grenade
Latest
'Fortnite's' latest weapon lets you summon air strikes with a grenade
Epic Games has added Air Strikes to the Fortnite arsenal. With the weapon, you can launch a canister of colored smoke into an area and summon a hail storm of fire from above. You'll find the canisters in floor loot, chests, supply drops, vending machines and llamas. Once a canister is launched and comes to rest, 20 missiles will appear about 120 meters above the smoke. Each missile has an explosion radius of 3.5 meters, and each missile deals damage to players and structures.
ICYMI: Latest grenade launcher, modular smart watch and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-332561{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-332561, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-332561{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-332561").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The U.S. Army is more interested than ever in blowing things up with precision, and that's why it's beginning acceptance testing on a smart grenade launcher that can detonate explosives mid-air. The rest of us can get our geek on with the Kickstarter for Blocks modular watch, which has different modules for all kinds of things: Advanced fitness tracking, mobile payments or GPS. And a Kickstarter to house jellyfish in the fanciest way possible is up for a hefty $1,500.
US Army will test a smart grenade launcher that hits hidden targets
After years of work, Orbital ATK (born from Orbital Sciences) is close to delivering a clever weapon that could help American soldiers in very tricky situations. As of early 2016, the US Army will start acceptance testing for the XM25, a smart grenade launcher that can defeat enemies behind cover. In normal use, all you have to do is point at an enemy (up to 1,640 feet away) and let the XM25's laser rangefinder decide when your grenade explodes. If a target is hiding, however, you can dial in extra distance (up to 2,300 feet away) and explode the grenade in mid-air. Troops theoretically don't have to expose themselves to line up a shot -- they just pick a close-enough point and pull the trigger.
SAFFiR: the autonomous, firefighting humanoid robot
It took six years, but at long last, Anna Konda has a formidable firefighting partner. SAFFiR, also known as the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot, is being shaped by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory. As the story goes, it's a humanoid robot that's being engineered to "move autonomously throughout the ship, interact with people, and fight fires, handling many of the dangerous firefighting tasks that are normally performed by humans." Outside of being stoic (and brawny) from tip to tip, it's also outfitted with multi-modal sensor technology for advanced navigation and a sensor suite that includes a camera, gas sensor, and stereo IR camera to enable it to see through smoke. We're told that its internal batteries can keep it cranking for a solid half-hour, while being capable of manipulating fire suppressors and throwing propelled extinguishing agent technology (PEAT) grenades. Wilder still, it'll be able to balance in "sea conditions," making it perfect for killing flames while onboard a ship. Of course, it's also being tweaked to work with a robotic team, giving it undercover powers to eventually turn the flames on the folks that created it. Paranoid? Maybe. But who are we to be too careful?Update: Turns out, the same Dr. Hong that we had on The Engadget Show is responsible for this guy as well. It's the next step in evolution of the CHARLI humanoid, and the two photos seen after the break are credited to RoMeLa: Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory, Virginia Tech.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to include new Decoy grenade and balance tweaks
Officially, Valve hasn't given us much more than a name for Counter-Strike Global Offensive, but unofficially, they've invited a bevy of pro-gamers to the HQ to play it already. G4 got a hold of one of those pros, and Craig "Torbull" Levin from eSports Entertainment Association, has shared some details on the game he saw. It sure sounds a lot like Counter-Strike -- of course there will be new models and animations, but the maps are all the old familiar kind: Dust, Dust2, Inferno, Nuke, and Train. There are some new maps to play on, and new weapons, including a new heavy machine gun, a new range of shotguns specifically for close-up combat, and a Molotov cocktail grenade, expensive and designed for strategically cutting off a certain area on the map. There's another new grenade called a Decoy that sounds cool: It'll send out a burst of gunfire from wherever it's thrown, confusing the enemy team into thinking there's action there. That's still being tweaked (the gunfire might be from specific weapons or just the generic enemy firearms), along with weapons strength and various experiments like giving everyone kevlar at round start, or making the CT defuse kit a special item like the Terrorist bomb. Sounds interesting -- and still very under development. We'll see the game later on this month at PAX, and let you know more then.
Night elf mohawk: Gone!
Thank goodness! Anyone else relieved that this funky device is removed from the game? I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of the big head look. I've been "pitied" many times by random players (and even those in my own guild). Dwarves and mohawks just don't seem to mix. In any case, Crygil has confirmed that the mohawk grenade will not be around any longer. Ever since the grenade became active on servers back in November, I couldn't walk around Dalaran without seeing large heads everywhere. Is this the last time we'll ever see Mr. T plant these grenades in game for players to use? Somehow, I have a hunch that this won't be the last time we'll see mohawks in game.
Mr. T promotes the Mohawk Grenade
digg_url = 'http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/11/16/mr-t-promotes-the-mohawk-grenade/'; Not only is the Mohawk Grenade real and in-game, but Mr. T put it there. That's what we learn in this new commercial, a sequel of sorts to the old "Night Elf Mohawk" joke a long while back. Not only is T (not The T, just T) decked out in a Murloco's Taco's T-shirt, but he shows the in-game item in action. It's how he makes the World of Warcraft look good. I love it -- well done, Blizzard. Great kickoff to the holiday marketing season, and it's awesome that they've got the commercial (which we assume you'll soon see on television) promoting the actual in-game item in a quality way. Sure, The Old Republic and a few other MMOs might be knocking on WoW's door, but who wouldn't want to play a game where you can throw a grenade and make people look like Mr. T? Maybe this is where all those newbies will be coming from. %Gallery-78301% World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
Further weapon balance blogging for Fallen Earth
Realtime guns, knives, grenades, pipes and all sorts of other weapons tend to make for an interesting challenge when it comes to balancing them, which is exactly what the most recent Fallen Earth developer diary discusses. It appears to have been a long road for the developers, but after much play testing and some clever re-categorizing they seem to have come upon a good method.Smart choices like allowing everyone to use grenades (thus giving melee-focused characters a little range) mark a very well thought-out system. Insuring that an sandbox style MMO still have a good sense of structure and meaning is imporatant, because without it everyone simply opts for the winning weapon. It's developer diaries like this that make us excited for upcoming games, which wasn't really necessary for Fallen Earth but helps nonetheless.
Countdown to Wrath giveaway special: Slashdance loot cards
What are you possibly doing up this morning? Didn't you stay up late last night and play Wrath like a normal person? Oh well, since you're up and around, let's give out some free stuff. The good folks at Red Sun Comics (hit them up for all of your comics and collectible needs -- here's their Warcraft stuff) have kindly supplied us with not one but two /slashdance loot cards. Yes, that's right, now there's an item other than the Piccolo that will make your friends dance with joy whether they want to or not.So here's the deal: leave a comment on this post telling us why you're up at this ungodly hour, and we'll pick two lucky winners to nab two different /slashdance loot cards, good for the ingame G.R.E.N.A.D.E. that'll make your friends (or raid, or just random people in the IF bank) dance like maniacs. You can be in anywhere in the world, as long as you play on a US or EU realm (because that's where the codes work).Enter a comment before Saturday night (November 15 at 6pm Eastern), because after that we'll be closing the comments down and your chance to win will be over. And do go check out Red Sun Comics -- they were nice enough to hook you all up, the least you can do is find some cool stuff on their site.
Today's luckiest video: Halo 3 grenade throw
This freak plasma grenade toss by BlackShadowMist earns our nod as the luckiest Halo 3 throw ever. What starts out as a Hail Mary miss turns into a Rube Goldberg-style success. Are you saving amazing clips from the game? Watch the video a few times -- it's short and well worth it -- after the break. [Thanks, Wes]
Anti-projectile net could protect soldiers
We've seen a wide array of devices that tip off the good guys to approaching enemies, hunt down IEDs, and send back live video of opposing camps, but a new patent application lays out plans to construct a specialized net that could actually detonate incoming grenades or rockets before they strike their intended target(s). More specifically, the app calls for a "protection system featuring a flexible packaged net" that could be attached to a military vehicle, which could then be deployed if onboard sensors pick up "incoming threats" such as an RPG. Another perk would be the relatively low cost of manufacturing and the ease of moving from one tank to another, but as these things always go, there's no telling when (or if) we'll see this technology in action. [Via NewScientist]
Sanyo recalls whopping 500,000 phones
Sketchy batteries doing bad things to you and your phone are nothing new. Sanyo has set an interesting new precedent, however, turning a good battery bad with software. Some half million units of their W32SA clamshell for KDDI's network are being sent home for faulty software that can prevent the battery from fully charging. That, in itself, isn't too scary -- but here's the twilight-zone part of it: there have been documented cases where the batteries "have cracked and become deformed." From some faulty software, people, written by the US' favorite cellphone manufacturer, no less. Happily, afflicted handsets can be flashed at the local KDDI shop, but our paranoia is getting the best of us here; could rogue KDDI employees send bogus OTA firmware updates to grenade the phone in your pocket?
