odyssey

Breaking free from the action mold, here's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

With the holiday gaming season just beginning to turn its gears, we've already been greeted by an early contender for a spot on wish lists. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is one of the best games you probably haven't heard about this year, so allow us to introduce you.

For those who'd rather watch than read, please enjoy our exclusive trailer for the game.

Jeff: The story told in Enslaved pairs an unlikely duo: a monstrous and agile man named Monkey and a sweet but helpless tech-savvy accomplice who goes by Trip. Together they must navigate through a decaying New York City of 150 years into the future, absent of any life save for an antihuman race of robotic creatures. Bound together by a mysterious slave headband, Monkey and Trip must help one another survive the decomposing landscape and its flesh-hungry automaton inhabitants.

With the ever-capable developer Ninja Theory at the reigns (see Heavenly Sword), Enslaved features an exciting combat system and a refreshing take on the action-strategy genre. Fans of the Uncharted and Prince of Persia series will be happy to hear that Enslaved occasionally resembles some of the acrobatic gameplay from these two classic franchises, all while keeping itself unique enough--not to mention the game's opening 30 minutes are among the best we've played all year.

There's a solid amount of variety to keep things moving along, including an upgrade system that rewards the player to explore all of the nooks and crannies of the game space. Enslaved is as linear as games come, but don't assume there is only one route to take.

The game isn't without its fair share of faults, however. Camera and environmental glitches are aplenty, though we never found ourselves completely stuck. There are a few moments where the next move isn't abundantly clear, but it's a welcome change of pace compared with a guide arrow or breadcrumb trail.… Read more

Agent publishes 20 'modern classics' on Kindle, cutting out publishers

The Wylie Agency, which represents authors such as Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, and John Updike, is publishing 20 books through its new Odyssey Editions imprint and making them available for sale exclusively in Amazon.com's Kindle Store for $9.99.

Andrew Wylie, the founder and head of the agency, has been locked in a battle with publishing houses over the digital rights to a number of modern classics and "backlist" titles. His new move makes a big statement to big-name publishers, which have been shut out of a potentially lucrative revenue stream. Because digital rights have only been included in more-recent book publishing contracts, the electronic rights to a multitude of famous books are held by authors.

Deals, such as this one with Wylie, have the potential of netting authors or their estates much higher royalties than if they'd signed an e-book deal with a major publishing house. … Read more

Honda embarks upon new Odyssey

We got our first peek Honda's concept for its future minivan at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show. Today, Honda is showing off its first official photos of the 2011 Honda Odyssey. With the new Odyssey model, you can clearly see that Honda gave it lessons at the Crosstour School of Beauty. However, if you can look beyond the awkward styling, you will find a few truly innovative features, including what may be the world's first HDMI input port for in-vehicle video.

Starting with its exterior, the new Odyssey inherits Honda's corporate grill and angular headlamps, which punctuate … Read more

Odyssey Bikes teams up with Aaron Ross, rolls out BMX collection

Who said nerds eat onlyjunk, never exercise, and rack up 1-900 bills while living in their parents' pool houses? Well, now we know at least one of those isn't true.

Pro BMX rider Aaron Ross partnered with Odyssey to produce this signature BMX set that features a clever keyboard pattern spelling out the name of the rider.

The full set includes two-piece, multibutted chromoly bars; a set of 145 millimeter Krayton Rubber grips; and a special T-shirt all bearing the same design. Available now on DansComp or the Odyssey's Web site.

Pics of the full set after the jump.… Read more

76: When is a hybrid a fraud?

Electric Mini's, cars that run on air, hybrids that aren't and a test drive that almost puts Wayne to sleep! Listen now: Download today's podcast

MIT Wii game aims to put visually impaired on level playing field

If some researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Singapore-based Gambit Game Lab have anything to say about it, gamers with serious vision problems won't have to take a backseat to their 20/20 friends anymore.

On Tuesday, the lab unveiled AudiOdyssey, a game for the Nintendo Wii that is based solely around sound and tasks players with mimicking a DJ trying to create a catchy beat that people can dance to.

The idea is that players--those with or without vision problems--can use the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers to get a rhythm going and then build more complex … Read more

Record Store Day

That's tomorrow, Saturday, Apr. 19. Your day to celebrate the old way of buying music, where you got into your car and drove to a local store and talked to the clerk and sifted through the racks and maybe experienced the delight of finding an old CD you'd forgotten about, heavily discounted or expensive and rare. Or maybe you heard a great tune spinning in the background and bought it, like I did with The Monochrome Set's Strange Boutique and PiL's Second Edition and Wilco's amazing live CD (their best album, in my opinion), Kicking Television. … Read more

Sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke is dead

This post was updated at 3:52 p.m. PST with more details.

Science fiction impresario Arthur C. Clarke is dead, according to published news reports.

And as of 3 p.m. PDT Tuesday, the Wikipedia article on Clarke has also already been updated with a banner across the top that reads, "This article is about a person who has recently died."

Clarke was the author, or co-author, of dozens of fiction and non-fiction books. But he will likely always be best known for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he later turned into a landmark film … Read more

iPod speakers hit high note

This is one piece of sound equipment that will make a huge statement without ever being turned on.

The "iTower Omega" iPod system stands nearly 4 feet tall, housing four stereo speakers in its black vertical case. The monolithic design dwarfs the iPod itself, which sits atop in its dock like a bird perched on the tip of a giant redwood.

The height is practical for another reason. As Gadget Review points out, the system lacks a remote--so the iPod will be relatively close to eye level when you need to walk over and fiddle with the … Read more