Immersion Announces Next Generation Force Feedback

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360

Immersion corporation today announced the availability of their next-generation vibration feedback systems which they hope will result in better force feedback effects with better power consumption profiles. Some of the main points they address include compatibility with motion and tilt-sensing controllers; Nintendo users are already aware that Wii will support both motion-sensing and feedback, and perhaps this will give Sony the ability to add this functionality to their wireless controller. Overall, the new feedback system appears to be a more streamlined, better defined system for including force feedback in a console or PC. Hopefully, their work on the feedback APIs will make force feedback more prevalent on the PC. The effects in the few PC games that supported the force feedback mice from Logitech and Saitek were interesting, but never really gained acceptance in any significant way. If backward compatibility is really supported as well as Immersion suggests, then adoption of the new technology this late in the next generation console cycle won’t be an issue. With the Xbox 360 already shipping, and Sony pretty much leaving force feedback behind, this would seemingly only be a possibility in either the Wii console, or in third party controllers. And, it remains to be seen (or felt) how much better this new technology really is.

Full Press Release after the jump.

Click to continue reading Immersion Announces Next Generation Force Feedback

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Seidio Shield 2 Holster for Treo 650/700

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Posted by Stace Johnson Categories: Accessories, Cell Phones, Handhelds

Remember last winter, when you dropped your Treo 650 on the ground and the SD card popped out and got lost in the snow?  Oh, wait ... that wasn’t you, that was me. Sorry.  Well, neither of us have to worry about that any more.  Seidio was kind enough to develop a Treo 650/700 holster called the Shield 2, which allows easy insertion and removal of the Treo while protecting the inward-facing screen with foam.  Most importantly, the clip slips right over the top of the memory card to keep that little bugger in there when you—er, I—drop it while getting out of the car.

At $29.95, the Seidio Shield 2 holster is a little more expensive than its predecessor, but the revised design features make it worth the few extra dollars.  Aside from the SD slot, all other buttons and connectors are available while the device is in the holster.  One minor complaint is that the spring clip covers the top-mounted ringer switch and IR port.  The IR port is not a concern; the device would be out of the holster when using that anyway.  But some people might find the inaccessible switch to be a problem.  Or, like me, they might be willing to overlook that in favor of extra security for the SD card.

Read More | Seidio Shield 2 via Treonauts

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Mercury Titles Announced for Nintendo Wii

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Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Nintendo, Release Dates, Strategy, Wii

In a move sure to excite Wii owners to be, Ignition Entertainment has updated their release list to include two Mercury titles for the Wii.  Previously Mercury was a Sony exclusive, and a great asset to the PSP catalog.  The first installment, Mercury Meltdown, will be released in November followed shortly after by Mercury Type R, before the end of Q4.  The Mercury series includes hours of stimulating puzzles in which you move a blob of mercury around an environment through various gates and around obstacles.  The movement of your blob is controlled by tilting the platform that the blob is on, making the Wii-mote a natural choice.  This is a strong launch title for the Nintendo Wii and signals more support by third party developers.

Read More | Cubed3.com

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MechAssault DS Developer Diary

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo DS

The first part of a six part series on the development of MechAssault: Phantom War for the Nintendo DS has been posted to IGN.com. While gamers have probably seen development diaries for more complex games on the PC and next generation consoles, the DS seems like an interesting platform to develop for; there are new technologies on the console, like the dual screens, and the touch screen, but a lot of the rendering hardware is limited in ways that hearken back to previous generations of non-portable consoles. So, this installment deals somewhat with the challenges of working with the limited 3D rendering power of the console, and the trade-offs that must be made to fit the content and graphical detail into smaller spaces than most developers are used to. It is interesting that the difference between the 512 megabit and 1024 megabit cartridge is not merely size, but also memory access speed. Hopefully, more of the technical challenges will be addressed in future episodes, giving gamers much more insight into the smaller end of console development.

Read More | IGN

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Variax 700 Electric Guitar by Line 6

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Posted by Stace Johnson Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Music

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is lucky.  If he’s working on a track at his home studio and he needs a particular sound, he can just go grab another guitar, plug in, and another classic track is born.  Those of us for whom money is still an issue have it a little tougher.  Sure, we know that “Sweet Child O’ Mine” should only be played on a Les Paul (or a copy, like Slash used), but there’s only room for a couple of guitars in the back of the Civic, and if the song has to be played on a Strat, then so be it.

No more excuses!  For the cost of a decent Stratocaster or half of a Les Paul, guitar players can have access to classic sounds from both of these instruments, as well as from banjos, sitars, resonators, and several acoustic guitars.  The Variax carefully models the waveforms of classic instruments to product their sounds faithfully, and all of the sounds are just a knob twist away.  Finally, guitarists can leave their vintage instruments at home and still be prepared for any musical need that may arise.

Read More | Line 6

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Belkin TuneDeck For iPod nano

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Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Transportation

Belkin has just announced the TuneDeck for iPod nano. This is a solution for mounting, powering, and playing your iPod nano through your car stereo. The audio goes through a cassette adapter, and the optional mount rotates so that both driver and passenger can get in on the fun. This one launches in July 2006 in North America and will retail at $49.99 USD. Asia, Europe, and Australia need to wait just a little longer to get their hands on it, but it shouldn’t be too long.

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Play! A Video Game Symphony Impressions

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Posted by George Hatzidimitriou Categories: Culture

Brandon Daiker of N-Sider has posted an in depth look at the Play! A Video Game Symphony concert in Stockholm Sweden. For those of you unfamiliar, Play! is a world tour featuring live symphonic renditions of music from various best selling video games, including Super Mario Bros, Halo, Chrono Trigger, World of Warcraft , Silent Hill and the Final Fantasy series. The atmosphere seemed to have been much more relaxed than that of a typical concerto, with fans cheering on their favorite compositions and becoming perhaps overly enthusiastic when the perennial fanboy favorite, One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII took center stage, prompting a three minute standing ovation followed by an encore.

Also of note are Daiker’s interviews with Yasunori Mitsuda (composer of the Chrono series and Xenogears/Xenosaga) and Nobuo Uematsu (composer of Final Fantasy and President of Smile Please), in which Uematsu clarifies that he will only be composing the main theme for Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mitsuda announces the release of a Chrono Cross remix album within the next year.

Read More | N-Sider

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The Invisible Shield Review Update

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Posted by Oscar M. Cantu Categories: Accessories, Features, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews

Back in December we reviewed ”The Invisible Shield” from Shield Zone and thought it was an excellent product that could be improved in its installation process. We were pleased to see that Shield Zone is now including an application solution bottle and some nice instructions with every package sent to customers.  This makes the installation process a lot easier and painless. No more do you have to guess with the soap to water ratio or referring back to online instructions. Once again, if you’re about to buy an iPod, you need to protect your investment with this product.

Read More | Gear Live Invisible Shield Review

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Aurelle LED Deck Lights From Philips

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Posted by John Goulden Categories: Household, Misc. Tech

So you’ve got a rather drab looking deck that needs a little pizazz?  Why not try some nice deck lights?  Even though their illumination can be a bit meager, they do provide safety, and even a touch of class.  Now, before you run out and buy whatever is on hand at your local home improvement store, be aware that not any old deck light will do.  Nope, being the ultimate consumer of gadgets and tech items that you are, something a little different is in order.  Something like the Aurelle LED Deck Lights from Philips.

The Aurelle lights come in a convenient ten-pack, and are available in your choice of either brilliant white or soft blue LED lighting.  The kit contains just about everything needed for installation, minus the tools, and even includes a remote control. 

Street pricing for the lights is quite respectable at $100 USD.

Read More | Philips via Uncrate

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Phil Harrison On Sony’s E3

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Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, E3, PlayStation 3

Following up on last week’s interview with Satoru Iwata, today, Edge Magazine’s interview with Phil Harrison of Sony is published. Overall, while Sony showed some great games at E3, their exclusive press conference left a little to be desired. Harrison admits as much; when asked if there was a letdown after the previous year’s showing, he states, “Yeah, I agree with that, and I don’t quite know why that is. I guess, um, when something is new and exciting and heard for the first time, that elicits a certain reaction emotionally, compared to when you’re just confirming something that people already know.”

Certainly gamers would be glad to have the old Playstation-style controller back, but when your large controller innovation is “motion-sensing” which had already been announced by Nintendo, then this strongly gives the impression of someone that is a follower, and not an innovator. Add to that the fact that despite their justifications of the dual SKU market, it does appear that Sony went back on their word. Harrison’s explanation, that “he PlayStation 3 format is exactly the same between the two SKUs. Our competitor has a different format between the two SKUs - one with a hard drive, one without - but all PlayStation 3s have a hard drive” rings a little false when there are clearly differences between the hardware, and there is no upgrade path between on PS3 SKU to the other. On the Xbox 360, at least, if the gamer wants to add a hard drive later, this is possible, but to this day, there has been no announcement of a way for the lower priced PS3 SKU to get HDMI support; while this may not impact games at the beginning, the higher picture quality promised by HDMI 1.3 all but ensures a different experience between the two PS3 tiers.

The pricing of the PS3 on its own probably would have acted as a buzzkill, but combined with the apparent aping of its competitors and the backtracking of several promised from the 2005 E3, it is easy to see why the announcement was less successful.

Read More | Next Generation

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