Hasta La Gadget!

Ben Heck‘s latest device isn’t gonna help you take your next-gen gaming on the go, nor will it let you play with one hand. Instead, the Xbox 360 Controller Monitor is designed to test gamepad latency using a data cable hooked up directly to each button and fed into a 8 x 8 inch display board. Each action lights up the corresponding indicator, and it includes three levels of sensitivity for each cardinal direction of the joysticks and shoulder triggers. At $600 (controller and AA batteries included), it’s not exactly something for the hobbyists out there, but already this thing’s got some major gaming street cred: it’s currently being used for playtesting on Mass Effect 2, the new Wolfenstein, and the just announced Modern Warfare 2.

Continue reading Ben Heck’s Xbox 360 Controller Monitor lights up your latency

Filed under: Gaming

Ben Heck’s Xbox 360 Controller Monitor lights up your latency originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS news from CeBIT? Say it ain’t so! Just hours after the company introduced two new “Green” LCDs, we stopped by to see what all the fuss was about. What we found were two rather vanilla looking LCDs (they’re in the gallery below, we promise) sitting beside something entirely more interesting: a Wireless LCD prototype. An ASUS rep informed us that the model shown was utilizing the currently-in-limbo ultra-wideband (UWB) standard, and he affirmed that the monitor didn’t have a model name nor an estimated ship date or price; it was simply on hand to prove that wireless LCDs were possible and that they’re on the way. He noted that ASUS was looking into other wireless protocols — namely wireless HD and WHDI — and that it was “waiting things out” before making a final decision on what variation to use. Our take? We suspect it’s both testing for best compatibility / range and waiting to see if UWB will remain viable in the coming months, which likely means no shipping product for quite some time. For what it’s worth, the on-hand demo was stellar, with no visible lag, glitches or dropped frames to speak of.

Filed under: Displays

ASUS shows off Wireless LCD prototype, “Green” monitors originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s new 24-inch G Series LCD, which was previewed during CES this year, has finally gone on sale at the outfit’s website. The G2410 flat-panel is said to be one of the firm’s greenest LCDs, as it proudly sports an EPEAT Gold rating and utilizes halogen-free laminates in circuit boards along with chassis plastics that contains 25 percent post-consumers recycled plastics. Other specs include a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution panel, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 250 nits of brightness, VGA / DVI connectors and a 5 millisecond response time. It’s all yours for $349, though there’s no apparent discount for hugging a tree prior to pulling the trigger.

[Thanks, Rob]

Filed under: Displays

Dell’s greenish G2410 LCD monitor goes on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like it or not, 3D is back. Er, it’s attempting to be back, though we’d argue the jury is still out on whether it’ll stick around for any meaningful amount of time this go ’round. At any rate, those who are already sold on the mesmerizing powers of stereoscopics should probably give this one a look, Olympus’ PC 3D Viewer Kit is one of the first consumer-level packages designed to give 3D content creators a look at their work on a standard LCD. The bundle will be comprised of a BenQ E2400HD 24-inch LCD (1,920 x 1,080 resolution), 3D media player software, 3D shutter glasses and a controller box — just enough to get you proofing without having to rent out a visual effects studio. There’s no word on a price for the currently Japan-only package, but really, you can’t put an MSRP on the third-dimension.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Filed under: Displays

Olympus PC 3D Viewer Kit: perfect for up-and-coming stereoscopic stars originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is NEC shutting down its NEC Display Solutions business in the U.S.? Until NEC chooses to substantively respond to voice mail and emails I left with the company, we won’t know for sure.

NEC included the above slide as a presentation accompanying its nine-month quarterly results, which will also result in 20,000 layoffs both in Japan and overseas.

The question is whether this means NEC is shutting down its NEC Display business, which officially covers projectors, LCD, plasma displays and monitors, pulling out of one or more categories, or something else altogether. NEC’s corporate PR has so far refused to return calls, and the one email I received from corporate PR avoided the matter altogether. Late Friday, I was told by an external PR rep that NEC Display president Pierre Richer will speak to the matter on Monday, and that will be all until then.