FWD: Project natal

STARCRAFT II

WE HAVE THE IPAD

Reinventing playtime through the magic of motion gaming

Vol 1, Issue 1

We step in to the next dimension with our in-depth look at 3-D technology

Riding the Wings of Liberty, we played Starcraft II.

Is Apple’s latest device a revolution or just absurd?

the future of 3-D tech the future of 3-D tech the future of 3-D tech

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“Make no mistake: Google wants to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”

“We think competition is healthy,

but competitors should create

their own original technology,

not steal ours.”

steve jobs, apple inc

Shout box Quotes from the industry big wigs

steve jobs, apple inc

shout box

shigeru miyamoto, nintendo

Shout box

“I don’t think it’s Nintendo’s position to

tell people what types of games they

should be making or how they should

“But maybe it’s kind of similar to what we say in Japan, which is if a TV stops working, whack it.”

shigeru miyamoto, Nintendo

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be approaching their game design.”

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By FWD STAFF

BOLDLY GOING...Check out the latest HOT and NOT portables.

psp goThe PSP GO allows users to explore all the content on the Playstation Network with its built in Wi-Fi. The portable has a fantastic lineup of quality games already established. The list of pros is nice and long.

HOT

Price: $259

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The Nintendo DSI XL is an “improved” version of a system you probably already have by now. The XL marks the third redesign of the system. The bottom line is that Nintendo just announced a new portable called the Nintendo 3DS which will have 3D technology without the need for glasses. Pass on the XL.

The Droid is the iPhone’s worst enemy. It has an app store that is growing better every day. It’s got great search technology integrated into the Android OS. It’s got multitasking, something that the iPhone is missing. Not to seem too much like an ad for Verizon, but Droid really does seem to DO anything.

The iPod Shuffle is one of Apple’s tiniest music players but unfortunately not their most practical. We can only recommend the Shuffle to the most casual music listener. For everyone else, more expensive and more useful iPod’s are the way to go. The iPod Nano is not that much more expensive as the next model up.

NOT

HOT

NOT

Price: $189

Price: $199

Price: $59-99

FWD: Editor in Chief: Photographer:

Story Editor:Publisher: Model #1:Model #2:Model #3:

Advisor: Design Intern:Design Intern:

Graphics Intern: Food Supplier:

Features Editor:Tech Editor: Best shirts:

Mark Townsend Peter GauntMark Townsend T-send PublishingJesus Becky RotherSam Zobel Pam FarmenStephanie Stamm Becca DixonAdam Wright Pam Farmen Mark TownsendMark TownsendDavid Downham

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second coming

Starcraft II. This year. We swear. We looked at the most exciting features of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

All art courtesy of Blizzard entertainment inc.

Now that Blizzard has split the sequel to Starcraft into three chapters, the studio is starting to take the wraps off the sequel’s story, which Blizzard’s Andy Chambers says is big enough to fill three entire chapters. In fact, the creative director says that the sequel’s story is so big that the three different games will let the studio properly tell the story of each of the three factions (Ter-rans, Protoss, and Zerg), rather than having to cut corners here and there to make everything fit

in a single box. In any case, the single-player game of Wings of Liberty, the first of Starcraft II’s three chapters, is finally coming together, and we had a chance to try out the first few missions of an early version.

Starcraft II’s story picks up some years after the events of the Brood War expansion pack for the original Starcraft, after the vicious, three-sided con-flict between Starcraft’s three iconic factions: the macho Terran space marines, the noble-yet-

starcraft II: Wings of libertySCII is the sequel to what many

view as the greatest real time strategy game of all time. The

original is also the national sport of South Korea.

All screens courtesy ofBlizzard entertainment

Inside look

inside look

-unbeatable Protoss aliens, and the swarming, homicidal Zerg aliens. At the end of that story, the rebellious human officer Jim Raynor is set at odds against both his former ally, the treach-erous human leader Arcturus Mengsk, and his former ladylove, the stealth-specialist-turned-Zerg-hive-queen Kerrigan.

The story of Starcraft II begins with Raynor dealing with these new and old threats. Though he’s now considered a dan-gerous outlaw in the eyes of

Emperor Mengsk, he remains a freedom fighter who leads his ragtag band of misfits into battle against Mengsk’s oppres-sive regime--until a newscast on Jimmy’s TV monitor reveals that the Zerg, which have remained dormant for years, have suddenly reappeared and have launched a broadening, full-scale assault on various sectors in the universe, and to make matters worse, Ker-rigan herself has also resurfaced and been captured on film.

In fact, Kerrigan and Raynor

even share a “moment” in the early part of the campaign, and though he still can’t quite under-stand why Kerrigan has finally come out of hiding, and why the Zerg now seem so obsessed with collecting Protoss artifacts, he re-news his vow to put her out of her misery and stop her mission of intergalactic conquest.

By gamespot STAFF

Inside look

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Revolution?

Absurd?or

3 reasons to buy the ipad

1. 2. 3.

Watching stuff is awesome on the iPad. Apple’s device is not only made for media consumption but is quite possibly the sleekest, sexiest device you can use to do so. The touch interface is also extremely useful for quickly viewing photos, videos and other media. The iPad knows what it’s for, and excels at it.

Die hard fan or not, no one can deny that Apple knows how to make a product look and feel superior. There is an irresistible simplicity that draws you to the iPad. Apple claims that there is no learning curve for the device, and while this isn’t true, it’s interface is well integrated. Apple has created a tech masterpiece.

Quality through quantity. Not every app is fantastic, but by sheer volume you’ll be able to find useful apps that fit your lifestyle.

Best Free Apps:

Netflix BBC Tweetdeck AIM Marvel Reader Kindle for Ipad Weather Channel Max

Consumption Design apps

Future Tech

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3 reasons to not buy

1. 2. 3.

There is no excuse for the iPad’s lack of multitasking. By merely looking at the device, one would assume it has multitasking because it makes sense and is standard on all computers. The iPad is the type of device that lends itself to multitasking but limits you to one app at a time for now. This will likely be ‘fixed’ in a later generation iPad.

Many web sites are getting away from flash video just for the iPad. Plenty of people think flash video is buggy, and hogs battery life. These things may be true, but the iPad is a self proclaimed media consumption device, and the lack of flash support means there will be a butt load of media you won’t be able to consume.

No skype. An advantage of the iPad over a standard Macbook or laptop is the greater portability. To have access to a camera on the go isn’t something new by now, with most phones equipped with a decent lens. The iPhone has a camera, why does the more expensive iPad lack this feature? It’s a mystery.

NOTE: No Chat Roulette

no multitasking no flash video no camera

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photos: peter gaunt

dimension

the next next next

he lights dim in the screening room. Suddenly, the doomed Titanic fills the screen--but not the way I remember in the movie. The luxury liner is nearly vertical, starting its slide into the black Atlantic, and

Leonardo DiCaprio is hanging on for life, just like always. But this time, I am too. The camera pans to the icy water far below, pulling me into the scene--the sensation reminds me of jerking awake from a dream--and I grip the sides of my seat to keep from falling into the drink.

Most of us have seen the top-grossing film of all time. But not like this. The new version, still in production, was remade in digital 3-D, a technology that’s finally bringing a true third dimension to movies. Without giving you a headache. (See the 100 best movies of all time.)

Had digital 3-D been available a dozen or so years ago when he shot Titanic, he’d have used it, director James Cameron tells me later. “But I didn’t have it at the time,” he says ruefully. “Certainly every film I’m planning to do will be in 3-D.”

Digital 3-D, which has slowly been gaining steam over the past

Avatar: Alice in Wonderland:Up: Monster Vs. Aliens:

TAs companies bank on 3-D technology, will consumers buy it?

photos: peter gaunt

Getting a fully 3-D ready home theater is going to be an expensive investment. First, you’ll need a 3-D capable TV. You’ll then need to upgrade to a 3-D ready Blu-Ray player. On top of that you’ll need a pair of 3-D glasses for everyone who will be watching. By the time all is said and done, a modest estimate would have you spending $5,000.

3-D Televisions

$743,714,000$319,300,000 $293,004,164$198,351,526

by josh quittner, Time magazine

Top Grossing 3-D Films

few years, is finally ready for its closeup. Just about every top director and major studio is doing it--a dozen movies are slated to arrive this year, with dozens more in the works for 2010 and beyond. These are not just animations but live-action films, comedies, dramas and documentaries. Cameron is currently shooting a live-action drama, Avatar, for Fox in 3-D. Disney and its Pixar studio are releasing five 3-D movies this year alone, including a 3-D-ified version of Toy Story. George

Lucas hopes to rerelease his Star Wars movies in 3-D. And Steven Spielberg is currently shooting Tintin in it, with Peter Jackson doing the 3-D sequel next year. Live sports and rock concerts in 3-D have been showing up at digital theaters around the U.S. nearly every week.

With the release on March 27 of Monsters vs. Aliens, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks Animation SKG, is betting the future of his studio on digital 3-D. While he’s not the first to embrace the

“ Someday, people will buy their own movie glasses, which they’ll take to the movies--like people have their own tennis rackets.”

photos: peter gaunt

jeffrey katzenberg

In normal vision, each eye is viewing things at a slightly different angle, creating depth perception. Through 3-D glasses the images may require more mental effort to process, and for some this may cause a headache.

Potential Problems

technology, he has become its most vocal evangelist, asserting that digital 3-D is now good enough to make it--after sound and color--the third sea change to affect movies. “This really is a revolution,” he says.

Over the past few years, Katzenberg has repositioned DreamWorks as a 3-D-animation company. From Monsters on, all its movies will be made, natively, in 3-D. (Many animation

studios create the 3-D effect in postproduction.) That’s a pretty big commitment since 3-D involves even more computer power than usual. The DreamWorks crew invokes “Shrek’s law,” which holds that every sequel takes about twice as long to render--create a final image from models--as the movie that preceded it. Authoring the movie in 3-D effectively doubles the time

called for by Shrek’s law.That requires an extreme

amount of horsepower--the computational power of DreamWorks’ render farm puts it roughly among the 15 fastest supercomputers on the planet. The studio partnered with Hewlett-Packard and Intel and built an enormous test bed on more than 17,500 sq. ft. in California. The Silicon Valley companies are hot on 3-D

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because they believe it’s how people will navigate the Web and the desktops of their PCs and that it will be standard on computers and HDTVs.

At DreamWorks, I watched a Monsters filmmaker peer through an elaborate camera rig that allowed him to “previsualize” a scene before shooting it. As

he panned across the room we were standing in, he flew over a computer-generated 3-D image of the White House war room--the set for a scene in which the President (voiced by Stephen Colbert) meets with his staff to discuss an alien invasion. The camera let the director precisely manage the z-axis and

Recent 3-D movies:

avatarHow to train your dragonalice in wonderlandClash of the titans Hubble 3d

upcoming 3-d movies:

Tron legacy Togi Bear Harry potter / deathly hallows Shrek forever after toy story 3

As the 3-D TVs emerge on to the home market, theaters around the world are pushing 3-D movies like never before.

courtesy photos

decide which elements in the background, midground and foreground needed to be lit and focused.

Katzenberg says going 3-D adds about 15% to his costs--which is nothing compared with the profits studios anticipate as the digital transformation takes hold. Digital 3-D movies usually gross at least three times as much as their flat-world counterparts--thanks in part to the higher ticket prices and longer runs they garner. Another benefit: 3-D films are far more difficult for digital-camera-toting moviegoers to pirate. (See pictures of movie costumes.)

Beyond the venal, however, filmmakers say that 3-D, like sound and color, really breaks down the barrier between audience and movie. “At some

level, I believe that almost any movie benefits from 3-D,” Lord of the Rings director Jackson says. “As a filmmaker, I want you to suspend disbelief and get lost in the film--participate in the

film rather than just observe it. On that level, 3-D can only help.”

3-D Movies, Take 8If the return of the 3-D movie

sounds like a rerun, that’s because it is. By some counts, this is 3-D’s eighth incarnation, and to date, it hasn’t exactly revolutionized the industry. The first stereoscopic movies appeared in the U.S. before

the last Great Depression, disappeared, then enjoyed a schmaltzy revival in the 1950s with such blockbusters as House of Wax (1953). They’ve cropped up intermittently ever since,

typically attached to high-camp vehicles like Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (1973).

“To me, 3-D has always been the circus coming to town,” says Daniel Symmes, a 3-D historian and film-industry veteran. Symmes worked on the soft-core 3-D hit The Stewardesses, which was produced in 1969 for around $100,000.

“ As a filmmaker, i want you to suspend disbelief and get lost in the film--participate in the film rather than just observe it.”peter jackson

REiNVENTiNG

photos: peter gaunt

REiNVENTiNGPLAYTiME

he Xbox 360 and the PS3 are getting motion control systems later this year, as most of you already know. Sony unveiled a lot of info about the Move a few weeks

ago, but we have yet to get the specs on Project Natal. The PlayStation Move is a little disappointing from what we’ve seen, but we’re crossing our fingers that Project Natal fares better.

The details we have so far are not final, since Natal is still being produced and finalized, but from what we know, we do have some reasons to hope. Here are a few things that should get you excited, or at least hopeful, about Microsoft’s motion controller.

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Is it time for the game pad to be put to rest? Or will motion get tired?

Fighting game? Fight.

..... .

You want to play ‘MOVE’

How you do it:

Use the ‘Move’ controller (and sub controller for certain games)

example: Make gestures and movements with the controllers to perform in-game actions

You want to play ‘NATAL’

How you do it:

Use the natural movements to perform the in-game actions

example: Fighting with a sword in-game? Pretend to swing a sword to play

MOVE NATAL

CHANGING

GAME?

of the

IntegrationThe “core” gaming crowd has been very vocal about their opposition to motion controls. Whether it’s the “Give Me Dualshock, or Give Me Death” cries of angry PS3 owners, the Mii-Too comments directed at the new tech, or just the everyday worries about new control setups, the market is full of skeptics. And there is good reason, since many of the games on Wii do not use the new tech in inventive, fun, or even functioning

ways. Gamers want to keep use their joysticks, they want their shoulder buttons to fire, and they want to be able to sit back and relax on the couch while they play.

Which is why news of Natal as an “integration” feature, as opposed to a “replacement” feature, is so welcome. Microsoft has compared Natal to Xbox Live on countless occasions, saying that both are huge leaps forward in what extra features Xbox owners can use. Xbox Live didn’t destroy or take away from

anything our games had, the use of the online service just meant more opportunities, more modes, and more gaming. In a similar manner, Microsoft has promised that Project Natal will not be taking anything away from our current games, it will just be adding to it. The ability to use the motions or recognition to turn on the system, navigate menus, or interact with certain features in-game are supposedly going to enhance our experience, not totally change or disrupt it.

For better or worse, natal is changing the way we play games. is this the end of the controller as we know it?

GIVE ME

or give meDUALSHOCK

DEATHThe Price

This is one of the sore points for the Wii, and looks like it might end up as a sore point with the Playstation Move as well. To get 4 gamers playing the newest Wii games, a consumer has to spend about $340: $80 for each set of controller, nunchuck and motion-plus, and a 4th motion-plus for the controllers that came with the system. To get 2 or 4 players the full setup on PS3 looks like it’ll cost about $250: about $80 for the starter bundle (Eye, game and 1st Move controller), plus around $120 for the other 3 Move controllers and around

$50 for the other 2 sub controllers.

How much will Project Natal cost? Under $100. That’s what Microsoft has gone on record saying, and it’s very good news for our wallets. Microsoft has said repeatedly that we will only need a single piece of hardware for Project Natal, and that the piece of hardware will be under $100, likely closer to $60-80 according to analysts.

And that price should get you the ability to game with four people, as Microsoft’s most recent comments still say they plan to support 4 people on a single Natal.

New usersWe could argue until the end of time about the Wii’s quality of games, or about its decisions on HD and online play, but there is one thing we really can’t argue. The Wii has brought a flood of new players to the game industry. Whether they are adults getting back into it for the social aspect, the older crowd getting into it for exercise games, or all of the “casual gamers” or girls attracted by the gentler learning curves, there is a significantly larger number of gamers in the world now.

Not everyone is on board with motion controls the game pad is far from unpopular.

By scott keiffer, resume play

baseball game? play.

NATAL

......

You want to play ‘MOVE’ with three friends.

Estimated cost:

$250.

• $80 for the starter bundle (Eye, game and 1st Move controller)

• $120 for 3 more Move controllers

• $50 for two other sub controllers

You want to play ‘NATAL’ with three friends.

Estimated cost:

$120-140.

• $60-80 for Natal• $60 for new game

MOVE

AColossal challenge

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he game industry is driven by sequels. Consumers buy what they’re already familiar with, hesitant to make risks. This months ‘wish list’ focuses on the games that deserve sequels, but topping the original is no easy feat. T

wish list

wish list

Shadow of the Colossus is a journey like nothing you can experience in any other game. You explore a beautiful desolate land, lost to the rest of the world. It’s a tale of unadulterated blind love and the lengths we will go to in order to preserve it.

The game is built around boss battles. There is not a single meaningless cannon-fodder enemy in the game. The nameless ‘hero’ sets out into a vast ethereal landscape to destroy the glorious colossi.

It’s the type of game that we want to be able to experience for the first time again. It’s a game that deserves a sequel but may be better preserved without one. We still want one anyway.

released: 2005 Average Rating: 91.56%

Shadow of the colossus

Source: gamerankings

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Jade is a timeless female protagonist taking on a corrupt government as the most bad ass journalist ever. Cappin’ photos and kickin’ ass is her game, and we want a sequel so bad it hurts. Ubisoft has teased a sequel but we haven’t heard anything more than rumors for months.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey deserves a proper sequel because it’s a chapter in a grand saga that exemplifies how storytelling in games is not only viable, but a perfect fit when done right. The protagonist, Zoë Castillo is also one of the best main characters in recent years.

released: 2006 Average Rating: 77.43%

released: 2003 Average Rating: 88.10%

Dreamfall: The longest journey

Beyond good & evil

back pg rantSHOTS IN THE DARK

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The problem with the PC model in terms of gaming is simple: it’s too expensive. Making a decent gaming computer these days is relatively cheap. But keeping it upgraded becomes a regular investment that most people simply can’t afford.

You say it’s dead, but the numbers don’t back up your claim. In fact, it’s the numbers you can’t find that would tell a very different story. Think about all of the STEAM sales numbers that don’t get released at all. That’s got to be a huge chunk, and people DO play games on STEAM...a lot!!!

Usually I enjoy your ranting and raving, no matter how off base you usually end up being. But this rant just pissed me off. In fact, I’d go as far to say that you should just quit now. Is this comment adding anything or responding to your rant in anyway? No. But at least I’m not an idiot like you...

in response to: the pc model is six feet under ground READER RESPONSE From: BSUassSlapper420 From: LAKERSPHAN910223 From: i_heart_coldplay

READER RESPONSE

I want to talk about a very im-portant prediction. One that will affect my life on a very real level.

3-D technology in the living room will be a fad.

It’s premature for this technolo-gy to make it into home theaters. The Jones’ will be the first to get a 3-D TV, and they’ll happily wear their goofy looking 3-D glasses as they watch Avatar and Clash of

the Titans. But unlike the advent of high

definition, which benefitted en-tertainment in a measurable way, 3-D is a preference. It doesn’t make movies better, it just makes movies...3-D. Once people realize this, 3-D will be more of a fad than expected.

3-D also makes me angry be-cause there is no middle ground.

Some films jump off the screen with cheesy effects that actually remind you that you’re watching a movie. Other films, like Avatar, use 3-D to compliment but not distract from the story. Avatar’s method is preferable, but again, it doesn’t really add anything. It’s just there.

Prediction: FAD

By mark townsend

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