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The Fruit of Knowledge
Gunpoint success allows dev to become independent, Mac and Linux ports on the way
Jun 18th
Writer and developer Tom Francis originally planned his game, Gunpoint, as a showcase piece to earn him a job at a game development studio, but after seeing the success of the title so far he says he doesn’t need to join another studio.
As you can see above, Francis hit his initial goal for the game from preorders alone, and sales have only gone up since then, to the point where Francis now says designing the game was “so commercially successful that I’ll never need” to work for someone else.
Since the only real monetary cost of the project was a $30 purchase of Game Maker 8 a few years ago, Francis says Gunpoint “recouped its development costs” in just one minute and four seconds. That’s after three years of work, of course, but the point remains that Gunpoint was very successful indeed.
The next priority, says Francis, will be to port Gunpoint to the newer Game Maker Studio, where it can then be released for Windows, Mac, and Linux. He’s looking to hire someone for this task, so he can get moving on actual updates and another project eventually. It sounds like a tough job, essentially taking over the core game’s development for other platforms. “But as the graphs above should suggest,” says Francis, “I can pay.”
Gunpoint success allows dev to become independent, Mac and Linux ports on the way originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dish abandons Sprint bid for now to focus on Clearwire
Jun 18th
By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) – Dish Network Corp said it would not make a new offer to buy No. 3 U.S. wireless provider Sprint Nextel in time for a Tuesday deadline and would instead focus on its tender offer for Clearwire Corp. The decision may be good news for Japan's SoftBank Corp, which is also trying to buy Sprint. A purchase by SoftBank could provide Sprint with access to more capital that it could use to beef up its network and compete better. …
FCC chairman nominee Tom Wheeler comes out in favor of legalized phone unlocking
Jun 18th
He was nominated to replace Julian Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission a mere six weeks ago, and before he’s even got the job, Tom Wheeler’s making headlines. Ars Technica reports that would-be chairman Wheeler wants what many (all?) cell phone owners want — the ability to unlock our phones free from fear of legal retribution. The way he sees things, when folks have bought and paid for their phones and are contract-free, they “ought to have the right to use the device and move it across carriers.” Unfortunately, while he’s staked out his position on the matter, he has yet to say exactly how he plans to make phone unlocking legal, be it through legislation or other means. The good news is, he’s not the boss just yet, so he’s got time to address those niggling details while he waits to be confirmed as the new chairman.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Ars Technica
Selena Gomez, Taylor Lautner and Gwyneth Paltrow Lead Today’s Star Sightings
Jun 18th
Another day, another slew of star sightings.
On Tuesday, Selena Gomez was spotted running errands in sunny Los Angeles. After hitting the beauty salon for a little me-time, the “Come & Get It” crooner stopped by a local gas salon to pump some gas.
Meanwhile, Twilight hunk Taylor Lautner was seen hard at work on the set of his new movie Tracers, practicing some hardcore parkour in between takes.
On the red carpet, Gwyneth Paltrow stepped out for the 2013 Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.
Launch the gallery above for more Celebs Snaps of the day.
Suda 51 and Grasshopper are using Unreal Engine 4 ‘heavily’
Jun 18th
No More Heroes and Killer is Dead dev Grasshopper Manufacture is “heavily relying” on Unreal Engine 4, with next-gen games in mind. Speaking to Joystiq at E3, Grasshopper CEO Goichi Suda, most commonly known as Suda 51, confirmed his studio’s use of Epic’s next-gen engine when asked about his thoughts on the PS4 and Xbox One.
“As a developer, we’re heavily relying right now on Unreal Engine 4,” Suda told us. “That works really well with both systems – or in the sense that we could go either way.”
Grasshopper recently revealed it has a stylistic action game in development that isn’t Killer is Dead – and it isn’t No More Heroes 3 either. As Suda told Siliconera back in April, it’s a new game coming to one or more consoles. He also teased to Siliconera the game was either running on Unreal Engine 3 or Unreal Engine 4, adding that if he said which one then “you would know about the platforms.”
Suda told Joystiq we can expect Unreal Engine 4 in Grasshopper games “if it’s a big title, or if it’s suited to that title,” all of which suggests a next-gen landing for said secretive game.
As for the future possibility of No More Heroes 3, Suda told us, “Travis [Touchdown] is one of the characters I’m really fond of, that means a lot to me. So if there was the opportunity to create another sequel then yeah, I’m always up to the idea.”
Suda 51 and Grasshopper are using Unreal Engine 4 ‘heavily’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Engadget HD Podcast 354 – 06.18.13
Jun 18th
The E3 and WWDC news surges have finally calmed, so now we’re back into the normal weekly groove. This week, Ben details his time using an Oculus Rift to watch recorded video and Richard attempts to ride out E3 as long as possible with our roundup. All that and more is ready to stream straight to your ears below.
Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)
Producer: Joe Pollicino (@akaTRENT)
Hear the podcast
‘I’m Not Blaming The Girl But…’: Serena Williams Weighs in on the Steubenville Rape Case
Jun 18th
For those who might have forgotten, last August in Steubenville, Ohio, an inebriated 16-year-old girl was raped repeatedly by several of her peers, including Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond. During a six hour period, she was digitally penetrated, driven to several different locations and urinated and ejaculated on. The entire thing was documented on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram with captions like “song of the night is definitely Rape Me by Nirvana” and “some people deserve to be peed on.”
The case gained national attention and thousands of people took to the internet to express their shock and anger over the case. The surprising part: many people were mad at the girl for daring to speak out about what two promising football stars did to her. Many people, including CNN’s Poppy Harlow were sympathetic towards the convicted rapists, some people even blamed the unnamed victim for what happened to her. As it turns out, Serena Williams is one of those people.
Deadspin has published an excerpt of an upcoming Rolling Stone piece on Williams, in which the world’s top female tennis player reveals that she is also the world’s top idiot.
We watch the news for a while, and the infamous Steubenville rape case flashes on the TV — two high school football players raped a 16-year-old, while other students watched and texted details of the crime. Serena just shakes her head. “Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don’t know. I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you — don’t take drinks from other people. She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.”
Pay close attention here, because I’m only going to say this once: “I’m not blaming the girl, but…” is the sexist version of “I’m not a racist, but…” It’s wrong and you can’t say it. There has literally never been one single circumstance in which a rape victim was to blame for being attacked. Never happened, never will.
F**k you, Serena Williams.
5 things to watch for in Game 6 of NBA Finals
Jun 18th
MIAMI (AP) — Five things to watch for in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, as the San Antonio Spurs try to clinch their fifth title and end the Miami Heat's reign on Tuesday night:
