While you tend to think of robots doing useful things, like building your cars or scooping your pets’ poo, this robot created by Jason Huggins does nothing but play Angry Birds. It’s called the BitbeamBot and consists of a finger-like rod connected to two servos. The rod is tipped with skin-like material (we think it’s sausage; sausage works great on iDevices and is also delicious) and moves on a simple X-Y plane in order to sling the little avians to their destructive doom. It’s not as exciting as it appears though, because the BitbeamBot is entirely controlled by Jason, who sends commands to it via a remote. It’s as much of a robot as those remote controlled metal mechs from that battle bot show, or whatever it was called.
Still, there may be a purpose to the madness since “he is the co-founder of Saucelabs, and the creator of Selenium. Selenium is a portable software testing framework for web applications.” The ultimate goal? Perhaps to create farms of game-playing robots that would take care of one of the most tedious parts of software development: debugging.
You know what this means, kids? You dreaming of being a video game tester when you grow up? Please, stay in school and do something useful: your dream job is toast.
Yeah… So it’s a couch. A Space Invaders couch. If you were born in the 80s, or have any appreciation for classic gaming titles, you’ve got to get cracking. Sell your firstborn son, your kidney or whatever it is you need to gather the £5,500 this couch is going to set you back.
Created by Russian industrial designer Igor Chak, it’s made using premium materials, fine leather and even memory foam cushions. Each one is handmade to order and it is designed and manufactured in Los Angeles.
Not that any of this really matters because, come on guys, look at this. It’s a Space Invaders couch.
Oh, and I just saw everyone was talking about this last August. Crap. Well, it’s still nice, isn’t it?
Tired of getting your ass handed to you by foul-mouthed prepubescents in online gaming? Put some odds on your side by getting what is undeniably a better gaming setup than a console controller: a mouse and keyboard. The grandiosely named Tactical Assault Commander 3 (or TAC 3) from Hori plugs right into your PS3 and replaces the controller with what you see in the picture. Aside from the obvious and immediate advantages, the TAC 3 has some unique features. The mouse sensitivity can be adjusted on the fly allowing for a quicker movement radius, or a more delicate one depending on your preference at any given time. There’s also a quick response button on the mouse. When held down, the left and right movements of the mouse become extra sensitive allowing for quick toggling and turning around when necessary (within game limits). Finally the keyboard has a dedicated walk button with adjustable speed and interchangeable keys.
The TAC 3 is released on October 24th, the same date that Battlefield 3 hits the shelves. It’s $100 and comes in black or the pictured camo. A small price to pay for your dignity.
I’m still not convinced the iPad is quite large enough to be used by more than a couple people at one time. But clearly I’m in the minority, as Discovery Bay Games has released another ‘appcessory’ that turns the iPad into a multiplayer quiz game. Available now for ~$40, the game comes with a set of 4 wireless poppers (and a base station) that lets players buzz in to answer or participate in a series of games or quizzes. At the moment there are 3 titles to choose from: Guesstimation – Duo, Highlights Hidden Pictures Countdown, and Saturday Night Live – The Game, all available for free from the iTunes App Store. I’m assuming more titles are enroute as well, but to extend their replay value each game also has additional content available as an in-app purchase.
The next time you get in a conversation where you’re trying to one-up your friends about your cred as a gamer, just drop the old “well I’ve been playing Dead Space since it was on the NES” line and declare your checkmate. Who cares if the game never actually had an 8-bit predecessor? If they call you out on your claim, a mere $20 investment from 72 Pins will provide you with some hard-to-deny proof. Their collection of ‘Nestalgia’ carts include 8-bit versions of modern titles like BioShock, Killzone and even Halo. I mean can you imagine how repetitive Halo would feel were the game limited to an 8-bit environment? I bet the library would feel like you were playing the same level again and again and again…
Anyways, the carts of course don’t actually work. They’re just upcycled old NES games that have had the labels replaced with rather convincing alternatives. So if you’re trying to bluff a friend who still has a working NES at home, your ruse will instantly be foiled. But the fact that you dropped $20, on what is essentially a clever Photoshop job, could provide some gaming cred on its own merit.
While no where near as racy as the Game Boy print swimsuit we brought you a couple of months ago, this Game Boy dress will still provide loads of opportunity for double entendres and innuendo at any Hallowe’en party. “Press my buttons”, “insert a cartridge”, “where’s that Tetris piece I need?”, “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right”, etc. For better or for worse they’re all at your disposal. But if you were hoping to score one of these for the 31st, you’ll need to get your $78 order in with Etsy seller SewOeno before October 10th to ensure it’s completed and arrives on time.
There’s no shortage of LEGO apps and games available for iOS. But the company’s latest offering, Life Of George, is the first to really take advantage of the iPhone’s unique capabilities. The game actually brings together both the physical and digital worlds, as players compete to recreate what they see on screen in each level, using only the collection of bricks that come in the box. Once they’re satisfied they’ve built it correctly, they place their LEGO model on an included grid map and take a photo of it with their iPhone.
Using “patent-pending brick recognition software” created by a company called EyeCue, the game then scores the creation based on how accurately it matches the image, and how quickly it was built. The character of George seems very similar to the Flat Stanley Project, since the objects you’re challenged to build all come from his travels around the world. So I guess on some level it’s also educational. And if you’re a rebel like yours truly, the game also includes a ‘My Life’ mode which lets you build and photograph your own creations, which are converted into virtual LEGO models and stored in a scrapbook. The game will be available come October 1st for $29.99, while the accompanying iOS app will of course be free.
I’m not a particularly mean chap, but I have been known to get some level of enjoyment out of annoying people. And if I were to find myself in an office setting again, dealing with uneasy tensions between co-workers, I do believe I’ve found the perfect tool for the job. These Super Mario Bros. collectibles walk the line between being figures, sculptures and sound toys. They each showcase Mario in a recognizable scene from his games, animated in an endless loop complete with authentic sound effects.
The one on the left sees him continuously entering and exiting a warp pipe, while the other recreates the classic ‘green shell on stairs’ 1-UP trick. I suspect the latter one is particularly annoying if left running for hours—or probably mere minutes—so you’ll probably want to use it with caution lest it take an unplanned trip through the office shredder. Sadly both of these $10 (¥777) figures popped up on Amazon Japan, who don’t seem too keen on shipping them worldwide. But if you’re ok with dealing with the hassle of a proxy, getting your hands on them isn’t completely impossible.
Your reaction to this Double USB Charger from GAMETECH might not make you a YouTube sensation, but let’s see a double rainbow top off your phone’s battery while on a hike. Available starting tomorrow for ~$21 (¥1,580), the DUC (as I’ll call it) is a non-descript, monolithic looking device that houses 4xAA batteries which provide power to two USB ports. Using a set of included adapters it’s able to charge various PSP’s, Nintendo DS’s and even your iPhone when using its own USB power cable. Each port provides 400mA of power to whatever’s connected, and the boost it provides is of course dependent on how stingy you are with your device’s backlight, wireless connectivity, etc.
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