Gaming posts

Alright, so maybe I’m being a little cheeky by claiming that this robot is the most fun you could have with Kinect, but quite frankly, as far as I’m concerned, it sure beats some of the arm-waving minigames I’ve seen so far. MIT student Phillip Roebbel has hooked up a newly-hacked Xbox Kinect to an iRobot to create the coolest thing that I’m gonna see today – and with any luck, the coolest thing you’ll see, too. By giving the Kinect – which can already and judge terrain and distance – the ability to look and wander around, Roebbel has given it the ability to map its surroundings in 360 degrees, allowing it…

With the recent successful launches of Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Playstation Move, it is now more likely that this generation of consoles will last longer than in the past. While previously, a 5 or 6 year cycle has been the norm, it’s conceivable that this generation might go longer – maybe 7 or 8 years – because of this new tech that appeals to a broader demographic, prolonging the sales potential of each console. Still, that hasn’t stopped speculation about what the next generation of consoles might look like. At hardcore gaming communities like NeoGAF, speculation rages about the kind of…

Three things are now certain in life: death, paying taxes, and Chinese growth. China just so happens to be the one I’m focusing on now. And why is China so important? Video games! More specifically, Web-based video games — those time wasters that we spent hours on, which probably contributed to our economic demise and China’s incredible growth, is now invading China at a hot clip. How big can it get? The browser-based gaming market in China has already doubled from 990 million yaun ($149 million) in 2009 to 2.28 billion yaun ($343 million) in 2010. Around 15 million Chinese got their gaming on last…

Because you’re awesome, have this quick video of Mehmet Akten playing with his prototype for a 3D art program for use with the newly-hacked Kinect. ‘Memo’ is short and sweet about it. The XBox Kinect is connected to my Macbook Pro, and I wrote a little demo to analyse the depth map for gestural 3D interaction. One hand to draw in 3D, two hands to rotate the view. Very rough, early prototype. Very well. But know this, Mr. Akten. You like to touch people? Well, we like to watch – and we’re going to be watching you very closely as this radness develops. You might say it… kineckts ass? No, that’s a really terrible…

What happens when you want to take a break on your laptop or netbook? Don’t like cheap, free, Flash games from Miniclip and Addicting Games.com? The service OnLive, which streams games over your Internet service provider, gives you a nice list of games to play without taking up hard drive space. What most people were worried about is the lack of games. Starting with only around ten titles, OnLive has added the likes of games such as NBA 2K11,  Kane, and Lynch: Dog Days. Other games include Just Cause 2, MLB 2K10, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, and Red Faction Guerrilla. If those don’t appeal to you, don’t…

We’re not gonna be foolin’ you with some controller waving and wagging. No, seriously, this is it. Real dancing with a console game. With the XBOX Kinect and the game Dance Central, this is possible. No longer are we going to be shaking a Wii remote in the direction that we’re supposed to, we’re actually going to be pulling off real dance moves, which are tracked by the XBOX Kinect’s camera. Check out IGN’s Jessica Chobot for a demo on how Dance Central for Kinect works. While I was playing the game, I have to admit I got into it really quickly. And for those old-timers? The Kinect has got it covered with…

My apartment hasn’t had cable for years, and I’m pretty strapped for cash most of the time – understandably, I’m a little behind in the advertising world. But hot damn, have commercials for videogames ever been getting high budget. This one for Call of Duty: Black Ops will either be the best commercial you’ve seen in awhile, or the worst. The cameos by Kimmel and Bryant (and… maybe there’s other stars in there too, I’m terrible with Hollywood) are great touches, and the guy at the end is, of course, gut-bustingly funny – but on the other hand, I have never seen an ad glorify war like this one does. It…

For all those Wii gamers out there, here’s something cool that you can use to play the Wii on the go. We hope you’re not so addicted that you actually need to do this, but if you are, there’s a cool way to do so. First, go to the Marketplace on your handset and download Android Wii Controller IME, for 3.99. Then, follow the easy instructions, and connect your Wii remote. However, there is a rather large drawback. Instead of tilting and turning the Wii remote to the likes of games such as Mario Kart, you’re stuck with simple apps, mostly old Nintendo classics….

Waterloo Labs, a team of engineers at National Instruments Corp in Oregon, have unveiled the source code for their pet project ‘EyeMario’, which is more or less what you may guess on your second or third try – Mario Bros, as controlled by your eyes. It’s a really cool concept: electrodes hooked up to the user’s face measure the polarity of his or her freaking eyes and the relative position of them within their sockets to deduce what the user is looking at in-game. The result looks… well, suffice it to say that the on-screen action looks about as adept as my mother’s Mario skill. But that doesn’t stop…

Despite vehement – if mixed – denials from Sony, it’s hard to believe the long-rumored, much sought-after Playstation Phone is anything but a reality. After all, those pictures and list of specs certainly seem convincing. Beyond the the fact that the snaps show the trademark buttons and long-rumored touch-pad, it’s also an idea that just makes sense. People have been clamoring after one for so long for a reason. But may gaming commenters have suggested that the phone will become “a third pillar” in Sony’s lineup: a kind of mobile offshoot that would run alongside the PS3/PS4 and “the real PSP2″….