OUYA is bringing the fun and excitement of video games back to the TV. Most of my generation grew up playing on a console, whether it be Nintendo, Xbox, or PlayStation. In the past couple of years we have seen a switch from console to mobile devices. Smartphone, tablet, and social games have been a huge focus for developers to create today’s top titles. OUYA is now bringing an affordable Android based TV video game console to the market, and the best part about it is the games are all FREE!

The fundraising platform for creative tech projects, Kickstarter, helped OUYA raise over $8.5 million. They invited developers to experiment, tweak, and create new ways to make the console better. Don’t feel like waiting 5+ years for the new Xbox/PlayStation and paying $500+ for it? They recently pledged to release a new refresh of the console every year, and it is available to buy for $99 in top retail stores. Don’t feel like paying $60 for a new title game? OUYA offers free games to all users including shooters, RPG’s, and classic arcade games.

OUYA is truly a gamers console.

Check out more HERE!

Electronic Arts is taking its rival to court, and filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Zynga. This would not be the first time Zynga has been accused of copying other creative titles, but this is the first time a company has the financial and corporate resources to do something about it.

EA is accusing Zynga of copying one of its popular titles The Sims Social, claiming Zynga’s The Ville is an “unmistakable copy.” Things were spicing up when representatives from both companies’ spoke on the matter:

“It’s unfortunate that EA thought that this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles. It’s also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga’s CityVille game. Nonetheless, we plan to defend our rights to the fullest extent possible and intend to win with players.”

And in response, EA’s John Reseburg shot back, “They must be distracted right now; otherwise they would have noticed we have been shipping SimCity games since the 1990s.”

Decide for yourself! Here are the screen shots from both games, and click here to see other games Zynga has been accused of cloning.

Zynga, the social network game developer, has just launched “Zynga With Friends”, a multi-player network/gaming platform. “Zynga With Friends” allows you to play Facebook friends or challenge strangers who have similar gaming interests. You can build your player profile and see what your friends are playing.

There is also a chat function for those who like to talk smack.  Zynga With Friends  works across different devices as well.  Historically Zynga games were on a turn by turn basis. In this “social lobby”   or more people can meet and compete with each other in real time, as opposed to waiting for an opponent to complete his or her move.  Get your game on!

As all technology buffs know, this week is the “Superbowl” of video games and technological innovations: the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California. Today is Microsoft’s big day where they host their press conference and unveil all of their future products, prototypes, and innovations for the XBOX 360 video game console. Although their press conference is still going on (and will go on throughout the day PST), two presentations caught my attention (other than Halo 4).

First, Microsoft announced that their browser Internet Explorer will be coming to the XBOX 360 in the near future and will be Kinect enabled. With the power of Kinect, a user will be able to speak search terms into the XBOX 360 from across the room and the results will show up in a matter of seconds. Anyone who owns an XBOX 360 knows how big of a hassle it is to type via the standard controller: what takes two seconds to search on a PC keyboard takes about 1-2 minutes to search with the standard controller (not really an enjoyable or efficient way to find what you are looking for). Now that Kinect allows users to speak, it makes searching the web easier, faster, and fun!

The second presentation that caught my eye was Microsoft’s “SmartGlass.” As a reminder, XBOX 360 isn’t just a video game console. It is a 360 degree entertainment system! They have many premium applications including HBO Go, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, EPIX, ESPN, Zune, etc. where a user can view movies, TV shows, music, and much more. With the invention of “SmartGlass,” a user can view their XBOX 360 media across multiple devices, including all Apple and Android products. For example, if a user starts a movie on his or her XBOX 360, he or she can pick it up from where they left off on his or her Droid mobile device and finish the movie later on in the day on the iPad. This entertainment synchronization not only allows streaming across multiple platforms, but there is another feature that invites the user to engage in additional content that runs simultaneously with the media you are interacting with. For example, a user can watch “Game of Thrones” on the XBOX 360 and have “complimentary information on their smart phone or tablet alongside” where the user can see “in real time where a certain character’s position is throughout the episode” via a map of the fictional world. Anyone who watches “Game of Thrones” knows that there is a wealth of information, characters, and locations and this can sometimes create confusion for the viewer. He or she may not know what is going on, who is who, and where a current scene is taking place. With this complimentary feature, a “Game of Thrones” fan can experience a new and innovative way of watching television by physically seeing and knowing exactly what is going on in the show. How cool is that? Although this is just one of a few features that debuted today at the press conference, there will be more information to come later on this week or in the very near future.

Like many new innovations, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The new innovative technology will not only inspire creative juices for businesses, developers, and engineers across the globe, it will also open up a world of ideas and change the way we watch Television indefinitely.

For more information, watch the awesomeness that is E3 LIVE at the link below:

http://www.ign.com/events/e3/2012/live-video

A new 3D technology called Unlimited Detail showcases how their technology will greatly improve in all genre of 3D. Using point cloud data, it can improve the amount of details by 100,000 times than the current standard. Point cloud data give artists unlimited freedom on how much details they can put into their 3D models. This technology eliminates the limitation on polygon count given to the artists and eliminates the need to create multiple detail levels of the same model. This will be the next break through in 3D technology. Check out the video.

According to Juniper Research $87 million was spent worldwide on advertising for mobile gaming.  Juniper predicts that amount will be 10x greater by 2015.  Currently, money from paid downloads accounts for the majority of mobile gaming revenue.  However, mobile game ad spend is on the rise due to an increase in popular games being offered for free with ad support, and the development of mobile advertising platforms like Apple’s iAd. 

Read more here.

Visit South Africa’s World Cup soccer stadiums right from your computer with Google 3D Warehouse.  See local maps of the stadiums’ surrounding cities along with 3D models and brief historical details of each structure.  This is an incredibly cool model created for G3DW which also incorporates a “Complexity” scale to gauge the level of detail.

Check it out here…

It’s PAC-MAN’s 30th birthday.  Go to Google to play!

If you have some time to kill today be sure to check out The Brand Quiz via Vyre. The quiz combines 2 colors with a visual hint and cryptic clue. How well do you know your brands!? It’s not easy…Alex and I combined to score 14…As you can see from our answer above, we guessed on most of it