During a recent Ubisoft preview event, Michael McIntyre, director of level design for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, talked to Joystiq about the new sequel to the old trilogy, establishing its connection to the Sands of Time game series and the Bruckheimer film. The Forgotten Sands is a side story, based in the Sands of Time universe, bridging the seven-year gap between the original Sands of Time game and its sequel, Warrior Within.
Clearly, Ubisoft has positioned the next game to piggyback on the Bruckheimer blockbuster and ideally generate renewed sales for the brand (which underperformed in its 2008 iteration). Forgotten Sands is also an opportunity for Ubisoft to finally justify the Prince's remarkable transformation from carefree hero to brooding, emo warrior.
Continue reading for our full interview with Michael McIntyre -- after the break -- in which he reveals new (and rewinding revisited) elements in the game and the return of a familiar voice.
Okay, you've probably heard by now that Mass Effect 2 has a lot of big-name voice talent. But have you SEEN them? This video trailer for BioWare's upcoming space opera features the all-star cast talking about their roles, and what it is about sci-fi (and not SyFy) that gets them so excited.
The Porsche Panamera has only been on sale in other parts of the world for three months now, but the automaker has already cranked out the 10,000th production example. The Panamera is built on the same production line as the Cayenne SUV at Porsche's Liepzig plant in northeastern Germany.
So far, Porsche has taken some 9,000 orders for the new five-door grand touring hatchback and it has yet to go on sale in the United States. Porsche is currently planning to build about 20,000 Panamera units annually at the Liepzig factory. The 10,000th car? A silver Turbo destined for Singapore.
US Consumer Habits Likely To Remain Conservative - Survey Wall Street Journal Americans plan to save 15% of their total income after the economy improves, according to a new poll by AlixPartners LLP, as consumers remain cautious about ...
In case you weren't aware, Synaptics dabbled in the touchscreen handset game way back in 2006 with the Onyx concept, before phones like the LG Prada and Apple's iPhone came along and proved the idea so convincingly. However, Synaptics thinks innovation has stagnated since, and has girded itself once again to attempt another trend-setting concept. This one's a bit more wild: the "Fuse" involves contributions from Alloy, TAT, Immersion and Texas Instruments, and includes squeeze, tilt and haptic interaction. The big idea is to approach single-handed and no-look operation on a touchscreen handset, no small feat to be sure. The result is a pure kitchen sink of sensors, including a touchpad on the back of the phone, touch and pressure sensitive strips along both sides of the phones, dual haptic feedback motors, a 3-axis accelerometer and of course a new-generation Synaptics touchscreen in front. The TI OMAP 3630 processor powers the TAT Cascades 3D UI Engine which attempts to contextualize UI interaction with perspective tilts and fancy motion, and the haptics feeds back to let you know where your finger is on the screen -- an attempt to emulate feeling out the correct nub for keypad orientation on a button phone. We'll have to play with it to find out if Synaptics is really on to something, but even if the Fuse isn't the next best thing, we could certainly see somebody using some of these sensors to improve existing handset interaction. Check out a quick video after the break.
Christie's tried in New York with a 1983 piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat and didn't succeed. The auction house may have been too aggressive in estimating the 16-foot piece at $9 million. That's what's tough about the art market right now. There are signs of recovery, and it can be tempting to push for higher prices. Unfortunately, it's easy to get a bit excited. The painting had the highest estimate at the auction. The piece with the second highest presale estimate, a piece by Andy Warhol, met a similar fate.
The Basquiat piece, "Brother Sausage," was offered anonymously by a buyer later revealed by Bloomberg News to be Peter Brant, an art collector based in Connecticut. The piece may be a casualty of his divorce from model Stephanie Seymour. Well, it won't be financing post-marital discord and could remain a contested asset for a while.
Warhol's "Tunafish Disaster" was projected to move for up to $8 million and, like the Basquiat painting, didn't receive any bids. Art dealer Robert Mnuchin of L&M Arts was stuck taking it home.
Yet, some works beat the odds in an auction that raked in $74.2 million, within the presale range of $61.5 million to $88 million. Nonetheless, this was the lowest result we've seen from a Christie's New York contemporary art effort since May 2003 and down 81 percent from the top of the market two and a half years ago.
A Paris criminal court recently ruled in favor of Divineo, a company that sells DS flash carts. In a statement, Nintendo said that it was "extremely disappointed with the decision by Paris Criminal Court to find Max Louarn, his company, Divineo, and other co-defendants not guilty in the criminal case involving the sale and distribution of game copying devices," and that the company "welcomes the prosecutor's decision to appeal the judgment. As a victim Nintendo will join his appeal."
In the statement, Nintendo noted that Divineo still owes the company damages from a ruling made in Nintendo's favor in Hong Kong last year. Last month, a Spanish criminal case was dismissed against a company selling DS flash carts, with the judge in that case ruling that the carts are not illegal since they can be used for many non-infringing purposes.
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com's arena column.
Listening Music: The cutest kid you've ever seen covering Jason Mraz. Blood Sport normally features the musical works of professionals. For this little guy, we have to make an exception. My favorite part is right before the first verse. I love the intense scrunched face and little head nod. I dare you to find anything even half as cute. That video of a tickled kitten has nothing on this.
Last Week: part one of our beginner's arena guide. First, we fielded a possible complaint about catering to casuals. After that, we talked a little bit about some of the best ways to gear up: finding an arena team, doing battlegrounds, and running Vault of Archavon. Check it out if you have the time.
This week, we'll talk about some frequently asked questions players have when considering jumping into the arena. Read on for part two of our arena guide for beginners after the break!
For the first time in over a hundred years, we get an inside view of how Dunhill manufactures its beautiful leather goods. Never before has Dunhill shown the outside world how the world class craftsman create their products. In this clip we get to see a portion of the film demonstrating the making of Dunhill's Double Document Case.
While we have always admired the finished product, watching the craftsmen at work makes it all that more interesting. It happens in the Walthamstow workshop and all by hand. Each leather artisan is responsible for the construction of a piece from start to finish and includes a stamped card with their name on it inside the finished product. The sense of personal pride taken by the master craftsmen translates into the highest quality and standard of work for Dunhill.
From the consumer's perspective, watching the skills and techniques involved helps one understand the price tag of over 1,800 British Pounds Sterling for this special bag. The company has a hundred and sixteen years of experience and the same processes that were used in the beginning are still being employed in the crafting of their leather goods today. Anyone who has an interest in fine products should find this glimpse, albeit orchestrated for film, into the manufacturing process at Dunhill fascinating.
Michelle Obama seems to be single-handedly thrusting unknown designers into the fashion stratosphere. First, there was Jason Wu who, before the now infamous Inaugural Gown, was known only in fashion circles.
Sophie Théallet is the latest no-name to get noticed arguably from being a favorite of today's jackpot when it comes to celebrity endorsements, the First Lady. Earlier this week the French-born designer, who specializes in boho-luxe designs (read: very expensive and pretty hippie-like dresses), won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund which gives $200,000 to deserving upstart designers. While the honor is voted upon by members of the CFDA, it certainly didn't hurt that only months before, Michelle Obama wore Théallet's dresses to a number of events including Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral.
So who is Sophie Théallet? Turns out, she's one of those behind-the-scenes stars of the design world. According to her bio, she was tapped by Parisian department store Le Printemps to design her own collection right out of design school. After that, she paid her dues as an assistant designer to Jean-Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa where she was dubbed his right hand woman.
Three years ago, she moved to New York and started freelancing for various fashion brands. In 2005, she launched resort line Motu Tane with beauty guru Francois Nars.
Dish about reality TV Inside TV (blog) That's because Wolf and his cohorts on 'Law & Order' have made it a habit to pillory conservative opinion makers on their shows, effectively using the 'Law ...
Alright, you already have a robot dancer, some robot houscats, and you even acquired a Roomba to protect your child from poisonous snakes -- what's next for your futuristic replicant menagerie? Starting in January 2010, the Japanese department store Sogo & Seibu will accept pre-orders for Actroid life-sized, animatronic female robots. Unlike some available models, these ones can't walk (or do a two-step, for that matter) but they will sit still and smile politely -- which might be all you really want in a robotic companion anyways. That's OK, we're not here to judge you. Quantities are extremely limited: only two will be sold, at a price of $225,000 each. Get a closer look after the break.
Update: One of our friends at Engadget Japanese has filled in a few more of the details: Apparently the robots will only be manufactured in the likeness of the purchaser, so if you were hoping that this would be a good way to get started on populating your own Hall of Presidents, it looks like you're out of luck. Unless, of course, you happen to have a strong resemblance to Chester A. Arthur.
Framed! is a fun photo app for iPhone/iPod touch that allows you to drop your photos in 34 different scenes such as taxi billboard, album cover, wanted poster, cereal box, TV, etc. After you select the scene and input the text, you can share your creation via email or Facebook.
At .99, this 4 star rated app is a pretty good investment as it will probably keep kids and tweens occupied for hopefully longer than the usual 5 minutes. I timed my own kids using it and at a full 45 minutes of entertainment, I consider that just about priceless.
Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later. There's also a free "lite" version does the same thing with less - only 14 frames.
It seems Santa left us with 3 copies to give away to DLS readers, as well as 1 copy of Xmas Frames, the eggnog version for the holidays.
The rules:
Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
To enter, leave a comment below. The comment must be left by Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
You may enter only once.
Four winners will be selected in a random drawing.
Prize: One free license of Framed! or Xmas Frames (retail value US$.99).
Mitsubishi i-MiEV - Click above for high-res image gallery
Last month, the West Midlands police department in the UK took delivery of an i-MiEV for official duties. This weekend, the first batch of cars - 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs - in a large fleet of electric vehicles entered the area, giving the public a taste of what the police have been enjoying for a while now. The trial fleet includes 110 electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen vehicles in Birmingham and Coventry, with 340 throughout the UK. The UK's Technology Strategy Board is funding the program with £25 million in it's Ultra Low Emission Vehicle Demonstrator Competition. The vehicle breakdown goes like this:
40 Smart Eds
25 i-MiEVs
25 Tata Indica
10 hydrogen cars from Microcab
5 Land Rover Range_e plug in hybrids
5 LTI electric taxis
The full fleet will be available to the lucky drivers sometime in 2010.
UPDATE: Added three pictures from the EVCast's Nikki to the gallery.
Nothing's ever going to top Nyko's crazy Zoom Case, but Datel Japan's bulky DSi speaker attachment thing -- the official title is the Sound Speaker DSi -- is definitely making a strong play for Most Crazy DSi Accessory Ever. As you can see, the accessory is not only meant to protect by consuming the handheld whole, but it also amplifies the DSi's audio ... because that's what you want from your DSi. The multitasking capabilities of Datel's device also allow you to charge your handheld (through an included AC adapter or some AA batteries) after you've spent hours being kind of a jerk.
The Datel Sound Speaker DSi runs 3,990 yen (about $45) and can be purchased here.
Now that's a shocker, isn't it? A gaming laptop that isn't particularly friendly on your wallet? It's true, Origin's Eon18 is not the machine to consider if you're ready to make the step up from a netbook but aren't yet willing to step into quadruple-digit price tags. As tested by Laptop, the Eon18 was half-way to five-digits thanks to its $5,952 cost, but that money gets you a an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 chip running at 2.53GHz, dual 160GB SSDs, a pair of GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards, a lovely airbrush job on the lid, and a power brick that on its own, at three pounds, weights more than some of the competition's machines (no concerns about inadequate juice here). That configuration delivers unbeatable I/O performance but, when it came to the all-important gaming benchmarks, was found to be comparable to Alienware's M17x, and thus not exactly worth the $1,000 premium -- unless you really dig flame jobs.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands fills in gaps before Warrior Within; new details revealed in developer interview originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Christie's
Framed!
