Tek Recon brings a dose of real life to a first-person shooter game
May 30, 2013
Tek Recon offers a blaster and an integrated app to make real world play like an FPS
What happens when you combine a popular first-person shooter like Call of Duty with toy guns like Nerf? You get the Tek Recon, a new product that takes what we loved about those blaster guns as a kid and mashes in some modern twists that can only be delivered with the rise in popularity of smartphones. It certainly looks like an interesting way for kids (or adults) to get outside and play with their friends.
The Tek Recon system starts in the form of its two blasters – the pistol-looking Hammerhead and the larger, more assault rifle-like Havok. Each one offers actual recoil to give playing a more lifelike feel.
Each of the blasters fire specially designed mess-free and reusable "NRG Rounds." These are soft, so they won't do any damage, and they can fire up to 75 feet (23 m) from either of the two blasters. The reason the soft rounds are able to travel so far is that they are stretched while inside the blaster. This gives them plenty of force to fly out of the gun at a high rate of speed.
Of course, what really makes Tek Recon stand out in the crowded toy market is the integration with its iOS and Android application. The app uses both mobile and GPS technology to make playing with the system feel more like a video game than real life.
While in play, the app serves as sort of a heads-up display (HUD). Players can see how much ammo is left in their blaster, access different vision modes such as night vision and a heat sensing view, and even an on-screen chat for talking some smack during the game with players not within earshot. It also features radar that will show the location of enemies and teammates.
Much like video games, the app lets players create game loadouts, including the scope, sound effects, and in-game powerups.
The app offers several features designed to enhance the play experience. Perhaps the most interesting is the ability to use it set up game modes such as capture the flag, with an actual scannable flag, as well as team and solo battles. This means instead of simply running around shooting each other, players will be forced to use tactics.
Tek Recon is seeking funding for its blasters and integrated app on Kickstarter. It is currently at just over US$40,000, which puts it pretty close to its $50,000 goal. It still has 11 days left in its funding period, so the company has some time to meet the goal. The minimum backing of $25 buys the Hammerhead, 15 rounds, a smartphone mount, and the application. From there, the price goes up for the Havok and packs of multiple blasters.
The following Kickstarter pitch video provides more information and shows the Tek Recon system in action.
PC Gaming: On the Rise
Like the end of a Doom game, it seems that hell is indeed freezing over -- PC gaming is on the rise once again. Sparked by Diablo III’s massive launch success, Forbes pointed out that PC gaming saw a 230% increase in game sales while console game sales have gone down 28% over the same period. If you’re bad at math, that translates as “PC good. Consoles bad.”
Previously console-exclusive games like Dark Souls are coming to Windows thanks to increased demand and the still-booming market for PC RPGs like the Witcher 2 and Skyrim. What’s at the heart of this mouse-as-boom-stick trend? There's a few things.
The obvious reason, other than PC exclusivity of games, is that the current lineup of consoles is getting old and that the PS3 and Xbox 360 just can’t deliver the true graphical craziness that you get with Crysis 2 running with DirectX 11 on Windows. The recent demos of Unreal Engine 4 had graphics junkies drooling, and people can’t wait to feed its gooey goodness into their eyes. Even though I love my PS3 and I’ve been playing Diablo III fine on my MacBook Pro, I recently built myself a gaming rig for that reason. I’ll line up for a PS4, but the art director in me wants something new and shiny right now -- and that’s where PC gaming comes in.
But I think there are some other major reasons that PC gaming is making a comeback, and a big one is the lack of gimmicks. Console vendors are tripping over themselves trying to reinvent gaming or trying to out-Apple Apple by integrating your phone, tablet, Netflix, 3DTV and the icebox of your refrigerator to create the uber experience. Like that facelift scene in Brazil, it’s getting to be a bit much.
I think people just want to play a good shooter or be immersed in an RPG, not make wand motions or talk into a camera to beg the troll to unlock the door. PC games may be no frills, but the console frills are becoming like superfluous fractals of sh*t you don’t need to enjoy a good story or shooter. Companies like Sony are so deeply invested in vertical business models of selling you new stuff that the gimmicks are becoming transparent and goofy. Consumers’ shelves already have enough plastic crap on them, and it’s reaching a point of saturation.
The other thing I see driving this PC gaming rise is the death of group social gaming. Social gaming is being done more and more on phones or Facebook, not with Kinect Charades 2001. Admit it: Nothing could be less cool than inviting some people over for a game of Rock Band, and I’m sure the Kinect is headed for a similar uncool fate. Antisocial gaming is back. That is, until the release of Microsoft Key Party. That one’s a winner -- at least for one brief night.
Read more: http://ca.askmen.com/entertainment/guy_gear/pc-gaming.html#ixzz2UEdvAIjz
The Ouya
Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired
All this time, I’ve been thinking about Ouya the wrong way.
When the $99, Android-powered game console showed up on Kickstarter last year, I immediately preordered one. My thinking was that it would be interesting to see if a low-cost console that caters to indies could take on industry giants like Sony and Microsoft in the marketplace. I was thinking about Ouya as just another a platform for indie developers, or as a cheap alternative to the Xbox.
That’s not what Ouya is. It’s not about “focusing on that core gamer,” like Sony says, or re-imagining“the living room experience” like Xbox One. It will not compete with the new consoles because it’s not trying to.
The Ouya is a toy. An elegant, affordable, fun toy.
Little Cranes and Pirate Ships
Ouya is a new television game console, but one radically different from its competition. Launched as a record-breaking Kickstarter project that has recently raised millions more via venture capital funding, Ouya’s plan is to go super-cheap for consumers and super-easy for developers. Anyone can create a game on Ouya and start selling it with minimal hassle, and consumers only pay a hundred bucks for the hardware. All the games are digital, and all of them have at least a free demo version (if they’re not free-to-play entirely). It’ll show up at retailers like Target, Amazon, Best Buy and Gamestop on June 25, but since I backed the project on Kickstarter, I got my hands on an early unit.
The Ouya’s digital store is already host to dozens of apps, some of them good, lots of them less so. The thing being promoted as the flagship Ouya game is a port of the mobile version of Square Enix’sFinal Fantasy III, but that is probably the least interesting game on the platform. It also happens to look like steaming garbage when blown up onto a big screen TV.
The interesting games on Ouya are the weirder, more creative stuff. A few early gems includeStalagflight, an endless jumping game with a nutty multiplayer mode, and Polarity, a first-person puzzle game.
Who needs graphics when you can play basketball using a crane? Image courtesy Abraham Stolk
But my favorite game on Ouya right now is The Little Crane That Could, a puzzle simulation game ported from Android that puts you in control of a truck equipped with an extendable claw. You have to perform simple tasks—move soccer balls into a trailer, for instance—which are made incredibly, hilariously difficult thanks to the complexity of operating a realistic crane on wheels.
One early mission in The Little Crane That Could has you pulling pipe-shaped locks out of a gate so you can escape a room. After successfully tugging one of the pipes out I nonchalantly dropped it behind my vehicle. Moments later I unthinkingly backed up and ran over the pipe. The cylinder lodged in behind my back-left tire, and the whole vehicle lifted up on its side. No traction. Stuck.
The beauty of the game is its super-realistic physics system, which punishes you in comical ways when you do dumb stuff, so you get to laugh at yourself and your many failures. Luckily, this also allows you to play creatively: After a bit of wild thrashing, I discovered that I could spin my crane around, angle it downwards, and push off from the ground to awkwardly scoot away from the hateful little pipe that plagued me. A few thrusts later I was free.
I haven’t laughed so hard while playing a game in a long time. It’s exactly the kind of weird, inscrutable, rough-around-the-edges game that would never get an Xbox Live Arcade publishing deal, but fits perfectly on Ouya.
Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman has hinted that video apps like Hulu Plus and Netflix will be coming soon to Ouya. For now, there’s a Twitch TV streaming app, which works great. It has an embarrassing, terrible menu interface, but on my 3 MB/s internet connection the video quality of the feeds I tested was super sharp. I watched some guy play Call of Duty for about 15 minutes, and the quality was so clean that it looked like I actually had Black Ops 2 running on my Ouya.
Just like in marketplaces for other Android devices, the Ouya is already host to a handful of emulatorsthat play games from classic gaming consoles like the Commodore 64 and the Super Nintendo. In the Ouya’s case, these are organized not in the “apps” section of the store, but in the “retro” game genre section. While Ouya developers cannot distribute copyrighted game ROMs, downloading the emulator software and then finding the ROMs online is trivially easy. With its low price point and comparatively fast processors, Ouya may soon become the best way to enjoy classic games on a high-definition television, once more developers pile aboard and optimize their Android emulators for it. Of course, you’ve got to be a pirate to do it.
Read more about the Ouya at: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/05/ouya-impressions/
It’s official. The name of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor is Xbox One. The Xbox One is a sleek, glossy black machine that appears to be close to the same size as the Xbox 360. It features harder-edged corners in comparison to the Xbox 360′s more rounded shape. The Kinect camera is a separate peripheral with a form factor similar to the new console’s and the same glossy black exterior. The console features voice controls for various functions via Kinect and integrated support for live TV switching.
In terms of the raw hardware, Microsoft confirms a beefed up set of specs to the tune of 5 billion transistors and 8GB of RAM, compared to the 360′s 500 million and 512MB, respectively. The console comes equipped with a Blu-ray drive, multiple USB 3.0 ports, and an 802.11n spec Wi-Fi receiver. The Kinect is significantly improved as well, with a 1080p camera that captures a wider field of view and more accurate sensors, to the point that they’ll be able to detect your heartbeat as you exercise.
The Xbox One has integrated support for TV and cable services, complete with Kinect-powered voice and motion controls. Switching from game to movie to live TV to a guide was shown to be a quick and seamless process during the presentation, with only a brief pause between each changeover. Kinect voice controls are theoretically smart enough to open up your cable guide to the appropriate channel if you say something like “Xbox, what’s on HBO?” Motion controls give users the ability to swipe between channels and back out/go into full screen mode.
Snap Mode is an important new feature; it basically amounts to multitasking on your console. In Snap Mode, you can open up certain apps in a frame on the right side of the screen, things like Internet Explorer or Skype. Xbox SmartGlass supports Snap Mode as well as integrated TV features, allowing you to use external devices like smartphones and tablets as both a keyboard and a remote control.
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It may sound like science fiction, but according to the developers, the headset's mind-boosting abilities come from transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a controversial practice that has seen a minor resurgence in recent years. In the past, tDCS has been employed to treat chronic pain, prevent migraines, and even improve a person's math skills, but the effects are still being explored by researchers.
The headset itself is built around a Bluetooth low energy system chip from Texas Instruments connected to an array of four electrodes. Once placed on a person's head, the electrodes need to be adjusted to the correct spots on the forehead to ensure the current passes through the prefrontal cortex. Sponges soaked in a saline solution are then fitted between the electrodes and the wearer's skin to prevent burns. Additional electrodes can also be attached to stimulate other areas of the brain or produce alternate effects.
The foc.us does have the distinction of being one of the few consumer-friendly tDCS devices available, which is sure to appeal to enthusiasts who might otherwise have to rely on homemade gadgets powered by a 9V battery. However, even though the foc.us headset is claimed to meet all regulatory safety requirements, the official website does state that it "offers no medical benefits, is not a medical device, and is not regulated by the FDA."
What would you do if you wanted to improve your video game skills? Practice more often? Study game maps? Maybe get some tips from pro gamers? But why do any of that when you can just hook some electrodes to your scalp and run an electric current through your cranium? That's what Focus Labs is offering with the foc.us headset, which it claims will improve a gamer's abilities by stimulating specific areas of the brain with a low electric current.
It may sound like science fiction, but according to the developers, the headset's mind-boosting abilities come from transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a controversial practice that has seen a minor resurgence in recent years. In the past, tDCS has been employed to treat chronic pain, prevent migraines, and even improve a person's math skills, but the effects are still being explored by researchers.
In the case of the foc.us headset though, the electric current supposedly heightens the wearer's brain power to give them an edge in competitive video games. "Stimulating the prefrontal cortex is good for working memory, vigilance and focus, all used when gaming," says inventor Michael Oxley.
The headset itself is built around a Bluetooth low energy system chip from Texas Instruments connected to an array of four electrodes. Once placed on a person's head, the electrodes need to be adjusted to the correct spots on the forehead to ensure the current passes through the prefrontal cortex. Sponges soaked in a saline solution are then fitted between the electrodes and the wearer's skin to prevent burns. Additional electrodes can also be attached to stimulate other areas of the brain or produce alternate effects.
Users can control the amount and duration of the charge manually on the headset itself or through an iOS app, which connects to the headset via Bluetooth (an Android app currently isn't possible due to its lack of Bluetooth low energy APIs). By default, the electrodes will apply 1 mA of current for five minutes – which will suit most people, according to the company – but that can be reconfigured from 0.8 to 2 mA for a period of five minutes up to 40 minutes.
When in use, encrypted firmware monitors the resistance between the electrodes and alters the voltage immediately to reach a specified amount. The app also instructs the headset to gradually raise the charge at the beginning to help users ease into the sensation. Like most tDCS devices, one short session should be enough to produce results, whatever they may be.
Studies have shown the practice of tDCS could help in treating depression and certain brain injuries, but there's only been one study that measured video game performance, and that was only used as a tool to gauge a soldier's aptitude. Critics have also questioned why the headset is built to stimulate the prefrontal cortex instead of the motor or visual cortices, which directly affect a person's reaction time.
The foc.us does have the distinction of being one of the few consumer-friendly tDCS devices available, which is sure to appeal to enthusiasts who might otherwise have to rely on homemade gadgets powered by a 9V battery. However, even though the foc.us headset is claimed to meet all regulatory safety requirements, the official website does state that it "offers no medical benefits, is not a medical device, and is not regulated by the FDA."
The foc.us headsets are currently available to order in either red or black for US$249 each, shipping is expected to start in July. Each package includes a headset, carrying case, micro-USB cable, and eight reusable sponges. Focus Labs is also offering a 30-day money back guarantee, so skeptical customers have the option to return the headset for a full refund if they aren't satisfied with the experience.
NVIDIA brought its new Shield handheld gaming system to Google I/O this year and showed off a near-production device. The Shield made its debut at CES this year, surprising most since it’s a consumer handheld device from a company that generally makes internal components. But it has some neat tricks up its sleeve, including a Tegra 4 chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 720p display and 16GB of internal storage.
NVIDIA’s Shield Mobile Gaming System Feels Like The Way Android Games Should Be Played
NVIDIA brought its new Shield handheld gaming system to Google I/O this year and showed off a near-production device. The Shield made its debut at CES this year, surprising most since it’s a consumer handheld device from a company that generally makes internal components. But it has some neat tricks up its sleeve, including a Tegra 4 chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 720p display and 16GB of internal storage.
The Shield units available at I/O this week were all running Android and showing off Android games with hardware controller support, and none were demoing the PC game streaming that NVIDIA said would be coming to Shield as a beta when it comes to retail in June.
My experience with the NVIDIA was limited to just a few games, including the Epic Citadel demo that always gets trotted out to demonstrate amazing graphics capabilities on mobile devices. There were also a couple of playable cart racers in action, and all of the above performed well and really showed that the hardware is capable of rendering high-quality video smoothly and without any apparent effort. For a device that’s essentially a smartphone without the actual phone powers, but with more physical buttons for $349, that’s an important achievement to be able to claim.
Shield does its Android job well, and the hardware feels great to these gamers’ hands. Buttons are slightly clicky and the ergonomics are solid, and the thing doesn’t take up too much more space than an Xbox controller when the screen is folded down and it’s in travel mode. There’s mini-HDMI, which was outputting gameplay to a small HD television, and a micro-USB slot for charging. The onboard screen boasts “retinal” quality 294 PPI pixel density, which means video and games look silky smooth.
Maybe the best part is that NVIDIA has gone for a pretty near stock Android Jelly Bean experience, which a rep from the company told me was a conscious choice they made after first trying a more involved widget overlay that ended up making for a much less pleasant experience. Navigating the stock Android with hardware controls (you can also always use the touchscreen) is also surprisingly intuitive.
All that said, this is a strange device with a market that’s probably going to be pretty niche. Really, it almost seems like a reference device designed to show off the power of Tegra, but NVIDIA is actually shipping the thing, so those of us like me who actually have a hankering for this kind of hardware will really be able to buy it even if it doesn’t become a runaway success.
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