The Skyrim Creation Kit will let users create new characters and locations as well as tweak and mess around with the existing game in many ways. The developer says that the kit is the same program that their team used to make the world of Skyrim. If that’s true, this is a very generous gesture from Bethesda. They’re giving the public a chance to see what the pros work with.

Modders will be able to upload their creation to Steam Workshop for the world to see, play, adore and berate. Console (and OS X) users, in case you still didn’t get it by now – the kit and the mods are for PC users only. Watch the video for more on the kit:

Bethesda also put up a wiki page for the Creation Kit as well as a series of online video tutorials for using the kit. The first episode is already up, and thanks to the magic of embeddage, is already here! There. Below.

Steam users, the Skyrim Creation Kit should be available under the ‘Tools’ drop-down menu in your Steam library. If you don’t know what a Steam library is, go here and sign up. But that’s not all! Bethesda has also released the High Resolution Texture Pack free DLC for the game. So many bits!

Before you download the DLC or the kit, make sure your hardware meets the Skyrim‘s recommended requirements: Windows Vista or 7, a quad-core CPU, at least 4GB RAM and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM and the latest drivers. We await your mods! And don’t even think about making a peen-dragon – Bethesda has explicitly stated that they will ban any “offensive, copyrighted or trademarked material.”

[via The Escapist]

Appropriately named My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic, the game is being made by indie developer Mane6. Gameplay-wise, Fighting is Magic seems similar to the Marvel vs. Capcom series. The ponies have four basic attacks – Light, Medium, Hard and of course Magic. As you’ll see in the gameplay footage below, there are also launchers, aerial combos and high-powered special attacks.

The game is currently in pre-alpha, but have patience. The folks at Mane6 promise that a version of the game will be released soon, featuring lead characters Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, with more characters coming. Fighting is Magic will also have online play, a “lengthy” story mode with boss fights and will be totally free. No “pre-order now to get the Nightmare Moon exclusive” gimmick.

[via Reddit]

I’m not a Pokémon addict but I think it’s fair to say that this is something that fans of the series will pay to play. The main Pokémon games mostly feature static battle animations, so to have the monsters’ moves fully animated is an enticing proposition. Type Wild has nine fighters with movesets similar to Street Fighter characters. Here’s a demo video uploaded by YouTuber BlameTruth:

I have no idea why an official version of this game doesn’t exist. Unfortunately it seems as if development on Type Wild has stopped; if I understood the developer’s FAQ correctly the last update came in 2009. Commenter pandafrag summoned another page of the Type Wild website and it’s super effective – it seems that the game is still being updated. This download link still leads to the latest version. Like most PC games, Type Wild only works with Windows. Maybe someone can come up with a Digimon brawler for OS X.

[via Pokésho via Game Informer]

Like many Asian countries, Japan has got pretty good free Wi-Fi coverage, but like all things, there’s room for improvement, which is where these vending machines come in. Asahi [JP] says that they will allow people within 160 feet to access the Internet for free, on multiple devices, without registering.

Building Wi-Fi hotspots into vending machines make good sense, because they already have to be plugged into a power source, and presumably these days they also need to communicate sales and stock information back to the main office. Over the next five years, Asahi plans on putting out about 10,000 of these machines. For 2012, they plan on installing 1,000.

And no, the beer isn’t free, just the Wi-Fi.

[via CrunchGear]

Action Movie FX comes to us from none other than J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Interactive, and lets you add explosive special effects to a clip with just a few taps on your iOS device. Choose an effect, record the scene where you want the effect to take place and then cue when to launch the effect. After a couple of seconds – and a Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol ad – your video is done. Here’s a quick sample from the guys at Slash Gear:

Take that, table! The app comes with two effects – missile attack and car crash. The other effects – tornado and chopper crash and fire fight and airstrike – are available as in-app purchases for $0.99 (USD) per pair. Still not impressed? Here’s Mad Ass Gamers‘ demo of all the effects:

Attack the iTunes Store with your mouse (or finger) to get Action Movie FX. Your videos won’t be as sweet as the ones made by Freddie Wong or as overwhelming as Michael Bay’s effects vomits, but then again it’s a free app. I tried it on my iPad and it’s really easy to use. The Mission Impossible ads are not that annoying since they only pop up when the app is “processing”, although I don’t know if the ads will still be there even if you purchase the additional effects.

[via Slash Gear]

What a beautiful commercial district. It’s begging to be hit with a 3D printed tornado.

Isn’t it funny how the rise of 3D printing could take things from the virtual back to the real world? Years from now instead of playing MMOs we could be playing board games, pen-and-paper RPGs or LARPing with high quality trinkets that we print right from our homes. Speaking of which, aspiring tabletop mayors should build a subway line and head to Thingiverse to download the templates for Skimbal’s play set.

[via Architizer via Notcot]

Similar to the Boo from Super Mario Bros. 3 (and subsequent games), the Weeping Angels can only move when they’re not being observed. So as long as you keep your eyes on them, you’re good. But once they do get the chance to move they’ll move. Quickly and noiselessly. Actually the mod is quite buggy, as there will be instances when the Weeping Angels will cheat and still move even if you’re looking at them. Which makes them even scarier. Thankfully you can kill them using an iron pickaxe.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Combine these with the Endermen – who go crazy in the opposite manner; i.e. they go berserk if you look at them – and Minecraft makes Resident Evil seem like a Saturday morning cartoon. Get into the Halloween spirit and download the Weeping Angels mod from the Minecraft Forum.

[via Rock, Paper, Shotgun & Yogscast]

Just sign up, install the OnLive app, pick your free game, Select “Get Game” and a 3-Day Rental for the price of $0.00 (USD). Then when you are finished with those games, on October 31st you can get another game for free if you’re a fan of OnLive’s Facebook page. The title has not been announced yet though. This is a great Halloween treat from the company. Looks like a lot of people will be inside playing games this year.

[via Ubergizmo]

The need for an invite meant a bunch of folks couldn’t access the free service and had to pay for the monthly service instead. Spotify and Facebook have tied up with a new offering that will allow Spotify users to share what they are listening to on Facebook. That also means that if you have a Facebook account you can access Spotify with no invite and at no charge for six months.

The six month free service with your Facebook login is unlimited listening too. That means the ten-hour free limit that is normally applied is nowhere to be seen for the full six months. After that six-month period, you can keep the free ten-hour monthly service or buy the premium service to continue.

[via TechCrunch via LifeHacker]

In Galactic Warfare, players will fight either as a Rebel soldier or an Imperial Trooper. Yep, no game-breaking Force powers or lightsabers here. Along with the weapons and avatars, the current version (1.0b) contains seven maps – including ones set in Mos Eisley and Bespin – and viper droid, a new killstreak. The Y-Wing and Tie-Bomber have also been included in the airstrike killstreak.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can download Galactic Warfare for free from ModDB, or use one of the links posted in the BlackMonkeys forums.  The BlackMonkeys team worked on this over a period of two and a half years, so be sure to thank them for their hard work.

[via CrunchGear]

Above is an example of an isle of tune. Doesn’t look intimidating right? It kind of looks like one of Zynga’s Facebook games. But at the same time it’s not readily apparent how it makes music, because it kind of looks like a Facebook game. And yet it does make music! But how? In Isle of Tune, you lay down roads, which dictate the length and the progression of your musical piece. Then you place the “instruments”, which as you may have guessed are the flowers, streetlights, houses and other roadside figures.

Here’s another example:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Weird right? It looks like a game, but it’s not. It’s actually a music sequencer, but it’s not a very intuitive and natural one. But I have to admit that it looks fun, and like casual games, Isle of Tune could serve as a gateway software of sorts for people to learn how to create music via digital means. The people behind it are working on an iOS app, but for now you can use Isle of Tune online. Feel free to share the landscape and music you make in the comments.

So what does SOE do? Give away free stuff, that’s what!

If you were one of the users who was affected by these, then you’re set to receive a free Batman-inspired mask and 30 days of subscription credit (plus one day for each day that you were unable to access the service.) Further information on how you can get your hands on these masks will be made available soon by Sony.

Now that’s how an apology should be done. Maybe a cape would be in order for next time?

[via PlayStation Universe]

da Silva promises that Minibloq will be easy to use but still sophisticated, fast, portable, modular and free. Here’s Minibloq being used to work on a DuinoBot.kids on an Intel ClassMate convertible:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I think the best thing about Minibloq is that it can show the equivalent code of the blocks used in real time, which is a pretty effective way of weaning beginners from the interface. *UPDATE: da Silva has already set up a Kickstarter fund for the project, so check it out and donate if you want to help him complete it. As with all Kickstarter projects, those who give significant donations will be entitled to certain privileges, such as access to pre-alpha versions of Minibloq and even the full source code. You can also check out the Minibloq blog for more info.

[via Hack a Day]

As the program’s name says it will lock the computer when the temperature in the surrounding area – basically where the sensor is pointed at – drops. You can set the temperature threshold as well as the amount of time before the PC auto locks, e.g. you can set it to lock the computer when the temperature drops to 20ºC and below, and if that drop is sustained for 5 seconds.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The sensor’s responsiveness is impressive. The advantage that the Bluetooth-based unlock program has over LockIfNotHot is that it can both lock and unlock a computer automatically. But Stevens probably realized that making his program work both ways – i.e. unlock the computer if it gets warmer – would be quite dangerous, since any object that causes an increase in temperature will trigger that function, so he just left it as it is. Once the PC is locked you’ll have to log in the normal way and enter the password.

You can download LockIfNotHot for free from Stevens’ blog, but of course it’s useless without the IR temperature sensor, and that’ll set you back almost $90 (USD).

[via Ubergizmo]

Selecting a device to play will make it zoom in and take up almost the whole page. The first time I clicked on one of the games and it zoomed in was a magical moment for me.

Even if I didn’t get to play most of them when I was a kid – I didn’t even know most of these games existed before I saw them – everything from the  design of their cases to the simple gameplay and graphics is just so familiar. If you grew up playing Game & Watch games or any of these handheld games, you owe it to yourself to visit Pica Pic.

You can play any of the games for free, and there’s even a list of people who got the highest scores for each game, but for some people just looking at these games is entertaining enough. I sincerely hope this site doesn’t get taken down by the companies who own the games.

[via Joystiq]

Kevin Kelly even mentioned this extrapolation to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. His reaction? “He merely smiled and said, “Oh, you noticed that!” And then smiled again.” But it would be stupid to expect Amazon to just give away the product to anyone right? Michael Arrington has a possible answer to that: give the Kindle for free to the people who have already proven themselves to be spenders. And not just spenders, but Amazon spenders –  Amazon Prime members.

That way the Kindle would be like razors or printers – the profit would come from the content. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens this year, but if all this turns out to be true, then Amazon has quite an attractive proposition here. For $79 (USD) a year, Prime members already get free 2-day shipping (no minimum amount required), reduced rates on 1-day shipping, and free streaming of videos via Amazon Instant Video. By next year, Amazon will probably be paying Prime members to take a Kindle. At least that’s what the graph says. Or not.

[via J-Walk Blog & TechCrunch via The Technium via Kottke ]

Like other torrent managers, the uTorrent app lets users add and remove downloads, and there’s even an option to check RSS feeds for available torrents.

According to Lee Mathews of Download Squad, the app doesn’t require a lot of tweaking or fiddling around with router or port information. In fact all he did was to enter his login details and he was good to go. The uTorrent app also gives users the option to transfer finished downloads from their PC to their Android device, so you can immediately use whatever it is you downloaded. Neat.

You can get the official uTorrent app from the Android Market for free. It’s currently for Windows users only though, since the app only works with the uTorrent 3.0 beta desktop client, which is also Windows-only (for now).

[via Download Squad]

Fortunately, SelfControl can be set to only block access to certain websites or email. At least if you set it to allow email to go through, you can still tell your boss that your SelfControl is preventing you from working.

SelfControl was originally made for OS X only; you can download it for free at Steve Lambert’s website. A Linux version is being developed by a third party and is in version 0.9 as of this writing; download it here. Think you can improve Steve’s SelfControl? Get the code at github and mess with it.

[via Cool Tools]

I don’t even know who made this game, but even if I did, I don’t know whether to thank or hate that person. Now excuse me, I have a digital ball to drop.

If your browser has the HTML5 chops, follow me at your own risk.

[via the bbps]

We talked about the Peek 9 before it launched back in September. The device offers a 2.5-inch screen and has a price of about $70(USD) here in the states – not including service. Peek has offered service in yearly, monthly, and at times lifetime intervals.

Many users of the older Peek devices found late last week that they could no longer use them. Peek reports that the Classic and Pronto devices will no longer work because the carrier used went offline permanently when they launched the new model. To fix the issue, any owner of an older Peek device will get a free Peek 9 upgrade. You can hit up care@getpeek.com if you are an owner needing more details.