Liar Liar .. some people will do anything for 15 seconds, here you go.

Metroid Prime, Kingdom Hearts and Super Mario Sunshine led the charge in 2002, the year that saw The Sims become the highest selling PC title of all time, Rare switch hands from Microsoft to Nintendo, and the launch of the first video game television network, G4.

Counting down the top games from 1990 straight up through 2008, Binge Gamer's James Walker takes a look at the best (and worst) games from the year of the GameCube, 2002.

Stone Design has released Create 14.1, enabling the software to merge 'merge' with Address Book. The page layout, illustration, and Web authoring application includes a photo browser for adding as well as searching any number of photos. iSight camera support enables users to take snapshots and add effects, while a built-in QuickLook engine shows th...

But is there a business case for the mobile wallet?

So states Tom Yager (InfoWorld). “People buy Macs,” Yager reports, “because the platform as a whole is perfect, full stop. Leopard is a rung above perfection. It’s taken as rote that the Mac blows away PC users’ expectations. Leopard blows away Mac users’ expectations, and that’s saying a great deal.” Leopard, Yager says “is remarkable; it’s more and better software than anyone should sell for $129.”

Paramount Vantage, Miramax, Focus Features and The Weinstein Co grabbed 5 each. But the biggest problem facing the 2008 indie honors held February 23rd (a day before the Oscars during what's always a much livelier broadcast) is that most of the well awarded films have barely registered at the box office. Granted, their distribution has been [...]

cool Ranked 3.68 / 5 | 204 views | 1 comment

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Submitted By: broberok
Tags: Robot Drive Car awesome crazy joke people latest movie film update tv banned commercial action curio 

My column several weeks back on the pleasures and pain of being the sysadmin for friends and relatives apparently touched some nerves. You sent me some great little stories about your trials and tribulations while being the go-to person for your family on matters tech.

Rigor Morty asks: "I am an older man (44), an avid fan of video games, and I am faced with a problem; my hands are becoming arthritic as I get older. I fear I will soon have to completely give up the console games I have loved over the years. To that end, let me ask the Slashdot Nation — if you were going to give it up, what games would you insist on playing before you had to quit? I'm willing to make some effort to do this, and spend some cash; I will buy the new consoles if I need to, or try to find obscure titles."

Filed under: Gaming

Ok everybody, this is the final round! We've got a huge Wii bundle, which includes the console, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Batallion Wars 2, a Wii Shirt, and some other Wii swag. It's so on. Ready? Just don't forget the rules. (Yeah, there are always rules.)

• Leave a comment below. That's it! Who loves you, baby.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) You can enter different giveaways in today's Black Friday giveaways, but you can only enter this one once.
  
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers or US contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winners will be chosen randomly.
• Entries can be submitted until Sunday, November 25th, 11:59PM EDT. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

mikesd81 writes "The Associated Press has an article about a robot named George that plays hide-and-seek. Impressively, the robot can actually also find a place to hide, and then hunt for its human playmate. Scientists are calling this 'a new level of human interaction'. The machine must take cues from people and behave accordingly. Researchers aim to imply humanity in robotics by creating technology that can connect with humans in a more 'thoughtful' way. The places to first see this technology are in the most human-oriented fields — those that require special care in dealing with the elderly, young and disabled." From the article: "'Robots in the human environment, to me that's the final frontier,' said Cynthia Breazeal, robotic life group director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'The human environment is as complex as it gets; it pushes the envelope.' Robotics is moving from software and gears operating remotely - Mars, the bottom of the ocean or assembly lines - to finally working with, beside and even on people. 'Robots have to understand people as people,' Breazeal said. 'Right now, the average robot understands people like a chair: It's something to go around.'"

David DeWitt retired from the Computer Science Department at the University of Wisconsin last year, but he's already returned, this time as head of a new database research center located on the Madison campus and funded primarily by Microsoft.

Featured posts to the Search Engine Watch blog in the past week, along with recent search-related headlines from around the Web.

Michael Komisarek vs Milan Lucic, you yaa got!?

So the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show took place this past weekend and even though it was pretty much a repeat of every other year, it still had one of the hottest models of all time in it. And that is Marisa Miller. Here she is at the after party doing what she does best. [...]

Crave just uncovered the meaning of the weird Alienware e-mails we've been getting, obliquely worded invitations to a November 19 product unveiling. Well, the product, or products, are two new laptops, the Area-51 m15x and m17x. The 15" and 17" systems are ground-up redesigns featuring crazy angles, martian runes (as seen above) and as many colored LEDs as you'd expect from any gaming PC worth its salt. We'll get some pics of them whole—plus pricing and availability—on Monday, so stay tuned. [Crave]

Embrace your inner power junkie with a revamped game that lets you build cities, then witness the effects of your megalomania. Game review by Erin Biba.

The Killzone 2 multiplayer beta is here! Read on to find out more about the Clan System, Valor Points, and epic Warzone game modes.

Even as it is folding its attempts to get into the mobile phone business in the U.S., Disney is planning to launch a service to provide its content to users in Japan.

The creators of Adium, the popular multi-network messaging app for Macs, say they have finally managed to implement video chat support through the integration of technology by MeBeam. The plug-in relies on Adobe Flash, and like the rest of Adium can communicate cross-platform and with users on any IM network; the receiving chatter must only have a...

Two guys out fishing find themselves in the way of an incoming plane Ranked 3.73 / 5 | 210 views | No comments

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Submitted By: milmaster
Tags: fishing plane landing near miss funny 

http://www.ripetv.com/ Ripe's got all sorts of new going on and April Scott's always got something new going on, being gorgeous AND talented (a far more rare combo than one might think). Why not come and learn about it?

Author: RIPETV
Keywords: RipeTV OctaneTV FlowTV
Added: November 9, 2007

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Adventure

We openly admit that naming your child Apollo Justice borders on cruelty and severely limits his choice of career path to either a lawyer or a cast member on a remake of American Gladiators. Thankfully, however, Capcom has subscribed to the former, with the appropriately named upstart attorney Justice taking center stage in what the math eggheads upstairs tell us is the fourth game in the Ace Attorney franchise, which will make its way to North America sometime in "early 2008" according to Capcom.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney marks a departure from previous games by abandoning Phoenix Wright, the ace attorney we have grown to know and love. Additionally, Capcom notes that the game, which has apparently been selling like hotcakes in Japan, is the first to be designed specifically for the Nintendo DS, the previous three titles originally having been released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan before getting their touchable courtroom makeovers. The game will come with a host of new characters and cases, and despite missing Phoenix (as the main character, anyway), we know we'll be yelling "Objection!" and "Hold it!" the whole time, usually to the ire of those sitting next to us on the bus.

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SPONSORED BY: Age of Empires III - Real-Time Strategy Game Control a European power on a quest to colonize and conquer the New World. AOE3 introduces new gameplay elements, as well as new civilizations, units, and technologies. http://www.ageofempires3.com/

Filed under: Action & Adventure, Drama, Music & Musicals, Tech Stuff, Newsstand, Movie Marketing

Ok, I made up the part about the puppy because hey, who doesn't love puppies? I know I do. Besides, I'm not above pandering to the audience to increase site traffic -- so sue me. (ok, not really -- AOL wouldn't like it). But enough of this, we've got some important Casino Royale business to take care of -- so let's get to it!

If you're one of the teeming masses who simply cannot wait for the movie Casino Royale to open, the producers of the film and Apple have come up with something just for you -- a little taste to whet your appetite for all-things-Bond. Beginning Tuesday, November 14, hardcore James Bond fanboys (and girls) will be able to download the entire score of the film via Apple's iTunes music store.

The complete soundtrack, by composer David Arnold, will be available exclusively at the iTunes store -- along with 13 bonus tracks, a CD booklet and accompanying artwork -- which makes it the most comprehensive release of a James Bond score ever. You hear that people -- ever! So what are you waiting for, get your iPods ready and start downloading! Well, actually you can start on November 14. Until then, you're just going to have to be patient like the rest of us. And remember, there are no puppies -- so don't ask.

[Via IGN]

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Writing about technology is lots of fun, and it's also fun to see the technology behind other things I enjoy. That was the case last night when Lenovo invited a group of journalists to Madison Square Garden to see some of the technology behind the NBA, especially the way that the NBA gathers and distributes statistics about the game.

IT Pro: "Debian is both the most conservative and the most radical of Linux distributions, resolute and true to the ideals of the movement from which it sprang..."

InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) is disappointed at final local loop access charges, released today in a Commerce Commission determination.

Another animated children's film will get the multi-platform videogame treatment.

Snom Technology today announced its interoperability between snom phones and the forthcoming blue4S from 4S newcom. The blue4S is designed to turn the Mac mini into the world's "slickest" telephone, data, and video switching system, also known as a PBX (Private Branch Exchange). "snom's interoperability provides us with the opportunity to partner w...

A too-hot-for-TV scene from VH1's Totally Awesome.

Runtime: 1 min 41 sec

It won't take you nearly as long to read about them. Here are our top 5 classic epic movies.

Guess those rumors were true about impending MacBook updates. Apple didn't make a big deal about it, but right under everyone's noses the company's upgraded its popular MacBook laptops, finally goosing them up to the Santa Rosa architecture with GMA X3100 integrated video, giving those graphics a sprightly new lease on life. Santa Rosa gives the MacBook a welcome speed bump, raising the front-side bus speed to 800MHz from 667MHz. Both the white and black MacBooks get the new chipset, and the MacBook Pro, already totin' Santa Rosa, was also annointed with a new chip and drive choice. Let's drill down for the details.

Now you can get a 13-inch 80GB 2GHz Core 2 Duo white MacBook for $1099. Bump that up to a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 120GB hard drive and a double layer SuperDrive for $1299. The black model now has a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and a 160 GB hard drive is $1499.

If you're looking for a MacBook Pro, well, they've had the Santa Rosa chipset since last June, but now you can upgrade to a 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor for $250, and you're also able to bump up to a 250GB drive. [Apple, via Mac Rumors]

24 star Kiefer Sutherland blames fans for his jail sentence for driving under the influence, and is refusing to sign any more autographs.

A fat German guy doesnt like being stuck in traffic.

Quality of service and security credentials touted.

Network vendor Zyxel is to release a new Gigabit switch which it says will help SMBs support their converged voice and data network.

Date Added: Sorry That Seat Is Taken 11/01/2007 01:01

Date Added: Powerful Piss Stream 10/31/2007 01:01

Today's search engine marketing news and opinion: Zappos + Twitter = Innovative Success!; Get Educated on the Hottest Social Media Platform; Click Fraud Declines Slightly in Q2 2008; and more.

Sony is introducing a new PlayStation 2 model even as its PlayStation 3 gains traction in the marketplace.

Target passwords at your disposal.

Bad credit? No credit? No Big problem! In order to thwart iPhone reselling (and the seedy unlocked black market), Apple is reducing the former five per customer iPhone limit to just two—and cash will no longer be accepted on any iPhone purchases.

We can only assume that credit cards allow Apple to better track mass purchasers since, if anything, plastic allows people to spend more money on products than they have in their bank accounts. We're guessing that neither of these new restrictions will impact 99% of consumers, but that perfumed old lady with her huge jar of change will just need to settle for a Prada. [nytimes]

For the past few months, New York-based programmer A.J. Loiacono and his buddies have been logging onto the popular online sword-and-sorcery game "World of Warcraft" a little more often than usual.

But they're not visiting the mythical realm of Azeroth to goof around and fight the game's virtual dragons like the rest of the game's 9 million subscribers. They've got work to do, you see. They're making a movie.

Using a high-end Mac to record the action, Loiacono's buddies log on from their computers and control their game-character avatars to act out scenes from the team's original script, a sci-fi comedy thing about a guy who travels through time to save his people. The film, still in production, is set for an online-only release next spring

Using a Wacom isn't reserved for the professionals, anymore. After using this tablet nobody would take you seriously or professionally. This small Wacom tablet is covered in pink Hello-Kittyness ruining all of your credibility as a digital designer. Oh well, at least it is cute! This is a limited edition release of 10,000 and it will be available in Japan only for $84 or so. Check out all of the other companies that have released Hello Kitty crap, therefore losing our respect, here. – Travis Hudson

Wacom Hello Kitty edition Tablet [Gizmodiva]

Thanks this week to our advertisers: After Dark Films, Ask.com, Avalon Bowery, Canon, Crain's New York Business, Crown Point Publishing, Current TV, Design Within Reach, Frommers, Fuerzabruta, Hendrick's Gin, Mandalay Bay, Mojo, Project Runway, Register.com, Sony Ericsson, Style-Card.com, Tegan & Sara, The Wendell Baker Story. Sure, we bet you might like to advertise too!

Plus! A contest! Enter to win two tickets to Fuerzabruta, the new show from the creators of De La Guarda. Write in to contests@gawker.com before Monday; random email wins. Standard contest rules apply.

What's cooler than cool, but not as cool as ice cold? Unkempt asymmetrical hair and a strategically placed cigarette. This week's edition of New York magazine Look Book brings you the apparent spawn of Malcolm Gladwell and Lenny Kravitz, "massively Afroed guitarist" Alex Kennedy-Grant. And you're in luck because he just woke up and you're seeing the hair in a "totally raw state". Alex, who describes his musical style as "psychedelic soul and blues-rock" laments the fact that no one really plays the guitar any more, and will not apologize for being a virtuoso. "I'm totally independent," Alex proudly declares, but admits he wouldn't mind getting paid. Totally.

After the jump, inter Alexis corrals Joshua Stein, Pat Driscoll and Timothy Michael Cooper to dig through the Afro for change.

Joshua Stein, Gridskipper

What would happen if Alex Kennedy-Grant's hair met Video Look Booker
Fantcha Mendes's hair?
Amy LaRocca's afro fetish is well-known and documented. Both virtuosi, if AKG's cumulus nimbus of hair met Fantcha Mendes' afro (so big she needs a chinstrap) no doubt out-virtuousoizing would take
place, each afro morphing into various forms. AKG's into Slimer, FM's into a dodechohedron. AKG's into a menorah, FM's into the Twin Towers at which decorum would force AKG to submit.

Unzip Alex's zipper. What do you see?
Exactly what you see up top, including a cigarette dangling for the tip. That's what being a dickhead means.

What's a typical day in the life of AKG?
Wake up on your futon to the gentle alarm of the Bose iPod sounddock you're dad bought you upon graduating Wesleyan. Close quickly your MacBook Pro, open at the moment to whatever Suicide Girl you took with you to bed last night. Pick up your ax (always called "my ax") and run through some real fuckin gnarly minor pentatonic shit then move into Mixolydian. Hit up MySpace for an hour. It's noon so turn on the Lopate show while you apply your numerous Bumble and Bumble products in a mirror onto which you've written Love Yourself across the bottom. Move back to your ax, lay down some Phrygian jams. It's around two. Call Dad's secretary to see if Citibank transfer went through. Browse Missed Connections. Hit up MySpace again. Write 5 lines of a 12 bar blues. Decide against grad school after reading the New York Review of Books (too academic), browse the New Yorker (academic-ish) and finally settle on spending the rest of the afternoon reading New York magazine. Oh shit, your picture's in the Look Book. Back to MySpace to post the picture.

Pat Driscoll , jukebox bully

What would happen if Alex Kennedy-Grant's hair met Video Look Booker
Fantcha Mendes's hair?
As their hair meets it will immediately grow at an alarming rate until it has taken over their entire bodies and forms a glorious cave which Madonna will use to hide the rest of her stolen Malawian babies.

Unzip Alex's zipper. What do you see?
Strangely, his chest is completely shaved and adorned with a giant tattoo of Rebecca De Mornay.

What's a typical day in the life of AKG?
Well, he actually has a routine. At night before bed he showers and dresses himself completely for the next day so that when he wakes up he doesn't miss a beat. As he wakes up to his alarm clock, which he has cleverly re-tooled to play only Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music", he lets out an exaggerated yawn which would wake up most of the building if it weren't already noon. He puts on his espresso machine and while it warms up, he watches the last fifteen minutes of "Brewster's Millions" because it inspires him. Following this he trolls MySpace for a few hours and asks a minimum of 15 people to be his friend (he's convinced he can hit 1000 by year's end). He spends the four o' clock hour watching "Oprah," but DVR-ing "Ellen" and at five o'clock it's "Ellen"-time!! Once he feels fulfilled, he leaves his apartment and walks around the East Village. He stops random people, looks at them and says "Eh?" while pointing to his hair. When they don't answer he asks, "pretty crazy, right?" When they respond with indifference, his immediate reflex is to get angry, but instead he retreats to Grey's Papaya where he eats hot dogs and tells himself, "It's okay I'll have 1000 friends be years end and then I'll show them." Then he cries...

Timothy Michael Cooper, Freelance Eater

What would happen if Alex Kennedy-Grant's hair met Video Look Booker
Fantcha Mendes's hair?
I'm not sure, but when I was 8, my dad sat me down and explained to me how Brillo(r) pads are made, and it was basically that.

Unzip Alex's zipper. What do you see?
The same thing you see when you order a Kobe beef steak: rippling layers of pink, unused muscle, richly marbled with snowy veins of pure white fat.

No, obviously he's wearing a pre-owned Adidas zip-up tracksuit, like the younger breakdancer in the music video for Dirty Vegas's "Days Go By." Although the last time Alex pop-locked a headspin, a dozen innocent bystanders got third-degree rug burns. LOL, j/k! Alex has nothing to prove--he's a virtuoso, and he doesn't hide that fact.

What's a typical day in the life of AKG?
9:18 a.m.: Doesn't wake up.

Noon-5:00 p.m.: Gettin' hizzigh. That's right, he actually says it that way.

5:00 p.m.: I'd just like to point out that Alex had been drug-free for over 12 minutes when this picture was taken, so just lay off about the Norma Desmond sunglasses.

5:30 p.m.: At Borders, purchases another periodical that's as "academic-ish" as Wax Poetics, such as the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism or Black Hair (both of which I happen to subscribe to).

7:00 p.m.: Rehearses with the guys. Yes, you can still be a "front
man" even when the other members of your band are Snuffleupagus (on drums) and, when he's available, Falcor, the dragon from The Neverending Story.

10:00 p.m.: Dinner: the uncooked noodles from a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, which aren't half bad when chased with that fluorescent cheese powder and cocaine.

Midnight: Consoles self with fact that even if he is peerless, jobless, label-less, and Product-less, at least he's still a virtuoso. Considers hiding that fact a little less tomorrow.

Oracle has rejected BEA Systems' proposed purchase price of $21 per share.

Tech2 writes: "Old school beat-em-ups were awesome. Though the basic gameplay was as simple and linear as it got, playing the game over and over with friends would seem a fresh experience every time. Though there have been a lot of games in recent times that tried to bring back that feeling through revamped versions of the classics, or by imitations, none have been as enjoyable as Castle Crashers.

Right from the time you begin this game, you know it's gonna be a fun ride. Castle Crashers is completely done in 2D with hand-drawn sprites, which gives it that old-school feel. It gives you an option to start the game using four-player multiplayer right from the beginning, which is an early indication that you're not really meant to play this game alone."

Good:
+Awesome visuals
+Gratifying action
+Great levels
+Epic boss fights
+Excellent multiplayer

Bad:
-Expensive at 1200 MS Points
-Multiplayer is more fun than single player

Dynamism has the Motorola KRZR for import. If you can't wait, here's your chance to get one for $380, without any contract, from a reputable dealer. Here's everything we've ever written on the KRZR. –Brian Lam

Motorola KRZR [Dynamism]