Oh geeze, sit down because the Kamikaze 64 will knock your socks off. While not the smallest portable N64 mod, it is no doubt just as impressive to hold in your hands thinking of how a few short years ago, such power in the palm of your hand was means for a joke. God how I love the future.
There isn’t much to learn in the way of pricing. But word is that it was a custom one-off job so don’t expect to drop cash for your own anytime soon. If you really want one that bad, looks like you’ll have to go all scientist/engineer and design/build your own.
Is anyone finding this as cool as I am? I mean, mobile GoldenEye sessions sound all too amazing. “What’s that aunti? I can’t hear you because I just got decimated by a block faced Russian dude…”
Gushing over the 8+ megapixel camera phones grabbing all the headlines and attention in 2009? Psh, that’s nothing compared to what 2011 will bring us. Broadcom announced today a new processor of theirs that will usher in a new era and raise the bar as far as mobile picture/video taking is concerned.
The chip, named the Broadcom BCM2763 VideoCore IV Processor will enable mobile phones and other MID’s to support Full HD 1080p video recording as well as 20+ megapixel stills. But that’s not all. Other features that are currently reserved for stand alone cameras such as multiple shots per second, image stabilization, face and smile detection, and panorama mode will also make their way to the small screen.
For mobile photographers, the above is awesome enough. But pictures and video aren’t the only things mobile devices are being asked to do these days. Joining the increased picture/video chops provided the the Broadcom BCM2763, mobile gaming will also receive a rather hefty bump to the tune of native 1080p rendering that when coupled with HDMI outputs makes the topic of traditional console gaming dying out sound even more likely and closer than one would assume.
Ultimately, the 40nm chip (pricing still unannounced) will bring yet unseen amounts of visual eye candy and multimedia capabilities to mobile devices that will make even such gadgets as the upcoming Nexus One seem like a fisher price toy in as little as 2 years. Technology is practically leap frogging ahead. Can you keep up?
Are gaming consoles, the very thing that has kept many a geek enthralled for years, on the way out? Is their relevance slowly disappearing as mobile devices become more and more powerful with scalable options and outputs that are ever increasing?
To highlight this simple though looming question, look at the iPhone. While on the device itself the hardware isn’t too spectacular compared to current gaming champs such as the Xbox 360 and PS3, the iPhone is quickly pushing the idea of mobile gaming ahead quicker than it has ever moved before. If someone asked you years back when the original Playstation was released if they ever dreamed that within 15 years someone would be able to play the same games on a phone, chances are you’d laugh and discount them as crazy. Yet here were in 2009 with very playable Playstation One games running on emulators aboard jailbroken iPhones.
But simple on device hardware isn’t going to kill traditional consoles alone. What about those late night parties and weekend frag fests with your friends? If everyone stayed in their room and kept their nose in their own little device, who would have fun gaming anymore? The expanding options to connect phones to TV’s is coming. Looking ahead to 2010, several phones are rumored to be coming with HDMI-out. Watching movies via your phone will be easier and more fluid than ever. If the same phone has the graphical muscle and supporting games to make the most of that muscle, such connections will ultimately make the traditional gaming console obsolete.
Just think, in as little as 5 years, a LAN party could involve nothing more than 20 people showing up at a gaming event with nothing more than themselves and their phone. Again, it’s crazy to think about because even now, LAN parties require some pretty meaty laptops. Ok, so maybe 5 years to the day won’t see gaming laptops reborn inside of phones, but I bet you if we stretch that limit to 10 years the outcome will more substantial. Besides the expanding power of mobile devices, one can also look towards the increase in game downloads, streaming, and other types of cloud services that are beginning to render physical media obsolete as we speak.
The addition of high definition outputs on mobile devices coupled with the push online is only making a market ripe for the taking of any young and forward thinking entrepreneur. Even traditional consoles are relying more and more on cloud based services and features. Though such consoles will always suffer from one big flaw — the cords that tether them to the walls. With battery technology of the near future coupled with the increasing advancements in mobile graphics and computing technologies, the day of the gaming console may be nearing the end.
I’m not trying to drum up mass hysteria and panic by putting a date on console gaming’s death. Though the brains behind such projects as the Xbox and PS platform should be looking at mobile gaming with at least one eye intently trained on it. Whether they like it or not, mobile devices will one day become the go to hardware. Will the golden oldies reinvent themselves or will they suffer the same fate as several other aging industries (namely US auto and newspaper industries) have faced?
What do you think, will the Xbox 720 and PS4 be the last of a dying breed?
When a company designs and develops a piece of gadget hardware, they have to consider the greater good or majority consensus on what defines a “good” device. Because of that, hardware often ends up being rather bland and boring, lacking any real definition or character. That’s where we gadget gurus come in. We take these half baked gadgets and mod them into our own visions. Even though they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, the wild and creative forms these custom gadgets take is truly spectacular. Take for instance the ET/UFO edition PSP-3000.
As you can see from above (video inside), this PSP in particular has several mutli-colored lights blasting away from within. The modder, Val, certainly has one of the coolest PSP mods on hand. If you need mobile gaming and some make shift laser surgery, it’s definitely an intriguing design.
Feelin’ like getting some retro mobile gaming in while you wait for whatever it is you’re waiting for? This Portable “game-in-a-game” system that appeared over at BenHeck’s Forums is a prime example of what geeks such as us are all about. Before you even begin to whip out your wallet, perhaps you’d like to know a tad more, hmm?
Forget looking for the latest in gaming tech inside this little working wonder. Instead, some “generic Chinese media player” is the life blood that makes this geeky creation live. With other features including a 2.8 LCD and 4GB storage means even a do-it-yourself kind of person should be able to pull it off on their own relatively cheaply. But of course, it would be so much more enjoyable to simply hit “buy now” and not have to deal with the actual construction of such a toy. If you’re having trouble justifying a purchase, explain to the wife that you can hook it up to the big screen and play just as you and your parents played games back in the day. That’ll warm her up for sure…
If you thought Sony’s pricing on the PSP Go was say…a bit overpriced, you wouldn’t be alone. Not by a long shot. The biggest culprit that is causing people to feel like the PSP Go is a lack of value is the botched trade-in program that was to let old PSP/3000 users trade in physical media for certificates or cards for digital copies. Of course, a smaller screen, identical internal specs, and the inclusion of sub standard specs (WiFi b we’re looking at you) rounds out a wholly bland release on Sony’s part. Not to mention, spending a few minutes on Google will garner a fair amount of reviews bashing the unit for high price and low value as well.
Because of the specs listed above and the problems associated with them, many thought since the PSP Go was a PSP-lite of sorts that the price tag would accurately reflect that belief. We should all know Sony by now…
If you’re not quite down with the current price, look no further than the internet for wallet relief. Many big name online retailers including Amazon, Play, HMV and GAME are strong arming Sony’s over inflated price. In many places in the UK, Sony’s “new” gadget is going for under £200 in the UK! Quite the deal. Though many would again claim that’s what is should have been from the start. Have you taken the dive and purchased a PSP Go? Happy/Sad? How cheap did you pick it up for. Oh…do share.
The ever increasingly powerful gaming consoles such as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have given gamers the ability of near photorealistic games that truly place you in the action. Some games are so graphically intense and beautiful, you may have to at times pinch yourself to make sure you really aren’t in the game. Games have come quite a ways from their humble days not so long ago when the bleeding edge of gaming was measured in bits. While modern games and all of the graphical eye candy are sure a treat to feast on, sometimes you just want to blow an evening controlling a character made out of a couple dozen blocks. Retro games, firing up the ‘ol *insert classic gaming system here*, and reliving your youth can bring back a part of your childhood that to many is a welcome vacation from the everyday realities we face. What if you could take all of that retro goodness in your pocket? Not just one system. But all of them?
One of the bonus of advancements in gaming hasn’t been the visual side only. Shrinking components means smaller systems, more energy efficiency, and unique designs. What if you could take just about any classic game from any classic system and play it, on the go, on a unit roughly the size of an old game boy? Yes…you can. The GP2X Wiz is your all-in-one retro gaming geek toy from heaven above. Games from the likes of Atari ST, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NeoGeo, Flash Games and so much more. No matter how much you pinch yourself, you aren’t going to “wake up” because this is reality.
While Apple my deny emulators from their iJesus, Palm has so far stayed relatively quiet on this front. Leave it to the faithful developer community to get the real job done right the first time. For those of you who have switched over to a Palm Pre and are aching for a Playstation emulator can take chill pill and relax. One is coming. Thanks fo ZodTTD, a seasoned iPhone emulator veteran, the Palm Pre can now enjoy the glories of Playstation emulation. He even goes as far to say that the Pre runs the PS1 emulator better than the iPhone 3GS. How that’s possible, I’m not sure. Maybe Palm is hiding something from us. Who knows. Before you go and toss your beloved Playstation in the trash you may want to know that:
* There is no sound output (but it’s emulated), as Pulse Audio is required for the Palm Pre, and I have yet to support it. It will come soon.
* I have not figured out hardware rotation or scaling, or whether it is possible. Until then I am using the raw framebuffer device and blitting 320×240 software scaled.
* I figured out how to read the keypad device on the Palm Pre, though there are times it fails to give a keyup event, making keys “stick”. This is annoying and I’m looking for a workaround.
* As things progress I will have fullscreen landscape working as well.
So there you thave it. Working, *almost* perfect Playstation emulation on the Palm Pre. I know you want to see more. So come on in and watch the video of the gaming goodness in action.
When new gadgets come out rendering our once prized possessions, our older gadgets, we are often caught up in a moment of love at first sight as we anxiously calculate in our heads many times over the finances needed to pick up the latest electronic gizmo that has captured our fancy, reassuring ourselves that we can in fact afford said device. (Whether we actually can or not is another issue all together). So often however we forget that there isn’t just the device itself but many other accessories such as cables, chargers, pouches, etc. that cost extra and aren’t included with the original purchase. When we move from one generation to the next of a particular model line, many hope that the accessories will carry over, and, if the manufacturer is one that actually cares about customers and has an intelligent R&D team, being able to allow such backwards compatibility with accessories is in reality, not that hard.
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Gushing over the 8+ megapixel camera phones grabbing all the headlines and attention in 2009? Psh, that’s nothing compared to what 2011 will bring us. Broadcom announced today a new processor of theirs that will usher in a new era and raise the bar as far as mobile picture/video taking is concerned. 
Are gaming consoles, the very thing that has kept many a geek enthralled for years, on the way out? Is their relevance slowly disappearing as mobile devices become more and more powerful with scalable options and outputs that are ever increasing?
Just think, in as little as 5 years, a LAN party could involve nothing more than 20 people showing up at a gaming event with nothing more than themselves and their phone. Again, it’s crazy to think about because even now, LAN parties require some pretty meaty laptops. Ok, so maybe 5 years to the day won’t see gaming laptops reborn inside of phones, but I bet you if we stretch that limit to 10 years the outcome will more substantial. Besides the expanding power of mobile devices, one can also look towards the increase in game downloads, streaming, and other types of cloud services that are beginning to render physical media obsolete as we speak.
