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Where does the time go? For some of us, that's a question involving time-loops and FTL drive. But for a lot of us, the explanation has more to do with massive books, bursting DVD sets and addictive games. More »
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X-Men: First Class has its Magneto. The Last Airbender reveals its fight scenes and epic scope. Doctor Who has two big questions to answer. There are insane Batman 3 cast rumors to end all insane cast rumors. Prepare for spoilers! More »
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So far, virtual reality has mostly been a colossal disappointment. But VR has had its share of breakthroughs and innovative applications. Here are seven VR technologies that work, and that may yet point the way to truly successful virtual reality. More »
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Soldiers who can communicate with each other telepathically. Amputated limbs that grow back with the help of a nano-scaffold. Equipment that can see through dense smoke or fog by exploiting quantum effects. Your tax dollars are hard at work trying to create the most sci-fi military in the world. U.S. military researchers will showcase their most outlandish initiatives at next month's Army Science Conference, including photo-realistic holograms and virtual soldiers designed to infiltrate World of Warcraft. More »
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It's not clear if the two travelers in this concept art have crashed into this glowing cavern, or if that's simply their parking place. Maybe there's a swarm of flesh-peeling mites just out of view, but it looks like a good place for an adventure to us. More »
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A new documentary about virtual worlds called Second Skin debuted at the South by Southwest Festival over the weekend, and it's already causing controversy for portraying gamers as social defectives. Though the filmmakers clearly want to offer a positive view of massive multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, they nevertheless managed to focus the documentary almost entirely on people whose immersion in virtual worlds destroys their engagement with the real world. Either that, or the relationships that the gamers form via the virtual world are shown to be unstable and perhaps even illusory. C|Net's Daniel Terdiman wrote a fascinating essay about the movie after its debut, pointing out how strange it is that we're still getting these one-sided portraits of the "loser gamer" despite the fact that gaming is fast becoming the most popular form of entertainment in the world. More »
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Virtual worlds are driving people to suicide — and making them fall in love. A new documentary, opening this weekend, follows seven people who are devoted to virtual worlds, and finds them struggling with addiction and discovering romance. Second Skin, which debuts at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, showcases players' devotion to worlds like Second Life, and soon the science fiction wonderment addiction that is Starcraft 2). Click through to view the trailer. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=363028&view=rss&microfeed=true Ben X, a European movie about an autistic teen who spends most of his time online as a warrior in a World of Warcraft-esque fantasy game, is about to get a U.S. makeover. More »
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A new version of massive multiplayer game World of Warcraft will allow people to change their characters' hair and dance moves, but not their genders. Just goes to show that you can move to a new cyber-world packed with an international population of millions, and still be SOL if you want to find a decent tranny bar. This isn't the first time that WOW has instituted weird, arbitrary rules about sex-related crap, either. More »
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Is the virtual universe ready for Men's Lib? In World of Warcraft they are. Fans are getting irked about how the male characters in WOW are so muscle-bound and macho-bulky that they are practically unable to move. While female characters are lithe and flexible, the men hobble around in so much armor that it's as if they're wearing high heeled shoes all over their ridiculously proportioned bodies. Is this a feminist plot? More »
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A new kind of group psychology is emerging — guild psychology, which is much more concerned with fights over dragons skins than dealing with abandonment issues. Your fellow warriors and monster-smashers can feel supported and validated without using "I" statements. An expert in guild psychology says the groups should have quality time together on a night "when people can convene to get their gear enchanted, their gems cut, their swords made." She adds: More »
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