ThinkGeek has turned another one of its April Fools jokes into an actual product. The Technomancer Digital Wizard Hoodie uses 32 multicolored LEDs and a speaker box to emit light and sound effects. The cool thing – or the dealbreaker, depending on how geeky you are – about the hoodie is that you have to activate the effects using hand gestures, as if you were casting a spell.
The hoodie has nine spells or sets of effects. There’s a fireball spell, a health restoring spell and even a water bending spell. The LEDs are attached to a hood assembly as well as to its inner sleeves. While most wizards use mana, this hoodie runs on six AA batteries, which you’ll insert into its built-in battery compartment. Skip to 1:25 in the video below to determine whether you have the moxie to don this robe.
You can get the hoodie for $120 (USD). Cast the browsing spell and head to ThinkGeek to order.
Sixense might not be a household name, but its electromagnetic motion sensing technology crops up in the darndest places. The 1:1 tracking technology is used in medical rehabilitation and Japanese arcade games, but it's most widely known as the wizardry behind the Razer Hydra motion controller. Now the company is gearing up to release a spiritual successor to the Hydra, the Sixense Stem System.
Like the Hydra, Stem offers six degrees of motion-tracking freedom, albeit without the wires or Razer branding. It isn't necessarily more accurate, but it is more comprehensive -- it's a modular system that offers up to five trackable modules, or "Stems," that attach to game controllers, VR headsets, accessories or even appendages. We caught up with Sixense president and CEO Amir Rubin to learn more about the Stem's Kickstarter launch and the company's first foray into the consumer product space.
Would you look at that? Seems Leap Motion's eagerly awaited motion controller has started shipping a few days early -- well, a few days before its delayed July 22nd date, but we'll take it. We've received a couple of confirmations from future Leapers that their devices are on the way. Until they actually arrive, however, why not take a look at some of the apps developers have been working on for the system?
There are lots of articles online speculating about how Apple can create an instant game console by increasing the integration between the Apple TV and iOS devices. It’s an interesting idea, but so far we’ve seen that Apple is slow to embrace its gaming community. iOS game developer Rolocule Games took matters into its own hands and came up with… Wii Sports. Or one of the games in Wii Sports.
Using AirPlay, the Apple TV can mirror your iOS device’s display on your TV or monitor to let you play on a bigger screen. But Rolocule Games went a step further. Aside from letting you play on a big screen, its app Motion Tennis lets you use your iOS device itself as the motion controller. You get the idea: Swing your iOS device and your avatar swings his racket. Swing your device hard and you just might end up with a costly accident.
Motion Tennis is already available on the iTunes App Store for $8 (USD). You need to have an Apple TV as well as a fairly modern iOS device to make it work, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the game… if you’re trapped in 2006.
Still, it’s a glimpse at what a powerful “mobile console” could be like. Imagine if the next PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo (or Google or Apple) game system was just that: a small device. A console, controller, secondary display, media center, digital store and game library in your pocket. And you can make calls with it too! Wouldn’t that be awesome?
I’m not sure how long it would take or if we’d ever get such a device. Then again, if you told me five years ago that I’d be able to play Final Fantasy Tactics, Baldur’s Gate, a digital version of Magic: The Gathering and a new XCOM game in one portable device I wouldn’t have believed you either.
Remember that break-apart DualShock 3 idea for motion control Sony had five years ago? A new company named Mad Genius Controllers has surfaced with a working prototype that shows such a contraption working in spades. The setup uses a splittable controller and a processing unit to enable seamless motion control and spacial tracking on any title and system. Because Mad Genius doesn't use any accelerometers or cameras like the current consoles, its creator notes that accuracy of up to 1/100th of an inch is possible.
In a video demo with an Xbox 360 version of Skyrim and a modified Xbox gamepad, certain gestures and movements even automate menu selections like a macro. One instance shows the controller being split and held like bow and arrow, highlighting that both sides are tracked in relation to each other -- not to mention that the in-game character's weapon automatically changes without any menu-digging by the user. The current version is merely a wired proof-of-concept, but Mad Genius plans to eventually make it wireless and hit Kickstarter for funding. In the meantime, you can build up anticipation for yourself by checking out the nearly 10-minute long video demo after the break. All that's left is the inevitable Oculus Rift tie-in (like we've just done with this post).
Red Dead Revolver‘s dueling mode was one of the game’s unique features. It attempted to emulate the feeling of tension by making the player go through a timing-based mini game. But what if you could actually go through the motions of a duel itself? Wouldn’t that be more exciting and fun to play? That’s the idea behind Quick Draw, a multiplayer game that uses the much maligned PlayStation Move controller.
Quick Draw is currently being developed by Greenfly Studios. Greenfly’s Stephen Morris described the mechanics and history of Quick Draw at The Penny-Arcade Report. Unlike most videogames, Quick Draw doesn’t have you look at a monitor and control an avatar. Instead, you just use your body and the Move controller to target other players, which ideally makes it a fun party game. Quick Draw has three modes, but the goal in all of them is simple: be the one with the fastest trigger finger. As you’ll see in the video below, the winner is the one whose PS Move doesn’t glow red after the shootout.
Gotta love the sound effects! Greenfly Studios is working on releasing Quick Draw not just for the PlayStation but for PC and Mac as well. I wonder if Quick Draw can also include a two-player game mode where you gather a bunch of PS Move controllers in the middle of the floor, then at the count of three both opponents scramble to get a controller and shoot at each other. But the catch is that only one of the controllers has a “bullet” in it, so the players have to keep scrambling for the loaded controller, like a scene from a comedy action movie.
I don’t really care much for tactile feedback in videogames, but if you’re into that sort of immersion, Tactical Haptics is working on a device that’s right up your alley. At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, the company showed off a prototype motion controller with a unique haptic feedback system.
The company calls its technology Reactive Grip. The current prototype, which uses parts from a Razer Hydra motion controller, has four bars on the grip that can move up and down independently of each other. Not only does it look like a naughty toy, apparently it’s also great at emulating a sense of weight and movement.
It seems like many people believe that first-person games will continue to be central to the future of gaming, what with technologies like the Reactive Grip as well as the Oculus Rift. I’m waiting for floor tiles that light up and a machine that spews numbers into the air to make tactical RPGs more immersive.
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.
Between the Kinect and Leap Motion, gesture control's on just about everyone's minds these days. There's still a ways to go, certainly, before such devices become a mainstream method for interfacing with our PCs, but they've already become a ripe source of inspiration for the DIY community. Duo's hoping to further bridge the gap between the two, with a "the world's first 3d motion sensor that anyone can build." The desktop sensor features two PS3 Eye cameras that can track hands and objects for a more natural interface with one's computer. Duo's unsurprisingly looking to crowdfund its efforts. A pledge of $10 or more will get you early access to the company's SDK. For $40 you'll get the case and instruction. Add $30 to that number, and you've got yourself the kit, which includes everything but the camera ($110 will get you all that). Check out the company's plea after the break, and if you're so inclined you can pledge at the source link below.
A week ago, we learned about the Mycestro, a pointing device that, despite its unusual form, only has a humble goal: to replace your mouse. The Ego! Smartmouse on the other hand is quite the opposite. It looks like a traditional mouse, but it is much more than that. The question is, do we need a mouse that’s this smart?
Made by Laura Sapiens, the Ego! – no, no, no signore, it’s Ego! Put some life into it! – is a Bluetooth mouse that can be used both on a flat surface as well as on air. You can also use the Ego! to control your HTPC or other Bluetooth media players. It can also be used as a wireless flash drive. It can also be used to as a gesture-based gaming controller. It can also remember and automatically input your passwords for you. It can also vibrate to alert you of an appointment or a new email. If Old Spice were to design a mouse, they’d probably come up with an Ego! Except the Old Spice mouse would have a six-pack.
In order to perform all those tasks, the Ego! runs on Linux, has a 400MHz ARM9 CPU, a flash memory capacity of either 2GB or 4GB, a VGA camera, a touch sensor (in place of a scroll wheel), an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, a vibration motor and an optical mouse sensor. It’s got nothing on my mouse though! My Logitizzech M305,000 is covered in luxurious duct tape and has a special right-click button – 60% of the time, it works every time.
Here’s another look at the non-mouse features of this mouse:
Laura Sapiens is currently raising funds for the Ego! Smartmouse on Kickstarter. Pledge at least £70 (~$106 USD) to get one.
But back to my original question: how many people need a mouse this smart? The gestures for managing windows for example – is that actually faster than just using the mouse the normal way? How often do you need to move a file and yourself as well to another workstation? Will the VGA camera be good for anything else other than that gimmicky pairing method?
I’m not saying the Ego! is a bad mouse. I’m just not that convinced that it should exist. Partly because it’s making my mouse feel bad.
Touchscreen monitors might seem really cool, but they’re already on their way out. Several companies have already had success researching …
