lighting
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Nintendo's Wii gets into the home automation game
For those of you who've just unboxed (or already snagged) a Nintendo Wii, and are more interested in casing out the innards or hacking it up, we've got yet another challenge for you and your console. While we've seen how to control the functions of your home with a PSP, there's just something special about flinging your Wiimote up and down to lower and raise the lighting conditions around your crib. Aside from a Wii, Wiimote, and a good bit of spare time, you'll also need the Smarthome Insteon lights w/ ControlLinc, an Aurora Multimedia WACI NX, a Linux-based PC, and if you wish, an optional AXIS PTZ IP Security Camera and Proliphix IP Thermostat. Once you've got your hardware in order, you'll need to get your palms on a PHP script that directs the IP traffic and forwards the appropriate information. This home automation mod has the potential to control "lights, thermostat, cameras, jukeboxes, DVRs, TiVos," and basically anything you can dictate via IP information. So if you're looking for a great way to spend your hours off, and don't mind getting dirty with a little coding, be sure to hit the read link for the full rundown, and click on through for a YouTube demonstration.[Via Digg, thanks Nate]
Group IV Semiconductor unveils plans for silicon lighting
For those out there just looking for zanier methods to get your illumination on, Group IV Semiconductor is hoping to deliver the goods you crave. While about 60 percent of the world's artificial lighting is still derived from the incredibly inefficient incandescent variety, companies like Philips are offering up LED alternatives that conserve energy, emit less heat, and convert perfectly normal buildings into nerdish eye candy. The Ottawa startup has spent its last four years researching and developing a silicon-based lighting system that will hopefully be "just as cheap" to produce as solid-state alternatives and emit equivalent amounts of light to boot. To overcome one of silicon's less helpful characteristics (poor light emission, of all things), the company has packed nanocrystals -- otherwise known as "quantum dots" -- between a transparent layer in which current is directed and a substrate of silicon underneath. Once electricity is applied, the nanocrystals settle back into their natural state, give off photons, and create a low-heat form of light roughly equivalent to a standard 100 watt light bulb. Group IV is aiming to produce a product that requires "90 percent" less energy than options currently on the market, while building it to last "50 times" longer than the already longevous alternatives, so you should probably expect this (presumably) once in a lifetime purchase to demand quite a premium should it actually hit store shelves.
The AQUAPICT LED jellyfish
If something just doesn't feel right unless every previously unoccupied AC outlet in your home is channeling power to some sort of artificial lighting, the AQUAPICT LED jellyfish would fit right in amongst the party lights and display shelves. Although certain deep sea creatures might become a bit testy with time, this trio of well-lit marine animals are guaranteed not to sting, and even power down completely after two hours without attention. Aside from the obvious underwater features, the device sports an on / off switch, three selectable lighting patterns, and striking similarities to your Kota Nezu Jellyfish speakers. The LED activity can be personalized by choosing "deep-sea" or "normal" mode, which apparently provides an option for a more vivid, colorful viewing experience while also offering a soothing alternative that's heavy on the blues. You can get an electrified reminder of your favorite squishy, poisonous ocean dwellers for just ¥15,540 ($132).[Via Uber-Review]
M-INT Kobe sports cosmically-influenced LED lighting system
In an apparent attempt to convert the average office building into something akin to a landing strip, Takuro Osaka is hitting the public with a showing of his "cosmic art" by illuminating opposing sides of the 18-story M-INT Koba building, slated to open for business on October 4th. Osaka, a professor at the University of Tsukuba and the owner of a "light art studio," led the push to have 2,880 blue LEDs installed on the building's west side, which will glow (or not) based on the amount of cosmic radiation surrounding it at any given time. The LEDs' sensors transform "cosmic energy" into pulses of illumination, ensuring a constant light show that's, um, never consistent. Apparently there's no actual utility in the smattering of lights (besides great publicity, of course), but for Osaka, it's one step closer to getting his "enlightening" artwork to a gallery where it would really shine: outer space.[Via Pink Tentacle]
Why you want Vice City Stories: the interview
Ever since the official trailer for Vice City Stories dropped on us, Rockstar has been very actively hyping this PSP-exclusive follow-up to the insanely successful Liberty City Stories. (Of course Rockstar doesn't have much of a choice: this game may be the only thing that saves the company from financial ruin.) IGN recently had a chance to talk to Gordon Hall from Rockstar, and Mr. Hall (obviously) has a lot of good things to tell us: Game features twice the number of polygons and a new radiosity lighting model. A new way to have the CPU and GPU communicate to each other was developed so that improvements could be made across the board. A new streaming process and lossless animation streaming allows the game to load more data at once. "With the Jet Ski you can dive under water and come bursting back up, you can really feel it bounce off the waves as the weather conditions change, you can turn on a dime and really send the water spraying." (Sounds like they packed in an entire water racing game in our GTA!) "The combat system has more depth to it than any other Grand Theft Auto game." Targeting and combat has been tweaked just a bit: you can now fight unarmed and do grappling moves and throws. "The soundtrack has over 100 tracks, and is probably the best, deepest collection of songs ever assembled for any one project -- TV, Film, or Game." (But the game includes Custom Soundtracks too if you don't like retro music.) Call me stunned. I know this is mostly PR hype, but considering how amazing the original Liberty City Stories was, I'm willing to believe that Rockstar is making this game a masterpiece. It sounds to be this could be the best GTA yet... handheld and console. And you didn't even have to wait until 12:01 AM for such amazing news. The game hits America the same time as Killzone. Ouch: my wallet's already crying.
SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo comparison shots [Update 1]
The sequel to Fireteam Bravo is coming out in a few months. Simply glancing at the trailer may lead you to believe that the game will be identical to the first, but the SOCOMBLOG has found some brilliant comparison shots of shared maps between the two games. Looking at them side to side, you can see that the sequel will feature better lighting, much better textures, and improved character models. Check out the evidence after the cut:
Death Jr. 2 to feature HDR lighting?!
Death Jr. was the first PSP game to be publically shown, and it wowed a whole lot of people with its technical prowess. If a new interview at QJ.net is to be believed, it appears that we'll be wowed again. Chris Carla commented:Well, we used Renderware on our first game on PSP, and it wasn't exactly perfectly tuned for PSP. After we removed it for [Death Jr. 2], we found our framerates hit 90fps... before we knew it, thanks to our fantastic tech staff, we had light blooms, High Dynamic Range lighting, and lots of other lighting and frame buffer effects running in the game. The net result is that we've probably got some of the most technically advanced features of any title on PSP at this point, which is pretty cool. We've done a lot more than that as well; I think people will be pleased by the tech in the game, and our loading times are still extremely short.Can this really be possible on a handheld? Death Jr. 2 seems to address the problems of the original and throws in a multiplayer co-op mode to boot. The sequel comes out this Halloween, but until then, don't forget you can check out the original for only $10.
Technology advances in lighting promise more realism
Geometric algebra, an up-and-coming field of mathematics, has found its way into video games thanks to Geomerics, a British startup. Although the company has yet to release details of their products, they've recently published some information on technology advances made possible by geometric algebra which help add further realism into gaming.Currently, lighting in games is a toss-up between three elements: in real life, light often changes position (e.g. as the sun moves across the sky); objects cast shadows, which are often quite subtle; and depending on your viewpoint, you can sometimes see light sources reflected in other objects. The usual method is to pre-calculate the shadows in a scene and paint them on the ground, but this means the light source must stay fixed. Thanks to next-gen computing power, spherical harmonic lighting can be used to generate soft, lifelike shadows from moving light sources, but without any of the shiny surface effects that complete the picture and add realism.Geomerics' development, using geometric algebra and wavelet technologies, allows all three elements to be computed in realtime: moving light sources, soft shadows and glossy surfaces. Hopefully this means that next-gen graphics can get even better.[Thanks, Pete]
