A week ago I mentioned Shacknews had scored an interview with id software’s Tim Willits and Todd Hollenstead regarding Rage. Seems they have finally shared that interview with the community. It is quite an informative interview, practically devoid of any tech talk (I guess they’ll leave that for “The Carmack” interview). The primary focus is on Rage and how they came up with the idea for the game. Tim Willits pretty much confirmed id’s departure from the dark corridor shooter genre of its past. Rage evidently will be a Death Race meets Mad Max type game with racing elements being an integral part of the experience (Willits mentioned Motorstorm being a big influence). The shooter element will still be there; however, id’s focus seems to be on making Rage a collection of many types of game genres (shooter, racing, adventure, RPG). Willits toys with the idea of RPG elements such as an inventory system where you can packrat around “phat loot” much like Oblivion or more recently, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

…which brings me to the crux of the matter. It seems like id is toying with a lot of ideas here. The vibe I got from the interview is one of an experimental nature. It doesn’t seem like id has any sense of direction with Rage right now. The story they are shopping is something straight out of a Mad Max movie:

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That’s right, the U.S. Government’s hippest recruiting tool has gone to the big leagues. Now we’ll get a chance to see who really is the best of the best. Army of One? Army Strong? How about Army of Geek?

America’s Army will join alongside Counter-Strike in what CPL is dubbing the “Bring Your Own Computer” tournament. Each tournament will feature $10,000 in cash prizes. America’s Army is just one of a handful of games that will be hosted by the Summer 2007 CPL Championships, which will be held Aug. 30 through Sept. 2 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

Not only is the U.S. Army sponsoring the tournament, but they will be there firsthand to show off their America’s Army Future Soldier Trainer. “This leading-edge simulation technology allows users to feel the recoil as they use realistic weapons armed with lasers in scenarios that range from single player training experiences to multiplayer missions adapted from the America’s Army PC game.” — Way cool.

If I’m not mistaken, is AA not the first “free” game to appear at the CPL? Well, I supposed free is relative considering the tax payer money involved in its development. Still, it is nice to see a game as easily accessible as America’s Army at the CPL. Should be a nice changeup for the usual CPL audience.

You can read more about it after the break:

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Don’t worry folks, it won’t be long before we can get our hands on this juicy looking RTS by Massive Entertainment. Until then we’ll have to endure the teasing we’re getting from these spiffy looking trailers. In case you missed it, the last WiC trailer was sporting a Magnum P.I. spoofiness (is that even a word?) that was a bit silly. Admittedly, I do like these kind of trailers as they are a much needed deviation from the norm.

If you are like me and the embeds don’t do your eyes justice, click the link above (right below the embedded video) to download the trailer in glorious HD (128 MB). And for the bandwidth challenged:

QT Version (31 MB)
WMV Version (28 MB)

They make us fat, violent, anti-social, and also contribute toward arthritis. And now, they’re a cause of back pain.

Some experts in the field of physiotherapy have named video games as a potential source of back-related problems. It all has to due with the hours and hours of sitting in the same place.

“This seems on the cards considering the associated health problems of obesity, reduced levels of activity, and the popularity of passive entertainment systems such as PlayStations that encourage further inactivity and prolonged sitting posture in the adolescent age group,” Duncan Reid, New Zealand Manipulative Physiotherapists Association spokesman, said in a recent Stuff.co article.

What triggered this concern was an increasing number of lower back pain in teenagers. Back problems are apparently common in those who do too little and those who do too much, and obviously gamers fall into the former category.

The moral of the story is, as always, when you’re playing video games for hours on end, stop and do something else for a while every now and then. It will help you live longer.

via Stuff.co.nz

There’s a brand new website for Postal 3 online now. If you’re not familiar with the series, Postal is the over the top no holds barred 3d shooter fueled on controversy, and was one of the original games to be labeled with the “murder simulator” tag.

Yes, even in this era when violent games are scrutinized under the harshest of spotlights, Running With Scissors is pushing another Postal title out the door. They even acknowledge the scrutiny to some extent in the press release, saying, “POSTAL III is not intended for Politicians, your mom, your little sister, or the priest molesting her. It is a game about free will. Violence begets violence and the choice is yours.”

How well the title does remains to be seen, but one thing you can be sure of is that it will ignite controversy. If nothing else, Postal titles have done that well in every iteration. I wonder if Gary Coleman will appear in this one as well?

You can check out the full press release after the break.

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It truly seems that buying a console is eerily becoming similar to the experience of buying a car. In a future scenario we’ll be strolling into Circuit City, where we’ll be greeted by Dave, the electronics ambassador. Dave, of course, will have a relentless smile and reek of 4 cups of Starbucks. After compressing his entire life story within 60 seconds, oh-so-chipper Dave will then proceed to do somersaults whilst convincing you that owning the “UberBox 2160″ electronic gaming device will truly complete your life. If that doesn’t work, he will then proceed to convince you that owning the stylish “Pay-station WalletBeater Zero” will bind you infinitely closer with your loved ones. And so on and so forth, until one of you pulls off a finishing move out of Mortal Kombat game…

A brief list of keywords consumers are almost sure to see/hear when buying a future console: brand, model, year, revision, color, water-proofing option, kid-proofing option (a fortune to be made here), turbo package, family package, bling package (spinners!), neon-light kit, carbon-fiber optical tray, carbon-fiber case, carbon-fiber buttons, carbon-fiber-neon-light buttons, old console trade-in value credit, background credit check, insurance, insurance of insurance, insurance of insurance of repair insurance, a written guarantee from the president of the company that your broken console will not be stopped by shortage of boxes, and of course free complimentary air freshener.

Ok, so I got carried away there. On a more serious note, a new study from the NPD Group has shown that gamers are largely clueless when it comes to what their console really is capable of. This naivety in itself isn’t totally new as Gaming Today covered a similar topic in a previous yet unrelated report. This particular survey consisted of 6,260 responses from next-generation console owners (assumably 360 and PS3), ages six to 44. Anyway, on to statistics that matter:
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With all the recent news about spontaneous Xbox 360 meltdowns and the infamous “red rings of death,” one has to wonder just how durable Sony’s next-gen console can be. Well, the boys over at PS3 Vault took it upon themselves to find out through a series of stress tests. They took a PS3 system and subjected it to 108 hours of continuous use — using games, DVDs, and Blu-Rays — in three different environments: a living room at room temperature, the back of a freezer van, and the inside of a heated sauna. Their findings: the PS3 is one tough system. The console never once shut down and continued to perform the tasks throughout the experiment. Their only problems were a slight burning smell in the sauna and some condensation on the TV cord that caused it to shut off (but not the PS3).

I have to admit, I was a little surprised by this. You pick up a PS3, and it feels like a powerful, but fragile piece of hardware. Still, as has been proven many times before, even the strongest pieces of technology rarely survive a sledgehammer.

Via PS3 Vault

Who knew that id Software would help spawn video game related studies for professional training funded by millions of dollars?

Apparently it started when Claudia Johnson, a Texas A&M Corpus Christi university administrator, played Doom in an electronics store. She immediately had a thought: What if video games could be used to train doctors and other professionals?

Johnson secured ten million dollars in federal funding for a research project named “Pulse!” which focuses on supplemental educational tools for medical residents and for continuing education or specialty certification by experienced physicians. And the program has created quite the demand for professional, industry-level software in the area.

While there is no actual figures on what kind of revenue is being made from this unique level of software creation, it is evident that there is a large amount of it being produced, and attracting government on the local and statewide level in Texas.

It’s kind of refreshing to see video games crop up and be taken seriously, and to be used in a way which will benefit people directly, even helping to save lives.

via Statesman.com

A company called Virtual Space Devices, Inc. has been developing an omni-directional treadmill for the past 10 years in conjunction with the U.S. Army. It is essentially a flat surface that allows a person to walk or run in any direction without physically changing positions. The company plans to integrate it with a total immersion headset to construct a virtual world for a person to move about freely within. Just the video above looks impressive. The man demonstrating the device rarely has to break pace to let it catch up with him. If the technology continues like this, we could have the option of playing an MMO by physically walking around the landscape. That might dissolve the stereotype of the overweight, lazy gamer. Hopefully you won’t need the safety harness every time you use it though. Or the whistling.

Via Virtual Space Devices

Spellborn International’s The Chronicles of Spellborn MMO has a new Dev diary up. The latest entry is part two of the art journal covering the Athenaeum. Frank “noz” Bakker, one of the level designers / environments artists on TCOS, discusses his methods of taking concept art and making it into virtual reality. He describes his work on the Athenaeum, and on the entrance to the Consanguineous Vaults.

The diary includes screenshots of both settings in the works. Bakker promises screens of the final products after they’ve been imported in the unreal engine with all the small detailed objects and textures incorporated and lighting, fogging and other effects added.

via The Chronicles of Spellborn Web site