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Bad WiFi forces pro darts players out of at-home matches
At least two pro dart players won't be able to take part in the PDC's Home Tour thanks to poor internet connections.
Universal robot gripper sinks shots, throws darts, makes us feel inadequate (video)
Soon there will be little left for us puny humans. Robots have long since replaced us at most menial tasks, now they're looking to claim our lucrative professional sports contracts. They've already proven their mettle at baseball, basketball and hockey. Now researchers at the University of Chicago and Cornell are getting their coffee-filled balloon bot in on the action -- albeit with slightly less ambitious prey in its sights. Dorm room stoners proficient in NERF basketball, drunken dart fanatics and school yard marble hustlers may all be answering to this mechanical party favor soon enough. Don't believe us? Check out the video after the break. Just hope this guy is on your team in the next round of beer pong.
Darts from the iPhone to the iPad
This is probably the coolest bit of iOS connectivity I've seen so far. KL Dartboard is an iPad app (for US$3.99) that serves as a virtual board for darts thrown by an app called KL Darts ... for the iPhone. So, the idea is that you buy the iPad app and set it up on the wall, and then you download the free iPhone app and connect the two using Bluetooth. Once the setup is complete, the position that you hold and shake the iPhone in determines where the darts land on the iPad's board. What a weird concept. Unfortunately, it's probably a better idea than it actually is a game; the iPhone app requires OS 4, you've got to have both devices, and the reviews on the iPad app say it doesn't really work that well. It's impossible for the iPad to know "where" the iPhone is, so you don't even need to face the screen to throw the darts correctly. Still, I think we'll see more cross-device interaction like this; Chopper 2 is a game that is due out soon, and it allows you to use your iPhone as a controller for the iPad version. I think there are plenty of possibilities like that for developers to play around with. [via MacStories]
Agetec providing Americans with the opportunity to Touch Darts
Sega's Touch Darts was released in Europe last summer, but Sega didn't make any sign of releasing it in the U.S. Agetec has stepped in and picked up the publishing rights for the game, planning to release it next month. Agetec really knows how to spot easy localization jobs -- first LOL, and now this, which was already in English.Touch Darts is exactly what it sounds like: darts, played on the touchscreen. It is not a game about poking your fingers, although that would be totally hilarious and weird. But despite just being a game about regular darts, it sounds feature-rich: it includes four modes: tournament, challenge, quickplay, and multiplayer, with four-player single-card gameplay. Challenge mode is dart-tossing minigames that provide variations on the basic rules of darts. We're pretty sure they won't, but we'd be amused if Agetec planned to release the dart stylus along with the game.%Gallery-22808%[Via press release]
Pro darts player blames poor performance on Wii
It's been a rollercoaster few days for professional darts player James Wade. In the kind of Wii-related story the mainstream press totally laps up, Wade got a Wii from Santa, and spent Christmas Day throwing haymakers and uppercuts in the boxing game that comes with Wii Sports. All of which was great fun, we imagine, if not exactly the perfect build-up for a PDC World Darts Championship match the very next day. Fortunately, Wade eked out a narrow victory, though confessed that he had lacked "his usual suppleness," and put it down to his encounter with Wii boxing.In its report, the Telegraph describes the Wii-induced injury as a "worrying first," though they clearly haven't heard about Wii elbow, or the one about the baseball player and Guitar Hero. The message is clear then, kids: do your stretches![Via Codename Revolution]
Tasuke prepares another round of 1500 DS Spirits games
Just three months after the last round of 1500 DS Spirits games, Japanese publisher Tasuke is getting ready to launch another barrage of cheapo games at the Japanese public. It's all the kind of stuff you'd expect from a budget game line, too: Vol. 6 Trump, Vol. 7 Chess, Vol. 8 Darts, and Vol. 9 Futari Uchi Mahjongg (Two-player Mahjongg) are the newest offerings in the line. While we supported Tasuke last time in the battle with D3 over cheap games, we find ourselves feeling that D3's weirder offerings, like driving education and, on the PS2, The Daibijin, make their Simple series line much more interesting overall than Tasuke's vanilla lineup. D3's got that kind of stuff too, but they also have the hilarious games. To Tasuke's credit, the character art (which is shared in all four games) is nice, with shading reminiscent of Falcoon's work on recent King of Fighters games.We'd like to see this kind of thing in the U.S. regardless of our lack of interest in these specific games. We have cheap games, but we don't really have games that self-identify as cheap.
USB dartboard trains future champs
Those looking to get in a game of darts without having to make their way to the local bar will want to check out PC Darts -- a USB powered dartboard and software package. In addition to keeping score for up to four players and providing computerized opponents, the software features statistical analysis tools and practice settings for aspiring world champions, while more casual gamers can just click on "party mode," and heave-ho away. Glory isn't cheap at ¥31,290 ($252), but getting on ESPN 2 at midnight takes sacrifice, people.[Via Everything USB]
Touch Darts with ... a dart
Some promotional items don't require much thought at all. The game's about darts, and the system uses a stylus, so here's a stylus that looks like a dart. You can pretend you're poking a dart board very softly! The real fun here is using this stylus with other games. You can pretend you're being a total sadist to your Nintendogs, for example. And Dream Skincare? More like Dream Acupuncture. Or, if you prefer, Dream Shredding Someone's Face with a Dart.[Via GoNintendo]
Leaked UK retail list raises questions
Nanostray 2 ... on Wii? Orb, Thorn and Midnight all coming this year? When they leak retail information sheets in the UK, they do it right. Wii UK got their hands on a retail list (origin and destination unknown) with few concrete dates and a lot of unexpected, and even unknown games, as well as a few old favorites we're always happy to hear about. Hit the jump for the full list, but keep in mind that these are UK titles and games ... and since there's not much source information, you might want to keep a few grains of salt handy. But it's okay to get a little excited. We won't tell anyone.
Something for the darts fans
If you love darts in Clubhouse Games, or even -- gasp -- in the real world, then the idea of a DS darts game may pique your interest. Sega has just announced Touch Darts, which is set for a summer release. The game features a career mode (how much story do we need here?) and the only other thing it needs: multiplayer. Beyond that, all we could possibly hope for is a special mode dedicated to hitting not the dartboards, but those freaky caricatures. That's probably not going to happen, though.
Sega wants us to Touch Darts
Sega recently announced a new title for the Nintendo DS with a painful name: Touch Darts. The game features cartoon-style visuals and several gameplay modes, including single player competitions and tournaments, multiplayer options, and the inevitable mini-game collection. Touch Darts (which appears to feature Richard Nixon, if the screenshot to the right is accurate) will be released this summer to masochists around the country.Let's hope Sega doesn't continue the bar-room-theme with their next game, Take This Cue Stick and Shove it Up Your Ass.
Televisions, beware -- here comes Wii darts
Before people started crying because they'd tossed their Wiimotes into their televisions, darts on the Wii almost seemed viable. Now it just seems like a whole series of accidents waiting to happen, and yet it looks like someone's going to do it anyway. While this one definitely comes from the rumor patrol at NeoGAF, it seems pro dart player Raymond van Barneveld knows something we don't about an amorphous Nintendo dart game. Hmm. A true sucessor to Wii Sports, perhaps? We'll wait to toss the confetti (or our Wiimotes), but it's an interesting rumor. One forum poster did make the very relevant point that one could simply, y'know, buy a dartboard, but if darts came as part of a pack, we could perhaps stand to foot that price.
