Hasta La Gadget!

The Razer-sharp “Switchblade” was first pulled on us at CES, and since then we’ve been prodded by a new product under the same sharp name from Evil Controllers and AbleGamers. Released as part of the “Adroit” line for gamers with disabilities, the 19-port controller comes standard with two joysticks and allows for personal positioning of sticks, buttons and rumble packs dependent on individual need. Originally designed for Xbox 360, it can be adapted for playing on PCs and PS3s, as well. Although there’s no official launch date or price, Thrifty Nerd says the device will set you back “a few hundred dollars” — probably a value compared to calling Hack-King Ben Heck.

Switchblade Adroit controller for gamers with disabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The PlayStation 3 may have NFL Sunday Ticket but the Xbox 360 still has exclusive access to ESPN3’s slate of games, shows and replays, and today the app was updated with a new look and a few new features. Viewers can designate their favorite sports and teams to bring related content right to the front, while a new mini-guide gives easy access to other streams while you watch. If you’re trying to keep track of more than one game there’s also support for split screen viewing (with independent control of each stream) and upgraded voice control for Kinect owners. Other tweaks include a college football scoreboard to keep track of all the games at once, reminders, live alerts on score changes and the addition of ESPN’s BottomLine. Unchanged is the restriction that you need to subscribe to a TV provider that includes ESPN3 in its package, but if you do have the service (and shell out for XBL, of course) it should be available the next time you load up your console. Check out the YouTube videos embedded above and after the break along with a press release for a runthrough of some of the new features.

Continue reading Xbox 360’s ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more

Xbox 360’s ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video)

Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a little shocking to think about the impact that Microsoft’s Kinect camera has had on the gaming industry at large, let alone the 3D modeling industry. Here at SIGGRAPH 2011, we attended a KinectFusion research talk hosted by Microsoft, where a fascinating new look at real-time 3D reconstruction was detailed. To better appreciate what’s happening here, we’d actually encourage you to hop back and have a gander at our hands-on with PrimeSense’s raw motion sensing hardware from GDC 2010 — for those who’ve forgotten, that very hardware was finally outed as the guts behind what consumers simply know as “Kinect.” The breakthrough wasn’t in how it allowed gamers to control common software titles sans a joystick — the breakthrough was the price. The Kinect took 3D sensing to the mainstream, and moreover, allowed researchers to pick up a commodity product and go absolutely nuts. Turns out, that’s precisely what a smattering of highly intelligent blokes in the UK have done, and they’ve built a new method for reconstructing 3D scenes (read: real-life) in real-time by using a simple Xbox 360 peripheral.

The actual technobabble ran deep — not shocking given the academic nature of the conference — but the demos shown were nothing short of jaw-dropping. There’s no question that this methodology could be used to spark the next generation of gaming interaction and augmented reality, taking a user’s surroundings and making it a live part of the experience. Moreover, game design could be significantly impacted, with live scenes able to be acted out and stored in real-time rather than having to build something frame by frame within an application. According to the presenter, the tech that’s been created here can “extract surface geometry in real-time,” right down to the millimeter level. Of course, the Kinect’s camera and abilities are relatively limited when it comes to resolution; you won’t be building 1080p scenes with a $150 camera, but as CPUs and GPUs become more powerful, there’s nothing stopping this from scaling with the future. Have a peek at the links below if you’re interested in diving deeper — don’t be shocked if you can’t find the exit, though.

Microsoft’s KinectFusion research project offers real-time 3D reconstruction, wild AR possibilities originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all know that streaming Hoarders and other guilty pleasures via the interwebs has taken off over the past few years. No news there. However, what may be surprising is that, despite the ability to stream in HD to a number of other devices (including your computer), a quarter of all Netflix subscribers view Swamp People by way of the Wii. That’s right, 1080p doesn’t matter for these folks, who prefer to live the simple life… and by that we mean life in standard def. Most viewers prefer to watch instantly via PC for both Netflix and Hulu, with a whopping 89 percent of Plus customers taking this route to catch up on The Daily Show. With those looking to ditch the red envelope and, you know, with Mad Men now available, Wii viewers are sure to increase as a new console is just around the corner. Because nothing says 1960s drama like 480p, right?

25 percent of Netflix users stream on the Wii, think composite cables are just fine originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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