Name: Nathan
Bio: Nerd. Geek. Call me what you will, if it has to do with tech, it probably fits, and fits well.
Posts by Nathan:
- Pre-Orders at certain retailers (not specified) available today.
- Pre-Orders of the standard edition are rewarded with a special in-game item, and 30 days of free play ($13/month afterward).
- Pre-Orders of the Collectors Edition are rewarded with another special in-game item, early access (8 days before everyone else), a behind-the-scenes DVD, a travel journal with previously-unreleased concept art, a special ‘rite of passage’ certificate, and a custom-designed cover art by Yoshitaka Amano.
Chrome Web Store Brings Angry Birds to your Browser
May 11th, 2011
During the Chrome and Chrome OS keynote at Google I/O, Rovio announced that they are bringing Angry Birds to the Chrome Web Store, the Chrome browser’s equivalent to the Apple AppStore or Android Marketplace. On its own, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, Angry Birds has been available for PC platforms since Intel launched its AppUp store for netbook applications. Read the rest of this entry “
A Trip Through My 8-bit Experience: What’s That One?
April 11th, 2011
I spent the better part of my formative years during the 8-bit era of gaming. In that period, I owned 4 different gaming systems and one glorified gaming computer: Odyssey2, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and a Commodore 128 computer that was essentially a Commodore 64 with an additional “business” use. Following is a nostalgic trip through my first gaming years.
Unboxing the OnLive Game System
December 12th, 2010
When OnLive announced that they were getting ready for launch, one of the items they mentioned was the MicroConsole: A small box that hooks your TV into the OnLive system. In mid-November, they finally announced that they were going to start shipping units at the beginning of this month (renamed the ‘OnLive Game Console’). Interestingly enough, I had some spare cash, so I (as I had planned to do once they became available) ordered one on Friday. Much to my surprise, a review unit that I had not been expecting arrived on my porch that very same evening. Here are some pictures of the packaging and what comes inside:
Tron Night 2010 – 23 Glorious 3D Minutes
October 28th, 2010
Tonight, Disney Pictures put on an event centered around December’s TRON: Legacy. In addition to all of the previews, teasers, and sneaks we’ve been shown, they gave us a peek at a few scenes from throughout the movie. Most of the footage, according to the pre-roll introduction comes from early on. I’ll explain why that’s important shortly.
DiRT 3 Teaser Released
August 3rd, 2010CodeMasters released a teaser for the third installment in the DiRT series today, appropriately titled “DiRT 3″. A slickly-designed video using transitions to showcase some of the different environments that will be available in the next game is all we get for now, but I’m already liking what I see.
As expected, particle effects are improved over previous iterations (rain and snow in particular are looking better than ever), as well as vehicle and environment rendering, which are beginning to cross into the uncanny valley as far as realism goes.
No specific release date has been announced as of yet, just a nebulous “2011″ at the end of the trailer. A simultaneous cross-platform (PC, PS3, 360) release is hoped for by this PC gamer in particular.
Final Fantasy XIV (PC) Available 9/30/10
June 30th, 2010
Fresh off the presses (ok, my email inbox, but whatever… nitpicker). Square Enix has released some dates for Final Fantasy XIV on PC.
Global Release Date (English, French, German & Japanese) – September 30, 2010.
They have also announced a beta launch for “Early July 2010″.
Release on PS3 slated for March 2011 (It’s about time PC got out there first. Do you see that, THQ?).
E3 2010 Impressions: Nintendo 3DS
June 25th, 2010
I have been trying for over a week now to figure out the right words to describe the experience of the 3DS, previewed at the Nintendo E3 press conference. Anyone who has talked to me since that event knows that it has been a difficult task. The problem arises because the instant I start talking about it, I start getting excited all over again and end up tripping on my words. As you can imagine, this makes it difficult to describe.
In short: The Nintendo 3DS is simply an amazing device, and will change portable gaming forever.
E3 2010 Hands-On: OnLive
June 17th, 2010
In the Spring of 2009, an announcement went out about a new gaming startup — not really news on it’s own, as there are gaming startups popping in and out of existence all the time. This one, however, was different. OnLive announced that they were going to bring a console-like gaming experience to any computer that could handle streaming HD video.
Tuesday, I was able to spend some time at the booth and take a look at how OnLive works, as well as get some insight about how things are handled on the back-end to address network lag and other potential issues.
First, though, the game play.
