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Sony stereoscopic screen sharing patent puts two players on one display
After that last bummer, where Sony applied for a patent "feature erosion" in game demos, we're glad to see the company come up with something positive for the gamers among us. Two recent patent apps, titled "Stereoscopic Screen Sharing Method and Apparatus Patent" and "3D Shutter Glasses with Mode Switching Based on Orientation to Display Device," detail the use of stereoscopic 3D technology to let two individual players see different information on the same screen (you might remember that Microsoft has also been working on something similar). Not only that, but the glasses could have earbuds -- for separate audio feeds. Of course, you'd need a 3D display for this to work, and you'd need to wear those silly glasses -- but that's a small price to pay to get rid of the ol' split screen, don't you think? [Warning: PDF source links]
Twin Video camera has two lenses, two mics, one body
Ion Audio, who seem to enjoy doing unconventional work in the electronic peripherals space, are back with a two-way pocket camcorder that records both sides of a conversation, literally. Strapped with pairs of microphones and cameras, it is capable of doing picture-in-picture or split-screen recording, and can selectively switch between the audio streams depending on which side you want to hear at which time. Just skip along past the break and all will be elucidated -- price is not yet specified, but the Twin Video cam should be arriving at some point in the first half of this year.
Corral your desktop windows with SizeUp
I want to make a quick mention regarding one of the most useful utilities I've found in recent days: SizeUp. It allows you to resize and reposition windows using keyboard shortcuts. It's no secret that I like my screen real estate, and making the most of it is a big deal to me. You can sit and resize windows all day, but I'd rather hit a couple of keys and have everything in place. SizeUp offers half-screen (vertical or horizontal) and quarter-screen sizing (easily positionable in any corner), as well as a true Windows-style maximize function. You can also set a custom size for the "Center Window" option, which resizes the window to the specified dimensions and positions it in the center of its current screen. Not the screen you want? The last set of shortcuts lets you jump the window between existing monitors in your setup. The hotkeys are configurable, but the defaults (surprisingly) didn't conflict with any of my extensive collection of shortcut combinations. SizeUp is shareware, but you can pay what you think it's worth (Fair licensing). A suggested price of $9.99US doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me. If it's useful to you, but not that useful, a minimum donation of $2.99US is requested. The maximize function alone is worth that. Developers Irradiated Software also offer a "lite" version called TwoUp which can do the split screen trick on its own, free. Grab a fully-functioning demo of SizeUp at the Irradiated Software website.
InFocus kicks out IN5100 series projectors
If InFocus' earlier duo put you to sleep, don't look to the July-bound IN5100 series to change much. The company's latest snoozer was designed for large-venue installations and packs a native WXGA resolution (XGA on the 5102 / 5106), 4,000 to 5,000 lumens, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, dual stereo speakers and VGA / HDMI 1.3 / 5 BNC / component / S-Video / composite inputs. Yeah, these are pretty bright and all, but we still can't wrap our heads around the $3,499 starting price.
NiGHTS into multiplayer
How about a little splitscreen NiGHTS action? Jeux-France has a bevy of screenshots showing off the two-player mode, and like so many of the screens we've seen from the Sega title, some of them look really great ... while others are, y'know, not. But we're keeping the faith that all will be good when we're floating freely through the skies of Nightopia. You can check out a few more screens after the break, and tons more over at the French site.
Halo 3 split-screen wastes 16:9 HDTV edges
Gamers with HDTVs are often aspect ratio nerds. And a few Halo 3 co-op HDTV players have begun complaining about wasted space in the left and right margins of 16:9 (A.K.A. 1.77:1) screens. The issue is about dividing screen space in single-console games with less than four players. As-is, Halo 3 leaves black margins on the sides of the screen.
Warhawk gets some box art, retail-specific features
What you are looking at right there is the official WarHawk boxart you will see on retail shelves in a few months. IGN got dibs on the glorious cover, but we're not bitter. We still get to see it, after all. In addition to unveiling the art, we've gathered up all the details we currently know about what will be specific for the retail version of the game. Don't ask about prices, though, because we aren't sure. We'd guess the retail version will stay at the relative price of other PS3 titles, with the downloadable version about two-thirds of that price ($59.99 vs. $39.99 in the US).If you take the plunge and buy the retail version, you'll get a headset bundled in the package as well as a bunch of bonus stuff on the Blu-ray disc itself, like behind-the-scenes documentaries and other such things. What's good to notice on the boxart, in addition to knowing these details, is the mention of splitscreen play (under the Multiplayer Only tag). For too long have next-gen games touted online gaming as the crux of their entertainment value, but they forgot people have real friends too and they want to play. WarHawk will apparently address this and we're glad that's finally completely confirmed.
Microsoft researching split-screen desktop software
Microsoft research in India has developed a piece of software that magically doubles the productivity of a single computer with the simple addition of a second keyboard and mouse. Borrowing the concept from video games -- that's the first thing we think of when we see this setup, go figure -- the software effectively splits the screen in two and drops in a second cursor, allowing two users to use the same machine. Although the software is designed to allow two people to work independently of each other, it is possible for the cursor to cross the central boundary which apparently "opens the door on sharing and collaborating with documents." That's funny, because for us this scenario brings us back to the days of trackpad vs. mouse battles with younger siblings on our parents' laptop -- not exactly a "sharing" moment. In a more professional environment the potential for increased productivity is great, and could have a profound impact in regions where access to a computer remains a luxury that only the rich can afford. What with computer technology moving away from number crunching power to more effective hardware multitasking (think dual core CPUs and widescreen monitors), there's no time like the present for this kind of software. We grabbed a couple of shots of the technology in action at Microsoft's TechFest event this year. Check them out here and here.[Via The Raw Feed]
BenQ's SP830 / SP831 DLP projectors hit up split-screens
BenQ's internal quibbles haven't exactly remained behind closed doors, but rather than harp on who's leaving or what division is shutting down next, we'll just focus on the (literally) brighter side of things. The outfit is announcing today a duo of svelte projectors that not only sport TI's DLP technology, but also boast the ability to "receive two source / inputs in order to project two independent visuals with a single attachable lens." Put simply, the SP830 and SP831 can both output split-screen action through a single lens, and apparently, it's all handled with "a simple push of one button." Furthermore, both 720p units feature HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) Detail Enhancement Technology, TI's BrilliantColor, six-color adjustments, 4x digital zoom, uber-quiet operation, 2000:1 contrast ratio, and a 1,366 x 768 native resolution. While the SP830 doesn't appear to differ much from its higher-priced sibling, it does tout "just" 3,500 ANSI lumens while the SP831 pumps out 4,000, and both of these two-faced PJs should soon be hitting the Malaysian market for 9,999.00 MYR ($2,889) and 12,999.00 MYR ($3,755), respectively.[Via Electronista]
