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Nyko, NVIDIA out pair of PlayPad controllers for TegraZone gaming
If anything's giving gaming juggernauts like Nintendo and Sony reason to look over their shoulders, it's the recent uptick in mobile gaming. And much to those titans' chagrin, Nyko's come to stir the pot. Announced just today, the accessory maker's outing a new line of wireless controllers made specifically for TegraZone titles. The peripherals, co-developed with NVIDIA, come in two distinct sizes: the PlayPad Pro for more traditional gaming with its dual analog controllers, d-pad and array of shoulder and face buttons, and the diminutive PlayPad with its dual analog sliders, carrying case and foldable stand for a truer portable experience. Though both controllers are designed for use with optimized Tegra 2 or 3 titles, legacy games will also be supported via the accessory maker's free Playground app, which will also allow for customized layouts, as well as pre-sets for top titles on devices running Android 3.0 and up. No pricing or concrete release information's been made available at the moment, with the company mentioning only a Fall launch for later this year. We'll be sure to have a hands-on coming in the hours ahead, but for now, content yourself with the presser below.
IRL: gfxCardStatus, Nyko Charge Base 3 for PS3 and the OG iPad
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Different strokes for different folks. While Darren may have long since sworn off tablets as productivity machines, our very own Billy Steele (a designer by trade, don'tcha know) has been using one to workshop projects with clients. For Darren, anyway, productivity means having a laptop with a discrete GPU at the ready -- except for when the GPU drains his battery life, which is where an app called gfxCardStatus comes in. Rounding things out, we've got Jason Hidalgo talking up the different ways he's attempted to charge his needy PS3 controllers. All that and more after the break.
Nyko's PlayStation Vita speaker stand goes on sale for $30, Power Grip still MIA
The PlayStation Vita may not have the electric longevity to replace your portable music player, but Nyko figures there's no good reason it can't take up the role of rocking your bedroom. The accessory outfit's stereo speaker charging dock for the Sony's fledgling handheld hasn't changed much since we saw it at CES, save for the fact that it's available now. $30 turns your Vita into the most overpowered alarm clock (assuming you download the upcoming app from the PSN store) your nightstand has ever seen. What of the PS Vita Power Grip? A Nyko representative tell us it's on the way, but doesn't have anything to announce at this time. Read on for the charging dock's official press release.
Nyko Kindle Fire power case, Vita speaker stand hands-on
When you've got a bad case of the short-battery life blues, Nyko, it seems, is almost always around to augment your troubles away. We hoped to drop by the outfit's CES booth to see if it's upcoming Vita Power Grip could do for Sony's next generation portable as it did for Nintendo's 3DS, but we were told that the grip wasn't quite ready for prime-time. Instead, we got a look at a pair of Nyko speaker stands for the PlayStation Vita and the Kindle Fire, as well as a battery powered case for Amazon's slate. The PSV's speaker stand is what you'd expect -- an iPod dock for the PlayStation Vita -- but the Kindle Fire varient is a bit more substantial, packing a onboard batter not for recharging the tablet, but for amplifying the speakers. The Kindle power case is interesting too, not only does the it promise to double your Amazonian slab's battery life, but it also relocates the device's power button to the front. Sound like your kind of design revision? Hit the break for our hands-on video.
Nyko shows off PS Vita accessories at CES 2012
Nyko's showcasing its latest line of accessories at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, and we're sad to report nothing there is as insane as the Nyko Zoom Case. The most exciting item at first glance is the Power Grip for PS Vita, pictured above. It promises to triple battery life for Sony's upcoming handheld -- and considering what Nyko did for 3DS battery life, we're willing to look past the ugly appendages. Other Vita accessories include a speaker stand and an all-in-one case, charger and USB cable combo. In addition to that, there's a fanny pack to hold games (why?) and a battery pack for the Kindle Fire. Images of each item can be found in our gallery below; a price list is available past the jump.%Gallery-143886%
Nyko drags Yo Gabba Gabba to CES, unveils PS Vita, Kindle Fire accessories
Nyko may be hitting Sin City's premier electronics trade show with a Yo Gabba Gabba! alarm clock in tow, but the outfit's PS Vita and Kindle Fire accessories are just a hair more enticing. First up is a Vita flavored follow up to Nyko's line of portable gaming battery packs, the PS Vita Power Grip. This $25 rechargeable battery pack promises to triple the battery life of your pocket PlayStation, and tacks on a pair of ergonomic controller grips, to boot. The outfit is also launching an accessory rich "Armor Kit" for the new handheld, an iPod-like speaker stand and a slew of assorted accessories ranging from USB chargers to game card holders. Kindle Fire owners will be happy to hear that their lightweight tablet is getting hit with the same assortment of accessories, including a speaker stand, an assortment of charging accessories and even its very own battery life-extending Power Case. You'll find the full press release after the break -- in case you really need to know more about that Yo Gabba Gabba! clock radio / charging dock.
Nyko Power Grip review
There have been more than a few third-party responses to the Nintendo 3DS' notably short battery life, from grips to clips, to full-on battery replacements. Despite their best efforts, these products still fall short of making the fledgling handheld international flight-ready, leaving globetrotting gamers with idle thumbs. Can't we do better? Nyko thinks so, and promises to triple the battery life of a standard 3DS with its latest accessory, the Nyko Power Grip. Other products have boasted double, but three times the play time? Now we're interested. We gave the Grip a run for its money -- read on if you want to know if it is worth yours. %Gallery-139504%
Nyko Zoom for Kinect hands-on
Microsoft's next Xbox 360 Dashboard update may be packing enough deep Kinect integration to make your inner Anderton tingle with glee, but it won't do you much good if you live in a shoebox apartment, cramped dorm, or happen to own a couch. For all of its fun tricks, the Xbox's depth sensor is woefully farsighted, and doesn't play nice if you stand too close. What's a motion loving, spatiality challenged gamer to do? Well, we've heard of one option. Nyko announced the Zoom for Kinect quite some time ago, making lofty promises of reducing the sensor's minimum required play distance by up to 40 percent. It performed notably well when we gave it a whirl at E3, but with Redmond's Kinect heavy Dashboard redesign just around the corner, we thought we'd give it a second look. %Gallery-137073%
Nyko Zoom for Kinect available now [update]
The Nyko Zoom is a lens attachment for the Xbox 360 Kinect that simply, snugly connects over the front of the device. The $30 peripheral, which is available now, makes it so that players can stand about 40 percent closer to the Kinect. In other words, it allowed those with cramped, furnished living spaces, like most of the Joystiq team, to get their Kinect on. If you don't need the Zoom for space-saving purposes, don't bother getting it. It won't help if you've already got ample area. It basically works by squishing and widening the playing field so, where a single-player game used to work optimally at about seven feet (nine feet for two players), it now functions well at four feet (six feet for two players). The playing field now ends at around eight feet with the Zoom, instead of ten feet without. Games we tested (Dance Central, Your Shape and Kinect Adventures) worked as intended with the lens on. An awkward side-effect of the lens is that it does create what appears like dead space around the perimeter of your feedback screen (viewable on the dashboard and in some games), but if your body moves into those spaces it will still be recognized. The Zoom also creates slight distortions in the player's silhouette; again, the system still recognizes bodies and creates the correct vector skeleton of the player, it's more an issue of just noticing that it "doesn't look right," instead of it actually affecting games. If you live in cramped quarters and the Nyko Zoom will let you properly play Kinect (or just avoid moving the furniture around to do so), the attachment is worth the investment. Update: Although the lens did work for us with the games we tested, we are receiving and reading feedback that is making us uncomfortable about recommending this product. At this time, we will simply say that the Nyko Zoom is available and results vary.
Nyko's $30 Zoom for Kinect now shipping to tiny-roomed gamers worldwide
Kinect ownership means you've got to keep a good ten square feet of space totally free to play in, and that's nearly impossible for many inner-city, bedroom and dorm-room gamers. Fortunately for them, Nyko has developed a solution so simple it's positively genius -- clip-on lenses that reduce the distance the Kinect can see, bringing players closer to the TV. After the break you'll find a video and press release -- but more importantly, the Nyko Zoom is available right now for $29.99 in all good retailers, and some of the bad ones too, probably. %Gallery-133645%
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: gaming
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we're getting our game on -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Let's be honest, balancing coursework with recreation is just as important as maintaining a balanced food diet -- perhaps even more. After you spend countless hours hitting the books, cramming for tests, and writing papers, you're just going to need something to turn your brain to mush. Don't worry, we have just the thing: video games. It doesn't matter how many midterms you have, we're sure we can find something to help you slack off. Of course, it's not going to be easy; you'll have to wait until next semester (at least) to get your hands on the PlayStation Vita, but that doesn't mean that you don't have options now. Jump past the break -- we can probably help you find something to get you through mid-terms with your sanity intact. Don't want to shell out cash to have fun this semester? Enter our back to school sweepstakes! Simply leave a comment below for a chance to win, and drop by our giveaway page for more details.
Nyko Zoom potentially delayed one month [update]
Look honey, we know you're anxious to start waving your arms around, but your Kinect might need a little more time to get over its fear of intimacy. We know you were hoping the Nyko Zoom, the close-encounters enabling Kinect lens cover, would bridge the gap between you two. We know you've been looking forward to that August 13 release date with bated breath, but it looks like you're going to have to wait a little longer. According to Amazon and Gamestop listings for the product, the peripheral-peripheral's launch has been pushed back until September 13. We've reached out to Nyko for confirmation, but at the moment it looks like your tiny dormroom will remain Kinectimals-free for another month. Your Kinect loves you, it really does, it just needs its space right now, you know? Update: We've heard back from Nyko, and things are exactly as they seem: "Due to overwhelming demand from consumers and retailers we're increasing our initial production run and pushing the launch date back accordingly to ensure that all our partners are adequately supplied on launch day." [Thanks, Sacra!]
Nyko Zoom gives space-limited Kinect users more room on August 23
Maybe you're one of the lucky few who have plenty of space where 65-inch televisions are barely big enough to outfit your palatial estate. If so, we hate you (not really). Or perhaps you're like us at Engadget HQ where our city apartments are barely big enough for our Nabaztags. If so, Nyko has a $29 device coming August 23 called the Zoom that'll attach to your Kinect sensor to reduce the amount of flail-space required by about 40 percent. That translates to just four feet of distance from your Kinect. How does it do it? With lenses that refocus the sensors, so it has no power requirements. Call them glasses for your Kinect without the jabs from your classmates because they can't see you playing Kinect Adventures anyway, trooper.
Nyko Zoom blows up your Kinect space on Aug. 23
Whether it's due to an unspoken social fragility, or simply a disdain for your odorous pit stains, the Kinect simply doesn't want you anywhere near its personal space. Most of you don't mind backing off, but even the most spartan living room might not allow for enough distance between bodies and the motion-sensing eye. (In fact, most spartan living rooms see players plummeting into a paved, cylindrical abyss after they take a step back.) Enter: Nyko Zoom. Launching on August 23 for $30, Nyko's clip-on lens claims to enable Kinect games within 40% less space, essentially fooling the sensor into thinking you're way over there when you're RIGHT HERE. Joystiq's got quite a few cramped gaming caves between its writers, so we'll be testing the Zoom's big talk as soon as we get our hands on some hardware. It's weird to think that amongst all the silly Kinect bits and bobs (including those that physically bob), we might finally find some use in the one that turns the camera into Mr. Magoo, cosplaying as Sam Fisher.
Hands-on with Nyko's Zoom Kinect and extended battery packs for the 3DS
We gave you a glimpse of Nyko's 2011 accessories lineup earlier this week, and today we got some quality time with the company's gear at E3 2011. We tried out Zoom Kinect, a set of lenses for Microsoft's favorite sensor bar that lets those residing in diminutive domiciles be the controller without rearranging their furniture. The add-on worked flawlessly when we gave it a go on Kinect Adventures -- Kinect had no trouble tracking our movements even though we were a few feet closer to the sensor than recommended. Zoom Kinect is slated for an August 16th release and will cost $29.99, a paltry sum compared to the price of buying a bigger living room. But wait, there's more! See our impressions of Nyko's other new products after the break. %Gallery-125855%
Seen@E3: Nyko's last Wii Party Station
Nyko has "the last Wii Party Station on Earth" working its booth at E3. Like that band with a few minor hits that you see years later at Six Flags, the party station is a shell of its former glory. When we first saw the device in 2007, it was gloriously lit in blue, holding sodas and providing chips. Now, after missing its big break, the device is dark, lonely and generally ignored. It's still working, though, holding a couple bottles of water, a few Nyko Wiimotes and two pieces of candy when we saw it. Even the Nyko rep said with some sadness, "It should be glowing and providing us a bounty of chips." As for what Nyko is actually showing this year, check out the 2011 lineup. %Gallery-125372%
Nyko shows off 'Zoom for Kinect' and 'Play Clock for 3DS' at E3
Nyko is showing off gadgets and gizmos aplenty at E3 this year - sadly, the Wii Party Station won't be one of them (and still isn't slated for production). The company's E3 2011 lineup does include accessories like the "Zoom for Kinect," a clip-on lens which supposedly allows those with smaller living spaces to use the Kinect, reducing the distance required by "up to 40%." For 3DS owners, Nyko has the Shock n' Rock cradle, which offers two times the battery life and four powered speakers, along with vibration feedback. The company is also showing off the Game Boost, an accessory that adds an extra hour or two of battery life. There's also the Power Grip, which supposedly adds three times the battery without removing the device's power. Most extravagantly, there's the Play Clock for 3DS. A combination: charging dock, alarm clock and powered speaker system. There's also a line-in port for connecting your MP3 player of choice. It's actually pretty nifty, depending on what the final price ends up being. Pricing and release dates are still unconfirmed for all the products, but all of the items should be available in time for the holidays. %Gallery-125372%
Nyko cures Kinect's farsightedness, brings bountiful battery life and alarm clock capability to the 3DS
E3 2011 is upon us, and you know what that means, a heaping helping of new gaming gear from Nyko. Zoom for Kinect is a set of clip-on specs that lets you get 40 percent closer to the sensor bar with no loss of function -- so the studio apartment set can get in on the gesture gaming craze. Nyko's Play Clock is a charging dock for Nintendo's 3DS that doubles as an alarm clock, because you always wanted to turn your 3DS into an alarm clock. Nintendo's new handheld could definitely use some longer battery life, however, so the company's also rolling out three new extended battery packs for the 3DS. There's the Shock n' Rock that brings thrice the juice, "added vibration feedback," and four speakers to your personal gaming party, while the Power Grip is an ergonomic external battery that also triples the 3DS' battery life. Lastly, the Game Boost battery simply snaps on for an extra hour or two of gameplay. Prices and availability remain unsaid, but there's eye candy in the gallery below and PR's after the break. %Gallery-125407%
April Fools: Nyko offers 3D glasses for 3DS
For those of you who find glasses-free 3D unnatural, Nyko (doesn't actually) have a solution: 3D glasses for use with the 3DS. Featuring "Lens-less is More" technology, the $100 frames accurately bring the 3D movie experience home -- at least the part of the experience that involves wearing giant, stupid glasses. The April Fools' Day joke on the Nyko website acted as a lead-in for a Facebook contest, in which fans were asked to send in pictures of their own useless 3D glasses. The prize was a free Charge Base/Power Pak+ package -- a product which, unlike these glasses, has been proven by a reliable authority to have a function. [Thanks, Mike]
Nyko Power Pack+ and Charge Base for Nintendo 3DS review
When we reviewed the Nintendo 3DS (both times) there were some things we liked and others we didn't, but one thing stood out as a true flaw: the battery life. Three to four hours on a charge just doesn't cut it when portable game systems are traditionally known for shrugging off entire international flights. The 3DS would struggle with a puddle-jumper. Now, Nyko says it has a fix, and have released a battery backpack that promises twice the life of the stock console. Does it deliver? Not quite, but close. %Gallery-120292%
