http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:10:34 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/25418/8_Best_Free_ASCII_Linux_Games/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25418/8_Best_Free_ASCII_Linux_Games/ The idiom 'don't judge a book by its cover' can be extended to 'don't judge a computer game by its graphics'. Whilst the games featured in this article have extremely basic graphics, they have many redeeming qualities beyond evoking fond memories of the early days of computer gaming. Text-based games are often forgotten and neglected in the Linux press. However, there are some real ASCII gems out there waiting to be explored which are immensely addictive and great fun to play. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:36:44 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Games 8 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News James Collett http://www.osnews.com/story/25347/Minecraft_1_0_Released/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25347/Minecraft_1_0_Released/ At MineCon in Las Vegas yesterday and today, Mojang has officially released Minecraft 1.0, signalling the end of the phenomenon's alpha and beta testing phase. It's been an interesting journey, and I've been playing the game since early summer 2010 - so it's weird to see it hit final now. Game of the year? Well, no, that title obviously goes to Skyrim - but for a game like Minecraft to be even considered for such a title is amazing enough. Thanks, Notch and the rest of the Mojang team! Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:02:23 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 30 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25328/The_State_of_Linux_Gaming_2011/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25328/The_State_of_Linux_Gaming_2011/ When I decided to take on this article I thought it would be easy. Grab a few quotes from some developers, re-hash WINE support, check out the latest version of Battle for Wesnoth... Simple stuff. Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Games 51 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 Feature JoshB http://www.osnews.com/story/25306/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Released_For_Some_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25306/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Released_For_Some_/ This is massively off-topic since we barely cover the video game industry on OSNews, but in select cases, I'm willing to make exceptions. I just got home from picking up my pre-order copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition (Xbox 360), and just want to gloat a little bit for all the peasants among us that won't get it until Thursday or Friday. You can imagine OSNews will be shutting down for the coming, oh, seven months or so. Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:24:35 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 6 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25170/Sony_Asks_Gamers_To_Waive_Right_to_Sue/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25170/Sony_Asks_Gamers_To_Waive_Right_to_Sue/ "Sony is preparing to ban gamers from the PlayStation Network unless they waive the right to collectively sue it over future security breaches. The firm has amended PSN's terms and conditions and users have to agree to them next time they log in. The move comes months after a string of hacking attacks compromised over 100 million accounts of the PlayStation Network subscribers. It is, however, possible to opt out of the agreement within the next 30 days. Gamers will now have to try to resolve any legal issues with an arbitrator picked by Sony, before being able to file a lawsuit." Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:23:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 25 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25159/Xbox_Live_Comes_to_Windows_8/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25159/Xbox_Live_Comes_to_Windows_8/ "We are confirming that we will be bringing Xbox LIVE to the PC with Xbox LIVE on Windows. We are very excited about Xbox LIVE coming to Windows 8. Xbox LIVE brings your games, music, movies, and TV shows to your favorite Microsoft and Windows devices. Bringing Xbox LIVE to Windows 8 is part of our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy." Xbox Live on desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and the Xbox. Pretty awesome. Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:25:59 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25047/Accuracy_Takes_Power_A_3GHz_Quest_for_the_Perfect_SNES_Emulator/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25047/Accuracy_Takes_Power_A_3GHz_Quest_for_the_Perfect_SNES_Emulator/ "Emulators for playing older games are immensely popular online, with regular arguments breaking out over which emulator is best for which game. Today we present another point of view from a gentleman who has created the Super Nintendo emulator bsnes. He wants to share his thoughts on the most important part of the emulation experience, accuracy." Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:25:34 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 13 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25040/Bethesda_Threatens_Minecraft_Creator_over_Scrolls_Trademark/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25040/Bethesda_Threatens_Minecraft_Creator_over_Scrolls_Trademark/ There are two reasons for this news item. First, I want this issue resolved. Second, it allows me to post the most awesome picture ever and ever. The story is simple. Mojang, the company behind the immensely successful Minecraft, is working on a second game called 'Scrolls', which has been in development for a while now. As it turns out, Bethesda has sent a cease and desist notice to Mojang - they claim 'Scrolls' infringes on 'The Elder Scrolls' trademark. As a fan of both Minecraft and Bethesda, this is just silly. Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:34:32 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 26 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25021/Top_Windows_Games_That_Run_Flawlessly_in_Ubuntu_Using_Wine/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25021/Top_Windows_Games_That_Run_Flawlessly_in_Ubuntu_Using_Wine/ Even though most games wont run natively on Ubuntu there is still a sizeable number that run flawlessly on it thanks to the almighty Wine. The Wine app database lists a few games that run flawlessly on Ubuntu or any other Linux distribution for that matter and assigns a rating for them based on precious metals. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:05:26 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Games 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News tjavailable http://www.osnews.com/story/25020/The_Xbox_Story/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25020/The_Xbox_Story/ Xbox celebrates its tenth birthday this year, having launched in the US on November 15, 2001. In this four-part special, Patrick Garratt talks to members of the console’s original team and tells its release story. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:03:55 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Games 1 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24855/Kinect_for_Windows_SDK/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24855/Kinect_for_Windows_SDK/ Microsoft has released a beta SDK for Windows, allowing Windows developers to officially make use of the XBox Kinect hardware. From their own press release: "The Kinect for Windows SDK, which works with Windows 7, includes drivers, rich APIs for Raw Sensor Streams, natural user interfaces, installer documents and resource materials. The SDK provides Kinect capabilities to developers building applications with C++, C# or Visual Basic using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010." Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:46:46 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Games 25 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24830/E3_Cows_Cows_Cows/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24830/E3_Cows_Cows_Cows/ So, the E3 is well under way, and all the major players have had their press conferences. To summarise. Microsoft: Kinect. Really. Kinect. Please Kinect. We'll do anything. For the love of god, Kinect. Sony: wait, what is this? What am I doing here? Oh, here's a 24" 3D TV for $500 and yet another PSP. Nintendo: we slapped every possible shiny object onto a tablet and made the Wii capable of rendering halfway decent graphics. Here's another load of Mariozelda Kart, and a bunch of EA games that Xbox/PS3 players already own. Yes, this year's E3 has been a massive letdown - save for a few exceptions. Update: Epic fail for Nintendo. The company has admitted that it has used footage from the Xbox 360 and PS3 to spice up the press reel for the Wii U. Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:45:35 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 52 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/24784/Smartphone_Minecraft_Xperia_Play_Exclusive_First/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24784/Smartphone_Minecraft_Xperia_Play_Exclusive_First/ "Minecraft developer Mojang has confirmed to Gamasutra that the previously revealed Android version of its PC indie hit will be arriving on Sony Ericsson's PlayStation-certified Xperia Play before other phones. The Xperia Play version of Minecraft will feature customized controls for the system's PlayStation-styled slide-out buttons, the company said. Mojang is also developing versions of the title for iOS and other Android phones, and said the smartphone versions of the game will be tweaked slightly to deal with the vagaries of the new platform." And we have video. I'll be buying an iPad 2 soon, and with that thing getting Minecraft... I fear for my life. Wed, 25 May 2011 22:30:05 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24749/Sony_Starts_Downplaying_PSN_Security_Fail/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24749/Sony_Starts_Downplaying_PSN_Security_Fail/ Now that the Playstation Network is back online, the great downplaying by Sony has begun. Sony CEO Howard Stringer has been making the rounds in the media world, talking about the massive security fail, and in his eyes, it's not that big of a deal. He calls it a 'hiccup', something that happens to all large networks. Tue, 17 May 2011 22:10:18 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 29 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24738/Playstation_Network_Coming_Online_Again/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24738/Playstation_Network_Coming_Online_Again/ As much as many of us are getting a bit of schadenfreude out of the epic Sony security fail, fact of the matter is that nearly 80 million ordinary people, who have nothing to do with Sony's abysmal customer track record, were affected by it as well. So, for those people - which includes a number of my friends - I'm happy to tell them that the Playstation Network has, in phases, been switched on again over the weekend. Sun, 15 May 2011 21:18:07 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Games 14 http://www.osnews.com/topics/42 News