table tennis
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German robot arm learns ping-pong as it plays humans, might rival its masters
We like to tell ourselves that learning by doing is the best strategy for improving our skills, but we seldom apply that philosophy to our robots; with certain exceptions, they're just supposed to know what to do from the start. Researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt disagree and have developed algorithms proving that robot arms just need practice, practice, practice to learn complex activities. After some literal hand-holding with a human to understand the basics of a ping-pong swing, a TUD robot can gradually abstract those motions and return the ball in situations beyond the initial example. The technique is effective enough that the test arm took a mere hour of practice to successfully bounce back 88 percent of shots and compete with a human. That's certainly better than most of us fared after our first game. If all goes well, the science could lead to robots of all kinds that need only a small foundation of code to accomplish a lot. Just hope that the inevitable struggle between humans and robots isn't settled with a ping-pong match... it might end badly.
Chinese researchers create ping-pong playing robots, trash talk still needs work
Wu and Kong are the latest additions to a pantheon of robot athletes. Sure, their eye-mounted motion-tracking cameras may not make for the most emotive games you'll ever see, but we can't help but be impressed by all those precision shots. The robot twins were developed at China's Zhejiang University and, we'll admit, compared to getting hustled at pool or being struck out by a baseball robot, there's something a bit friendlier about a game of table tennis with our future oppressors. You can marvel at the duo's bionic backspin in action after the break. We're massive Wu fans.
Hyper Ping Pong is like real table tennis, only without the ball, table or opponent (video)
Microsoft and Nintendo might already have the motion-based table tennis simulation market locked down, but there's one thing their consoles need that the new Hyper Ping Pong paddle doesn't: a TV. That's right, this motion sensor-equipped bat lets you play without the superfluous need for something to look at -- it comes with a speaker that plays back the sound of a rally and all you need to do is "go with the rhythm." A button integrated into the handle lets you put a little extra sauce on your volleys and accurate timing will win you points, awesome sound effects, and the admiration of all your friends. The Hyper Ping Pong kit will start selling in Japan this October for ¥2,000 ($25).
Modder turns candy canisters into gaming console, retro Pong paddles (video)
This is the second time this week we've covered a modder getting an old-school game to run with the help of some unexpected hardware. And arguably, it's the simpler of the two tales. A fellow named John Graham-Cumming fashioned a game console out of little more than a pair of metal canisters, an Arduino Pro board, and a potentiometer -- all so he could play Pong on his TV. The rig (cutely dubbed the Cansole) actually consists of two controllers, with the secondary one housing just a potentiometer. The first has one, too, but also houses the Arduino Pro, along with a battery, A/V controls, and a button for selecting and firing in the game. Et voilà! 1970s arcade-style tennis for two. For a 90-second nostalgia break, head on past the break to see these vintage-looking paddles in action.
Shinobii's table tennis bat for Wii hitting shelves soon for $70
Remember that prototype Wii tablet tennis controller that was reviewed (and adored) recently? You know -- the one that had no official maker and no official release date? Turns out that very device is made by Shinobii Technologies, and the outfit is finally coming clean with a bona fide version that's suitable for public release. The TT Champion Bat is said to be a true 1:1 replica of an actual table tennis paddle in both size and weight, and the electronics required to interact with the Wii console are all integrated; in other words, this is your Wiimote when playing a tennis or ping pong title. There's also a rechargeable battery within to keep things humming along, and best of all, it'll soon be available online and at traditional video game retailers throughout the EU and North America for $69.99. Hello, stocking stuffer. %Gallery-105235%
Wii Ping Pong paddle reviewed, loved, unavailable for purchase
We've seen our share of downright silly controllers for the Wii (we're looking at you, CTA), and we were expecting more of the same, but we'll be darned if no less an authority than self-avowed Wii Sports Table Tennis addict Paul Govan (from Gamepeople.co.uk) hasn't given the Wii Sports Table Tennis Bat high marks all around: it's weighted like a proper paddle, the build quality is decent, comes with a battery and a charger and, most importantly, it "replicates all the features of [the] Wiimote and MotionPlus perfectly." Unfortunately, the reviewer states that this is a prototype from an as yet unnamed Chinese manufacturer, and has no idea when they might become available. Way to harsh our buzz, man.
First Look: Ping Pong Battle adds video-out, Killerspin
A few weeks ago, when we first looked at the hybrid iPhone/iPad game Ping Pong Battle, it wasn't quite ready for prime time; one of the marquee features, video-out from the 'table' iPad, wasn't finalized. With an update to the apps due to hit the App Store sometime today, PPB achieves that milestone and adds some key table tennis industry branding. PPB delivers a ping pong experience by making the iPhones into motion-sensitive 'paddles' and putting the table onto the iPad screen. Building a hybrid game for iDevices is tricky business. First of all, your market is self-limiting to those folks who have both iPhones and an iPad -- although in the case of PPB, you can play in 'finger mode' with just the iPad if you want. Secondly, you have to make sure the devices can talk to each other consistently; the PPB developers at LIME found that if one iPhone was using WiFi for connectivity with the iPad, and the other was using Bluetooth, things didn't go well. The update now warns players to pick one connectivity method or the other for all three devices, and to turn off the unused service; the developers have discussed this limitation with Apple engineering and they are looking for a workaround. With this version, the PPB paddles allow you to put spin on the ping pong ball, and give you feedback ("too soft!") on your hits. In my testing, I got the best results by shaking the iPhone gently on the swing, which you time by listening to the audio cue of the ball sailing towards you. Practice mode lets you play volleys against the computer opponent, but once you get another human player involved the fun really begins. You can also pick a custom table or choose from a list of available paddles. It's not particularly easy to get the hang of PPB, but with the video-out enabled (VGA only) and a big screen in play, it's got some real party potential -- that's probably why Killerspin is teaming up with LIME to put some table tennis muscle behind it. Killerspin is an up-and-coming US table tennis equipment brand, which aims to bring "youth and innovation to one of the world's most beautiful sports, table tennis." The app will soon feature KS-specific paddles and content. Ping Pong Battle for iPad is US$4.99; the iPhone paddle apps are free but don't do much without the mothership. If you've got the gear, and you're interested in seeing a tech-demo curiosity evolve into a playable, engaging game, check it out.
Prince of Persia, Brothers in Arms, Skate 2 join Games on Demand
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a lot of new Games on Demand. We've got three new ones this week and a price drop. As for the new titles, we've got a platformer, military shooter and hardcore skating simulation in Prince of Persia, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway and Skate 2, respectively. Prince of Persia and Skate 2 each run $19.99 in the US, while Brothers in Arms will set you back $29.99. Meanwhile, Rockstar's Table Tennis has seen a 10 dollar price drop to $19.99. As always, pricing and availability vary by region. Xbox.com: Add Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway to your Xbox 360 download queue ($29.99) Xbox.com: Add Prince of Persia to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99) Xbox.com: Add Skate 2 to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99) Xbox.com: Add Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99)
Hands-on: PlayStation Move's Sports Champions
Click for the gallery of Champions You might think it derisive to call Sports Champions (working title) the Wii Sports of PlayStation Move, but it's really intended as a compliment. Although the collection of sports-themed games are relatively simple, they adequately highlight the Move's motion-sensing capabilities and, most importantly, how they're distinguished from those offered by the Wii (something that another Move game, The Shoot, did not do). Like Wii Sports, Sports Champions seems good at selling you on the hardware's abilities -- and what they might mean in more elaborate games. The Gladiator Duel sub-game is a simple affair of blocking and attacking (your character moves towards the opponent automatically), but the Move will take into account the height of your swings and the positioning of your shield (generated by a second Move controller). It'll also sense distance -- if you don't hold your weapon arm back, it'll swing into your own shield to deleterious effect. Aside from swinging and blocking, you can also move both arms upwards to activate a jumping attack, or shuffle the controllers to the side in order to roll out of the way from an incoming strike. Basic stuff, but natural enough to not come across as a tacked-on gesture. Table Tennis was more promising, and easily bested the Wii's equivalent. Your paddle's angle and area of exposure is almost instantly determined by how you're holding the controller. The Move's weight, coupled with the game's quick response and predictable physics, made every swing feel ... just right. It'll be a shame if a table tennis game turns out to be one of the best launch games for Move, but at least it'll stand out as one of the best of its ilk. That's a win, right? %Gallery-87945%
Adafruit's Monochron retro clock now on sale, changes time with every match point
You might have the vaguest of memories seeing this piece before -- it made a cameo in an Engadget Show segment -- but here we are with a much clearer picture of Adafruit Industries' Monochron clock, now also on sale! As is its modus operandi, the timepiece is open source... but should you plan on sticking to default, you'll be gifted with a great retro-style Table Tennis for two. The best part? The time changes whenever the clock "loses" -- something tells us that gives one side at least a 59-to-1 advantage. See for yourself after the break.
Wii Sports Resort features ... golf and table tennis?
Nintendo of Japan's new commercials for the Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort use some very slick high-speed camera footage to illustrate the realistic motions used in, among other things, table tennis and golf. New in-game footage found in the commercial reveals that two of Resort's new minigames will be retreads of things seen in previous titles -- table tennis was covered in Wii Play, and golf, of course, appeared in the original Wii Sports. Nintendo must be very confident that MotionPlus improves these games significantly. We still don't know how many games will be included in Resort, but if two of them are going to be encore presentations, there had better be a lot of games. We totally understand Nintendo wanting to take a second crack at table tennis, we must admit, because Wii Play's version is not where it's at.%Gallery-27709%[Via N-Europe]
World Table Tennis Championships get HD coverage -- can it get any better?
You know high-def is well on its way to "arriving" when the World Junior Table Tennis Championships secure HD coverage, don't you? While the vast majority of you will likely laugh this off as some sort of promotional stunt, we can't help but be pleased at what this could signal about HD adoption overseas. For the first time in the history of the tournament, viewers in Spain with access to the high-def version of Canal+ will be able to see the team and individual finals in astounding clarity. Negotiations are currently underway to get the HD feed beamed out to more nations, and even if you're completely disinterested in the sport, you should probably hope that pans out.
VC Monday Madness: WiiWare and VC team up yet again
Now, this is something we can get used to. Both WiiWare titles and Virtual Console titles releasing together, side-by-side? Totally awesome, if you ask us. And, on top of it, both of Nintendo's services are hooking us all up with some solid downloads today. With it being a holiday and all, we're glad Nintendo is providing us with some stuff to do during our downtime. Virtual Console games available for download this week: City Connection (NES, 1 - 2 players, 500 Wii Points) Metal Slug (NEOGEO, 1 - 2 players, 900 Wii Points) WiiWare games available for download this week: Dr. Mario Online Rx (1 - 4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Family Table Tennis (1 - 2 players, 500 Wii Points) As always, be sure to stop back here later for our video wrap-up of today's Virtual Console releases, as well as a review for Family Table Tennis. For those of you interested in Dr. Mario Online Rx's features, give our review a read. %Gallery-23089% %Gallery-23707%
Because playing Table Tennis with a fake racquet attachment would be silly
You weren't actually thinking about playing Wii Play's table tennis the Wü's Ping Pong Game with a tennis racquet peripheral, were you?Pssssh. Come on, now. Why would you do that when all the cool kids (read: not cool kids) are using these? After all, how can you go wrong with a "Ping-Pong Bat," which are currently being sold over at DealExtreme for the random price of $16.14.We'll give $10 to the person who guesses the next peripheral to come out on the Wii.* We're betting on some Wiimote maracas for the upcoming Samba de Amigo, since Sega just announced they won't be making any.*We won't actually give you $10 if you guess right, you silly rabbit.[Via Technabob]
No surprise: online not included in Table Tennis
By now, we should have learned never to expect online multiplayer, or really, any online capabilities at all in Wii games, and yet still we hope. Is an online tennis-type sports game too much to ask for? Apparently, yes; Rockstar has confirmed that their Wii version of Table Tennis will not feature online multiplayer.So what gives? Why is Rockstar's Table Tennis port lacking the online mode that graced Xbox Live? "All the focus is going into making it the most advanced control system on the Wii," said Rockstar reps, in what has to be the most disappointing explanation of the month. It's not like the two are mutually exclusive. The real question here is who's at fault -- Nintendo or Rockstar? -- but we may never know if it's the Wii's basic online infrastructure or lazy developers looking to put out ports as quickly as possible and using controls and "family-oriented" play as an excuse to avoid extra work.The upcoming Top Spin Tennis doesn't look like it's set to feature online play, either; every time we see the game mentioned, the focus is on that "family-oriented" play, which, in our experiences, means forget connecting with anyone outside your home. We may be waiting a long time to take some sort of tennis or table tennis game online at this rate.
Rockstar presents: Table Tennis screens
Well, these screens certainly pick us up, considering we were downright appalled at the first footage of the game. Now, these screens, well they tell a very different story. From a graphical standpoint, we are very much digging what we see, but with a game like this, until we can get it into our hands and give it a good play, we won't know either way. Still, we're excited again!See also: Table Tennis motion sensing explained
Rockstar Table Tennis backhands over to Wii
The nightmare of living in a Wii Play world of ping pong is almost to an end as Rockstar has announced that their Xbox 360 darling, Table Tennis, will be making its way over to Nintendo's world of waggle. As light on information as it gets, Rockstar's release is but a simple announcement and assurance that this will take -- say it along with us now -- full advantage of the Wii remote and its unique features. Okay, Rockstar founder Sam Houser really said, "a new audience can now experience a game that is beautifully designed and impossible to put down," but we know what he meant. With a release planned for this Fall, we can only hope that we have enough time to make our way over to Japan and learn those secret paddle positions we've heard so much about.
Wii Warm Up: Take-Two's Nintendo priority
Take-Two Interactive has been in the news a lot lately. We've seen everything from trailers for GTA IV and the company's very public floundering, but it's the latest that's of particular note to Nintendo fans: Take-Two has stated, quite firmly, that they are committed to producing games for Nintendo.Great! Welcome aboard the good ship Nintendo, where we welcome third party developers. But what will you bring us? Chairman Strauss Zelnick keeps stressing Grand Theft Auto -- even to calling it the company's "James Bond," but will we see a GTA on the Wii? We want specifics! Manhunt 2 isn't enough. If we can't get an original new gen game of our own, what about a port of Rockstar's Table Tennis? That's one port we might not complain about. Anything else you'd like to see Take-Two turn out?
New Platinum Hits games coming in March
The Gamerscore Blog guys are confirming a few games that will be headed to the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits lineup on March 16th in North America. If you didn't know, the Platinum Hits program is a list of games that have been singled out to retail for $29.99, because they "supposedly" achieved greatness during their lifetime. We may not always agree with certain games that come to the Platinum Hits, but nobody can disagree with the cheaper pricetag. Below is a list of games that will become Platinum Hits in North America. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Burnout Revenge Call of Duty 2 Dead or Alive 4 Fight Night Round 3 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Top Spin 2 Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis
Wii Play videos
It must be video day around here. This time, it's snippets from Wii Play, courtesy of IGN, where they have a load of new movies from the successor to Wii Sports. We've included two after the jump -- the crazy cow racing and a somewhat lackuster round of table tennis. We're really dying to see a good long volley, but it looks like we may have to wait until Wii Play is nestled in our own Wii. Oh well! Until then ... videos! Check 'em out after the jump.
