Intel is ‘not taking sides,’ but keeps ads off of Gamasutra

When Intel pulled advertising from the business-focused gaming website Gamasutra earlier this week, it was due in large part to an internet campaign to hit gaming websites that speak out against sexism in the industry where it hurts: ad revenue. Today, the chipset manufacturer has announced an apology (interestingly timed on a Friday evening) for this. Sort of. Intel says that it never meant to appear to be taking sides in the increasingly hostile debate:

When it comes to our support of equality and women, we want to be very clear: Intel believes men and women should be treated the same… And while we respect the right of individuals to have their personal beliefs and values, Intel does not support any organization or movement that discriminates against women. We apologize and we are deeply sorry if we offended anyone.

These words ring a bit hollow though, given that Intel won’t be continuing its ad-buy with Gamasutra, either. For the brief apology in full, check the source link below.

[Image source: Getty Images]

Not our intent to take sides in gaming debate, apologies if our ad decision offended, more here: http://t.co/HolnuK0704

– Intel (@intel) October 4, 2014

Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Intel

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Source: Intel

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Now you can test drive a Lexus RC F with the Oculus Rift

Wondering what it’s like to get behind the wheel of Lexus’ high-performance 2015 RC F sports coupé? Now you can find out — well, sort of. The company has built a virtual reality RC F using the car’s actual steering column, foot pedals and an Oculus Rift DK2 headset. It calls the setup the Lexus RC F Rift, naturally, and it’ll be at select auto shows across the nation for the next several months. The player can race the car around a virtual track, but it’s not clear if the VR test drive is an accurate representation of how the real vehicle handles. At the very least, it’s a novel way to get a feel for the car’s interior, and a good look at how companies outside of the gaming industry may use virtual reality technology in the future.

Filed under: Gaming, Transportation

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Source: Lexus (YouTube)

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Playing ‘Portal 2’ might make you smarter

“Them games’ll rot your brain, you know,” said the fictional midwestern mom that we’ve invented for the purposes of this story. Grudgingly, we’d accept her admonishment, put down our copy of Sonic the Hedgehog and go back to playing “educational” titles like Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego. Now, however, it turns out that a game like Portal 2 is better for your brain than an actual brain-training game like Lumosity.

A team down at Florida State University sat 77 lab rats undergraduates in front of the games for eight hours, with their problem solving, spatial skill and persistence tested before and afterward. The results showed that the Portal 2 players showed “significant increases” in their scores once they’d spent time with Wheatley and GLaDOS while the Lumosity gang, er, didn’t. It’s only one study with a limited sample set, for sure, but maybe the next time that fictional midwestern mom starts moaning about your rotting brain, you can hand her the report and tell her to shove it.

[Image Credit: Alphacoders / Medowar]

Filed under: Gaming

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Via: Eurogamer, Gamasutra

Source: Gamasutra (Scribd), Science Direct

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A video game museum is rebuilding an MMO designed for the Commodore 64

Thought you were old-school for playing Everquest and Ultima Online? Step back, son: those games are spring chickens next to 1986’s premier virtual world: LucasFilm’s Habitat. Don’t fret if you haven’t heard of it — the Commodore 64-powered online world only lasted for two years and was exclusive to Quantum Link, an ISP that would eventually evolve into America Online. Habitat seems fairly basic by today’s standards, but it was a breakthrough in its own era, featuring support for thousands of simultaneous players in a self-governed virtual world. It’s gaming history, and Alex Handy, founder and director of the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland, is trying to revive it.

The project almost came about by accident — Handy was working on a retrospective of Lucasfilm titles, and reached out to Habitat co-creator Chip Morningstar to see if he had any of the game’s old source code. Turns out he had all of it, but that itself isn’t enough to rebuild the game. Not only is Habitat limited by its exclusive service provider and ancient console, but the game’s servers ran on the obscure and defunct Stratus Nimbus. Luckily, an old Stratus employee was willing to donate an old Nimbus to the cause, giving the museum the hardware it needs to try and relaunch one of the world’s oldest online games.

Now Handy is in the last stretches of his project. This past weekend, he assembled a team of folks from Commodore, AOL (Engadget’s parent company), Q-Link and even the game’s original creators: Randy Farmer and the aforementioned Chip Morningstar. Over 12-hours the group sifted through old code and reverse engineered the Q-Link server code that ran Habitat in the old days. The game still isn’t up and running, but by the end of the day they had their proof of concept: a single Habitat room with just one active player in it. The player avatar doesn’t have a head, and it can’t actually do anything, but it means that the team can now communicate with the server from an emulated Commodore 64 client.

It’s only a matter of time before Handy is able to get the game back up and running, something he says will happen much faster if he can manage to find the server source code for the old Q-Link service. Know where to find it? Hit up the source link below — the museum would love to hear from you.

Filed under: Cameras, Misc

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Source: MADE, Wired

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Stationary bike MMO lets you race against the world without leaving home

Indoor cycling normally isn’t as fun as the outdoor variety, and it certainly isn’t as social. Where’s the thrill of blowing past a rival? That’s what Zwift’s upcoming massively multiplayer cycling game promises to solve. So long as you have a training bike with at least speed and cadence sensors, you can race people around the world in virtual environments — think of it as an online role-playing game that builds up your real abilities. You can chat up other riders if you have a mic, and virtual reality support (through Oculus Rift headsets) might help you forget that you’re still at home.

The game will cost $10 per month to play (much like other online games), and you’ll naturally have to factor in the costs of both the indoor bike and sensors if you don’t have them already. Right now, though, the real catch is simply getting to play. Zwift just launched its beta test with a mere 1,000 open slots, and you’ll have to wait until the winter if you don’t request an invitation in time. Having said this, it might be worth the wait if you’ve ever wanted to compete against other cyclists all year round.

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

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Source: Zwift, Wall Street Journal

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