Hasta La Gadget!

If there’s a common barrier to playing with a Kinect controller, it’s free space. The sheer amount of necessary distance between sensor and player is fine for suburbanites with expansive living rooms, but not so hot for apartment dwellers. Thankfully, BitGym is doing its best to bring hands-free gaming to small spaces with a new Motion SDK for Android and iOS developers. The kit takes advantage of the front cameras on phones and tablets to track three-axis movement, leans and multiple players without any special hardware — and without necessarily rearranging the furniture. It’s built to work with Unity 3D and most common app code on both platforms, all with a reportedly low overhead for mobile processors. Just don’t anticipate any leaps and sidesteps in your loft for the next little while. Although the SDK is ready today, we won’t see shipping games built on the motion-friendly framework until early 2013.

Continue reading BitGym Motion SDK brings Kinect-style games to Android and iOS, no huge living room required (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile

BitGym Motion SDK brings Kinect-style games to Android and iOS, no huge living room required (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still waiting for a PS3 port of Final Fantasy VII? Wait some more. Because this is not it. It’s the next best thing though: a remake of the entire game on LittleBigPlanet 2, that includes “all conversations, sound tracks, characters, bosses, and enemies.”

The geeky feat was made by one Jamie Colliver, who spent a total of 6 months making the 20 levels needed to remake the PlayStation classic. Jamie even managed to mimic the materia and limit break system. He didn’t have to mimic the costumes though, thanks to the official Final Fantasy VII costume pack. Below is the first of 6 videos showing Colliver playing through the levels.

Bravo. The rest of the videos are on Jamie’s YouTube page. Someone give him an Elgato Game Capture or something so we can see the levels the way they were meant to be seen. Meanwhile those of you who have LBP 2 can look at and play the levels for yourselves. Just look for Jamie’s PSN ID “BRRPPPPPPPPPPPPP” (that’s 13 P’s).

[via Kotaku]

We don’t have nearly enough Super Mario inspired board games and this one is a work of sheer genius, turning Hungry Hungry Hippos into an amazing Koopa battle where you eat everything that you can.

This awesome game is the work of crafter KodyKoala, who spent about 50 hours modifying a standard Hungry Hungry Hippos game into a work of video game art. All I know is if Mario found himself in this Koopa-filled arena, he surely would be dead.

Each Koopa model took about 10 hours to complete and if you absolutely have to own it, the game will be going up for sale at the El Paso Comic Con on September 14th. The detail is amazing. So, who wants to buy it?

[Flickr via Obvious Winner]

Yesterday marked the launch of a new service from Valve with the beta of Big Picture mode for Steam. Big Picture mode is a version of the Steam digital delivery platform designed to operate on big HDTVs rather than smaller computer monitors. The new mode will allow users with high-end media PCs connected to the TV to get higher quality graphics in the living room than they can with their consoles.

Despite numerous rumors to the contrary, Valve does not intend to launch its own game console any time soon. Rather the goal was apparently to make PC gaming more accessible and convenient in the living room. I’d love to have some of my PC games on my massive projector screen and this new Big Picture mode will make that easier than ever.

Big Picture mode looks sort of like the dashboard on an Xbox 360 or on other set-top boxes. You can use it to purchase games, surf the Internet, and chat with friends using the standard in-game overlay. Naturally, Big Picture mode has fonts, icons, and menus optimized for viewing on a big screen. The mode is also designed with prompts that can be used via a game controller from across the room, and even has a special keyboard mode optimized for game controllers. As a matter of fact, they recommend the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, or the Logitech Gamepad F710 for gameplay and controlling the interface.

PC users can opt into the Big Picture beta now. There’s no word yet on when the Mac version will be available, though Valve says it’s “coming soon.”

[via Kotaku]

Can’t wait to use Steam’s forthcoming Big Picture mode to game from the comfort of your couch? Well, you’re in luck, because it might be ready for a test drive tomorrow. According to The New York Times, the living room-friendly user interface is getting the public beta treatment starting Monday. Gabe Newell let loose last month that both the TV-geared view and Steam for Linux betas would be “out there fairly quickly,” but there’s still no word on when the Ubuntu-bound preview will land. In the meantime, we’ll keep busy by gawking at Valve’s augmented reality headset, which the NYT got a glimpse of during a trip to the firm’s headquarters, at the source link below.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

NYT: Steam’s Big Picture public beta begins Monday originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 20:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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