Since the waiting list gods thought me cool enough to become one of the “Founding Fathers” of OnLive, the first serious attempt at bringing mainstream games into the cloud, I’ve had a decent chance to get a feel for the service.  With some fairly hefty requirements, (Wired connection?  Dual-core processor?) it doesn’t look like I’ll be playing Assassin’s Creed II on my netbook anytime soon, but what they have to offer so far is promising.

The $4.95 per month premium is a small price to pay for the convenience, considering the money saved on having to buy a console or beefy gaming computer. The ability to rent games for a few days at about 5 bucks a pop is nice too.  It’s also nice to see that 30 minute demos are available without having to download anything, but save data isn’t kept so that means any banal tutorials you have to go through at the beginning will have to be re-played after purchase.

All in all, I felt like I was playing the full game, as if it were running off of my computer, and the library of games is impressive, with big-hitters such as Batman: Arkham Asylum and the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed II standing next to indie favorite World of Goo.  It’s worth keeping an eye OnLive (see what I did there?) for the next couple months, but I see a nice alternative to Steam for the casual/enthusiast gamer on a budget.

Now that everyone’s had their chance to mock the videogame industry for E3, let’s all take a step back and look at what’s going on right now.  We’re on the verge of a serious comprehensive change, and it’s painfully obvious that the industry has no idea what it’s going to be.  With Microsoft and Sony playing catch-up, and Nintendo having a hard time counting the amount of money that it’s printing, it seems that the ball is now in our court. Social gaming, mobile gaming, app stores… none of them had proportional representation at E3 this year.  People are disappointed in the keynotes that were spoon-fed to them, but what would one expect from the old guys in the game?  The new kids are in town, and now more than ever are the big players showing their reluctance to change. Did EA set up a Playfish booth this year?  Did they show off the same stuff that the 1300 employees that got laid off the same day that Playfish was bought by EA for $300 million had been working on?  I don’t want to call a move like this condescending, but surely E3 is meant to be a way for developers, publishers, and platform holders to come together to create excitement for the industry, rather than pander to the fanboys through G4 and Spike.

Source [Gizmodo] Picture

We heard earlier in the year that NHL 2K11 was going to be a Wii exclusive in 2011, to focus on a stronger NHL 2k12 for both the X360 and the PS3. Is this the wii exclusive they were talking about?

Planned to be announced later today, EA is introducing NHL Slapshot. This Wii exclusive will come with a plastic hockey stick that will house both the wiimote and a nunchuck. Apparently this will be used to shoot, check, and do all kinds of hockey-type things. Looks like we just have more plastic for the kids to lose/destroy/throw at each other.

Take a look at Wayne Gretzky getting with the times. He’s pretty into whatever he’s playing with the kids, even though the Wii, nor the TV are fully plugged in.

Whatever helps you sleep at night Wayne…

Source [Canoe.ca]

It’s been rumored for a few days that J Allard of Microsoft was going to part ways with the mega software corporation.

Sources say that the reason why Allard is fleeing Redmond, Washington is the abrupt cancellation of the Microsoft Courier. Allard was a driving force behind Microsoft’s tablet PC/notebook/journal/e-reader/coaster and it seems that Microsoft cancelling the device was the last straw for Allard.

Allard has been an enormous influence at Microsoft. It is often believed that his famous 1994 memo, “Windows: The Next Killer Application on the Internet” shaped the company’s direction, while predicting the rise of the internet. Allard took the helm for the development and design of both the original XBOX and the XBOX 360, along with the development of the Microsoft Zune.

For over fifteen years, Allard has been one of the few faces of Microsoft along with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Who knows where he will go, as a mind as bright as his will not sit idle in a La-z-boy.

Until we know what his next endeavor is….Happy Trails J Allard…

Source [WSJ]

Here’s a friendly reminder that this will be your last weekend to sink your teeth into the Halo: Reach  Beta. This past almost two weeks have been great, but later this week, Bungie and Microsoft will pull the plug on the Halo: Reach Beta and we will have to wait until the game releases, hopefully, in the fall.

So as you are nursing your hangover from a crazy weekend, or you’re just getting back from church, remember that you need to play as much Halo as you can. It will be over soon.

I know I will keep playing so I can give you all a great hands-on next weekend, so stay tuned for that.

Mozilla has confirmed that they no longer plan to release Firefox 3.7. Instead, it will be released as Firefox 3.6.4, and the next major release will be Firefox 4 in November 2010, with the beta seeing the light of the internet in June.

The original plan for Firefox 3.7 was to cut down on the number of crashes Firefox experienced due to a variety of plugins. These adjustments will be part of Firefox 3.6.4. This entails OOPP, which stands for “out of process plug-ins.” This will let plugins properly run outside of the actual firefox browser, thus eliminating the possibility of your plug-ins crashing firefox.

Since this will be part of Firefox 3.7, what will Firefox 4 be all about? Looks like we will be getting a new interface. Firefox lead developer, Mike Beltzner, pointed out that users always believe that a browser works more quickly, if the design is simpler. There’s less for the users to take in, so they automatically think the browser is faster, when it’s actually just less of a thought process they have to make. It’s genius.

Here at Chips and Sticks we’ll quickly grab the beta when it releases to give you a full preview.

Source [The Register]

Dear 3.5” floppy disk,

I just heard that Sony is going to discontinue you forever. I’m sad to hear this, since Sony holds 75% of the floppy disk market. Does this mean farewell?

I will never forget the times when I had to use six of you to load up one crummy game for the old Windows 3.1 machine back in the day. I will miss how loud and annoying your disk drive was.

Be proud that you have been fending off new removable media since your birth in 1981. That’s what I call 1.44 MB of resilience.

Goodbye Mr. Floppy Disk.

Lovingly,

Robert

Source [CNET]

Super Street Fighter IV had a launch event in Los Angeles titled ‘Fight Club.’ It was a night of merriment and playing SSFIV with your fellow beat ‘em uppers. The highlight of the night was an epic match between, what are supposedly THE guys to beat at Street Fighter, Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong.

I am 8-bit Productions, the company who ran the event with Capcom, were there to record every single minute of the whole thing, including all the matches that were played. At the end of the night, the Macbook Pro that was running the show, along with two Kodak zi8 HD cameras, and “lots of SD cards” were stolen, along with all of the footage that was recorded. Jon Gibson, the founder of I am 8-bit Productions, has put up a reward for anyone that turns the stolen equipment in, citing that it’s not the equipment that matters, it’s the footage that was recorded from the event. Here, straight from Mr. Gibson’s mouth.

“We are prepared to offer a cash reward if that footage is returned to us. We don’t care who stole it, we just want it back. We will NOT drag anyone through the mud; your identity will be kept secret. We can promise you that.
Just please, come forward. We can arrange for a drop point somewhere in Los Angeles.
Seriously, this footage meant the world to us. It was important to Daigo. It was important to Capcom.
We produce these kinds of events for the fans, and for the evidence of such a night to be ripped out from under us – well, it hurts.
It really hurts.”

I Am 8-bit promises full anonymity for the return of all the equipment. If you know about the whereabouts of this footage/equipment, please email Jon Gibson directly at jon@iam8bit.com with the subject line “Capcom Fight Club Footage.”

It was only a week ago when an Apple software engineer dropped the new 4G iPhone at a Bar in Redwood City, CA after a heavy night of drinking. Forget about that last part, but it seems that I would have to absolutely be blasted to leave an unreleased Apple product in a bar after I leave. Today, we find another Apple product in the wild. Now it’s time for the iPod Touch to shine.

It has since been pulled, but for a brief time, a new version of an iPod Touch was put up for auction on eBay. Two iPods to be exact. Another Chinese knockoff, right? Barcode tags on the back of the iPod include the acronym “DVT.” Apparently, “DVT” is Apple vernacular for “Design Verification Test.” Not to mention that it also reads “Apple Development Team” on the back, and it was pulled from eBay rather quickly.

The biggest difference is the addition of a camera to the iPod. This makes things interesting as Apple claimed they never added the camera to the iPod like everyone was craving for, due to the fact that you couldn’t put a camera in such a thin device. Well, looks like Steve Jobs figured it out.

Apple needs to have a meeting about keeping their products under wraps. Meanwhile, keep your eyes peeled for random unreleased Apple products in public. You might be the next owner of a brand new iPhone 7g!

Head after the break for some more photos…

Source[9to5Mac]

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As some of you may or may not know, Mario will don a new outfit in Super Mario Galaxy 2. As you can see above, Mario has opted to go for a certain cloud variety of clothing. If you hop on over to those fine folks at Gametrailers.com, you’ll be able observe all the fluffy details for yourself.

Source[Gametrailers]