Category: Gadgets

More Actors Provide Voice Talent In Video Games

Sony’s new real-time strategy Lords of EverQuest further confirms the trend that television and film actors are increasingly appearing in video games, usually as voice talent. Lords of EverQuest features quite a roster of film and TV talent, including John Rhy-Davies, Dwight Shultz and Ron Perlman.

Other high profile actors have voiced or appeared in video games – including Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Michael Madsen and Kyle MacLachlan in the Grand Theft Auto series along.

The breakthrough was some years ago with Hamill in the Wing Comander series. He has since gone onto star in many more video games, including dark Cloud 2, Soldier of Fortune II, Grandia Xtreme, and Batman Vengeance. This is possibly more than any other actor, but perhaps you could prove us wrong.

This gradual blurring between more traditional media acting jobs and video games shows greater acceptance of games as a valid art form.

Cast list for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Bill Black on casting actors in video games

Sony’s Lords of EverQuest site

The Dark House – Interactive Radio Drama, BBC Radio 4

Tomorrow, Tuesday 23 September, 11pm – 11:45pm (BST), BBC Radio Four will be running an interactive drama piece called The Dark House.

Produced by theatre/radio director Izzy Mant and sound designer/composer Nick Ryan and written by Mike Walker, it thankfully does not follow the expected, first-generational thinking of interactive drama – the plot reached a junction point, and the story branches in one of a number of paths – but instead gives the listener a chance to influence, via text message or telephone call, which character the audience ‘inhabits’ – Lucy, Kelly or Jim.

The first five minutes set the scene, then every three minutes the SMS and phone votes are collated to determine which character’s point of view is heard next. An alarming sound will signal the switching of the audience from one character’s thoughts to another’s and to listening from the chosen character spacial perspective, as if through their ears.

It is recorded using a binaural recording technique, which the BBC explains as being :-

“Based on the principals of human hearing, binaural recordings are made by placing microphones near the actor’s ears. Those listening on stereo equipment will experience spatialised 3D sound, immersing the listener in the Dark House. The drama recording also involved some sections of improvisation to create a heightened realism in the dark”

Those who are familiar with Phonography will be aware of binaural recording and be aware just how impressive and immersive it can be.

If you aren’t able to hear it when it is broadcast, or you don’t like the audience chosen character perspectives, The Dark House will be available at the site as it was broadcast or for your own manipulation afterwards.

We feel this sounds like an interesting direction to experiment with interactive drama and plan to bring a review to you after the event.

Listen to the trailer

Watch to the trailer

Visit The Dark House site

ReplayTV creator launches new HiDef digital media device

pRoku Labs have for the last year been quietly developing products that connect to High-Definition TV’s and their first device, the Roku HD1000, launches today. They claim it is the first digital media player to be designed for high-definition televisions and with a price tag of $499, Roku is targeting the high-end consumer, those already spending $3,000 or more on an HDTV set.

The HD1000 can play photo slideshows, video or music files from its front mounted built-in memory card slots (CompactFlash, MMC, SD, Memory Stick or SmartMedia) or, using either its built-in 10/100 Ethernet or optional WiFi adaptor, can play media files streamed from a PC or Mac.

You will have noticed that this is a recall only device – it has no ability to record. Many would expect that this device would come with a hard drive onboard, but perhaps because of the extensive and eventually fatal attention that ReplyTV got from its ability to record programs and skip adverts, this has been left for a later product.

Roku is trying a novel approach to encourage owners of large High-Def screens to treat them as picture frames or as windows to alternative location. To this end they are selling $69 memory cards filled with classic paintings, nature and aquarium images.

By keeping their overheads to a minimum, the company would break even by selling 10,000 units, but hopes to become profitable by selling at least 20,000 units within a year. Clearly a small market currently. They hope to gain additional income by its software to other set-top box and television makers and given the HD100 is based on an open Linux-based platform, they hope to encourage third-party developers to build applications for it using the published API.

Roku is lead by Anthony Woods, the creator of ReplayTV. ReplayTV was the first consumer grade hard disk video recorder to come to market, launching in 1999, a few months prior to the more widely known TiVo. Roku labs is not to be confused with Roku Technologies who have been developing peer to peer technologies.

Link

Michael Powell, US FCC, still loves his TiVo

The New York Times has a very quick Q&A with Michael Powell, who heads up the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

We know he got a TiVo for christmas 2002, but what is really encouraging is that he is still talking about it with enthusiasm and an understanding of the siginificance of PVR’s.

“I think there’s something going on in the world that’s very profound. We’re moving to a world of incredible intimacy in mass media. I’m my own programmer, not NBC.”

Q&A Link

JOYTECH release first handheld Tablet-style DVD player

Claiming to be first of its kind, the PlayScreen from JOYTECH, includes a 7inch 16:9 WideScreen TFT monitor and a DVD player, all in a ‘Tablet Style’. There’s been lots of portable DVD players around before, but they all have a clamshell form with the screen in the upper lid.

It’s looks pretty versatile – it is able to play back CD Audio, DVD Movies, CR-R, JPEG Files, and MP3 Files. Audio playback though the integrated stereo speakers and utilise full Dolby Digital™ and DTS™ compatibility.
 
Portability comes via a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery and in-car adaptor or for static use the unit can be desk mounted, wall or car mounted.

It will be available exclusively for £299.99 through play.com from October until January 2004 after which it will be freely available.

Looks fun and we look forward to get our hand on one.

JOYTECH

Sony US announce details of PS2 hard drive

Following the long running rumours Sony has just confirmed that in March 2004 they will be releasing an 40Gb hard drive for their PlayStation 2 games console priced at $99. This gives them not just the ability to enhance game play, but to treat the PS2 as a media adaptor.

The hard drive will ship with a customised media player which includes the ability to play MP3’s, copy audio CD’s on to the PS2 and manage digital photos. As yet there is no detail about the handling or the playing of video files.

Since Microsoft announced the Xbox would have a hard disk, Sony has been concerned that the Xbox would be able to access digital media and display it on the connected TV. This, combined with the already available network adaptor, is the start of their response. In their words

“The Hard Disk Drive is a further step toward a new era of digital in-home entertainment, creating a total living room experience that includes games, movies and music.”

On the gaming side, users will be able to save their game progress as well as download new content – levels, missions and characters for their bought games. It will be sold pre-installed with Square Enix’s highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Final Fantasy XI and pre-released demonstration of other upcoming games. One of the first games to utilise the Hard Drive will be the soon-to-be-released SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs and Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain, which probably needs the hard drive just to store its extraordinarily long title.

If you’re really desperate to get your hands of a hard drive for the PS2, one has been available since May 2002 as part of the Linux development bundle. Even though the drive in this kit is also 40Gb, it’s not expected that it will with the games.

PS2 Linux developer kit

Microsoft OneNote to be installed on Toshiba tablet PC’s & laptops

A while back Microsoft started talking publicly about a new piece of software that they called OneNote. It is an interesting application that lets the user to take any of their text document, graphics, audio recordings, or in the case of tablet PC owner’s drawings/scribbles that they make during the day, and connect they together in a logical structure.

They are attempting to provide the user the flexibility of a paper notebook, the power of digital note taking and a powerful way of retrieving that information. It sound like it is an extension of the priciples of a brilliant piece of software that died with DOS, called Lotus Agenda. Agenda’s developer, Mitch Kapor is also working on an updated version of his masterpiece code named “Chandler”.

OneNote is going to be officially released at the same time as the new Microsoft Office suite, due on 21 October, 2003 and Microsoft have added meat to this deal by doing a deal with Toshiba to have it installed on every tablet PC or laptop that is shipped after the released date.

Link: Early review of OneNote beta

Microsoft Official OneNote site

Chandler

Palm Introduce New Accessories

Our iPaqs were getting a bit old and scratched anyway, and we’ve had them for ages – and these new accessories make a Palm even more interesting.

The first accessory that caught our interest was the foldable infrared keyboard.  People have been getting excited about Palm foldable keyboards for a couple of years, but being able to use the device without connecting the keyboard to it definitely has advantages.  We wonder if a Bluetooth one will be next, though.

Somewhat cheesy, but we’re sure someone will love it, is the multifunction stylus: it’s a stylus and a pen. And a laser pointer.  And a torch.  The first three functions we can kind of see the point off, but the torch has us baffled.  Definitely an “Executive Gift”.

Palm have also announced a 1.3 mega pixel camera card that will take 1280×1024 24-bit colour photographs and store them on a Palm in JPEG format. The camera is fully functional and isn’t just a pin hole lens with a CCD: it has a digital zoom and adjustable lens for close ups.

Palm Store

New Wireless LAN Chips Promise Low Power Consumption

Even with the Centrino specification, laptop and notebook battery life is still limited to a couple of hours – less if you’re using a wireless network connection. Broadcom have introduced a range of 54g chips that consume 75% less power than standard WiFi solutions.

The energy saving equates to this: a typical Pentium M notebook can run for about 20 minutes longer than the same one with a Centrino set up.

Broadcom

54g

Game Boy Advance Video Phone

You’ll probably need an SP to see what’s going on but a Japanese-only, $110 add-in for the GameBoy Advance has been announced by mobile and internet hardware manufacturer Digital Act.

The Campho Advance will go on sale in December and will allow you, and a friend who also has a GBA and Campho, to chat face to face down an analogue phone line – sadly the device isn’t wireless yet.

USA today on the Campho Advance