What character, in all of science fiction, is the most cuddly of all? I think most fans would agree with me that it’s Jabba The Hutt. He’s a gigantic slug, he’s slimy, he eats frogs, keeps slaves, is a criminal mastermind, and routinely throws his servants to a hungry rancor for his amusement. What’s not to love?
Well, finally someone has turned Jabba’s on-screen cuddliness into real world huggability. Flickr user Kit Lane has published a few photos of her (his?) latest creation, a stuffed toy Jabba. It shows Jabba’s tender side, as he’s cuddling his own stuffed bunny.
At least we think it’s a stuffed bunny. If it’s a live bunny, he’s probably going to eat it.
We’ve all heard or read about a universal translator in one sci-fi galaxy or another at one point in time. Whether it be a Babel fish inserted into your ear or a universal translator from the Star Trek galaxy, it’s a pretty fundamental concept in Sci-Fi… and until now it was fiction.
It took awhile, but science finally did it. There is a new program for the iphone (Since the iphone will one day conquer the world once they become sentient, it seemed appropriate) and blackberry’s that is a portable translator that can translate using your voice alone. No physical input needed. Wowwie Zowwie!
You can check out a small clip of this madness in action below. It’s short, and worth the view.
This seems a little more convenient then a fish in the ear, but far less cool (although still heaps of cool). It’s currently only available for U.S. Government and business customers, and we can only assume consumers will get their shot at it soon enough.
The gallery below features an amazing costume - that of a suit of Brotherhood of Steel powered armor, from Fallout 3.
The full gallery shows a bit of the manufacturing process, as well as some additional pics of the nearly completed suit in action. Truly, deeply epic in every way.
Our very own Pig writes a regular feature for IncGamers, appropriately entitled MMO Weekly. As the title suggests, it’s all about MMOs. :) This week, he delves pretty deeply, exploring a bit of MMO history, and why the mistakes implemented in MMOs of the past (especially raid content) keep showing up in modern games. This is especially true in WoW, and may be killing the 800 lb gorilla of virtual space. It’s a two parter, so check out part one right here.
Yeah, so we’ve poked a little fun at Transformers 2. How could we help ourselves? The story is incomprehensible, the characters are moronic (except for Megan Fox, who is yummy, and therefore not at all moronic in my book), and the robot fights look like someone threw some lego blocks and metal bits at one another and then added a CGI explosion onto the whole mess. And the whole thing is really, really dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb-ditty, dumb.
Well now, thankfully, someone has posted the entire movie online for free. Here it is:
38 Studios is an odd company; the CEO is a baseball player, and he repeatedly references the creative/leadership team of his company. This four people he mentions most - to the exclusion of nearly everyone else in the company - include a comic book artist, and a guy who writes Dungeons and Dragons books. Oh, and there’s a really, really quiet guy who actually knows how to make video games. So yeah, 3 of the 4 people running the company know nothing about video game production.
Well, the quiet guy - not the baseball player that so clearly craves attention - has finally given an interview. And now we all understand why the attention-starved baseball player has been doing all the talking. Brett Close is a video game development veteran, and the nicest guy in the company. But damn, Brett isn’t exactly a quote machine. When asked about 38 Studios’ acquisition of Big Huge Games, Brett had a few, um, interesting things to say. Check out these excerpts:
So once we became aware of that, and recognized the capabilities of the studio, which we already knew, but we knew the talent, 38 Studios has always been about gathering great talent together to do incredible things. So, it’s an incredible studio. And once that situation arose it was just evident that we needed to figure out a way to turn those lemons into lemonade, right?…They’re, as I said, incredible veteran talent that, the more we examine the situation, the more it was a hand-in-glove fit just in terms of the cross-compatibility, the cultural fit, the technology fit, and just the philosophy of how we approach things in terms of development and intellectual properties. So, you know, it’s sort of made its own gravy.
Just when we hadn’t heard about Second Life in awhile an amusing anecdotal picture bursts out into the internet. It’s apparently a conversation between a slightly power-hungry moderator and a green alien that doesn’t meet the requirements for “Sexy Nude Beach” which is the location the moderator is… erhm, moderating. [Note: You can click on the pic for a better view.]
Two quick announcements: Blood Bowl - the Warhammer-themed football simulation - is now out and live. It’s downloadable only, and you have to pay up front (no demo), but this game has a simply stunning number of fans. Starting out as a tabletop game waaaaaay back in the day, this quirkly little title has been hotly anticipated. You can check out the official site here.
Also live today is Battlefield Heroes. This is one quirky, fun, and totally free shooter. You get to custom design your avatar, there are unlocks as you progress in the game, and the whole thing has a very fun vibe. You can download and start playing right here.
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