Twitch streamer and DIY gaming accessory buff Dylan "Rudeism" Beck, who created a hilarious Untitled Goose Game "controller," is at it again with the new Star Wars title Jedi: Fallen Order. He built a motion-controlled lightsaber and a force glove th...
Too many of today’s pranks are cruel or downright mean. I prefer old school pranks, which are a bit more lighthearted, and not likely to end with you or your victim getting a punch in the face or a kick in the groin. These prank stickers should do the trick just fine.
From the office microwave to the street corner newspaper machine, these stickers instantly transform everyday objects into “smart” ones, adding Voice or Motion control. Well, they don’t really do that, but they’ll certainly convince more gullible people that they are capable of these high tech feats. Watch in amusement as your co-workers yell at the Keurig, or flail their hands wildly at the water fountain.
They’re sold in a pack of 50 (25 of each design) for just $10(USD), so you’ll have enough to label all of your cans of soda, along with the cat if you want.
Reki Kawahara’s popular light novel and anime series Sword Art Online is about a group of gamers who become trapped in a virtual reality fantasy MMORPG. The gamers wore headsets that connected to their brain, stimulating all of their senses to create an extremely realistic experience. How realistic? When they die in the game world, they die in real life. And now Reki and publischer ASCII are collaborating with IBM Japan to make a real version of the game, which they’re calling Sword Art Online: The Beginning. Uhm, yay?
Seriously though this is a fascinating development. Since we don’t have a sophisticated computer-to-brain interface at the moment, the IBM’s take on Sword Art Online will be played with motion controls, i.e. players will move in game by actually moving their body. Gematsu says that IBM Japan will make the virtual reality game with the help of its cloud computing subsidy SoftLayer as well as its progress in cognitive computing. The latter involves using natural language processing and machine learning to quickly sort through massive amounts of data to understand a task delivered in plain language (e.g. English) and come up with the requested information. This is what IBM’s Watson did when it won a game of Jeopardy! back in 2011, though it’s unclear how it will be used in SAO: The Beginning.
IBM Japan is currently looking for 208 Japanese residents to conduct the VR MMORPG’s alpha test, which will be held on March 18 to 20 in Tokyo. I hope Reki appears in-game and mock hostages the testers.
A few days ago we talked about Mogees, a tiny digital musical instrument that triggers sound by vibration. The Motus is another unorthodox yet intuitive portable instrument. It lets you create or trigger sounds by motion. Fellow air guitarists, our time has come.
Motus – no relation to music giant MOTU – uses the same sensors found in many mobile devices to gather data about its motion, orientation, speed and more. All of that are used to dynamically trigger effects, samples or prerecorded sounds. In that way it’s like Korg’s Kaoss system but in three-dimensional space. You can also use Motus as a MIDI or OSC controller or even control visuals with it.
Motus inventor TZM Creative Lab will release its SDK and API and open an app store so that developers can add more effects and sounds. It’s also offering Arduino-compatible DIY kits.
Here’s just a very small taste of what you can do with Motus:
Motus may not be as precise as other musical instruments, but as you can see it frees up your options and adds new layers to music and performance art. Pledge at least $79 (USD) on TMZ’s independent fundraiser to receive a Motus as a reward.
A few years ago we checked out a motion-controlled robot. LEGO designer Daniele Benedettelli also came up with a motion control setup for his Cyclops robot, but instead of using a motion sensor he made a exoskeleton made of LEGO that tracks his movement and relays it to the robot.
Daniele’s current exosuit detects only his arms, which in turn means he can control only the robot’s arms. That said, his setup is accurate and has minimal lag.
I hope Daniele can make the exosuit’s lower half as well. Then all he’d need to do is learn the techniques of Jigen Haoh-Ryu, and he and Cyclops will be unbeatable.
Japanese company No New Folk are working on Orphe, a pair of shoes for performers. Each shoe has 100 individually controlled LEDs, an ARM Cortex microprocessor, a Bluetooth chip and a motion sensor that can be used to control another device with the wearer’s movements.
No New Folk will release a complementary iOS app so you can customize Orphe’s LEDs. Aside from simply picking colors, you’ll be able to create patterns for the entire LED strip. You can also set the lights to change in conjunction with the speed and direction of your movement.
As for the motion sensors, No New Folk will open up some its software so developers can come up with ways to tap into the sensors. For instance, there could be a rig that makes stage lights flicker and change colors in time with a dancer’s movements. Or perhaps a rhythm game akin to Dance Dance Revolution, only now you don’t need the dance pad.
Pledge at least $270 (USD) on Indiegogo to receive a pair of Orphe shoes as a reward.
We may quickly be solving how to show virtual reality effectively, but we’re still figuring out how to move in it. We’ve seen pseudo-treadmills and full sets of motion sensors, but Stompz claims its eponymous motion controllers are all we need to move around in virtual spaces.
Each Stompz controller has a 9-axis motion sensor. It communicates with a USB control unit over Bluetooth, allowing it to work not just with virtual reality headsets and personal computers but with mobile devices as well. The best part? Apparently the controller doesn’t discriminate between your hands and feet, so you can strap them on your hands as well. It will have a complementary program for tweaking its sensitivity and mapping keys or buttons to your movements.
Here’s Stompz in action. You can skip to 0:40:
Pledge at least $99 (USD) on Kickstarter to receive a pair of Stompz controllers as a reward. I can’t help but think that this is too good to be true. Is the solution to moving in virtual reality really this simple? Also, “Minecrift?” Seriously though I hope Stompz releases more comprehensive demo videos. At the very least this could be an alternative input device for disabled people.
If you thought Mad Catz’ LYNX transforming gamepad was the bees knees’, check out the Grifta. It makes the LYNX look like an SNES controller. The Grifta can be used as a normal gamepad or split into two halves. You can even use just one of its halves, paired with a mouse or a mobile device.
Out of the box, the Grifta will work with Windows and Android devices as well as the PS3. Sadly, you’ll need a third party adapter to make it work with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One as well as the PS4. That said, popular adapter makers Xim and ControllerMax have said they will support the Grifta. An iOS-compatible model is supposedly in the works as well.
The Grifta will be released with a plastic bridge that will hold the two halves together like a normal gamepad, though you’re free to keep both halves separate while you play. Later on Grifta will release a magnetic version of the bridge that makes it easier to split and connect the controller’s halves.
Its d-pad and face buttons are mechanical and can be swapped between the two halves, but I don’t think the analog sticks can be swapped with either set of buttons. The controller will also come with three different rubber grip sizes.
Inventor Paul Weatherstone says his company is also working on more accessories for the controller, including different cradles for smartphones and tablets plus a motion controller attachment designed to work with infrared sensors like the PS Eye and the Kinect.
Will the Grifta be the controller that fits all gaming systems? Probably not. It’s lack of built-in support for current gen consoles plus the odd placement of its shoulder buttons will be deal breakers for many gamers. On the other hand, it could be an affordable and versatile controller for some disabled gamers.
Pledge at least about $107 (USD) on Kickstarter to get the Grifta as a reward. You can also pledge half of that to get just the left half of the gamepad.
If you liked using the Wii, the PlayStation Move or the Kinect, keep an eye on The Realm System. Like the Wii and PS Move, it has a pair of handheld motion controllers but it also has rubber resistance bands that are tied to a waist strap. Coupled with its software, the controllers allow for games and apps that measure and respond not just to your motion but to the amount of force you exert as well.
The Realm System comes with low, medium and hard resistance bands, so you can manually increase the difficulty of games or fitness programs. If you’re like me and you’d rather take it easy, you’ll be glad to know that the bands are completely optional since the electronics are in the handheld controllers.
Forbes says The Realm System will soon have leg resistance bands, though it didn’t mention if there will be leg-mounted sensors or controllers as well.
The Realm System’s SDK is based on Unity and works with Windows, Mac and Linux. Right now it only has six demo games, but its inventors hope to get developer kits out ASAP to give end users more apps to use.
Pledge at least $199 (USD) on Kickstarter to receive one The Realm System kit as a reward. Keep in mind that the controller requires a webcam or a Kinect sensor to work and neither is included in the kit.
Remember the old days when you played Atari’s Pong console? That was all that the console played, and we loved hitting that square shaped ball back and forth. We just didn’t know any better. It seems so slow now. Well, this isn’t your grandfather’s Pong.
This Virtual Pong game from Shaper Image is a real-world version of the game with a digitally-projected ball and everything. At last we are living in the TRON future, my friends. You have two wireless paddles to hit the virtual ball with. You might even lose a few pounds as you get off the couch and compete.
The center base station projects an orb of colored light back and forth between the players. You hit it with your “rackets” trying not to make a racket as you destroy mom’s knick knacks. It works like the Wii, though it looks more dangerous to your surroundings. Virtual Pong is available now from Sharper Image for $59.99(USD).
Twitch streamer and DIY gaming accessory buff Dylan "Rudeism" Beck, who created a hilarious Untitled Goose Game "controller," is at it again with the new Star Wars title Jedi: Fallen Order. He built a motion-controlled lightsaber and a force glove th...
