Games

As any barkeep will tell you, the bar/pub industry is a very competitive one, with business owners taking every opportunity they can to attract clientele to their establishments. If the usual approaches such as cheap drinks aren't doing enough on their own, however, now there's something else that may help draw the customers in ... or at least, into the men's washroom. It's called Captive Media, and it consists of urinal-mounted video game systems, where men control the gameplay by changing the trajectory of their urine stream from side to side. Hey, whatever it takes to make your watering hole Number 1, right? Read More

When I was a good bit younger, I wasted far too much of my spare time blowing up wave after wave of space rocks - and the occasional flying saucer - trying to get to the flip-over. Atari's most successful game, Asteroids, has now been given a futuristic make-over by eye-tracking and eye control specialist Tobii, developers of the impressive laptop prototype and the stand-alone PCEye system for Windows PCs. Built as a free-standing arcade game, EyeAsteroids players use only their eyes to aim and fire a laser at flying rocks and save the world from impending pulverization. Read More

Chances are, you will never get to try out the new 3D MiG flight simulator. If you have almost US$60,000 that has nothing better to do, however, you can now buy something almost as impressive – the OVO-4 Home Flight Simulator. The egg-shaped capsule contains a full simulated light aircraft cockpit, with three linked 24-inch monitors displaying the output of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X. Best of all, however, the capsule pitches and rolls according to what’s happening in the simulation – users presumably have to supply their own barf bags. Read More

Despite the bad press that gaming often gets, there is increasing evidence that it can have positive effects. We've already seen studies suggesting that video games improve decision making and put players in a more relaxed frame of mind, now there's more good news for parents whose offspring are video game junkies. Research out of Michigan State University suggests that 12 year olds who play video games tend to be more creative ... and the more they play the more creative they are. Read More

Simpsons-watchers may recall an episode in which Bart and Homer enter their homebuilt robot in a Robot Wars-like competition, but mayhem ensues and Homer ends up having to operate the fighting 'bot from inside its body. Its hard to say if the creators of Hammacher Schlemmer's Bionic Bopper Cars ever saw that episode, but it's entirely possible, as the basic idea is pretty much the same - two human operators each sit inside of a big wheeled robot, then pummel each other with their robots' arms. Read More

While the iPad is basically a device intended for use by one person at a time, the tablet has also proved suitable for multiplayer apps. In some cases, however, its 9.7-inch display is certainly too small to replace a larger, traditional game board and besides, many users prefer playing with physical pieces on a physical board. Dutch-based company Identity Games is seeking the middle ground with GameChanger - an interactive electronic board that merges the old and the new to bring family gaming to the iPad. Read More

Many people now carry pocket-sized computers around in the shape of smartphones, and the processing power and graphics capabilities offered by modern devices means that gamers can now enjoy a mobile experience that's not too far removed from console gaming - albeit on a much smaller scale. Unless you've opted for Sony's Xperia PLAY, though, smartphone gaming can be distinctly lacking in the level of control that console gamers are used to. With six face buttons, two rear trigger buttons and a digital D-pad, the iControlPad Bluetooth gaming controller aims to address this issue. It's compatible with just about all smartphones, and there's even an adjustable metal clamp to hold the phone securely in place above the controller. Read More

When you were a kid, perhaps you and your friends played with flashlights, chasing each other’s light spots across the wall – if you were born within the past 20 years, just substitute the term “laser pointers” for “flashlights.” In either case ... wouldn’t it have been neat if those spots of light came to life when they met, and fought with each other? That’s the type of thing that’s now possible with the prototype SidebySide system, developed by Disney Research, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University. It enables animated images from two separate handheld projectors to interact with each other on the any surface. Read More

While the latest 3D TV revolution has had a slow start, the use of 3D technology for video games has proven more popular with over 600 3D-supported games currently available on the PC. However, one of the big downsides 3D gaming solutions, such as NVIDIA’s 3D Vision, share with 3D TV is the noticeably dimmer image that results from wearing active shutter glasses. NVIDIA has now updated its 3D gaming technology with the unveiling of 3D Vision 2, that uses a new technology called NVIDIA 3D LightBoost that is claimed to increase the brightness of 3D images by up to two times. Read More