My girlfriend plays video games--it's awesome. She likes to joke that somewhere inside of her is trapped the mind of a 16-year-old boy, just trying to express himself (video games, jamming on the drums, wearing awesome pageboy hats, gender studies)--it can be weird. Guess what, honey? Things just got more awkward.
Some of us just can't get any satisfaction out of life, so we do it by blasting 8-year-olds in online FPS games like Halo, Team Fortress, or Call of Duty. Problem is, those little bastards are getting pretty good. What's an older gamer to do when he feels his reflexes aren't as quick as they should be? Why swallow a pill of course!
Just like any other modern malady, shite gaming can be treated with meds — or so claim the makers of FpsBrain, the first performance-enhancing pill for gamers. The German-made product claims to provide a “remarkable increase in perception and reaction capacities,” and to "enhance their mental performance and their work efficieny [sic],” and it's backed by a “a 110% money-back guarantee.” Sounds like I can use this for a lot of things other than blasting aliens. What's to lose?
Lucky for us, Discover Magazine and be-dreadlocked VR-guru Jaron Lanier are happy to answer with a "probably not."
The column itself is actually a thoughtful dive into the parameters of virtual-reality research and the limits of human perception. The Matrix inevitably gets name-dropped, and there's some heady exploration into who might be at the hands of our impossibly complex simulation, if, in fact, life IS a complete VR-simulation.
Screw CES: Force-feedback vests and tableputers are fine and all, but Carnegie Mellon researcher Johnny Lee has them all beat with his homemade, Wii-based virtual reality headtracking system. Are you ready for a mind explosion?
With a headline like that, could this come from anywhere but CES 2008?
The TN 3rd Space gaming vest's unintentionally funny tagline says it all: "Get Pounded On Your Own Terms." Strap this on, and you'll feel the impact of every frag as it shatters your onscreen spinal column, every bullet as it whines past your in-game ear. It transmits force-feedback via a network of 8 pneumatic cells in the vest pockets.
Amazingly, this gear was invented by a vascular surgeon named Mark Ombrellaro, who wanted a device that could let him perform physical examinations on patients remotely. But it's still stuck in the FDA approval process, so Dr. Ombrellaro decided to bide his time by repurposing his invention as a gamer joygasm interface.
Watch SciAm reporter Nikhil Swaminathan interview TN's VP about the device, and take a few slugs in the process.
Another CES video dispatch: Emotiv Technologies showed off their latest collaboration with IBM, a brainwave-reading gaming interface. It sits on your head (looking sort of like the SQUID rig from Strange Days... did anyone else ever see that besides me?) and lets you control virtual stuff with your mind.
For example, an onscreen avatar will smile when you smile, or adopt a Matthew-McConaghey-like body posture when it senses you're feeling relaxed. (Emotiv says the rig could be also be used for autism research, among other non-gaming applications.)
Or you can concentrate and move game objects telekinetically a la The Force. Check out this video - near the end, Marco The Emotiv Rep does a damn good Skywalker impression.
In my experience, bouts on my Nintendo Wii have only led to broken bodies and homes, but some physical therapists and doctors have employed the uber-appealing, motion-sensitive game system to help recovery of motor function after catastrophic injuries like car wrecks. CNN's cuddly Sanjay Gupta reports:
The Discovery Channel has teamed with video-game maker Activision to start making animal-themed games based on its many cable properties. This is all a plan by Discovery to break away from the label of lowly "cable channel" and become a multimedia content provider. In the immortal words of Kent Brockman, "This, I don't need."
Possible titles include video-game adaptations of popular shows like "Meerkat Manor" and "Orangutan Island," and could bow as early as late 2008. Activision has had recent success with "Guitar Hero," but they also turn out tons of dreck based on Hollywood properties like SPider-Man and Transformers. I'm praying to the video game gods in hopes that they flop, because if we have to endure "American Chopper: The Show: The Game," I think it might be the surest sign of an impending apocalypse.
Everything I need to know in life I learned from video games. Among other pearls of wisdom, I learned that 1) all plumbers are Italian and will try to go down your toilet, 2) the alien menace is real and should be shot down with heavy firearms, and 3) no one can beat you in a fight until your health bar goes down. I'm still looking for an extra life in the shape of my head, though. That could come in handy.
Speaking of handy, Crayon Physics Deluxe by Kloonigames is a game for tablet PCs that might teach you a little something about physics. The object is to get the ball to the star by drawing whatever you want in the universe. Most simple objects correspond with basic laws of physics, it seems.
OK, I'm as sorry at having to write that headline as you are having to read it, but can we all just get past that and celebrate the fact that these Tesla coils rock the heazy? Steve Ward and Jeff Larson showcased the best thing they'll ever do with their lives at the 2007 Lightning on the Lawn Teslathon in Baraboo, WI.
Some of us just can't get any satisfaction out of life, so we do it by blasting 8-year-olds in online FPS games like Halo, Team Fortress, or Call of Duty. Problem is, those little bastards are getting pretty good. What's an older gamer to do when he feels his reflexes aren't as quick as they should be? Why swallow a pill of course!
Lucky for us, Discover Magazine and be-dreadlocked 
With a headline like that, could this come from anywhere but CES 2008? 
The Discovery Channel has teamed with video-game maker Activision to start making animal-themed games based on its many cable properties. This is all a plan by Discovery to break away from the label of lowly "cable channel" and become a multimedia content provider. In the immortal words of
