Filed under: Peripherals

It was just a month ago that Alpay Kasal of Lit Studios was impressing us with LaserGames, beaming all sorts of fun, interactive visuals on the wall. Now, with a few tweaks, he’s turned that projector around and made a two-way mirror into a sort of digital portal. “Interactive Mirror” uses the same basic mouse emulation as LaserGames — it seems to lack multi-touch but offers some interesting ideas, like showing how a custom T-shirt would look if you were wearing it. That’s potentially useful, but its primary function seems to be inducing childish wonderment in your friends. If the wide-eyed participants in the video below are any indication, it seems to do that quite well.

Continue reading Interactive Mirror dazzles onlookers, never lies

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Filed under: Peripherals

It was just a month ago that Alpay Kasal of Lit Studios was impressing us with LaserGames, beaming all sorts of fun, interactive visuals on the wall. Now, with a few tweaks, he’s turned that projector around and made a two-way mirror into a sort of digital portal. “Interactive Mirror” uses the same basic mouse emulation as LaserGames — it seems to lack multi-touch but offers some interesting ideas, like showing how a custom T-shirt would look if you were wearing it. That’s potentially useful, but its primary function seems to be inducing childish wonderment in your friends. If the wide-eyed participants in the video below are any indication, it seems to do that quite well.

Continue reading Interactive Mirror dazzles onlookers, never lies

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Filed under: Peripherals

LaserGames is a mod for projectors allowing up to two players to interact with a game using a run-of-the-mill (red or green) laser pointer in place of a mouse or controller, minus the precision response. Developer Alpay Kasal of Lit Studios isn’t giving any hints on how this thing works, but we imagine it uses sensor technology similar to interactive projections — you know, the ones where a video is projected on the ground and you get to kick around a soccer ball and then watch some tacky Nokia ad at the end. If you’re up for trying this out first hand, Kasal’s prototype will soon be on public display for some wild and crazy retina burning action — no word yet on when or where. Check out his video after the jump.

Continue reading LaserGames mouse emulator: more fun than blinding a 747 pilot

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Oh, brother. Let the onslaught begin. Now that games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have proven to be huge money makers, not to mention how profitable those ridiculous shells for the Wiimote are, we’re betting that EA Games is just the next of many that will soon bundle peripherals with games. According to EA’s David McCarthy, his firm will be “using a peripheral strategy to some extent, even over the course of the next 12 months.” Thankfully, he did note that extras would only be bundled “if it really does enrich the experience of gameplay and doesn’t create a barrier to entry for consumers.” We can see it now: $80 sports titles that create all sorts of relationship problems with the partner who actually values a kempt living room.

[Via Joystiq, image courtesy of HouseOfNintendo]

Read - McCarthy speaks
Read - McCarthy elaborates

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Ah, so ASUS’ totally familiar looking Eee Stick wasn’t just some one-off prototype. Today, said controller has just surfaced in the depths of the FCC, complete with internal / external photographs, a user’s manual and a few reports certifying that no one grew a third leg during testing. Apparently the GMC-1 package will include a pair of joysticks (one with a D-pad, one with an analog stick), a USB dongle and the obligatory Quick Start guide and Support CD. Heck, these critters even come with bundled wrist straps, eliminating any lingering doubt that the inspiration for these didn’t come from The Big N. Still, we can’t help but be slightly excited about the possibilities here, but whether or not they actually prove useful remains to be seen.

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Filed under: Gaming

If only Mark Ecko had a Wiispray when he was developing Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, perhaps people the world would have understood his vision for a videogame-based, graffiti-tagging urban dystopian angst. Anyway, this Wii Remote turned into a spray can is the product of a student’s thesis at Bauhas-University in Weimar, Germany. Martin Lihs crammed the controller into the can-like structure and plans (hopes?) to create a communal — but not illegal — virtual graffiti wall in which people can add their digital tags and keep it real clean, yo. Curious that he’s using PlayStation-based triangle and square buttons, though.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Gaming

Leave it to Ben Heck to create something that’s not only cool, but also good for humanity. We’ve had our eyes on the Access Controller, and now it has an actual retail channel and final design. The eDimensional Access Controller enables one-handed gaming in a completely modular design. Each control function module can be rearranged based on the gamer’s needs — even the act of rearranging of modules can be done with one hand. Ben, the nice guy that he is, also includes a custom module-creation guide if you’re so inclined. The controller is also designed with a concave back to sit comfortably on either a table or leg and uses 2.4GHz wireless. eDimensional is taking preorders now, and the unit is compatible with PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PC. To top it all off, a portion of the $129.99 you spend will go to Children’s Hospital and Veterans Medical centers. We feel all good inside.

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Filed under: Gaming

It’s about time 360 owners get some rechargeable Nyko love via the Charge Base 360, which is shipping to stores at a $34.99 clip. So why should you care? This charger / controller storage solution comes with two NiMH drop-in (i.e. shaped for your 360 controller) rechargeable batteries that promise to make your gaming downtime a lot less extant. Nyko says a single charge will provide “up to” 25 hours of play time while charge time takes about 2 hours per controller. If you act quickly, you could get one of the limited 80s coffee table-friendly Black & Gold-colored units which go on sale June 2.

[Via IGN]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gaming_news/Rock_Band_Stage_Kit_with_lights_smoke_leaked_by_GameStop’; As if playing Rock Band wasn’t one of the greatest group gaming experiences to come along in years, it appears that a new accessory is set to amp up the fun even more by bringing an “interactive light and smoke stage show” to your already thrashing performances. Apparently you can already pre-order this so-called Rock Band Stage Kit from GameStop for 100 bucks, although they’ve since pulled the box image from the product page, so you’ll have to rely on the screencap above to see what you’re paying all that money for. Ships on June 23rd, according to the retailer’s site, giving us plenty of time to install a proper stage and stadium seating in our game room.

[Via Technabob]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Alright, try to stay with us here. Guitar Hero IIIs’s axe works just fine with Rock Band, but only the one for the Xbox 360, and Rock Band’s guitar won’t play the first note on any flavor of GHIII. Your head spinnin’ yet? We’re betting yes, and apparently, the folks over at 1UP were downright tired of being dizzy. Consequently, they phoned up Red Octane’s (publisher of Guitar Hero) co-founder and VP of Business Development, Charles Huang, to chat about the totally confusing compatibility quandary. We fully understand the complexities in getting the instruments to work with other games, as well as the potential business impact, but Mr. Huang chose to take a different route when explaining why no Guitar Hero title would accept a Rock Band controller. He was quoted as saying that Red Octane wasn’t “too interested in having [Harmonix] guitars work on its game, because [Harmonix is] having a lot of issues with its guitars.” Of course, this logic begins to fall apart when you realize there was absolutely no compatibility even before these malfunctions came to light. Nice try, though.

[Via DailyTech]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Ever since we first got wind of this thing, we had a sneaking suspicion it just wouldn’t take off regardless of how clever it was. Sadly, reviewers over at Bit-Tech tended to agree, deeming the Novint Falcon the “coolest peripheral” it had ever touched, but completely unlikely to ever gain steam in the marketplace. During the review, it was reiterated time and time again just how phenomenal the device actually is; the internal motors were able to transmit textures to one’s hand almost impeccably, and it certainly enhanced certain aspects of game play once it became second nature to use. Unfortunately, all that gushing was met with the stark reality that there’s no real promise that developers will ever latch on to this thing, and without guaranteed support, it’s hard to recommend handing over $239. Nevertheless, we’re sure more than a few of you may be willing to take the chance, and either way, the in-depth look at this curious creation is worth a read just to see what you’re (potentially) missing.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Nyko’s SIXAXIS charging dock may serve the same purpose as Pelican’s forthcoming device, but we’ll give the sexy award to the latter. The Controller Charging Station for PlayStation 3 boasts a very unique, if not admirable design that holds two SIXAXIS controllers above ground and juices ‘em up through the exposed mini USB plugs. Additionally, the base of the unit is home to two full sized USB ports (shown after the jump), so there’s always the option of charging up four PS3 controllers at once should you choose. The price? $29.99 when it lands in just a few weeks.

Continue reading Pelican intros Controller Charging Station for PlayStation 3

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!