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Kinect's creative director Kudo Tsunoda recently spoke out about the Xbox 360 motion control add-on's launch lineup, saying that although there are no Mature-rated titles, he felt that "skill-based gameplay" was the key to attracting the core gamer. In an interview with consumer weblog VG247 at the recent Gamescom event, Tsunoda also stressed the presence of a Sonic The Hedgehog game in the launch lineup as evidence that Kinect titles would appeal to the core ...

snipehunter: @snipeyhead Sorry about that. I'll stop.

Korean online game developers MAIET Entertainment and WeMade Entertainment have both licensed Autodesk's Kynapse artificial intelligence middleware for their respective upcoming titles. Used in more than 100 titles, Kynapse's AI technology for nonplayer characters helps simulate spatial reasoning, dynamic 3D pathfinding, environment perception, and large-crowd movement in complex terrains. Autodesk claims its software can improve team coordination while reducing development time and overall project costs. MAIET will use the middleware with GunZ2: The Second Duel, ...

[Every other week, we examine the most popular Facebook games (according to monthly active users), looking at the top titles and developers on the social network to see who's attracting or losing players.] In our last tally of the most popular Facebook games -- before a bug appeared in the social network's user reporting data, providing inaccurate headcounts for some applications -- Zynga dominated the top ten list, with its titles taking the first seven ...

Thanks to its mixed critical reception after almost six years in development, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter recently stated Take-Two's Mafia II is unlikely to ever see a profit. Not so, says Take-Two, speaking on a call to investors following positive third quarter results. "We're very proud of the game," said CEO Ben Feder, describing developer 2K Czech as an "extremely talented studio." Although the company hasn't revealed any unit sales for Mafia II, Feder said ...

Organizers for IndieCade, an annual international festival devoted to independent games, has revealed 32 finalists for its awards, including titles like Limbo and VVVVVV. Now in its fourth year, the IndieCade festival -- taking place from October 8th to the 10th in Culver City, CA, aims to provide exhibitions, conferences, and curated attractions that "encourage, publicize, and cultivate, innovation and artistry in interactive media", as it strives to "create a public perception of games as ...

The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.



Gulf of Mexico - Oil spill - Oil platform - Environment - Energy

Four more explosive devices tied to the suspect in the Discovery Channel standoff were found at a residence in Montgomery County, Md., authorities told NBC News on Thursday.



Discovery Channel - NBC - United States - Montgomery - Counties

snipehunter: RT @netduino: First new Netduino feature: SD card and FAT16/FAT32 file system support. Alpha release for early adopters @ http://bit.ly ...

Hurricane Earl has weakened further but it's still a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds bearing down on North Carolina's coast, the National Hurricane Center warned Thursday afternoon.



National Hurricane Center - Tropical cyclone - Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale - Meteorology - Hurricanes

Earthworm Jim publisher Interplay Entertainment is targeting independent developers with its new Interplay Discovery publishing program -- with the first two titles on the way this year. The first two titles under this new umbrella will be released in October 2010, and Interplay has committed to a minimum of two releases per year. The first title, Pinball Yeah, comes from Portugal-based studio CodeRunners and will debut for Mac, PC, and iPad/iPhone 4. Putting a twist ...

Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Ailu Village, a spinoff of Capcom's popular Monster Hunter action RPG series, debuted at the top of the retail charts in Japan, Media Create said Thursday. The PSP game, a cartoonish title that looks more akin to Nintendo's Animal Crossing than Monster Hunter, sold 256,000 units during its debut week ended August 29, following its August 26 release in the region. It helped bump down the previous week's number one ...

Linda Bruno called her Pennsylvania cat rescue the land of milk and tuna. It thrived for years as people sent pets they couldn't care for from hundreds of miles away — unaware it was a death camp for cats.

Cat - Pennsylvania - Extermination camp - United States - Recreation

This year's back-to-school season isn't as big a bust for retailers as they feared — or as last year's — but it's not great either.

Weather - United States - Business - Salesmanship - Marketing and Advertising

Take-Two has a $12.4 million third quarter profit -- its second profitable quarter in a row -- to show analysts who've raised questions about the publisher's earnings stability amid high costs and long, long development cycles. Nonetheless, despite the positive financials the company also revealed the widely-predicted delay of Rockstar and Team Bondi's LA Noire into next year. Thanks to the continuing strength of Red Dead Redemption, now up to 6.9 million units shipped, the ...

It was a glass-half-full day for economic data on Thursday ... sort of.  The upbeat news was tempered by worries about what Friday's unemployment report will say about the state of the labor market.



Labour economics - Jobless claims - United States - Work - Labor Movement

Stocks rose Thursday, extending their gains from the day before, after reports on housing, manufacturing and jobs all indicated that the economy continues to grow.



Manufacturing - United States - Business - Investing - Stocks and Bonds

eldavojohn writes "A new paper up for prepublication from the controversial solid-state physicist Godfrey Louis claims that the cells Louis collected from a Keralan red rain incident divide and produce daughter cells at 121 degrees Celsius. While unusual, this is not unheard of as the paper recalls cells cultivated from hydrothermal vents are known to reproduce at 121 C as well. Of course, caution is exercised when dealing with the possible explanation surrounding the theory of panspermia but the MIT Technology Review says researchers 'examined the way these fluoresce when bombarded with light and say it is remarkably similar to various unexplained emission spectra seen in various parts of the galaxy. One such place is the Red Rectangle, a cloud of dust and gas around a young star in the Monocerous constellation.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders opened direct peace talks under U.S. auspices on Thursday and agreed to meet every two weeks to try to forge a deal within a year.



Middle East - Israel - Palestinian people - Warfare and Conflict - Israel-Palestine

Two young goats that wandered onto the thin ledge of a railroad bridge and spent two days high above a highway were hungry but safe when they were plucked to safety with a towering cherry picker.

Rail transport - Goat - Business - Cherry picker - Livestock