Until the robots rise up and destroy us all, software engineer Taylor Veltrop is fine with using our future usurpers as feline babysitters.

Veltrop has hacked together a Kinect, two Wiimotes, head-mounted display, treadmill and a Nao robot to remotely pet a cat. It may have taken him about a year to get this far, but in the end it's worth it: we get a video showing an amount of human-robot relations not seen since Sarah and her son befriended a T-800 ... and Veltrop gets to pet a cat. Win-win situation, if you ask us.

Engineer makes cat companion out of robot using Kinect and Wiimotes originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember Brent Kennedy, the guy who created those wonderful piano arrangements of the Super Meat Boy soundtrack early last year? Well, it looks like we weren't the only people impressed by his work: Super Meat Boy's composer, Danny Baranowsky, has been working with Kennedy for nearly a year, and the two have recently released the fruits of their labors on Baranowsky's Bandcamp profile.

Super Meat Boy! - Choice Piano Cuts is a $4.99 (or more, if you're feeling generous) collection of 10 tracks from the SMB soundtrack, composed by Baranowsky and arranged/performed by Kennedy. The purchase also includes a PDF of the Kennedy's sheet music for the entire album, which in itself is well worth the price of admission for the musically inclined out there.

The soundtrack's original arrangements are great and everything, don't get us wrong, but there's a deeper level to Baranowsky's skill as a composer that's exceptionally brought to life by Kennedy's mastery of the ivory keys. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen.

Choice Piano Cuts, a Super Meat Boy piano tribute album originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3D printers are, indisputably, super awesome. They're boxes full of magic, hope, and lasers, which create substance from nothing and reality from dreams. Coincidentally, Minecraft basically does the exact same thing, by providing the user with a cuboid sandbox for their imagination to run wild in. Now, these two worlds of creation can be joined together via Mineways, a 3D model-exportation tool created by Eric Haines.

The process breaks down like this: Using Mineways, Minecraft players can select a portion of the world they've built and export it as a texture file and 3D model, in file formats compatible with the rendering software used by 3D printers. Those files can then be printed, creating an adorable little real-life version of whatever it is you had exported.

If you're not part of the 1 percent and as such do not have access to a 3D printer, your exported files can be sent to a printing service like Shapeways, which does exactly what a 3D printing service sounds like it would do. Based on the size and complexity of the model, getting something printed can run from 25 bucks for a small doodad to several hundred dollars for a complete landscape.

Somewhere, a very wealthy Minecraft/model train enthusiast is extremely pleased. Click here to grab the open source software directly from Eric, and to see an in-depth how-to guide.

Mineways: Create 3D prints of your Minecraft creations, or pay someone else to originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who pillaged the most booty in 2011? Which vessel had the most ornate mast? ... Wait, we've got it all wrong -- these aren't the pirate pirate awards for 2011, they're the most pirated games of the year. Can you guess which game took top ... um ... "honors?"

TorrentFreak has tossed out some estimate figures, saying that Crysis 2 was downloaded 3.9 million times over BitTorrent since March, edging out Modern Warfare 3, which was downloaded an estimated 3.6 million times since November. Taking third place on its list was Battlefield 3 with an estimated 3.5 million downloads. Rounding out the top five on the PC side were FIFA 12 and Portal 2.

There are also estimated figures for Xbox 360 and Wii games -- Gears of War 3 and Super Mario Galaxy 2 were the most pirated games with 890,000 and 1.2 million estimated downloads, respectively.

Report: Crysis 2 is the most pirated game of 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battlefield 3
I love Battlefield 3. I love it almost as much as it seems to hate its players.

At least, that's the way it feels sometimes, trying to get into a game, trying to get correctly squaded up, trying to find a server with room, having to use a server browser on consoles in 2011, downloading 2 GIGABYTE patches ... y u no luv me, BF3?

But when it does love me, it loves me so well ... and there I go, into that cycle of abuse again.

Continue reading Best of the Rest: Arthur's picks of 2011

Best of the Rest: Arthur's picks of 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Abobo's Big Adventure is a free-to-play Flash game from I-Mockery that sends the Double Dragon strongman through a carousel of old NES settings and parodies. And if you're anything like us, you've been waiting for its release ever since that debut trailer first burned your eyeballs out with its awesomeness. Well good news, friends: The wait is almost over, as I-Mockery has announced a release date of January 11 for the title, confirmed on the official website.

The bad news is that only gives you eight too-short days to make your peace with the world before your mind succumbs to the insanity of this one as well. Better work fast.

Abobo's Big Adventure arrives on January 11 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casual Brothers Games has announced it will bring Orc Attack to digital platforms. Specifically, the hack and slash (no relation to Orcs Must Die!) will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PC and OnLive in the fourth quarter. As the name implies, Orc Attack sees up to four playable orcs joining forces and slaying poor, pitiful humans.

Given the ... gaseous nature of each orc's special attacks - not to mention the characters' names, including the devilishly clever "Lord Poop" and charmingly witty "Doc Turd" - we're not expecting any complicated, emergent gameplay or a deep, thought-provoking narrative.

Orc Attack storming XBLA, PSN, PC in Q4 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim is going to get tons of accolades all over this year, and deservedly so, but Deus Ex: Human Revolution pulled me into its world more effectively than any other game in 2011.

It didn't do everything right. Obviously, there were the boss battles. They required a narrow combat approach, playing to some of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's weakest elements. But those encounters were only disappointing insofar as they contradicted the fluidity of gameplay styles and approaches the rest of Human Revolution offered.

Continue reading Joystiq Top 10 of 2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Joystiq Top 10 of 2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ongoing legal battle between Bethesda and Interplay regarding the Fallout MMO is rumored to have reached a critical turning point. According to Fallout fan site Duck and Cover, the two companies have reached a settlement. Specifics of the settlement are reportedly set to be revealed later this month.

Joystiq is unable to confirm whether or not the settlement has actually taken place, though the rumor appears to be in line with what we've heard from our own sources.

In October, Bethesda tried -- and failed -- to impose a preliminary injunction on Interplay, which allowed the latter to continue work on the beleaguered project. Will the Fallout MMO manage to make its proposed late 2012 launch window? We should have an answer soon enough.

Rumor: Fallout MMO lawsuit settled, details coming this month originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Kid sat down to write about Bastion, his mind empty like a soldier's wallet. Where to begin? What to say? The game wasn't a blockbuster production, but it was beautiful and expertly executed, and an epic concept delivered by a team that knew its limitations. When there isn't an army of artists, engineers, writers and coders to impress those critical gasbags, you put your vision on display.

Bastion's dynamic narration is to be the game's long-lasting cultural hook. A smooth and comforting voice relays events, but doesn't stop at exposition. There was very little the narrator didn't have a comment for, be it weapon combinations or that moment the kid simply starts smashing everything in sight.

Much like "Still Alive" did double duty as Portal's end and as its revelation, Bastion takes a similar opportunity in its credits to deliver the haunting "Setting Sail, Coming Home." A combination of themes that become familiar to players through the game, the song delivered the type of emotional conclusion that even the best cutscenes rarely offer.

Continue reading Joystiq Top 10 of 2011: Bastion

Joystiq Top 10 of 2011: Bastion originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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