The UpStream

StarCraft 2 may still be a long ways off. On the bright side, Blizzard has been giving us patient few consistent updates on the long anticipated sequel. The latest bit of information involves platform support, as a Blizzard employee recently popped onto the game's forums to verify that SC2 will support PC and Mac right out of the box. Sounds all well and good, but what about those who like to keep our computer desk drawers clean and want to go with a digital download?

"Further details on digital download possibilities will be released as we get closer to the ship date," the forum post reads. While we'd like to speculate on what these "digital download possibilities" are, it would be just that: speculation. Maybe once the game is out we will be out of the recession and I'll be able to afford a new rig....that is if I even need one at this point.

Looks like we've found an alternative option to creating super soldiers! The Office of Naval Research is currently conducting research in video game training that it says has "surprising" results in regards to military personnel reaction time and adaptability in the fight against terror. Personally I always thought that this was common sense but I guess Uncle Sam just got the memo. According to an article available on the Department of Defense's official website, doctor of educational psychology and program officer Ray Perez said the research has discovered that video game players perform "10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability" than non-gamers.

It's amazing how with today's technology we STILL can't determine whether or not it is going to rain these days (at least for those of us in Florida). Well I am here to tell you that there is a 100% chance of PS3's Heavy Rain demo for those of you that are worried about exactly what the game is. Understandably, many gamers out there are still on the fence about Quantic Dream's latest adventure game. Is it just a long QTE? Is it actually a game? Well hopefully the new demo will be able to clear up some of the questions. A free demo will be available on the PlayStation Network on February 11th, in both Europe and North America.

Last week we brought you the court case involving willful copyright infringement by Jammie Thomas-Rasset in Minnesota. She was originally convicted of the crime and forced to pay $2 million dollars, just for downloading 24 songs without permission! Recently however, a judge decided to overturn the decision and instead charge Rasset only $54,000 in fines. The only part left to do for the decision to be finalized, was receiving approval for the new amount from the recording industry. Things can never be that easy!

From the beginning, the industry has made it pretty clear that they did not want the case to go to court in the first place, but unfortunately for them Thomas-Rasset refused to settle out of court with RIAA. Now that the judge has sliced the amount to $54,000, RIAA has decided to try once again to resolve the case out of the court room to avoid a third trial, silly RIAA. Thomas-Rasset has once again refused the new offer of $25,000, vowing that she will not pay any restitution at all.

Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, made some interesting announcements in an interview with SFX Magazine about the upcoming Avengers film. The most notable was the team itself.

We know Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man will be front and center, as well as Thor and Captain America, all coming to the team off of their self-titled films over the next 18 months. The hardest part will be maintaining the individual characters while still creating a team. On this, he said,

Since Apple finally announced the iPad (or TamPod as Colbert called it), everyone in every industry has had to make a statement. The reviews are, well, mixed, but so it the industry. If you are an iPhone app developer, you probably liked the processing power and big screen. If you are in the mainstream gaming community, you probably hate it because of its potetial threat.

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, said to The New York Times "it was a bigger iPod Touch." What Iwata seems to have forgotten is that Nintendo made a big deal over the DSi, which is just a bigger DS. On the other hand, he did also say that 3D games were also no realistic because the glasses would make people think you were crazy. This sttement probably has little or nothing to do with the fact that the Wii platform cannot render true 3D graphics. Seems like Nintendo and Apple are more alike than we realised.