Where horror and video games intersect

 

Several years ago, I was writing about a new generation of video games that were pretty damn frightening and believable. Of course, with the popularity of games like Dead Island, they’re getting more hyper violent and freaky than ever.
As gamer Andrew Alonso told me, "Blood and horror are mainstays that have been with us for years, starting with the first Resident Evil in 1996. There is something extremely satisfying about killing zombies. Games like Dead Island are outlets."

There was even a point when Fangoria magazine had a gaming column, and Dead Island also recently made the cover of Rue Morgue. 


The first mainstream horror video game, based on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was pretty cheesy by today's standards, but as Fangoria editor Michael Gingold told me, "Horror films and games kind feed the same demographic, young males, though there's reports that female gamers are getting into it, and younger women are getting more into horror films than ever. Women's interests in horror and games seem to be  on a parallel track."
And Tom Savini, the godfather of gore make-up (the original Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th) told me, "I had the first Space Invaders game that came out, and that was a miracle back then. When I was making Knightriders with George Romero, we would sit in the hotel room and play Space Invaders and Pong for hours."
Recently, Entertainment Weekly compiled a list of the scariest moments in video games, including Fatal Frame (clearly influenced by the J-horror trend); F.E.A.R. with its frightening dead nurse and shadows; the giant spider of Limbo; Eternal Darkness, which had a non-linear, nightmare style quality and the twisted lullaby in BioShock. Oh, and the zombie dogs of the first Resident Evil Game, of course.

Although they may never be as terrifying as a well done horror film, gaming has definitely become quite scary over the years.
Screenwriter Dave Callahan, who adapted the movie version of Doom, told me, "If you were to turn out the lights and play Doom 3 on a large monitor and wear headphones, it’s probably a lot scarier than most movies will ever be because you don’t have the comfort of people around you, and the stereo speakers are right in your ears. When I played Manhunt, it bothered me to the point where I couldn’t play it anymore. The Resident Evil and Silent Hill games are definitely some creepy sh*t!"

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Anticipation is building for the big screen adaptation of The Hunger Games, the best selling trilogy of books written by Suzanne Collins, which hit theaters on March 23 by Lion's Gate.
Clearly, the studio is hoping Hunger Games be the next Twilight style saga - not that the stars of the film look at it that way, of course.



Jennifer Lawrence, who won the lead role of Katniss Everdeen in Games, emphatically told Vanity Fair Hunger Games is not Twilight, adding, "While I hear the comparisons, it's really premature to say that it will be the same phenomenon." 


She further told Access Hollywood, "The reach is very similar, they're very popular books with a very large fanbase. I think the size of it is very familiar to Twilight."

Lawrence is already a best actress nominee from her role in Winter's Bone, and has also starred in X-Men: First Class. She is trying to brace herself for even more fame, telling the Wall Street Journal that one day she was in a coffee shop thinking, if I say yes to this job, next year at this time people will be here taking pictures of me with their phones. But I didn't want to say no to a script that I loved because I was scared."

As for the film itself, the first installment of The Hunger Games was adapted into screenplay form and directed by Gary Ross, who'd previously written Big, Dave, and wrote and directed Seabiscuit. 

Ross told VF, "My kids turned me on to it, and I went nuts. You rarely get a tentpole that has this much emotional depth, this much character to dive into."

The L.A. Times reports that Lion's Gate is looking at the Games trilogy as a "game changer" for the company, and it has a huge built in audience that will certainly be there opening weekend.

Although the film has kids fighting each other to the death in a futuristic society, in all likelihood it's going to have to stay within a PG-13 for maximum box office impact. 


Lawrence told Access Hollywood her favorite part of weapon training was archery. 

"I feel like Hugh Jackman," she said. "We all have to get into supernatural shape."

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Siri comes to iPhone 4

 

Apple fans who have been slobbering over the amazing voice technology known as Siri but who don't have enough cash to upgrade their iPhone 4 can now rejoice.
Though not official, it looks like Siri can be executed successfully on the last generation iPhone device. Over the weekend, hackers Steve Troughton-Smith and Grant Paul managed to port the supposedly iPhone 4S-exclusive app to its predecessor.
PC World quoted Troughton-Smith as saying, "It works just as well as the iPhone 4S, and I've seen it work even faster than it at times."
The only limitation comes with Siri's "raise to speak" feature, which requires the improved iPhone 4S gyroscope to enable the voice-powered app when users raise the phone to their ear.
The ported app isn't yet widely available, even among the underground channels. There's still some fine tuning to make sure everything is well oiled, but this could be promising to those who still have a year or more on their existing iPhone 4 contract before they even get the chance to upgrade and experience Siri.
It's unclear if Apple will eventually bring official Siri support to previous versions of the iPhone, but that's probably an unlikely scenario.
But as long as there are people like Troughton-Smith, anything is possible.

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Brutus electric motorcycle goes retro

It’s the first golden age for electric motorbikes. As technology improves by leaps and bounds, more and more models are hitting the market every month. 

Consumers can now choose from electric superbikes, sport bikes, scooters and street bikes. Now they’ve got one more option: an electric, classic-styled retro cruiser.



Chris Bell, owner and chief designer of Brutus Electric Motorcycle, recently unveiled his company’s first model, the Brutus. 

Bell originally conceived, designed and manufactured the Brutus in his garage, but the bike proved so compelling he decided to go into mass production. First models are expected to be available in January, 2012.
What’s immediately striking about the Brutus, which we learned about from Green Autoblog, is its sweet, classic styling, recalling the seductive, graceful lines found on Indian and Harley Davidson V-Twin cruisers of the 1930s and 1940s. 


Even more appealing for traditional bike fans is that, unlike most electric bikes, the Brutus utilizes a conventional five-speed transmission to channel power from the lithium-ion battery pack



The bike has some thoroughly modern proposed performance specs. The stock Brutus will have a 100 volt battery with a top speed of 100 MPH and a range of 60 miles. 

An optional upgrade to a 144 volt power plant will boost speed to 125 and a range of up to 100 miles. 


Pricing information has yet to be released.

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The Delorean returns, as an electric car

The car that was a commercial flop but still managed to be immortalized as a movie icon is making a triumphant return to the market.
The Delorean Motor Company has announced that it will bring the infamous car brand back to the US.
I know what you're thinking - wait, the Delorean Motor Company still exists?
While it's clearly not the same organization that launched the fumbled vehicle in the 1980s, the name lives on thanks to investor Stephen Wynne, who bought the rights to the product line a few years ago.
Only a few thousand of the original Delorean DMC-12 model ever left the assembly line but thanks to its inclusion in the Back to the Future movie series, there has been demand to bring it back for decades.
According to a report on FoxNews, Wynne "got the idea for the battery-powered DeLorean after seeing the success of the Tesla Roadster, and thinks it would be a fitting tribute to the movie version of the car which famously needed 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to travel through time."
The car can travel from 0 - 60 miles per hour in less than eight seconds and will be able to reach an estimated 100 miles between charges. A prototype model has already been tested on closed circuit tracks as well as on the street.
Wynne said he hopes to have the car available by 2013 and plans to sell it for $90,000. Incidentally, the movie Back to the Future II took place in 2015.

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Ocean-thermal energy to debut in the Bahamas

 

Ocean Thermal Energy and Bahamas Electricity have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop two ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plants in the Bahamas. 

Upon completion, the two plants will be the world's first commercially viable ocean-thermal plants that produce electricity and potable water, while also providing a site for commercial sustainable food production.


Ocean thermal technology uses the temperature differential between warm surface seawater and cold deep ocean water to generate both baseload electricity and potable water.
Warm surface water is used to boil ammonia into steam, which spins a turbine. Then, cool water is used to condense the ammonia, providing a seamless process for generating electricity. 


The technology can also purify water for agricultural use, and use cool seawater to meet refrigeration and district cooling needs (see illustration below). 

In the United States, an ocean thermal energy conversion project is ongoing off the coast of Hawaii, with the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command turning to Lockheed Martin to design a plant.
The agreement will support the construction of the two plants, which will be owned and operated by Ocean Thermal. 

Power produced by the plants will be purchased by Bahamas Electricity, the largest utility in the region, serving 85 percent of all electricity customers in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
"OTEC is a market-driven clean technology energy solution that will have a positive impact for millions of people in the years to come," said Jeremy P. Feakins, chairman of the board and chief executive officer at Ocean Thermal.  


"While these first two OTEC plants are an important step in the right direction, in the near future we look forward to building additional OTEC plants with even higher capacity offering clean power generation, potable water production and sustainable food production."

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Latest id Software game draws Rage from PC gamers

That company is called id Software, the maker of such cult classics as Doom and Quake. Even in a world where gaming is being overtaken by consoles, iPhones, and casual titles, id remains faithful to its hardcore audience.In the great bastion that is the video game industry, there was one company that still catered to the few, the proud, the hardcore PC gamer.
At least, that's what its mission statement might say. But it appears the company's latest release, Rage, is not up to snuff. All over id's forums and game websites around the Web, gamers are complaining about graphical problems with the game on their PC.
Curiously, it does not appear to be an issue with those playing the console version of Rage. Could it be that id is now slipping into the convention of catering to the console audience? It is, after all, a much more lucrative market these days.
John Carmack, id figurehead, sent a Tweet to calm the anger, saying, "Everyone, make sure you have latest Nvidia/Ati drivers to play Rage!" That was little consolation to gamers who insist they have the latest drivers installed in their souped-up PC rigs.
This isn't just a story about a computer game that failed to live up to expectations. It is symbolic of the massive shift that the video game industry has undertaken in the last several years. If a company like id has more satisfied console gamers than PC gamers, that tells quite a story.

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iPhone 4S officially announced with A5 CPU

What's this? The second coming of the iPhone 4? Sure enough, Tim Cook just pulled the covers off of the hotly-anticipated iPhone 4S here in Cupertino. On the outside the 4S looks exactly like its predecessor, but on the inside it's "all new." Apple has jammed a dual-core A5 CPU inside alongside a new dual-core GPU that supposedly boosts graphics performance by up to 7x. Up front is the same Retina display we've all come to know and love, and a glass back. That antenna around the sides (which caused many users so much trouble) has been revamped and can intelligently switch between two different sets of anntenae on the fly to avoid dropping calls based on how you hold it. Those antennas are connected to a dual-mode GSM and CDMA radio that will let Apple's handset roam the globe while enjoying either 14.4Mbps HSPA+ or EVDO.

On the back is also a new camera that sports an 8-megapixel camera with a backside illuminated CMOS sensor for better low-light performance. The lens also now packs an IR filter and a new assembly for apertures down to f/2.4. The improved visuals extend to video performance as well. The 4S can record 1080p video and has a new image signal processor for image stabilization and facial recognition.

As far as battery life, you're looking at eight hours of talk over 3G, and 14 hours of 2G, while web browsing over 3G cuts off at six hours. Using WiFi you'll get a respectable nine hours of web, video playback tops out at 10 hours and music at 40 hours.

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Kapil Sibal Reappears with Mythical Sakshat Tablet for October Launch

The Indian wonder tablet was suppose to be launched on June 2011, to initial testing by shipping it to IIT students. Then, it disappeared, along with Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister, possibly succumbing to Team Anna's protest.
Now, both of them have reappeared.

At a function in Delhi, Sibal said: "The computer will be launched next month…This is not just a dream, it is a reality," he added. Officials announced that the device will be launched on October 5, 2011. However, Sibal has not spoken about the device's specifications.

The device's prototype is likely to be a 5/7/9 inch touchscreen gadget, featuring a webb browser, PDF reader, video conferencing, open office, sci-lab, media player, remote device management capability, multimedia input-output interface option, and a content viewer.

Sibal also mentioned how "corruption…in the recent past will be dealt with through initiative of IT…"… the device.
Sibal hasn't announced any program to institute the tablet for government work, Besides, And, the tablet won't actually be used for any of this - Indian government has issued a directive granting Rs. 50,000 to MPs to buy iPads and Samsung Tabs for parliamentary work, along with training to use the tablet interface.

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The Rs. 1750 price-tag (quoted in dollars by the government) has also been questioned. Even though the tablet is considered, by experts, to be a copy of the Chinese Hivepad tablet, such a low-price tablet has never been invented by the Chinese.
According to PCWorld: "The basic components like a processor, motherboard, memory, display, etc, however obsolete they might be, that go into a computer, would cost more than $35 even if you buy in millions of pieces, which the major manufacturers anyways do…"

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