Joypad News is a site that brings you the very latest in news concerning gaming accessories and releases of them from around the world, Part of the
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July 30th, 2014, 00:43 Posted By: wraggster
Google Chromecast In Stock and Available!
The Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player is back in-stock and available for $29.99 (Save $5) with free shipping at Amazon! Chromecast is the easy way to enjoy online video and anything from the web on your TV. Plug it into any HDTV and control it with your existing smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Send your favorites from Google Play, YouTube, Netflix, and Chrome to your TV with the press of a button. No more huddling around small screens and tiny speakers. Chromecast automatically updates to work with a growing number of apps.
With Chromecast, you can easily enjoy your favorite online content on your HDTV—movies, TV shows, videos, music, photos, websites, and more from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Chrome.
In addition, score a bonus of 90 Days of Unlimited Music from Google Play with the Purchase of a Chromecast Streaming Media Player!
Grab one now if available...
Check it out: Amazon - Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player
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July 28th, 2014, 22:23 Posted By: wraggster
For [Tony]‘s entry for The Hackaday Prize, he’s doing something we’ve all seen before – a head mounted display, connected to a Bluetooth module, displaying information from a smartphone. What we haven’t seen before is a cheap version of this tech, and a version of Google Glass that folds – you know, like every other pair of glasses on the planet – edges this project over from ‘interesting’ to ‘nearly practical’.For the display, [Tony] is using a 0.96″ OLED connected to an Arduino Nano. This screen is directed into the wearer’s eye with a series of optics that, along with every other part of the frame, was 3D printed on a Solidoodle 2. The frame itself not only folds along the temples, but also along the bridge, making this HMD surprisingly compact when folded up.
Everything displayed on this head mounted display is controlled by either an Android phone or a Bluetooth connection to a desktop. Using relatively simple display means [Tony] is limited to text and extremely simple graphics, but this is more than enough for some very interesting applications; reading SMS messages and checking email is easy, and doesn’t overpower the ‘duino.
http://hackaday.com/2014/07/28/a-bet...his-one-folds/
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July 23rd, 2014, 00:57 Posted By: wraggster
Facebook's $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR closed today, officially cementing the deal that was announced in March. Oculus and Facebook are as inseparable as a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity. Or a tech company and another tech company targeting a slightly different market.
To celebrate their unity, Facebook and Oculus released a single, joint statement regarding today's finalization: "We're looking forward to an exciting future together, building the next computing platform and reimagining the way people communicate."
We discussed the Facebook deal with Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe at E3: He said that Oculus always planned to reach a mass market, and Facebook, with its 1.2 billion users, helps the company reach that goal.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/21/fa...-now-official/
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July 21st, 2014, 20:41 Posted By: wraggster
On June 26th, 2014, Clearpath Robotics opened up the doors to their brand new 12,000 square foot robot lair by bringing out a PR2 to cut the ceremonial ribbon and welcome everyone inside. And instead of just programming the ‘locate and destroy’ ribbon sequence, the co-founders opted to use an Oculus Rift to control the robot tearing through the material with flailing arms.
This was accomplished having Jake, the robot, utilize a Kinect 2.0 that fed skeleton tracking data via rosserial_windows, a windows-based set of extension for the Robot Operating System which we heard about in January. The software gathers in a stream of data points each with an X,Y,Z component allowing [Jake] to find himself within a 3D space.Then, the data was collected and published directly into the PR2′s brain. Inject a little python code, and the creature was able to route directions in order to move it’s arms.
Thus, by simply stepping in front of the Kinect 2.0, and putting on the Oculus Rift headset, anyone could teleoperate [Jake] to move around and wave its arms at oncoming ribbons. Once completed, [Jake] would leave the scene, journeying back into the newly created robot lair leaving pieces of nylon and polyester everywhere.
An earlier (un-smoothed) version of the full system can be seen after the break:
http://hackaday.com/2014/07/21/cutti...a-oculus-rift/
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July 7th, 2014, 21:59 Posted By: wraggster
Google has confirmed plans to add native virtual reality support to its Chrome web browser.
Following the news last week that Mozilla is planning on doing the same for Firefox, Google has already has released builds for Chrome that offer functioning Oculus Rift support.
Compatibility with Google’s own Google Cardboard VR headset is going to be added at a later date, too.
“There were several people that seemed to expect that this meant you would start up your browser, put on your headset, and immediately be immersed in a fully VR browsing experience. Sorry, but no. That day is a long ways off, if it ever gets here at all,” Jones said.
“Adding WebVR doesn't turn everything into a Virtual Reality experience. Instead, it provides an API that allows developers to create VR content in the context of a web page
“Picture this: You are browsing Amazon and find a jacket/TV/bike/whatever that you're interested in. If Amazon's developers took advantage of the WebVR API they could add a button that says ‘View in VR’ which let you view the item through a VR headset in 3D at 1:1 scale. In the case of a piece of clothing you could see it on a virtual mannequin, walk around it, lean in and examine the stitching, and so on as if it were actually sitting right in front of you.
“And of course there will be games. That's such a given it's not even worth mentioning.”
The reasons for this slow and cautious approach? Google still not sure whether VR is actually going to take off at all.
“It's still an open question as to whether or not VR will take off this time around or flop again like the last several attempts,” Jones admitted. “It doesn't make sense to add significant new features to Chrome if only a tiny fraction of enthusiast users will ever be able to make use of them.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/vr-su...chrome/0135014
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July 7th, 2014, 20:51 Posted By: wraggster
Sony will demo its virtual reality headset Project Morpheus to attendees at next week’s Develop Conference in Brighton.
Attendees will be offered hands-on time with tech will be on the Expo floor on Wednesday, July 9th and Thursday, July 10th.
A session on techniques to create VR titles with Project Morpheus will also be presented at the conference on Thursday, July 10th.
“The ability to make people feel like they’re present elsewhere makes VR a new and compelling medium for a variety of gaming and non-gaming applications,” read a statement from SCEE.
“Drawing on SCE’s rich history of hardware design and technologies, the advancement of displays, sensors, and optical lens technology has made it possible to develop a light and high performing headset. SCE believe that in the near future, it will be possible to deliver an experience that enables players to step inside the world of their games.
“We encourage a wide range of developers to take interest in this virtual reality system. We look forward to connecting with attendees at Develop and offering a rare chance to experience and discover project Morpheus first hand.”
http://www.develop-online.net/news/s...erence/0194889
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July 7th, 2014, 20:40 Posted By: wraggster
As the latest Oculus Rift development kits begin shipping, Oculus VR has made a pair of important announcements for up-and-coming virtual reality developers. First, the company will be hosting a new VR development conference later this year. Called Oculus Connect, the conference will feature "sessions and workshops led by Oculus engineers and industry pioneers," as well as keynotes from Oculus founder Palmer Lucky, CEO Brendan Iribe, chief scientist Michael Abrash and, of course, John Carmack. Oculus Connect 2014 runs September 19-20, and registration begins July 10.
Alongside Oculus Connect, the company also announced the acquisition of RakNet, a C++ networking middleware system for game development. Essentially, the system provides developers the essentials for implementing online multiplayer (voice chat, object replication, etc). The system is currently used by companies like Sony Online Entertainment, Mojang and even Lockheed Martin. More important than the acquisition, however, is Oculus VR's decision to make RakNet open source, starting today. Interested developers can snag it right now from Oculus' GitHub.
If you decide to develop any online-enabled, virtual face touching, let us know.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/07/oc...quires-raknet/
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July 6th, 2014, 01:15 Posted By: wraggster
[Dave] has some big plans to build himself a 1980′s style computer. Most of the time, large-scale projects can be made easier by breaking them down into their smaller components. [Dave] decided to start his project by designing and constructing a custom controller for his future computer. He calls it the Rabbit H1.
[Dave] was inspired by the HOTAS throttle control system, which is commonly used in aviation. The basic idea behind HOTAS is that the pilot has a bunch of controls built right into the throttle stick. This way, the pilot doesn’t ever have to remove his hand from the throttle. [Dave] took this basic concept and ran with it.
He first designed a simple controller shape in OpenSCAD and printed it out on his 3D printer. He tested it out in his hand and realized that it didn’t feel quite right. The second try was more narrow at the top, resulting in a triangular shape. [Dave] then found the most comfortable position for his fingers and marked the piece with a marker. Finally, he measured out all of the markings and transferred them into OpenSCAD to perfect his design.
[Dave] had some fun with OpenSCAD, designing various hinges and plywood inlays for all of the buttons. Lucky for [Dave], both the 3D printer software as well as the CNC router software accept STL files. This meant that he was able to design both parts together in one program and use the output for both machines.
With the physical controller out of the way, it was time to work on the electronics. [Dave] bought a couple of joysticks from Adafruit, as well as a couple of push buttons. One of the joysticks controls the mouse cursor. The other joystick controls scrolling vertically and horizontally, and includes a push button for left-click. The two buttons are used for middle and right-click. All of these inputs are read by a Teensy Arduino. The Teensy is compact and easily capable of emulating a USB mouse, which makes it perfect for this job.
[Dave] has published his designs on Thingiverse if you would like to try to build one of these yourself.
http://hackaday.com/2014/07/04/the-r...e-replacement/
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June 16th, 2014, 01:08 Posted By: wraggster
 The Oculus Rift is a really cool piece of kit, but with its future held in the grasp of Facebook, who knows what it’ll become now. So why not just build your own? When the Oculus first came out [Ahmet] was instantly intrigued — he began researching virtual reality and the experience offered by the Oculus — but curiosity alone wasn’t enough for the $300 price tag. He held off until he had a useful purpose for it, and as it turns out he did — he builds and flies multicopters, for which an FPV setup would be super handy!
Other FPV setups cost close to $300 as well, so getting a device with more features just makes sense. Promptly after realizing this, he faced the Maker’s Dilemma: Buy it, or build it? To test the waters, he decided to order some aspheric lenses to do some quick tests with a smart phone and a ghetto cardboard box setup — the results were surprisingly good. No turning back now!
The hardware consists of:
- 5.6″ 1280×800 LCD
- 3D printed enclosure
- 12V power adapter
- USB to TTL
- 50mm aspheric lenses (5X zoom)
- Arduino Mini Pro
- GY-85 9DOF IMU
- Various wires, foam padding, and glue
The majority of the cost here is in the LCD, with everything else being pretty inexpensive. Once it’s all built (details on his blog), it is time to get the software, downloaded right off of GitHub. The rest is pretty self-explanatory — just take a look at the results! We’re even tempted to build one now. Videos below.
http://hackaday.com/2014/06/13/openv...-for-only-150/
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June 16th, 2014, 00:27 Posted By: wraggster
Oculus VR isn't threatened by Sony's rival virtual reality headset, Project Morpheus, and Oculus even invited Sony to check out its own internal prototypes, CEO Brendan Iribe told Joystiq at E3. Sony then returned the favor and invited the Oculus team to see Project Morpheus. See? We all can be friends.
Oculus made headlines recently when Facebook acquired the company for $2 billion. Iribe said that even though the deal was a surprise to most people, it made perfect sense to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey:
"Many people, I still think, don't really understand or know that Palmer was the most excited about this partnership. Because he felt like, from the beginning, we got into this to make VR work and make it for the masses, and make it work at a scale and a comfort level that could hit the entire population."
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/13/oc...us-prototypes/
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June 14th, 2014, 00:28 Posted By: wraggster
The CEO of virtual reality firm Oculus has said that he expects the first consumer model to sell over one million units.
Speaking with Ars Technica, Brendan Iribe said that he was predicting "north of a million units" sold in total over the lifetime of the first consumer iteration of the headset.
“It's not going to be a console-scale market," Iribe explained.
"It always could be, but that's not the goal. The goal is to set expectations low, get the enthusiasts and early adopters to get into the space, get their feedback [and] get developers making really great content."
He added that once a foundation of virtual reality content for the device was established “hopefully you'll get many millions of people into VR, playing great games and other stuff”.
“For the system to be fun, it needs content. Content sells hardware," he said.
VP of creative at Ubisoft, Lionel Raynaud, previously said that the games publisher wouldn’t begin producing content for VR devices until one million devices had been sold.
Iribe said that a second consumer Oculus Rift model would be released one to two years after the initial launch.
Concerning the release date of the long-awaited Rift consumer model, Iribe said: “If we haven't shipped by the end of 2015, that's a problem. At least we would be disappointed."
He also added that the firm’s recent acquisition by Facebook would ultimately lead to a lower cost for consumers.
"[The Facebook buyout] is going to allow us to deliver consumer V1 at a lower cost, because we're not trying to drive a high margin on this," he said.
"Mark [Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO] is much more in the mindset of 'let's get this to scale with the best quality product at the lowest cost possible.'"
PCR previously asked retailers what they believe the ideal price for the consumer model of the Rift should be, with the majority of firms advising a sub-£200 price tag in order to attract consumers.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...n-units/034158
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June 13th, 2014, 23:24 Posted By: wraggster
While the rest of gaming world seemingly hopped on the VR bus as soon as Oculus Rift was announced, I've been skeptical. Every time a friend or developer started to extol the virtues of strapping on a Weapon X mask to playMirror's Edge, I'd ask the same question: How long did you play while wearing it? Half an hour tops? No way anyone's going to want to sit around marathoningSkyrim with shoebox-sized goggles on their dome.
That may still be true, but my doubts were unfounded. I finally put the big gaming VR helmets on my face at E3 2014 and took them for a quick spin. I have no idea if I'll ever want to sit in my living room playing four hours ofYakuza 8 wearing an Oculus or Morpheus, but I do think VR technology adds a remarkable bodily element to video games that's unlike anything else. My experiences with Oculus and Morpheus were also dramatically different.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/12/co...ject-morpheus/
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June 11th, 2014, 22:39 Posted By: wraggster
If you're one of the few people in the country with a prescription Google Glass headset, you might want to keep extra glasses handy for when you go to the movies. First, some guy got booted from an AMC theater on the suspicion he was recording the film (he wasn't), and now a different theater chain has outright banned the headset. That theater company is Alamo Drafthouse, which operates in five (soon to be six) states and like AMC, it's trying to cut down on piracy. Indeed, the company's CEO Tim League said in a tweet that Glass specifically won't be allowed in auditoriums once the lights dim for previews. Fortunately, at least, you can continue to wear your headset while the house lights are up, or when you leave the screening room for a popcorn run. Once the movie starts, though, you'd better be wearing proper glasses, lest you get pegged as a movie bootlegger.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/10/t...own-on-piracy/
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June 11th, 2014, 22:37 Posted By: wraggster
Google Glass is about to get a handful of updates that should be especially helpful this summer. To start, it should be easier to share Glass photos from your vacation; a new MyGlass app for Android (iOS is due later) will surface your most recent snapshots. An upgrade to Glass itself, meanwhile, lets you keep tabs on World Cup matches and group standings. It should be simpler to find your parking spot and track packages, too. Google hasn't said when all the updates will roll out to its smart eyewear, but it expects the MyGlass update to hit later this week -- hopefully, in time for the World Cup's June 12th kickoff.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/10/g...ld-cup-update/
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June 11th, 2014, 22:29 Posted By: wraggster
With all the talk of high-fidelity virtual reality coming from Oculus VR -- the virtual reality headset company that's now part of Facebook -- it's easy to believe that the only type of VR is PC-based. But that isn't the case! Beyond what we learned recently about Samsung and Oculus working on a VR peripheral that uses your phone, Oculus has been open about working on a mobile software development kit for some time now. Heck, we even spoke with Oculus CTO John Carmack about it last year. "I think you'll see the mobile SDK launch publicly before the consumer Rift comes out," Oculus VP of product Nate Mitchell told us this week at E3 2014. Beyond Samsung, a handful of developers are "experimenting with some high-end Android devices...building experiences and seeing what's possible."
But here's the issue: great VR requires serious horsepower. While the current range of flagship Android mobile devices are pretty powerful, they don't hold a candle to even low-end gaming PCs. In so many words, isn't Oculus worried that a sub-par, Android-based VR experience could poison the well for the full Oculus Rift coming down the line? If your first experience with VR is a bad one, you may never try it again. "That's a completely fair statement," Mitchell said.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/o...vr-mobile-sdk/
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June 9th, 2014, 00:52 Posted By: wraggster
How would you like to do your computer work on a futuristic, hologram-style interface while sitting on the Iron Throne, which also happens to be on Mars? Well, you could luck out and use a genie's three wishes, or you could use Control VR, which features just such an image in its promotional materials. Control VR is an Oculus Rift-compataible apparatus designed to give users a more precise level of interaction with their virtual reality.
Consisting of a chest harness, two gloves, and sensors which wrap around the forearm and bicep, Control VR is touted on its Kickstarter page as a versatile tool for virtual reality interaction. While the applications for gaming should be obvious - imagine seeing your hands accurately represented in-game as they hold a gun or cast a spell, for example - the team behind Control VR also proposes it for other uses, such as cheap and easy motion capture for animators and navigating computer interfaces with your hands, Minority Report-style.
Backing the project at $350 will net you a harness and controls for one arm, while pledging $600 will grant you a harness and controls for both arms. The Control VR team is seeking $250,000 to get the project's feet (hands?) off the ground; as of writing, they have raised approximately $200,000, with 27 days left in the campaign.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/08/oc...whole-virtual/
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June 5th, 2014, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster
It's not exactly a good sign when your product's being held together with Scotch Tape. But that's actually one of the main points of distinction between the SiME Smart Glass and Google's version of the wearable -- that and a much lower price point, of course. Taiwanese company ChipSip hopes to sell its Google Glass knock-off for $500, and though that seems palatable compared to $1,500, it's still not cheap. That price is even harder to swallow when you see just how complicated it is to use, as we discovered on the Computex show floor.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/04/sime-hmd-hands-on/
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June 4th, 2014, 00:21 Posted By: wraggster
Valve made an appearance at last week's Boston VR Bender event, showing off an updated version of its in-development VR technology to attending developers.
Captured images show a new prototype of Valve's polka-dotted VR headset, which likely features a new method of precise positional tracking, according toVR Focus. A previous prototype, showcased prior to the departure of R&D team leader Atman Binstock, reportedly required its own dedicated floorspace atValve's HQ to function.
More images of Valve's prototype VR hardware are collected in this Imgur album, and Reddit users have compiled additional shots here. Valve has not announced any plans to release a consumer version of its VR headset.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/03/ne...es-vr-headset/
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June 2nd, 2014, 22:27 Posted By: wraggster
Dyson is near-synonymous with household electronics like vacuums and fans these days, but we're learning that it could have gone in a very different direction. The company tells The Next Web that it had been developing a Google Glass-like augmented reality headset, the Halo, between 2001 and 2004. The wearable projected visual cues, took voice commands and even sported a virtual keyboard that let you type on any flat surface. Dyson had a prototype, but ultimately canned the design to focus on both its core products and US expansion plans.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/02/d...-like-headset/
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