The MMO industry is coming to its peak with games like WoW which have millions of registered users. But games like these will soon belong to the past. Already this month a new breed of MMO will be released, I give you Dark and Light and its prequel which will come out this month Settlers of Ganareth.

SoG will be completly free until Dark and Light is released, which will be in April 2006.

There will be only one map in this game, but this map will be massive, bigger then anything in WoW or any other game for that matter. The map size will be 15.000 Square miles not including sees. This will be in the final game and SoG will start off with 1/8 of that size.

Now what differs SoG from other games? The answer is so many things that I cannot list them all up.

You can build fortresses and even towns, defend them, hire defenders, hunt mosters, mount dragons, attack enemy fortresses and there is so much more.

The game features a unique religion system, which can acctually be used in combat.

You can even go through the entire game without fighting a single mob since there is also social xp.

The entire game focuses on the dark and light battles and on a common enemy to both forces.

I won't say more now, since there is just to much. Check it out yourself:

http://www.darkandlight.net/

Join me and many others in this new breed of MMO.

Coming to gamespot I saw system wars for the first time. It probably is one of the only forums where "leet" language is supposed to be used and it makes me weird.

I mean what is so great about saying TCHBO or something similar, can't we communicate normally anymore? Why do we have to downgrade ourselfs to such levels.

Comparing systems is alright, I am not to fond of it since sometimes it results into pointless arguments since both systems have pros and cons or are exactly the same, but why do we have to use this language?

Can't we just stop with that nonesense and move on?

Try writing one essay or report using that language, then you will understand what the rest of the world thinks of it.

Thats acctualy my biggest concern when I read those posts, can the people writing in that style acctualy write using proper English with good vocabulary?

Some people once said that when children read comics it will decrease their vocabulary and language skills, I did not really agree with that, however I really think that internet language decreases vocabulary and language skills. Secondly its not to good for your social life in the real world.

So please try to write normally in forums, I don't want to see words like TCHBO or Lollerskates or Rolf-o-copter again.

Word like lol are already to much in our society to stop using them, I even use them myself occasionally and I should slap myself everytime I use it.

I did some more patent research and my favourity company Symbol, the one which invented the small LPD which I talked about in my previous blog entry, has come up with a way to produce naked eye-3D. Just read:

[0066] 3-D Display using Polarization and Color LPD

[0067] Typically, lasers have a defined linear polarization. In some embodiments, 2 lasers with orthogonal polarization may be used to project different images that can be seen separately by a viewer's left and right eyes using polarization filters (3-D polarized eye glasses), as shown in FIG. 13A. For example, as shown in FIG. 13C to enable a full RBG color 3-dimensional display, 6 lasers are needed--two red orthogonally polarized, two blue orthogonally polarized and two green orthogonally polarized. Each of the sets of colors that are polarized similarly projects a separate image onto the screen. Alternatively, where a blue-green laser replaces the two separate blue and green lasers, then only 4 lasers are needed for a full 3-D color display. For a low cost 3-D effect, only one additional laser is needed to obtain a 3-D effect only in one color.

[0068] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 13D, orthogonal polarization may be obtained with only 3 lasers by using a crystal that can rotate polarization. The crystal is placed in the optical path of the lasers and may be periodically activated to alter the polarization. The polarization can be rotated between frames of two projected images. This polarization change does not have to be fast since the eye has integration capacity. Polarization can be changed with every frame or every "X" scan lines, or alternatively the polarization may be altered with each scan of the "X" mirror, effectively producing two interlaced images, each having opposite polarization.

[0069] As shown in FIG. 13E, altering the polarization can also be used to produce a double sided screen, wherein each side displays a different image. In this case, a polarized screen is used so that one of the polarized images displayed on one side while the other polarized image passes through the screen and is displayed on the other side of the same screen. The screen can be made of glass with tiny wires at the right orientation to allow the second polarized image to pass through.

[0070] Referring to FIG. 13B, a 3D screen can be achieved without requiring the polarized glasses of FIG. 13A . In this embodiment, two different polarized images are projected towards a screen. In this case a polarization selective screen is utilized. The screen has different angular diffraction for different polarization, thereby directing the two images in two different angles so that each eye sees a slightly different image which will enhance 3-D effects.

[0071] A product can be designed having removeable screens, wherein the user selects the type of screen to achieve the desired effect. The screen type can be manually or automatically detected to change the content of the images projected.

The above is all about how to project the lasers and well one way (the one which I bolded) describes on how to make a screen so that you can see 3D without having to wear those glasses.

The biggest issue here is probably costs, but well we can only hope for the best, and the best is that this is in the Revolution or atleast an addon for it. If it will not be in the Revolution I will mail Nintendo again once it comes out.

The acctualy wrote me back on my last mail regarding the LPD displays. They basically said that they appreciate my interest, but that they cannot release any information.... looks like I have to give them instructions on how to obtain my 2k USD bribe money then :wink: .

Well for the last few days alot of rumors have been going around that the Revolution will be able to make naked-eye 3D images and we have even seen photos of naked-eye 3D from MTV and Nintendo for example.

Of course a lot of people rush to the conclusion that this will be in the Revolution Controller, without acctualy everything stopping and asking themselves "how will this technology be possible?". Well I discoverd a way, wrote Nintendo about it... no reply yet, even posted it once here and then deleted it again. Let me share this with you guys now.

Well the fever has been high about US patents and so I also browed through them a bit. I found one regarding Laser Display Devices (LPD). It basically described how a sharp image, just like on the TV, can be made using a beamer which uses lasers. The patent is not so important, since it just describes a theoretical invention, so I decided to research who is actualy producing things like this and how big they are and I found this:

"Now in development, Symbol’s Laser Projection Display technology will add a new dimension to mobile device design. By scanning a laser beam along two orthogonal directions, the miniature, low-power display engine creates a high-quality image on any surface, at any distance, without refocusing. The potential applications for this technology are endless. You’ll be able to build miniature projectors; add projection capabilities to laptops, PDAs and cell phones; enable e-signage; develop pocket-size projection TVs; or create any number of new games and toys"

Well this surely is interesting, please read on:

"The Laser Projection Display from Symbol Technologies is currently in development. There are no products available yet, however, we are soliciting feedback from potential customers in order to define product specifications, form factor, etc.

The Laser Projection Display from Symbol Technologies adds a new dimension to mobile device design. By scanning a laser beam along two orthogonal directions, a high quality image is created on any surface, at any distance, without refocusing. Since the miniature, low power LPD module can be embedded in a variety of portable devices, this technology is poised to revolutionize the display industry.

• Miniature projectors
• Auxiliary displays for laptops, PDAs or cell phones
• E-signage
• Pocket projection TV
• Games and toys

Preliminary SpecificationsResolution:VGA (640 x 480 pixels)Gray scale resolution:16 levelsRange of sharp focus:5 in. (130 mm) to infinityPower consumption:150 mW average for VGA (50 mW average for QVGA)Size:0.2 in³ (3.3 cm³)Full motion video:YesAdditional capabilities:Image capture; bar code data capture"

So what exactly do we have here? We have a projector which is only 3.3 cm^3 big making images as sharp as a TV. By mid-2003 the company said they will have projectors capable of producing colors using red, green and blue lasers.

For futher info please go here: http://www.symbol.com/product.php?productID=166&tab=Data%20Sheet

Let's move on, since there is still more. The naked eye 3D, or in other words holograms. How exactly are they made? The answer is simple:

Holography:

method of reproducing a three-dimensional image of an object by means of light wave patterns recorded on a photographic plate or film. Holography is sometimes called lensless photography because no lenses are used to form the image. The plate or film with the recorded wave patterns is called a hologram. The light used to make a hologram must be coherent, i.e. of a single wavelength or frequency and with all the waves in phase. (A coherent beam of light can be produced by a laser.) Before reaching the object, the beam is split into two parts; one (the reference beam) is recorded directly on the photographic plate and the other is reflected from the object to be photographed and is then recorded. Since the two parts of the beam arriving at the photographic plate have traveled by different paths and are no longer necessarily coherent, they create an interference pattern, exposing the plate at points where they arrive in phase and leaving the plate unexposed where they arrive out of phase (nullifying each other). The pattern on the plate is a record of the waves as they are reflected from the object, recorded with the aid of the reference beam. When this hologram is later illuminated with coherent light of the same frequency as that used to form it, a three-dimensional image of the object is produced; it can even be photographed from various angles.

source: http://www.bartleby.com/65/ho/holograp.html

Now we have something very interesting, apperantly the technology behind these "holograms" also involves lasers and we know that in order to achieve color we need a red, blue and green laser. This is all in the LPD by Symbol. Is it maybe possible that those amazing 3D images can be produced by the small projector by System? I cannot really answer this but the possibility is there.

In conclusion:

The company System produced a 3.3cm^3 projector which can produce infinitly sharp images with full color by mid-2003, if they did not fail. This was almost 2 and a half years ago. Symbol also said that they mailed prototypes of this product to customers. Maybe Nintendo was one of those customers?

I think that in 2006 we might be looking at LPD displays in our Revolutions, that they can produce sharp images is a fact. If they can produce naked-eye 3D images, this only time can tell, but the potential is there.

This is my opinion about what the Revolution is capable of.

Welcome to the second edition of Revolution Controller Rumors.

Well we do know almost certainly that the Revolution will have internet access and downloadble games. And why shouldn't they, the technology is there and it would be a waste not to use it. The following will give more inside into this matter.

I have found a patent by Nintendo filed on April 4, 2003.

Like on my last edition I will start off by giving the abstract:

"An existing video game system is modified to include additional communication and storage capability via a modem and hard disk drive. The modification may involve the use of an expansion device coupled to a video game system port. A cable TV tuner is also included in the expansion device to assist in providing a unique picture-in-picture video capability. TV signals are coupled to the expansion device via the RF input from either cable TV or off-air signals. These RF signals are blended with the output signals from the video game system. A user may, for example, watch TV while viewing overlay information from the video game console. A user may receive a TV channel guide downloaded via the Internet, spot a program which the user desires to view and immediately access, via an IR input, the desired channel through the expansion device TV tuner. A user may also watch TV while simultaneously logging onto the Internet. A hard drive permits downloading from the Internet of entire games."

The first sentence states that this will be an expansion for an existing system. Well we know that the Revolution will have expansions, but this might already be implented in the actual Revolution Controller. The rest of the abstract is more interesting. It states that with this expansion we will be able to:

1. Have TV guides from the internet

2. Watch TV while browsing the internet

3. Download entire games onto a harddrive

I will emphazise on point 2 and 3 more.

Watching TV while browsing the net sounds alright, but there is more. A picture in picture can be used to do this. This also means that you will be able to play a game while watching TV.

But this is not the best part yet:

"Additionally, Internet communication becomes possible during game play, thereby conveniently allowing the realization of a game that uses Internet communications without game interruptions."

"The present invention advantageously permits a video game console to be coupled to the Internet to play multiplayer games or alternatively, to dial a friend and play a game involving head-to-head competition."

This is very clear. You will be able to play your games that require internet access and if you want you can even watch TV while doing this.

And now to the mass storage device and game downloading:

"The present invention also enhances the storage capacity of a video game console with a mass storage device such as a hard drive to permit the downloading of entire games into the mass storage device."

This is very clear again. You will be able to download games and they will be stored in a mass storage device. If you want more info on this particular thing please go here :

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=123194

For more info on the patent I used go here: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=45&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=nintendo.ASNM.&OS=AN/nintendo&RS=AN/nintendo

Thank you for reading. Leave your comments if you want to and check back for more info on the Revolution. I am making a post every day.

Disclaimer:

All of the above does not relate to any official comments and/or things said in interviews by Nintendo officials or Revolution Controller creators.

All of the above is based on my own research on and analysis of US patents.

This is the first thing I found about the Revolution Controller.

The patent in question is called Interactive electronic game having gyroscopic output effect and was issued in the year of 2000. By the first look at the topic it really does not seem interesting and to have any relation to the Revelution controller but first impressions sometimes proove wrong.

I will start by posting the abstract of the US patent I found:

"An electro-mechanical device for providing an input to a computer program and said computer program providing a tactile output through said electro-mechanical device to a user. More specifically, the present invention provides an electro-mechanical virtual sword game apparatus that receives positional information from sensors on the sword apparatus and the sword apparatus contains a propulsion gyrostat that under the control of a computer process may be topple to provide a torque on the housing of the sword apparatus that may be used to simulate the impact of sword blows."

What this basically states is that there will be a controller that looks like a sword and which has rumble effects when the sword hits something ingame. Nothing special and no resemblance to the Revolution Controller at first sight, but then I read on:

"Yet another feature of the present invention is to use sensors, e.g., a receiver and/or a transmitter, on the sword apparatus and an array of sensors, e.g., receivers and/or transmitters, external and/or internal to the sword apparatus to determine the spatial attitude and/or location of the sword apparatus. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the sword apparatus uses infrared blasters, e.g., high output infrared transmitters such as those found on modern universal remote television controls, to output a pulse and/or timed emission of infrared light which may then be received at the remote sensors, which in the preferred embodiment are infrared receivers, whereupon the timing and/or phase differential of the received signals may be used to triangulate and determine the spatial position of the sword apparatus. An infrared output at both the top and the bottom of the sword apparatus may be used to determine the attitude of the sword apparatus and is within the scope of the present invention."

This states that the sword controller can have sensors on it so that it will be accurately detected in space and that its movement will be made in the game. The technology will be infrared. Now this sounds already alot more like the Revolution controller, the only difference is that the Revelution Controller uses Bluetooth technology. But since the patent was issued in the year 2000 it is acceptable that they talked about infrared. The other problem is that the Revolution controller does not look like a sword at all, it looks more like a TV-Remote. Now read the next part:

"It is understood that the sword apparatus of the present invention may not need a blade but the blade may be represented in the virtual space in the game itself. This may be done either on the computer screen or through the use of virtual reality glasses and/or other display apparatus. Thus, in the virtual reality domain, the computer may generate a sword blade that appears to extend from the hand held sword apparatus of the present invention. However, a plastic blade and/or other ornamental blade extending from the apparatus is within the scope of the present invention. "

It is stated that the controller does not have to be a sword, but just a handle. The sword blade can be either ingame or put on the handle virtually using 3D technology and glasses. This sounds very much like the Revolution controller. An so sword games will be probably very similary like it is stated in the patent.

Imagine yourself swinging the Revolution Controller and the ingame sword will do the same. Of course now you say this is nothing new, we heard this before. But remember how it says something about 3D technology? There is a rumor, that there is a new kind of 3D technology where you do not require glasses to see 3D objects outside the screen. The patent says that a virtual blade can be made ontop of the controller. Now that would be really nice. It would be like your actual swinging a sword. As a last note I leave you with this:

"In another embodiment of the present invention, other virtual representations of the virtual instrument that is representative of the object held by the player or within the scope of the present invention such as a gun, bazooka, knife, hammer, axe and the like and the gyrostat propulsion instrumentality of the present invention may be controlled accordingly to provide the appropriate feedback to simulate the virtual instrument. For example, in the gun and/or pistol embodiment of the present invention the gyrostat feedback means may be used to simulate events such as the "kick" from a gun, or the "crush" of a hammer blow."

The controller does not have to be a sword, it can be alot of other things, all using the rumble effect. Imagine that the Revolution controller is able to create the 3D experiece for those objects. Thats something nice to look forward to.

We do know for a fact that the Revolution Controller will have sword games on it since we have seen this in the official nintendo commercial, but we do not know how those games will exactly look like or how they will be played. The patent gives insight into that and I hope that this has given some information on how it can be.

The patent also already descriped how sword games using a controller with sensors can be made, putting the rumble technology into use so that its very life like and that you have trouble hitting walls and leaving the game space.

For more info read:

Thank you for reading and come back sometimes for different rumors and post some comments if you want to.

Disclaimer:

All of the above does not relate to any official comments and/or things said in interviews by Nintendo officials or Revolution Controller creators.

All of the above is based on my own research on and analysis of US patents.

Well yesterday I bought Black and White 2.

The game is nice, always fun playing god... an evil god. The warfare is a nice addition to the game. Also the creature is good. The graphics and physics are really good. It's fun throwing a huge stone through a town and seeing the buildings collaps... or throwing a nice hot fireball at your opponets troops and buildings.Sadly the game seems short and it has no skirmirsh or multiplayer function. Expect a full review of the game on the weekend.

I will buy Battlefield 2 next week.. I am not sure about getting F.E.A.R since the game is a system hog... and well it would eat my video card (Geforce FX5200) for breakfast I am afraid ): .

Well its time to get active with this blog. I will only post my game experiences here, what I play, what I like about the game, what I want to buy, etc.

Next week I plan to buy Black and White 2, The Movies and Call of Duty 2. I have played the demo of Call of Duty 2 countless times....

I should also get Battlefield 2, wanted to get it when it was released but something got in the way. I am still playing the multiplayer demo of it.