GestureTek’s GroundFX visual display system was installed at the Vancouver Art Gallery in an engaging gesture-controlled interactive floor. Custom multi-media effects imitate a salmon-filled British Columbia river. The installation is part of an immersive video gallery to showcase the forestry and fisheries industries and promote environmental sustainability. Multi-media design firm Netgenetix turned to GestureTek to create three Illuminate interactive surface computing display systems as part of the “Living Rainforest” exhibit. Visitors can touch any one of the “hotspots” on the display screen to access entertaining and informative multi-media content on the initiatives of notable environmental companies.

Guess grabbing the attention of ordinary folks at tradeshows is getting more and more competitive, since booth babes aren’t the only factors to consider these days. This move by GestureTek certainly goes some way in pushing the industry forward, and we wonder whether we can check out such booths in the near future at other trade shows, including CES 2011.

Press Release

Join in the adrenaline rush by jumping in the shoes of Felix or Felicity to race across town in time to rendezvous. To make it unscathed, players need to deftly navigate a series of obstacle-laden environments without ever letting up the break-neck pace. Run, jump, dodge and slide through hectic scenarios while desperately trying to stay ahead of the clock and weather. The pick-up-and-play gameplay makes ingenious use of the Nintendo DS stylus to draw platforms to climb and hop across, dodging difficult barriers and any cold-hearted misanthropes who get in the way. Along the way our protagonists will draw, climb and jump their way through the city, zoo, carnival, park and beach, with each vibrant area packed with opportunities to impress your sweetheart by bowling over bad guys and collecting fruit and stars. Felix and Felicity will have no shortage of help in their date-race against the clock with sage love advice from worldly-wise characters you meet along the way and in-game power-ups including Time-Freeze, Love-Rush, Newton-Bomb and the explosive Love-Nuke. Let nothing stand in the way of true love!

Sounds like Line Rider of sorts, eh? No idea how much this will cost but it shouldn’t be priced in the premier DS game range. Image courtesy of Gamespot.

Press Release

Before you get started, all you need is the latest version of XNA Game Studio, 2.0 which was rolled out in December 2007 and you’re good to go. This version comes with over 15 new features when placed side-by-side with the initial version launched two years ago. Microsoft has even introduced the first seven games developed with XNA Game Studio at GDC ‘08, and best of all is, everyone can develop their own game – it just boils down to whether you are technically proficient at it or not. After all, with the XNA Game Studio 2.0 development tool kit being offered for free, there really is no harm in trying it out right? You could stumble upon the next best game concept only to have a far superior programmer flesh it out for the masses.

This sounds like the perfect tool to get more and more people aboard the Xbox 360 bandwagon, and it opens up an avenue for independent programmers and small companies to make a living, as long as their work is up to scratch.

Source: eFluxMedia

While Xbox 360 sales might have slowed down a Wii bit (hehe), Microsoft is filled to the brim with optimism for the year 2008, and they have the necessary plans to back it up. Announced at GDC 2008, here are some top news that will profoundly affect the console for the better in the coming year. First off, we have one of the most important announcements – the Xbox 360 exclusive “Gears of War 2″ will be released this coming November, so it is time to paint the town red as everyone celebrates the return of this ultra-realistic gaming title on their HDTVs.

In addition, acclaimed developer Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios took the stage to showcase exciting new multiplayer features for “Fable 2,” introducing dynamic cooperative play, a first to the franchise. Molyneux also announced that later this year, and before the launch of “Fable 2,” gamers can get a sneak peek at the game’s world when the “Fable 2″ pub games debut as a stand-alone download on Xbox LIVE Arcade. When “Fable 2″ launches, gamers will have the ability to transfer currency earned in the pub games directly to their character in “Fable 2.” This unique and first-of-its-kind experience, which can be found only on Xbox LIVE Arcade, will give the millions of “Fable” fans and gamers all around the globe the opportunity to jump into the “Fable 2″ world with money already in the bank.

Tomonobu Itagaki also revealed new “Ninja Gaiden II” game-sharing features, including Ninja Cinema, which is enabled solely through Xbox LIVE, providing exciting and innovative entertainment experiences for the more than 10 million Xbox LIVE members worldwide by allowing players to record and upload their best ninja moves to Xbox LIVE.

It’s a good time to be a gamer, eh?

Press Release

The game will draw upon the rich and historical influences of Asia while commanding their units and expanding their empire in the Eastern world. No doubt there will be new features thrown into the title, and some of them include new ways of winning and trading, random map styles for a greater level of challenge, remixes of classic Age of Empires game styles, as well as 15 new Asian “wonders”. This new game will ship as a Games for Windows title to provide easier installation, improved reliability and support for key Windows Vista features such as Games Explorer and Parental Controls.

According to Bruce Shelly, lead designer, Ensemble Studios, “The success of ‘Age of Empires III’ has given us the opportunity to expand the gameplay further and offer a fresh perspective through this expansion pack created by Big Huge Games. We’re delighted to have them work on this project with us and certain that they will deliver a great addition to the franchise.” Fans of the RTS genre will definitely have at least one title to look out for before the almighty Starcraft 2 comes and take over the world…

Press Release

You know how those annual games which are pretty much lacklustre in terms of gaming experience are normally released earlier than the numbers found in the title itself? Just like all those shovelware from EA (FIFA, Madden, Tiger Woods Golf, the list goes on), we now have Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 that will make its way across all consoles sometime in October this year, although proud owners of the Wii will just have to wait. That’s right, the Wii version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 will be available (drumroll, please) sometime next year. I suppose that has something to do with tweaking the graphics since programming for the Wii takes a totally different angle and certainly more time than the developers expected.

There is no word on how the game will be different when compared to versions on other consoles, although it would certainly be expected that the control scheme is vastly different. Does this mean you’ll be able to save penalties simply by waving where your keeper is supposed to jump? Personally, penalties are a very sensitive topic, and the D-pad would make a much better candidate (for both scoring and saving) since you can’t really see which direction your opponent is tapping, but let’s just wait and see how this one will turn out.

One thing’s for sure though – the graphics, just like the controls, will be different (as in toned down). Still, the gameplay experience is always king so here’s to Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 being a hit on the Wii next year!

Source: Joystiq

FFTA2 will be released on October 25th in Japan, and word from Square Enix has it that new additions to the races and job system will be made available then. So far we have uncovered the Hume, Moogle, Viera, Bangaa and Nu Moh races, so perhaps the final two will be revealed to all and sundry soon? Job-wise, Square Enix has recently added Yojimbo for the Humes, Chocobo Knight and Magic Gunner for the Moogles, Green Mage and Magic Fencer for the Viera, Master
Monk and Cannoneer for the Bangaa, and Arcane Mage for the Nu Moh. The grand total of announced jobs for all races currently stand at 49, where three more are required to be revealed in order to complete this mystery.

How many of your are looking forward to this game? I know many people who loved the original Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS (like yours truly) was disappointed when FFTA arrived on the GBA, partly because of tweaks in the game mechanics that did not stay true to the spirit of the original. Well, FFTA has certainly aged well just like fine wine, and in this aspect it is hoped that FFTA2 will see some minor changes that will provide a pleasant and engaging gaming experience for everyone when it is finally released. I guess it is better to learn up Japanese than wait for an English port each time a great title from Japan ships.

Source: DS Fanboy

As the almighty Nintendo DS Lite and Wii have shown, the casual gaming market might be laidback in approach, and it is anything but casual when it comes to sales numbers and money in the bank. This paradigm shift has caused Lifetime Television and RealNetworks to tap into this very same demographic, aiming to bring advertising-filled, pick up and play titles which will be made available on the RealArcade platform. In fact, the first game of this series will be Sally’s Salon that gives gamers the opportunity to run a simulated beauty salon without dishing up a single cent as investment or training.

New games will be released every quarter, and as mentioned, Sally’s Salon will be the first. In addition to having some leisure time with these titles, there will be Lifetime promos being run within its ad-enabled games, where spending a few minutes to view contextual ads that appear between levels is translated into longer periods of free play. Are ladies these days so hard up for free games that require them to view ads? I suspect not, as they’ll have better luck having a go at Cake Mania on the DS instead.

It seems as though these casual games will target the female crowd which has long been acknowledged not to be part of the hardcore gaming demographic, but rather people who prefer to get a spot of gaming here and there. Will this strategy actually reap dividends in the long run? I am sure that serious gamers will see this as an affront to the ‘art’ of gaming, but then again when money comes into contention, the essence of gaming will shift towards dollar signs rather than fulfilling the wishes and fancies of those who really care. Kind of reminds me of soccer, where there is some form of glamorized slave trade going on. Just check out David Beckham’s insane annual salary and you’ll know what I mean.

Source: Kotaku

Sid Meier is back in his groove, and Civilization Revolution will be his first game built specially for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 as well as handhelds (namely the DS and PSP). Rest assured that this won’t be a Civilization IV port but a title that is built from ground up. It remains to be seen whether a top PC title can bring over its idea to the console department without diluting the experience, but I have faith that Sid Meier and his cohort have the talent and ability to do so.

The press release mentioned that Civilization Revolution will be “an all new accessible, visually immersive, and action-packed world specifically designed for the console and handheld gamer. Delivering Civilization’s renowned epic single-player campaigns featuring vast re-playability and unmatched addictive gameplay as well as revolutionary features like real-time interaction with leaders and advisors, extensive multiplayer capabilities and integrated video and voice chat, it will completely transport the Civilization series to a level of gameplay that fans have never seen before.”

What are some of the things you can expect? A whopping 16 civilizations to go through, various famed historical leaders to play as or compete against, a streamlined time scale for quicker games, online multiplayer, auto-matching, ranked games, leaderboards, achievements, downloadable extra content, integrated video, and voice chat. While I mentioned the PSP, DS, Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 in the first paragraph, that’s just my speculation. It could or could not make it to all these consoles, since the press release just mentioned “next gen consoles and handhelds”. Whatever the outcome, spring 2008 is too good to miss.

Source: PC World

Yes, BioWare. The very same software company that brought you all time RPG greats such as Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, and the soon-to-come Mass Effect. Sonic’s new game does not have a title yet, but that is nothing more than a mere trifle since a good title never moved sales numbers – it is the content that matters. What’s even more interesting is this – this new Sonic RPG won’t be appearing on any of the next-gen consoles (which leads me to think, when are we supposed to drop the term “next-gen”?) but instead make its debut on the Nintendo DS.

This isn’t Sonic’s first foray into the RPG industry though but the second. I wonder how the gameplay will turn out. Do you think that it will take the same route that Mario RPGs turned out, or will it be something different? After all, copying Mario isn’t the smartest thing to do, but then again why tinker with a formula that already works well? Hopefully we’ll see a darker side to this speedy blue ball instead for more mature audiences.

Source: Gamespot