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Continue reading Feature-length film, The Trashmaster, made entirely in Grand Theft Auto IV

Feature-length film, The Trashmaster, made entirely in Grand Theft Auto IV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, you’ve probably seen countless scientific studies involving video games — but have you have you ever wondered what your brain actually looked like while your playing video games? Well, feast your eyes on the image above. That’s an MRI scan of New York Times writer Matt Richtel’s brain that was captured while he played a simple driving game — all in the name of science (and journalism), of course. As Richtel notes, however, that’s just one example of the ways researchers are using such technology to “map the ethereal concept of attention,” and scientists have turned up some other interesting findings as of late. Researchers at the University of Utah, for instance, have found that people’s ability to juggle two tasks begins to drop off in their 30s and then sharply drops in their 40s, which contradicts earlier suspicions that people’s ability to multitask only began to degrade when they’re much older. Some other researchers are still suspicious of those findings, however, and Dr. Gazzaley of the University of California at San Diego is quick to point out that all of this research is still in the earliest stages — he’s expecting some more detailed findings next year when his team expands their tests and begin to incorporate EEG monitoring as well.

This is your brain. This is your brain on video games originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a year of hearing about 3DTVs nonstop we finally got some of the main contenders in house to examine, although we’ll start by pointing out that this isn’t so much of a “3DTV” roundup, since a more apt description of these displays is 3D-capable HDTVs. That’s an important distinction to make, since nothing about the 2D performance of these TVs suffers because of their ability to do 3D, and in many cases they cost the exact same price as their comparable 2D-only models from last year. With that said Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi and LG’s finest have had their moment and on the next page we’ve done our best to compare them in a way that makes sense for the average HDTV buyer who might also want to take in a 3D event or movie from time to time. Right now, there’s barely enough 3D content to support more than a couple of hours viewing per week, much less support a full viewing conversion to all-glasses, all the time — but more about that later. Check out our full impressions after the break.

Continue reading 3DTV roundup: LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Samsung & Sony square off

3DTV roundup: LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Samsung & Sony square off originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s one event that’s immune to being overhyped, it’s the annual January expo of everything consumer electronics, known to you and us as CES. The only downer to this geek endurance test is that we’ve felt it’s been lacking a little on the gaming front lately, which is why we’re so giddy to hear the news that Nintendo will be rejoining the ranks of exhibitors over in Las Vegas in a few weeks’ time. CES 2011 will be the first time in 16 years that the console sales leader has deigned to pitch up a stand at America’s biggest tech show, with our suspicion being that the event will be used as an opportunity to remind the world about the upcoming 3DS handheld. Or to drop that Wii HD bombshell we’ve all been waiting for. Yeah, right!

Continue reading Nintendo returning to CES after a 16-year absence

Nintendo returning to CES after a 16-year absence originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Halo series has always been about addictive multiplayer experiences, so it’s most disturbing to find out that campaign co-op gaming on the latest title is a non-starter for people without a hard drive attached to their 360. An issue has been identified by users of the 4GB Xbox 360, whereby attempts to team up on the baddies with your buddies — whether locally or via Xbox Live — is met with an error message saying that a HDD is “required for this game type.” This affects both Halo: Reach and the earlier Halo: ODST. Adding extra memory via USB has been found to be ineffective, but at least Microsoft has stated that it’s aware of the limitation and is “quickly working to resolve it.” Standard multiplayer is predictably unaffected, so we suggest taking your rage out on some newbies while the MS techs figure out their caching algorithms.

Halo Reach requires hard drive to play in co-op mode, Microsoft working on this ‘temporary issue’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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