We’re sorry, but the Palm Pixi’s rendition of Need for Speed no longer impresses us — we’ve just seen John Carmack show off Rage for iPhone. While of course it looks nothing like the PC graphical monstrosity that swept the E3 Games Critics Awards, it’s safe to say the 60 frame-per-second tech demo at QuakeCon 2010 shoves the cell phone gaming envelope through a Juggernaut-class brick wall. Where Carmack originally called the iPhone “more powerful than a Nintendo DS and PSP combined,” the id Software co-founder is now aiming squarely at the likes of PS2 and Xbox with iPhone 4 hardware. Not impressive enough? He says it still “runs great on an original 2G iPhone” as well. VG247 , who liveblogged the event, reports the title will be available in the App Store later this year for a relatively inexpensive price, with a second game available in time for the PC game’s 2011 launch. Sadly, there’s as of yet no plans for Android owners to get the same megatexturing goodness. Don’t miss the video after the break, because this screenshot doesn’t do it justice. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Continue reading Carmack blows minds with id Software’s Rage, running on iPhone at 60fps with ‘megatextured’ graphics (video) Carmack blows minds with id Software’s Rage, running on iPhone at 60fps with ‘megatextured’ graphics (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Samsung SH-B083L 8x Blu-Ray Reader & Lightscribe DVDRW Writer – Retail Box by Samsung Platform: Windows Date first available at Amazon.co.uk: 28 Oct 2009 Buy new: £67.99 £56.28 13 used & new from £51.21 (Ranking is updated hourly. Visit the Hot Future Releases in Electronics & Photo list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)
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#3: Samsung SH-B083L 8x Blu-Ray Reader & Lightscribe DVDRW Writer – Retail Box
The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat , recapping the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us. The past week Inhabitat saw solar-powered transportation soar into space as Japan successfully unfurled the world’s first solar sail aboard its Ikaros spacecraft. We continued our transportation coverage by taking a took a look at a futuristic plant-powered photosynthetic concept car that seats riders within an enclosed jungle canopy. However if the Inhabitat editors commuted to work, it would probably be via these amazing solar-powered shrub cars ! In other news, the world of architecture is heating up with the onset of summer as countries around the globe gear up to unveil high-tech sun-powered homes at the European Solar Decathlon . This week we took a look at two of our favorites – the solar shelled Armadillo Box House and Finland’s hyper-insulated Luuku House , which is expected to generate more energy than it consumes. We also celebrated the launch of the 2010 World Cup by taking a look at the technologies behind five stunning green stadiums that will be hosting this year’s games in South Africa. Speaking of the World Cup, this week were also excited to see the unveiling of a brand new version of the sOccket, an energy-generating soccer ball that scores a goal for green power in developing countries. We also took a look at a cheap solar-powered refrigerator for the developing world that can be assembled using local materials and could save millions of lives by storing and distributing vaccines. Renewable energy was also a hot topic this week — the UAE is blazing a trail with plans to construct a record-toppling solar plant that eclipses the size of every photovoltaic farm to date. We also saw home-grown algae power make its domestic debut in this gorgeous green Latro Lamp , which is fueled by a pond-scum powered bio-battery. And renewable energy took to the streets this week as telecom provider Orange unveiled a set of spiffy set of thermoelectric galoshes that charge your cellphone using heat from your feet. Finally, this week we unveiled some incredible new uses for everyday materials as we announced the grand-prize winners of our 2010 Spring Greening DIY Design Competition . Speaking of innovative examples of repurposed design, we were also blown away by this open-source printer made from LEGO bricks and a felt-tip pen . And if you insist on continuing to use a standard printer, you can rest assured that there’s an inspired re-use for those expired ink cartridges – Australia recently unveiled a bike path made from them ! Inhabitat’s Week in Green: solar buildings, solar stadiums, and an algae-powered lamp originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Three years ago, a certain obiwan22222 wowed us when he played Wii on his PSP (with a little help from Sony’s LocationFree technology). For his next trick, our man has done the same thing on an iPod touch. But wait, you ask — is there a LocationFree client for iPhone / iPod touch? We don’t think so, so we’ve pinged him for an explanation. He’s being extremely tight-lipped about it all, saying only that 1) this is not fake, 2) he got rid of the five second lag, and 3) all will be revealed “soon enough” (that is, once we’ve been tortured enough). If anything, we can certainly respect a man with a flair for showmanship! In the meantime, check out the video after the break. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear back from the dude. Continue reading Modder transmits Wii games to iPod touch, which isn’t really as fun as it sounds (video) Modder transmits Wii games to iPod touch, which isn’t really as fun as it sounds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Apparently in need of something to take his mind off of the “are games art?” debate , film critic Roger Ebert has published “Why I Hate 3-D (And You Should Too)” in Newsweek . While standing up to ” the biz side of show business,” that only wants to see 3D succeed in order to sell new projectors and increase ticket surcharges, he instead suggests moviemakers focus on higher framerate solutions that would… require new technology and increase ticket surcharges. His often-contradictory nine points aside, the key to the success or failure of 3D will obviously be whether or not audiences think the difference is consistently worth the money, no matter what anyone says about it — or how awesome it makes sports look . Until then, the choice of formats and how to make use of them is a decision best left to directors, like the 3D projects he mentions are currently under way from Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog. Besides, the creative future of Hollywood is in great hands, just check out the trailer for Piranha 3D (embedded after the break.) Continue reading Roger Ebert gives 3D thumbs down, shocking headlines two thumbs up Roger Ebert gives 3D thumbs down, shocking headlines two thumbs up originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 20:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
From its humble HD- DVD-playing beginnings, the Xbox 360 has grown into a full-fledged set-top box that pulls down HD content from Netflix , the Zune Store and Sky TV (for Ireland and the UK). Now, rumors indicate an Xbox TV channel might be next in line. Bloomberg writes that former News Corp. president Peter Chernin discussed the possibility of adding regular exclusive programming to the console at an April 12th meeting with Microsoft, and reportedly suggested a $1 to $2 increase in Xbox LIVE monthly fees to cover the additional cost. However, since Microsoft apparently hasn’t formally responded to the proposal, this may just be another pipe dream — from the man who thought we’d pay $30 per movie for on-demand HD, no less. ‘Course, with all this talk of Hulu going paid , we suppose just about anything is possible. Former News Corp president wants Xbox TV channel? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Wondering what Sony’s going to call that PlayStation Move sub-controller — you know, since ” nunchuk ” is already taken? Wonder no more. Sony part number CECH-ZCS1U just hit the FCC’s database, and “Navigation Controller” is written in nice bold letters right there on the label. It’s looking like this is official, as the Sony US website has been quietly updated with the change, and we think it makes a certain amount of sense, as most 3D games let you aim the camera with your dominant hand and relegate navigation to the other. Like the Motion Controller , Sony’s opted for confidentiality on this one, meaning we won’t have photos of the controller’s juicy guts for six months, but hey, at least you already know what the outsides look like — and you can see it in action on the Engadget Show right here . PlayStation Move sub-controller hits FCC, will be named Navigation Controller originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
If you’ve been following closely, there are really two sorts of input available to the PlayStation Move . The one that gets the most love and screen time is the camera-based, 3D meatspace tracking that the PlayStation Eye performs in conjunction with the fancy colored ball at the end of the PlayStation Move wand, but most of the actual gameplay we’ve seen is in truth much more similar to the Wii’s MotionPlus than Sony might want to let on. The MotionPlus and PS Move have very similar configurations of gyroscopes and accelerometers, and actually use the same software from AiLive (co-creators of MotionPlus) for developing the gesture recognition that goes into games. We actually got to see the LiveMove 2 development environment in action, and it’s pretty impressive: basically you tell a computer what gesture you want to perform (like “fist pump,” for instance) and then perform a bunch of examples of that movement. LiveMove then figures out the range of allowable movement, and in playback mode shows you whether you’re hitting the mark. AiLive showed us gestures as complicated as a Graffiti (of Palm OS yore) handwriting recognition in the air, built with just a few example movements from people back at their offices. So, this is great news for developers dealing with the significant complication of all these sensors, but at the same time we can’t help but be a little disappointed. LiveMove 2 doesn’t even use the PlayStation Eye, and as we mentioned in our hands-on impressions of PlayStation Move, we could really sense that a lot of our in-game actions were built from predefined gestures, not us interacting with the 3D environment in any “real” or physics-based way. It’s great tech either way, but hopefully that’s something that can be improved upon by launch or soon after. Check out a demo of LiveMove in action after the break. Continue reading AiLive shows off its LiveMove 2 software for building MotionPlus and PlayStation Move gestures AiLive shows off its LiveMove 2 software for building MotionPlus and PlayStation Move gestures originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
When Sony unveiled its PlayStation Move (nee Arc ) controller at the GDC last week , it came along with some impressive promises : it would only cost developers 2MB of system memory (out of 256MB on offer) and it would respond to user inputs within a single frame of animation. Our own experiences with the thing felt a bit more laggy, and now Eurogamer is echoing those impressions and putting a bit of science behind them courtesy of a 60fps Kodak Zi6 camcorder. By filming the controllers and their on-screen representation, the site’s tireless statisticians calculated an actual lag ( including that of the display) of 113ms — closer to 10 6.78 frames if a game is running at 60fps. Naturally much of this is thanks to the rendering of the result and not just the Move, but according to a 2008 GamaSutra test we found (linked as “More Coverage” below), the controller lag from the standard PS3 controller varies widely from game to game, with GTA IV measured at 166ms — almost 50 percent higher than seen by the Move. So, while we can’t draw too many conclusions about this single-game test from GDC, we can give a little advice: get back to beating up some underworldian goons as Kratos and don’t worry about it. PlayStation Move controller lag detected, analyzed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Few can build ‘em like Benjamin Heckendorn . Fewer still bother to try. Two college kids managed to do a bang-up job anyhow building this fully loaded, Jasper -juiced Xbox 360 laptop . With a built-in 17-inch Gateway monitor, keyboard, functioning Xbox Live camera and Wireless Network Adapter, this brick hits all the right notes — yet remains remarkably stylish for a learn-as-you-go student project. If you agree, you can read a remarkably detailed account of how they built it at the source link, see a proof-of-completion video after the break, or even further their education by purchasing the mean machine on eBay for your very own. Continue reading Student-made Xbox 360 laptop channels the Heck out of… well, you know Student-made Xbox 360 laptop channels the Heck out of… well, you know originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
