The days of 2D computer and TV displays could soon be over, as a team of researchers from MIT have recently come up with what could possibly be a practical way of making holographic video suitable for everyday use on PCs and gaming consoles.

This new system, the Mark III, is the third generation in a series of MIT-designed holographic video displays that date back to the late 1980s.

The best thing about the MIT team's new system is that it reportedly relies on a standard graphics processor instead of highly specialized hardware. The researchers were also able to streamline some of the system's optical hardware, hence its smaller size. The Mark III would reportedly cost only "a couple of hundred dollars" while still providing resolution as good as a standard analog TV.

The Mark III is still a long way from delivering high definition holograms, though. It's currently only able to display monochromatic holograms that are about the size of a Rubik's Cube. V. Michael Bove Jr., director of MIT's consumer electronics program, CELab,  promises that the fourth generation system that they have lined up will be able to display an image as big as a standard desktop PC monitor and will have a full range of colors.

 

The brains are taking center stage as we give you Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man's high-definition gameplay videos from Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. These two characters are probably the smartest ones in the Marvel Universe.

Mr. Fantastic or Reed Richards in real life, is a child prodigy who excelled in mathematics, physics and mechanics. He went to prestigious universities like the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, and the fictional Empire State University. He earned Ph.D's in both physics and electrical engineering while working as a military scientist - all this by the age of 22.  

The gameplay video shows Mr. Fantastic can, well, do fantastic attack combos. His ability to stretch his arms and limbs plus turn into any shape he pleases make for very interesting attack combinations. A personal favorite is when he turned his arms into nunchuks. Needless to say, long range attacks are his specialty.

On the other hand, Iron Man or Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark entered the undergraduate engineering program at MIT while only 15 years old and graduated at the top of his class. At 21, he was already running his father's company, Stark Industries, which later became Starks International.

He is shown in this gameplay video flying about and blasting away enemies with his repulsor beams. His best attack in this video is probably the last one, where he went nuts and disposed of all his enemies in one blast.

Both these brains also have some serious brawns, so be careful not to get on their bad side. Thanks to Wiebke Hess for sharing these goodies.

Download: [Iron Man Character Trailer]
Download: [Mr. Fantastic Character Trailer]

Buy: [Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for PS3]
Buy: [Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for Xbox 360]

There are people who like spending hours playing PopCap games. We call them the casual gamers. There are also those who would devote a large chunk of their time playing MMORPGs. We can categorize them as the "hardcore gamers.". And of course, let's not miss out people who take gaming more seriously, such that they would study its idiosyncrasies.

Those people really take serious gaming up a notch, and they will be holding the Serious Games Summit, a conference for people who, well, take serious games seriously (this includes serious games creators and commissioners). The said summit will feature talks and forums regarding serious game development and how it could be used to help in healthcare, education, science and social change.

As such, Henry Jenkins was tasked to give the keynote speech entitled, "Serious Games in the Age of Media Convergence and Collective Intelligence." Jenkins is a DeFlorz Professor of Humanities and Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT, principal investigator for the MacArthur Foundation-funded New Media Literacies as well as co-founder and director of The Education Arcade, which currently looks into the educational aspect of computer and video games.

The said conference will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA from October 30-31.

Computer pioneer and inventor Allan Kotok, has died of a heart attack at age 64 in his home in Cambridge Massachusetts. A native of Philadelphia, Kotok is an MIT alum and a W3C associate chairman.

Known for being "technically adept well beyond the norm," Kotok worked for a variety of high tech firms. While working at Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) Kotok designed a family of computers, did some consulting and went on to fulfill various leadership roles.

His background in creating the AI for chess computers was subsequently found to be indispensable in his capacity as a tech researcher and game inventor. Mr. Kotok's life was a catalyst for growth in the fledgling gaming and computing industries of his time, and he is someone all gamers should know about.

Credited with creating the first videogame, along with the joysticks used to play them, his role in the history of gaming and computing in general cannot be overstated. Who knows, without his contributions to the history of gaming, the gaming industry we see today could be drastically different.

Mr. Kotok is survived by two daughters, a son and two grandsons. Everyone who uses computers or enjoys gaming today should recognize Alan Kotok as an integral figure in the evolution of the videogame industry.