The Geek Church

As the E3 2010 conference in Los Angeles gets underway this week, Microsoft is already grabbing people’s attention with the recent demonstration of their new motion control system, Kinect (previously named project Natal). There were several games for children, groups and adults shown at the event and you can expect game developers such as Konami, Lucas Arts and Turn 10 Studios to be involved with the launch of Kinect as well. Popular titles like Star Wars and Metal Gear Solid are scheduled to arrive on the new controller system in the near future.

The Kinect device itself consists of a RGB camera, 3D depth sensors, and a multi-array mic and it also has a motorized tilt function. Microsoft intended for it to be a new kind of dashboard interface controller for the X-Box 360. In order to use it, you first log-in by waving your hand. Then your hand movements will control a cursor on the screen, allowing you to make selections on the displayed menu and browse through featured content. This new motion control system is designed to respond to your voice as well. According to Crunch Gear, Kinect might be the closest thing resembling the technology seen in the film, Minority Report so far.

With Kinect, Microsoft is taking a more direct approach to the concept of motion control than Nintendo or Sony. On the Wii and the PS3, motion control relies on the use of an actual hand-held controller. While the absence of a more conventional controller could lead to some problems in gameplay, there is definite potential with the user interface for Kinect. Thus, Microsoft’s new game control system may spark the beginning of a new age where hand-held controllers for PC and console gaming would be obsolete.

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Listen up, fans of the Rock Band game series! Today, cool new features were announced for the latest installment of the popular music gaming franchise. The outer body of the guitar-style controller is getting 150 buttons and it will be for the pro version of Rock Band 3. The idea here is to tailor the controllers accordingly for a real musician’s experience in the gameplay, focusing on Pro Mode. This is for advanced players and the rest of the game will stay the same for everyone else.

Furthermore, the two-octave keyboard (keytar) is featured for difficulty in dealing with one-to-five ranges and actual dead-on notes. Next, the drums come with three cymbals, which are now designed for separate notes and they each have their own lane with a unique shape to help you keep track of them. Then, there’s the guitar, which comes in the form of a $150 Fender Mustang pro. It’s packing 17 frets and 6 strings of accurate placement for a total of 102 buttons and six nylon strings that need to be played separately.

The release of Rock Band 3 also offers a Squier Stratocaster that really plays like an actual guitar or Pro model. You can find vocal melodies from Beatles Rock Band in the game as well. Currently, there’s no information about the release date but you can see a preview on new Joystiq.

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Hey there, devoted fans of the Guitar Hero series! This is truly a day for you to rejoice. As you might be aware, Warriors Of Rock, the next installment of this popular music gaming franchise is an upcoming title in the near future. Therefore, Activision has developed two new gaming guitars to debut with the release of the latest sequel to Guitar Hero.

The first design features a series of cutaway sections and a ferocious, new age look in the body of the instrument. This guitar was also designed to make “shredding” easier and more enjoyable for the gamer. The cutaway sections were made through an internal redesign, integrating the electronics into the neck. Furthermore, this enables the player to swap different bodies around the controller parts.

Warriors Of Rock is the sixth game in the Guitar Hero series to date. Apparently, this franchise is ready to move onward with another title as if to say that “it’s not a dead fad at all”. Nonetheless, the second guitar design is also available for your viewing pleasure. Check it out after the jump.

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Playing video games for an extended length of time on a computer or console can certainly takes its toll on your body. In a matter of hours, your back, waist and legs could get stiff from sitting, your eyes feel strained and tear up from staring at the game screen and your hands get tired and perspire from using a controller or keyboard. As a gamer myself, I’ve found that sweaty hands is one of the most common issues I face when playing video games. Well, if you hate dealing with hot, perspiring hands during your game-playing, then Thermaltake has a solution for you.

They created a gaming keyboard called the Challenger, which actually comes with a small fan. This fan is a 6,000rpm unit designed to connect to the top of the keyboard’s panel and it sends cool air across the keyboard to relieve your hot, sweaty hands. The keyboard also has two USB ports and a headphone and mic jack on its back. Furthermore, the Challenger comes in three different models, which each have individual characteristics. The Challenge Ultimate has the most features, which include 256 backlight cool options, 64KB of memory and fourteen macro keys. The mid-range Challenger Pro comes with only ten macro keys and the entry level Challenger offers six macro keys along with 32KB of memory.

According to a marketing representative, all three versions of the Challenger are available for a retail price of under $100 and the Pro model in particular is in the $65 range. In addition to this gaming keyboard, Thermaltake is featuring a red-glowing, 4000dpi Black gaming mouse as well. With this keyboard, you might finally be able to spend more time enjoying your video game and less time having to rub sweat off of your hands.

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Apparently, training simulations aren’t just for pilots and foot soldiers in the military anymore. Now we live in a day and age where field medics also receive their education and preparation from simulation technology. Recently, Engineering & Computer Simulations from Orlando, Florida developed a training simulator in the style of a first-person shooter for medics serving in an active combat zone.

This simulator is called the Tactical Combat Casualty Care simulator (TC3). It takes place in the setting of Afghanistan and the user will play as an active medic with a variety of medical situations given as playable missions. In one of the missions, the user must act as a medic to treat a man with a serious neck wound. Following his team of soldiers who clear the area of hostile threats in a “hot spot”, the player finds the wounded man and is challenged to give him the proper treatment. Then your medical skills are tested as you are required to perform the right procedures. Such medical procedures include applying a pressure dressing to stop bleeding, checking the man’s pulse, setting up an IV, amputating badly damaged limbs and stabilizing the patient for safe travel. Furthermore, you have to perform your work while your team of soldiers is defending you during a fight on the battlefield. Lastly, the mission ends when the soldiers have resolved the combat situation and medical transport is summoned to take your patient to a hospital ward. After each mission, the simulator gives the user a brief report of their performance. Then successful work will be recognized while you’ll be rebuked for mistakes and you will be referred to the proper educational information for follow-up training.

The Tactical Combat Casualty Care simulator seems to match the quality of your average first-person shooter for a game console pretty well in visual graphics and gameplay. It does have potential as a game for entertainment as well as being a training simulator. Initial reports of this simulation’s use indicate that it gets better results than basic multimedia presentations for a young audience. The TC3 also features a mission editor that enables teachers to customize simulated scenarios for their students’ lessons.

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In this modern age of technology, businesses and product manufacturers continue to take advantage of every available tool to advertise their merchandise to the general consumer. Gone are the days when the general public only had to face junk mail, television commercials, billboards and advertisements from newspapers, magazines and books. In more recent years, online commercials, pop-up ads, spam and junk emails have become regular methods for companies to push their products on consumers. Now technology has added augmented reality as a new weapon in the advertising arsenal of businesses. Furthermore, Adidas, well-known among shoes and sports product companies is now using this weapon as a marketing strategy.

The company has recently developed a new product line of footwear that is equipped with an augmented reality marker. This literally enables the newly designed shoes to function as controllers for game applications online. The company calls its new product line Adidas Originals. These shoes work by using a special marker built into the shoe’s tongue to bring virtual objects visually into the real world. In order to use them, you must first choose from a selection of product models, which includes Superstar, Stan Smith, Forum, Nizza and Samba. Then you log into the Adidas website and use the shoes you chose to play a game application.

If you’re interested, footwear in the Adidas Originals’ product line starts at a price of $65 and goes up to $95. These augmented reality shoes certainly serve a three-fold purpose, functioning as footwear, entertainment and a unique form of advertisement to other potential customers. This new concept for Adidas products seems to be just another marketing ploy dressed up as a trendy form of entertainment. Personally, I have to wonder how many parents and teenagers will open up their wallets for this one.

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This past Sunday, President Obama made time in his busy schedule to serve as a key-note speaker at a graduation ceremony for Hampton University. Of course, he gave a speech to congratulate the college graduates on their accomplishment, encourage them about their potential and inspire them to embrace their future with passion and vision. However, his commencement address to the students took a very bizarre turn when he chose to identify certain game consoles and mobile tech products as detriments of our society.

In his speech, Obama specifically mentioned the X-Box, Playstation, iPod and iPad and described them as devices that devalue and weaken the power of information. According to the U.S. President, information is supposed to be a tool of empowerment for people in our society, especially the nation’s youth. Furthermore, his argument is that personal electronic devices of entertainment only turn knowledge into a distraction or diversion. Apparently, Obama believes that the impact of these game consoles and mobile tech products is a threat to the future of this generation’s youth, our country’s future and even our system of democracy. You might be interested to know that the President previously bashed the X-Box last year during a speech to the NAACP as well. In that speech, he argued that parents have to be involved in their children’s education and must remove the game console as a distraction.

Nonetheless, it is important to note that Obama also admitted his own lack of knowledge and experience with these devices since he has never used them. Personally, I find it amusing that the U.S. President is openly criticizing products of entertainment, communication and internet access even though he’s never tried them before. This argument in his speech about the devaluing of information in society seems to be a basic ploy to score public relation points with parents and graduating students who shun these devices. Politicians are certainly known for targeting popular products in our culture for open contempt to gain public favor during their speeches. Sadly, this commonly leads to poorly-conceived arguments and statements that only come back to hurt the reputation of these politicians after public and media reactions have fully set in. Indeed, this may also apply to Obama’s attack on game consoles and mobile tech products as well.

At least his recent statement didn’t include the Wii. Nintendo, you can still breathe easy for now but watch your back.

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If you were to ask an adult gamer who grew up through various generations of console systems about Nintendo’s first true effort in 3D gaming, he’d probably say it was the Virtual Boy console. However, you might be interested to know that Nintendo developed a 3D device that predates the Virtual Boy, which was released over a decade ago in 1995. This device was actually made during the era of the original Famicom from Japan.

In those days, Nintendo created a 3D accessory that was compatible with the Famicom console. It was called the Famicom 3D. It consisted of a pair of LCD shutter glasses hooked up to the console and it would sync with both the left and right eye to make images on the screen a credible 3D gaming experience. However, only a few games were actually developed with Famicom 3D compatibility since the device never gained popularity in Japan.

As a result, Nintendo didn’t risk bringing this accessory to the United States after its unsuccessful run in the land of the rising sun. Furthermore, gamers who actually used the Famicom 3D complained about motion sickness and headaches, which served to make the product’s failure certain in the gaming world. Well, there’s your dose of gaming history for the day, dear readers. Let’s see if Nintendo has learned anything from the failure of the Famicom 3D and the Virtual Boy flop when they launch the upcoming 3DS in the near future.

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When using portable devices like an iPod or a smartphone to listen to music or watch videos, the headphone is the common tool of choice for ensuring sound quality. Headphones can also be used with large, electronic appliances such as television sets, stereo systems and computers. However, a headphone’s effectiveness in providing great sound quality to the user is limited since most headsets come with only two speakers (one for each ear). Thus, your sound experience with listening to music and watching videos is only as good as the quality of the headset you’re using and some brands do give poorer performance than others. So, a Canadian company called Psyko Audio has developed their own unique headset to resolve the problems people tend to have with regular headphones.

Instead of creating a headset for regular performance in sound quality, Psyko Audio sought to take the sound experience with headphones up to another level entirely. The concept behind their specially designed headset is to provide the user with real surround sound quality from the headphones themselves. In their unique design, this company deliberately ignored the conventional practice of only making two speakers for the ears alone. Instead, they developed a headset called the 5.1 PC Gaming Headset System, which actually uses five speakers that are located on top and along the headband. Then the sound is carried through tubes leading into the ear-cups, which spread the sound out over the front and back of your ears. Furthermore, this process of surround sound is also strongly supported by subwoofers built into the ear-cups.

Psyko Audio presented the 5.1 PC Gaming Headset System at the Gaming Expo during CES this past January. I was actually there at the time and had the opportunity to try out their special headphones for myself. It truly is a surround sound experience wearing the headset. The sound itself fills your ears in the headset, cutting off noise from the outside world around you and giving you unhindered performance quality with whatever you’re listening to. This headset is amazing and quite ingenious in its design and execution. The 5.1 PC Gaming Headset also comes with a detachable mic for gaming online and the whole set is available for $300 at websites such as Newegg and Tiger Direct. With the development of such effective headphones, I wonder what other products Psyko Audio plans to release in the near future.

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Ah, the internet, also called the information superhighway. It exists as a resource with a vast wealth of possible uses. With websites, search engines, streaming video, audio files, games and other applications, we can find the latest information, chat with friends, manage our bills and bank accounts and entertain ourselves from our PC. However, companies regularly take advantage of our online use through pop-up advertisements, commercials, surveys and chat forums to generate publicity for their products. Now Nintendo is using this strategy to promote their new DSi XL.

Recently, Nintendo started polls to get the feedback and opinions of social network users regarding their new handheld gaming system. The DSi XL itself was designed with a feature that allows players to make the game screen ninety-three percent larger. Apparently very excited about their new development, Nintendo came up with a idea of doing online polls. The polls can be found as an application on Facebook or on Nintendo’s Twitter page. Today, Nintendo also stated that it has a new focus on promoting social gaming with their handheld systems. According to them, the DSi XL’s larger screen will allow gamers to gather around a handheld unit and help each other when playing a game.

Furthermore, two new games focused on the social aspect have been scheduled for release on the same date with the DSi XL. The games are called America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking and WarioWare: D.I.Y. In the cooking game, chefs and chefs at heart can develop delicious recipes while the new Wario game will allow gamers to create their own mini-games. Sounds like Nintendo is using the concept of social networking to create a new game genre. But doesn’t social activity with gaming exist already since video games were first created?

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