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Rock Band and Guitar Hero now for girls, too
According to recent statistics, girls can like, totally rock now. Thankfully, PDP has teamed up with Radio Disney mainstays Aly & AJ to create some seriously rockin' game controllers for the PS2 and Wii. Due out mid-October and priced at a rockin' $69.99, tweenage Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans can choose either the rockin' pink Tele-looking guitar with red skull and crossbones motif, or the totally rockin' pink heart-shaped guitar with purple zebra print. Check out the rockin' video after the break. And rock on! [Via Video Games Blogger]
Cam-Trax is "coolest thing since ice," can provide Wii-like controls with any webcam
Hey, we've seen quite a few gimmicky game control schemes in our day. We thought we were jaded, believed that we could no longer be moved emotionally by a few dorks in a lab, promising to revolutionize video games with their insanity. Until we saw Cam-Trax. You'll get it in a moment by peeping the video after the break, but the basic gist is this: Cam-Trax offers highly accurate and responsive tracking of random colorful objects you hold in front of your webcam and tell it to track. Gameplay can be EyeToy-esque, but it can also be so much more, since the unit can track many objects in a full three dimensions. The video shows everything from a glorified game of pong to a FPS, and promises to control "any game" with "any webcam." Show us more, Cam-Trax.[Thanks, Chen D.]
Nintendo ordered to pay $21 million to patent troll
Remember Anascape Ltd, the little "gaming company" that sued Microsoft and Nintendo back in 2006 for controller patent infringement? Well, it's payday to the tune of $21 million after a jury found Nintendo's Wii Classic, WaveBird, and Gamecube controller designs all guilty of violating Anascape's patents. Nintendo will appeal naturally while Microsoft settled the case before the matter ever went to trial. Now go ahead and Google Anascape with the challenge of finding a single service or product offering. Oh, did we mention that they are based in the patent-lawsuit friendly state of Tejas? Patent Trolls? Oh, you betcha.Anascape... there is none.
The ultimate sim controller dog fight
As any hardcore gamer will tell you, simulation games aren't really simulations unless you've got the appropriate hardware to back up all that finely-tuned software. Taking that into consideration, the folks at Extreme Tech decided to round up no less than ten controllers of various sorts to see how well they replicated the real thing, including flight sticks, throttles, steering wheels, and pedals. While any of the tested controllers will get the basic job done, they did find a few standouts in bunch. Getting top marks among the flight sticks was Saitek's X52 Pro, with CH 's Fighterstick Pro only slightly behind. CH came out ahead with its other flight-related peripherals, however, with its Pro Throttle and Pro Pedals USB getting marks of 8 out of 10 and 9 out of 10, respectively. For those who prefer to keep things on the ground, Extreme Tech found Logitech's G25 racing wheel (complete with pedals and console) to be the best bet for driving sims, although at $250, authenticity certainly doesn't come cheap. Those not willing to go that far may want to take a look at Microsoft's PC-compatible Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, which comes in at half the price Logitech's rig but, according to Extreme Tech, still provides a decent racing experience for less-demanding gamers.
Buffalo's USB Micro-Pads for gaming on-the-go
It's not like your average SNES of PSX-inspired PC gamepad is really too much of a chore to lug around, but if you've really got to get your game on with minimal addition to your gear bag, Buffalo's new USB Micro-Pads seem to be the way to go. The folding controller comes in both an analog stick version (pictured) and a traditional direction pad edition, and both Micro-Pads feature dual shoulder buttons, a couple of extra face buttons, and a mini-USB to USB adaptor. Along with being a good match for most PC emulators and other relevant titles, we're thinking this could do good things for a Pocket PC-based emulation fan if Buffalo brings the necessary drivers to the table, but we'll have to wait and see. No word on price or availability yet.
Microsoft to pull a PS3, place motion sensors in Xbox 360 pad?
In a recent episode of Gamertag radio, Peter Moore speaks out about the increasing complexity of video game controllers, comparing today's gamepads to the simplicity of the Atari 2600's button-and-stick joystick. He didn't exclude the Xbox 360 controller's design from criticism, mentioning that his 14-year old daughter found the controller somewhat confusing. Naturally, there was a point to his self-criticism; later on in the podcast he says that Microsoft is "doing a lot of stuff there. Nothing that we're ready to talk about, and we're not going to force anything that is not going to be intuitive and innovative."The most obvious conclusion to make from this statement would be that Microsoft is working on a new, simplified controller, which may or may not "borrow" the Wiimote's defining feature, although the part where Moore says that "[Microsoft is] not going to force anything that is not going to be... innovative" could suggest that simply slapping a motion sensor inside an Xbox 360 pad isn't on the cards.British tech magazine T3 points out that the company could possibly be working on a simplified controller--to be sold in parallel with the main Xbox 360 pad--designed specifically for Xbox Live Arcade games. The magazine reasons that the company won't want to make the Xbox 360 pad's ergonomic design obsolete any time soon, which lends credence to the possibility of a simplified controller designed to play simple games to compliment the "hardcore" 360 gamepad.[Via Engadget]
