I still have hope that this will be a good World Cup... This article aggregates a lot of things that have been said about the World Cup experience this year (South Africa's infrastructure, low scoring games, uninteresting first round match-ups, etc). I've noticed in a few bro ...more
A November release week in May It used to be that games marked to be blockbusters (expected to sell more than a million in their first month) would always be released during the holiday September to December season. November was always the month companies chose to release the ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. Minecon 2011 went really well. If any of you World Members attended, please post about your experience to the community corkboard. The opening ceremony was amazing! Here's a video o ...more
What's more fun? Winning against your friends or winning against others with them? It's an age old question, and in video games, the former one-on-one multiplayer has been the norm. But cooperative multiplayer has made a comeback, with Halo and Diablo II starting the trend, th ...more
Game demos are unfortunately a dying breed. While broadband has made it easier than ever to distribute demos to PC and console gamers, they've become more expensive and risky to make. They seldom come out before the full game, especially for AAA games. Developers realize their ...more
The Xbox 360 is America's video game system. It was designed in America, it has better market share in America than anywhere else, and it has the most overtly macho game catalog of any console. For many Xbox fanboys, gaming heaven is shooting hordes of really well-animated thi ...more
Real-time strategy (RTS) was the most popular genre in PC games at one time. It put Blizzard on the map—one of the biggest game developers in the world. And it buried the once venerable turn-based strategy genre, the only survivor being the Civilization series. But like hair m ...more
In 2007, Nintendo introduced the world to motion control video games with the Wii. Microsoft and Sony built on Nintendo's phenomenal success and released their own motion control products for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 late in 2010: the Kinect and the Move. The Move is bas ...more
In the past 25 years, there have been five generations of home video games systems. Since Nintendo changed the world by releasing the NES in 1987, there has always been at least two consoles competing for dominance in the wild west of the games industry. This competition— coup ...more
Three-dimensional printing is one of the many wonders of modern technology. It's the first step towards real life Star Trek replicators and Timeline-esque teleportation chambers. While we aren't at the level of reconstructing strands of DNA, it's already possible to make tons ...more
Dungeon Defenders is the most exciting craft game on the Fall 2011 release schedule. I got a chance to play it at PAX in August and interviewed developers Trendy Entertainment last month. After more than a year of publishing difficulty and delay, the game finally came out on P ...more
There’s no point to playing all of the different tower defense games available today. Most adhere to the original formula, so playing 2 or 3 really good ones (like those mentioned in my previous post) would be more efficient. But the tower defense genre isn’t going anywhere—t ...more
A game labeled as 'educational' usually spells its death among hardcore gamers. The educational game genre is mostly intended for children, and games that appeal to children often lack the sort of widespread appeal that makes them commercially successful. Many people play gam ...more
In 1965, the world was a different place. There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Stumbleupon, for that matter. In 1965, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was The Sound of Music. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the pos ...more
If you play 3D Pinball on your Windows operating system, then you might be happy to know this hack. This pinball game, officially called 3D Pinball for Windows: Space Cadet, was available on Microsoft Plus! 95, and everything up to Windows XP. It was dropped from Vista. By us ...more
RuneScape hacks, cheats, glitches. How to hack the flash game RuneScape. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to hack RuneScape with Cheat Engine (08/31/09). Description of the app on RuneScape: RuneScape is a massive 3d multiplayer adventure, with monsters to kill, quests ...more
IMVU is a 3D avatar chat, instant messenger, and dress up game. Get help with all of your IMVU avatar needs with these IMVU tips and tricks! Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make IMVU avatar eyes in Paint. Description of the application directly from IMVU: IMVU is a ...more
IMVU is a 3D avatar chat, instant messenger, and dress up game. Get help with all of your IMVU avatar needs with these IMVU tips and tricks! Watch this video tutorial to learn how to earn credits easily on IMVU (09/28/09). Description of the application directly from IMVU: I ...more
IMVU is a 3D avatar chat, instant messenger, and dress up game. Get help with all of your IMVU avatar needs with these IMVU tips and tricks! Watch this video tutorial to learn how to edit hair and skin in IMVU (09/20/09). Description of the application directly from IMVU: IM ...more
Hacking flash games is the new coolest thing these days... now hackers can be anywhere, ever expanding, all thanks to a little cheating program called Cheat Engine. Check out this video tutorial to learn how to download and install Cheat Engine to hack flash games. Descriptio ...more
Need to make your avatar a little sexier? Photoshop can help. What you need is a cool corset texture for your IMVU character. It's pretty simple to make, you just need a little Photoshop skills. IMVU is a 3D avatar chat, instant messenger, and dress up game. Chat in 3D, hang ...more
If you're looking to try your hand at a virtual existence, IMVU is the world to go to. Start out by creating your very first account on IMVU. See about building your avatar. IMVU is a 3D avatar chat, instant messenger, and dress up game. Chat in 3D, hang out and have fun in t ...more
Need a hair lift in IMVU? No problem, get some bad hair day advice with this vid. You just need a little Photoshop skills to get your IMVU avatar looking good. IMVU is a 3D avatar chat, instant messenger, and dress up game. Chat in 3D, hang out and have fun in thousands of an ...more
This is a gameplay video of all the Ultra Combos for each fighter in the highly anticipated video game Street Fighter IV for the Xbox 360. Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game produced by Capcom. Street Fighter IV is currently released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, wit ...more
This is my list of programs that I must have on my PC, but I think you can also use them, so here is the list: Antivirus The best freeware antivirus is AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011, and you can get it from this site. Optimizing tool For me, CCleaner is the easiest way ...more
For those who were creeped out by the Knoxville mannequin, well now i've outdone myself! Just like Jackass has taken their game to a whole new level with 3D, i've taken mine to a new level...the Jeff Tremaine sex doll! Though I can't take full credit for this doozy, because Mr ...more
If we were to assign a theme for the 2019 edition of the Next Reality 30 (NR30), it might be something along the lines of, "What have you done for me lately?" Many of the top names in the industry from the 2018 edition remain the same, but their positions have shuffled. The p ...more
One could argue that, at least for the moment, software development is more important to the augmented reality experience than hardware. Since a viable augmented reality headset has yet to emerge for the broader, mainstream consumer market, currently, the same devices that mak ...more
PUBG is continually getting better and more intuitive with each update, and version 0.4.0 is no exception. Besides a new training map to help you practice and a faster-paced arcade mode for on-the-go gaming, the newest version of PUBG now includes a feature that exclusively ca ...more
Contrary to popular belief, augmented reality apps have been available for a while now. I remember using the Layar app (still available for iOS and Android) to explore nearby businesses and landmarks with varying success via an early-generation Android handset. It would be ha ...more
Null Byte readers are no strangers to the powers and benefits that come from learning how to code. By knowing only a handful of programming languages and platforms, an intrepid developer can create everything from best-selling apps to spyware in the comfort of his or her own h ...more
Whether it's terrorism or brain-hungry zombies you're neutralizing, first-person shooters are an awesome way to immerse yourself within a new world and kill some time with your iPad or iPhone. And with so many games available in this genre, we wanted to show off ten of our abs ...more
Gaming with augmented reality just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Nitrome is no amateur at games. The company has hundreds of mobile and browser games. A few years back, the company came up with the idea that they referred to as "project surface." Essentially, the idea was ...more
Tony Parisi, the global head of VR/AR at Unity Technologies, has been passionately working with virtual and immersive spaces for a long time. And while the internet world we live in now is very different than when Parisi was co-authoring VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language ...more
Snapchat is mostly credited as the first AR social network, and, like most social media companies, its revenue model is nested largely within advertising. As such, the company now has a new avenue for branded content. Of course, they are not the only mobile advertising game i ...more
Last week, Next Reality wrote about how the Microsoft HoloLens team is partnering with thyssenkrupp. Their mission? To bring mixed reality to the workplace. Now, Microsoft has just confirmed in a blog post that the HoloLens has passed the basic impact tests for protective eyew ...more
3D Touch on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus is a pretty cool feature, and will only get better as more developers begin to roll its functionality into their apps. Almost as soon as it was announced, the idea to create an app that used 3D Touch to weigh objects was in the works. Unf ...more
The year 2020 was a pivotal span of time during which the word "virtual" took on a brand new meaning. Instead of referring to VR or augmented reality, the term was hijacked to describe meeting across long distances through a variety of software tools, most often through video. ...more
With everyone sheltering at home, gaming is even more popular than ever. And it was already popular. In 2019, mobile gaming was valued at $64.4 billion, PC gaming brought in $29.6 billion, and on the desktop, $15.4 billion. There are now over 2.5 billion gamers on the planet. ...more
Augmented reality jigsaw puzzle game PuzzlAR: World Tour, formerly only available on mobile devices, has been given a major upgrade via a new version for the Magic Leap One. Back in November 2018, Magic Leap sought to bolster its AR ecosystem by launching the Independent Crea ...more
Apple's iOS 12 has finally landed. The big update appeared for everyone on Monday, Sept. 17, and hiding within are some pretty amazing augmented reality upgrades for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. We've been playing with them ever since the iOS 12 beta launched in June, and ...more
With the announcement of ARKit 2.0 at WWDC 2018, Apple is bringing some powerful new capabilities to mobile augmented reality apps this fall. Shared experiences, persistent content, and 3D object recognition will enable more social, transcendent, and immersive experiences for ...more
It's safe to say that we can call the annual ranking of AR investments a holiday tradition at Next Reality. Following our 2018 and 2017 editions of the biggest AR investments, we've expanded the list to include the top 25 this year. While there are many familiar names at the ...more
Already among the leaders in AR development tools via its Unreal Engine, Epic Games has added another tanky weapon to its arsenal. On Wednesday, the company announced its acquisition of Sketchfab, itself one of the leading repositories of 3D content for AR and VR experiences. ...more
VR gaming has developed rapidly in the last few years, moving from a fantasy to a product you can actually afford. As the VR industry grows, so do the ways you can experience virtual reality. The Dragon VR Gaming 3D Stereo Headset with Bluetooth Controller is the ultimate in V ...more
The augmented reality industry had enough twists this week to surprise even M. Night Shyamalan. With barely a mention of augmented reality throughout its annual unveiling of the Galaxy S line of smartphones, Samsung showed off its forthcoming 5G version of the Galaxy S10, whi ...more
While these days it is better known for the cross-platform gaming sensation Fortnite, Epic Games also makes Unreal Engine, one of the top development environments for 3D content and, in turn, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. As a result, the company has mana ...more
The next big iOS version for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch was revealed by Apple at WWDC 2018 and dropped for everyone on Sept. 17, 2018, less than a week after Apple revealed the new iPhone lineup. We've rounded up all the big picture items and secret features and changes we c ...more
With the opening round of Wimbledon, one of professional tennis's four major tournaments, beginning on Monday, Snapchat is serving up an augmented reality tennis mini-game. The game challenges worldwide users and their 3D Bitmoji avatars to take on the digital doppelganger of ...more
The business of enabling the development of augmented reality experiences appears to be as lucrative as AR app development itself. Apple is already reaping the rewards for its own AR toolkit, with more than 13 million installs of ARKit apps in the six months since its launch. ...more
Video game emulation has saved arcade and console classics from obsolescence, and that wonderful hobby has found its way onto the Microsoft HoloLens—with some three dimensional upgrades, of course. If you own a Windows PC, you may have heard about 3DNes, a Nintendo Entertainm ...more
You've spent untold hours playing your favorite games. You know what you love. More importantly, you know what can be improved upon. The distance between vision and reality is not as far as you think. You just need a bit of training. That's where The Hands-On Game Development ...more
After dipping its toes into the AR cloud arena last year, Ubiquity6 is now jumping in with both feet this year. Late last year, the startup launched Display.land, a social network for sharing and editing 3D digital scans of real-world locations. Now, the company is expanding ...more
It's already been a banner year for mergers and acquisitions in the augmented reality industry, with WaveOptics and Ubiquity6 among the notable companies acquired. Two of the more active M&A players, Snap and Epic Games, continued their respective buying sprees this week with ...more
With the consumer edition of its Nreal Light headset, scheduled to ship in 2020, Nreal is prepared to bring the entire Android app ecosystem into augmented reality. On Monday evening, just hours ahead of the official start of CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Nreal unveiled Nebula, the ...more
While augmented reality industry continues to grow, analog board games are also making a comeback. So, why not join the two together? That's the gist behind Tilt Five, an augmented reality headset that projects 3D content onto a game board. Players interact with the games via ...more
As expected, Apple revealed today at the WWDC keynote that ARKit 2.0 will support multiplayer gaming support and persistent content, which will arrive this fall with iOS 12. In addition to persistent and shared experiences, ARKit 2.0 will bring improved face tracking, more re ...more
Sports gaming company ePlay Digital, Inc. is looking to capitalize on the fall launch of iOS 11 and ARKit with an augmented reality fantasy sports app. With ePlay GO, the company is borrowing a few pages out of Pokémon Go's playbook, with players finding virtual avatars of at ...more
The makers of arguably the two most important mobile AR apps, Niantic and Snap, both had good news this week, with the former preparing to replicate its success with Pokémon GO for another franchise and the latter notching another popular augmented reality Lens for Snapchat. ...more
By now, you already know that the Magic Leap One ships with an array of apps to immediately get you accustomed to operating in your new spatial computing reality. The first one we're going to focus on is Screens, an app we told you about previously, but only now have managed t ...more