Total Gaming Network

Owen O'Brien, senior producer at DICE has announced they will begin to support Nvidia's recently acquired PhysX technology in PC games, most notably in the highly anticipated Mirror's Edge. Here is what he had to say:

"Faith's world in Mirror's Edge is visceral, immediate, and very dangerous; it is imperative that the gameplay reflect this level of urgency... NVIDIA PhysX technology affords us the ability to bring a totally new level of immersion to the game, and by doing so, gamers can truly become part of the world."

Nvidia acquired the rather slow moving PhysX technology in February of 2008 from Ageia (now part of Nvidia). The realtime physics SDK was intended to allow lifelike physics whilst alleviating processing from the CPU and GPU, however slow uptake of the technology amongst consumers, hardware vendors and game developers meant that many saw it as an expensive gimmick.

Over the last few months, PhysX has been developed alongside CUDA by Nvidia, providing better hardware and software support for GPGPU compatible applications such as Folding@Home, Unreal Tournament 3 and soon to be, Mirror's Edge.
The inclusion of PhysX in Mirror's Edge will allow more realistic movements, weapon impacts and environment features such as smoke, cloth and debris effects.

Ujesh Desair, General Manager of NVIDIA’s GeForce Graphics had the following to say about DICE's announcement:

"Gamers will appreciate the greater freedom of movement, including sliding under barriers, tumbling, wall-running, and shimmying across ledges—all within an environment that is dynamic and immersive, delivered in part by our PhysX technology"

Currently, Nvidia is the only company to have built-in CUDA/PhysX technology, although rumours indicate that AMD may implement their own GPGPU functions into the forthcoming Catalyst drivers for ATI Radeon cards, possibly in the form of the Havok FX physics Engine.

Here's a look at the PC version of Mirror's Edge, complete with the PhysX implementation:

A deputy in the Orange County Sheriff's Office walked away from a traffic stop with a man's Xbox 360 and eight games. The man, Kenyatta Hillman, claims that he was allegedly pulled over for speeding and in lieu of writing him a ticket, the officer confiscated the man's console and games.

The owner showed up with the original box and receipt to claim his xBox, but when deputies looked for it they couldn't find it in the evidence room.

Orange County deputies stopped Kenyatta Hillman and his friend on Friday afternoon for speeding. When deputies pulled them over, they searched the car because they said they smelled marijuana. They didn't find any drugs, but found an xBox with eight games.

"He said, 'When you got your receipt and box and we'll meet someplace, you show me your receipt and I'll give you your game.' I didn't understand them," Hillman said.

The deputy ran the serial numbers and it did not come up as stolen, but he took the game system anyway. He told Hillman he wanted to make sure no one reported it stolen. Deputies told Eyewitness News there had been a lot of burglaries in the area and xBox systems are hot.

When the man went to claim his console, the sheriff's office had no record of it and was not able to locate it. The man says that those at the office claim there was no filed report and no case written up about the incident.

Sgt. Hosey of the sheriff's office later told Hillman that he had the system and would return his system to him on Friday. The wait until Friday is because the sergeant who is handling the situation "is busy during the week."

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Today, Capcom has won a copyright case filed by the producer of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The judge ruled that The MKR Group, the producer's company, had no real basis for their complaint in which they alleged that Dead Rising ripped off the classic horror film.

Last month, United States Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg granted Capcom's motion to dismiss the suit, saying that The MKR Group (the producer's company) "has not identified any similarity between Dead Rising and any protected element of Dawn of the Dead. Rather, the few similarities MKR has alleged are driven by the wholly unprotectable concept of humans battling zombies in a mall during a zombie outbreak."

According to the judge's decision, The MKR Group listed the following principal similarities between Dawn of the Dead and Dead Rising:

--Both works are set in a bi-level shopping mall.
--The mall has a gun shop, in which action takes place.
--The mall is located in a rural area with the National Guard patrolling its environs.
--Both works are set in motion by a helicopter that takes the lead characters to a mall besieged by zombies.
--Many of the zombies wear plaid shirts.
--Both works feature a subtext critique of sensationalistic journalism through their use of tough, cynical journalists with short brown hair and leather jackets as a lead male character.
--Both works feature the creative use of items such as propane tanks, chainsaws, and vehicles to kill zombies.
--Both works are a parody of rampant consumerism.
--Both works use music in the mall for comedic effect.
--Dead Rising's use of the word "hell" references the tagline for Dawn of the Dead's release ("When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.").

It should be noted that the judge did not see completely eye-to-eye with Capcom on every aspect:

Dozens of zombie movies and games the publisher introduced as exhibits to establish genre conventions were thrown out because Capcom submitted them with synopses pulled from the user-editable Wikipedia.

And when the judge did agree with Capcom, it wasn't always in a complimentary way. Specifically, in stating that Dead Rising didn't crib the anticonsumerism theme of Dawn of the Dead, Judge Seeborg found the zombie game devoid of any social commentary at all.

No matter what the ruling was of this case, it was clear that it was always going to be a no-win situation for Zombies everywhere.

Source

The professional Halo 3 player, Tom "Tsquared" Taylor, landed a new gig with Dr. Pepper as part of a national distribution deal. Taylor, a 21-year old professional gamer with Major League Gaming, will have his face appear on 175 million bottles of the beverage between January and April of next year.

Mr. Taylor may not have the name recognition of, say, Derek Jeter, but he resembles him in other ways: he has a contract with the sports association Major League Gaming, puts in up to 15 hours a day practicing his Halo 3 skills, has an endorsement deal with Dr Pepper and has a high profile among gamers.

“It’s not like I’m Tom Cruise or Usher walking down the street or anything like that, but it’s gotten to the point where you have to look your best when you go out,” Mr. Taylor said. “I carry a Sharpie around, like Peyton Manning,”

With the new labels, Dr Pepper is trying to grab the attention of gaming fans, who at Major League Gaming are largely men in their teenage years and early 20s.

Taylor is currently in the midst of a 3-year, $250,000 contract to play video games. As everyone who visits this site is a "gamer", feel free to tell us in the comments whether or not seeing a professional gamer on a beverage bottle will push you to purchase it more often.

Source

Namco Bandai and Sony Computer Entertainment has partnered with National Geographic to publish family-friendly games across all major gaming consoles, handhelds, online and mobile platforms. Check it out:

WASHINGTON (Nov. 18, 2008)—Ted Prince, chief operating officer of National Geographic Ventures (NGV) and executive vice president of operations for National Geographic Global Media (NGGM), today announced the formation of National Geographic Games (NGG), a division that will publish and develop games across major gaming console, handheld, online and mobile platforms.

NGG will work with premier game publishers and developers to create fun, high-quality games based on National Geographic's core themes and media properties to extend National Geographic's mission of inspiring people to care about the planet and reach a new generation of consumers and families.

NGG is led by a team of industry veterans who will use all of National Geographic's talent, assets and resources from across Mission Programs, Television, Entertainment and Publishing to carve a unique leadership position in the market. Paul Levine, senior vice president, extended platforms group, NGV, and senior vice president, corporate strategy and development, NGGM, will lead the new division as well as NGV's Maps and Mobile businesses. Chris Mate, former Take2 Interactive and Bethesda Softworks executive, with more than 25 years' experience, has joined as vice president and general manager for NGG and will oversee and manage the group's daily global operations.

"The launch of our games division furthers National Geographic Venture's cross-platform strategy of creating and distributing unique consumer experiences and content on multiple platforms and devices," said Prince. "Paul's strong background in cross-platform media, interactive entertainment and business building and development combined with Chris' expertise in the video game industry and product development will ensure that National Geographic Games extends our mission globally and makes the National Geographic brand more meaningful to a broader audience."

NGG also announced it has partnered with Namco Bandai Games America and Sony Computer Entertainment to publish and distribute globally National Geographic-branded titles on major gaming consoles and handheld devices, including the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS handheld, PlayStation 3 and PS3 Network, PCs and mobile devices such as the iPhone.

"National Geographic Games has brought authenticity to the kind of family gaming we're developing with them," said Andrew Lelchuk, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Namco Bandai Games America Inc. "Our collaboration is enabling us to tailor the content, so we can offer games to our customers that are relevant, entertaining and that bring a unique experience only the National Geographic brand can deliver."

To further celebrate the launch of NGG, National Geographic is introducing "Herod's Lost Tomb," its first game produced in-house, which highlights content from the December 2008 issue of National Geographic magazine as well as its National Geographic Channel feature broadcast on the biblical figure King Herod, architect of the ancient world. The game will be available online in both a flash version for free at nationalgeographic.com/channel and a downloadable game for PC, Mac and iPhone that includes full features and high production content.

"By leveraging National Geographic's leading family brand, core themes and franchises, and its unique content that drives our mission-forward strategy, NGG will create fun games that allow gamers of all ages to experience and explore their world through play," said Levine. "Our global audiences love to play games, and we plan on creating games in-house as well as working with leading global publishers to develop entertaining games that engage those audiences in a relevant way."

Some upcoming National Geographic Games include: National Geographic — Herod's Lost Tomb, National Geographic: Panda, National Geographic: Africa, and Sudoku Traveler: China.