Hasta La Gadget!

Most video game controllers sporting a firearm form factor are a far cry from realistic — bright colors, odd shapes and obvious thumbsticks leave many accessories looking more like toys than weapons. Not David Kotkin’s Delta Six. This gun-shaped controller’s first prototype looked so much like a real rifle, Kotkin told us, it had to be redesigned. An orange tip, whitewashed body and a few less authentic looking components don’t make the Delta Six look any less believable as a digital soldier’s modern musket, but it does make it less likely to be mistaken for the real McCoy. The peripheral’s internals haven’t changed though — an accelerometer to help players aim and turn, cheek-sensing pressure sensors (for looking down the scope), faux-recoil and its assortment of modular components are still all on target.

Like all budding hardware projects these days, the Delta Six is looking towards the crowd to source its production. According to the peripheral’s Kickstarter page, the Delta Six will be available between July and August next year, boasting compatibility with the Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U and even the OUYA. Pitching in $89 buys the basic submachine gun body (with a free rifle attachment for first-week buyers), and subsequent levels tack on additional attachments, bonus items and more. Kotkin needs $500,000 to make his rifle-shaped dream a reality. Like-minded FPS gamers can join him at the source link below. Not a dreamer? Feel free to read on for the official press release (plus a video and an additional image), instead.

Continue reading Delta Six controller gets redesigned, Kickstarted

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Delta Six controller gets redesigned, Kickstarted originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the biggest stories in the technology world this week has been the revelation that Foxconn was hiring underage employees. Foxconn has been plagued in the last year or so with multiple complaints and allegations of unfair and unsafe working conditions in many of its factories. Foxconn is contracted by many of the world’s biggest technology companies to build products.

One of Foxconn’s highest profile clients is Apple with Foxconn constructing the iPhone and other gadgets for the technology giant. However, Apple isn’t the only massive and successful technology company that contracts with Foxconn to assemble electronics and other products. Microsoft also contracts with Foxconn to construct products and Foxconn builds the Nintendo Wii U that will be coming on the market soon.

Nintendo has issued an official statement on Foxconn hiring children under the age of 16 to work in its Yantai factory in China. Foxconn recently announced that some interns were as young as 14 years old and Chinese law states the workers under the age of 16 can’t be hired. One official news agency of China has previously claimed that Foxconn hired underage interns in an effort to make up for a shortage of 19,000 employees.

Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported that as many as 56 underage workers were returned home from Foxconn’s internship program. Nintendo has noted that is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating underage workers. The company says that they require all production partners, including Foxconn, to comply with their procurement guidelines set out in July 2008. Nintendo says that it requires any production partners that don’t meet those guidelines to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. You can read Nintendo’s official statement below.

“Nintendo is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating the matter. We take our responsibilities as a global company very seriously and are committed to an ethical policy on sourcing, manufacture and labor. In order to ensure the continued fulfillment of our social responsibility throughout our supply chain, we established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines in July 2008. We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. For more information about Nintendo’s Corporate Social Responsibility report, please visit http://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/index.html.”

[via IGN]

Nintendo issues official statement on underage Foxconn workers is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Tuesday evening everyone. Today was a pretty big day as far as news goes, with Apple sending out invites to an upcoming event, which is where we’re assuming the company will announce the iPad Mini. Not one to be outdone, Microsoft finally gave us some substantial details on Surface today (including information on pre-orders), and Samsung was right there to put its line up of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets up for pre-order as well.

We heard that there could be as many as 24 different iPad Mini models when Apple finally gets around to revealing the device, and we got to see the insides of the new iPod Nano thanks a teardown from iFixit. Excited for the Padfone 2? If you are, you’ll be pleased to know that its tablet dock can stand up to some abuse. We found out that Intel’s Q3 profits were negatively influenced by slowing demand for PCs, and heard that the average screen size is on the rise for all types of devices except for “mobile PCs.”

A mysterious Texas Instruments-made chip was found lurking inside Apple’s Lightning cable today, and Verizon is catching some heat for monitoring user activity. PlayMG revealed a dedicated Android gaming device called the MG, and AVADirect put a number of Windows 8 PCs up for pre-order today. We heard that T-Mobile might be getting the iPhone 5 early next year, and were told that LTE customers in the US pay 10 times more than LTE customers in Sweden. If you’re a hardcore gamer, you might be pleased to find out that the rechargeable battery in the Wii U Pro controller could potentially last up to 80 hours on a single charge, and you also might want to check out this snazzy Black Ops II launch trailer.

Bethesda might be working on a new piece of Skyrim DLC called Dragonborn, and controversial company Foxconn admitted to hiring underage workers today. The Xbox 360 was given a new dashboard update, Beats Audio unveiled a new portable speaker that has been aptly named “The Pill,” and Boxee announced a new service called Boxee TV. Finally tonight, we have a review of the LG Optimus G and the Motorola DROID RAZR HD, both by Chris Burns, and Vincent Nguyen talks with Microsoft to get the inside scoop on what makes the Surface such a game-changer. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 16, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

“A tree is best measured when it is down,” and this applies to the video game universe as well as you can only tell just how iconic a console is when it is no longer in production. The SNES has proved itself worthy to be in the annals of console classics, and the upcoming Wii U Pro controller pays homage to its predecessor with a SNES makeover.

Newly listed, the Wii U Pro SNES controller would most probably see plenty of sales figures when it is released alongside the Wii U at the end of this year. Right now, it does seem to be limited to EB Games Australia, so we do hope to see more retailers carry the Wii U Pro SNES controller in the near future. Looking like your regular Pro Controller, it sports a classic SNES pad located right below the dual analog sticks. Bear in mind that this is not an officially sanctioned peripheral, so you might want to take into consideration its sturdiness as a third-party pad.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Iwata says 3DS can connect to the Wii U, plus other goodies, The Wii U GamePad screen will lag behind your TV,

Because of the high-definition graphics of the Wii U and the 854×480 resolution of the Wii U GamePad’s screen, a lot of people have been guessing that the lag time would be incredibly high. However, Ubisoft’s Rayman Legends developer Michel Ancel has confirmed that the GamePad’s screen only has a delay of 1/60 of a second.

This means that the Wii U GamePad receives the image on its screen one frame later than the TV receives its image. This may seem like a huge deal and would put some players at a disadvantage, but one frame is obviously only a split second and most gamers won’t be able to tell the difference. The human eye usually can’t detect anything over 60 frames per second anyway.

Ancel also called the Wii U GamePad “quite a bit more advanced than people think.” He mentioned that the technology used is quite impressive, and other console makers like Microsoft and Sony would have to work fairly hard to get to this level of responsiveness out of a controller. Whether that’s true or not, we’ll have to wait and see what these companies come up with.

Nintendo‘s Wii U is officially launching on November 18, and early adopters will have 23 games to choose from right on launch day, including Call of Duty: Black Ops II, New Super Mario Bros., and Transformers Prime. Pricing for the console will start at $299 for the Basic bundle and $349 for the Deluxe set.

[via Ars Technica]

Nintendo Wii U GamePad delay only 1/60 of a second is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.