WiiSpray
WiiSpray Teaser from Martin Lihs on Vimeo.
Nintendo’s non-traditional interface for the Wii console lends itself to any number of odd controller hacks and designs, and the latest is this prototype Wiispray can. Part of Martin Lihs’ final thesis at Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Germany, the can-style casing contains a dismembered Wiimote coupled to a nozzle button. It can be used to manipulate an on-screen virtual spraycan, with different paints and color options that are controlled by realistic graffiti movements.
New Rock Band Drum Kit
Kotaku.com recently released a photograph (above) of the new drum controller for Rock Band. Pretty impressive! Unfortunately, the current basic kit is hard enough to play….not sure how the above will help. In fact, my Rock Band (The Vas Defrons), consistently in fights regarding who will play the drums. LOL. Stick a drum stick in our collective eyes.
One thing I hope they corrected is the resistance associated with he step controller. The current one requires the leg strength of an Olympic athlete.
An Xbox 360 | Finally!
I finally was able to get my hands on an XBox 360 Premium Game System last night. My friend and work colleague, Joe Preston, and I drove to the Toys R’ Us in Peabody, MA to pick them up. Mind you, this was after a failed attempt to procure the rigs at the Best Buy right down the street. This brought up a conversation that I have had several times since the release of the 360…..what the hell were the brainiacs at Microsoft thinking with this distribution strategy???
Regardless, I am happy to finally have one. I was able to purchase it for $399.99. However, KB Toys forced you to buy three additional games and/or accessories. This ended up not being that big of deal since I was planning to buy an extra wireless controller and pick up three games anyways. The games I bought were:
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™
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The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™
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Now its time to get my geek on!
Battlefield 2
Finally, thanks to my new gaming rig, I have been able to install and play the PC version of Battlefield 2. I bought the game when it first launched this past June. However, I was unable to install it on my old rig as it only has 64mb of video memory and the game requires a minimum of 128mb. I was able to get a taste of the new Battlefield 2 via its Xbox version: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. However, after losing connections to EA’s servers several times which seemed to result in losing all my player stats, I decided to bail.
The PC version is nicely done. The environments and game play are vast improvements over EA’s first release: Battlefield 1942. I am particularly happy to see that the game makers finally added a point reward system that credits the different character classes (Medic, Engineer, Spec Ops, Assault, Support, and Anti-Tank) for doing what they are supposed to be doing in battle. This is a concept that id Software’s Return to Castle Wolfenetien got right 5 YEARS AGO! However, EA took Battlefield one step further and introduced a Chain of Command system based off of the points you receive throughout your game play. This has helped to establish a little order in an otherwise chaotic battle setting.
The PC version has not gone without its problems. After the first day of game play, I was unable to connect to any servers. Every time I loaded a new game, right before it got to the player configuration screen, I would get dropped with a "Failed to Connect to Sever" error. Bad memories of the X-box version came flooding back in my mind. After re-installing the software 2-3 times and still suffering the same problem, I decided to turn to Google. This led me to a discussion board that offered a number of suggestions (including re-installing xp, changing the port on my router, etc). Thankfully, I found a post that offered a simple solution. All I had to do was unplug my Cable Modem….wait 10 seconds…and plug it back in. All the game needed was a new IP address. Sigh!
All-in-all, the game is promising. EA does need to spend some time working out the kinks.
New Dell XPS 600
Happy birthday to me! My Dell XPS 600 arrived last Tuesday, and I have been consumed with it since (this is the reason why I have not been posting for the last week). After depending on my Voodoo m:855 Gamebook for the last three years as my primary gaming rig, I have upgraded to this very powerful desktop. Specs include:
- Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition Dual Core Processor 630 (3.20GHz, 800FSB) with HT Technology and 2MB cache.
- 2GB Ram (DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz)
- Dual 256MB Nvidia GeForce Video Cards (7800GTX with SLI Technology)
- Dual 250GB ATA Hard Drives
- 24 inch UltraSharp Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
- Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D), w/Dolby® Digital 5.1 Audio Card
- Logitech Z5500 500 Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Speakers w/control pod
- ZBoard Gaming Keyboard (with Battlefield 2 Limited Edition Interchangeable Keyset)
Two words……HOLY CRAP! I think Dell should offer nuclear missile silo’s as an add on accessory. The best thing about this rig, outside of its specs, was the price. When I priced it out via Dell’s website, It was $6,299. However, I was able to purchase it through my firm and receive our corporate discount which brought the price down too $3,498.
Sony PSP
So I finally bit the bullet and bought a Sony Play Station Portable (PSP). What a cool little entertainment rig. Beyond the games, which I must say look fantastic, I am excited about using my PSP as a portable movie player. My brother has found an application that will compress feature length DVDs down to a size where you can fit a couple movies on a media stick. Stay tuned-because I think this is a first in a handful of long over due gadget purchases this month. Next up-the new iPod that plays videos. HA!
