FIFA explains why it’s so anti-technology: Wants to keep things equal, maintain human element
Sepp Blatter (left), the FIFA president, has explained why there won’t be goal-line technology at this year’s World Cup, saying he wants the sport to maintain a “human element” and that all levels of soccer, from 6-year-old kids to open-goal-missing Gonzalo Higuaín of Real Madrid, need to be played with the same rules. Whatever you say, Sepp. I hope for your sake a Spain or Italy or Brazil don’t get knocked out of the tournament because of a controversial goal; you won’t hear the end of it.
So mighty Sepp, who’s apparently one of the most powerful men on Earth according to someone who appeared on World Football Daily the other day (again, a fine podcast, well worth the $5/month I pay), had this to say:
No matter which technology is applied, at the end of the day a decision will have to be taken by a human being. This being the case, why remove the responsibility from the referee to give it to someone else? It is often the case that, even after a slow-motion replay, ten different experts will have ten different opinions on what the decision should have been.
I love how we’re praising the idea of debating outright wrongheaded decision because it makes the sport exciting. What’s so wrong with wanting to see the right decisions being made, even if it’s at the “expense” of post-match pub debates?
But whatever, I’ve already written quite a bit about the subject.
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FIFA explains why it’s so anti-technology: Wants to keep things equal, maintain human element
Stargate Universe season 1.5 trailer
I’m still in shock that the beings above are apparently going to let Smallville surpass SG-1’s record. Oh well. But here’s the trailer for the second half of Stargate Universe’s first season. Here’s hoping that the second half is a bit more like the Stargate of old. Too bad I’ll end up watching it even it’s more of the same crap.
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Stargate Universe season 1.5 trailer
Leaked: HTC Incredible caught in its Verizon colors, specs confirmed
Verizon’s not going to be too happy about this one. From everyone we’ve spoken to, they really wanted to keep details surrounding the Android-powered HTC Incredible underwraps for a while longer. That’s understandable, given that the Incredible blows their current flagship Android device, the Motorola Droid, to smithereens on just about every count.
Alas, all it takes is one device to slip into the wrong hands — and fortunately for us, it has! A bunch of new shots of the HTC Incredible (with brand new, Verizon-brand-friendly colors) have just leaked out, and a gaggle of spec details came with it.
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Leaked: HTC Incredible caught in its Verizon colors, specs confirmed
Tecmo Bowl Throwback due for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network
It’s Tecmo Bowl, but on your Xbox 360 or PS3. And without the NFL-licensed players and teams. But with a 3D-style look and feel! You can go old-school and play in 2D mode, too.
It’s actually the SNES version of Super Tecmo Bowl, redone for the present day and with some extras thrown in here and there.
Apparently you’ll be able to edit teams and rosters, so with a little work you could get everything all squared away with the real-life names. The big addition here, too, will be online multiplayer. That means you can use the time between now and when the game’s released to track down all the kids that used to live in your neighborhood growing up.
I’ll be buying this, price be damned. I’m guessing we might be looking at around $10 but I’d go up to, and including, $15. I don’t know how I’d feel about $20. Probably not great, but that’s not to say I still wouldn’t buy it. No hard and fast launch date yet other than Spring 2010.
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Tecmo Bowl Throwback due for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network
Sic semper tyrannis: motion control in video games
Let the record show: I think motion controllers, like the Wii, Sony Move, or Microsoft’s Project Natal, are sorta dumb. They simply don’t seem to be precise enough for my tastes—I’m far too used to a mouse and keyboard to give that up for the “thrill” of flailing my arms in the arm like the robot from Lost In Space. But it wasn’t always like that.
Like many of you, my first experience with a motion-esque controller was in Duck Hunt for the NES. Granted, a light gun isn’t the same as the Wii remote, but it’s the closest thing I get to being “down” with all that jazz.
I asked the two fine gentlemen in the chat room right now, Matt and Doug, the simple question: motion control, yea or nay? Of course they couldn’t me a simple, Fox News-friendly soundbite, but instead chose to nuance their way out of the question. “I like it for sports and shooting games,” said Doug. Meanwhile, Matt also echoed my nostalgia for Duck Hunt. I’ll also add the orignial Time Crisis as a “motion control” game I enjoyed. And I played House of the Dead once in a bowling alley—that was neat.
But things like painting a wall by slinging globs of paint at it? Eh, I could do without it. Motion control seems to devolve into silliness quite rapidly. Remember this?
Oh, look, we’re curling! Woo!
That’s not nearly as fun as cranking up the DPI on a fancy Logitech mouse, then sniping a dumb Heavy in Team Fortress 2 with millimeter precision. Is the Sony Move going to be as accurate? I doubt it. Even if it were, holding my arm in the air for any length of time is far too much to ask. I have little girl arms, and they tire very quickly. It’s far easier to rest my hands on a comfy keyboard, or sitting on the couch playing the rubbish Xbox 360 port of Final Fantasy XIII. (I’m very seriously considering buying a PS3 in the next few months simply to play the “real” version of the game. Getting God of War III and Heavy Rain won’t hurt, either.)
So I don’t know, clearly Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo see motion controllers as a viable option. As an old man afraid of change and inconvenience, I don’t know that I’m too high on it.
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Sic semper tyrannis: motion control in video games
Tip: Use packing peanuts to hold nails and screws in place
Using a foam packing peanut to hold a nail or screw in place is brilliant. I like to think of myself as a pretty mild-tempered person but any time anybody’s asked my wife about the most angry she’s ever seen me, she always tells the story of when we first moved into our apartment here in Boston and I went around the house hanging our window blinds. Shoulda used peanuts.
The universe was angry that day, my friends. Forces everywhere were conspiring against me. Every single screw that needed to be driven into a window frame wobbled violently and then fell to the ground. Over and over and over again.
I finally succumbed to using a power drill to bore starter holes where each of the screws would eventually go but, of course, I hadn’t properly charged the battery and couldn’t remember where I kept my drill bits. Basically, a project that should have taken an hour ended up consuming me with rage for the better part of what felt like eternity.
Anyhoo, I should have used foam peanuts. That’s the takeaway. Hold the screw in place, get it started far enough into the wall that it’s stable, and tear the foam away. Simple.
10 Uses for Foam Packing Peanuts [This Old House via Lifehacker]
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Tip: Use packing peanuts to hold nails and screws in place
Totally Unreal: Palm and Epic Games bring Unreal Engine 3 to webOS
Only yesterday we were drooling over the idea that Epic Games had managed to port their draw-droppingly beautiful game engine, Unreal Engine 3, to the iPhone. As it turns out, the iPhone isn’t alone – it’s heading to webOS, too!
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>
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Totally Unreal: Palm and Epic Games bring Unreal Engine 3 to webOS
EA drops fat cash on The Old Republic
What’s it going to take to dethrone World of Warcraft? One of two things, I’d say: one, an asteroid smashing directly into the planet, with Blizzard at the exact location of impact, or two, Blizzard releasing World of Warcraft 2. The asteroid is more likely at this point. So you can imagine the time and money EA is putting into The Old Republic, the only MMO with a chance in hell of taking away even a fraction of WoW’s subscribers.
At some fancy financial-type meeting in New York, EA said that BioWare’s The Old Republic is the “largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company.” Considering the amount of money that Ea throws at its games these days, yeah, you can assume the company has high hopes for the game. I do.
The game is currently scheduled for release spring, 2011. I don’t know a damn thing about Star Wars, but I’ll at least give the game a shot. It’s gonna take the jaws of life to pry me away from WoW full-time, though. I wish I could put that in a resumé.
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EA drops fat cash on The Old Republic
AMD working on actual netbook chipset, not due until next year
AMD is finally looking to get into the netbook game for real. Forget about the thin-and-light NEO chipset that’s been out for a while—we’re talking about an honest, netbook-specific chipset based on the company’s Fusion initiative that’ll blend power-sipping CPUs with ATI graphics. The platform will draw between 10 and 15 watts of power and will be designed for screens 12 inches and smaller.
With all these netbooks coming out now that are powered by Intel Atom CPUs paired with either Broadcom HD graphics accelerators or NVIDIA ION GPUs, it appears that AMD must finally be thinking to itself, “These guys from all these different companies have to pair this CPU with that GPU or add this accelerator because Intel’s GPUs stink. We have our own CPUs and our own powerful ATI GPUs. We could do this much more easily and cheaply.”
AMD’s Nigel Dessau told InternetNews.com the following:
“It will have a good processor integrated with graphics, so you won’t need the Ion graphics to give it half-decent performance… If we’d had a part, we’d have been in this space. We didn’t have a part so we went and worked on a part for the thin and light space. The plan is to come to market next year with a Fusion part that fits it nicely in a netbook type thing.”
With the impending confusion that’ll be caused (or is already being caused) by all the pairings between Intel, NVIDIA, and others, AMD is in a prime position to come in with a few netbook chipsets comprised of its own AMD CPUs and respectable ATI GPUs, price them $50 less than comparable Intel offerings, and watch the sales roll in. Unfortunately by 2011, who knows what state the netbook market will be in? AMD can’t just show up and say, “Look! We have a new platform that’s better than the Intel + ION pairings from last summer!”
The company’s got a big opportunity here. Netbooks aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but people are expecting to be able to do more and more with them—an area where Intel has purposely under delivered in order to try to convince consumers to purchase more expensive CPUs. As it turns out, most consumers don’t really care how fast the CPU is. They just want to watch HD videos and play games. If anyone can deliver that experience in a single, integrated, inexpensive package, it’s AMD.
[HardwareCentral via Liliputing]
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AMD working on actual netbook chipset, not due until next year
Video Demo: Google Reader Play is clearly meant for a tablet computer
We all know that there will be an onslaught of touchscreen computers this year and next. But the Internet really isn’t touchscreen friendly. It was designed for a mouse, not finger input. Google Reader Play is one of the early examples of a site redesigned for this sort of navigation with a slideshow-type interface and larger buttons.
I loaded up the demo on a Viliv X70 tablet computer and found it works quite well on the 9-inch tablet. The buttons could be a bit larger, but overall it’s one of the most touchscreen-friendly websites I’ve seen. Click through for a quick video demo.
The normal version of Google Reader simply doesn’t work well with touchscreen computers. It’s the buttons, really. They are the key to a good Google Reader experience.
Users need a way to star items, access different lists and navigate around the robust interface. Google Reader Play solves all those issues with a cleaner interface and larger buttons. There are still some things I would change, but Google Reader Play is likely still in beta like most other Google projects so I’m not too concerned.
I also don’t see the need to use Play rather than the standard version on a normal computer. It doesn’t offer anything more than a redesigned interface and you can’t add your own RSS feeds into it just yet. It might draw some new users into the RSS world, but most current Reader users probably won’t make the switch besides to see what all the fuss is about.
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Video Demo: Google Reader Play is clearly meant for a tablet computer