Did You Know…? #0003

And here we are! Did You Know’s magic #3!  So did you know…

That the Nintendo 3DS released one year ago today?  And was a hell of a lot more expensive?  The console debuted at $250, highway robbery practically.  It did have glasses less 3D, then unheard of, but it’s launch was quite rocky.  Sales were not fantastic after the initial launch and it took a huge early price drop and a lot of quality games to find its footing again.  Good job on the comeback, fair Nintendo!  Now it’s your turn to stop sucking, PS Vita!

Lupin the Third is Making a Comeback

Have you seen the original Lupin the Third?  The only reason I know if it, since it was way before my time, is because it was an influence on the art style of Cowboy Bebop, my favorite anime of all time.  Apparently though, Lupin is making a comeback:

Lupin the Third: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine will start airing next month in Japan, apparently to commemorate a 40 year anniversary of Lupin The Third, if the opening scene of this video is to be believed.

Have you Seen the Kara Video? It Makes You Want To Take Care of a Robot

The original “Kara” tech demo, made by developer Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain), was fantastic.  It might not be an upcoming game, but it’s an emotional tour de force.  Or something.  Here is the original.

Well, Joystiq has a nice behind the scenes look at it.  You can find it here. Just like “The Casting”, the video does a great job of making you empathetic to a digital character.  Kara is better though, as things sometimes get with new technological breakthroughs.

The Amazon Gold Box is Ripe with Video Game Deals Today

If you got some cash to spend and you’re looking for a deal, Amazon Gold Box is doing some sweet video game action all day. There’s a 250 gig PS3 bundle for $259.99 that’ll be the daily Gold Box Deal, with other small deals sprinkled throughout.  You’ve already missed Army Corps of Hell, but then again there’s a reason it was the 6am deal. Zumba Fitness Rush is currently going on, and will probably not be all claimed.  You lazy bastards!

If You Haven’t Tried It Yet, Get to a GameStop and Try Gravity Rush

This is a little, well, late, but you should really try Gravity Rush.  Called Gravity Daze in Japan, it is coming out in June for PS Vita, and it looks like one of the few new good IPs coming out anytime soon.

I’m actually pretty excited for it, and it’s a blast to mess around with the gravity altering effects and combat system.  Ok, that’s all, move along, random plug over…

Anyone Picking Up Max Payne 3?

Max Payne 3 has come a long way since it’s geriatric debut, and it looks better every day. It seems fantastically cinematic and stylish, a lot like it’s predecessors.  How well the noir feel will bleed over from the last titles remains to be seen.  The reason I bring it up, though, is because of its release date.  It drops on May 15th, the same day as another, little known sequel to a game that was released over a decade ago:

Fuck.

Good luck Max, you’re gonna need it.

Baulder’s Gate Remake will be Released for iPad as well as PC

You probably already know that Baldur’s Gate is being remade in all of it’s Enhanced Glory, but what you may NOT have known is that it’s coming to iPad.  The tidbit popped up on their website not too long ago, here’s the scoop straight from their own sexy delicious mouths.

Nvidia’s Kepler Chipset is Coming

As the battle goes, season after season AMD and Nvidia try and punch each other in the face for the title of Fastest Graphics Card.  Currently, the high end is dominated by AMD, and the crown for fastest single GPU card belongs to the Radeon HD 7970.  The GeForce GTX 680 plans to pass it up by 10-40%, which is promising a lot.

Also, it’ll include some new technologies like adaptive V-Sync (creamier gaming with less tears, droping V-Sync when under 60 frames and re enabling when over to match the refresh rate of your monitor), TX Anti Aliasing (better jaggies reduction with less of a hit on performance), and a GPU boost feature that measures the temperature of the card in realtime, and boosts the clock speed if the card can take it.  That way, preset clock speeds based on temperature readouts on cards can be a thing of a past. Engadget has the full rundown.  They also posted a review roundup from various sites.  It’s looking pretty sexy.

Finally, expect it to cost a metric shit-ton; if AMD or Nvidia can claim fastest card, they will put a price tag on it to match.

Nibbling

On my way to work today, I saw a girl nibbling on a candy bar. She looked like the happiest person in the world. I want a candy bar now.

Windows 8 is….. Really Bad.

Dear dear dear… where to start.  So I installed Windows 8 on my laptop to try it out.  The thing was due for a reformat, so I thought to myself, why not try out this handy dandy consumer preview they got going on?  Can’t be that bad!  But oh my friends, how wrong I was.  How horribly wrong I was.

Now, I’m not going to talk about loading times, about technical niggles, anything like that.  The operating system, to me, is still in a beta-ish phase, so those things are to be expected.  What I AM going to talk about is the horrid inclusion of the Metro User Interface everyone else seems to be complaining about.  I will be speaking about it from the perspective of a Windows Desktop user, not a tablet or phone junky.

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