The virtual world of Second Life is frequently lauded as a tool for business and education. Things are going to get a whole lot more interesting, however, thanks to a group of boffins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They reckon the Wii’s motion sensitive controller can be used in conjunction with Second Life to make training exercises even more realistic, to the extent that it can be used to teach people about the finer points of surgery, building construction and, well, pretty much anything.
Of course, the Wii already plays host to plenty of training simulators, ranging from Trauma Center to Cooking Mama, but this is the first instance where it’s being applied to professional disciplines in a massively multiplayer environment. MIT research fellow David E. Stone is so excited by the possibilities of the Wiimote, he was moved to call it “one of the most significant technology breakthroughs in the history of computer science.”
He’s not just talking the talk, either. Stone’s firm has recently been hired by several interested parties to help create more fully-realized training simulations using Second Life and the Wiimote, and a consortium of European universities are even considering his services in the creation of a virtual cancer lab.
If this sounds dry and boring to you, consider this; it will have HUGE implications for the games we play. Imagine exploring a MMO game like World of Warcraft or Second Life using a Wiimote as the primary control scheme. That’s the point where playing in these virtual worlds becomes much more exciting and immersive, and it’s not far off from becoming reality.
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Video Game is coming to a games system near you! In news more exciting than the prospect of GoldenEye on the VC! (ok maybe not quite that exciting but it is close!) LucasArts is teaming with TT Games once again to immortalise the iconic adventurer in blocks. The three classic Indy movies will be playable giving TT a great range of locations and perils to overcome!
A short trailer is available in various places over the net including Gametrailers.com and features our hero in a number of the franchise’s favorite scenes redone in the amusing and blocky style of TT Games earlier Starwars titles.
The trailer shows a few fleeting glimpses of gameplay footage of Indy leaping around and swinging with his whip, shooting and of course running away from a huge LEGO boulder! The video ends stating that Indy’s new LEGO-tastic adventure is due out summer 2008 so not too long to wait.
LEGO Starwars captured the imagination of children and adults alike and was one of the few “children’s” titles that many hardcore gamers would admit to enjoying and playing from start to end. The Starwars universe is rich and exciting and its obvious that TT Games intend on providing a similar experience with Indiana Jones.
Unfortunately there is no word on which machines Indy will be swinging onto you could probably place money on a Wii version that makes full use of the Wiimote for shooting and swinging! As soon as more information is released about this treasure we will let you know!
Sony’s Jack Tretton has hit out at the Wii saying that developers are setting themselves up for a big fall by flocking to the Nintendo stable.
Tretton feels that developers are flocking to the Wii based solely on its initial success and that in the future consumer tastes will shift leaving the developers all up a creek without a Wiimote for a paddle. Tretton is probably feeling like he is doing developers a service by warning them that launching titles on the most popular machine in the market place could be a dangerous thing.
Obviously he was the first to pipe up when everyone was treating the PS2 as a priority format… oh no, wait. That never happened did it?
Incredibly he cites two games that spawned a number of clones as justification on his outburst saying “Tomb Raider was a revolutionary product on the PlayStation. Everyone tried to do a rip off. By the time they got there, it was too late. When Grand Theft Auto came out, everybody gravitated to Grand Theft Auto.”
What do you guys think? Sour Grapes? Is Tretton just sore that so many apparently exclusive PS3 titles are also appearing on other platforms? Is he annoyed that the SIXAXIS is thus far pretty much ignored and underutilised? Or is he right are developers putting too must into the Wii?
… and a very costly-looking telescope too, if you ask me. This may go beyond simple wiimote bluetooth hack — how many of us have this sort of equipment just lying around? — but the sheer fact that videos like this one are still surfacing and still surprising me means that it deserves a mention. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it now but I genuinely thought the geeks out there had exhausted their wiimote hack tricks already, we’ve seen it all (see related posts below). Now, though, I can’t even guess what we might see next. Can you? Source.
So you’re probably still trying to beat Metroid from last Friday (a feat worthy of congratulations in my book) but with Nintendo being as nice as they are, four more titles are available to you on the Wii’s Virtual Console this morning.
We’ve got a big, pink ‘n’ round puzzle extravaganza in the shape of Kirby’s Ghost Trap, pinball excitement with monsters and spells in Devil’s Crush, futuristic pool without the rectangular table in Lunar Pool, and RPG 8-Bit epic-ness in Breath of Fire II. Basically everything you could ever want… after Metroid. Which will you go for?
Ever fancied a dip in the deep blue ocean, but lacked the cash to go swanning off to the tropics? Ever thought there’s perhaps more to the ocean than a few dodgy looking floating rubber devices, and a chill up your spain during your yearly trip to Skeggy?
Forever Blue, the deep sea diving sim soon to hit the Wii reieved a cracking score of 35/40 in highly thought of Japanese gaming mag, Famitsu. Could it be the game to make all our water based dreams (no, not those kind of wet dreams) come forever true? We shall make sure we give you the word soon as we lay our grubby mitts on a copy.
Cracking news for you Ninty fanboys, with news that in the quater leading up to June, the Wii outsold the PS3 by almost 5 times over.
Compared to the PS3’s pitiful 710,00 heading into the hands of the glorious consumer, the Wii’s 3.43 million new owners is a bit of a beastly number. Add this to news that Sony gaming division is currently working at a loss, and things don’t look quite so rosey at Sony HQ. As for Ninty, well, they’re just blooming perfect aren’t they.
There are no words to describe the content of this video. Only that you will see things happening in a NES game that you never thought you’d see, and worlds will truly collide. Sit back with a cup of Bovril and enjoy the show.
Here’s a clever marketing gimmick; visit the official website for Die Hard 4.0 using the Opera browser on your Wii, and you can play a special Flash game using your Wii-mote to control the action.
Entitled “Bare Knuckle Brawl”, you play a Mii version of Bruce Willis - wearing a dirty vest - as he beats the crap out of various types of terrorist scum. The game isn’t that great, if anything it’s basic and repetitive, but it’s good enough to merit your attention for half an hour or so.
And besides, it’s an application of the Opera browser that we’d definitely like to see more of in the future. Aspiring game designers can effectively create fully-fledged games for the console without a) worrying about passing Nintendo’s stringent licensing conditions and b) concerning themselves with costly distribution. The magical interweb can take care of all that.
Let us know if you see any more Flash games that make use of the Wii-mote. Until then, yippee-ki-yay, mother-@£$%er.
What starts out as a pretty obvious dig at the fitness/shopping channel genre actually ends up with a pretty sharp punchline. I’m liking EA’s dancing game Boogie more and more every time I hear about it, not least because of an excellent showing at E3. This game has the potential to be one of Wii’s killer apps. ÂÂ
The virtual world of Second Life is frequently lauded as a tool for business and education. Things are going to get a whole lot more interesting, however, thanks to a group of boffins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They reckon the Wii’s motion sensitive controller can be used in conjunction with Second Life to make training exercises even more realistic, to the extent that it can be used to teach people about the finer points of surgery, building construction and, well, pretty much anything.
Sony’s Jack Tretton has hit out at the Wii saying that developers are setting themselves up for a big fall by flocking to the 
Ever fancied a dip in the deep blue ocean, but lacked the cash to go swanning off to the tropics? Ever thought there’s perhaps more to the ocean than a few dodgy looking floating rubber devices, and a chill up your spain during your yearly trip to Skeggy?
Cracking news for you Ninty fanboys, with news that in the quater leading up to June, the Wii outsold the PS3 by almost 5 times over.
Here’s a clever marketing gimmick; visit the official website for 
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