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Self-repairing roads could also charge your electric car
Potholes are bad enough for the jarring rides, car damage and safety hazards they create, but it's also problematic to fix them. You're looking at lane and road closures that can last for days, assuming the city can even spare the resources. However, Dutch researchers might have a solution that not only helps the road fix itself, but promises to solve range anxiety for electric car drivers. Delft University's Erik Schlangen tells The Verge that there are plans to test self-repairing asphalt whose conductive steel fibers and bacteria would both fix small cracks in the pavement and send electricity to EVs above. The trial will charge your vehicles when you're stopped at intersections, giving you a little bit of extra range in those moments you're waiting for the light to turn green.
CES 2013: Duo Gamer controller sees success after a half price cut
We posted about the Duo Gamer iPhone controller back when it first released in October of last year, but I hadn't gotten a chance to try it out yet. Fortunately, Duo is here on the floor of CES this week, and they of course had the controller on display and available for a demo. It's actually a really great controller -- the form factor is a little strange, but the buttons are quite responsive and the analog sticks are especially impressive, something that not a lot of iOS controllers have gotten right. Plus, the Duo Gamer is actually half the price it was when it started out. The company dropped the price from US$79.99 to just $39.99 late last year, and the company's rep says that (surprise) sales have gone up considerably since the price drop. So where's the catch? The biggest problem with the Duo Gamer is that because Duo has made a deal with Gameloft, this controller only works with Gameloft's games. Those games aren't bad -- they include big iOS hits like NOVA, the Asphalt series and Gameloft's Warcraft clone Order and Chaos Online. But that's it -- if you want to use the controller with any other titles, you're out of luck. That's kind of a shame. And Duo's representative told us that there were absolutely no plans to open up the controller at all. The company picked Gameloft to pair up with because it believed those were the most console-like apps on the store (not necessarily an invalid claim), and Duo says that even if it wanted to allow other app developers to make their apps compatible with the Duo Gamer, that decision would be out of their hands. Which is too bad -- it'd be nice if a solid controller like this had a more open API (stay tuned for news on the Phone Halo controller, which has a slightly more promising future). The Duo Gamer is a good piece of hardware, and it provides an impressive way to control these games. If you're a fan of Gameloft's titles and would like to use some buttons to control them, this is obviously a great option for you.
Ubisoft announces development of six Vita games, including Assassin's Creed and Lumines
Ubisoft is coming out strong in support of the PlayStation Vita, because it's a video game system and that's what Ubisoft does. In advance of Sony's Gamescom presser today, the company announced development of six titles for the handheld, including an Asphalt racing game, Assassin's Creed, Dungeon Hunter Alliance (above), Rayman Origins, and Michael Jackson: The Experience. Perhaps most exciting, the PSP launch standout Lumines is returning on PlayStation Vita. Along with the announcement, Ubisoft shared screens of Rayman, Asphalt, and Dungeon Hunter. No dates were provided for any of these, but expect at least a few of them at the system's launch, because, again, that's what Ubisoft does.%Gallery-130765%
Gameloft working on four Unreal Engine games
We have some wicked awesome news on the iOS gaming front today -- Gameloft, the developer of popular 3D mobile games such as N.O.V.A and Asphalt, has announced a partnership with Epic Games that will allow Gameloft to use Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 in four new titles, two of which are expected by the end of 2011. Unreal Engine on Apple devices first became a talking point when Epic Games debuted its tech demo of the engine, titled Epic Citadel, at Apple's iPod event last September. The game displayed graphics that far surpassed anything previously seen on iOS, raising eyebrows around the world. Epic later went on to release the full version of the game, which is now known as IGN's iPhone Game of the Year for 2010 -- Infinity Blade. I, for one, am very excited about this announcement. Between this partnership and its entry into the Mac App Store, Gameloft has been showing some serious ambition. Let's hope we see some great games on the Unreal Engine 3 later this year.
ESRB rates 'Asphalt 4' for DSi
Gameloft's mobile racing games Asphalt: Urban GT and Asphalt 2 were both released as retail DS cartridges back in 2004 and 2006, respectively. The fourth game in the series, Asphalt 4: Elite Racing, appears to be releasing as a downloadable game like its cell phone counterpart, thanks to the advent of DSiWare.The ESRB has added a rating for Asphalt 4 for DSi. It'll join Gameloft's lineup of DSi games including Real Football 2009, American Popstar, and Uno. Whether you like the Asphalt games or not, we doubt anyone can deny it's better to buy them from home and pay less for them.
Madrid gets in on the pollution-cutting asphalt action
It looks like the Dutch aren't the only ones looking to snag some car pollution before it gets too far from the source, with Madrid now also paving at least one of streets with a special asphalt of its own that promises to capture up to 90 percent of the pollutants on a sunny day. Unlike the special mix of concrete used in the Dutch town of Hengelo, however, this method apparently uses a layer of a product called "noxer" that's affixed to regular asphalt which, again, produces a reaction that turns the captured nitrogen oxide into a more harmless material that can be washed away whenever it rains. What's more, Madrid is also rolling out another type of pavement that contains recycled tires in other parts of the city, which it hopes will cut down on the city's noise pollution. No word on any plans to combine the two just yet though.[Via Autoblog Green]
