Ever since I first played Burnout, I was hooked. There’s just something so satisfying about destroying cars and causing as much mayhem as you possibly can. So when I heard about Burnout 5, I was definitely excited. Unfortunately, details were scarce, and not a whole lot was revealed. That changed today though, and we finally have a bit more of an idea of what we’ll be getting. Hit the jump for the trailer, the box art, and the press release.
There are plenty of people with weird names, and a lot of them probably wish they were just called something ordinary. Not Karen though. While she may have a normal last name now, she’s planning on getting it changed. But she’s not going to choose it - instead, she has set up an Ebay auction and for $10,000 anyone can pick her new last name. Here’s what that $10,000 will get you:
For the winner of this auction, I will legally change my last name to the name of your choice. I will keep the name you choose for a term of no less than a year per grand, with a starting figure of 10,000 and a time period of 10 years. I will use your choice actively every day. This is a chance for a great amount of publicity. For your buisness [sic] there will be a surge of philanthropic publicity, followed by at least 10 years of people talking about it every time I fill out a form or show my ID. There were in excess of 2300 views of this auction when the originaly [sic] got pulled. If each of those people told only one person a piece, who told one person, who told one person.. invaluable advertising! The same concept would apply to every form I fill out, every time I give my name, etc. In addition you will be helping 3 beautiful, smart children! What could be better?
Bungie’s Weekly Update just went up, and it contains a few interesting things regarding Halo 3. First, a few rumors are cleared up; contrary to a recent rumor, Halo 3 will not be running at 60 fps and 1080p:
1080p at 60 fps is awesome for fighting games and barely a stretch for Live Arcade games. But if you want epic battles, dozens of bad guys, huge vistas and colossal structures, with advanced AI, HDR lighting and explosive physics, then you’re not getting those at 1080p at 60fps. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate – Halo 3 will display at 1080p through the Xbox Elite with its scaler and HDMI port, but not natively. We’ve seen it do just that and it looks utterly lovely. So if you have a 1080p TV, enjoy it yourself in a few weeks. Most people, and I mean the VAST majority of people don’t have a 1080p TV, so it would be foolish to sacrifice even a single feature for a bullet point number on the back of a box.
*SPOILERS* Be warned, the following posts contains spoilers about Lost
If you choose to vote in the elections, you should have a candidate in mind by the time you get to the ballot box, preferably much sooner. However, Sen. Mike Bennett believes that some people do not want to vote for any of the candidates, but want to vote anyway. His solution is a bill he convinced the Senate Ethics and Elections committee to approve, which requires another option to be included on ballots - “I choose not to vote.” Personally I find this a bit stupid, since if someone doesn’t want to vote they aren’t going to spend the time to go to a polling place for the sole sake of voting for not voting. Not to mention anyone who checks that box is contradicting themselves, since by doing so they are in fact voting.
Bennett thinks the option would allow voters to make a clear statement that they don’t want to vote for a candidate. I think our low voter turnout compared to some countries is statement enough, and all in all this seems pretty pointless.
While most countries are moving forward with the Internet, China is going backwards. The Internet could never be what it is today without the freedom it provides, the ability to access anything at any time. China doesn’t seem to understand this though, and censors much of what shows up on the Internet. They would like to “purify” it - and their idea of purification is spreading the Communist Party doctrine and anything that “adheres to correct propaganda guidance,” while censoring everything they don’t like. Their latest move (from CNN):
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday launched a campaign to rid the country’s sprawling Internet of “unhealthy” content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine, state television reported.
With Hu presiding, the Communist Party Politburo — its 24-member inner council — discussed cleaning up the Internet, state television reported. The meeting promised to place the often unruly medium more firmly under propaganda controls.
[Via Download Squad]
Today Ubisoft announced a new Tom Clancy game - EndWar. It is set during a world war, but since WWII has already been used far too many times for video games, EndWar goes instead to a future World War. That, of course, is World War III. That is definitely an exciting and fresh premise, not to mention it will “push the envelope of technology, showcasing artificial intelligence, graphics, physics and animations that were not possible prior to the launch of the new hardware systems.” Almost every game these days claims that, but I believe that Ubisoft can pull it off.
EndWar development is being helmed by Michael de Plater, at Ubisoft’s Shangai studio, and should be available on next generation consoles in fiscal year 2007/2008.
It seems like every day there is a new website for getting stuff done over the internet. From buying someone a drink to having pretty much any task performed, you no longer need to interact with a person beyond a virtual acquaintance over the internet. However, the newest addition, while based on the same principle of connecting over the internet for non-internet purposes, actually involves meeting and interacting with a person.
Called GoLoco, it’s a recently launched company which aims to make car pooling much easier and more efficient. On their website, you post where and when you will be driving. Others who are going the same place as you and need a ride can find your listing by searching, and if you agree they will travel along with you. This isn’t just for simplifying rides though. It could also be great for the environment, since the more people sharing rides the less overall cars getting driven around.
Apparently MTV is working on a new reality TV show that follows virgin guys as they attempt to get some pussy. All that is known so far is what the above casting sheet reveals, and as long as you’re over 18 and are in driving distance of the Los Angeles area, you’re free to apply. Just send an e-mail to subreality@mtvstaff.com, with details and contact info about yourself, a photo, and a “brief history of your love life.” They also encourage you to send an e-mail if there is someone you know who fits their description, so make sure to apply not only for yourself but your friends too.
Apparently Lindsay Lohan has dropped out of the upcoming film The Best Time of Our Lives. There were disputes with the producers over her contract, and so she chose to leave. If I haven’t lost you already, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you about some random movie you have no reason (I know of) to care about. Well, this is the movie that Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley were to appear together for a threesome in(The third participant being some guy you probably haven’t heard of).
Lohan’s departure puts the threesome in jeopardy. However, don’t give up so fast - personally I thought Lohan was the lesser of the two women involved, and without her it could actually be much better. I can think of many celebrities who are way more deserving of the assets Keira Knightley provides, and could make the scene much better. I hope her replacement will lead to a much hotter threesome, not to mention a better movie overall. But seriously, does anyone really care about that?
Everyone is going on about Web 2.0 or Web 3.0. Why not Internet 2.0? That’s what some university researchers want (with the government’s backing). They believe we need a clean slate, and should get rid of the established internet and start from scratch.
The newest backwards compatibility update for Xbox 360 should be available on Xbox Live now. Adding 37 games (and updating 1), it brings the total number of Xbox 1 titles playable on the 360 to over 300.
Full list after the jump.
*SPOILERS* Be warned, the following posts contains spoilers about Lost
A recent survey of media and entertainment executives reveals that they see user created content as somewhat of a threat. Of those surveyed, 57 percent cited it as one of the top “issues” they currently face. Over 70 percent believe social media will only continue to grow, while 3 percent seem to be in denial and think it is nothing more than a fad. There is a simple solution to this though, which is creating quality content.
There are so many low quality films, movies, TV shows and games being pumped out that it doesn’t surprise me they are worried they can’t keep up with the users. There is so much new content made available every day completely free, and so when you’re being charged for what they do it better be good. They should be helping users create what they want - and some do, through contests an things like that. Not only do they get something out of that, but it can give the creator a much vaster array of resources. Let’s hope they realize that it’s not just being a big company that gets you recognized, but instead making something awesome whether you have a background or not.
It’s obvious to me that the internet is the future of media. Most internet users realized it long ago, and the popularity of file sharing proves that it definitely works. Most networks make some of their most popular shows available to be streamed from their sites soon after they air, which is a start.
Some companies have decided to skip television all together though, and have made new shows specially for the web. Comedy Central’s website has a bunch “Web Shows”, and there are various others whose success is based solely on what they’ve created for the internet. The newest addition: Fox Reality’s new TV show “Nightclub Confessions.”