Joystiq

Bill Gates on the future of computer interaction

Ross Miller — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Peripherals, Business

In a very rare joint interview with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on stage at last week's D 2007, Microsoft founder Bill Gates told hosts Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher, both of the Wallstreet Journal, of his vision for the future of interaction with technology, and therefore gaming, and inadvertently used the Nintendo Wii as a stepping stone.

"Imagine a game machine where you can just pick up a bat and swing it or the tennis racket," said Gates, to which Mossberg noted that one exists, referencing Wii Sports.

"No, no, that's not it," said Gates, "you can't pick up your tennis racket and swing it, ['Oh, I see what you mean,' said Mossberg] you can't sit there with your friends and do those natural things. That's a 3D positional device, this is video recognition, this is a camera seeing what's going on ... the camera will be ubiquitous."

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Bill Gates on the future of computer interaction originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: mainstream edition

Ross Miller — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Online, Polls

Instead of trying to fill this part with meaningless dribble (at which we rock), we've decided to take a look at the comic world through two articles from this week's stream of mainstream media.

Our first article is a blurb from the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal, which recently highlighted what it would entail to choose comic-book artist as a career. Two suggestions: (1) be sure to attend conventions and network with publishers, show off your work and (2) make sure your work doesn't suck.

The other piece comes from Time magazine that discusses the proliferation of webcomics. It even includes complimentary blurbs about Penny Arcade and PvP Online, credited with being one of the first webcomics. Congratulations guys!

Now here are some of our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics, be sure to vote for your favorite!*


	Rejected Wii channels
	Check. It. Out.
	Convincing rebuttal
	Spectrobes, original IP
	Like watching paint dry
	Our old tricks
	How awesome? So awesome.
	Games have weird premises
	Living achievements vicariously

* and gripe about the choices in the comments below. We know you will, we know you want to, we just hope you also suggest some of the gems we missed.

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: mainstream edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wall Street Journal's Mossberg picks Wii over PS3 [update 1]

Kyle Orland — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:15:00 EST

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Business

Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg (pictured) is possibly the most influential technology writer in the country. So when Mossberg compares the Wii and the PS3 by saying Nintendo's system is "the more exciting, fun and satisfying of the two new game machines," it shouldn't be taken lightly.

Mossberg and a group of four 20-something volunteer testers were duly impressed with the PS3's graphics and multimedia functions, but no so much so that they thought it was worth the extra price over the Xbox 360. The testers were much more excited about the Wii's motion-sensitive controls and the way they made games easier to get into. One of the female testers, a college athlete and non-gamer, said the Wii was the first time she ever felt successful playing a video game.

Mossberg's reputation doesn't mean he's infallible -- the column erroneously suggests gamers will need to spend $100 on HDMI cables for the PS3 and that a classic controller is required for all Wii classic downloads. Outside of the factual errors, though, the opinions expressed by Mossberg and his testers might be more than a little worrying to Sony and its supporters.

[Update: Changed Read link below to a version that requires no registration. Thanks Clay.]

Wall Street Journal's Mossberg picks Wii over PS3 [update 1] originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ concerned about Wii owner health

Alexander Sliwinski — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Business

The Capitalist's Bible, also known as the Wall Street Journal, gives a backhanded compliment to the Wii today saying it gets people off the couch, but "is turning out to be more exercise than some players bargained for." The article explores how people are beginning to develop -- wait for it -- "Wii elbow." One after another the WSJ serves up another poor soul who has been exerted by the Wii-ness. For example, Ryan Mercer lifts weights during the week but Wii Sports' boxing is pwning him, "I was soaking wet with sweat, head to toe -- I had to go take a shower." The following morning he was so sore he had trouble getting his shirt on.

Nintendo's name-dropping spokesperson Perrin Kaplan is quoted in the piece saying she hasn't received any complaints about soreness. Serving back WSJ's backhanded compliment she says, "It was not meant to be a Jenny Craig supplement ... if people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more."

So the answer is to train up before you Wii and you won't get sore, but please remember you can always play the Wii like a toolbox.

WSJ concerned about Wii owner health originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viva Pi�ata featured in WSJ (wha?)

Richard Mitchell — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:45:00 EST

Filed under: News

Nintendo may have created the first generation of (pocket) monster controlled mindslaves, but Microsoft is hoping to snare the next generation with piñatas. And it looks like they just might hit the big time. That's right, Viva Piñata has been featured in the money-grubbingest of all publications, the Wall Street Journal. A subscription is required to read the article, and we certainly don't make WSJ caliber money around here. Lucky for us, the fine folks of Gamerscoreblog have picked out a tasty snippet,

"And in the New York showroom of Playmates Toys Inc. on Wednesday, 70 or so tradable Viva Piñata figurines and a hand-held electronic game -- made by Playmates -- will be unveiled. The toys offer more avenues for marketing partnerships that would connect Viva Piñata with kids when they step away from their TVs and are designed to link the components of a piñata universe that has been carefully concocted to boost the videogame."

It just drips with the trappings of a master plan, doesn't it? Any of you planning on picking up Viva Piñata for the kids? For yourselves?

Viva Pi�ata featured in WSJ (wha?) originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Suck at gaming? Get a tutor (seriously) [update 2]

Christopher Grant — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:55:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

The Wall Street Journal reports on some gamers who're using their 1337 skillz to actually pay the billz. And they're not trotting out the same old story about professional gamers (we get it, they play games!), they're talking about gaming tutors.

The logic behind these enterprises is brilliant though. Aging gamers have no time to hone their skills through trial and error while high school dropouts, like Gaming-lessons.com's Tom Taylor, have nothing but time, so the arrangement works like this: you pay Taylor $45 clams an hour, he turns your pasty, corpulent game playing attempts into 100% chiseled, Master Chief-approved fragging skillz.

We know what you're thinking. If 8 year old Lil Poison is scraping in $25 an hour teaching grown men to play Halo 2, then you've made some serious miscalculations in your life plan. ~~We're wondering why, if these guys are so good, they aren't playing professionally. Does the old adage, "Those who can't do, teach," apply to the curriculum of video games as well?~~ We were wondering why they didn't play professionally until we learned (thanks, guys!) that Tom Taylor is in fact T Squared (Tom Taylor, duh!), the very same professional gamer who just signed a fat $250,000 contract. See, high school dropout isn't always a pejorative.

[Thanks, Leshrac]

[Update: corrected professional gaming errors and decidedly un-1337 spelling of 1337.]

Suck at gaming? Get a tutor (seriously) [update 2] originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stringer: The Xbox 360 is an "obsession"

Dan Choi — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:36:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews

Well, you know what they say about what to do when you have nothing nice to say ... erm, say that the competing gaming platform (in this case, the 360) is an "obsession"?

That's exactly what Sony CEO Howard Stringer had to offer in an interview with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal recently. While sharing how The Da Vinci Code from Sony beat up on "X-Men 3" (aka The Last Stand) over in Europe, he seemed to mistakenly throw in "Xbox 3" in the stead of Fox's great summer blockbuster hope. Following Mossberg's correction, Stringer is reported to have retorted, laughing, "There's an obsession!"

We don't know if he's referring to the media's obsession with the corporate gaming rivalry, his own obsession with the console that would dethrone the PlayStation, or some combination of the two (irony really doesn't help here), but he does seem to at least outwardly admire Bill Gates' salesmanship (as well as his hypocrisy in delaying Windows Vista while lambasting the PS3 delay). Of course, a lot of supposed compliments could go both ways, so we've provided a few handy links below to check out what other "nice" things hardware execs have had to say about their competitors lately. We're sure it's all in good fun.

[Thanks, JC & SickNic; also via GameDaily BIZ]

See also:

Nice words -- "Thanks," "flattered," and "flattering."
Not-so-nice words -- "Plagiarism," "no need for PC," "not mainstream for most games," and "same old experiences with new graphics."

Stringer: The Xbox 360 is an "obsession" originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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South Park Republican defends video games in WSJ op-ed

Christopher Grant — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

"South Park Republicans" is a term coined to reflect the often libertarian viewpoint represented on the television show of the same name. The term's become so popular there's even a book named after it. Based on those beliefs, it should come as no surprise that the author of that book, Brian C. Anderson, wrote an impassioned defense of video games that ran in the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page today.

Anderson repeats many of the arguments we've come to rely on while exposing much of the hypocrisy and double standards employed by would-be critics of gaming. He ends with as level headed a suggestion as we've read in the mainstream media: "Video games are popular culture at its best. Critics would do better to drop the hysterical laments and pick up a joystick." Considering most critics haven't rolled a level 60 character in World of Warcraft, we're inclined to agree.

This isn't the first major conservative outlet to come to the defense of video games. In April, the influential National Review Online ran a (very) similar piece defending video games and our right to play them. With such notable conservative outlets carrying a common message, while popular liberal politicians like Hillary Clinton continue to vilify gaming, has the debate over gaming become a mirror of today's polarized political landscape?

[Thanks, DMark]

South Park Republican defends video games in WSJ op-ed originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wright rocks out with the mainstream media

Conrad Quilty-Harper — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:25:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Simulations, Interviews, Business

Will Wright has had a very busy month thanks to his upcoming game, Spore. Everyone that saw the gameplay video from GDC '05 knew that the real highlight of this May's E3 would be Wright's presentation. Although his presentation at E3 didn't reveal too much that we didn't already know about Spore, the slightly more mainstream appeal of E3 has resulted in some well deserved coverage from the mainstream media. The positive endorsement by Robin "Sniper" Williams can't have hurt either.

The two most notable examples of MSM picking up this story are featured in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and the BBC. The Beeb covered Spore and Wright from an angle of user generated content, comparing it to current and past titles that have popularized the concept (e.g. Second Life, The Sims and the popularity of mods like Counter-Strike). The quirky video interview with Wright that runs alongside the article also gives a good idea of how much Wright values user generated content (i.e. a lot).

The WSJ picked up the story from a more general "profile of Wright" viewpoint, although it was displayed very prominently. If you picked up last Saturday's edition of the paper it's possibly the first article you would have seen, it being on the front page and all. One of the world's most recognizable and respected business publications profiling a game developer on the front page: they've finally wised up!

Read - BBC video interview with Wright
Read - Wall Street Journal Spore article

Wright rocks out with the mainstream media originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 31 May 2006 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Xbox 360 is home of hacker hoedown

Christopher Grant — Wed, 31 May 2006 13:45:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Hacks, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360

The illustrious Wall Street Journal sullied its white gloves while getting down and dirty with the Xbox 360 hacking scene yesterday. They profiled superstar hacker Bunnie Huang (he wrote Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering) and his desire to duplicate his earlier success on the 360.

When Microsoft bragged about how hack-proof their console was, we wrote, "Going out of your way to boast about how hack-proof your next product is going to be is probably the only surefire way to get an army of hackers on your ass." Turns out we were right. Huang says of his motivation, "It's about overcoming the challenge Microsoft has set out there ... They've bragged about the security for the Xbox 360, so now it's like: Well, let's see."

While Huang hasn't had many successes himself, another 360 hacker (who goes by the hacker alias ~~"Acid Burn"~~ "The Specialist") has had a couple, exploiting the console's DVD-drive's firmware. Huang rightfully doesn't consider it a full decoding of the system, but acknowledges he might not be the one to do it either. "Things are different from a few years ago ... The stakes are higher for Microsoft and the hacking community has intensified its efforts."

WSJ: Xbox 360 is home of hacker hoedown originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 31 May 2006 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Walt Mossberg gets his brain (DS) trained

Dan Choi — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:32:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox 360, Puzzle, Exergaming

They've sold Brain Age in Japan by the millions, used it to demonstrate disruptive market strategies (in multiple keynotes), and now the folks at Nintendo have dropped their brain-sharpening baby into the hands of Walter S. Mossberg.

Mossberg, the powerful Wall Street Journal tech writer, has wielded quite a bit of influence in the gadget world, even giving praise (with strong reservations) to the PSP and Xbox 360 when each of those platforms launched. But what does he have to say about Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (for the DS)?

Walt actually likes the game... with a caveat, of course: his ability to knock down his purported brain age down to 20 (the youngest possible) in the course of a day "didn't inspire confidence in the program's scientific accuracy." But at least it was fun. And even if that creepy Kawashima head isn't fully localized yet ("the setting sun sure does put spots in my eyes"), at least the older mainstream--okay, Engadget--crowd will get some exposure to this supposedly beneficial game through this coverage.

[Thanks, Michael; image from the Radio And Internet Newsletter (RAIN)]

See also:

GDC: The Nintendo keynote blow by blow [free Brain Age for all!]
Japanese doctors recommend Brain Training for seniors
Walt Mossberg on the 360
PSP: Wall Street Journal gives us its impressions

Walt Mossberg gets his brain (DS) trained originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shocking DualShock case still not going Sony's way

Dan Choi — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 20:27:00 EST

Filed under: News

Sony's attempt to overturn the 2004 ruling on Immersion's haptic technology patents and receive a new trial was denied in court recently.

The Wall Street Journal tells quite a tale concerning another force-feedback inventor, originally a paid consultant of Immersion, who allegedly received advance royalties from Sony in exchange for testimony against his former client. There's enough drama in this case to fill a television soap opera--or, better yet, a police or crime-scene procedural.

For the full contents of the article, you'll need to log in as a subscriber to the Journal through the picture above or the Read link below. We don't know to what extent this courtroom drama will affect the "boomerang" PS3 prototype controller design, future DualShock 2 availability and compatibility, or any possible delays to the new system itself, but Sony's separate appeal in federal court has yet to be ruled on, leaving the company one more crucial legal avenue to pursue in this matter.

[Via Joystiq]

Shocking DualShock case still not going Sony's way originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 13 Mar 2006 20:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively multiplayer games branch out

Jennie Lees — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: PC, Driving, Online, RPGs

There may be some exciting-looking original games coming to a platform near you this year, but what about that clichéd of genres, the massively multiplayer game? When you think of MMOs, three things spring to mind: elves, dwarves and monthly subscriptions, and the success of World of Warcraft hasn't helped defeat any of these stereotypes.

Today's Wall Street Journal features a piece looking at MMOs that are venturing into non-traditional waters, focusing on two examples in particular. Firstly, NCsoft's upcoming title Auto Assault manages to shatter almost every MMO cliché--it's set in a post-apocalyptic world and most combat takes place in heavily armoured vehicles with big guns attached. No cloth-wearing spellcasters in sight.

Secondly, Sony Online Entertainment will be testing out new revenue models later this year with a free-to-play title that uses micropayments to attract customers' cash. Not much information has been released by SOE on this strategy, but games like Anarchy Online have seen increased users since becoming free to play.

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Massively multiplayer games branch out originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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