Forget Wii, Zcam does it better, cheaper, easier! (see video!)

Did you like playing the Nintendo Wii? Well I did, but the thing i disliked was the controller itself. It is quit tidius to hold to for a long time, not to talk about the damage it couses. Well how about having the same expirience but no controler in your hand? Zcam does exactly that, and from what it seems so far, it works realy good.

An Israeli firm (3dvsystems) shown off their Zcam device at this years CES which allows for gamers to control games just by moving around their hands. The technology has been in development for 10 years and the product is expected to be released this year at a cost of £100 complete with a game.

The Zcam device has a regular camera as well as an infrared camera - which actualy record the distance from the device, creating a full 3d model real-time and interacting with it through the software. The Zcam seems to support every pc-based application to be writen on it. The Zcam seems to support different kinds of games (expect for that video, there is a video of someone controling a flight simulater by "holding" air). There looks to be some other applications for this device (most of which are described on their site).

The Israeli company has been working on the system for 10 years and plans to release its first low-cost camera to the public this year. When it is released it is likely to cost around £100 with a game, according to reports.

So would you like to play "active" games without risking your new flat tv? Comment on what you think about this new device.

kost.

Casual Review #1 - Campaign

Welcome,
This is the first episode of a series I'm starting. I will be reviewing the last and greatest (or not) in casual gaming (mostly online).

In this episode I'll be reviewing Campaign:


Welcome to the 2008 US election season, we have controversial statements, flayers all over the US, and a lot of taking and showing the candidates. But don't YOU want a piece of the action? Always wanted to beat your opponent to the ground? Well now you can.. literally.

Do you really want to micromanage taxes and relevant issues or do you want to bitch slap your enemy around till he surrenders? As we all know, politics is a lot of back stabbing, cheating, attacking each other and doing anything to win. In preparation for the US election season comes a new game that takes the "politic" side of the hole thing to show you what really happens in the back stage of the political campaign. You may call it raw politics. I call it Campaign, by the guys over at THUP.

This is an online game, both multiplayer and singleplayer, that brings all those other political games to their knees. You start by choosing a candidate (out of the 6 running right now) and 3 asskicking assistants. You have the SPINMIESTER that will bring dirt on the enemy better than the typical "celebrity going crazy" tabloaid writer. You have the HATCHET MAN that will hack your way to presidancy. FUNDRAISER - the capitalizem in 1 human - will solve all your pains with a little injection of cash. And the OPERATIVE - who will hide in the shadows and strike the behind (mostly the lower part).


In the core, this is a very lite tern based strategy game. You have to capture lands to get money, but the goal is to "kill" the enemy candidate. So the balancing work isn't obvious - do you go for the lands and ignore the enemy, or do you run towards the enemy and hope he dies fast? In the online gameplay I tested a few strategies. On one game, we were both going for lands only and it came to a situation that we are 1 squere apart but still none of us attacks the other.

The muliplayer mode is mostly fun. But i have to warn you, it's very bugy. It takes a hole lot to connect, and the bugs just start there. The game clock stops suddenly, resets itself to a different time, come to 0 and just stops. Part of my games ended by me getting frustrated and just closing the window, but the rest, were real fun. You get tested every game, you can't use the same moves to win, so you will need to be flexible and think a bit before making a move.

So the game in itself is quite good, both the single and multi modes. If it had a bit more things to do and a lot less buggy multiplayer it would probably get around the uper nines.



Enjoy,
kost.

Dont mess with Jews

Yep.. I'm posting yet again to this readerless blog. I'm still the lead QA Tester at Reverie.

Nothing more to say.. back to my boring life.. cya all,

kost.

Back to regular posting

I'm back again.. this time i wont be using the forum at the previous manner, but use it as a platform for personal posts , "industry insider's" posts and my opinions on gaming and the game industry.

I have been promoted recently. I was a QA tester (as stated in a previous post), now I am the lead of that department (ie. I'm "Lead QA"). A lot of new work and responsibility comes with this new title. The first one is recruiting new tester for the department (as I'm the only one right now). I have 3 interviews scheduled for tomorrow, and I hope I can find some skilled people for the department. Next i have to learn and teach all the necessary testing methods and methodologies. Then I have to write all the QA-documents needed for the start (like "Test Plan" and "QA testing guidelines" etc.) and write a few initual test suites (including all the cases). I'll have to train a sub-lead as well that will be able to do all the daily managorial tasks (like helping and guiding testers writing test suites etc.)

So a lot of work is ahead of me.

Be back in a few.. cya all!
kost.

Cingular changes into AT&T, but how..

A realy cool video i feel i just HAVE to share...

enjoy:

Play a game. Join the secret service.

The UK secret services are having a personal problem. Yes, James Bond did his work as good as he could, but in the end of the day he is only one man. The overwhelming need for new recruits is forcing the different agencies to advertise in some pretty odd places.

While MI5 decided to advertise on sides of buses and the women magazine the "Cosmopolitan", the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) picked a more unconventional yet popular media with his target audience - video games.

Starting next month, the GCHQ recruitment ad will feature on a number of action games including Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Need for Speed Carbon. Huge boards will call out all gamers to join the GCHQ ranks. The people from the agency hope that the action in said games will help deliver the massage to the teenagers.

A speaker from the organization said that the requirements for new recruits in the GCHQ are "Understanding in computers, adaptability with technology and quick thinking", traits that are common among the gamers. The agency promises to monitor the effectiveness of this campaign.

Kost.

So what can we play for free?

Want someting new and fun to pass a little time with and posibaly fall in love? Here are 3 of the latest and greatest video-game demoes:

Hellgate: London

The new action RPG / hack and slash game from the guys that brought us the Diablo series. The game takes place in the near future (25 years from now) where the world has been destroyed by daemons. This apocalyptic world is mainly populated by priests and prophets that predicted the coming. While most of London is on fire and the human population is pushed to go to the underground, those priests and prophets are left to save the human race. With new technologies backed up with ancient magical objects, they manage to produce weapons and armors. Will humanity survive the horror?

Download Here - 1.5GB



Painkiller: Overdose

A new action/horror game by Mindware. This game started out as a mode to the original Painkiller, and developed into a full production. The game contains over 40 hell-spawn daemons , 6 new weapons and advanced physics. The horror style of game play and the adrenaline pumped slater of hundreds of beasts from hell tries to give you the feel of the original Doom fun and bloody game play. That's the time to repaint the walls into hell daemon gut!

Download Here - 700MB



Tarr Chronicles

A new space shooter with RPG elemnts from Quasar Studio. The game feathers epic space battles, taking place in the future, of humans against aliens. You play the pilot of a human fighter ship in the fleet of the human masterpiece, the huge Battlecruiser Talestra. The hole solar system lies in vain after massive bloodshed. Hopes are regained when Talestra finds a lost ancient city, that can bring the whole solar system back to it's lost glory. The hostile aliens have other things in mind for the artifacts on that ancient city, and start attacking the Battlecruiser. Lost far in space and behind enemy lines, the player has to lead an elite group of fighters to overcome this great threat.

Download Here - 500MB

Enjoy,
Kost.