Hasta La Gadget!

Anyone who’s been wanting to make a game for the Oculus Rift headset, but hemmed and hawed during the Kickstarter run, now has a second chance. Oculus has kicked off its own pre-order campaign that offers the VR developer kit at the same $300 that it cost for the more proactive among us, or $345 for those beyond US borders. As an added incentive, the first 1,000 who pull the trigger still get a copy of Doom 3: BFG Edition to show what the Oculus Rift can do. Twiddling your thumbs will have cost at least a month — these new kits won’t ship until January — but the pre-order still means a head start over competing developers that haven’t yet seen the virtual light.

Filed under: Displays, Wearables

Oculus Rift developer kits go up for regular pre-order, catch VR procrastinators originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Oculus  | Email this | Comments

Sony’s second generation 3D visor didn’t make a big splash back at IFA, but the HMZ-T2 certainly has a pigeonhole at Tokyo’s premier gaming event. In addition to the headset’s substitutional reality prototype, the standard model stakes claim to almost a fifth of PlayStation’s demo area. With all the local buzz, we decided to weigh in on how the $900 headgear shapes up as a gaming display. The answer? Heavily. Out of necessity, the HMZ-T2 crams the majority of its hardware in front of the users eyeballs, bearing most of its weight on the nose. Over extended gaming sessions, we could see this becoming uncomfortable — and indeed, in our short time with the device we found our neck relaxing, begging to give in to the weight of the device. As silly as hung-head gaming might appear, however, the visual effect certainly does the trick — creating the illusion of a large 3D television 4-6 feet in front of the user. It didn’t add anything to Hot Shots Golf 6 in terms of gameplay or experience, but it certainly comes in a more compact form than a full size television. The fancy headgear could surely be a boon for gamers living in a tight space, but folks with room (and cash) to spare are probably better off with a proper flat screen. On the other hand, visors are way more futuristic looking. Don’t believe us? See us get our Geordi La Forge on after the break.

Continue reading Sony’s HMZ-T2 3D headset at TGS: gaming at close range (video)

Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Peripherals, HD

Sony’s HMZ-T2 3D headset at TGS: gaming at close range (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

HP isn’t all about new notebooks today; the company also has a meaty new ENVY desktop along with a super-skinny Full HD LCD display. The HP ENVY Phoenix h9 offers a choice of Intel Ivy Bridge processors and either AMD or NVIDIA graphics, with a choice of regular hard-drive or SSD storage, and an illuminated case which the company claims looks “armor-plated” but which we reckon has a touch of the fish gills about it.

Still, you get internal space for three drives, with tool-free bays and re-configured cable routing for boosted airflow around the chassis. Liquid cooling is an option, as is an ExpressCache SSD for curtailed boot times and app loading, and there’s Beats Audio branding too.

As for the HP x2401 display, that comes in at 24-inches with Full HD resolution, but its real appeal is its thickness – or lack of. It measures a mere 11mm deep, and can be stripped of its easel desk-stand for wall mounting.

Ports include DisplayPort and HDMI, and HP sensibly quotes both a proper contrast ratio (5,000:1) along with the near-meaningless 10,000,000:1 dynamic ratio, something rival firms could definitely learn from. There’ll also be a business version, the HP L2401x.

The HP ENVY Phoenix m9 will go on sale October 26, priced from $899. Meanwhile, the HP x2401 will arrive November 7, priced at $249, while its commercial counterpart will be $10 more but land two days earlier.

HP ENVY Phoenix m9 PC gets super-slim 11mm x2401 Full HD display pairing is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Check out the MultiTaction Cell displays that were specially developed by MultiTouch, where it has gained the moniker as the world’s biggest multi-touch wall, and surely this will be part of a groundbreaking business communications facility. MultiTouch’s claim to fame is being the developer of the world’s first modular multi-touch LCD screen for large-scale displays, so their achievement that you can view in the video above is certainly a sight to behold. After all, we are looknig at the combination of two dozen 55” MultiTaction Cells, and each of these were specially constructed by UK-based Engage Production Ltd. for a world famous company that delivers advice on business advancement, and it will make up the entire segment of a fully integrated and unique communications facility.

The entire setup measures a whopping 9.9m x 2.1m, and stands at a massive 3m high inclusive of its base, but no way this is going to be a wonder of the modern world, although the tech world would definitely be more than impressed with this setup. I can imagine gaming with such a rig, but I guess that the world has far more uses for it. MultiTouch’s Cornerstone SDK paves the way for ultra-smooth, high-resolution rendering that boasts of a native panel resolution of approximately 50 megapixels.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Large multi-touch display used as a giant microscope, Samsung LED square display announced,

With the proliferation of Ultrabooks, laptops are shipping with fewer ports and smaller screens. One of the benficiaries of the streamlined designs is DisplayLink, whose technology can turn a single USB port into a bevy of connections. At IDF 2012, the company showed off new gear from several vendors, including EVGA, HP, Lenovo and Targus. First, there’s a handsome little puck from EVGA, called the UV Plus+39, that plugs into your laptop’s USB 2 or 3.0 socket to grant you HDMI and DVI output at up to 2048 x 1152 resolution for $85. Next up, Lenovo’s self-explanatory USB 3.0 to DVI adapter that supports the same max resolution as the Plus+39 for $80. Lastly, a pair of docks from Targus and HP. HP’s 3005pr USB 3.0 Port Replicator turns your laptop’s USB 3.0 port into four USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, one HDMI, DisplayPort, and RJ-45 jacks, plus audio in and out connections for a mere $150. Targus’ $250 USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Dual Video Docking Station has similar connectivity to HP’s solution, but swaps DisplayPort for DVI and adds the ability to charge 90W laptops using its included array of power adapters. Having trouble deciding which one’s for you? Perhaps our photos in the gallery below will help you decide.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Filed under: Peripherals

DisplayLink shows off adapters and docks from HP, Lenovo, EVGA and Targus at IDF 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  EVGA, Lenovo, HP, Targus  | Email this | Comments