Category: Cool Stuff

One key gaming

Reading the latest issue of PCGamer, I was reminded of an experiment initiated with the intention of giving more people with physical handicaps and disabilities the option to play games. The end result of this experiment is a set of games which are playable with only a single key. As surprising as this might sound to some gamers, these are some good games, and they can be surprisingly challenging and engaging. If you want to try some of these out, start with these listed in the April 2006 issue of PCGamer.

  1. Oneswitch Ballz – Simply enough, you just have to control a ball travelling a path. The spacebar makes the ball jump. The challenge comes in when you start hitting floor tiles that change your direction, speed, and even the height of your jump.
  2. Mini-Golf One Button Style – As the name implies, this is mini-golf played with a single key. As with any other mini-golf game, you just need to try to sink the putt. In this game, though, you only have one key to press to set the direction of travel and the force of the hit. This is actually the first game in the one-button set of games that I ever heard about.
  3. 1Key Case Ship – You control a space ship travelling in this side-scrolling cave traversal game. Pressing your key makes the ship go up. Releasing it stops the upward force until gravity pulls the ship back down. It sounds easy, but it can be very tough to avoid crashing.
  4. Strange Attractors – You turn your “gravity drive” on and off with a key-press. When it is on, you are pulled towards celestial objects. When it is off, you free-float along the trajectory gained from gravity. Your goal is the exit gate on the other side of the screen.
  5. Shades of Doom – Described in PCGamer as a non-graphical first-person shooter, in Shades of Doom you are blind. Try this out and see how well you do when you have to rely on sounds.

EDIT: I forgot to mention in the original post, but if you enjoy these and want to see more one-key games, hit the OneSwitch site.
[tags]One-key gaming, games[/tags]

Wicked lasers

I have another cool post to make soon about lasers (high powered burn-your-doll’s eyes out lasers), but I wanted to point these out while I have them open in my browser. If you’ve ever wanted a laser that’s just a little bit different than what everyone else has, check out Wicked Lasers.

Pretty much everyone owns red laser pointers. You’ve tried every method imaginable to see that red laser beam. But, you’ve never had the actual power until now. Wicked Lasers grants you the ability to shoot a red laser beam, green laser beam, or even blue laser beam from your laser pointer.

There’s even a link to a low-res (4 meg) or hi-res (18 meg) video from FOX TV.  The down side is the price – $99 to $999.  But if you have $999 to spend, you can get a blue laser pointer.  That’s what I want.  Because I’m a big geeky boy who is impressed by shiney things.

[tags]Lasers, laser pointers, geek tech[/tags]

M-Brid pocket movie player

(via TechEBlog)
I just had my birthday. When my wife asked what I wanted for my birthday, I didn’t know. If I had known about this, I would have asked for one. It is t3h secksay to me.

Similar in size to Apple’s iPod, the M-Brid Pocket Movie Player features a 2.2-inch LCD display, 4GB hard drive, and support for a variety of video/audio formats. An integrated d-pad makes navigating the interface a breeze. Pricing and availablity have not yet been announced.

Well, there is that pricing and availability have not yet been announced issue, too. But it sure is pretty.

new_pocket_player.jpg

[tags]PMP, M-Brid, Pocket movie player[/tags]

Better lighting for better gaming

(via Joystiq)

A British company, Geomerics, has published some information on their work with geometric algebra which apparently will lead to better lighting, and therefore improved visual realism in gaming.  Certainly of no interest to most of the world’s population, but a big w00t announcement for many gamers.  Gameplay is what matters, sure, but improved visuals are almost always welcome, too.

Currently, lighting in games is a toss-up between three elements: in real life, light often changes position (e.g. as the sun moves across the sky); objects cast shadows, which are often quite subtle; and depending on your viewpoint, you can sometimes see light sources reflected in other objects. The usual method is to pre-calculate the shadows in a scene and paint them on the ground, but this means the light source must stay fixed. Thanks to next-gen computing power, spherical harmonic lighting can be used to generate soft, lifelike shadows from moving light sources, but without any of the shiny surface effects that complete the picture and add realism.

[tags]Gaming, Geomerics, Geometric Algebra[/tags]

Sharp’s dual view LCD – different angles, different view

I’ve seen this monitor before, but when I saw this on TechEBlog, I figured I’d post about it for those who haven’t seen this before. As the headline says, looking at Sharp’s new LCD from different angles can give you different views. Look at the image below – the view on the left is the same LCD viewed in a mirror. Notice the different image for the different angles. I have no idea how good the view differentiation is, but this is something that would just be cool to have. And being a geek, sometimes really cool is the only reason I need to want something.

With a parallax barrier superimposed on a normal TFT-LCD, these Sharp displays can show different information simultaneously depending on the viewing angle.

dual-LCD.jpg

Cell phone has cool disabled feature – there’s an easy fix

(via MAKE blog)

The Sanyo MM-7500 and MM-9000 come with a feature that allows you to save GPS locations along with the pictures you take. Phonescoop has details on how to take advantage of this.

the mm7500 (and the mm9000) can add gps data to the exif file when you take a picture. these are the first phones in the US with this capability. cdma phones in japan have been doing this for years and they have some really neat photo services over there that let you organize your photos by where you took them.

Of course, right now, we don’t have these services to take advantage of this right now.  But I’m sure there’s tools available somewhere.  I may even try to find them.  If you turn some up, please leave a comment so the rest of us can get them.

[tags]Sanyo, GPS tagging, mm-7500, mm-9000[/tags]

Build your own arc welder at home

(via MAKE blog)

The downloadable PDF costs about $9, but you can also get the information for free.  Just hit the main page and choose the format you want for your documentation.

It’s constructed of salvaged microwave oven transformers. The solid state SCR module provides power adjustment, unlike the common AC welders which simply switch a multi-tapped transformer.

Here is a photo. As you can see, there are three sections. The bottom section, which is the base of the cabinet, carries the 8 transformers. (Four are visible.) The center section holds the cooling fans, the power controls, and most of the wiring. The top section is the tool tray and carrying handle. (I say ‘carrying handle’ a bit cautiously; this beast weighs 140 pounds!) Scroll down to see the schematic and design notes!

[tags]DIY, arc welder, MAKE[/tags]

HardOCP forums free game thread

While catching up with the goings on in the geek world known as the [H]ardForums, I saw this thread about free games. I have so much gaming to catch up on. Things like Halo Zero, Endless Fire, Blitz 1941, and maybe even Princess Maker 2. Of course, I rarely have time to game any more. But there’s always hope for a big lottery winning (guess I need to buy a few tickets some time).

[tags]Free games[/tags]

Watch ‘Perfect Disasters’ on Discovery channel

(via LiveScience)

I don’t know why natural disasters are so fascinating.  I guess it’s probably the immense power behind things such as tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, and more.  Whatever it is, I think it will make for some good TV.  Be sure to watch the new ‘Perfect Disasters’ series on the Discovery Channel, starting this Sunday evening.

The series examines what might happen if some of Nature’s most destructive storms were unleashed on some of the world’s most populous cities.

Each catastrophe is presented as a mini-movie, complete with actors and fictional storylines, but unlike similar Hollywood creations, each episode is peppered with expert scientific commentary and slick computer animations explaining the science behind the storms.

The series’ tagline is “It may not happen tomorrow, but it is scientific prediction.”

Each episode takes a natural disaster and imagines what might happen if it were ratcheted up a notch to become the “perfect storm” of its type. Tornadoes become mega-tornadoes that reduce entire cities to rubble and solar storms are so powerful they can generate global blackouts that last for years.

[tags]Perfect Disaster, Discovery Channel, science predictions[/tags]

Another university puts course offerings online

(via BoingBoing)

Following the lead by MIT (I’m probably wrong on that – someone other than MIT was probably first – it’s just the first biggie I know about), The Open University is making all course material available online.  This means more resources for study for those interested in learning without the means to attend further schooling.

Britain’s Open University has just announced an ambitious program spend £5.65 million putting its courseware on the Internet under a Creative Commons license — it joins MIT and many other institutions in adding its material to the common pool of university curriculum that can be freely used, edited, shared, and repurposed.

[tags]Open University, Creative Commons courseware[/tags]