Yahoo will support digital identity framework OpenID 2.0 in beta form January 30.

Yahoo announced this morning that it would support the technology, which allows users to consolidate their Internet identities. Plaxo and JanRain are working with Yahoo so users don’t have to create separate IDs and logins at the Web sites, blogs, and profile pages they visit — as long as the sites support OpenID 2.0.

The OpenID Foundation and community also helped create specifications to improve security and convenience of OpenID.

Users can customize OpenID identifiers on me.yahoo.com or type “www.yahoo.com” or “www.flickr.com” on sites that support the platform.

Yahoo said users will be protected by the company’s sign-in seal while they surf the Web. Web sites can also add an option to allow users to sign in with their Yahoo ID. E-mail and instant messaging addresses are withheld as users log in, and that creates a barrier to phishing or other attacks, Yahoo said.

“A Yahoo ID is one of the most recognizable and useful accounts to have on the Internet and with our support of OpenID, it will become even more powerful,”

– Ash Patel, EVP of platforms and infrastructure.

Scott Kveton, chairman of the board for the OpenID Foundation, said Yahoo’s support of “an open Web” validates the OpenID movement and immediately triples the number of people who can use OpenID. Yahoo has 248 million users.

“With Yahoo actively engaged with the OpenID Foundation and its community to promote OpenID, Yahoo’s users will be able to more easily access the many sites across the Web that support the standard, and the potential for access to Yahoo’s vast international user base will create an even more powerful incentive for additional Web sites to begin accepting OpenID users.”

– Scott Kveton, chairman of the board for the OpenID Foundation.

Joseph Smarr, chief platform architect of Plaxo, said the move also supports data portability for various Web services.

Larry Drebes, founder and VP of engineering for JanRain, said that secure, portable, digital identities are keys to advancing Web applications.

More than 120 million URLs and 9,000 sites support Open ID, created by open source developers.

Source: Yahoo! Press Release

Capcom recently revealed plans to release a downloadable remake of Bionic Commando entitled Bionic Commando: Master D Revival Plan (subtitled Hitler’s Revival in Japan).

This XBLA and PSN release is in addition to Capcom’s upcoming full 3D remake/sequel of the series and will be a completely separate title.

Master D Revival Plan is reportedly a 3D title that “promises to maintain the flavor of the original title,” which presumably means side scrolling gameplay and (hopefully) a firm adherence to the original’s pseudo-adventure-game style.

A Japanese version of the downloadable game is planned for Spring, but release plans for an American or European version have yet to be announced.

Source: IGN: Bionic Commando Remake Set for PS3

Not all open source software is Serious Business.

A project that caught my attention in the last couple of days is a port of the classic Infogrames / EA title SimCity — released for just about every platform known to man — into an open-source implementation named Micropolis.

Thank programmer Don Hopkins for his hard work.

Since the original SimCity source code has been released under the GPL, he decided to make a version that runs on Linux and port it to the OLPC.

Said port — named “Micropolis” for the same reason that community builds of Firefox are not called Firefox — has been heavily rewritten to run well as a modern application, and is still a bit of an ongoing project.

The whole thing is available either as a source package or a compiled Win32 binary, the latter of which isn’t itself an actual playable version of the game but just a demo — for the time being.

Bill Simser has been writing a series of posts documenting how to create a playable game from this code on Win32, and for anyone interested in programming — and not just game programming — it’s absorbing reading.

I also read with no small amount of fascination the long-term goals for Micropolis — things like multiplayer support and porting to many other languages are all in the works.

I think there’s a lot more than nostalgia at work here. Aside from SimCity being a hugely influential and fun game to begin with, I think game programming is one of the better ways for people to understand open source — either as a programmer or a user.

Once explained in that context, I’d think open source becomes that much easier to understand in other contexts — and concepts like the lvarious licensing schemes and whatnot can be related in a fairly straightforward way.

If there’s one thing about open source that remains something of a mystery to most people, it’s why open source development works the way it does.

You may not persuade people to become programmers, but you can at least make their job a little less mystifying.

On a side note, my longtime favorite open-source game remains NetHack. You’d never think a simple cursor and some ASCII graphics could still be so addictive in this day and age.

The most recent issue of Nintendo Power offers up some new information about BioWare’s RPG for the DS, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

You can choose your party of four from 11 different characters, including the expected Sonic crew of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow, as well as Amy, Rouge, and Big the Cat.

You’ll be able to spot enemies on the field, giving you some flexibility in just when you engage in the turn-based combat. Control will be apparently be entirely stylus-based, a la Phantom Hourglass.

There will be team attacks and special attacks, which you can flat-out purchase or level up. Rings will naturally be the currency of the land and the game takes place in two acts: the first is in the more familiar Sonic environment while the second is a darker world.

JeuxFrance has scans of the screenshots from the article, and they look absolutely lovely. I tingle with anticipation and cross my fingers that this all works out for the best.

Don’t let my post title scare you away from reading this post. It’s a great nugget of “laugh your ass off” with a side of almost wetting yourself. Read on.

Ok, here’s the set up… remember back when you were a little kid, you’d be all alone in your room with your cassette player, 8-bit Nintendo and rocking out to some crazy 80’s song?

Well sometimes you would actually sing and dance by yourself. Don’t deny it. Embrace your inner child memories. If I can admit it, so can you.

Anyway, check out this awesome video of a little kid singing and dancing to Britney Spears. He even rocks the official Britney Spears dance moves… hehe…

About 1:10 into the video, his mom comes in and screams, which makes him scream, then he faints. Awesome!

Yes, I’m a bad person. I know. But damn. I can’t stop watching and laughing at this video.

Microsoft is already adding to the Xbox Originals library, and the new title is a great one: Burnout 3 Takedown.

If, like me, you’re getting antsy waiting for Burnout Paradise, this might be just enough to tide you over, though 1200 points is still awfully pricey.

You can grab Burnout 3 starting on Monday. That’s assuming you can connect to Live to download it, of course.

Live service has been suffering lately due to “server strain” brought on by a huge upsurge in demand over the holidays.

The Xbox team has been scrambling ever since to get it back to normal, with varying degrees of success.

I’ve been getting mixed reports. Some of my friends say Live is smooth as pudding, while others are still frustrated.

I’m having trouble getting and staying connected. What’s it like for you?