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Q101 (formerly on Chicago radio @ 101.1 FM) The Alternative - Chicago's New Rock Alternative - Everything Alternative - Chicago's Alternative - Gen X - Generation X
A man in China hired virtual “assassins” to hunt down his son in online video games and kill off his avatar, according to local media. The man, named by the Kotaku East blog as Mr. Feng, was concerned about the amount of time his 23-year-old unemployed son was spending online.
He hoped his actions would deter his son from playing the games, he is reported to have said. His son eventually asked one of the gamers why they kept targeting him. The truth came out.
Father and son are said to have reconciled but World of Warcraft expert Olivia Grace said she did not think Mr. Feng’s actions would necessarily act as a deterrent.
“Being killed by someone happens all the time,” she said.
“People are just like that online.”
READ MORE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20931304
Serj Tankian has announced that he has written the full musical score for the upcoming video game Morning Star. Industrial Toys, the studio producing the game, is set to release Morning Star in Spring of 2013, initially for iOS devices.
“I’m really enjoying working on Morning Star because it gives me the ability to create new musical worlds to complement the new visual worlds in the game,” explains Tankian. “Though most of the gameplay will be action oriented cues, the stunning artwork and static scenes have inspired unique sounds unheard before.”
Source: http://www.alternativeaddiction.com/musicnews/article/2950/Serj-Tankian-Composes-Music-For-Video-Game
A game to fight for control of the minds of everyone on earth.
Meet Ingress, a new free mobile app and alternate reality game made by Google launching this week (on Android first, available as soon as it makes it through the Google Play release process).
How does one play?
Users can generate virtual energy needed to play the game by picking up units of “XM,” which are collected by traveling walking paths, like a real-world version of Pac-Man. Then they spend the energy going on missions around the world to “portals,” which are virtually associated with public art, libraries and other widely accessible places.
“The concept is something like World of Warcraft, where everyone in the world is playing the same game,” Hanke said. Players are on one of two teams: “The Enlightened,” who embrace the power, or “The Resistance,” who fight the power. Anyone can play from anywhere in the world, though in more densely played areas there will be more local competition for resources.
The game will be good for Google’s business from the beginning. That’s because of advertising. Ingress incorporates real physical stores and products in the game, and has brokered relationships with Hint Water, Zipcar, Jamba Juice and Chrome apparel and messenger bags.
And eventually, Google plans to make these real-world game tools available as a platform for developers to make their own.
READ MORE and Check it out:
http://allthingsd.com/20121115/google-launches-ingress-a-worldwide-mobile-alternate-reality-game/?mod=tech
Rockstar Games’ upcoming open-world action game Grand Theft Auto V is the company’s most ambitious project to date, and according to one analyst, that deep investment will be rewarded with strong first-year sales.
Jesse Divnich, analyst for Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, explained that though the current high-definition game market is “softening” as the existing console cycle comes to a close, the market for big-budget AAA titles like GTAV remains healthy.
“In the case of GTAV, I have little concerns about when it is released,” he said. “Whether April, June, or even Winter, I’d expect GTAV to sell in upwards of 25 million copies in its first 12 months.”
http://www.gamespot.com/news/analyst-grand-theft-auto-v-could-sell-25-million-6399622
Resurrected just in time for Halloween, Cracked.com has identified eight video game urban legends. The frightening thing is the claim that they are TRUE. Are we looking for deeper meaning in these findings, or is it a dark, sinister, subliminal circumstance to implant the abnormal into our brains while we THINK we are entertaining ourselves?
Exhibit number one: Super Mario Galaxy 2 – The Shadow People of Hell Valley
In a game like Mario, you’re usually too focused on not falling off the crumbling catwalk into the lava below to ever really stop and look around. Especially in Mario Galaxy, where you are zipped across space from one world to the next, the vastness of the game world just whipping by you in a blur.
But if you ever do get the chance to stop and stare into the distance, you’ll find some extremely creepy shit. Specifically, in one level of Super Mario Galaxy 2, if you switch to first-person view and look in a certain direction, you can see shadowy figures standing at the edge of the galaxy. Watch, see for yourself:
Not too creepy to me. It’s like LOOKING for trouble. This next one is more evil and sinister.
Exhibit number two: Microsoft Office 95 – Hall of Tortured Souls
There’s something called “The Hall of Tortured Souls” or “The Hall of Lost Souls” hidden inside Word 95; supposedly, it’s a creepy first-person game with Doom-like graphics, and if you make it to the end of a narrow path, it will show you “something really, really eerie” or “reveal something about Microsoft.” Or both.
That is completely false. There is no creepy game hidden inside Word 95.
It’s on Excel 95.
If you open a new Excel file, go to Row 95 and follow a few other steps, a new window will pop up on your screen and possibly take 10 years away from your life with the resulting shock. Turns out that “Hall of Tortured Souls” isn’t a dramatic nickname people on the Internet invented: It’s what the window actually says.
The “game” appears to have only two rooms, separated by some stairs: The one with the blue pillars and the green pools, and another with red names raining down a window. That’s it. The place is completely deserted except for you, which somehow makes it even creepier. However … if you type “EXCELKFA” while facing a certain direction, one of the walls will disappear while you’re not looking, and behind it you’ll see a narrow, very hard-to-cross bridge with something weird at the other end: a bizarre other-dimensional re-enactment of the Last Supper…
Awwww, it’s okay. Don’t freak. those are actually the guys who developed Excel 95. Apparently, Microsoft programmers used to do this all the time. It’s simply a fun way for them to credit their work, because seriously, when was the last time you read the “About” page for a program?
Of course, some people still see this as definite proof that Bill Gates is, in fact, the Antichrist, accusing him of personally putting the game there to … you know, be all Antichristy and stuff.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19172_8-creepy-video-game-urban-legends-that-happen-to-be-true.html
CG studio Technicolor has announced the formation of a game art and animation studio that will work exclusively on future Rockstar Games projects. The team is made up of “highly experienced” artists and animators who will work out of the company’s Bangalore, India production studio. Technicolor has previously worked with Rockstar, contributing to high-profile projects like Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and L.A. Noire.
It was not announced which projects the new Technicolor team will be working on. However, check out the premise and breakdown of GTA5, which may be out as soon as January 2013.
WATCH
http://www.gamespot.com/news/rockstar-animation-unit-opened-in-india-6397723
It’s not rocket science, but it’s still a blast! One of the simplest puzzle games in all the app store, Flow Free is a devious little game that challenges you to connect dots of the same color by connecting lines in a grid without crossing. It’s one part connect the dots and one part mensa test.
The premise is simple; you start Flow Free by connecting three or four matching dots in a 5×5 grid but then time and space melt away and you’ll soon be connecting up to 10 pairs in a 9×9 grid.
The first 450 puzzles are literally free, so you’ll be thoroughly addicted before having to shell out the four bucks for more levels.
WATCH THE DEMO
http://www.maxim.com/gaming/flow-free
This is a 4X strategy game. The four ‘X’s stand for the classic principles that underpin this particular offshoot of the genre: explore, exploit, expand, and everyone’s favorite – exterminate!
Endless Space focuses on macro-management rather than down-and-dirty detail-fiddling. It makes galactic control streamlined, helped enormously by the slickest interface this type of game has ever seen, a beautifully designed UI that keeps things only one or two clicks away.
Playing as one of eight races (or building your own by pick-and-mixing attributes), the choices are good old-fashioned warfare, an economic victory, a scientific victory, an expansion victory or the rather odd ‘Supremacy’ victory of taking over the other races’ homeworlds.
This has the foundations of a great game, and judging by the devs’ willingness to incorporate community suggestions, it will get even better. If you’re all about space battles, it doesn’t quite deliver. But anyone who’s a fan of backroom deals, the exploitation of natural resources, and the crushing of all who defy you, will find Endless Space is their kind of universe.
http://www.pcgamer.com/review/endless-space-review/
Dawnguard has given the Skyrim modding community a new toy to tinker with, break, and reverse engineer to the extent where it’s utterly unrecognizable: the crossbow. Since the release of Dawnguard on PC just two weeks ago, there have been many, many new crossbows added to the Skyrim Workshop, a handful of which are must haves. Step right up as we lay the best of the best Dawnguard crossbow mods on the counter. Just be mindful of those hair-triggers.
DOWNLOAD the new crossbows HERE!
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/elder-scrolls-v/1225784p1.html
In the November 2 release, Ralph (John C. Reilly) is tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer), the “good guy” star of their game who always gets to save the day. But after decades doing the same thing and seeing all the glory go to Felix, Ralph decides he’s tired of playing the role of a bad guy. He takes matters into his own massive hands and sets off on a game-hopping journey across the arcade through every generation of video games to prove he’s got what it takes to be a hero.
On his quest, he meets the tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch) from the first-person action game Hero’s Duty. But it’s the feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) from the candy-coated cart racing game, Sugar Rush, whose world is threatened when Ralph accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade. Will Ralph realize his dream and save the day before it’s too late?
VIEW TRAILER HERE
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=91075
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