Monthly Archives: April 2011

Need for Speed Goes Cross-Country

by Robin Parrish
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Need for Speed Goes Cross-Country

EA today announced the newest game in the Need for Speed franchise, a title that takes the series into territory it’s never approached before. Need for Speed: The Run will send players on an illegal cross-country race from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the Empire State Building in New York City. The game’s focus on underground street racing will allow players to race their cars through all sorts of new environments like inclined mountain roads covered in ice, through narrow canyons, and weaving through dense metropolitan traffic — and all at the breakneck speeds that Need for Speed is known for. The Run uses the cutting-edge Frostbite Read more »

Shifting Paradigms

by Darren Burr
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Shifting Paradigms

Well, now the Royal Wedding has drawn to a close (barring the repeats and the in depth analyses), life can return to something approximating normal again. Today it was stated by historian Simon Schama that the wedding was bringing the Monarchy into a new age, marrying itself to the current generation. The amount of familiarity and common touch made this a very different event, especially in the age of social media where we are so much closer to our ‘celebrities’. It’s not so much that taboos have been broken, but the paradigm has shifted. Not to be outdone, the only person in the world who could compete with the happy Read more »

Nursery Rhymes in Not-so-ordinary Graphic Depictions

by Noemi Twigg
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Nursery Rhymes in Not-so-ordinary Graphic Depictions

Everyone knows their nursery rhymes, although the stories may vary from one culture to another. There may even be different versions of the same nursery rhymes. Even though we’re now all adults – age-wise, at least – I am pretty sure that your favorite nursery rhymes when you were kids hold a special place in your heart. Now what if you can somehow relieve those times when you didn’t have a care in the world and all you were concerned about was the bed time story that your mom was about to tell you? I don’t know if David Clemesha’s art will help you with that, but I am certain Read more »

A New Look at Binary Domain

by Robin Parrish
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A New Look at Binary Domain

One of Sega’s hot new properties, Binary Domain, decided to come out of hiding today, with a terrific gameplay trailer and some gorgeous screens. As you may (or may not) recall, Binary Domain is the latest game from Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of a number of classic Sega titles, including Shenmue, Yakuza, and more. The game takes a familiar theme — man vs. machine — and puts a decidedly Japanese spin on it. The plot has some noticeable similarities to other stories where machines become sentient and start evolving into human-like automatons — Terminator and Battlestar Galactica among them — but sets the action in 2080 Tokyo, where the culture has crafted Read more »

Paper Airplanes HQ: For Paper Airplane Geeks Only

by Noemi Twigg
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Paper Airplanes HQ: For Paper Airplane Geeks Only

Remember the good old days when you used to fold paper to make airplanes? Back in the day, that was one of the coolest things to do. You can busy yourself all afternoon figuring out different ways to fold paper and then making your creations fly. Of course, there was the added bonus of being able to write notes on the paper for your friends. I haven’t folded paper in ages and haven’t even really thought about paper airplanes. Then I discovered this site called Paper Airplanes HQ via Reddit. I don’t know if the term “paper airplane geek” even exists, but since everyone is a “something geek” these days, Read more »

Portal 2 Turret Plush Toy with Motion Sensor

by Jayvee Fernandez
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Portal 2 Turret Plush Toy with Motion Sensor

  Leigh Nunan and I made a talking plush Turret from Portal. It can sense when you’re there, when you pick it up, and when you knock it over, and it responds appropriately. For more information, visit http://upnotnorth.net/projects/portal-turret-plushie/ Valve nailed it with Portal 2. GLaDOS, Atlas & Peabody, Cave Johnson, Wheatley and yes, the sing-song Turrets. This is a plush toy Turret with built in motion sensors that emotes our favorite lines when you pass in front of it, topple it or lift it off the ground. Please mass produce. Read more »

The LEGO Emperor’s Arrival

by Robin Parrish
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The LEGO Emperor’s Arrival

When Jay Hoff decided to create a LEGO diorama of the Emperor’s arrival (from the beginning of Return of the Jedi), he wasn’t messing around. Hand-built to Minifigure scale, this mind-boggling MOC is comprised of 30,000 LEGO pieces, and utilizes almost 400 Minifigures. Perhaps most impressively, it’s built to Minifigure scale. The brilliance is in the details: the Imperial Shuttle, the gleaming black floor with red carpet path (comprised entirely of bricks turned sideways), the intricate hangar bay walls, the perfectly-placed Stormtroopers, the open bay doors with star field beyond… It makes me want to donate all of my LEGO bricks to a local daycare or something. Because I know Read more »

Get your very own Death Star (planetarium)

by Jeff Cormier
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Get your very own Death Star (planetarium)

As children, those with children, and star gazers everywhere, a planetarium is a magical place.  The theater-style structure concerning all things astronomy and the night sky, typically takes the form of a large, dome-shaped, building with a projector and screen where stars, planets, and other celestial objects are visible, even moving in a realistic fashion to simulate outer space. Read more »