Rumble
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Russia's RT moves to Rumble after being deplatformed elsewhere
Russia's state-backed media outlet RT is moving to Rumble after other internet platforms restricted its content in response to the Ukraine invasion.
YouTube bans Fox News host Dan Bongino for evading suspension
Fox News host Dan Bongino is no longer welcome on YouTube.
Valve tests wireless rumble support for the DualSense in Steam
There’s good news if you’re trying to use Sony’s new controller to play PC games.
Atari shows off joystick and controller for its retro VCS console
When the Atari VCS team decided to remake the retro console, it knew the controllers would be just as important as the box itself. After all, there's no gaming accessory quite as iconic as the Atari CX40 joystick. Earlier this spring, we got a glimpse of what the VCS will look like, and now, the company has revealed more details about the Atari VCS Classic Joystick and Modern Controller. Both are a carefully crafted mix of essential features, both old and new, the company said in a blog post.
'Rocket League' update brings grappling hooks and giant boots
Psyonix still isn't done finding ways to inject new life into Rocket League more than a year after it first hit the scene. It's introducing a Rumble mode that adds some welcome chaos to the vehicular sport through random power-ups. You can use a giant boot to kick players out of the way, a magnet to lure the ball to your car, or a grappling hook to draw yourself to the ball. There's even a tornado that will sweep up everything into a raging funnel cloud. Rumble will be free when it arrives in an update this fall, so it'll be easy to try if you find that your exhibition matches are becoming a little too predictable.
Halo: MCC re-adds Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist
The Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist is live in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, after 343 Industries stripped it out on November 14 to help ease matchmaking issues. Still, the playlist isn't finalized – it currently allows up to 10 players and doesn't feature ranking, and 343 says it will continue tweaking the playlist to eventually support up to eight players with ranked play. "Once we've ironed out existing matchmaking issues," 343 writes. Matchmaking continues to be problematic in The Master Chief Collection, and even before the game's launch on November 11, 343 had to make changes to the announced lineup of playlists. Our review noted that matchmaking was "barely functioning." On November 20, 343 released a patch aiming to fix many matchmaking issues. [Image: Microsoft]
JBL Rumble, OnBeat Mini and Charge spotted at CES, we go ears-on
One of the more colorful -- in the literal sense -- announcements during the CES build-up was the new line of Bluetooth speakers from JBL. Here at Pepcom we spotted them out in the wild, so thought we'd take the chance to go hands- and ears-on. The little guy, aka the Charge, was the first of the bunch we heard pumping out some tunes, and our inability to hear the company reps telling us more about it is testament to how loud it is for such a small device. The design of the Charge also looks -- objectively -- even better in real life. The modern design and materials work really well with the vibrant color schemes, and while we didn't have time to test out that 12-hour battery life, everything else looked pretty solid to us. The middle baby of the trio -- the OnBeat Mini -- is much more demure, with the low-profile unit sitting discreetly on the table top, just quietly -- or loudly, rather -- getting on with pumping out the jams from the iPad mini perched on top of it. This, of course, puts Lightning connectivity center stage, and despite its diminutive form (the connector, not the iPad) Apple's mini tablet felt securely housed within the dock itself. Our favorite of the bunch would possibly be the Rumble -- not just because the name sounds like it means business, but also because the bold design and impressive, weighty sound seem fitting of the name. The whole front of the unit has the classic speaker grille-style finish, and despite looking like a heavyset piece of kit, it's surprisingly light, yet solid feeling. More pictures of the whole family can be found in out gallery. Sean Cooper contributed to this report.
League of Legends nerfs Rumble, buffs Urgot and Cho'Gath
In addition to getting a new champion every few weeks, League of Legends is continually updated with balance changes and gameplay tweaks based on player feedback. Yesterday Riot Games released its early August patch preview, detailing incoming champion nerfs and buffs in addition to big changes for the player-mediated banning tribunal. Players who are punished by the tribunal will now be emailed a reform card showing the case made against them and highlighting the exact behaviours they need to improve to avoid further bans. Following a bugfix to Rumble's Flamespitter ability in the Jayce patch, his damage suddenly increased. Rumble's Danger Zone passive and Flamespitter abilities will have their damage reduced to compensate for the increase. The previous patch also gave Urgot some heavy nerfs that went a little bit too far, and in the next patch, some of those nerfs are being reverted. Classic champion Cho'Gath will also get a number of tweaks to remove random cast time delays and make him more fun to play. Skip past the cut to watch the full patch preview video in HD.
Tunebug readies the Rumble, adds speakerphone capabilities to its SurfaceSound speakers
Back at CES we took a look at Tunebug's Bluetooth Shake and Vibe speakers, which for those that need a quick refresher, turns any surface into a speaker with SurfaceSound technology. Well, now the company has landed here at CTIA Wireless with a more mobile focused product -- the Rumble. The package actually includes that aforementioned Shake (although, in this case it's being called the TuneRing), which is the triangular shaped part that turns any surface into an impromptu speaker, but the TunePad is really the key addition. That's the base part that you're peering at above, and not only does it provide a surface for the Shake, but it also now has a microphone to morph the package into a Bluetooth speakerphone. We got a look at the whole shebang on display here at the show, and while we couldn't get a handle on the sound quality in a room full of rowdy tech journalists, it did seem surprisingly loud. The $149 kit also comes with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack, USB to 3.5mm charging cable, and a helmet mount. Ironically, the Rumble isn't actually ready to rumble yet -- you'll have to wait for this summer, but hit the gallery below for some hands-on shots. %Gallery-119533%
Tsunoda downplays lack of rumble in Kinect
Echoing statements made by Sony's Phil Harrison a few months before the introduction of the Dual Shock 3 (specifically, that rumble was a "last-generation feature"), Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda suggested that the lack of rumble from the Kinect camera wasn't a big deal, by suggesting that rumble isn't a big deal, in an interview with Edge. "The overwhelming thing we've discovered is that rumble is such a rudimentary form of haptic feedback," he said. "It's not like a little rumble in your palm is your whole way of interacting with the world – it's not like, oh, I stubbed my toe and I get a little rumble in my palm." The audiovisual presentation of Kinect games, he said, does more to immerse people than rumble, as evidenced by the instinctive reactions he observed from players. "In many of the games we have, people will crash a vehicle and they'll go totally like this [mimes dodging out of the way]! And even people playing games with a controller, there's always people doing this [mimes driving motion]." Tsunoda went on to sort of address the nagging question of lag. "The way we measure 'lag' is by putting people in front of the experience and measuring their thoughts. Either it feels good or it feels sloppy. It's not how many milliseconds, it's: 'Does it feel good? Does it react fast? Does it feel as if you're in control?'" So what is important isn't the amount of lag, but the perception of lag.
Mod adds LEDs and force feedback to DS Lite
Our biggest complaint about the DS Lite has been its woefully small number of LED lights. Thank goodness for modders then, because Tailor Made Toys has crafted the flashy DS Lite you see above. The kicker? It also has force feedback, which comes in two flavors: one is just normal rumble, while the other is a sort of "sensitive mode," best for quieter games and when using headphones. And if you want to commission one of these for yourself, you can get your own handheld modded for £40. We're not sure what that squiggly line in front of the 40 means, but there it is. Head past the break for a video showing off the mod. %Gallery-25220% [Thanks, Dan; via Hack N Mod]
Analog trigger squeezes its way onto PlayStation Motion Controller
Sony's R&D guru Richard Marks made a recent appearance on the PlayStation.Blog to talk more about the PlayStation Motion Controller. In a new seven minute video (after the break), Marks spent a bit more time going through the various technology demos first unveiled during E3. While Sony commented that the ball-on-a-stick design was simply a prototype, the controller in Marks's hand doesn't appear to be very different (if at all) to what was shown earlier this year.In addition to reiterating claims of its accuracy and the importance of tactile buttons, Marks mentioned a few details that you may not have known about the controller. Firstly, he talks about the controller's analog trigger: "It has this analog trigger which really is a great metaphor for squeezing and grabbing. So you can grab and you can put as much pressure as you want to grab something with, which is really great for picking things up or for giving you the ability to just interact with the scene in a way that's completely different than we've been able to do before."Next, he confirms that the controller will be able to rumble, much like Nintendo's Wii Remote. "It can give you some feedback about what's happening through rumble, which is very private and only you are getting." Private? We're not sure that's the best word (note: link slightly NSFW) to use when describing force feedback.
Sony to never stop getting sued for rumble technology
It's been more than two years since Immersion and Sony settled their kerfluffle over the latter party's infringement on the former's "haptic feedback" (rumble) technology. However, Sony's not quite out of the woods yet -- it's currently the subject of yet another civil suit, filed this time by Craig Thorner, an engineer who also held a number of patents relating to haptic feedback.Brace yourselves -- this gets confusing. After its settlement with Sony, Immersion was set to take on Performance Designed Products (PDP) for similar rumble-yoinking reasons. PDP contacted Thorner for some pre-litigious preparation. They negotiated terms for the licensing of his patents -- though Thorner used the same lawyers who represented Sony to help with said negotiation. His complaint is that these lawyers got him unfavorable results in the negotiation, including low royalty payments, and the inclusion of a provision that would grant a patent license to Sony.So, technically, Sony's getting sued for patent infringement and legal malpractice. Hopefully, no suspected shady dealings will go down in this case. We'd hate to see Sony get stuck in some sort of inescapable infinite lawsuit loop.Update: Turns out we've already turned your attention to this intense legal showdown. Consider this a helpful accidental reminder!
Sony sued for cheating man out of rumble patents
Two years after we thought it was all over, it sounds like the saga of Sony, Immersion, and the rumblin' DualShock has yet another chapter: a New Jersey electrical engineer named Craig Thorner is now suing Sony and its attorneys, claiming that he was more or less duped out of one of his patents in a shady deal designed to help Sony and PDP/Electrosource beat Immersion's cases against them. Oh yeah, it's a tangled mess -- Thorner first signed over his patent to Immersion, hoping to score a little slice of royalty pie when the lawsuit settled, but then took it back when he decided Immersion wasn't pursuing it hard enough and signed it over to PDP/Electrosource, who promised him $150,000. So where does Sony come in? Thorner says PDP and Sony were teamed up to beat Immersion, and that Sony was secretly the one licensing the patent but trying to remain out of the picture to keep the price down -- and he's got proof, in the form of a $150,000 wire transfer between the two companies. Not only that, but Sony's attorneys apparently promised Thorner that they could "wear two hats" during negotiations and represent both him and Sony, which is ten kinds of shady. You can guess what happened next: Sony lost, PDP settled, and Immersion sued Thorner for breaking his agreement -- and Sony's attorneys didn't help him defend the lawsuit. Did we say ten kinds of shady? Eleven kinds. Of course, it's doubtful that Thorner is totally innocent here, so it'll be interesting to see how Sony responds, but at this point we're treating the DualShock 3 as a miracle of nature and leaving it at that. [Via Joystiq]Read - GamePolitics article (with PDF of the complaint)Read - Law.com article
GameStop offers up silver DualShock 3 controller for North America
If that all-black DualShock 3 controller has just grown stale, and you're not about to drop any coinage to have Colorware liven things up, GameStop has a fantastic solution -- so long as you're a fan of silver, that is. As of today, the firm's website has a clear listing for a satin silver version of the wireless SIXAXIS, and anyone familiar with the silver PS2 controller will no doubt notice the striking similarities. Just so you know, this one's been available in the Japanese market for eight centuries now, but it looks like the North American crowd can finally yell "me too!" when parting with $54.99 on June 24th.[Via Joystiq]
XCM introduces Rumble Joystick and KO Adapter for PlayStation 3
Hot on the heels of XCM's Dominator joystick comes an even more irresistible iteration, making those that took the plunge in January inevitably jealous. The newfangled Rumble Joystick for PlayStation 3 isn't terribly different from the original... save for the fact that this one shakes, rattles and rolls, of course. Described as the world's first PS3 joystick to rumble natively, this bugger also packs four memory buttons for programming all sorts of sick, twisted macros alongside independent Rapid Fire and Turbo buttons. Moving on, we've got the all new XO Adapter for PS3, which adds support for macros, Rapid Fire and Turbo to any vanilla Dual Shock or SIXAXIS controller. There's no mention of pricing for either, but we suspect that'll change in the near future (like, real soon, given that they'll be shipping in under a month).Read - Rumble Joystick for PS3Read - XO Adapter for PS3
D-BOX rumbles to best ever quarter in terms of sales
The major news outlets seem to think there's some sort of "recession" going on, but those with cash are still spending like it's 1999. D-BOX, the outfit famous for its rumbling theater seats and corresponding Motion Code system, has just reported its best ever quarter in terms of sales, notching revenues of $1,227,340 for the third quarter of its 2009 fiscal year. Sales increased some 29 percent year-over-year, and it's hoping to keep the momentum going with its comparatively affordable hybrid GPH-120 system ($2,999; available summer 2009) for gamers who love to rock. And to think, most of us laughed this company off. Kudos, D-BOX.
D-BOX scores deal to bring rumbling chairs to Mann Theatres
Ah, ha! So the rumors were true, after all. Just over three months after we heard that D-BOX was trying desperately to get its Motion Code technology into cinemas, we're finally seeing the first deal with a commercial theater chain. Mann Theatres, the operators of the famous Mann Chinese 6 Theatre in Hollywood, has become the first to first to allow D-BOX seating to be installed, with the initial installation taking place in theatre six of the aforementioned multiplex. There will also be a demo station setup in the lobby for moviegoers to "test drive" the rumbling, bumbling system, though there's no word on whether watching a flick in the D-BOX cinema will cost extra. In all seriousness, this deal is gigantic for D-BOX, and if a few more chains latch on, it won't be long before you see the technology's creator(s) sailing 'round the world and basking in their own glory.[Image courtesy of About]
Ibiza Rumble prototype hands-on: a touchscreen PMP with Rhapsody, webkit browser
Behind closed doors at the Haier booth, we got a chance to check out two Ibiza Rhapsody PMP prototypes, codenamed Rumble and Rumble mini. Here's what we know so far: the Rumble's got a 2.8-inch WQVGA capacitive touchscreen, 8GB NAND flash, and a Freescale i.MX37 ARM 11 processor. It also has a Webkit-based browser, but it -- along with most of the operating system and virtual keyboard -- wasn't functional at the moment. There's support for AAC, MP3, and WMA, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H263, H.264, VC-1, and DivX. The Rumble mini trades out touchscreen in favor of an input pad and a smaller 2.2-inch screen. Beyond Rhapsody service, both models will feature integration with Flickr, Audible, and the ever-vague "popular social networking" sites. Battery life for the Rumble is expected to be about 15 hours for audio and 6 for video, while for the mini it's 14 and 4, respectively. It's surprisingly lightweight at the moment, but other than that we really don't have much to say until we can see the interface in action. Both players are on track for a June release for a penny under $150 for the touchscreen and $100 for the mini. %Gallery-41548%%Gallery-41561%
D-BOX deal brings Motion Code rumblings to Universal Blu-ray Discs
We'll be completely honest -- we had every idea that D-BOX would just fade away into the sunset just a few short months after we initially heard about it. Au Contraire! In just the past week, we've seen the outfit -- which is responsible for a rumbling Motion Code technology that enables you to "feel" the motions of the movie you're watching -- venture into the wide world of gaming and now into Universal's heart. Starting with the December 23-bound Death Race, D-BOX Motion Code will be available on select Universal Studios Home Entertainment Blu-ray Discs, and if we were still placing bets, we'd now say this is probably just the first of many big studio licensing agreements to come.
