Friday, November 20, 2009

Warhammer 40K goes MMORPG

Games Workshop's sci-fi tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 is being turned into an MMORPG by THQ.

Reported on GameSpot, the revelation on massively multiplayer plans follows an extension of a licensing agreement on WH40K between the two companies.

The agreement covers "all systems, including console, handhelds, PC, wireless, and online, including massively multiplayer online titles", THQ's Kelly Flock, executive vice president of worldwide publishing, has explained.

We're therefore speculating that the WH40K MMORPG will come to console as well as PC.

Full details on the game have yet to be disclosed as it's still early in development, but Flock has promised that the title will stay "true to the rich universe Games Workshop has built - with scalable depth of characters and worlds that MMO fans have come to expect."

THQ plans to launch the MMORPG in North America, Europe, and Asia, Flock said, informing that development is being handled by the publisher's Austin-based studio, Vigil Games.

Former NCSoft staffer David Adams leads the dev team, which is "comprised of several MMO veterans from that community".

Games Workshop's head of group legal and licensing, Andy Jones, added that the company believes "very strongly that the Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property delivers opportunities for unique and innovative gameplay in the MMO space".

Kelly Flock was also queried on the future of the WH40K: Dawn of War RTS series. While there's nothing new to announce currently, Flock said THQ looks forward "to building on that franchise in the future".

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

TV Remote co-inventor dies aged 93

Eugene Polley and Robert Adler were two of a dozen engineers at Zenith Electronics Corporation tasked with creating a wireless remote control for the television. In 1955, Polley invented the 'Flashmatic', using photocells to transmit information to a television screen, somewhat reminiscent of the infrared technology used in many of today's lounge room remote controls.

In 1956, Robert Adler invented what he called the Zenith Space Command remote control which used ultrasonics, or high-frequency sound. This made the remote control more efficient, and in turn is mimicked today by some remote controls that use wireless technology to avoid the problem of needing to transmit and receive infrared signals.

In 1997, both Adler and Polley were honored with an Emmy Award for their work on creating the wireless remote control. Adler was an astounding inventor, with more than 180 US patents to his name – with the last issued as recently as February 1.

A CNN article from the Associated Press lists more of Adler's history which details his zest and ability for solving problems, and his history in World War II with military communications equipment and ultra high frequency signals.

Since the mid 1950s, today's remote controls have evolved into multi-buttoned affairs, with notable examples of a successful remote control including Apple's simple remote control included with all current Macintosh computers, desktop and laptop, and the easy-to-use TiVO remote control.

Advanced universal remote controls with various button arrangements, and some using a touch screen to offer advanced or self-created layouts continue pushing forward the boundaries of remote control design, although most remote controls still end up seriously over-buttoned and prone to easy loss under one of the couch cushions.

Arguably the most advanced consumer remote control is the Wii-mote, or the wireless control wand that comes with the Nintendo Wii console, allowing more realistic physical game play than previously possible without actually going outside and playing the real game itself. So far, the Wii has proven an enormously popular games console, and truly indicating how far the humble remote control has come.

Could we have modern civilization without it?

ITWire.Com

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