The Geek Hunt is an initiative to find new and innovative ways to take advantage of the city’s gigabit status. The Gig Tank summer program has $300,000.00 in prize money up for grabs. If you have a new or interesting idea to utilize the bandwidth, they would love to hear from you. You’d better hurry though. The entry deadline is March 1st! Full PR Release Below:

Chattanooga Offering $300k Prizes and Seed Capital to Geeks

Chattanooga is looking for the next tech geniuses. Yes, Chattanooga Tennessee.

It’s the only city in the western hemisphere with gigabit-per-second Internet speeds available to thousands of end users. Today.

The smartest students and entrepreneurs will do amazing things with the world’s fastest Internet. And we’re inviting them to do it here, in Chattanooga, where bandwidth is no longer a barrier.

These students and entrepreneurs will come to a summer program where the best high-bandwidth ideas and businesses will not only have access to Chattanooga’s network for development and testing, but also seed money, mentors, free room and board, and the opportunity to win prizes of up to $300,000 in cash and seed capital.

Encourage any tech geeks you know to apply by tagging them on Twitter @your geeky friend using #GeekHunt hash tag or by commenting on this video on Facebook. If that person applies and gets accepted into the summer program, and you’re the first to tag him/her, you’ll get $1000.

The application deadline is March 1.

www.thegeekhunt.com

@TheGeekHunt

@TheGigCity

Set in 2069, Syndicate takes players into a dark, Machiavellian world run without government oversight with many syndicates vying for total dominance of their local market place. With no one to question their intentions or actions, three mega corporations – Eurocorp, Cayman Global, and Aspari – are at the forefront of this brutal war for control of the pivotal American market. In the world of Syndicate, everything is digitally connected, including the people. Players aren’t limited to the weapons in their hands. Through DART 6 bio-chip technology implanted in their head, players can slow down time and breach the digital world around them to take down their foes using a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics. Syndicate’s blend of fast-paced, futuristic, action shooter settings and story combined with innovative chip breach gameplay instantly immerses players in a unique digital world.

“Our goal with Syndicate is to provide a challenging action shooter for today’s gamers as well as fans of the original. I’m sure they will enjoy and recognize the legacy that made it such a classic,” says Jeff Gamon, EA Partners Executive Producer. “Fans of the franchise will recognize many weapons and environments in the game, but in a whole new way. The game also provides a separate and deep 4-player co-op mode featuring missions from the original cult classic, which adds another layer of depth to the overall experience.”

Syndicate will be available in early 2012 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and the PC. For more information on Syndicate, please visit www.syndicate.ea.com.

Developed by Incognito Entertainment for the PS3, StarHawk is the successor to the PS3 game WarHawk. Warhawk was a semi remake/re-imagining of the original WarHawk PS1 launch title. The original WarHawk was a 3rd person flight game that pitted the player against an invading alien onslaught all by their lonesome. It was revolutionary for it’s time as were most PS1 launch titles.

The remake of Warhawk on PS3 was quite a bit different. Out was the single player mode. Incognito felt it just didn’t hold up to the multi-player section so they just straight dropped it. WarHawk still kept the 3rd person perspective, but added new things. You could run around as a trooper, drive a armored jeep, or hop into a Hawk and battle it out in the sky. If you’ve missed out on WarHawk…for shame. It still has a very large fanbase, and online community even after more than 4 years on shelves.

StarHawk is a in spiritual successor to Warhawk, and it adds some new things to the mix. First up is now you can build structures. Anyone can do so at any time within their team’s green zones, provided you have enough building blocks. You can build walls, auto turrets, jeep garages, jetpack hangers, Hawk platforms, sniping towers, armouries, large anti vehicle weapons, and an energy shield generator. Whew…that’s a lot, but in the BETA there are still two structures in the construct wheel that are blank, so expect that list to grow.

The great thing about building the different structures is that anyone on the team can use them. If you build a Hawk platform for instance, anyone can get a Hawk. All they need is two construct blocks and away you go. Also, the Hawks are done a bit different. Taking a Robotech-esq approach, the Hawks can be in one of two modes, the aerial vehicle mode or a bi-pedal ground mode. Which makes for some interesting tactics in capture the flag games.

In the BETA are just two maps and two gameplay modes. The modes you have are capture the flag and team deathmatch. As for the maps you get, they are two very different types. You have Acid Sea, an industrial island that is literally surrounded by a ocean of acid, and a Space Platform stage that gives great opportunities for aerial fun. For the buildings and spawning, you get drop pods. On the Respawn screen you get a top down view of the map and can choose where to spawn, then you rocket down to the map.

After selecting your construct you get a ghost outline of the structure that when it is green means you can build it right there. Then all you have to do is stand still, look up and you can see it coming down from the dropship to you. Spawning both yourself and your constructs can be used to kill enemy team players which is really satisfying when you pull it off.

I’ve played several BETA’s over the years, but in my opinion this one has changed the most while I played. Every day there seems to be a latest version to update to with generally no less than 4 major tweaks and changes that have been implemented due to player input. Everything from Hawk mobility, to jetpack durability. Most of the BETA’s I’ve played would generally let you play, give input, and add tweaks to the final product. So this BETA has been a huge breath of fresh air.

Final Judgement: If your a Plus member check this BETA out. If not there has been talk about a more open BETA soon, and if so then you definitely need to check this out.

Remember the backlash from EA deciding not to release Battlefield 3 on Steam? By making this game an Origin-exclusive, EA seemingly pissed on true PC Gamers everywhere and ushered in a new era of oppression.

I’m kidding, of course.

There is no such era of oppression. This entire situation has been overblown to the point that I want to vomit whenever I hear people complaining about it. The reason I bring it back up, however, is that EA is set yet again to flip Steam the bird. They are releasing Mass Effect 3 with their Origin DRM (and on every online game distributor except Steam).

And before you call me contradictory, I am not. Steam is DRM as well (even though most people don’t think of it as such). It’s a great idea. But, unfortunaely, you can’t copyright a great idea. The idea that digital games not on Steam will fail is not simply fanboyish and arrogant, it’s just plain stupid.

Mass Effect is going to sell millions of copies regardless of what launches it in the system tray. EA doesn’t need Steam for this game to be successful, so why should they cater to Valve? It simply makes business sense. With the recent developer/publisher affinity for consoles, I would say be glad you are getting the game on PC at all.

TL;DR: Shut up already you fanboyish twits! This has the significance of a coyote farting in the desert.

The 11/20/2012 release has been confirmed and even some details have been spilled. Fan favs Leon and Chris return and each will have their own separate storyline in the campaign. I’m told Ashley being included is a big deal too. Hmm, maybe I should brush up on my RE lore.

As much as I respect Brian Cresente, Brian Ashcroft and Stephen Totilo, and I do, believe me, those guys are doing great things with game journalism, Kotaku seems to take a strange approach to what they consider “post-worthy.” Its like they are trying to turn Kotaku into the catch all for gaming counter culture. Everything from fan art to cos-play to bizarre Youtube videos, Kotaku’s RSS is filled with drivel that probably drives traffic from meme-happy interweb-dwellers. If this is their goal, then bravo, they have succeeded.

However, as a reader that craves smart, text-heavy thought provoking material Kotaku is too hard to sift through. For every high quality opinion blog that’s posted there’s just as many unnecessary fluff topics. Volume-wise, Kotaku posts 30%-40% more content than Joystiq, IGN or Gamespot and nearly 10 times more than Giant Bomb or Destructoid. Sure some of those sites have drastically different coverage models, but 1000+ articles in a month is simply more coverage than what’s actually happening.

A good game site has three types of posts, news (game announcements, studio closures, basically anything grounded in fact), opinion (reviews, editorial posts etc.) and previews (informative pre-release coverage that contains equal parts news and opinion). Kotaku has added a fourth type to this that blurs the line between professional journalism and real time gaming culture pulse measurement. By taking popular game related links from the internet and posting them, Kotaku is essentially sharing the best of the Neogaf and/or 4chan forums as if its worthy to sit beside their Metareviews and Gut-check columns.

This diminishes the value of the real editorial posts, inflates the value of random Legend of Zelda fan art and it creates an overall watered down experience. Is this innovative? Probably, but its not what I want. I’m not looking for cutting edge Skyrim glitch videos or 7 different Asain girls dressed as slutty Bayonettas. Even that video of a frog attempting to eat bugs on an iPhone screen, as funny as it is, doesn’t belong in MY RSS feed. Its time for me to cut the cord.

The news piece of Kotaku I can get from Joystiq, they are fast, clean, and concise when rolling out gaming news. The preview piece I will get from Gamespot and Giant Bomb. Between the two I will get both a vanilla (Gamespot) and colorful (Giant Bomb) idea of what to expect out of upcoming games. The editorial piece I will miss, but there are a number of other sites that can fill the void.

Gawker took alot of heat for their new page layout, but despite that, Kotaku and Gizmodo are still huge names in tech and gaming news. I hate that I’m about to end my subscription to such an oft-quoted source, but with the way their posts are dumped into the world its just easier for me to wait for someone else to reference their material and go from there.

Sure, I will still visit the site during huge media blitz weeks, especially TGS, Gamesconn and other international shows. Their editorial staff typically makes the international trips and covers them extremely well. However, day to day RSS feed reading of Kotaku will probably stop for me all together. I’ll find something more focused in which to subscribe.

I have never really been an iPhone supporter. I have always maintained that Android is the better platform. And, in some cases I stand by that. However, I have been having major issues with my Droid Incredible. There were two times this year that I lost everything on my phone when Verizon decided to shoot me an OS update. I don’t know if this problem is widespread or if I’m just unlucky.

Either way, I’d had enough.

Two weeks ago I ventured to Best Buy just to see what my options were. I ended up leaving with an iPhone 4s from Sprint because Verzion wouldn’t let me out of my contract. It was cheaper for me to go to another carrier and pay the pro-rated termination fee than to buy an un-subsidized phone.

Whatever, water under the bridge.

For the past two weeks I have been using the 4s on Sprint’s network, and I have been underwhelmed to say the least. I should have turned directly around when I attempted to pull up the Google site in the middle of Hattiesburg and it took two red lights before that familiar logo was staring back at me. Sprint may have unlimited data, but it is SLOW. What’s the point of having a media hungry phone with unlimited data if you don’t have the network throughput to enjoy it? It’s like driving a Ferrari in a traffic jam. I will say that Sprint is the first to have “4G” (yes, the quotes are intentional since no carrier truly has 4G) in our area, but that doesn’t help me much with a 3G iPhone, now does it?

That brings me to today. I spent 2 hours at BB trying to get back with Verizon. Thankfully, they have given me 60 days to come back, and if I return I am able to retain my unlimited data account. However, their customer service was slammed today (it is, after all, the day after christmas). After waiting for 45 minutes, I decided to just port my number over to ATT instead.

I have only had the ATT iPhone 4s for about 3 hours, so I will be updating this accordingly. Apparently the 4s supports hdspa+ (aka fake 4G) on ATT’s network. More on this next week. UPDATE: The preliminary tests are looking good though:

More on this to come.

The lesson for today, however, is STAY AWAY FROM THE IPHONE ON SPRINT.

Grand Theft Auto IV – April 2008
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars – March 2009
Red Dead Redemption – May 2010
L.A. Noire – May 2011
Max Payne 3 – March 2012 (expected release)

In 2010, Take Two revised their fiscal calendar to end March 31. As we all know, stock holders and investors have just as much to do with release dates as the developers themselves. In recent years Rockstar has released one major game annually and in the past 4 years it always been between the months of March and May.

Next year’s Max Payne 3, assuming its not delayed will follow this pattern as well. With the fiscal year closing at the end of March its highly unlikely that Take Two would let Max Payne be pushed back any later than that. The only other game Rockstar has announced is Agent. Very little is known about Agent and with Rockstar not shying away from saying GTAV development is in full swing, Its safe to say that its on deck.

With all this data, here are my release window predictions.

Anytime in 2012 = 1% chance
Jan-Feb 2013 = 1% chance
March 2013 = 45% chance
April 2013 = 5% chance
May 2013 = 24% chance
June 2013 = 12% chance
July-Sept 2013 = 8% chance
Oct-Dec 2013 = 3% chance
Anytime in 2014 = 1% chance

In the event its delayed through March, my money’s on a May release based on historical patterns. Its possible they will try to make it a fall 2013 release especially if Agent makes its way to shelves first. However, If Max Payne gets delayed into the next fiscal year and its a huge hit, my whole chart could be reworked. This also doesn’t take into account other Take Two games, like Borderlands 2, Bioshock Infinite, Spec Ops: The Line and XCOM.

GTAV is one of the most anticipated upcoming titles and one of the most successful franchises in gaming. A lot of factors go into selecting a release date, these are just a few. Hopefully I’m wrong and we’ll be playing GTAV at the end of 2012, but I don’t think I am and I don’t think we will be. In the mean time, if you need a mob based open world game, why don’t you grab Saints Row The Third, I hear that thing is effin’ bonkers.

Clearly Epic doesn’t understand what a “fortnight” is, or they’ve just decided to run with the weakest pun ever. Very little can be taken from the trailer. It’s good to see colors other than brown and the stylized character design looks to have a certain charm. Scavenging and building forts seem like core mechanics and apparently at night monsters come out. Building things to hid in because monsters come out at night sounds like the nutshell description of Minecraft. Notch needs to call his lawyers.

Here’s the trailer!

The Last of Us looks to be a father-daughter game that’s possibly co-op in the vein of survival horror zombie titles. They clearly aren’t zombies, and it doesn’t look like they are shying away from having the child do some killing. This should be interesting.