Computer Sense

Yesterday Notch revealed that the upcoming adventure update for Minecraft would be split up. Pistons will be hitting soon with the 1.7 update, but the major, game changing additions will be polished up and released as patch 1.8.

Today Notch announces that he’s going to be slightly less secretive about the contents of the adventure update, but just secretive enough to keep us guessing. He is becoming wise in the dark arts of marketing. While the precise contents of the new update remain sort-of under wraps, the aim is clear.

“The update is pretty big,” says Notch “and will change a lot of how Minecraft is played, focusing on making exploration and combat much more rewarding, and bringing in a bigger sense of adventure to the game.”

So what do we really know about the adventure update? Notch promises “new complex terrain features, at least one new mob, some interesting new combat mechanics, a new lighting engine, and some experimental new gameplay ideas.”

“To come is more interesting farming, bigger incentives to explore,” he adds, before casually dropping a bomb shell, adding “and npc villages.”

NPCs in Minecraft? With their own towns? Will we be able to talk to them? Trade with them? Kill ten boars for them? Only time will tell. There’s no release window for updates 1.7 or 1.8 just yet, but “1.8 is still a significant time away,” according to Notch.

A sliver of light has been shed on Battlefield 3′s co-op mode in the latest issue of PSM3. The mode will support two players side by side, will span ten missions and will be a standalone section, separate from the single player game. Apart from that, DICE are keeping a tight lid on things. Hopefully they’ll will show more as we get closer to the October 25 release date.

It’ll be going head to head with Modern Warfare 3′s Spec Ops mode, which offers its own series of co-op missions for four players at a time. The Modern Warfare 3 spec ops mode was recently demonstrated live on US television, while Battlefield 3 got plenty of screen time over the course of E3, with footage of a single player mission set in a tank, and action from the Operation Metro multiplayer map.

Bad news for open standards browser-based gaming: Microsoft’s has said that it won’t be supporting WebGL now or in the foreseeable future.

The announcement was made via its Technet blog site, under the rather damning headline “WebGL considered harmful”.

The development of WebGL is being managed by The Khronos Group, which is also responsible for OpenGL, OpenCL and so on. WebGL is a cross platform API designed to give your browser access to your graphics card and enable hardware acceleration of JavaScript games.

According to security experts at Microsoft, the problem with WebGL is not so much any existing security holes, but the fact that it gives online programs so much access to the inner workings of your PC. That means interacting with a lot of third party drivers which will make future issues many and hard to spot.

“While it may be possible to mitigate these risks to some extent,” says the Technet blog, “The large attack surface exposed by WebGL remains a concern.”

It’s not just Microsoft who thinks WebGL is a problem either. Yesterday, security firm Context Information Security sent us a press release saying that WebGL is a “back-door threat” with elements “not fit for purpose”. They specifically highlight an issue whereby a WebGL app can take a screenshot of the client PC and send oit back to the server. They also point out the current – but soon to be patched – vulnerability in Firefox which allows a WebGL app to execute a DoS attack by opening lots of windows on the desktop. This is the second time Context has spoken out against WebGL.

What Microsoft’s statement means for WebGL at this point isn’t clear. Internet Explorer doesn’t support WebGL right now anyway: presumably this announcement means that Windows Phone and Windows 8′s fancy new HTML5-friendly interface won’t either.

While Microsoft’s argument about third party drivers and unpredictable security holes makes sense, it’s hard not to reason that a single vendor controlling the entire chain of control from server to graphics card undoubtedly benefit said vendor too. While the security concerns are obviously relevant, this also looks like the opening salvo in a similar battle to the OpenGL/DirectX one over a decade ago. That’s a battle less likely to have a clear winner if Microsoft ends up facing off against the likely supporters of cross platform web gaming: Google and Apple. You could probably throw Facebook and Amazon into that too.

Jonathan Hirshon, a spokesperson for Khronos Group, told PC Gamer that browser developers are still working towards full compliance with the WebGL standard.

“All browser vendors are still working toward passing the WebGL conformance suite,” Hirshon said, “Only once they have successfully done so can they claim support.”

Which means that it’s early days for WebGL. While you wait for proper browser support, though, it might be worth taking Context’s main piece of advice and disabling it in your browser settings if you run Chrome or Firefox (the only browsers to support it).

However, getting Vaas’s performance onto a hard drive involved more than simply pointing a camera at the actor. “I think we have to be sophisticated and use these tools correctly,” says Vandenberghe. “Directing actors is also a technical discipline, and a creative discipline.

“There are techniques in acting and performance that evoke great performances, and there are techniques in acting and performance that evoke good performances. The industry has gotten really good at getting good performances, almost no-one can get great ones.”

A new map pack for Portal 2 has been released, adding new six chambers designed to be played with the Razer Hydra motion controller. The controller features two control sticks that can be used to pick up items, stretch special cubes and rotate portals. The Hydra works with all Portal 2 single player and co-op missions, but the MotionPack levels will feature special items and puzzles that take advantage of the controller’s unique abilities.

The MotionPack comes bundled with with Razer Hydra controller, which can be bought in the US now through Steam, or directly from Razer for $140. According to Razer's site, the Hydra is compatible with 125 other games, including Assassin’s Creed, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Call of Duty and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. .

The controller consists of a central orb that sits on your desktop and two handheld control sticks. The orb generates a low level electromagnetic field, and the Hydra uses magnetic sensors to determine the exact position and angle of the two handheld devices. Razer say the unit boasts an “ultra precise sensor for 1mm and 1 degree tracking” and “ultra-low latency” for faster response.

It’s impossible to know how the Hydra really feels until it’s in our hands, but a series of demo videos on the Razer site gives us an idea of the movements needed to perform in-game actions. You can watch the videos below. The motions appear smaller and more subtle than the wild arm waving that we’ve seen on similar devices like the Wii-mote. The Hydra is only available in the US, for now. It’s currently available to pre-order from Razer EU for 140 Euros, and is listed as “shipping in June.”

The MotionPack is the first piece of DLC for Portal 2, but there’s more in the pipeline. We can expect more test chambers, leaderboards and challenge modes later this summer. The release of the Razer Hydra on Steam is another landmark moment. If Steam can sell a motion controller, why not any other piece of hardware?

Crysis 2 has vanished from the Steam store, apparently pulled by EA so that they can sell the game exclusively through their new digital store, Origin.

Kotaku note that the game’s disappearance on Steam coincides with a note on the EA site declaring that Crysis 2 is available “only through Origin.” In reality it’s still possible to buy the game through a number of other sites, including Direct2Drive, Amazon and Impulse. It’s unclear whether EA will have Crysis 2 removed from those sites, too, or whether they’re intentionally targeting Steam as their main competitor.

EA have already said that Star Wars: The Old Republic will only be available digitally through Origin, but the latest move raises the question of whether future EA games like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 will only be available through EA’s download service.

To 3D or not 3D, that is most definitely the question which we’re finding ourselves asked every time we wander in to a shop to buy a new monitor or laptop. If your objection to stereoscopic gaming is having to wear sunglasses indoors, ASUS has a potential answer in the shape of the Republic of Gamers G53SX laptop that’s being shown off at Computex right now. It’s the world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop.

If it helps, you can think of it as a giant Nintendo 3DS for playing WoW on.

Externally, it looks the same as previous G-series laptops from ASUS sitting gimp-like in its suit of rubber, with hard angles and giant vents round the back. Under that there’s an Intel Core i7 CPU, Z68 motherboard and GeForce 560M graphics chip.

‘Regular’ 3D gaming roughly halves framerates over 2D gaming on the same system. Assuming glasses-free tech has the same performance hit, that 560M might struggle to drive the 15unch, 1920×1080 screen stereoscopically. We’ll just have to wait and see, though, until we get chance to test it out.

ASUS has also announced that it’s to start producing desktop gaming systems too, starting with the Republic of Gamers CG8565, below. It shares the same hard edge look that’s soft to touch as the laptop line-up, and comes with a Core i7, GeForce GTX 590 GPU and Z68 motherboard from the ROG range.

Anyone else squint and see K9 in this?

One of the most surprising moments of E3 this year occurred in the space of about eight seconds right in the middle of the Microsoft’s press conference. Minecraft is headed to the Xbox 360, the speaker announced, and then moved onto something else as though it wasn’t a big deal. Around the world Xbox and PC gamers did a collective double take. Some of us even choked on our tea and said “whaaa?” out loud.

In his latest blog post, Notch has provided some more info on development on the 360 and Android phone versions of the Minecraft, and has given us a taste of what to expect from update 1.7, to be known henceforth as “The Adventure Update.”

We admit to a slight overreaction upon hearing news of the Xbox version of Minecraft. In hindsight, tweeting “BEEETRRTTTRAAYYYER!” at Notch wasn’t entirely fair. Have no fear, Minecraft fans, Notch is still well and truly a PC developer.

Notch clarified his position on the Xbox, Android and Xbox versions of Minecraft on his blog, saying “I will be the game designer on both new Minecraft titles, but I won’t be involved in the programming as I’m focused on the PC version of Minecraft.”

Minecraft on Xbox will be “a new version of the game, designed specifically for console play.” Notch adds that “it will feature (but not require) Kinect support, and is being released “this winter”. It will be a 360 exclusive title.”

As for the accusation of betrayal, Notch responded, tweeting “Not me, just people I pay. ;D I personally plan on being a pc game developer for a looong time.”

Now that’s sorted, we can all look forward to the next Minecraft update, which Notch refers to on his blog as the “adventure update.”

“Notch has posted the first information about the upcoming Minecraft 1.7 patch, now known as the “Adventure Update.” Notch is secretive about the precise features 1.7 will add, but says “the idea with this update is to flesh out the game a bit, making it reward exploration and combat more.”

Notch will also start adding mod support with the 1.7 update as well. “We’re starting the modding support on a small scale with 1.7. We’ll be giving the source code out to a very VERY small group of people before the release of 1.7. We’ll use those experiences to work out the final details, then we’ll get the modding api out as soon as possible after 1.7 has been released.”

There’s more.

“Assuming we like them in play testing, pistons are coming in 1.7.”

PISTONS! For more Minecraft madness, have look at our pick of the ten best Minecraft mods, and read all about Tom’s adventures in Minecraft.