epic

At least one game developer is wondering why console makers are even considering releasing next-generation hardware.

Speaking to IndustryGamers in an interview published yesterday, Epic Games President Mike Capps said that Apple's iPhone should be enough to make console makers second-guess their desire to launch follow-up devices.

"If you look at the ridiculous acceleration of iPhone hardware and technology, trying to find a sweet spot for tech to make your mobile game... I mean, what would your mobile game look like in 2015?" Capps pondered in the interview with IndustryGamers. "Who knows how fast that's … Read more

It seems that YouTubers (in Canada and elsewhere) would rather vomit than watch Justin Bieber.

Please, this is not some comment on the fine young man who makes me believe every day that you should never say never. This is, however, a comment on YouTubers (in Canada and elsewhere).

It appears that they have fallen in love with a show in which some very strange males concoct meals that would kill a horse in its prime.

Epic Meal Time, now a projectile of Revision 3, is a show that tries to prove just how disgusting meals can be if they … Read more

The Transportation Security Agency violated federal law when installing controversial full-body scanners in U.S. airports without following proper procedures, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected arguments from the Obama administration that the TSA was exempt from laws requiring federal agencies to first notify the public and seek comments.

"It is clear that by producing an image of the unclothed passenger, (a full-body) scanner intrudes upon his or her personal privacy in a way a magnetometer does not," wrote Judge Douglas Ginsburg for the three-judge panel. … Read more

Get ready, Gearheads--it's on.

The Gears of War 3 beta, that is.

Starting today and for the next three weeks, fans of the mega-hit franchise who pre-ordered the forthcoming game will get their first chance to dive into its third iteration. At a press event for Microsoft's Xbox 360 in February, Gears of War publisher Epic Games said that the new beta "will give fans a chance to experience three new Versus Multiplayer modes on four new maps."

More specifically, from today through May 1, beta participants will experience the new Team Deathmatch and King of … Read more

Researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden said Wednesday that they had found what appears to be a previously undisclosed file on iPhones that reveals where the phone has been. According to the pair, such tracking began with iOS 4, and the information is not only on the phone but also on any computer synchronized with the phone. They explained their findings in a blog post on O'Reilly Radar and in a video that's posted on YouTube.

Allan and Warden created a Mac OS X application that lets users view their own location data displayed on a map. I'… Read more

Hidden Reflex's Epic is a free Firefox-based Web browser optimized to support the major languages of India: Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu, and Punjabi. It's not a Firefox clone, though, nor is its appeal limited to those who speak or use the languages it supports. It offers a lot of unique features and a plethora of extras, making it a good alternative browser on its own merits.

Like Firefox, Epic is based on Mozilla's open-source code, so it has a familiar feel right from the start. Epic adds additional character sets, fonts, and … Read more

A few weeks ago I posted detailing the performance scores of several smartphones.

Of particular interest were the video battery results for the Android phones. Some commenters took issue with the fact that I used 720p video to drain the battery life of the Android phones, while the iPhone 4 was tested with video running at that device's native resolution.

Some thought this was an unfair battery drain, as the 720p video would have to be resized to fit a phone's native resolution, possibly taking away processing cycles, draining the battery more quickly. Commenters suggested that the video … Read more

Among the sea of trite and unimaginative first-person-shooters is Bulletstorm, the latest offering from developers Epic Games and People Can Fly, some of the fine folks who brought us the Gears of War franchise.

Bulletstorm has been touted as a departure from the typical cookie cutter first-person-shooter. Does it achieve that distinction or sink to the bottom?

Jeff: In the weeks leading up to its release, the marketing minds behind Bulletstorm sent shockwaves through the gaming world by attempting to attract gamers who were sick of the same old shooter experience. To reinforce the campaign further, a parody game called "Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm" was developed to poke fun at modern shooters and their redundancies, clearly singling out the Call of Duty franchise as major culprits.

Now that we've actually had some time with the game, we're pleased to report that Bulletstorm does in fact separate itself from the monotony of the average shooter. In playing and reviewing Bulletstorm, a new genre popped into mind; we're calling the game a pinball shooter.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Fans of the Gears, put a big circle around April on your calendars: the public multiplayer beta of Gears of War 3 will be opening up around the middle of that month.

At Microsoft's Xbox February Showcase event here today, the company announced the timing of the Gears of War 3 beta opening, as well as a slew of other game-related new items. Among them: that on March 15, the Halo: Reach "Defiant Map Pack" would go on sale; the availability of Halo Waypoint, a mobile stat-checking feature for the mega-hit franchise that will be accessible … Read more