News
Gamewoof Weekly Roundup: $heilds up! Frostbitten from Google I/O news, but Captain! The Controllers!
You know what has eluded me in human history? Why we decided to take something as difficult to get into as the coconut and thought “We should eat this”. Now, I’m not saying I’m not grateful to our long lost ancestors for thinking this (I love me some coconut), but it’s still baffling to me. Anytime I’ve ever bought one whole, I feel like I end up using power tools to get into it. However, it appears Mr. T has a relative in Panama who has solved the riddle of the coconut; just open it with your teeth. Yes, a cab driver in Panama who dresses exactly like the aforementioned member of the A-Team has been opening coconuts with his teeth since the age of 11. Wow, that simply amazing. I can barely open a plastic bag with my teeth, let alone even attempting to open a coconut.
OUYA Controller Update:The Developer of the Code that Fixed OUYA’s Controller Talks, and so does OUYA
UPDATE: The Head of communications and PR for OUYA has contacted us to reiterate and confirm that the launch delay was completely unrelated to the current controller issue, and was only to meet increase demand.
On Tuesday we told you about problems that developers have continued to have with the OUYA controller since the first backer units started shipping in March. In that article we told you that Eric Froemling, who goes by the name efroemling on the OUYA developers board and created BombSquad for OUYA, has developed a few simple lines of code that developers can put into their games and fix the issue. Today Eric was kind enough to take some time to clarify for us what exactly the problem is, where he thinks the problem resides and how his code fixes it.
According to Froemling (and many other developers on the OUYA forums) the problem is that not all of the stick is accessible. In some areas the console will only pick up stick movement 60-70% of the way to the edge, while in other directions there is no detection at all. This can negatively affect aiming and movement, making certain games unplayable.
News: Nvidia Shield Sets Price Point, Launch Date
Today, Nvidia, well known for their graphics processors and cards have finally announced the price point and launch time for their Android handheld system, Nvidia Shield. The Nvidia Shield priced at $349 is available for pre-order on it’s website starting May 20th, with an anticipated shipping date sometime in the later part of June.
This device will not only play all of your beloved Android titles, but will also play titles from Steam as well, and can project those games onto your television via a HDMI cable. The device also comes pre-loaded with the Jelly Bean Android OS, along with an impressive hardware arsenal including the Nvidia Tegra 4 chip, 4 CPU cores and can output its display at 720p.
The company states they are hoping to compete with the likes of Nintendo and Sony in the handheld market and also claims that gaming on the Nvidia Shield will be a better gaming experience than gaming on your Android phone or tablet. The device does come equipped with wi-fi capability, speakers and a 5″ HD screen.
The device will also come with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2 and Expendable: Rearmed pre-installed, along with Hulu Plus and TwitchTV. Users also have access to the Google Play store, but can search for games through the Nvidia TegraZone gaming library, a similar approach users of the Moga controllers have.
Retailers who will be carrying this device include Newegg and GameStop.
Check out Nvidia’s Shield website for more details.
Sources: VentureBeat, PCWorld
GameScoop: Additional Problems with OUYA’s Controller
Developers are expressing additional concerns over the OUYA’s controller directional stick the past few days, less than a week after OUYA announced that it was delaying its long awaited home brew Android-based console due to higher than expected demand. This new controller issue has come to light just days after concerns with the controller’s buttons and stick durability were brought up by the developers and addressed by OUYA CEO and Founder Julie Urhman in a recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything).
This new directional stick issue, which is separate from the glue leakage issue OUYA has already addressed, is apparently a detection issue, resulting in extreme hot spots and dead zones for the directional stick. These images are taken from the OUYA developers forum, where users with both developer kits and early adopter versions of the OUYA console are posting results of tests they are running on various versions of the OUYA console and controller.
GameWoof Weekly Roundup: Ouya! Nintendo and Sony! Rovio! EA! But What’s Going On With Your Wallet?
We all need a vacation every now and then, right? A trip somewhere far, far, away to escape all of the nonsense you deal with on a daily basis, like your job, people around you, or the latest Justin Bieber song and never come back. Or, maybe you’ve seen enough of this world altogether and all of its ills, screaming Professor Farnsworth’s catch phrase at the top of your lungs. Well, if you were one of the 78,000 people who applied for this project being put on by a Dutch company, you might just fulfil both of the previously mentioned items. The project, Mars One, aims to place 4 people on the planet Mars every 2 years beginning in 2023, for the rest of their lives. To some people, that’s going to be a very long time. But, people from all over the world have submitted applications to become colonists on the Red Planet, some maybe hoping to become part of some weird 1950′s science fiction novel. Either way, you’re probably going to get awful lonely up there, and could potentially miss out on the latest Android tablet.
GameWoof Weekly Round Up: Sales, Hirings, Endings and Nooky Here! Your Wii Board Is Useful!
The weather has been a weird thing as of late, but not nearly as weird as having your high school teacher buy for your entire reading class the highly popular and easily accessible erotic fiction novel “50 Shades of Grey” (which yes, Is available on the Google Play store) . Parents are a little upset by this and are calling for the teacher’s firing, though I’m sure the students have been “enlightened” by the text in the book. Either way, some Android gaming news also happened while students were getting up close and personal with literature.
Another device in which you can read your beloved “50 Shades of Grey” on is the Barnes and Noble Nook. Why are we even mentioning this sad excuse for a tablet? Because the Nook HD line is getting Google Play access soon! Awww, it’s growing up, making it feel like a real tablet, where you can download and play stuff from the Google Play store like any of the fine games found here on GameWoof! So welcome to the Android family now officially Nook owners and hopefully you’ll tune here to GameWoof for all of your Android gaming news!
The Hardcore Hook-Up
With phones and tablets quickly catching up in processing power to our consoles and PCs, gamers are suddenly finding themselves in possession of a brand new platform to enjoy their favorite hobby on. All the time there are new games being added to the Android platform that are analogues to gamers’ favorite franchises on home consoles and PCs. For every Call of Duty there is a Modern Combat. For every Gears of Wars there is a Shadow Gun. This column is an attempt to get the hardcore gamers, the ones who are used to all night HALO sessions while thriving off of Mountain Dew and Doritos, up to speed on what games are available on the Google Play marketplace that are aimed at them.
Every week we will take a look at the hardcore console-like experiences that have been sitting on the Google Play Marketplace for a while, ones that are just being released, and ones that are set for release soon and compare them to their counterparts on home consoles and PCs. When possible we will also talk about games that do not have a comparable franchise, but are still aimed at the “console crowd.” We call this the Hardcore Hook-up, where we hook you up with the hardcore games you want to play.
GameWoof Weekly Roundup: The App Store is Taking Off, The UK Isn’t Happy with In App Purchases and MOAR Android Console News
According to several news reports, there are various towns and parishes in Louisiana that have instituted a ban on sagging one’s pants. The fashion faux paus brought upon us since the 1990′s, have apparently disturbed the good people of our nations 18th state enough to enact laws against it. Anyone caught representing this style will be hit with a $50 fine for a first time offense, increasing subsequently after that. No word however, if people caught wearing skinny jeans that are so tight they cut of circulation, have become bothersome enough to enact similar legislation. But enough about fashion…
GameWoof Weekly RoundUp: Android Controls Other Things, Riccitiello’s Aftermath, and Consoles Galore
Listening to the news, you’d think the only thing going on was some sweetheart killer, North Korea’s impotence issue and Justin Bieber’s public meltdowns. But more important things were also shaking up in the Android world. Some of the news was good, some of it not so good. Hopefully, this news wrap up won’t cause anyone a fit of rage blowing up into a Twitter rant, or a subsequent firing due to said tirade.
Someone who did get fired recently, besides Adam Orth, was EA’s Head-man John Riccitiello. In the aftermath of his downfall, layoffs were announced throughout global divisions of EA Mobile. Employees in London, Brazil and Montreal were all victim’s of EA’s “re-organization” efforts in the wake of Mr. Riccitiello’s firing. As many as 70 percent of Montreal’s mobile division is being reported to have received the pink slip. While Riccitiello took “100% of the accountability” for slow sales and poor performance from EA, this is little consolation to those laid off employees. No word on how this will affect EA’s immersion into the Android market, as they have been one of the stronger AAA companies in terms of development for Android. GameWoof sends their deepest condolences to those affected by these layoffs.
GameWoof Weekly Roundup: GDC Highlights, Havok Anarchy, More Ouya, and The Gold Rush To Android
Game Developers Conference (GDC) has come and gone and while allegations over barely clothed women, slanderous press, controversy over Metal Gear voice actors and the Playstation 4 controller were the hot topics for some, there was plenty of Android news hitting the streets as well. Though none of this news resulted in Twitter taking to a soap box of angst and intelligent conversation, these tidbits of news will make any Android user pleased for the future of this Operating System.
Love it or hate it, it appears the free to play model is here to stay. At GDC, a panel of publishers who work with the Free 2 Play model (including Rob Carroll of 5th Planet Games, Barry Dorf of DeNA, and Pany Haritatos of Kongregate, as well as many others) spoke before a crowd of publishers in order to convince them that the F2P model is legit and that these publishers should consider bringing their IP’s over to this model. Items such as Kickstarter campaigns, the publisher/developer relationship and of course money and costs were all covered in this panel. Rob Carroll, one of the panelists, made the point in that the relationship between publisher and developer gets hairy the longer the life cycle of the game goes, advocating for better relationships and the F2P model for continued support of a given game. [1]
