Hasta La Gadget!

Square Enix will be releasing floor mats featuring graphics from the 8-bit Dragon Quest games. The mats are made of acrylic fiber and will come in three variants: journey – i.e. a portal – staircase and poison swamp. Yes kids, this is how swamps looked like back then.

Each mat measures 500mm x 500mm (approx. 20″ x 20″) and has a non-slip bottom.

Each mat will also come with a redeemable code for Dragon Quest X players to adorn their houses with a virtual equivalent of their purchased mat.

Give your browser a puff puff and head to JBOX or AmiAmi to order the floor mats. JOBX sells them for $23 each while AmiAmi has them for ¥1,310 (~$13 USD).

[via Tiny Cartridge via GoNintendo]

Fans of classic SEGA games will want to start saving up their Yen now, as there are some amazing new T-shirts on the way from Japan that you’ll want hanging in your closets.

The shirts, made by Geek Life are based on classic games including Space Harrier, Altered Beast and Galaxy Force II, and are covered with large, detailed artwork which just looks amazing.

The shirts even feature tags on the back based on the original game logos.

Geek Life says that more designs will be released down the road, and the initial designs will be available this April, selling for ¥6,000 (~$59 USD) each.

If you are a fan of Battlefield 4, new DLC pack is coming soon that you will want to get your hands on. The DLC is called Naval Strike and has a new mode and four new maps.

The new maps include Lost Islands, Wave Breaker, Nansha Strike, and Operation Mortar. The new mode, called Carrier Assault asks players to work together to take down the other team’s massive aircraft carrier using missiles. The Nansha Strike map has the largest ocean stretch offered in a map for the game franchise to date.

The DLC also brings new weapons, two new gadgets, a hovercraft vehicle, ten assignments, and more. Carrier Assault is an homage to the Titan mode from Battlefield 2142.

The DLC will launch March 25 and will land on the Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, and PS4. The March 25 launch date is for Premium subscribers, other members will be able to get the DLC on April 8. Naval Strike is the third of five DLC packs that will be offered for Battlefield 4.

[via GameSpot]

If 13th Lab has its way, you could soon be playing first-person games using your surroundings as a battlefield. Or a space station, a temple and anything else you can imagine. The computer vision company is working on Rescape, an FPS platform for mobile devices that can scan and digitize your environment, turning it into a video game map.

13th Lab uses a robotics technique called Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). With the help of cameras and sensors, SLAM allows a device to make a map of its environment and place itself – i.e. know its location – within the map that it just made. The end result is shown in the image above. If you look closely you can see that the iPhone is showing a virtual equivalent of the player’s environment – everything from the structures, objects and even other players. 13th Lab calls this mix of augmented and virtual reality Reality Gaming.

As of now, a Rescape package includes a 180º fisheye lens and an adjustable gun controller with a trigger and a d-pad. To drive costs down and make it easier for app developers to port their FPS games, Rescape will make use of your mobile device to map and digitize your environment, as well as track your position.

The Rescape software development kit (SDK) handles the mapping feature, as well as the ability to digitally paint over a map and turn it into your battle ground of choice. I don’t know if the SDK will be simple enough for normal folks to understand and use though.  As I mentioned, mobile game developers can port existing FPS games into the Rescape platform, but that’s not as fun as turning your house or university into a game map.

Pledge at least $39 (USD) on Kickstarter to get the Rescape controller and Office Defender, the game shown in the video. Pledge at least $129 and you get the controller, the game and the Rescape SDK. When it launches Rescape will only support the iPhone 5, 5C and 5S, with “experimental support” for the iPhone 4S. 13th Lab promises that it will provide support for Android devices within a few months after the launch.

[via InStash]

Back in the day, I loved to watch some anime. A local TV station had Robotech and Star Blazers on after school and you could bet I was watching. If you are still a big fan of anime content and happen to own a PS Vita, you will love this.

Sony has announced three new apps for the PS Vita are available now. One of them is Crunchyroll and it has all sorts of anime and manga content straight from Japan. It offers content like Naruto Shippuden, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Hunter × Hunter as well as other content.

The coolest part is that some of those shows will have new episodes available to watch only hours after they first air in Japan. Along with that app, NHL GameCenter Live is available now for hockey fans and Qello Concerts has launched for music fans. Coming later this spring, the PS Vita will finally get Hulu Plus and Redbox Instant along with Gaiam TV.