Welcome to Dialog Tree, where we still discuss the finer topics concerning video games, technology and other issues you’re less geeky friends care not to talk about — we just decided upon a better fitting title. So, let’s have a dialog, shall we? Have questions or something you’d like to see discussed? Let us know in the comments!

Aggregame, a social platform for video games, released the results of a year-long study of gamer’s tweets in the form of a neat looking infograph. Clearly inspired by tag clouds that visualize the popularity of tags used in blog posts (the larger the word, the more frequent the tag), Aggregame’s infographic states some of the obvious while revealing some provocative information about what motivates us to play video games aside from the fact that they’re just plain fun. (more…)

Welcome to Dialog Tree (formerly known as Coffee Talk), where we still discuss the finer topics concerning video games, technology and other issues you’re less geeky friends care not to talk about — we just decided upon a better fitting title. So, let’s have a dialog, shall we? Have questions or something you’d like to see discussed? Let us know in the comments!

Nintendo’s Eiji Aonuma admitted to the existence of an official timeline for the Legend of Zelda series, but it’s a secret. Only Aonuma, Shigeru Miyamoto (we would hope he was involved) and the director of the title, Hidemaro Fujibayashi have seen the classified document. Surely this confirmation has sent  Zelda fans raving, not to mention that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will take place before Ocarina of Time. Considering the critically acclaimed title has been the chronological anchor to which every other Zelda release has been attached to, this is hug– wait, since when is all of this nonsense relevant? (more…)

Now, what's Saturn doing in the StarCraft universe?

When an e-mail from an address known as “SC2betaUS” appeared on my iPhone this Friday, informing me that I’ve been granted access to one of the hottest beta tests of the year, I swore to myself that it was some type of phishing scheme. After some frantic research (and opening it on something that supports the images within e-mails) I discovered — coupled with a “squee!” that had escaped my mouth — it was true. After an excruciatingly long year and two months of waiting since we all opted in for testing, I could play what could very well be the RTS of the year.

However (there’s always one of those), since my weekends normally consist of me being in front of my laptop for about 45 minutes to an hour total, I could only squeeze about 30 minutes of play in this weekend before the beta ended Monday night. But since I did promise via tweet that you would see a hands-on from yours truly, I must deliver. Everything said behind the cut is strictly from less than an hour with the final beta build of the StarCraft II. (more…)

Welcome to Geekadelphia’s weekly discussion column, Coffee Talk, where we talk about the finer topics concerning video games, technology and all the other things you can’t talk about with your slightly-less-geeky friends. Have questions or suggestions? Send an email to geekadelphia@gmail.com or tweet with us. Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to keep this week’s discussion alive.

The most promising future of video games isn’t on consoles anymore, says Bioware co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk to Eurogamer. This is somewhat odd considering the developer has created some of the greatest console and PC RPGs to date.

What Zeschuk seems to mean by this statement isn’t that consoles are doomed to irrelevance, but that new services like Facebook’s gaming platform and mobile gaming are where the expansion will take place. And I kind of agree. (more…)

… And we’re back (sorry folks, was busy with graduating)! Welcome to Geekadelphia’s weekly discussion column, Coffee Talk, where we talk about the finer topics concerning video games, technology and all the other things you can’t talk about with your slightly-less-geeky friends. Have questions or suggestions? Send an email to geekadelphia@gmail.com or tweet with us. Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to keep this week’s discussion alive.

A recent study by UK media research firm Ipsos MORI claims that gamers still like their shinies. The study, which surveyed 1000 folks, shows that 64 percent of them prefer physical media over digital download when it comes to how they purchase games.

According to IGN, senior director of Ipsos MORI Ian Bramley attributes the majority vote to the used games industry. While I couldn’t agree more, aren’t we ignoring one major contributing factor? Join us behind the cut. (more…)

Photo by Darko Boehringer

It turns out  that seasoned keyboardist Jordan Rudess — famous for his sonic contributions to Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment – is into tech as much as you and I are. Come to think of it, his devotion is at an even higher level with now two apps under his belt for mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Rudess took the time to chat with us recently about his adventures into the app world through Keyboard Wizdom and Morph Wiz as well as his ideas on the evolution of music and technology integration.

GEEK: What are your goals with taking the Keyboard Wizdom tutorials to mobile devices?

Jordan Rudess: I’ve been very involved with the whole app world, the iPhone and iPod Touch technology, and have been doing a lot of things in that area. And this company that I have been doing videos with, Mac Pro Video, a very forward thinking online educational company. They’ve always been doing cutting edge stuff and it was actually them who came to me and said, ‘Hey, we want to put your course on an iPhone app.’ And I said, ‘Wow, that’s awesome!’

I thought that was a pretty cool idea. You just take the whole course, make it fit and people can carry it around in their pocket. I’m excited about that whole idea. All of that instruction could be in somebody’s pocket; that’s pretty cool!

It’s good timing for me too, because I’m working on some more instrumental apps for the iPad and iPhone.

More after the break! (more…)

Welcome to our new Microsoft Student Insider feature series, Cracking Open the Design Toolbox. Each week (hopefully) we’ll follow my blunders progress through Microsoft’s new Silverlight powered, interactive and socially connected tutorial – that doubles as an achievement driven game – design.toolbox. Not to mention we’ll also provide you tips and tricks on how to access the Expression Studio and how to get started creating some super cool apps, projects and more!

Before even thinking about diving into the design.toolbox, you’re going to need to do two things. First, you’ll need to go here and create a Windows Live ID (if you don’t already have one). This is how you’ll access the design.toolbox, create your profile and avatar and get schooled in design. Second, you’ll need to download and install the Silverlight plug-in on whatever browser you’ll be accessing design.toolbox. As everything in the design.toolbox is running on Silverlight, this is pretty much crucial. Now that the essentials are over with, join us behind the cut as we get into the fun stuff! (more…)

Welcome to Geekadelphia’s weekly discussion column, Coffee Talk, where we talk about the finer topics concerning video games, technology and all the other things you can’t talk about with your slightly-less-geeky friends. Have questions or suggestions? Send an email to geekadelphia@gmail.com or tweet with us. Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to keep this week’s discussion alive.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of social internet juggernaut Facebook, recently announced their updated approach to the web, Open Graph a little over a week ago. To avoid getting bogged down in the web jargon, this is essentially means that Zuckerberg wants Facebook and its user information to be accessible outside of the original website. Does this mean that users’ information will be visible from wherever without consent (you might want to find that tin foil)?

Well, sort of. Profiles will still have the option to be private, but if they wish to share their experiences of the internet outside of Facebook, Zuckerberg’s Open Graph policy will require them to be logged in and be public. How will this work exactly and what will it mean for the future of the web? Since we know you’re just itching to find out, we put it right behind that link down there. See you on the other side.

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The first annual 3D Gaming Summit went down just last week. There is a convention for just about everything these days, even this. Joystiq’s Mike Schramm hosted a panel discussing the global 3D landscape, which “quickly spun off into a debate about whether 3D is really what we need as gamers.”

With Sony jumping the gun on 3D gaming tech (so much so that games can’t keep up with them), what makes the industry’s movers and shakers so sure that this is the next vista for gaming? More on this and a potentially practical application of 3D behind the cut. (more…)

Welcome to Geekadelphia’s weekly discussion column, Cofffee Talk, where we talk about the finer topics concerning video games, technology and all the other things you can’t talk about with your slightly-less-geeky friends. Have questions or suggestions? Send an email to geekadelphia@gmail.com or tweet with us. Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to keep this week’s discussion alive.

More than 140,000 people bought a flying, sparkling horse for $25 last week. Now that would be an incredible steal (a flying horse made of stars for $25?! Goodbye to commercial flights!) if it weren’t digital. That’s right, what I guess now to be nearly 200,000 folks — if not more — have bought WoW’s Celestial Steed. As Massively’s Seraphina Brennan points out, that’s half the cost of an expansion pack. We’re going to let that set in and take this discussion behind the cut. (more…)

Now, I know we’ve touched base on something similar to this before, but this is just too good to pass up. Joystiq recently found a new studio named Killspace Studios via Supererogatory and after some digging found they have recently purchased the domains ApocalypseNowGame.com and WarIsNotAGame.net (just sitting there, waiting). 1UP drew the conclusion that the new studio comprised of former developers from studios such as Obsidian and Pandemic as well as a few others might be creating a game surrounding the award winning film, Apocalypse Now.

You know, that award winning Francis Coppola directed film that starred Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall. The same flick that many believe set the standard for cinematography as one of the greatest films of all time. Yeah, that one. Not to mention the studios founding statement by talent agency, Digital Development Management, says the 40-strong team’s specialty is “action” games for the “[Xbox] 360, PS3, Wii, PC, iPhone [and] Facebook”. Oh boy, this ought to be good.  (more…)

Microsoft Student Insiders interview Twitter Platform Team from Hilary Pike on Vimeo.

To end our journey to Las Vegas for MIX 10 in March, Tom Ziegmann and I sat in on Raffi Krikorian’s session titled “Adding the Where to the When of Social Applications” to learn more about our favorite internet obsession, Twitter. More specifically, we learned a bit about where the social is network headed, but still wonder why it’s watching us. It’s kind of creepy.

Thankfully, we later had the chance to ask him some burning questions about geotagging, which helps reveal exactly where the 7-11 is in which your friend just bought milk (you heard it here first, folks). More importantly, we discussed geotagging’s social and security implications as well just who is the real Raffi. Speaking of which, I need to form the search party!