Everyone’s talking about the $2.5 billion Curiosity rover‘s “terrifying” Hollywood-blockbuster-worthy landing: seven knuckle-in-teeth minutes in early August during which its aeroshell-armored bulk will plummet through Mars’ thin …
TIME Interviews
AOL’s Longest-Running Employee on the History of AOL Chat Rooms
Last month, Sean Parker of Napster fame launched Airtime.
Amid the hoopla of the launch — attended, for some reason, by Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dogg — Parker told an anecdote about meeting his business partner, Shawn …
Atari at 40: Catching Up with Founder Nolan Bushnell
Once upon a time, back in the 1960s, there was a videogame called Spacewar!
It was remarkably ingenious and addictive, and probably would have become a pop-culture phenomenon if it weren’t for its one downside: You could only …
What, Exactly, Is a Supercomputer?
It’s official: The United States is home to the world’s fastest supercomputer. But what exactly are supercomputers and why should we care about them?
I decided to go straight to the source — Mike McCoy, program director for …
Better than 3D Maps from Apple and Google? Hover Aims for Ground-Level Detail with Practical Value
Apple and Google have each announced visually dazzling 3D mapping software that lets you pan around major metropolitan areas rendered in beautiful, photographic detail from a bird’s eye view.
In Google’s case, it’s an update …
Author Neal Stephenson’s $500K Quest to Build a Better Sword Game
Surely Medieval knights would be appalled by the swordplay displayed in modern video games. Warriors hack blindly. Swords miraculously catch fire. Characters swing in wild circles like the Tasmanian Devil.
Author Neal …
Kevin Systrom Says Comparing Instagram to Photography Is Like ‘Comparing Twitter to Microsoft Word’
TIME talks with the Instagram co-founder about the pressure to monetize, photo snobs & why a good mobile experience is so hard to come by.
Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime Talks Zelda, the Future of Handhelds and Wii’s Big Holiday Push
How Nintendo is looking to finish the holiday season strong before the Wii U premieres next year.
Race and Technology: Q&A with Startup Founder Hank Williams
Hank Williams joined eight other African American technology entrepreneurs at a live-in Silicon Valley-based business accelerator called NewME (New Media Entrepreneurship). He spent nine weeks there developing his online data …
Epic’s Rod Fergusson Talks ‘Gears of War 3’
To everyone expecting a Gears of War 3 review: It’s coming.
In the meantime, I had a chance to speak to Rod Fergusson, executive producer at Epic Games, about what next week’s big release means for the studio and the world they’ve created. Over the last five years, the previous Gears games have introduced unique gameplay elements–a …
‘Battlefield 3’ Producer: ‘Controversy Is Not a Mature Way to Sell a Game’
EA’s hoping to storm to the top of the modern military FPS heap with Battlefield 3, ending Call of Duty‘s recent reign as the number one shooter franchise. The man leading the charge at the DICE development studio making the game is executive producer Patrick Bach. Bach’s been at DICE for nine years and spoke with me about what DICE …
How to Build an Awesome World: “Brink” Devs on Narrative and Visuals, Part 2
In the first part of the talk with Brink‘s lead writer Ed Stern, he talked about how the look of the game can inspire plot and gameplay ideas. In this interview, art director Olivier Leonardi–the man in charge of Brink’s aesthetic–discusses how the eco-pocalypse FPS’ distinctive approach to character and environmental design came …