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Artificial corneas could save eyesight
While there's been no shortage of research surrounding the saving of one's eyesight, the EU-funded CORNEA project has now developed an artificial cornea that is showing promise in trials. Reportedly, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam and the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Regensburg have created a device that is "based on a commercially available polymer which absorbs no water and allows no cells to grow on it." Put simply, the cornea implant can "firmly connect with the natural part of the cornea, while the center remains free of cells and therefore clear." Apparently, early versions have already been successfully placed in the eyes of rabbits, and if ongoing testing goes smoothly, they'll be headed for humans as early as next year.
Eye of Judgment priced $69.99, includes PlayStation Eye
On October 23, Sony will unleash its foray into digital card battles, the Eye of Judgment. According to the official PlayStation blog, the game will come packaged with the PlayStation Eye camera and will set aspiring deck-shufflers back $70. Also included in the set is the camera stand (dubbed "judgment stand"), the 9 Fields battle map, a starter deck and an 8-card booster pack.Booster picks will cost $3.75, and you can also pick up one of five pre-constructed theme packs for $14.99. Additionally, the article also explained how to prevent online gamers from cheating via pre-registering your decks with the game and letting the software randomly select what card gets drawn next. We understand the need for precaution, but we're not looking forward to skimming our decks trying to find the physical card we virtually drew.
Retailers say Eye of Judgment is $60, camera included
The PlayStation Eye accessory is far more advanced than its last-gen predecessor, the EyeToy. With 120fps support, high-res video recording, advanced speech recognition, and EyeCreate photo editing software, we feared the Eye would cost an arm and a leg. It doesn't appear to be the case. The upcoming Eye of Judgment, which includes the camera peripheral, is listed for the same price as a regular PS3 retail game: only $60. According to amazon.com, the game will arrive in October. At this price, it seems worthwhile to pick up -- even if you're not interested in the game.[Thanks, Jared!]
kameraflage enables your digicam to see more than you
While we've already seen what tricks cameras can play right before our very eyes, kameraflage is a slightly different flavor of optical illusion. The patent-pending technology exploits the fact that cameras can see a broader spectrum of colors than our meager eyes, and as the creator puts it, "by rendering content in these invisible colors we are able to create displays that are invisible to the naked eye, yet can be seen when imaged with a digital camera." Currently, it's being applied to garments in able to for cameraphone addicts to find surprises all over while pointing their sensors at unsuspecting humans, and the tech will even be on display at the upcoming 2007 ACM SIGGRAPH Unravel fashion show in San Diego. Best of all, custom orders will be fielded as early as September, and if we've got any interested VCs in the crowd, give this man a holler.[Via c0nn0r]
Hands-on: The Eye of Judgment
To put it briefly, The Eye of Judgment is Magic: The Gathering meets Tic-Tac-Toe. The upcoming Eye-enabled card game has players using real cards on a real board, trying to gain the most territory on a 3x3 grid. The fusion of real cards and a virtual environment might echo thoughts of Yu-Gi-Oh ... and for fans of card games, that's bound to be a good thing.There's a surprising amount of depth to the card battles from the demonstration we tried. Ultimately, players will want to have the best monsters, but there are a number of variables that can drastically change a battle. For example, each square on the board is aligned with a different elemental. Aligning one's monster to these elements is crucial. Each monster has specific directions it can attack in, so positioning one's card is also significant, especially in a field as small as this one.Players will want to purchase real-life expansion packs in order to get further in the game. Sure, it may sound expensive, but any CCG junkie can attest to how pricey of a hobby this can be. The Eye integration certainly is intriguing, and we're sure The Eye of Judgment will secure a dedicated hardcore fan base. For those that are interested, we recommend playing the game offline with a friend. In order to prevent online cheating, gamers will have to scan all their cards before an online match. Afterwards, the computer will deal a hand to each player. It seems like a somewhat cumbersome process, and it downplays the "real world" aspect of the game ... and isn't that what makes this game so unique?%Gallery-3195%
Nintendo flashes us with Vision Training
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/E307_Nintendo_flashes_us_with_Vision_Training'; Halfway through its E3 2007 media briefing today, Nintendo announced that it will expanding its line of casual titles in the US with Strengthen Your Visual Power through Practice: Vision Training (Miru Chikara wo Jissen de Kitearu: DS Ganriki Training), retitling the game as Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day.If neither of the titles suitably sum up the game for you, it is a collection of exercises and minigames that test you on field of vision and eye-hand coordination, using the results to determine the age of your eyes. Shift your eyes past the post break for some video impressions of the Japanese demo from CAG's CheapyD!
Whiteboard projectors are / aren't dangerous: UK schools edition
Don't look now (for serious, we really mean it), but yet another health scare is taking those in England by storm, and this time whiteboard projectors are to blame for inducing panic in the hearts of mums and dads everywhere. The quarter-million academic projectors that have been installed all across the UK are now the focal point of an ongoing study, which suggests that a "viewer's peripheral retina could be overexposed even when they are not actually staring directly into the beam." Protesters are suggesting that the brightness be toned down to no more than 1,500 lumens, and a number of sensitive teachers and students alike have reported "dazzle effects" after looking at the board for an extended period of time. We could wonder if anyone actually expects the school systems to revert back to chalk in order to get things done, but more interestingly, who's up for swapping their PJ out for an RPTV (you know, before your retinas dissolve)?[Via The Register]
Attunements removed from SSC and TK
Wow, this is something I never saw coming. Tigole just announced that the Serpentshrine Keep and Tempest Keep: the Eye raids will no longer require any attunement: After a lot of thought and deliberation, we've decided to remove the attunement requirements to enter Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep: The Eye. While many of our attunements in the Burning Crusade have been good progression checks, a few of the attunements have turned out to cause unnecessary stress on guilds either doing the content or attempting to do the content. With Black Temple and Battle for Mount Hyjal thriving, we want to encourage (rather than prevent) new guilds and raid groups to attempt Serpentshrine and TK. We are going to leave the current attunement quests in the game so that players can still engage in the challenge and the lore of those quests should they choose to. At a later point, we are considering adding a final reward step to those quests as well (that way those who have already completed them would not miss out on a *new* reward). We're listening to feedback from you guys constantly and your opinions are important to us. We want this game to be the best possible MMO experience for our players. Enjoy Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep =) (Please note: This change will go live later today -- it's not yet active) Presumably the idea is that the effort it takes to get the gear to compete in SSC or TK is enough of a check. Many people have complained about overly involved attunement processes in the Burning Crusade, and this is a big step in the direction of fixing that. In fact, Tobold had cited the attunement barrier to SSC as a major reason why he canceled his WoW account. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some sightseeing to do...
PlayStation Eye video quality is lookin' good
Games Radar has had their hands on the upcoming PlayStation Eye for a while and have posted an article with some quick impressions and a short video showing off the video quality of the PS Eye (embedded after the break). The video is on the small size, but even so it looks like the quality of the camera has definitely increased. A lack of compression artifacts make the image amazingly clear and smooth compared to the EyeToy of yesteryear. Hopefully GR will update their hands-on with more information soon - intrigued fans want to know more!
Peep drops from Kael'thas
Most of you have probably seen the news that Peep, the super-rare epic flying phoenix mount pictured above, was first given to Ezra. Last night, Method, of A-Sylvanas (Eu), got the world-first drop of The Ashes of Al'ar, the item that summons Peep. This was on their guild's first kill of Kael'thas, the final boss of The Eye. I don't think there are enough kills of Kael'thas that we have any idea what the drop rate of the Ashes is, but if it's anything like the Deathcharger's Reins (from Baron Rivendare) or the Fiery Warhorse's Reins (from Attumen), expect it to be significantly less than one percent. By the way, how do we abbreviate "Kael'thas"? I would go with KT, except Kel'Thuzad has that one already. Perhaps just "Kael"? It's a bit of a surprsie to me that he would drop this; for some reason it doesn't seem quite "serious" enough for him. I had previously hypothesized that Peep might drop from the boss Al'ar, the Phoenix God, but that does not seem to be the case. Anyway, grats, Method![via MMO-Champion]
Hasbro to provide trading cards for PS3's Eye of Judgment
Hasbro has announced a collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment that will see the toy maker produce trading cards for the PlayStation 3's upcoming camera-based card battler, Eye of Judgment. No stranger to tabletop games, thanks to its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary and Magic: The Gathering series, Hasbro has agreed to create, manufacture and distribute all the cards used in the PS3 game.Eye of Judgment promises to take tabletop gaming in an elaborate (and surely more expensive) direction by adding the PlayStation Eye camera and a video game console to the normal process of lining up cards and having paper monsters clobber each other with increasingly obscure statistics. Instead of using your boring, standard definition imagination to envision the excitement, the PS3 will scan the cards and generate 3D models of the creatures in play. Of course, it doesn't sound as exciting when you put it like that, so be thankful for Sony's Phil Harrison having stored up a whole deck of hyperbole trap cards. "The Eye of Judgment represents a totally new genre in gaming," says the corporate executive. "Combining Hasbro's clear market leadership in trading card games with the immense power of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Eye, is a powerful formula that will result in a revolutionary video game experience that will amaze and engage gamers around the world." [image source]
PlayStation Eye: Sony's insanely advanced camera for PS3
This is not a toy: the newly unveiled Playstation Eye is one sophisticated piece of hardware. Some features of this new PS3 peripheral include: A sophisticated microphone with the ability to reduce background noise and focus on the spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition and transfer The ability to capture videos and audio clips directly to your PS3's hard disk drive Engineered to perform well even in low-light conditions A range of different capturing modes, including slow motion and time-lapse Faster frame rate for improved tracking, responsiveness and smoothness Two position zoom lens for close-up and full body options A range of eye-catching visual effects to apply to photos and videos Bundled with EyeCreate™ editing software, which allows users to save and edit photos, video and audio clips In many ways, this camera is more advanced than most home camcorders. PlayStation Eye features 4 channel audio input and the ability to record at an insane 120 frames/second. The camera supports up to 640x480 video, and can record uncompressed or MJPEG video. Eye of Judgment, a card battling game demoed at E3, will be one of the first titles to take advantage of this revolutionary camera.
Death Wish downs Astromancer Solarian for world first
Looks like we've got a new player on the World First scene. Death Wish, of Cho'Gall-H, has downed High Astromancer Solarian in Tempest Keep. Loot was a pally healing belt and a magic damage wand. It appears that Solarian is the last boss before Kael'Thas Sunstrider, so there's a good chance we'll be seeing the blood elf prince go down soon. Grats, Death Wish, and may all your hits be crits!
Software system to enable visual prosthesis learning
Years back, scientists at the University of Bonn reckoned a visual implant would cure blindness, but unfortunately, the results were less than positive. While many alternatives have surfaced in the meantime, gurus at the institution are hitting back yet again with another option of their own, as the researchers introduced a software system that enables visual prosthesis to "learn" how to interpret sights in a way that the brain can understand -- something the original implementation had difficultly accomplishing. Essentially, an artificial retina "must learn to generate signals that are useful for the brain," and while the group's software should assist users with "flexible" central visual systems to garner new abilities in sight, they warn against "expecting miracles" too soon.[Via MedGadget]
Nihilum downs Al'ar [update: loot]
Congrats guys! Nihilum, of H-Magtheridon-Eu, have defeated as far as I know the first boss second boss to go down in the Eye (the 25-man raid wing of Tempest Keep), Al'ar (the Phoenix God). This is a world-first. However, he bugged out by being killed by DoTs in the air, and so they didn't get any loot. Sad, sad times. Any readers been in the Eye yet?Edit: looks like they got their loot after all, presumably after contacting a GM. Here it is:[thanks, Delilah]
Raid hotfixes and 2.1 PTR ETA
Some of the changes from 2.1 are going in early. Specifically, Tigole announced that they are hotfixing some raid things:Because 2.1.0 is not yet on the PTR's (we're hoping by tomorrow or early next week), we're going to hotfix the base creature respawn in Serpentshrine and TK Raid to be 2 hours. We're also going to fix the bug that's causing the creatures to respawn after the boss for the corresponding section has been killed. These aren't all of the changes that we have for 2.1.0, just two of the ones that we will be able to hotfix. There are more changes coming in 2.1.0 that include creature tuning, better loot etc... Some examples: Lots of the creatures have fewer hitpoints Lots of the creatures are no longer immune to CC (The female naga in SSC can be poly'd, Skeletal Ushers in KZ can be shackled) Lots of bug fixesThe most interesting bit in this post, though, to my eye, is "Because 2.1.0 is not yet on the PTR's (we're hoping by tomorrow or early next week)." See? PTR next week! What'd I tell ya. Of course, now that he's said this, if we don't get a PTR by Wednesday the forums are going to explode in a fit of angst, which is why Blizz never gives ETAs. I hope they can meet their target on this one, since 2.1 looks like it will be a fun patch for most parts of the game. Once the patch hits PTRs it'll be at least a week or two before it goes live.Pictured above, by the way, is Al'ar the Phoenix God, a boss in the Eye (the 25-man "TK Raid" referred to by Tigole) who is suspected to drop a 310% speed flying mount called "Peep the Phoenix Mount."
Blue Notes: 25-man trash and EU arena teams
Trash mobs (i.e. non-boss mobs in instances, usually raids) have been the subject of a certain amount of discontent within the community recently. Blizz have said they're thinking about doing something about it, and now they're being a little more specific. Aeus, bearer of good news for the hardcore:We're going to be making some changes to trash mobs in Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep, to make them a bit easier, slower to respawn, and provide some greater incentive to killing them. We'll be continuing to tune and re-tune dungeons and encounters, but currently these are the two we're most concerned with and will be focusing on.I'm assuming when he says Tempest Keep he means the Eye, the 25-man raid wing of it. So while this is nice for those of us who are working on those raids already (not me), I really wish they would do something about some of the trash in Karazhan. Specifically, the trash leading up to the Curator. That stuff is bonkers. On the other hand, I haven't been to KZ since Tigole said trash in many zones had been nerfed a bit, so maybe it's better now?
Sarnoff wants to scan your iris without your knowledge
Okay, so it's more like the US government wanting to snag shots of your eyeballs sans your knowledge, but still, Sarnoff Corporation (yet another New Jersey firm interested in ocular studies) has recently filed a patent application that spells out a snazzy method of quickly photographing a helpless individual's facial region multiple times in order to (hopefully) capture one solid look at the iris. This newfangled manner of jacking biometrics from clueless pedestrians is actually being requested by the American government, as it apparently hopes to use it to run constant background checks with the information on file in order to peg a threat as they're strolling through. The device is slated to beam a "powerful, infrared strobe light" onto the subjects' faces, which syncs up with the camera exposures and creates a bank of hopeful photos for each individual, presumably chewing through terabytes of hard drive space in the process. Regardless, even this tactical approach probably won't be effective for long -- you know, considering every potential baddie now knows to rock the welder's glasses from here on out.[Via ]
Sony files for the spiffy new Eye Toy
Remember that neat little "secret component" everyone was talking about last month in regards to some extra hardware? You know... the next-gen Eye Toy? Well here's the return of it as Sony has filed big number 2006-178948, which is the patent for a new camera that "will recognize every move and position of an object and will translate these actions accordingly to an object inside a game." What used to take multiple cameras now takes one, thanks to a patented mapping technique.It's like motion capture for the average Joe. But what ever happened to that Israeli company called Prime Sense? Weren't they supposed to come into the scene with their own interactive device which sounds a lot like this one? Well at any rate, Sony is on the move to get this camera inked in their name. Let's hope they don't step on any toes with this, because they haven't had the best of luck in the patent area lately.Could the camera also have videoconferencing features added into it as well? Thanks to Avistar and company (and the magic of licensing), this new Eye Toy could be your next long-distance video phone. Yet another testament to Sony's desire to bring the PlayStation brand out of "For gamers only" territory and into a wider audience.[Thanks, Fan]
