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Atari's Speakerhat, a hat with speakers, is now on sale
Yes, Atari's speaker-equipped hats are very much real. At the last possible minute, the game brand has started selling the Speakerhat to the masses. Pay $130 or more ($100 until January 2nd) and you too can get a cap with Bluetooth stereo speakers that put your phone's sound inches in front of your forehead. The standard models include a conventional Fuji Blackout cap as well as blue and black snapbacks, while limited edition hats commemorate Pong (above) and the nod to Atari in Blade Runner 2049.
GPS top hat uses directional sound to show the way
Never mind pulling out your phone to get directions to the pub... how about some fine headwear? A team of Cornell University students has developed a GPS-enabled top hat that relies solely on directional sound for navigation. It uses a mix of amplitude and phase shifting to make it seem like audio cues are coming from the direction you're supposed to be going. The prototype may look ludicrous, but it's both hands-free and language-free -- you don't need to wait for instructions before turning down a side street.
The Feast of Winter Veil begins tomorrow, December 16th
Every year, Greatfather Winter brings treats to all the good boys and girls of Azeroth, and this year is no exception. From December 16th until January 2nd, the Feast of Winter Veil teaches us all the true meaning of Winter Veil with a cavalcade of gifts and other fun things like toys. A variety of seasonal pets, achievements, and hats are yours for the taking, including the brand new Rotten Little Helper. For the complete skinny on what you can get and what you can do, Wowhead has this helpful guide. If you're looking for one of those toys for your toybox, a rare pet, or a hat from one of the bosses (with several new Draenor bosses as well) then you have until January 2nd to get started. May Greatfather Winter watch over you.
Shroud of the Avatar enters Steam early access today
There's a certain feeling that you get when you walk around in a game with a new hat, as if you're making a statement: "Hello, world, I have a new hat." And you can get a new hat by logging into Shroud of the Avatar and doing the Grand Tour quests added in the game's most recent release. The new pilgrim hat will be available only during Release 12's testing schedule, so you'll want to get the hat soon if you want that new hat. Release 12 does offer more than just a new hat, though; the update offers a comprehensive new user experience, 15 new skills, 50 new weapon and armor recipes, 40 new songs, new maps, guilds, and other improvements. Studio boss Richard Garriott has also weighed in on the state of the game and updates for the solo play version of the game. Check out the full update on the official site for more details and community news. SOTA officially enters early access on Steam today.
Archos Music Beany: A warm winter Bluetooth wearable
I live in Colorado, where it can get cold on occasion. That means that when I go for a walk in the snow or am otherwise out in chilly weather, listening to tunes can be an exercise in futility. I'll wear my Apple Earbuds under a knit hat on occasion, but I'm not a real fan of those buds anyway. So what about a warm knit hat with a pair of speakers and a Bluetooth transceiver built into it? That's the idea behind the Archos Music Beany (US$29.99), which gives you all of the connection to your music and phone of those earbuds without the wires. Specifications Dimensions: 8.7 x 9.0 x 1.2 inches (220 x 230 x 30 mm) Weight: 5 ounces (140 grams) Washable: Yes, electronics are removable Rating: IP55 (dust protected, protected against water jets) Battery: Li-Ion 3.7V/120 mAh, 6 hour talk time, charged with micro-USB cable (2.5 hour charging time) Materials: 50% acrylic, 50% polyester Design Hey, it looks like a hat my Mom would have knitted for me when I was a kid. It's warm, and the only thing that sets it apart is a tiny leather patch that goes over one ear. That patch has an LED inside, volume up/down buttons, and a play/pause button. The review hat came in basic black, but you'll also be able to get this in blue, white and grey. Function What do I want a music beany to do? Keep my ears and balding head warm, let me listen to music from my iPhone, and make and receive calls. First, it's comfortable and keeps my head warm, so in that respect, the Archos Music Beany fits the bill. I have a big head (size 7-3/4 hat), and the beany stretches easily to fit my monstrous noggin. So, how about pairing? You just press the play/pause button for five seconds, wait for the LED to flash red/blue, and then wait for Bluetooth Headwear to show up in your Bluetooth settings. Tap it, and you're connected. After this point, the LED will flash blue every five seconds to let you know that the hat is connected. Placing the hat on my head, I found that it placed the speakers directly over my ears when I had the beany on with the controls on the right side, but ahead of my ears when the controls were on the left. While the speakers don't provide what I'd exactly call the highest-quality sound I've ever heard, they do a passable job and there's surprisingly good stereo separation. The controls worked pretty well, although on occasion I would have the device accidentally jump to the next song in a playlist instead of increasing volume. How about receiving a phone call? Tapping the play/pause button is supposed to let you answer or hang up an incoming call. I'm not sure what happened when I received a call and got a loud buzzing sound in my headset instead of being able to answer it. My guess? I'm using OS X Yosemite beta, to which I can shift phone calls coming in on the iPhone. I think the iPhone was trying to "talk" to my Mac and not the headset. Conclusion With fairly good sound quality, the ability to keep your head warm in cold weather, and a relatively low price tag, the Archos Music Beany is a good and innovative idea. But be aware that while it's great for listening to music, you might find answering phone calls to be problematic, and the controls can be somewhat cranky and sometimes don't do what you want them to do. Rating: 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible
Fashions fade, but Acer's selfie sombrero is forever
Once the Earth has burned and all that remains is humanity's high score floating on the arcade cabinet of the universe, aliens will wonder what the 2010-2020 generation contributed to culture. Googly-eyed academics will scrub through countless Twitter posts, news programs and songs to reveal that, for some reason, we were all obsessed with documenting our own faces with relentless abandon. Acer's contribution to our mutually assured destruction vanity is to team up with fashion designer Christian Cowan-Sanluis, who adapted his trademark pink glitter suit and visor hat into something more selfie-appropriate.
Pirate101 celebrates a birthday with headwear
It's been a year on the high seas for Pirate101, and the development team is in a celebratory mood. it's understandable considering how many games don't make it to a year or even out of beta. So from now until October 31st it's time to revel in all the birthday celebrations you want, starting with an entire game decked out in birthday regalia. Which will look a little odd next to the usual pumpkins, but whatever. The game is also offering two bits of accoutrement for players, veterans and novices alike. All players are eligible to receive a free birthday hat, and the game will also sell a birthday cake eyepatch in the cash shop for a limited time. (The eyepatch looks exactly like you would expect something with that name to look, if it was unclear.) So kick back and enjoy some piratical birthday bliss with a new hat.
One Shots: The Hutt in the hat
Massively reader Leandra sent us a delicious batch of screenshots from new shiny The Secret World, but her "throwaway" entry from Star Wars: The Old Republic is the one I couldn't resist highlighting. She wrote in, I recently resubscribed to The Old Republic to check out the changes made in the last few patches. The devs have made a lot of much-needed improvements, and I'm having a lot of fun. This is my Jedi Consular character on Nar Shaddaa, one of my favorite areas in the game. The statue of the Hutt in the hat always cracks me up. Why is he wearing that hat?? He's wearing that hat because it provided me an awesome post title and a giggle, that's why! The color shot and a few more from around the MMOverse await your clickery!
The Daily Grind: Should MMOs recycle old rewards?
It's no shock to realize that as Guild Wars 2 approaches, the Guild Wars 1 devs are slowly getting the older game set for long-term stasis. The year's Dragon Festival was surely a sign of that: Instead of doling out brand-new festival hats as it has in previous years, ArenaNet awarded tokens that allow players to earn discontinued hats from old events. Hats are serious business. Some veteran players argue that handing old hats to new players devalues old players' loyalty. After all, why play (or pay) on day one if everyone can get the cool shiny thing eventually anyway? Guild Wars isn't alone in adopting this convention. World of Warcraft transforms previous expansions' endgame skins into the next edition's leveling gear; other games place pre-order bonus perks in a cash shop at some point down the road for people who missed the first time around. So today we're wondering what you think of this practice as it pertains to the wider MMO genre. Do you think loyalty perks like event rewards and pre-order trinkets should remain unique? Or is it fair for developers to reintroduce and recycle old gear, rewards, and rares for a new generation? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Adult Swim and Valve teamed up to give us... yep, a hat
When Valve and Adult Swim announced a partnership involving the Team Fortress 2 universe, we winked at each other, throwing out the tired joke that it would probably just be a bunch of hats. Today, we're not sure if we should be laughing or weeping silently into our keyboards: Adult Swim has revealed a free, limited-edition Robot Chicken hat for any class in TF2, as the first iteration in a series of new stuff coming from Valve and Adult Swim.To get the Robot Chicken hat, just sign up for the Adult Swim newsletter by July 4.In related, not-completely-predictable news, the FAQ for redeeming the Robot Chicken hat asks and answers an intriguing question: Q. Are you making a Team Fortress cartoon? A. Go ask your mother.As long as it's not called "The Hatsure Brothers" or any variation thereof, an Adult Swim Team Fortress 2 cartoon sounds like something we could get behind.In still-related, by-now-old news, Valve launched the "Meet the Pyro" video and announced the Source Filmmaker movie-creating tool today.
The Daily Grind: Do you leave cloaks and hats toggled on or off?
I might just be thinking this because I recently watched Zoolander, but style is so very important to us gamers. We don't just want to kick butt; we want to kick butt and look incredible while we do it. And in my experience, style can be made and shattered depending on the accessories. Hats and cloaks are two visual options that many MMOs allow us to toggle on and off. Some folks like 'em; some detest them. For me, I almost never like cloaks (they hide the rest of the body and armor), and I'll wear a hat only if it completes an ensemble or doesn't fully cover up the hair. But that's just me, and I want to hear about you. Do you toggle your hats and cloaks on or off, and why? This is what we'll discuss over breakfast scones. Pass the jam, please. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Fez review: Hats off
Whenever a game is hyped to stratospheric proportions, many times over a course of years, it enters a volatile realm of public reception.When a game has won numerous awards before its launch, is one half of an industry documentary, and is developed by an outspoken, opinionated man, it resides in a universe of its own and players are relegated to describe it in one of two ways: with blazing praise or incendiary criticism.Fez is on fire, and it burns with a brilliant, red-hot, yellow-tasseled flame.
MIT student creates tesla coil musical hat for Halloween, survives
Some of us express our über-geeky tendencies by building Tron lightcycle case mods, or playing with Arduino. While others tend to err on the side of... insanity. MIT student Tyler Christensen would probably fall into that latter category, most recently strapping a tesla coil (and associated capacitors) to his head. The result is seriously impressive, and no animals (or humans) were harmed in the making of his costume -- though the DRSSTC (Dual Resonant Solid State Tesla Coil) didn't fare so well, considering that it "blew up" the day before the holiday weekend. Christensen still had a chance to test the contraption on camera before the incident, however, walking around town while zapping the sky to the tune of the Harry Potter theme song -- a seemingly appropriate selection. Check it out in the video after the break.
The Daily Grind: What are your thoughts on headgear?
In the real world, helms and hats are important bits of clothing, especially if you're talking about armor that includes a hefty chunk of metal complete with terrifying plume. So it makes perfect sense that pretty much every MMO set in a vaguely fantasy setting (i.e., nearly all of them) would feature a variety of important hats for characters to equip. But we also live in a society in which most men and women do not wear hats on a regular basis, and that's not even getting into the fact that most lower-level hats in MMOs look kind of dorky at best. Some people like having hats on their characters; hats are part of those characters' appearance. But for many other players, the hat detracts from a character's distinct look, unless it's a purely cosmetic addition without any kind of stats. So what are your thoughts on headgear? Do you like the way it looks? Do you think it should be more freely customizable? Or do you just walk around with the display of said headgear permanently off and never give it a spare thought beyond the stat boosts it provides? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Encrypted Text: The subtlety experiment
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions, or hate mail if you play subtlety. Over the past few years, I've been accused of playing favorites with the rogue specs. During Wrath, I was characterized more than once as the ArP-mongering combat rogue who neglected Mutilate builds. In Cataclysm, I'm supposedly the devoted assassin who never gives combat or subtlety a fair shake. The truth is that I don't care what spec I'm playing, and I'll play whatever gives me the best results. I played Mut/Prep, HARP, and even pure subtlety in the arena during The Burning Crusade. I've raided extensively as both combat and assassination, and I've leveled my rogues (plural) with each of the three specs, as well. I frequently swap specs. I love combat for solo PVE play, while subtlety holds a special place in my heart for ganking and world PVP. I currently raid as assassination simply because it's how I get the best results. I'm not alone in this philosophy, as most rogues will do whatever it takes, including a respec, to get the most out of their characters.
The Daily Grind: Does a class' popularity influence your desire to play it?
There are a few constants that dog my adventures into every MMO. I will play a female character even though I am a man, I will go nuts over pet classes if they are available, I will probably create a legion of alts before ever hitting the level cap, and I will wear stylish hats even if the stats aren't the greatest. But above all of that, the biggest constant in my playing career is that I almost always refuse to pick MMO classes that are extremely popular. I think it's because I -- like probably most of you -- like to feel unique in games, even though it's usually difficult to achieve. Choosing a class that's in the minority helps with that feeling, and conversely, going with the FOTM or whatever the kids are calling it these days makes me feel like I've got my unique snowflake status revoked. So is this insane? Do you allow class popularity to influence your desire to play it, or do you just go with whatever sounds like the most fun? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Caption Contest: iPad hat is so last season
Fashion genius or major faux pas? Obviously the latter. Really, who would be seen in public wearing last year's iPad on their head? This woman, apparently, who donned a particularly feathery contraption before heading to the Royal Ascot horse race, where one's social status is dictated largely by the caliber of their hat. We have it on good authority that the Galaxy Tab 8.9 will be the hot ticket next season. Terrence: "Hey, my eyes are down here, buddy." Brad: "You can look, but you can't multitouch." Zach H.: "I can't believe you gave me a frozen iPad. You think it'll thaw after an hour or two in the sun?" Brian: "I know I had it with me when I left for work this morning..." Michael: "I went to Cupertino and all I got was this lousy hat!" Zach L.: "This is sooo the last time I let Jonathan Ive design my wardrobe." Christopher: "iPad-toting parrots reportedly dive-bombed attendees of the 2011 Royal Ascot." Tim: "Oh don't get so excited, it's just a big iPhone hat." Richard Lai: "My husband insisted." Joe P.: "iPad 2 shipping delays made for something rather old-hat." Don: "I asked the stylist for something magical." Darren: "Believe it or not, I didn't even have to jailbreak!" Dana: "Sorry, dahling, but if you don't have an iPad hat, well, you don't have an iPad hat." [Image credit: Getty Images]
RuneScape introduces sagas and more in May
The team over at Jagex always has several irons in the fire when it comes to RuneScape's future. In a recent behind-the-scenes article, RuneScape's "Mod Mark" provides us with an advance look at some of the team's plans for the game this May. Several new capes will be added to the game, including a five-year veteran cape and one for players who have tried out RuneScape Classic at some point. Each of the capes is not only stylish but comes with special emotes as well. Continuing with the fashion theme, the devs will also make available PvP "death hats" that change in appearance as you rack up the kills. Several other quality-of-life improvements are on the table, such as the Dwarf Lava Flow Mine becoming an actual mine for players working on that particular skill. But by far the most exciting plan in the works is the introduction of a fresh type of content in the game: Fremennik Sagas. These are replayable stories by which you step into the shoes of famous characters to experience defining moments in their lives. There are three such Sagas being developed right now, including one in which you hunt for a bandit on the run. You can peruse all of the proposed additions to the game over at RuneScape.
New Era Cap releases Epic Mickey, Tron hats
New Era Cap, which makes the official Major League Baseball hats, has released its first hat design based on a video game: a fitted cap featuring Epic Mickey imagery. The $37 hat came out on November 30 alongside the Wii game, and is available from the company's website or its Flagship stores. It's a nice design, but a Disney hat with no plastic ears on either side seems ... wrong, somehow. It disrupts the natural order of the universe. Maybe you could staple some ears onto it yourself if you get one of these -- otherwise, you know, it would be weird. The company also has a line of sort-of game-inspired hats, based on Tron Legacy.%Gallery-108607%
I am 8-Bit headgear: it's always in season
We know, Halloween is so last month, but with a costume like this... who cares? Dan Liuzzi's "I am 8-Bit" headgear was crafted from insulation foam, joint compound, a cardboard box, glue, some gesso spray and acrylic paint. Even Dan himself calls the project "pretty amateur stuff," noting that it took him around two to three weeks to complete. You've got a bright future in that face, Dan -- we can just feel it. P.S. - Hit the source link for even more pictorial goodness.
