations won the right to hold an opening-day panel devoted to 'critical Internet resources.' While a number of countries wanting to internationalize Internet control simply want to have more say over policies such as creating domain names in languages other than English, we can only speculate what additional motives might be driving nations that heavily censor the Internet and lock down the flow of information across it."