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Filed under: Gaming

You already know the Xbox 360 is getting new community features, a revamped dashboard, Avatars, and of course Netflix video — all things we′ve been excited about since we saw them in action at E3 this year. There hasn’t been much to go on since then, but we recently came across some short videos exhibiting Parties (which let users socialize and make plans while engaging in separate games and activities) and Avatar customization options; hopefully they’ll hold you over until the features go live November 19th. We won’t be held responsible for the brain deterioration caused by the vacuous marketing-speak accompanying the moving images, however. “It is where you get to enjoy entertainment — that’s the vision.” Yes, it is.

New Xbox Experience videos let you vicariously play dress up originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Samuel Axon

Guy proposes to girlfriend by hacking a video game ROM - via Crunchgear. TheRealPfhreak writes -

On October 17th, 2008, I proposed to my (now) Fiance. Originally I wanted to retun to the site of our first date, Mount Baker, near Bellingham Washington. Sadly, there was no discrete way to get her out there. So I turned to the next best thing, digitally recreating the mountain!

But why stop there? I figured I’d try and recreate many of our other favorite memories — stargazing, dancing, even her favorite song lyrics (from the Princess Bride). I’m a college student who is studying Computer Science, and I wanted to do something unique that used my talents, so I did some research on Rom hacking, as she was playing through Chrono Trigger….

When her name appeared on screen (blurred in this video), she glanced over to me (on one knee, with the ring out), wondering, “How did they get my name in this game?” When she saw the ring, she reread the proposal, nodded yes, and said, “You are such a huge nerd! I love this!”

I spent a long time debating whether or not this proposal was awesome or incredibly stupid. Her friends, and my friends helped talk me into it, and it was a huge success!

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Original post by Phillip Torrone

Get Kobe Bryant to “perform” with Tony Hawk, Alex Rodriguez and Michael Phelps. And make them wear pink polos in the grand tradition of Tom Cruise in Risky Business. That’s a quick way to get attention for your product, which in this case happens to be Guitar Heroes: World Tour.

One has to wonder though: how much did they pay for all that star power?

Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps, Tony Hawk

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Original post by Rico

Amazing! Yesterday I kinda mentioned Jack Thompson. Turns out today is the day his ejection from the Florida bar association becomes official!

No doubt, gamers are celebrating. But they all chuckled as Jack Thompson’s aggressively stupid statements stripped him of political allies, and kept him away from the ears of those with power to wield.

But then again, is this the end of Jack Thompson? I think not. What’s to stop him from passing the bar in some other state, and regaining the privilege to call himself lawyer once again?

You can argue that he’s lost some clout. But not being a lawyer won’t keep Jack Thompson quiet. For every kook with a crazy message, there’s always someone crazier willing to listen—and take the message seriously.

(image by ign.com)

Tags: Disbarment, Jack Thompson, kooky people

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Original post by Rico

Amazing! Yesterday I kinda mentioned Jack Thompson. Turns out today is the day his ejection from the Florida bar association becomes official!

No doubt, gamers are celebrating. But they all chuckled as Jack Thompson’s aggressively stupid statements stripped him of political allies, and kept him away from the ears of those with power to wield.

But then again, is this the end of Jack Thompson? I think not. What’s to stop him from passing the bar in some other state, and regaining the privilege to call himself lawyer once again?

You can argue that he’s lost some clout. But not being a lawyer won’t keep Jack Thompson quiet. For every kook with a crazy message, there’s always someone crazier willing to listen—and take the message seriously.

(image by ign.com)

Tags: Disbarment, Jack Thompson, kooky people

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Original post by Rico

I got no work done today and it’s all the fault of those blasted folks at Blast Media who sent me the Face-Off Frenzy PowerBand Hockey from Fun Slides.

Sure, it’s my job to test gadgets out but I think a 5 hour marathon might have been overdoing it. For those air hockey fans without the room or moola for an expensive air hockey table, the Face-Off Frenzy PowerBand Hockey Game is a great substitue, assembling easily to make a 34″x49″ playing area that is portable for room-to-room play.( Though you can take it apart for storage, I recommend sliding it under the bed.)

It can be played on all indoor surfaces- a table, hardwood floor or carpeting but take it from me that on a hardwood floor the puck really zings! The so-called “power-band″ technology (I wonder if Steve Jobs know about this?) is actually the elastic bands that ricochet the puck right into your opponents goal. Suggestion to the company: make the elastic wider so the puck doesn’t get stuck underneath.

$49.99 from Fun Slides. Just don′t have it sent to the office. You′ve been warned.

Original post by Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

Looks like those ever-creative peeps at EA have found another way to take advantage of their games’ real-time updates.

Owners of Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360 are now starting to see political ads from Obama, obviously getting them to vote “the right way” come November 4. Electronics Arts has confirmed that these ads are placed into the game via Xbox Live updates. It’s inconceivable that the Obama campaign could’ve seen this far ahead when the Burnout Paradise disc was going gold.

It’s honestly a bit refreshing to see gaming be involved in politics—without some psycho lawyer throwing off totally stupid comments to gain the attention he desperately seeks.

Photo by CrunchGear

Tags: Barack Obama, Burnout Paradise, Politcal ads, XBox 360 games

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Original post by Rico

Filed under: Peripherals

It was just a month ago that Alpay Kasal of Lit Studios was impressing us with LaserGames, beaming all sorts of fun, interactive visuals on the wall. Now, with a few tweaks, he’s turned that projector around and made a two-way mirror into a sort of digital portal. “Interactive Mirror” uses the same basic mouse emulation as LaserGames — it seems to lack multi-touch but offers some interesting ideas, like showing how a custom T-shirt would look if you were wearing it. That’s potentially useful, but its primary function seems to be inducing childish wonderment in your friends. If the wide-eyed participants in the video below are any indication, it seems to do that quite well.

Continue reading Interactive Mirror dazzles onlookers, never lies

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Original post by Tim Stevens

Kevin’s kid-sized Mega Man costume in-progress is looking impressive - in particular, the megabuster/gun light effects. -

The Mega Buster was another important part of the costume… I could have just done two gloves, but that would have been lame. Anyways, I liked Mr Wilsons idea of using tupperware for the construction, I just decided to take it to the next level. Read on for my steps and final product.

- Halloween Costumes - Mega Buster [via Neatorama]

More:

Mega Man Stitchin′

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Original post by Collin Cunningham

So, the Queen Bee of Creative Labs, Susie Haynes, e-mails me:

We have a cool new product that I want to get in your hands called the Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! This is a 1GB USB memory stick that features our X-Fi audio technology. All you have to do is plug Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! into an open USB port on a notebook or PC and it will enhance all of your music, movie and game audio with no driver installation necessary.

There, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Having tested it, I can verifty that’s all true and when you′ve got your stereo headphones plugged in it’s almost like having multichannel surround sound. For gamers, the EAX effects produce realistic 3D environmental sounds that make your games scary realistic. (Note: Only for PCs at this point.)

By restoring detail to compressed music (like iTunes or Internet radio) with the X-Fi technology, your audio sounds fuller and more vibrant. $89.99 at Creative Labs. Tell ‘em Susie sent you.

Original post by Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

The sheer awesomeness of this WoW player’s 36-box setup is even made more staggering by the cost of his geekery (at least $5711 a year for subscription costs). We can only imagine how much his electric bill is. And surely it must be hot among all those computers! Check out the pics below while trying to pinch yourself awake (click on the thumbnails for full-res versions).

To think that the crazy dude considers this a hobby. Wow.

Tags: multiboxing, World of Warcraft, Wow

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Original post by Rico

Filed under: Gaming

This isn′t the first stab at an “in-car gaming system” we’ve seen, but it may be the most novel. Carcade! is an “augmented reality in-car videogame″ designed by students at the Berlin University of the Arts. Using a webcam, the landscape is captured and incorporated into the game itself, letting you navigate the hellish urban environment that you call home with a little spacecraft just like you’ve always wanted to. The faster and more erratically your friend drives, the more difficult game play becomes — we just wish we could play it on the window itself instead of a laptop. This would be just the thing for those cross-country road trips, though it might get a little dull while passing through the vast alkali plains of The Great American Desert. Watch the Carcade! road test after the break.

[Via Edmunds]

Continue reading Carcade lets you play your seedy neighborhood

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Sebastian’s work interfacing with old Sega hardware for sound synthesis seems to be paying off - and the results sound quite nice -

In this video, the Sega Mega Drive II is controlled via the MIDI keyboard controller. Various parameters can be controlled from the keyboard, as one can hear in the video.

- Sega Mega Drive MIDI Keyboard Video

His research even brings the iconic blue hedgehog under musical control.

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Original post by Collin Cunningham

Defective Yeti (Matthew Baldwin, one of my favorite bloggers, funny and smart) has once again graced his faithful readers with a three part review of Halloween games - the first post is about zombie games. I think it’s neat that one of them, Zombie in my Pocket, is a print-and-play.

Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game: Though a relatively recent addition to the genre (it came out last year), the growing consensus is that this is the best zombie game on the market. LNoE puts some players in the role of Heroes and the rest as Zombies, fighting tooth and nail (and, of course, chainsaw) in the heart of a small town. The best thing about LNoE is it’s replayability: the game comes with five different scenarios (with more available online), each of the playable Heroes is unique (the Hot Nurse can heal, the Sheriff always has a revolver, etc.), and the rulebook includes an “Advanced” section in case the basic game just doesn’t include enough dynamite for your liking. Plus, an expansion was just released, ensuring enough variability for many Halloweens to come.

All three parts are up - zombies are here, vampires and witches here, and “miscellaneous malevolence” here.

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Original post by Patti Schiendelman

Check out this awesome remake of Daft Punk’s “Something About Us”:

So many stuff used here: aside from the DS Lite, you’ve got a midi controller, a theremin, and even a papier-mâché helmet complete with a LED display! (makezine.com)

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Original post by Rico