Motion controlled golf 3D on Nintendo Wii

A Singaporean company called Affineon aims to pick up where Wii Sports Golf left off. At CES they have a demo of a three axis motion tracking system used for a golf game. Their technology measures the position of the club through a camera and it adds depth, something that Wii Sports doesn’t have.

In Wii Sports Golf you just mimic the motion of the swing. In Affineon’s game you have to line the club up with the ball. A LCD screen on the floor shows the position of the ball in relation to the club. You do not have to have the LCD to use the system, a picture-in-picture style window with the same information is on the big screen. The process of lining the club up was quite cumbersome. I watched as the club clipped right through the golf course and into the grass. It took a good minute to orientate the ball and club before I could hit it. Of course, this is just a beta, but the experience immediately made me wonder if the extra layer of complexity would make a game more entertaining. Sometimes simplicity is key. Affineon’s system feels too complicated to capture the neocasual market the Wii attracts.

Interesting note about the photo: The team at Affineon was very proactive about including the girl holding the equipment. I was originally planning on just taking a picture of the club or someone else playing, but they insisted the girl would be a better model.

Source: Siliconera

Pimped Out Nintendo Wii in gold and diamonds for Zelda

Well, for only $10,000 this 24 KARAT GOLD DIPPED SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL LEGEND OF ZELDA WII can be yours!

Now you may have seen this puppy before, as it made the rounds on several blogs when people found out it existed. This is the first time one has been on eBay however. One problem however, is that as far as I’m concerned, this is a fake auction.

From what I understand, this puppy is/was on display in Nintendo World, NYC - for $5000.00. Created by the fine makers of such wonderful products as the Swarovski Crystal Xbox 360 Faceplate and the Swarovski Crystal Nintendo DS, I’m not sure if this is a one time jobbie, or if they supply them directly to the store (but I assume the former).

More from... GamesSniped

Nintendo NES Flintstone game sells for $810 on EBay

In absolutely wonderful condition!

This is Flintstones 2: The Surprise At Dinosaur Peak, the ultra rare Nintendo NES game by Taito that was rental only and released at the end of the NES lifespan in November 1993. WOW. It has been about 15 months since a CIB copy of this game was listed on eBay.

There have been a few boxed ones, and a few manuals, but none complete in a LOOOOONG time, and it will be a long time before another is listed. This one is also in IMMACULUATE CONDITION!. WOW. Are you ready to add a new center piece to your collection?

EBay listing...

Xbox will host BT's TV service

BT is teaming up with Microsoft to offer its television service via the software giant's Xbox 360 console.

On-demand films and sports content from the BT Vision service will be available via the Xbox games console from the middle of this year.

Unlike the dedicated set-top box the Xbox will not be able to receive or record live TV.

To get the service, customers will have to first subscribe to BT broadband.

More from...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7178661.stm

16GB memory stick for Sony PSP

Tired of deleting all your old episodes of Battlestar Galactica just to make room for new ones? 

Wishing you could move your entire porn collection over to your PSP instead of just alphabetised chunks? Sing and rejoice, then, for your prayers, well, they have been answered. 

Sony have announced a new 16GB MS Duo, which when combined with a longer battery life may finally make the PSP your first and only multimedia companion for long-distance flights. Or...it will be if you think spending $300 on a memory stick is acceptable behaviour. If you do, this baby's out in March.

Source: Kotaku

http://kotaku.com/341376/sony-announce-16gb-memory-stick-for-psp

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Save £30 XBox Half-Life 2 only £9.99 at Play.com with Free P&P

By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around him, from the physical environment to the behaviours - even the emotions - of both friends and enemies.

The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling.

Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people - people he cares about - are counting on him.

Buy it here ... http://www.play.com/Games/Xbox/4-/742148/Half-Life-2/Product.html

Source Code for SimCity released

"Source code for SimCity has been released under the GPLv3. For legal reasons the open source version was renamed Micropolis, which was apparently the original working title. The OLPC will also be getting a SimCity branded version that has been QA'ed by Electronic Arts.

Some very cool changes have been made by Don Hopkins, who updated and ported what is now Micropolis. (Here is an earlier Slashdot discussion kicked off by a submission Don made.) Among other things, it has been revamped from the original C to using C++ with Python. Here is the page linking all the various source code versions. Happy hacking!"

More here...

How Halo 3 Changed Game Development - Tom Carroll

The Difficulty of Difficulty

The success of the Halo franchise has led to a need to appeal to a wider collection of gamers than just those labeled "hard core." As a result, in Halo 3 the easy and normal settings are easier than they might have been prior, and the heroic and legendary settings are likewise more difficult. Casual gamers will be overjoyed with the easy setting, but they'll miss out on numerous cool features of the game, including hidden skulls and cool enemy AI. Dedicated gamers, the ones who have invested hours mastering earlier incarnations of Halo, will want to jump in on heroic or legendary, lest they risk becoming bored from the start.

The secret skulls were first included in Halo 2, but then they nearly always activated some challenging feature, such as not being able to see anything on your HUD. In Halo 3, the system of skulls is much more challenging (read: fun) for anyone choosing to find them and activate them. A skull might make it so you can't see your gun scope, or enable enemies to throw grenades faster. Activating a golden skull makes the game harder for the player, but by surviving you earn a lot more points.

More from... http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/482/how_halo_3_changed_game_.php?page=2

Sony discontinue 20 & 60 gb PlayStation 3 in Japan version left cannot play PS2 games...

SCEI made an announcement in reference to Japan no longer shipping the 20GB and 60GB PlayStation 3 configurations.

"We have already stopped shipping these in the US and have been focused on the 80GB and 40GB configurations which are currently at retail," the company said in a statement.

"As we've said, we will also continue to read and evaluate market trends and communicate with consumers to determine appropriate configurations for each territory."

The 40gb model was introduced last November and in the US where the 20gb has also been discontinued - the last few were in great demand.

Sony release a 40gb US model in October but this doesn't play older PlayStation 3 games.