Sony's Jack Tretton Says Free-to-Play is Not the Future
There has been a massive shift in the gaming landscape lately, with dozens of free-to-play games available. Some of these games were announced as free-to-play games while others, like subscription MMOs, have switched over to the freemium model. Some companies, like Crytek, are embracing the F2P shift wholeheartedly, while others, like EA, think that eventually all games will be F2P. However, one company executive does not agree, as Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton does not think free-to-play is the future. Tretton believes many companies have overestimated the F2P trend and says it is an "additive diversion." While he sees a place for F2P and even social games, Tretton does not see it replacing the current business models.
The F2P model is difficult to sustain in the long run and is not where the gaming world will head to, according to Tretton. He very well could be right in that regard, but we will have to see how successful the current F2P games can be over the next several years before making a judgement.
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BioShock Infinite Loses Two Members, Gains One - Two Multiplayer Modes Cut?
Irrational Games keeps making progress on BioShock Infinite, however the studio has been dealt a blow. A couple days back the studio announced Tim Gerritsen, director of product development, and Nate Wells, art director, had left for greener fields. Wells is supposedly on his way to Naughty Dog, while Gerritsen is heading to an unknown place at this time. Irrational's creative director Ken Levine tweeted that Scott Sinclair, the art director of the first BioShock, is back at the helm in order to "bring [Infinite] home."
On a happier front for Irrational comes the news that Rod Fergusson, director of production at Epic Games, will be joining the team to work on BioShock Infinite. Fergusson tweeted he is leaving his family at Epic to join his new one at Irrational, but there is no telling if he will have the same title or a new one. Still, it is nice to see additions being made to the studio despite the losses in the past year. Several members of the design team have left, not just Gerritsen and Wells, but Levine says it is normal for a company as large as Irrational to experience some turnover. Irrational has 200 employees and Levine assures everyone that the senior members who worked on BioShock 1 are still there.
Now for some potentially bad news, as it is being rumored that two multiplayer mdoes have been cut from Infinite. There was going to be a co-op tower defense-style game where miniature players had to fend off waves of toys in an arcade machine, but that was replaced with a more conventional co-op mode. However that mode was also cut, so really it may not be as bad as it seems. Levine announced that the team likes to experiment with things, so it is possible these modes were never going to be in the finished game anyway.
BioShock Infinite is due to arrive next February for the PC, PS3, and 360. Hopefully that is still accurate.
Source: PC Gamer
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Scotch Tape Inspires New X-Ray Mirror Concept
To best study the Universe, researchers have to look across the electromagnetic spectrum as different frequencies tell us different things. Each part of the spectrum however requires special tools to be examined, such as the cooled infrared telescopes in orbit and massive radio telescope arrays on Earth. X-Ray astronomy is particularly difficult because of you cannot just reflect the photons off of a mirror like that in your bathroom. Instead you need long, deep mirrors that deflect the photons like a rock skipping on a pond, but these are expensive and challenging to make. Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have thought up a new kind of X-Ray mirror which may be much easier to work with.
Modern X-Ray mirrors have to be precisely rolled and nested inside of each other to function, which is a very challenging task. Instead the researchers propose using something akin to Scotch tape with a reflective layer on that is easily rolled up. By controlling the thickness of the tape, the researchers can control the distance between the mirrors, while the alignment and support already present due to the rolled up design.
Though currently just a concept, if this design does get developed into an actual X-Ray observatory mirror, that observatory could revolutionize X-Ray astronomy. The mirror could be much larger than modern ones which would enable it to not only measure hard X-Rays from cosmic rays but image them as well, like the Hubble space Telescope does for visible light.
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The Last Guardian Trademark Expires - Sony Says Game is Still On
The Last Guardian has a pretty interesting history at this point. The third title from Team Ico was first revealed back in 2009 and planned to launch late in 2011, but nothing solid was ever confirmed. Last December GameStop "canceled" the title due to the lack of a release date, but Sony quickly moved in to clarify the game was still on track. Earlier this year Sony Santa Monica was reported to be helping out on The Last Guardian, but again nothing was mentioned about a release. Now we come to today when the trademark for The Last Guardian has expired. The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists the game's trademark as "(ABANDONED)" and the Live/Dead Indicator as "DEAD." This may seem like dire news, but the trademark expiration simply means Sony did not have anything to show the USPTO at this time.
According to Sony, The Last Guardian is "still in development" and has "nothing new to report at this time," so maybe it is just waiting until Team Ico is closer to completion. Hopefully The Last Guardian will finally see the light of day, and I just hope the next news about it is something positive for once.
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Cooler Master Announces Mod Contest
Cooler Master has announced the return of its case and cooler mod contest for another year. In the contest last year, 89 mods were completed by teams from 37 countries. There will be three different categories that intrepid modders can enter, tower mod, scratch build, and the new cooler mod category. Full details of each category can be found on the contest website. Several prize packages will be available for each category and will feature gear from Cooler Master, ASUS, and Kingston. Registration is open from August 6 to September 7 and worklog updates and submissions will be accepted until December 7.
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Largest 3D Map of the Universe Yet Released
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is possibly one of the most ambitious scientific endeavors currently ongoing as it tries to map entire hemispheres of the sky. The reason is to try to understand the current large-scale processes going on in the Universe, like its accelerating growth. Recently the third iteration of SDSS (SDSS-III) released Data Release 9 (DR9) which contains two years of the six year survey and constitutes the largest 3D map of the Universe ever made.
As the telescopes SDSS has access to scan across the sky, they collect data as visible images, which you are able to view and have led to some amazing discoveries, but also spectroscopic data. While this data takes longer to collect than visible-light images, it is far more valuable as it enables the distance to objects to be measured. Of the 200 million galaxies in the DR9 release, some 1.35 million also have spectra data.
This survey is able to capture galaxies up to 6 billion light years away, which is a long time, even compared to the current age of the Universe. With so much history in those images that anyone has access to; the hope is that better measurements of dark matter and energy can be made.
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Ubisoft Delays Assassin's Creed 3 PC to November
As can now be expected with high-profile Ubisoft PC releases, Assassin's Creed 3 for the PC has been delayed, and will be made available in the United States on November 20, and November 23 in the UK. Previous reports indicated a simultaneous release with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, both of which share an October 31st launch date. "Today we can officially announce the PC release date as 23rd November in the UK," reads the Ubisoft press release, with the US getting the game a few days earlier. It is believed that the French publisher's pattern of delaying PC releases stems over its issues with piracy, although Ubisoft has not publicly made mention of this. Assassin's Creed 3 thrusts players right into the heart of the American Revolution set in the 18th century as Connor, a new protagonist of English and Native American descent. To tide PC gamers over the prolonged wait, a peek at the video below showcases key gameplay changes the latest sequel has over its predecessors.
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