Do you people remember how disorientating Descent was back when it first game out? I mean, we had Doom and Flight Simulator and all that, but spinning around in those little passages trying to laser a fool was a whole new thing. And a lot of people got dizzy, myself included. Well, now you can be nauseated all over again, as everybody’s favorite tunnel-shooter is coming to the Wii.

As of this moment, they’re just porting the first game, complete with new control scheme. According to Interplay CEO Hervé Caen:

Descent will pair perfectly with the motion sensing Wii Remote controller and we can’t wait to show players how intuitive the game play and control can be.

I guarantee if this sells more than a few thousand copies, they’ll move on to Descent II and Descent 3, which is my favorite. I have it installed right now, in fact. There’s a revelatory feeling unique to Descent when you really get your bearings and think “wait, the objective should be up this hatch and behind me” and promptly do a loop-de-loop without losing your place or your lunch.

Look for it later this year, around fall.

The announcement from Nintendo this morning came like a bolt out of the blue. We all have been expecting some new hardware from Nintendo, seeing as the Wii and DS platforms are getting pretty long in the tooth (despite refreshes for the DS), but a 3D handheld? This is madness! No – this is Iwata!

Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto are two men who know what they’re doing when it comes to making games. While a few of their ideas (Vitality Sensor, Wii Music) may seem a bit bizarre to us, there’s no question that everything they do is in the name of making fun games. And you know that they wouldn’t be doing the 3D thing unless they felt they could make it fun.

There are a number of questions out there. How will the 3D be effected? Will it be faux-3D, as Kotaku wonders? Will it be lenticular lens technology, used for (eye-breaking) glasses-less 3D TVs? After all, the Wii is something less than the perfect 1:1 movement detection they wanted us to think it was. Even the newest motion control technologies are barely approaching that level. Will Nintendo just give us a “good enough” version of 3D?

We’ll find out for sure in June, and I’m guessing it’s not going to actually blow everyone’s minds. I mean, you can play tons of games in 3D right now with the right hardware, and it seems likely that the traditional control scheme (analog stick and buttons) is going to make for rather traditional games. You can’t snatch coins out of the air with your hand, or have Mario mimic your limbs’ positions exactly.

But remember when the DS came out, and everyone said the second screen was just going to be an anchor around the neck of developers? All they wanted was more power, like the PSP, people said. A second screen, who can even think of a use for it? Well, a hundred million units later, I think we ought to have a little faith in both Nintendo and the developers. Off the top of my head, I can think about a few uses for 3D in a single-player, small-screen device, but I’m guessing that there are developers out there covering whiteboard after whiteboard with sweet handheld 3D concepts. Don’t forget, you’ve got the cameras on there, too.

Nintendo is very picky about its hardware, too. The reason, I feel, why they are behind in terms of graphics, is like the reason of the Luddites: it’s not that they don’t like or want technology, but they want to weigh its potential fully before adopting it. So it is with Nintendo, who will I’m sure eventually make possible the photorealistic graphics of the 360 and PS3, but in the meantime seems to be doing just fine with the, let’s be honest, rather meager capabilities of the Wii and DSi. Likewise with the motion control system: they were pitched with the progenitor for Project Natal, and deemed it not ready for prime time, which three years ago it certainly was not (and which remains to be seen). They may have improved the Wiimote with the MotionPlus add-on, but the motion control fidelity on the Wii has been good enough to sell like hotcakes, and I’m guessing that’s about the level they’re aiming for with the 3DS.

So whatever technology it uses (and we all know it will be mocked by fanboys no matter what), we know it is at least approved by a couple guys who probably know pretty well what’s good and what isn’t. They led the charge on motion control, and now they’re starting up the “only in 3D” variety of development. And you better believe there’s going to throw a bitching Mario game into the deal. Get excited.

When Nintendo first unveiled Metroid Prime, fans were skeptical (if not downright apeshit). For a 2D adventure game based on exploration, how could it possibly work in first person? Long story short, Metroid Prime was pretty much universally loved upon release, and now that the Metroid Prime trilogy has gone on to become something of a classic series, all is forgiven. And when Nintendo announced that it had handed off development of the latest Metroid game, Metroid: Other M to Team Ninja, many fans were, once again, walking around with clenched fists. But it was working so well in first person! And early videos showed the game looking much more action oriented. And Samus actually talks in the game. Why would Nintendo let this happen! Thankfully, things have calmed down since Nintendo has shown off more of the game, and the Other M’s 2D to 3D gameplay, along with a weird-yet-interesting NES/pointer control scheme — sans Nunchuk — seems to be whetting appetites something fierce. (Mine, anyway.)

In a talk with IGN, Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto talked more about the NES style control and lack of Nunchuk integration, saying that “…with the team I’ve been working with, we’ve been making the Metroid series in 2D up to this point. Even though we’ve been looking for a way to control Samus in 3D, we wanted to achieve the feeling that you had when Samus was in 2D. We decided that the traditional D-pad for movement plus jumping and shooting on buttons was the most appropriate control scheme for this direction. The second reason, and let me preface this by saying I don’t think bad games use the nunchuk because there are a lot of great games that do, there’s a certain image created with the nunchuk, it’s a bit of a barrier in accessibility because it’s a “different” control. The nunchuk I think is more appropriate for core audiences. At the same time, I feel that showing people a 3D game where you can control it using the remote really does stir the imagination, they’ll think “How’s it possible to control the character using the sideways remote in 3D?” I also think it’s attractive to those who grew up playing games using this kind of control.”

In some ways, this does seem like the logical evolution of the series: blending its 2D roots with some of the innovations of the Prime saga. Hopefully, they can pull it off. But I have one request: Please, Metroid Other M, tell me mid-game if I haven’t done or explored enough to get a good ending. I can’t invest another 20 hours in a Metroid game just to see the back of Samus for 0.37 seconds and then watch the credits roll.

Oh boy, I love where EA Sports is going with this. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, due out in June, will feature something called “True View,” which allows you to hit your in-game golf shots from a real-life, top-down point of view. When coupled with the Wii MotionPlus accessory, “It works extremely well,” according to IGN.

Here’s more:

The game features a mode called “True View” that lets you swing through the eyes of your golfer. Activate this mode and point the Wii remote downwards, and the game camera will whisk to the perspective of your character. As you look down at your ball, you aim at the “zero point” on the ground to drive, chip or putt using the incredible accuracy of the Wii MotionPlus-enhanced Wii remote. You can see the subtle movements represented on screen as your club follows all the rocking and twisting you’re giving your “club.”

You can play the old fashioned way as well but if you’re a golfer in real life, it’s probably going to be hard to resist using the True View control scheme. I’m already thinking of ways to just lay my TV flat down on the floor. Might as well go all the way, right?

GDC10: Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 11 Hands-on [IGN.com]

Remember Batman in Kingdom Come? In the graphic novel, an alternative-future and paralyzed Bruce Wayne moves around with an exoskeleton. Robotic braces allow him normal movement, all controlled like his mind.

Similar technology may become mainstream soon actually. Argo Medical Technologies in Israel is currently holding US trials for its ReWalk. That’s a exoskeleton that allows people who are paralyzed from the waist down to use their legs again. Users may not be able to control these mechanical leg supports with their minds, but the crutch-based control scheme looks pratical enough—but unfortunately requiring full upper body function as well (sorry quadriplegics).

The American trials currently involve 14 people, all walking around with a setup that detects upper body movement through shoulder sensors, and moves the legs based on these signals. The battery lasts for 3 hours if used continuously, while Argo Medical is shooting for a public release by the end of the year (pending FDA approval of course). No word yet on the planned price, nor any potential plans by the robotic overlords to get the paralyzed on their side.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

So EA is bringing FIFA Online to Western countries. It’s been available in Asia for a couple years now, and players from other parts of the world will get to join in on the fun. Oh, the game: it’s a free, online version of FIFA that you play on your PC.

The game, currently based on the FIFA 07 engine, but will be bumped up to FIFA 10, goes into open beta in June, just in time for the World Cup in South Africa, which Spain will win.

It’s kinda like an entry-level version of EA’s popular football game. So entry-level, in fact, that there’s a mouse-control scheme that eliminates the need for a proper controller. (I can’t even imagine playing the game with a keyboard.)

I’m a Pro Evolution Soccer man myself, so excuse my lack of enthusiasm. And even then, you can only play so many matches in a row before you’re like, “Eh, sandwich time.”