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March 9th, 2015, 19:45 Posted By: wraggster
There’s something so nostalgic about the rotary phone that makes it a fun thing to hack and modernize. [Voidon] put his skills to the test and converted one to VoIP using a Raspberry Pi. He used the RasPi’s GPIO pins to read pulses from the rotary dial – a functional dial is always a welcome feature in rotary phone hacks. An old USB sound card was perfect for the microphone and handset audio.
As with any build, there were unexpected size issues that needed to be worked around. While the RasPi fit inside the case well, there was no room for the USB power jack or an ethernet cable, let alone a USB power bank for portability. The power bank idea was scrapped. [voidon] soldered the power cord to the RasPi before the polyfuse to preserve the surge protection, used a mini-USB wifi dongle, and soldered a new USB connector to the sound card. [Voidon] also couldn’t get the phone’s original ringer to work, so he used the Raspberry Pi’s internal sound card to play ringtones.
The VoIP (SIP) was managed by some Python scripting, available at GitHub. [voidon] has some experience in usingAsterisk at his day job, so it will be interesting to see if he incorporates it in the future.
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/09/conve...-raspberry-pi/
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March 9th, 2015, 19:39 Posted By: wraggster
Tech company Feelreal debuted an add-on for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) this year, which allows users to smell what they see.
It’s no real surprise that scratch and sniff has come to virtual reality, which makes use of our senses to trick our brains into thinking that certain things are actually happening.
The device clips onto the bottom of an Oculus Rift, sitting over the user's whole face and shooting out hot air and cool mist, as well as producing certain smells that match with what is being seen through the VR device.
Seven smells are currently available on the device including Ocean, Jungle, Fire, Grass, Powder, flowers and metal.
The smelly add-on also has a little mouthpiece, allowing for a full facial experience of sight, sound, smell and speech.
The gadget can be pre-ordered from the Feelreal website here for around £165.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-smells/035763
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March 9th, 2015, 19:37 Posted By: wraggster
Warner Bros and Techland's open world zombie title Dying Light once again takes pole position in the GfK Chart-Track Top 40.
It keeps the top spot in spite of a 48 per cent decline in sales this week.
The game has so far managed to outpace the other new IPs that launched this year, including Sony's The Order 1886 and 2K's Evolve, in spite of launching digital over a month ago.
The Order fell three places to No.7, with a 62 per cent dip in sales, while Evolve falls to No.9 in its fourth week on sale with a 35 per cent sales decline.
The rest of the Top Five are mostly familiar names. Grand Theft Auto V charts in second place, up from fifth last week. Sales of the game fell a mere ten per cent week-on-week.
Meanwhile FIFA 15 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare fill out third and fourth places.
And Bandai Namco's Dragon Ball: Xenoverse – which debuted in third place last week – falls to fifth with a 61 per cent drop in sales.
In eighth place is Rebellion's first self-published title, Zombie Army Trilogy. The boxed release was handled by Sold Out.
Here is the Top Ten for the week ending March 7th:
1. Dying Light, Warner Bros
2. Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar
3. FIFA 15, EA
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Activision Blizzard
5. Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, Bandai Namco
6. Minecraft: Xbox Edition, Microsoft
7. The Order 1886, Sony
8. Zombie Army Trilogy, Rebellion
9. Evolve, 2K Games
10. Minecraft: PlayStation Edition, Sony
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/dying...-place/0146338
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March 9th, 2015, 00:00 Posted By: wraggster
The overall gaming hardware market reached $67bn in 2014, according to new data presented by analyst Jon Peddie Research.
Games Industry reports on JPR's presentation, which claimed PC accounted for 33 per cent of the market, smartphones came in at 23 per cent, consoles and handhelds brought in 16 per cent, and tablets made up 11 per cent.
JPR pointed out that global gaming software was worth $26bn in 2014, according to recent data provided by the Open Gaming Alliance.
The two reports combine to indicate a total gaming market of around $93bn – with JPR expecting "robust growth" throughout in the coming years.
The research firm also stated that it does not expect smartphones to somehow catch or pass consoles in regards to raw processing power and graphics – adding that the thought that phones offer “console quality” graphics tends to reference older console generations.
"There is no such thing as catching up. Moore's law serves all platforms.”
Android is starting to make significant inroads in the hardware market as well. JPR states the Android console sector represents a "paradigm shift" for the market – as more than 1bn Android users can be leveraged. The firm also projects a rise in dedicated Android portable gaming devices over the next few years.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gamin...ar-jpr/0146268
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March 8th, 2015, 23:57 Posted By: wraggster
The HTC Vive might've stolen some of Samsung's thunder, but it bears reminding that the latter did announce a new VR headset earlier this week. Sure, the Gear VR for the Galaxy S6 is only slightly different from the original Note 4 edition, but even minor tweaks can spell big improvement. It's smaller, lighter, has a wider focus margin and there's a new strap design that promises to make the headset much more comfortable than before. I had a chance to give it a spin earlier this week and I also talked to Max Cohen, VP of mobile at Oculus, to get his take on the new hardware, possible future updates and, of course, his opinion on the HTC Vive.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/06/gear-vr-s6-oculus/
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March 8th, 2015, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster
We've already got Android in phones, tablets, TVs and maybe even cars, but according to a new rumor, the next step could be VR headsets (beyond Mattel's View-Master). While smartphones can already provide the brains of a VR unit for Samsung's Gear VRor Google Cardboard, the Wall Street Journal says Google has "tens of engineers" working on a version of Android that would power virtual reality apps. According to the rumor, that's in addition to the Magic Leap augmented reality project Google has invested in, and a separate AR project Google is working on itself. Based on what we've seen of Android development so far -- and the recent flood of VR hardware -- it's really no surprise, but if you see a slew of headset rumors ahead of the next Google I/O it might be for something other than just a new edition of Glass.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/06/android-vr-rumor/
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March 5th, 2015, 23:21 Posted By: wraggster
The Raspberry Pi B+ has a native VGA connection. Sure, it’s hidden away in binary blobs and device trees, and you need to wire up the GPIO pins just right, but it’s possible to connect a VGA monitor to a Raspi B+ natively. For the brave, smart, or foolish, this means you can also drive raw DPI displays. [Robert] had a few of these dirt cheap displays sitting around and decided to give the entire thing a go. It worked, and he’s written down how to do it.
One of the chip architects for the Raspberry Pi, [Gert van Loo], was exceedingly clever when designing the Pi. There’s a parallel interface in the chip that, when combined with a few dozen resistors, can drive a VGA display in addition to the HDMI display. Screens with a Display Parallel Interface are actually pretty similar to what the VGA spec calls for. The problem is, hardly any of this is documented for the Raspberry Pi, and finding it means trawling through forums.
[Robert]’s example circuit uses a 5″ display from Adafruit, a 40-pin breakout, and a bunch of prototyping wires. Setup requires grabbing a cut down version of the device tree used for the Raspi VGA breakout board, setting the output format, rgb order, and aspect ratio of the display, and wiring everything up.
What’s interesting here is that [Robert] reproduced this project from scratch, and found that any display with a 40-pin DPI connector will work with the Raspi, provided you have a datasheet. That’s pretty cool; these displays can be cheap, and since we don’t yet have a proper DSI display for the Pi, this will have to do for now.
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/05/using...-raspberry-pi/
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March 5th, 2015, 23:15 Posted By: wraggster
Valve reckons it has cracked the motion sickness problem that virtual reality headsets cause with a number of players.
Boss Gabe Newell admitted to The New York Times that he’d reacted badly to previous demonstrations of VR tech, describing them as the “world’s best motion sickness inducers”.
However, the company’s own headset – the HTC made Vive– has cracked the issue, Newell claims, thanks to its laser positioning system that accurately maps a player’s real movements to the game. He reckons that “zero per cent of people get motion sick” as a result.
Furthermore, the tracking system – called Lighthouse – is being offered free to select hardware manufacturers.
Last year EA CFO Blake Jorgensen admitted that VR’s main challenge was that selling the tech to anyone who is “at all even slightly motion sick prone” will be “very tough”.
Added Jorgensen: "I've seen people within 30 seconds have to take the goggles off because ... it is so immersive. It's an incredible experience and I think there's a huge opportunity but there's some technology steps that have to be played out and I think so ways to make sure people enjoy it but don't get sick by it too quickly."
Oculus boss also warned market rivals that they must also ensure that they solve motion sickness issues as not doing so could pose a risk to the entire VR industry.
“We’re a little worried about some of the bigger companies putting out product that isn’t quite ready,” he admitted. “That elephant in the room is disorientation and motion sickness. We’re encouraging other companies, particularly the big consumer companies, to not put out a product until they’ve solved that problem.”
One developer, Lunar Studios, even abandoned a VR version of its upcoming title Routine due to the“extreme” motion sickness caused by play testing the game.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/newel...s-rate/0146208
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March 5th, 2015, 23:11 Posted By: wraggster
Currently, the HTC Vive is the only virtual reality headset that's part of Valve's Steam VR push. That's not because it's the only one, but because it's the only one we know about thus far. "You should think of the Vive as the first in the same way there are multiple Steam Machines," Valve president Gabe Newell told me this morning. In other words, Steam VR is an open platform supported by Valve. "We're building tools and hopefully they're valuable to hardware partners who want to do it. In some cases, we'll take the leadership role in shipping stuff. But we're really just building tools for other people to continue. So you'll see more headsets."
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/v...vr-initiative/
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March 4th, 2015, 21:51 Posted By: wraggster
We already saw the new Vive virtual reality headset that Valve and HTC are working on, but they're not stopping there. Hardware engineer Alan Yates says that its Lighthouse room-scale tracking system brings the "high-resolution, high-speed tracking" that you need for a quality VR experience. According to Yates, the system is cheap enough to integrate into TVs, monitors, headsets, input devices or mobile devices. There's not a lot of detail on what exactly it includes, but it sounds a lot like the extra LEDs Sony just revealed on its new Project Morpheus prototype, and its PS Move controller. Those let the system track it with a camera to see how the wearer is moving in greater detail. Valve will make Lighthouse available to hardware manufacturers "freely," and we'll probably be looking for VR-ready stickers on our next TV or monitor.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/03/valve-lighthouse-vr/
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March 3rd, 2015, 21:46 Posted By: wraggster
A retail-led survey has found that UK children under the age of 12 are now more likely to own a tablet than a games console.
46 per cent owned a tablet and 43 per cent a games console. These were followed by mobile phones (30%), laptops (28%) and MP3 players (15%).
It also found that over two thirds of kids own some sort of tech or gadgetry, with the average owning three such items. Kids are on average only five years old when they receive their first gadget and the average worth of these accumulated trinkets is £375.
On average kids spend 2.5 hours per day playing with said items.
The survey, run by Vouchercloud.com, polled 2,482 UK adults who had at least one child under 12.
“We can’t escape from it, all aspects of our lives are becoming ‘smart’ or ‘i’ or powered by gadgets, with toy collections no exception to this rule,” Matthew Wood said. “Gadgets and their capabilities have developed so rapidly that they have started to be seen as a necessity, rather than a luxury. Peer pressure from the playground and glossy ads have dictated that children are part of this shift in attitudes to technology, if not leaders in it.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/table...ildren/0146062
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March 3rd, 2015, 21:38 Posted By: wraggster
The latest Silicon Valley company to hop on the virtual reality bandwagon is AMD, this morning unveiling what it's calling "Liquid VR": a software development kit aimed at making VR easier for everyone. The announcement comes from a presentation at GDC 2015 in San Francisco, where virtual reality is dominating the news. What does Liquid VR do for developers and users? It essentially makes everything much easier. As one AMD rep put it during this morning's presentation, "You can plug an Oculus Rift into a computer and start 3D rendering directly to the headset, even without Oculus' SDK." In so many words, Liquid VR is yet another solution for making various VR headsets work easily on various devices; it also optimizes the use of that headset for that particular computer (no doubt powered by AMD's chips).
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/03/amd-liquid-vr/
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March 2nd, 2015, 23:31 Posted By: wraggster
It's the day many, many virtual reality developers have been waiting for: finally, a way to sell VR games to people with VR headsets. Namely, Oculus and Samsung's collaboration on the Gear VR headset is bearing digital fruit in the form of a digital store. In short: you can finally buy and sell games on Samsung's VR headset. That's a bigger deal than it sounds, as Gear VR's store has been riddled with little more than tech and game demos since its launch late last year. We've been anxious for deeper experiences, and many developers have been withholding those experiences for a time when they could actually make money on their work. Let the floodgates open!
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/02/o...store-gear-vr/
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February 27th, 2015, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster
New data collected by research firm Superdata claims PlayStation hardware is generating significantly more digital revenue than Xbox in the US.
Superdata's research, which pulls data from 37m “paying online gamers" and focuses on the performance of the top ten digital console games of last month, shows 63 per cent of the related revenue coming from PS3 and PS4 consoles.
Xbox 360 and Xbox One occupy the remaining 37 per cent, while PS4 alone claimed 43 per cent of the total.
GTA V was on top of what is the first of Superdata's monthly chart releases moving forward, with an estimated $31.8m in online sales during January. The company notes that all figures account for full-game downloads and DLC purchases.
The report also placed an annual total value of $49bn on the console digital download market.
"The digital games market now constitutes the majority of revenues in interactive entertainment,” the report reads. “As consumer spending continues to shift away from retail, the landscape of top performing games is shifting with it.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/janua...tation/0145839
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February 26th, 2015, 00:42 Posted By: wraggster
For the last 15 years or so, software synths have slowly yet surely replaced those beatboxes, drum machines, and true synthesizers. It’s a loss for old hardware aficionados, but at least everyone with a MacBook is now a musician, amiright?
The Raspberry Pi and Pi2 already have more processing power than a desktop from ’99, so it’s no surprise that all of those classic synths, from a Moog. Yamaha DX, Casio CZ, Linn drum machine, Fairlight, and a mellotron, can all be stuffed into a Pi thanks to the work of [Phil Atkin] and his Raspberry Pi synthesizer.
[Phil]’s efforts to bring audio synthesis to the Pi fall under three techniques: subtractive synthesis, phase distortion synthesis, and sample-based synthesis, something that’s found in everything from Akai MPCs, MacBooks, and . [Phil] is combining all of these techniques into a piece of software that’s capable of running seamlessly on the Pi, giving anyone with a $35 computer a tool that would have been worth several thousand dollars in 1985.
The project is pretty far along, but the recent release of the Raspberry Pi 2 has thrown [Phil] for a loop. On one hand, the Pi 2 is much more capable than the original Pi in terms of hardware, and this lends itself to more sounds and a better GUI. On the other hand, there are millions of original Pi 1s out there that still make for exceptional synthesizers. Either way, [Phil]’s work is a great example of how far you can push the Pi with audio work.
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/24/piana...-raspberry-pi/
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February 26th, 2015, 00:13 Posted By: wraggster
The release of the next entry in Bandai Namco’s God Eater franchise has shaken up the Japanese retail charts.
According to the latest data from Famitsu, the Vita edition of action RPG God Eater 2 Rage Burst was the top-selling game of last week, selling more than 221,000 copies.
The PS4 version of the title placed third in the rankings, one place below Nintendo’s remastered edition of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for 3DS.
Meanwhile, The Order: 1886, last week’s best-selling title in the UK, took fourth position in its debut week in Japan, selling 26,000 units.
The only other new release to crack the Top Ten was Koei Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 5: Last Round. The PS4 and PS3 releases of the game placed sixth and eighth, respectively.
As a result of God Eater 2’s success in the software charts, Nintendo’s New 3DS and New 3DS XL were knocked from their place at the top of the hardware rankings.
Sony’s PS4 home console and Vita handheld became the first and second-best-selling hardware for the week.
The Vita managed to shift 32,790 units – almost 10,000 more than PS4’s 23,210.
The New 3DS and New 3DS sold 19,542 and 6,792, respectively.
Here’s the weekly software Top Ten for the week ending February 22nd:
- God Eater 2 Rage Burst (Bandai Namco) Vita – 221,076 (New)
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (Nintendo) 3DS – 74,985
- God Eater 2 Rage Burst (Bandai Namco) PS4 – 31,823 (New)
- The Order: 1886 (Sony) PS4 – 26,288 (New)
- Yokai Watch 2: Shinuchi (Level 5) 3DS – 18,430
- Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (Koei Tecmo Games) PS4 – 18,336 (New)
- Dragon Ball: Xenoverse (Bandai Namco) PS3 – 12,803
- Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (Koei Tecmo) PS3 – 11,455 (New)
- Pocket Monster Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire (The Pokémon Company) 3DS – 8,872
- Samurai Warriors 4-II (Koei Tecmo) PS3 – 8,738
And here’s the weekly hardware rankings:
- PS Vita – 32,790
- PS4 – 23,210
- New Nintendo 3DS XL – 19,452
- New Nintendo 3DS – 6,792
- Wii U – 5,346
- PS3 – 4,764
- Nintendo 3DS – 2,595
- Nintendo 3DS XL – 2,361
- Xbox One – 908
- PS Vita TV – 745
- http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/god-e...-spots/0145731
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February 26th, 2015, 00:01 Posted By: wraggster
Valve only just announced plans to bring a "SteamVR hardware system" to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and now we might have our first look at it. The sleuths at SteamDB have dug up this outline of a headset on the Steam Universe signup page, and it looks a bit different from anything we've seen from the likes ofOculus, Samsung or Sony. A year ago developers said that Valve was working with hardware with a higher resolution and refresh rate than what Oculus had at that time, but things could be different now. We'll be waiting until next week for confirmation (that three cables = Half Life 3, of course), but this may be the first accessory for your next Steam Box. Oh, and remember that Steam Controller with the added thumbstick? Today the Steam Client beta got an update with support for the new controller -- see you at GDC 2015!
http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/25/i...eamvr-headset/
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February 25th, 2015, 23:54 Posted By: wraggster
Oculus Rift offers some pretty out of this world experiences (punching sharks andbecoming a bird immediately come to mind), but getting an up-close and personal with the sun aren't among them. Until now, of course. That, my friends, is whatSunshine Observation Deck is for. If it looks familiar, that's because it's based off of a set from the 2007 Danny Boyle flick, Sunshine -- you know, the one that heavilyinfluenced the original Dead Space and that's by far one of the best sci-fi flicks from the past ten years. Anyhow, the walkthrough lets you explore the movie's solar observation deck and adjoining science lab, witnessing Sol in its fiery majesty. You can't adjust the intensity of the filter brightness, but given that, you don't need to worry about catching a nasty sunburn, either.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/25/s...lus-rift-demo/
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February 25th, 2015, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster
Oculus VR has a challenge for aspiring game and app developers: Create something new and exciting for the Gear VR Innovator Edition, Samsung's Oculus-powered headset, and get a shot at a cash prize from a $1 million pool. The Oculus Mobile VR Jam 2015 kicks off on April 13 and ends on May 11, with sign-ups open now atChallenge Post. The Jam -- and the cash -- is split between two tracks, "Games" and "Apps or Experiences," with Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in each segment. The top Platinum Game gets $200,000, while the Platinum App or Experience snags $100,000. There are multiple winners for each of the remaining ranks, and prizes bottom out at $10,000 for each Bronze victor.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/25/o...r-vr-game-jam/
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February 23rd, 2015, 20:12 Posted By: wraggster
Boxed games are struggling to sell because consumers don’t need to buy any, UK retailers have told MCV.
Fewer physical games were sold in 2014 compared with 2013, while recent releases – including Saints Row and Evolve – have not achieved the numbers some retailers had anticipated.
The figures are disappointing, particularly in the face of a rapidly rising install base for Xbox One and PS4. Combined, the two platforms have sold almost 3.5m units in the UK so far.
“In the UK, for the first 14 months of the respective PS3, Xbox 360, PS4 and Xbox One launches, PlayStation tie ratios are down 14 per cent and Xbox down 16 per cent,” said games industry analyst Nick Parker. “This reflects higher growth in hardware sales generation on generation than software sales.”
Leading UK retail experts have said that the success of hardware may actually be responsible for slower software sales. Most Xbox One and PS4 consoles sold have been bundled with games – including big brands such as Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, FIFA and Destiny.
“It’s a complex issue," said Chart-Track director Dorian Bloch. "Most people have what they need right now, or are dabbling in second-hand.
“The launch of Xbox One and PS4 saw both sold with a very high proportion of ‘bundled’ software.”
Bloch also said that over 26 per cent of all PS4 and Xbox Ones sold in 2013 were bundled with games. However, Chart-Track does not factor in ‘soft-bundling’, and so the firm estimates that up to 50 per cent of consoles were sold with games.
For most of 2014 the level of bundling reduced, but over Black Friday it increased - Bloch estimates that as much as 90 per cent of hardware sold came with software.
“The weeks after Black Friday weren’t great for hardware sell-through and many people receiving software with the hardware hasn’t helped further purchasing,” Bloch said.
The Hut Group’s Mike Fethers added: “It is still the quiet time of year with consumers still recovering from overspending during Black Friday and Christmas.
“Most will be playing the games they got free with consoles in Q4, some of the game bundles that were doing the rounds included 40 to 50 hours of game time.”
Yet Nick Parker says that although bundling may be impacting some games, it isn’t responsible for the overall decline.
“It could be down to the availability of blockbuster franchises in that launch period, and the increased availability of downloaded and indie titles.
“There’s also a shift in consumer behaviour to buying fewer boxed games as a whole. Eight years ago there was little else to compete with consoles. Gamers now concentrate on one or two console releases a year, and spend their remaining budget on digital console, PC and mobile games.”
Other retailers point to an increased gravitation towards triple-A products, with next-gen ‘upgrades’ and more niche IP simply not cutting it with consumers.
“Sell through on the new gen is solid, but consumers are lacking that must-have game. We desperately need a few less next-gen reboots and a few more must-have games like Destiny,” said Simply Games’ purchasing director Steve Moore.
Meanwhile, one major retailer says that the quality of games is not matching what gamers are demanding.
“Customer expectation on new gen is higher than the final games being delivered.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/is-bu...-sales/0145562
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