The sheer randomness is so much so that currently there is a chat battle between participants typing the word “anarchy” and participants typing the word “democracy” to control the game. Twitch saw that and placed a bar depicting the battle in the video stream. Basically, there are now two modes to Twitch Plays Pokemon, anarchy and democracy. Anarchy is the mode we’re all familiar with — all inputs in the chat are taken and immediately applied. Democracy on the other hand uses a “vote” system — the system takes the most popular input every few seconds and only applies that one. Players can vote to switch between modes at any moment. If Democracy mode gets voted in, Red’s movement is then collectively determined by the players.

“The mode that isn’t active needs 75% of votes as indicated by the dotted line, the current percentage of votes is indicated by the black line,” the FAQ on the stream’s chat states.

The channel’s creator said that TwitchPlaysPokemon will run indefinitely in the hopes that the crowd-sourced game will see it’s Elite Four defeated. There’s a huge lag between a chat message and the resultant input, so even if all 75,000 players are agreed on what needs to be done, a combination of lag and duplication may not help players achieve that goal anytime soon.

The stream has accrued 13 million views and the participant numbers rise drastically at peak hours, even reaching 80,000 simultaneous players at one point. In an article about TwitchPlaysPokemon Kotaku outlines how it’s possible that any progress is being made in the game with so many participants and technical difficulties, it’s worth a read if you are curious.

Threes is a little game you never heard of because Flappy Bird took over the world in the same week that Threes launched. It was created by Asher Vollmer and it’s only on iOS.

 If you enjoy matching puzzle games like Candy Crush, then Threes should make you feel right at home. It’s formula is east to learn but difficult to master.  In Threes users must match up tiles to form larger numbers. 1 and 2 tiles go together to form a 3. Once you hit three you can only pair a number with the same number, doubling the value. This goes on and on as the numbers grow higher and make more room for smaller numbers. You can get an idea about how Threes works with this animated GIF:

The space on the board is limited, and the game ends when you can no longer move. Hence, you must manage the free spaces. Elements of strategy come into play because to be really great at Threes you must plan a few moves ahead for example planning for a move that will free two or more spaces with a single action. Vollmer says that you could play Threes forever, and it looks like he’s right, you can continue to try and beat your high-score and those of your friends.

Threes can be purchased in the iTunes App Store for $1.99 and that’s the last thing you’ll pay forever. It follows the well known great-game formula of simple rules, intuitive gameplay, but difficult to master.  Threes is looking to be one of the best swipe-matching-puzzle  games out there, I’d say it’s worth your attention.

Get it on the App Store: iPhone | iPad

Just at the peak of the hype with the app becoming top app on iOS and Android App stores and with millions of people addicted to tapping their screen and keep the bird flying to its unknown destination, the creator of Flappy Bird has promised to remove the app from iOS and the Android app stores.

SEE ALSO: These Flappy Bird High Scores Are Unreal

This news came in a few days after blog sites all over the world reported that Flappy Birds huge success was bringing in $50,000 in ad revenue for the Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen.

His tweets read;

I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

And I still make games. — Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

I can call ‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

 

He stated that he couldn’t keep up with it and it was “ruining his simple life” but he has promised that he would continue to make games. You can check out some of his other games here.

As stated in the release Bobby Kotick also revealed that this years title and the future titles are being built on s three-year development cycle. The publisher says that the time will allow the designers more time to envision and to innovate as well as increase the quality of future titles.

According to that strategy, in 2015 we may see Treyarch’s Call Of Duty, with Infinity Ward’s Call Of Duty following suit in 2016.

For more news on Activision and Call of Duty stay tuned to Technesstivity.

First, a background. Flappy Bird is a game for iOS and Android that has recently gone viral in the last few days. The game was developed by Vietnamese developer, Nguyen Ha Dong.

To advance in Flappy Bird, you have to tap the screen to navigate the bird between Super Mario-like pipes. After each pipe, you get a point. It drives people crazy.

What’s amazing about this game however, is that some users have managed to play for so long and have reached scores of over 2 billion. Yes. 2 billion pipes.

Flappy Bird For Android

Flappy Bird For iOS

That piece of alien technology interesting technology is Razer’s latest concept, for now they are calling it Project Christine, much like the Razer Edge at last year’s CES it wasn’t a real product yet. Project Christine is a highly-modular desktop gaming PC that has each of its components in encased in its own liquid cooled metal module that can be swapped in or out on the fly.

Razer created a wire-free and incredibly easy method of swapping, adding, or upgrading components and it uses PCI-Express architecture to connect and sync each component for what Razer calls “plug-and-play” upgradability. Project Christine’s modules will house GPUs, SSDs, RAM, power supplies, the CPU, and more. All this can be mounted and arranged anyway the user prefers. In addition to active liquid cooling in every module, each module will also feature noise-cancelation which, Razer says will enable them to factory overclock components for greatly increased performance.The tower will also come equipped with a built-in LCD touch screen, which offers controls and maintenance information for each module.

Razer will have to manufacture those modules using components that they’ll obtain from major manufacturers and then sell them. Needless to say, that will not do any favors for the prices of those modules if Project Christine follows in the Edge’s footsteps and makes it past the prototype stage. Guesses as to how much Project Christine will cost would most likely be more than a bit off. Razer has shown that you can’t ever be prepared for their price tags, you can only budget after they drop a hammer on your wallet.

PlayStation Now, will enable you to stream classic and blockbuster PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 games to not only the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita but also to televisions, tablets, and smartphones. 2014 Sony Bravia televisions will support PlayStation Now, and marks the beginning of the expansion of the service to other PlayStation supported devices and even non-Sony devices.

Sony confirms that PlayStation Now will be subscription-based and will support online multiplayer and Trophies. Players can also opt not to subscribe and rent games on a by-game basis.

There is no specific roster of games that have been confirmed for the launch of the series, it’s also unclear whether it will be a port of the old-gen console games already available on PlayStation Network but time will tell. Expect to see the service launch this summer.

Let’s now take a look at Valves Steam Machines

Image Cred: Kotaku.com

A Steam What? A Steam Machine is a PC gaming rig that runs Valves Linux-based SteamOS.

What is SteamOS? SteamOS is Valve’s attempt at bringing PC gaming to the living room, its aimed at Steam Machine manufacturers and livng room PCs. It will be availabe to download and install, completely free later this year.

The Steam Machines are below and sorted in order of which will have the greatest impact on your pocket.

Falcon Northwest, Tiki

This beautiful box starts at $1,799 and goes as high as $6,000. This is because of its range of possible components that will be available at launch. Memory ranges from 8GB to 16GB and storage goes as high as 6TB. The Tiki has a stone base, which is an elegant touch as well as an efficient one as it keeps the tall tower stable.

Digital Storm, Bolt II

Digital Storm’s Bolt II runs both SteamOS and Windows which makes this a very good cross audience PC since the more niche games that aren’t on Steam will run on its Windows side.  With the upgradable machine, Digital Storm is “taking aim at the high-end of the market, targeting consumers that demand the best possible gaming experience and who are looking for a PC capable of playing any title on their new 4K display.” Bolt II starts at $1,899 and boasts a 240mm liquid cooling system. Available from February.

Webhallen, Steam Machine

Webhallen’s Steam Machine starts with an Intel Core i7 CPU,  NVIDIA GTX 780 GPU, 16GB and a 1TB Solid State Drive, all for a $1,499 starting price. Available later this year.

Alternate, Steam Machine

Also sporting an all too familiar boxy chassis, Alternate’s Steam Machine will set you back about $1,339. For that price you’ll get an Intel Core i5 4570 processor, and a Gigabyte GTX 760 handling the GPU work. You’ll also get 16GB RAM and 1TB SSHD storage. At this point we can’t you’ll see it later in 2014 or earlier, we are only sure that you will.

Scan, NC10 

This sleek-looking machine is world’s apart from its competition in terms of design. The rig includes a 2.4GHz Intel Core i3 4000M, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M, 8GB of memory and 500GB HDD all smartly cased inside its attractive brushed aluminum housing. It will be available later this year for $1,090.

Materiel.net, Steam Machine

Like most of the others, the date this boxy machine will hit the shelves is unknown other than the fact that it will be this year. It comes equipped with an Intel Core i5 4440 CPU and graphics will be powered by a MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC. The machine will have 8GB of RAM, and storage will be 8GB plus 1TB SSHD. Avalaible for $1,098.

CyberPowerPC, Steam Machine(s)

CyberPowerPC has two Steam Machine models called; “Steam Machine A” and Steam Machine I”. Both are highly customizable rigs, that come with the same base components; 500GB hard drives, 8GB DDR3 memory, and mITX motherboards with support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB 3.0. They will both run the Linux-based Steam OS and come equipped with the Valve-made Steam Controller designed for playing PC games in the living room. The two models diverge in pricing, processors and video cards. The  $499 Steam Machine A ships with a 3.9 GHz AMD A6-6400K and 2GB AMD Radeon R9 270, the other $699 model; Steam Machine I features a 3.5 GHz Intel Core i3-4330 and 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760. These will be available in the second half of 2014.

Zotac, Steam Machine

We are probably the same thing; you could tell your friends that’s your new wifi router and none would be the wiser. Details about its  Intel processor, its Nvidia GeForce GTX, and its RAM and storage have yet to be revealed. Of course you’ll see it this year, Zotac just hasn’t said when.

iBuyPower, SBX

There aren’t many juicy details on the specifications of this rig. We know it will be out later in 2014 and will retail for $499. It will feature AMD and Intel processor options, a 2GB AMD R9 270. No word on memory or storage at this time.

Alienware, Steam Machine

Given that this is one the most talked about Steam Machine of all the thirteen, it was disappointing when Alienware did not disclose the details of its components. There will be an Intel processor and an Nvidia GPU, however that gives us as much to be excited about as its unknown release date in 2014. It will sport two USB 3.0 ports and like the Xbox One HDMI In and Out ports and unlike the Xbox One we don’t know exactly what Alienware plans to do with them. Pricing details are also unknown.

Origin PC, Chronos

The Chronos Steam Machine from Origin PC is an interesting rig, one reason would be because it offer support for up to dual Nvidia SLE GeForce GTX Titan GPUs, 14TBs of storage, and a liquid CPU cooling system. The rig will be built as it’s ordered so off the shelf configurations may be rare. Another interesting bit is that it will have dual-boot options to let users dual-boot SteamOS and Windows 8 or Windows 7. Pricing and availability or unknown at this time.

Next, Spa

We don’t get pricing or availability but we do get specs and here they are; an Intel i5 processor, along with an NVIDIA GTX 760 GPU, 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

Gigabyte, Brix Pro

This is by far the smallest of the pack, its design seems to appeal to those who don’t want a big machine taking up too much space in their living room and thus leaving things minimal. The Brix Pro will feature an Intel Core i7-4770R processor, an Intel Iris Pro 5200 chipset for handling graphics duties, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. Gigabyte has not released details of how much it will cost and when we can pay that cost to get it.

Which of these is right for you?

The Android platform for example, has a lot of controllers but letting those controllers work with games has always been a matter between game developers and the controller hardware manufacturers. Of course this means that fragmentation doesn’t make it easy for controller manufacturers. It took a long time for MOGA and similar companies to build up a strong library of games that work well, but now, it’s a pretty good experience.

The pioneer controllers retail $100 each, which makes playing games on your iPhone somewhat of an expensive hobby. First up is MOGA’s Ace Power, instead of the usual retractable arm that holds the phone just above the controller, the MOGA Ace Power splits in half and clamps the phone in between the two sections. The controller connects to the phone via Lightning connector rather than Bluetooth.

Touch Arcade has a hands-on report detailing the device, the report shows that they are unimpressed by MOGA’s new flagship controller.

The hollow feeling of the MOGA Ace Power, the clicky buttons, how little it weighs, the texture of the plastic and the loose rattle of the sliding mechanism when it’s not fully extended with an iPhone or iPod touch inside all work against the device feeling like a $99 piece of kit.

However, with surprise comes disappointment, and the main source of that disappointment is how incredibly obvious to us that all of the developers out there releasing updates to add iOS 7 controller support are doing so without actually testing on a controller. For instance, Dead Trigger 2 [Free] comes with default sensitivity settings that were so high there’s no way any human could play that way. Similarly,LEGO Lord of the Rings [$4.99] has controller support, but you can only move using the D-Pad, not the analog stick. Strange little inconsistencies like that are everywhere, and I’ve yet to find a game that recognizes analog button presses.

The MOGA Ace Power has large potential, future iOS controllers will follow it’s layout and much like every new device it can only get better from here.

Logitech’s controller is called PowerShell, a slightly wider competitor to MOGA’s Ace Power that retails at $100. This controller also connects via Lightning port. Just to be clear both the Ace Power and the PowerShell are for non-iPad iOS7 devices. Analog sticks are absent on the PowerShell and all the buttons are analog. Similarly unless you have very deep pockets, throwing the nearly eight-inch PowerShell into your pocket might be a daunting task.

That said hands-on reports at TechRadar and SlashGear show that the PowerShell is a much sturdier product in comparison to the Ace Power. However in practice most the same problems that affect MOGA’s Ace Power also affect the PowerShell, and since it’s been barely a week I’m pretty sure that nothing has changed with Apple’s MFI APIs and Lightning software support. The keyword here is “potential”.

So what can you play with these controllers, MOGA and Logitech share a list of 300+ titles and still growing. Dead Trigger 2, LEGO Lord of the Rings and The Walking Dead are popular games out now with MFI controller support. Limbo, Terraria and The Cave are coming out soon and major publishers are bringing some of their hit franchises to the scene. Eidos’ Deus Ex: The Fall, Ubisoft’s Trials Frontier and Electronic Arts’ Dead Space are all slated for 2014. There are also old hits ranging from Pac-Man to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. 

iOS has grown as a gaming platform, more people own iOS devices than Xbox consoles now, it’s a good time to own an iOS device.

This may seem very weird or might sound like a hack but it is true. If you purchase both the Xbox One and the PS4 you will be able to play PS4 games (or even the current gen systems) on their Xbox One’s interface.

In a post by Jeff Henshaw of Microsoft, he confirmed that you can use the Xbox and Kinect to switch to the PS4 without complications and that the lag would be so little the human eye would not be able to detect.

You would also be able to connect a Wii U to play games and then use voice commands to put that in the background and switch over to an Xbox One game without changing inputs.

This is a great feature that will eliminate the technicality of always disconnecting and reconnecting another system just to play a game and also goes well with the fact that Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be an all round media system and not just another game console.

I think this is clever and I’m looking forward to seeing how this actually works. Are you excited?

Source: Forbes Tech