Saturday, January 28, 2017

Francis Ford Coppola is taking to Kickstarter to make an ‘Apocalypse Now’ game

54db95544756fdd1de252369126fc4d9_original This isn’t the first time Francis Ford Coppola has overhauled Apocalypse Now. In 2001, the director teamed up with long-time editor Walter Murch for Redux, a new cut that added nearly an hour to the classic Vietnam edit. Now the semi-retired director is enlisting a new generation of collaborators to reimagine the 1979 film as a “psychological horror RPG” that puts the player… Read More

Return to simpler, more pixelated times with Sega game soundtracks now on Spotify

sega_outrun It’s been a rough day, and maybe what you need is a few chiptunes from Sega’s arcade and console hits. Many cartridges’ worth have just been added to the company’s Spotify channel. Read More

Square Enix and Marvel team for multiple games, starting with the Avengers

marvel-square Square Enix is working with Marvel on multiple games from the Marvel universe, starting with an Avengers title as the first of its projects. The game is being promoted with the hashtag #Reassemble, and appears to center around the aftermath of the events of Captain America: Civil War, which likely means it’ll either precede or coincide with the next Avengers movie, which is set for… Read More

Myst arrives on Android, Riven to follow soon

feature2-1024x500 If you are of a certain age you will grin at the sound of the world “Myst,” recalling the game that originally debuted in 1993 and enthralled computer gamers with its weird, atmospheric puzzles and amazing (for the time) graphics. Riven came not too long after, debuting in 1997 and spanned five CDs. Myst is available on Android today, via both the Google Play and Amazon App stores,… Read More

Existing Nvidia Shield TV owners can now update to get 4K HDR streaming

nvidia-shield-first-generation Nvidia announced a new Shield TV that provides 4K HDR streaming, and boosts its existing gaming capabilities considerably. Now, though, many of the benefits of the updated hardware are available on the original Shield TV, thanks to a free over-the-air software available now. The update delivers 4K HDR streaming via sources like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, as well as 4K movie support for… Read More

Things get a little too real in the latest Nintendo Switch ad

toilet-switch The Nintendo Switch is getting closer to its launch date, and now it’s also getting real about how we might use these things. Previous promotional materials depicted the Switch being shared around at amazingly photogenic evening rooftop parties, but this new clip shared on Nintendo’s German Facebook page starts right where the Switch will probably get a significant amount of play… Read More

First person perspective Resident Evil 'is the right move'

The people behind the new Resident Evil game insist switching to a first person perspective was "the right thing to do".

How to grow a huge tech firm

CEO Secrets asks four founders what it's like to turn a small company into a huge one.

Yahoo sale delayed following security breaches

Internet search company Yahoo says the sale to Verizon will go ahead later than planned.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Australia plans biometric border control

Australia begins to search for biometrics to automate passport control at its airports.

US libraries hit by ransomware attack

Hackers gain control of the servers of 17 Missouri libraries, demanding ransoms to restore data.

Pokemon Go finally reaches South Korea

Pokemon Go has finally been launched in South Korea, months after the rest of the world got the game.

Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

Massive collections of fake accounts are lying dormant on Twitter, suggests research.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Pokémon launches Duel, a new free iOS and Android strategy battle game

pokemon-duel Pokémon has another official new mobile game that isn’t Pokémon GO – it’s a strategy battle game called Pokémon Duel where you collect virtual figures and fight them in an attempt to take over territory from your rival. The Duel element involves actually battling your figures, which you can select in teams of six. These individual Pokémon have stats, including how many… Read More

Streamer numbers and incomes are rising healthily, according to data from popular tool

Twitch's dedicated game streaming interface While half the world is coming to grips with the idea that people actually want to watch others play games, the other half is watching people play games. Streamers, watchers, and tips from the latter to the former are all increasing at a good clip, according to streaming companion service Streamlabs. Read More

CES 2017: Highlights from the technology show

BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at the latest technology showcased at CES 2017.

Daz Black, Ben Phillips and Tish Simmonds pay tribute as Vine closes

The six-second clip-sharing service is shutting down but it's still not clear exactly why.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Google Play and iOS apps demand surges in India and China

India set a new record for Google Play downloads in 2016, while demand for iOS software soared in China, a study says.

Ambulances to jam car radios in Sweden

Ambulances in Stockholm are to test a system that stops radio in cars to tell drivers that an emergency vehicle is approaching.

Squirrel 'threat' to critical infrastructure

It's squirrels, not cyber-attacks, that pose the real threat to critical infrastructure systems, says one security expert.

Porn videos streamed 'via YouTube loophole'

Adult video websites appear to be exploiting a YouTube loophole to host explicit material on the platform.

Apple App Store prices rise in UK, India and Turkey

Apple is raising prices in its UK App Store by 25% to take account of sterling's drop versus the dollar.

Qualcomm sued in US over claims of unfair phone chip patent deals

The firm is accused by US antitrust regulator of unfair practices in the way it licenses technology.

Deliveroo to add 300 UK tech jobs in new London office

The food delivery firm will hire a third more staff when it opens its new London HQ in summer 2017.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Training self-driving cars on the streets of Los Santos with GTA V just got easier

BRITAIN - ENTERTAINMENT - COMPUTING - GTA5 The DeepDrive project has made it possible to use Grand Theft Auto to train self-driving cars for some time now. But today, the work is being integrated and open-sourced with OpenAI’s Universe. The collaboration will cut the once day-long setup time down to just 20 minutes. Training AI frameworks on synthetic data is all the rage these days. Large tech companies and startups alike… Read More

Nintendo Switch pre-orders will open in limited quantity on Friday in New York

switch Looks like Friday’s hands-on event isn’t the only big bit of Nintendo Switch business going down in New York City this Friday. The gaming giant’s New York store Twitter account just dropped the news that the eagerly anticipated (though barely seen) convertible console will open for pre-orders at the company’s storefront at 9AM that same day. A limited quantity of… Read More

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Elon Musk plays Overwatch, thinks storytelling is neglected in modern games

tracer-blizzard Elon Musk spoke to Y Combinator’s Sam Altman in a sit-down interview last year where he discussed, among other things, his apprehensions about the possible implications of developing advanced AI. But when the interview was over and the camera was still rolling, Altman asked Musk for recommendations about good video games to play. Musk’s immediate response was… Read More

Missing the point

China is close to producing a fully domestically-made ballpoint pen after a long struggle.

Russia taunts British PM with cartoon frog tweet

The Russian embassy in London sent a picture of Pepe the frog to British PM Theresa May.

Work on Xbox One and Windows 10 game Scalebound is cancelled by Microsoft

Production of the highly-anticipated exclusive game is scrapped after reported development problems.

Lutz Pathfinder driverless cars tested in Milton Keynes

The public react to the first view of a driverless car in Milton Keynes.

'Smart motorway' offenders could be offered retraining

Drivers caught offending on "smart motorways" in England could be offered re-education courses.

Marissa Mayer not on new Yahoo holding group board

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer will not be on the board of the new company that emerges from the Verizon deal.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Snapchat sets up international office in London

Snap, the firm behind Snapchat, says it has set up its international hub in London.

Uber to share data to help ease city congestion

Uber is launching a website that will share data about how its cars move around cities

Facebook 'to launch ads within videos'

Facebook is to test "mid-roll" video advertising - in which ads are played after a video has already started - the BBC understands.

DeepMind’s updated AlphaGo has been secretly savaging pro players online

/ AFP / Ed Jones        (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images) Pokémon GO might have been the most talked about “Go” game of 2016, but the world of AI remains fixated on another Go — AlphaGo. Last spring, Go-playing AI AlphaGo made headlines when it defeated world champion Lee Sedol. Now AlphaGo is in the news for another reason. DeepMind’s freak of computing has been anonymously vanquishing the world’s top Go players… Read More

I rocked out in Rock Band VR at CES and I liked it

rock-band-vr VR is a tricky medium to do well, but Harmonix’s upcoming Rock Band VR might just be the perfect fit. The game has always been about making players feel like they’re real rock stars, living in an alternate reality where they chased their dream and actually did master the guitar and make it big. Virtual reality finally gives Rock Band players the chance to feel real stage presence,… Read More

Hackers successfully add games to the NES Classic Edition

battletoads The greatest hope of retro gamers and the greatest fear of Nintendo have been met simultaneously: The immensely popular NES Classic Edition has been hacked and its 30-game library augmented with new and even homebrewed titles. Read More

CyberPowerPC intros VR-ready PC for $499, or $1,100 with Oculus Rift

cyberpower-gamer-ultra-vr CyberPowerPC has introduced a new entry-level virtual reality-ready pre-built PC with AMD’s Radeon RX 470 on board for $499 at Best Buy and Amazon. That’s a new low for an off-the-shelf VR-capable configuration, and it’s also available as a bundle with Oculus Rift for $1,099.98 — or exactly what you’d pay if you purchased the two separately. Even if there’s… Read More

Cyber-bully checker

What should you do if you find out your child has been bullying others online?

Tech's bad bromance

Can a new system of artificial intelligence mean more women are recruited into IT?

Mini adventure

Renting a car from neighbours makes environmental and economic sense. Can tech take it mainstream?

Meet Moley - the robotic kitchen

BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at a prototype robotic kitchen.

Monday, January 9, 2017

Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

A firm which thought it had secured a £100,000 investment on the BBC's Dragons' Den TV show has the funding pulled by entrepreneur Peter Jones.

France thwarts 24,000 cyber-attacks against defence targets

France warns hackers are attacking its defence systems and this year's election could be a target.

CES 2017: Strap turns your finger into a phone

BBC Click's Marc Cieslak reports on a device that allows one of your fingers to make phone calls.

CES 2017: VR flight kit turns slobs into Superman

A virtual reality contraption aims to give gamers a full-body workout while simulating the sensation of flying.

Monday, January 2, 2017

The Last Guardian is a classic solo game with charm and challenges

tlg_screens_review_01 If you’ve played games designed by Fumito Ueda before, then you’ll feel right at home in The Last Guardian, the new release published by Sony for PS4, and developed by genDESIGN and SIE Japan Studio. The world feels like a natural extension of the worlds created for both 2001’s Ico and 2005’s Shadow of the Colossus, and the most interesting question it brings up is… Read More

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Fake news cash-in

Many of the fake news websites that sprang up during the US election campaign have been traced to a small city in Macedonia, where teenagers are pumping out sensationalist stories to earn cash from advertising.

Chatbot sexism

Why do so many artificially intelligent chatbots have female names and avatars?

Shooting stars from space for 2020 Olympics

Project Sky Canvas hopes to paint the sky with colour above the Olympics using ready-made shooting stars.

The AI-generated Christmas karaoke song and other news

BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at some of the best of the week's technology news.