Code Retard

Square Enix releasing Deus Ex earlier this year was a surprise to some and an even bigger surprise to the company itself, selling over two million units and gaining critical and fan praise (excluding some boss fights), and it seems to have paid off with Square Enix posting a profit of ¥3.7 billion, which is more than twice for the same six month period last year of 1.7.

Sales for half the year was 57.5 billion and while that is a slight reduction from the 68 of last year, that’s still a lot. Trust me it is more money than anyone I know will see in their life time. Square Enix, being cocky buggers predicted that their profit would stand at 5 billion yen before the year is through, and I don’t doubt them. I know I’ll be picking up a copy of Deus Ex very soon. 

But where is most of this money coming from? According to Squenix themselves, smartphones and web-based income, as well as social networks. They,  like many other game companies, are seeing a growth trend in web-based and trending social media games, while it’s merchandising, publishing and international sales have all been shrinking.

A few people have blamed currency exchange to the US for the turn in Japanese countries, I honestly think they’re still recovering from financial and environmental difficulties and are adjusting to a new video game climate. It’s a big time for European and US video games at the moment and everyone is waiting on all the big console companies to show off what they’ve got in the new year and with Nintendo only putting their foot forward, Sony and Microsoft are still unsure what to do. But it’s good that third parties are still making a profit and are still strong.

Via [GamesIndustry.Biz]

Photo: Sparky, editing by Aurich Lawson/Ars Technica

2011 has been a crazy year for big-name game releases. Recently, we’ve seen a new Battlefield game and Arkham City is already out. We’ve also got Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3 coming out this week, and that’s just scratching the surface of all the great games that have either been released or will be on retail shelves in the next week or two.

Unless you have a huge budget for games — not to mention mountains of free time and a very understanding significant other — you’re going to have some hard choices to make.

We want to help. Buying games when they’re released is a scam: The prices of video games drop within weeks of release, and the second editions of games released to retail often include what used to be for-pay downloadable content. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when trying to decide what games to buy now, and when to wait.

Is there a bunch of DLC already announced? More on the way?

Let me put this bluntly: It is my job to understand the ins and outs of video game launches, and I take this very seriously. I study press releases, I have good relationships with the people in retail who sell video games, and I talk to the publishers and developers behind those games on a daily basis. That being said, I have no idea which shop you needed to go to preorder Arkham City in order to get the Batman outfit where he’s wearing the diaper because Kevin Smith said Batman peed himself in one terrible issue of that comic that I never read.

The same thing happened with Mortal Kombat, a game that offered a ton of preorder exclusives, new characters, and classic fatalities you could get by buying it at certain retailers or paying extra.

You can buy the Gears of War 3 Season Pass right now for $30, and this will make sure you get every piece of for-pay DLC for the game the moment it comes out, even though you don’t really know what you’re buying yet. What we do know is that there is a good amount of DLC coming for the game, and if you buy it before you know what it is, you can save money. This isn’t rare these days.

But why pay for all this content now? There will come a time, most likely during the holiday season, when the publisher releases a version of the game that will come with all this DLC included in the package, and that whole mess will be likely be sold for less than the base game cost at launch. Imagine that! All you need is a little patience and you can get a much larger game, with much more content, for much less money. The more content has been announced, the higher the chances of all that for-pay stuff being collected for one last retail release so the publisher can squeeze the last bit of money from its game.

The rule is simple: The more DLC released for a title, the better the chances you’ll save money by waiting and buying the game when the entire thing is collected for retail. You can opt out of every stupid nickel-and-dime scheme just by waiting a few short months.

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Apple has released an update to its Java runtime for OS X, which is available for OS X Lion and
Snow Leopard operating systems. The updates address some “reliability, security, and compatibility” issues involving the current Java implementations in these operating systems, if people have chosen to install them.

The largest fixes in this update address problems where code in Java applets could be run outside of the Java sandbox and thereby compromise the security of the system. Sandboxing is a method of isolating running code that has received a bit of attention recently.

Starting with OS X Lion, Apple has stopped supplying a Java runtime with the operating system, but Java can still be downloaded automatically if you run an application that requires it. Addtionally, Apple has announced it will not be maintaining an in-house version of Java for OS X, and instead as with other operating systems Java will need to be downloaded and installed from Oracle.

The latest Java updates can be downloaded via Software Update if you have Java installed, but if not then you can get them from the following locations:

Java for OS X Lion Update 1

Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 6

Do keep in mind that Java is not required to run OS X, and if you do install an application that requires Java then the OS will automatically download it from Apple.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

Another day, another version of the Nintendo 3DS hitting stores. It seems like the news this fall has been packed with different 3DS releases, with colors, bundles and all variety of weird rumors floating all over the web. Today is no different, as Nintendo has announced one more 3DS bundle for the holiday season.

The new bundle features a special edition Zelda 3DS handheld that’s black with gold accents, and will include a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D. You’ll find this very classy-looking bundle on sale in Europe on November 25th, but I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t bring the Zelda bundle to the States as well – Zelda is a pretty big deal over here.

Nintendo’s strategy with the 3DS seems to be evolving into “paint it, put a game in it, and sell it.” I’m not sure how it’s going to work out for them, but seeing this 3DS bundle marked the first time I’ve felt compelled to buy a 3DS since its release so maybe they’re onto something.

I’m still holding out for the “Lite” version, or its equivalent. What about you? Is a special edition handheld enough to sell you a 3DS?

Via Nintendo World Report

Time-lapse photos are a fun way to document a series of moments happening around you with a camera.

And now there’s an awesome app available for
Android that lets you bring this same method to your smartphone or
tablet. All you need is a quick download and a bit of setup to get started.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 1: Download Lapse It from the Android Market. There is a free version that will only allow lower-resolution photos and a Pro version, which allows images up to 720p.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 2: Open the app and press the Start new capture button.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 3: Set the time interval of your photos by pressing the timer button on the left, and then enter the interval in seconds. This example will work with 2 seconds as the interval.

Step 4: Press the Capture button (big red dot in the top left-hand corner) to start taking pictures!

Hint: The menu will be hidden when you start taking pictures. To get it back so you can stop the camera, slide your finger along the left side of the screen (when holding horizontally). A pause button is located at the top, with Stop just a few choices down.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 5: Press play to preview your set of pictures. To edit these pictures, turn the device back into portrait mode and you will see options for trimming, adding effects, or rendering. Rendering will create an MP4, MOV or FLV (your choice in settings) from the photos, so you can share it with friends or family.

If you forgot to render one of your photo sets when you created it, here’s how to get back to it:

Step 6: Head to the main menu of the app and press the List captured button.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 7: Tap the series you want to edit or share, and select View Details from the pop-up menu.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)

Step 8: Click the Render button on the right and type in a name at the bottom and click the smaller Render button in the bottom right-hand corner.

Step 9: Play or publish (share) the video through your social network of choosing.

If you created a time-lapse movie you want to share, add it in the comments.

Here’s one of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS0uNvXuhY8

via Addictive Tips

Busy weekend, we have updated several tools for the wonderful releases of this weekend. There was an update for Samsung LT Plus (LTPlus 2.01) and also the LT-MAX firmware was released by c43, this LT-MAX firmware is for selected Liteon DVD Burners and now will allow full area write, even with verify, that will generate the most accurate 1:1 XGD3 copy ever thanks to c4e ! (Please note it require also selected dvd-r dl brands)

Also we spotted a bug affecting only Standalone users of previous release, please visit our blog to read more of the bug and how stay safe of it. This has been fixed on new release.

These are instructions on how to enable the secret panoramic camera mode in iOS 5.

Step One
Jailbreak your device using one of our detailed tutorials which can be found here.

Step Two
Launch Cydia from your Springboard.

Step Three
Press to select Sections from the tab bar.

Step Four
Press to choose Tweaks from the list of Sections.

Step Five
Press to choose Firebreak from the list of Packages.

Step Six
Press the Install button at the top right of the screen.

Step Seven
Press the Confirm button to begin installation.

Step Eight
Once the installation has completed successfully press the large Restart SpringBoard button.

Step Nine
Once your SpringBoard has been restarted, press to launch the Camera.

Step Ten
Tap the Options button to bring up panoramic camera mode.

(Credit:
StreamingMedia.com)

Over the next two days, I will be at the Streaming Media West Conference in Los Angeles, getting schooled in the fast-moving world that is online video.

Old-media bigwigs and new-media luminaries will abound, talking about stuff like the emergence of platforms, the evolution of entertainment, the pivoting of strategies, and, of course, the corporate battles that underlie all of the above. Meanwhile, hordes of software vendors will be promoting their latest technology in hopes of becoming the next big thing.

Perhaps at the crux of it all will be mobile software, which will surely be on display at the conference. With
tablets and smartphones now firmly planted in the mainstream, every media publisher seems to be racing to create its own app, believing it could be a key to the future. Maybe we’ll run into a few there.

Don’t forget Google TV. As you might have heard, the search giant has significantly updated its living-room platform by giving it the Honeycomb treatment. This not only means a much-improved user interface, but also a steady stream of Google TV-optimized applications courtesy of the
Android Market. Hopefully we’ll get a look.

And what about the content creators themselves? With Google apparently doubling down on YouTube by commissioning some original content, doesn’t it seem like they deserve a bit of the spotlight too? Maybe some nifty distribution apps will be unveiled. Or perhaps some useful audience development tools will be discussed. Whatever happens, I’m guessing these creative types will be the topic of much discussion at the conference as well.

The reality is, whether you’re a streaming-savvy cord cutter or a more traditional couch-and-TV kind of guy, streaming media affects you. So, it might behoove you to stay tuned to possibly find out how.

The Need for Speed franchise seems to have hit a sort of plateau in the last few years, being able to push open worlds and car racing only so far with the current technology. That, of course, hasn’t stopped EA from continually bringing the franchise back, and a brand new entry is due in November 15th.

Hoping to create a sense of excitement over the latest title, Need for Speed: The Run (and its cinematic rejuvenation of the franchise), EA locked in Hollywood heavyweight Michael Bay to create this trailer:

It definitely feels like a Michael Bay trailer. Explosions, over-the-top music, slow-motion set pieces and constantly moving cameras are all on display. However, it does make the game seem very cool, and I have to say that the new idea of a race across the country is a nice refresher on the previous formula of “get in trouble, race cars” that’s been present in most late-console NFS titles.

The trailer was initially kept behind a Facebook veil, which demanded the video be shared and liked and whatever else people do on Facebook. Luckily for people like me, it’s now available to everyone. I’m not sure about all this Facebook marketing stuff – I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with it.

So what do you think about this latest Need for Speed title?

Via GamePro