Filed under: Polls and Surveys, Community

It’s that time of the week again. The Poll Police are going to keep this one short, since the poll speaks for itself. This past week, the PS3 lost a game that many, many people were looking forward to. A game that would have had PS3’s jumping off of shelves in Japan like they were infested with some kind of jumping infestation. The police don’t work with similes, just facts. Capcom canned Monster Hunter 3 for the PS3, but promised a big announcement certain to please PS3 fans by the end of next week. Our poll and your task: what is it?

We can’t say for certain, but the trademarking of a game title and subsequent may be too close together for this announcement and the moving from multiplatform back to exclusive seems to go against Capcom’s “multiplatform everything” ideology (though by that they seem to mean everything but PS3). We can’t decide, so hopefully you can steer us in the right direction. Last week’s results are after the jump.

What an amazing result! We asked if backwards compatibility was really such an important issue, and the results are the most interesting we’ve ever seen — a nearly perfect split between people who do and don’t care about the function. We’re glad to see most of you had heard of the issue and opted not to vote for the “I don’t want to make a decision” option. In the end, it seems the Sony gaming market, with a slight edge to not giving a darn about BC, are perfectly split. Luckily, PS2’s are getting insanely cheap, so if you need to collect PS2 games, there’s always that option instead of seeking the higher-end model while it lasts. What a conundrum! We’ll see you next week, and as always, thanks for voting.

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Filed under: New Releases

This week’s release list is US only, for some reason. With so many games being released next week, surely it makes sense to bring one or two forward and cash in on what is, frankly, a very slow week. Don’t be disheartened though - keep plowing through Folklore and before you know it another five worthwhile games will have been released. Seriously - next week is insane. However, here’s the full release list for this week:

US Games

• Oblivion Game of the Year Edition
• Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground

EU Games

• No new releases

Asian Games

• No new releases

Confusingly, Gamestop have booster packs and preconstructed decks for Eye of Judgment listed for release on the 15th. That’s a full week before the game itself comes out. We’ll be keeping an eye out to see if this is truly the case. If so, you can bet we’ll be stocking up so that we’re truly ready for when the game comes out. Check back this time next week for a, frankly, indecent list of new releases.

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World Usability Day is an international, annual event that will be held on November 8th this year with the theme of Health.

The main goal of the event is to promote and encourage usability in the wider community and will be held at various locations world wide .

Last year 40,000 people in 35 countries in 175 cities around the world participated in World Usability Day. This year marks the events 3rd anniversary.
- Sydney UPA

If you’re interested in hearing about what’s going on in your city, have a look on line and think about attending an event if you can. Some events have sessions running all day, which makes it much easier to attend even some of the presentations.

While my focus is always on web usability, the World Usability Day event will look at a usability in a wide array of settings. For example, Melbourne’s event will be touring the learning facility of St Vincents hospital.

If you’re in London, 15 free places are available in a 1 day course offering an Introduction to User Centred Design.

Of course, there are dozens of events going on world wide, so have a look and see if there’s anything in your nearest city. There are things going on from Kigali to Moscow, Prague, Manila, Tucson and even Sydney - which is where I’ll be

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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I go through phases of complacency and disbelief when thinking about web accessibility.

Working at SitePoint HQ, I’m fairly lucky in that everybody here is on the same page when it comes to accessibility; we spend time making sure our sites are accessible, that our applications degrade gracefully, that our JavaScript doesn’t create barriers for screenreader users. We do this ad-hoc, without even a firm sense of whether our target demographic ultimately requires it. And for no reason other than it’s our job. In the books, articles and other content we publish, best practice is right at the top of the priorities list.

But not everyone in our community agrees, as the original forum thread over the Target case and the recent catfight on TechCrunch illustrated. And I think that’s pretty sad — not because these folks are disagreeing per se (I’d rather see healthy debate than tacit compliance), but because so many of the anti-accessibility arguments are ignorant rhetoric, which cloud the issue and make useful discussion harder for everyone. They generally follow a familiar pattern, taking a peculiarly American line in favour of market forces determining everything, and criticizing any idealistic intentions as political-correctness gone mad.

Whatever. I’m not going to get into the rights and wrongs of that particular case; it’s an issue that cuts very deeply to the heart of what we think of as our “rights”, and that’s one can of worms I just don’t want to open. I know what I think; you know what you think; enough said.

But I am going to take this opportunity to re-inforce what I believe is the nature of our professionalism. We should make an effort to create accessible content, because it’s part of our job. And frankly, it doesn’t take much effort; it’s not difficult.

Nobody’s expecting perfection. Nobody in their right mind ascends to the notion that everyone is equal, or that life is fair. People aren’t equal, and life isn’t fair. But that makes it even more important that we attempt to redress imbalances when we encounter them.

What we do is not rocket science — I won’t say it’s easy, but it’s not spectacularly difficult either. HTML was designed with accessibility in mind, and it provides the hooks and meta-information to make content more accessible: alt text for images; caption, summary and headers for tables; good heading structure; semantic use of paragraphs, lists and other structural markup. Used properly, our tools will do the job. Used badly, they create barriers.

And technology is the one area of human endeavour where that simply isn’t acceptable. Technology is not like the physical world, where there are good, tangible reasons why some things can never be accessible. A person who’s blind will never win the Grand Prix; someone in a wheelchair will never be able to climb Uluru. Technology is not like the physical world — technology can take any shape. Technology is our slave, and we can make it do what we want.

If we call ourselves professionals, we owe it to our clients, their clients, and ourselves, to do our job properly. A chef must care about health, a builder must care about safety, and we must care about accessibility.

Get educated!

Here are some external links that will help you to build more accessible web sites:

• Dive Into Accessibility — Mark Pilgrim’s excellent introduction to web accessibility
• Accessify — Tools, wizards, articles and tutorials on web accessibility
• WebAim — Information, training, resources, guidelines and standards for web accessibility and disability access to the web

And a few SitePoint resources:

• Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML & CSS — Ian Lloyd’s comprehensive book for beginners shows how to build websites properly from the ground up
• Accessible JavaScript: Beyond the Mouse — an overview of techniques for making JavaScript accessible to the keyboard as well as the mouse

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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An ordinary mug cup, with the handle being slightly square and big enough to fit two fingers through. Designed by Plusminuszero.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Animation, Warner Brothers, Remakes and Sequels

So if you needed some final, indisputable proof that somebody out there thinks a Thundercats movie is a great idea, here it is: Warner Bros. has hired a director. First-timer Jerry O’Flaherty will be bringing the ol’ Cats into the multiplexes through the magic of CG-laced nostalgia. (I’m guessing it’ll look and sound a whole lot like the slick and forgettable TMNT from earlier this year.)

Although he hasn’t directed any features, O’Flaherty is a long-time veteran in the field of video game animation. And isn’t it really all the same stuff nowadays? The screenplay will come from a guy called Paul Sopocy, who has one thing in common with his new director: Thundercats will mark his first feature film. According to Variety, “the origin story expands on the major heroes and villains from the animated series, with the plot focusing on Lion-O coming of age as the leader of the Thundercats.”

And just in case you need a quick refresher course on the long and storied history of the Thundercats, here are two more sentences: “The property revolves around a group of humanoid cats who must flee the planet of Thundera, which is destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart Mumm-Ra, an evil sorcerer bent on killing them off.” Yeah, I remember this cartoon. Trippy-colored cat-people super-heroes and a maniacal mummy sorcerer who really hates them feline freaks. I distinctly remember a very annoying sidekick….

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

The other day, Paramount invited a select group of online writers to attend a special luncheon with director Steven Spielberg who wanted to reward them for their help in apprehending the dude who was trying to sell all those stolen Indiana Jones photos. In doing so, the folks in attendance asked Spielberg tons of questions regarding all of his most talked-about projects, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Transformers 2 and Tintin. Of course, when you bring this all-star team of websites together, don’t expect a bunch of B.S. questions — they cut straight to the chase. As far as Indy 4 goes, there’s only two days left of shooting, Shia LaBeouf and Harrison Ford have performed most of their own stunts, the flick was shot on film, not digital (with as much practical effects work as possible) and Drew Struzan will be back for the poster.

Additionally, there’s been talk about re-releasing the first three Indiana Jones films on the big screen prior to the fourth installment arriving in theaters. No doubt this was George Lucas’ idea, and Spielberg said he’s not so sure he wants to do it. He’d rather Indiana Jones 4 be the first time folks are seeing Indy on the big screen in 18 years. (Personally, I’d like to see the first three on the big screen at some point — not long ago, I caught a screening of Raiders and had such a friggin’ blast.) As far as Transformers 2 goes, they’re working double-time to complete the script and Spielberg said it will be handed in a couple weeks from now, with the potential goal to begin shooting early next year. Spielberg also played coy when folks asked whether Shia LaBeouf would continue the Indy franchise, saying “we will see, he still has multiple Transformers films to do.” I suppose that means LaBeouf will stay with the robots through at least a third film.

Finally, for the Tintin news. All three films will indeed be motion capture, with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg each directing one installment. The cool news is that if they do not find a director to helm the third installment, Jackson and Spielberg will co-direct. Now if that’s not a fanboy’s wet dream, I don’t know what is. Those interested in reading more about the Spielberg fireside chat, feel free to check out reports from any one of the following sites: IESB, Coming Soon, Latino Review, IGN, CHUD, JoBlo, Slashfilm and AICN.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, 20th Century Fox, Games and Game Movies

It’s a good thing we really trust the guys at Twitchfilm, because I’d hate to be sharing this report if it wasn’t accurate. But according to Twitchmaster Todd Brown, it looks like Fox has removed director Xavier Gens from post-production on Hitman. Why? Because his preferred cut of the film was (get this) too violent! Really? Wow. See, here’s how I know Hollywood is a lunatic bin: Whomever hired Mr. Gens for this job had to know two things:

1. The director’s first film — Frontiere(s) — is so amazingly and powerfully violent that it almost becomes parody.

2. The video game? You know, the one that this new Hitman movie is BASED ON? It’s a pretty damn violent game. Like, really violent.

But reports indicate that the producers want a PG-13 flick to sell to the kids. So out come the hired scissors and out goes a young Frenchman who probably didn’t know what hit him. As far as the movie goes, us grown-up action-lovers will undoubtedly have to wait for the Unrated Director’s Cut DVD to see the flick Mr. Gens intended. (Because studios will gladly admit their earlier mistakes, but only when there are extra DVDs to sell.)

So you know what? That’s what I’ll do. If Hitman comes out as a PG-13 flick, I’ll simply skip the theatrical release and rent the DVD in a few months. Fox pulled the exact same hedge-betting with Live Free or Die Hard earlier this year (unrated DVD coming soon!), and I daresay it’s getting a little annoying. At this point an action film’s theatrical release feels more like a 90-minute advertisement for the “big boy” DVD version.

I mean, really. Remember this story once you get to see Frontiere(s). You won’t believe they hired THIS director if the original goal was a PG-13 movie.

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Filed under: Snacks, On the Blogs, How To

One of the most fun parts of cooking is when you hear a tip (or come up with one yourself) that makes the cooking easier. Adam at The Amateur Gourmet was dismayed recently when he discovered that he his friend Diana took her cookie sheets with her when she left, and he didn’t have any like hers, that were flat and didn’t have any sides to them. So he came up with this idea: use the back of the cookie sheet.

He puts parchment paper on the sheet and then uses an ice cream scoop for the cookie dough. He then flattens them a little bit with his wet hand and cooks them a little less than usual, which is something I’ve always done with my cookies too. He loved the results.

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