Friday, March 9, 2012

Your 2 hourly digest for Engadget

Engadget
Engadget
Heavy Rain creators produce 'Kara' PS3 tech-demo (video)
Mar 8th 2012, 23:03

Heavy Rain creator David Cage was showing off Quantic Dream's new game engine at GDC, which includes an innovative new performance-capture technology the company's developed. He's directed a seven-minute original short called Kara, which is the story of a female android as she becomes self-aware. Unlike traditional game production methods, this technology is able to record face and body movements at the same time as recording the actors voice -- ensuring natural and consistent performances from the characters. Actress Valorie Curry wore 90 sensors on her face, unlike in, say, Avatar, where the performers wore head-mounted cameras. Cage promises that the short is nothing more than a demo (it was rendered in real-time on a PlayStation 3) and none of these elements will appear in his next game. You can catch the impressive-looking footage after the break with one disclaimer: there's nudity throughout and a reference to adult themes, okay?

Continue reading Heavy Rain creators produce 'Kara' PS3 tech-demo (video)

Heavy Rain creators produce 'Kara' PS3 tech-demo (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic prices 2012 Blu-ray lineup, high-end units due in May
Mar 8th 2012, 22:38

Panasonic has officially priced-out its 2012 Blu-ray player lineup announced back at CES, and it includes no fewer than six boxes (and price-points) for you to choose from. Four of the new players -- ranging in price from $150 to $350 -- are capable of playing your favorite Blu-ray flicks in 3D and come with Panasonic's Viera Connect service, which provides access to online content from Amazon, Hulu and Netflix and a host of applications including Facebook, Skype and Twitter. The 2D models -- which range from $90 to $120 -- aren't left out in the cold when it comes to connectivity, and include IP VOD support for streaming web-content. What's more, the entire 2012 lineup is DLNA-enabled, can be controlled via a smartphone app and, with the exception of the DMP-BD77, has WiFi built-in. Four of the six units are available for purchase immediately, but you're going to have to wait until May if you're interested in the two higher-end models. Mosey on past the break to view the full press release.

Continue reading Panasonic prices 2012 Blu-ray lineup, high-end units due in May

Panasonic prices 2012 Blu-ray lineup, high-end units due in May originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bell Canada Mobile TV service hands-on
Mar 8th 2012, 22:00

Bell Canada's updated its Mobile TV service to introduce a bevy of new features and content. The mobile TV service now offers 26 channels of live programming and a pile of on demand content thrown in for good measure. The interface has been tidied up, a programming guide has made an appearance, alerts are now here so you won't miss shows and flipping to portrait mode from landscape lets you browse the new guide while your current show plays on. Bell's Mobile TV service is priced at $5 a month for five hours of content; overages -- measured in hours -- cost an additional $1 per hour, though using the service with WiFi is thankfully free. Is it worth the $5 on top of your already potentially pricey phone bill? Follow on through while we take Bell's TV offering for a quick spin with words and some pretty video, too.

Continue reading Bell Canada Mobile TV service hands-on

Bell Canada Mobile TV service hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy S II (GT-I9100) to get ICS on March 10th
Mar 8th 2012, 21:44

Two days. That's the amount of time remaining for you, dear Samsung Galaxy S II owner, before the long-awaited upgrade to Android 4.0 -- the dessert known as Ice Cream Sandwich -- becomes readily available for your device through Kies. Naturally, this is going to be adorned with Sammy's TouchWiz UI, and it's only going to be ready on the GT-I9100 (global version) for now. According to the notes, we can expect to see Face Unlock, Android Beam and data usage included, and multitasking and some apps will be improved. We're sure this is just the tip of the feature iceberg, however. Curiously, the site specifies that because of "ICS OS feature," Flash and Bluetooth 3.0 HS won't be supported.

The update will come to individual carriers and their own GSII variants eventually, after a hefty amount of testing on their end, but at least this -- combined with HTC's rollout of Sense 3.6 to the Nordic countries today -- means the ICS ball is officially rolling for custom skins. Let's just hope it's going down a steep hill. If you happen to be packing a GT-I9100, be sure to check the links below for the full set of instructions, and let us know what you find.

[Thanks, Argel and Roger]

Samsung Galaxy S II (GT-I9100) to get ICS on March 10th originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Angelina: the experimental AI that's coming for our game dev jobs
Mar 8th 2012, 21:29

Space Station Invaders
Ok so, maybe Angelina couldn't have created Skyrim all on her own, but the experimental AI from Michael Cook (a computer scientist at Imperial College London) is still quite impressive. The artificial dev is able program enemy behavior, layout levels, and distribute power ups with random attributes. While many elements of a game like Space Station Invaders (which you can play at the more coverage link) are designed by human hands, it's Angelina's ability to act as a composer building something fun from the various ingredients that's so interesting. Before setting a level in stone she plays through the possible combinations, determining which will be most enjoyable for a human player. Hit up the source link for loads more info.

Angelina: the experimental AI that's coming for our game dev jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink New Scientist  |  sourceGames by Angelina  | Email this | Comments

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