A legend in the ‘handheld gaming’ hall of fame, the Sega Game Gear is a classic example of a popular retro handheld gaming console.

For those who missed out, Sega’s 8 bit, full color Game Gear was the third ever handheld console and was release back 1991 in competition with perhaps the more popular, Nintendo Game Boy.

The Game Gear was basically a Sega Master System housed in a portable case, boasting a 3.2 inch wide color screen that had a slightly lower resolution than the Master System, but which allowed for a larger color palette.

Gameplay and graphics were certainly hi-tech for it’s time, so much so that the Game Gear is still extremely playable, especially for the those who enjoy classic arcade beat em’ ups, racing games and platform games like Sonic The Hedgehog, Streets Of Rage and Road Rash.

The slower refresh rate of the Game Gear could cause fast moving games to be slightly blurred and the contrast and brightness of the screen made it difficult to play in brightly lit areas. The battery life was also quite low; six AA batteries only provided enough power for 5 hours gameplay. Apart from these points the Game Gear was and still is a lot of fun.

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We just reviewed the latest installment in the Guitar Hero series – Guitar Hero 3, Legends Of Rock. Despite the realistic game play, even if you’re using the guitar-shaped controller gameplay is not quite the same as actually playing a guitar.

For those who don’t play the guitar, this is probably a good thing but for those who are seeking an even more realistic version of the game, you should check out fourth coming rival game, Guitar Rising.

Guitar Rising is basically the same as Guitar Hero with one major difference, you can use any electric guitar, yes a real electric guitar to control the player.

Check Out The Video Promo Of Guitar Rising.

The newest version of the Guitar Hero series hit the stores late last year and has been causing a storm ever since. Developed by Neversoft and Aspyr Media, and published by Activision and RedOctane, Legends of Rock is the third full installment in the Guitar Hero series and the fourth title overall.

The game is available for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac platforms. Xbox 360, Wii, and Playstation 3 users can also connect online to rock out with others anywhere in the world.As with the previous Guitar Hero games, the player can use standard controllers or a new wireless guitar-shaped controller specially designed for the game.

The gameplay in Guitar Hero 3 remains essentially the same, with the player guiding the guitarist through the varying genres of rock music by hitting the notes in time as they scroll across the screen.One notable addition to the game is the new cooperative career mode. The co-op mode is arranged similarly to the single player career, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass or rhythm guitar. In this mode you’ll find just 6 tiers of songs - each encore song is unique to the co-op mode but the boss battles have been removed.

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There was never really any doubt the X-Box’s favorite master chief would return in another episode of the Halo series, especially with the cliff hanger we were all left with at the end of Halo 2. Well, avid fans (who haven’t already completed the game) will be please to hear the final chapter in the Halo trilogy continues the story and concludes it brilliantly.

For those who didn’t get caught up in “one of the most popular games in history,” the Halo story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant.The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity, assisted by human Marines as well as allied alien Elites.Following the events of Halo 2 - The Covenant is on its way to Earth, continuing its universal ethnic cleansing and attempting to activate the floating space weapons known as Halos, which could destroy civilization as we know it. The Master Chief and the other Earth forces of the UNSC are in hot pursuit to stop them, with newfound alien allies such as the Arbiter coming along for the ride.

The third and final part of the Halo trilogy was released in September, 2007. During the opening day, over one million people connected to X-Box live to play Halo 3 and by the end of the day, Halo 3 had broken the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, bringing in $170 million within the first 24 hours. The game then went on the sell over 8.1 million copies by January 2008.

So now this is officially the most popular game to date, let’s take a look at the new features Bungie Studios have added.

Continue reading this article for a review on the game, lots of screenshots and a video review.

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Point based motion capture has become the industry standard procedure to capture the movements of the human body and convert the data for use in 3D animations. Reflective markers are placed at many points of the body, as the person moves around the data is recorded and can then be transferred to the animation. Both movies and games use this technology to give characters lifelike movements and actions.

However when it comes to realistic facial work, even setups that use of hundreds of reflective dots leave the developers with rough blocky data the requires a lot of post processing.

Enter motion capture company Mova. Mova’s Contour Reality Capture System uses multiple cameras that create 100,000 polygon facial models that are accurate to within one tenth of a millimeter.

Mova founder, also the man behind Apple’s QuickTime and Microsoft’s WebTV, Steve Perlman said,

“This pushes Unreal Engine 3 to its very limit … it’s about as photo-real as you can get in real time.”

Check out the video of the Unreal Engine 3 running real time on a dual NVIDIA 8800 GTXs with SLI.

Perlman says the company has been working privately with developers for some time to adapt the system for video game use.

“People have never had this kind of data available before in a game context … their heads are spinning,” he said. “What you’re seeing right there is the result of, having time to wrap our heads around this thing and see how we’re going to use it, and yes, we can in fact get a face that looks almost photo-real — you know, not quite, but almost photo-real — running in a game engine today.”

“You can see the difference then between what’s achievable in cinema and what’s achievable right now in video games…….But next generation game machines, they’ll be able to essentially show in real time what we can do currently in non-real-time using renderers. … Next generation, you’re going to have interactive sequences where people think there’s a live person in the game.”

The Unreal Engines abilities doesn’t stop there, the contour system can also create even more detailed animations if real time processing is not necessary. Below is another video of how reality capture data can look when pre-rendered.

Perlman says that the cost of a Contour motion-capture session isn’t much higher than traditional marker-based capture session, somewhere in the region of a few thousand to a few hundred thousand depending on the length and complexity of the shot.

The real savings come in post production, Perlman explains,

“Unlike marker-based capture, which has a big manual clean-up process before you see results, with contour it’s purely computational….
“We’ve talked to people and one of the reasons when they announce delays for complex games is because they’re fighting to try and make the faces look good. With Contour, you send the guy in, he does a shoot, and we send you a face that looks nearly perfect. It’s no longer one of the risk issues for your schedule.”

The Contour system generates so much data, Perlman says, that the full value of the rendering won’t be apparent until hardware speeds improve.

“With markers, you kind of get the resolution of what those markers are and that’s it……
“When a next-generation game system comes out, or they decide they want to do something for a feature film, you can’t really use the data. With Contour, it’s actually capturing the data at much higher resolutions than any system in the world, even for feature films, can currently use. What we do is we store that data away … and when a next generation video game machine comes out and they want the data at higher resolution, they can.”

Perlman wouldn’t reveal which companies are currently using this technology, but said he expects the first games with Contour captures could come out in 2008, depending on developer schedules. He hopes the system will be in wide use by 2009.

When it comes to racing simulators the VRX Mach 4 wins hands down. Power by 4 Xbox 360’s – one for each of the 3 Sharp Aquos LCDs, and one for the 7″ LCD rear view mirror – There are hands-on (and feet) controls to mimic the driving experience, a Harmon Kardon surround sound receiver with 10 Bose Acoustimass speakers. There is even a “Virtual Wind System”, consisting of 2 dual Honeywell fans and Tactile Vibration Feedback System for extra realism.

More Pictures And Full Technical Specifications After The Jump!

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Benjamin Heckendorn aka Ben Heck is known for modifying gaming consoles into custom laptops, some of his previous creations include various portable Xbox 360’s, a portable Atari 2600, a Commodore 64 laptop and numerous other modified devices. Mr. Heck seems to be at it again with yet another portable Xbox 360 Elite, this time with a Halo 3 theme.

The modded Xbox comes complete with the new 65nm CPU, a 120 GB Elite Hard Drive, HDMI-to-DVI video connection for digital picture, Xbox Live Vision camera and a 17 inch widescreen Gateway LCD with a 1280×720 pixel resolution (this allows a pixel-perfect ratio when using the 720p HDMI connection).

Some more pictures and a video after the jump!

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This 360-degree ultra-high-definition military simulator allows you to drive a Humvee and fire real weapons including machine guns and rocket launchers, anywhere you want, with absolute precision.

The 10-projector system achieves a seamless panorama thanks to Mersive’s Sol system; a calibration, warping and sub-pixel image blending technology that may soon be adapted from military sims to your living room gaming.

Watch The Video and check the Halo 3-like scenario

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Scorpion Notebooks Available On Finance For Military Armed Forces And Civilian DoD’s>>>

The Scorpion range is based on two different brands previous laptops, the Sager NP2090 and the Compal IFL90. The Sager and the Compal is essentially the same machine just assembled by different companies. Sager managed to box up the finished product without the super clear WSXGA+ screen for a little cheaper but offered a shorter warranty. The Scorpion has also opted for the same basic components including the WSXGA+ screen, and offers 1-3 warranties depending on the specific part.

The Scorpions are no doubt geared for gaming. They come with powerful processors, high performance graphics cards, ample RAM and super clear screens, the perfect combination for any avid game or graphics buff.

All five Scorpions come with a 15.4 inch WSXGA+ LCD screens with a resolution of 1280 x 800, the picture is glossy and clear and makes for a good gaming or movie experience. There are also a few other components that remain the same throughout the range. An 8X DVD ± R/RW/ 4X +DL Super-Multi Drive can be found on all five models as well as a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512MB graphics card.

The NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Card is a powerful graphics card that has support for both Microsoft DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 for, unparalleled levels of graphics realism and performance. The GeForce 8600 also runs Windows Vista 32-Bit with ease and the PureVideo HD2 technology provides excellent Blu-ray and HD DVD picture quality.

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Remember how when you were a kid you were always told to sit up straight? “Stop slouching, it’s bad for your back!” Well, in a study last year, Scottish radiologists confirmed that a 130-degree angle of recline between torso and thighs reduces pressure on the discs in the lower back.

Office chairs like the Aeron designed by Herman Miller and Humanscale, have been around since 1994, considering recent findings, these chairs were really quite revolutionary. Despite the array of levers and knobs that help adjust the chairs recline tension, lumbar support, seat-pan depth and forward tilt, designers have found that most users only use the height adjustment.

This neglect has manufacturers such looking toward the next frontier: a self-adjusting chair. Humanscale’s Freedom chair includes uses a counterbalance system that automatically adjusts to the sitter’s weight as he or she reclines, eliminating the need for recline controls.

Designers have also brainstormed that the future office chair may not be a chair at all. According to the National Institutes of Health, chairs contribute in part to the high rate of back pain which affects approximately eight out of 10 Americans. Asian traditions of kneeling or squatting on the floor have shown to have great ergonomic benefits, Cameron Campbell a designer for Herman Miller recently said,

“Our notion of a machine for sitting may not make sense in a globalized world.”

Perhaps in the future one worker may sit in front of their workspace on a self adjusting recliner, whilst the next may kneel amongst a pile of cushions.

It seems the widley popular Nintendo Wii has surpassed its gaming expectations and is now being used by a Vancouver Gym as a Virtual Personal Trainer.

The Canadian Health Club Studio 55 is offering a new form of exercise for people bored with the treadmill or cycling classes - The Wii Workout Station. Clients at the health club are encouraged to use the Wii as part of circuit training, warm-up or cool-down, with the system set up in a 400 square-foot theater room with a large projection screen.

While some other gyms have combined stationary bikes with PlayStations and Xboxes in a bid to win younger clients, a spokesman for Nintendo Canada said this is the first they have heard of a gym using the Wii in its schedule.

Nathan Mellalieu, the owner of Studeo 55, said he decided to bring video games into a fitness environment after watching how much fun some children were having and, more importantly, seeing them sweating.

“We are always trying to break down paradigms and keep things fresh. It is used here to break up the monotony of traditional workouts,” he told Reuters.

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Sony Corp. has announced that at least 380 NEW Sony Playstation 3 games will hit the market this business year, in plans to bump up demand for the Playstation 3 gaming console that has so far lost out to widely popular Nintendo Wii.

According to game magazine publisher Enterbrain and research firm NPD, the Nintendo Wii game console has been outselling the PS3 by three to one in Japan and more than two to one in the United States so far this year. The cheaper price of the Nintendo Wii and the lack of exciting games available on PS3 have been widely cited as the main reason for the PS3 weak performance.

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The Nintendo DS portable game player is helping Japanese women in Tokyo maximize skin care health. Japanese women soon will be using the Nintendo DS game machine for helpful beauty tip such as taking extra fluids and monitoring skin tones. The dual screened touch panel Nintendo DS has been a big hit with older people and women with new kinds of games such as brainteasers and virtual pet games. The gaming crowd has largely been made up of young men fond of shooting and sports games.

The Nintendo DS skin care software works by the user inputting their daily body temperature and weight by marking a graph that shows up on the touch panel. The beauty navigation software asks questions that the player answers regarding criteria such as skin tone and smoothness, as well as exposure to sunlight and hours of sleep. Advice on a daily regimen for healthy skin pops up on the screen, including directions to drink more water, or to eat apples and ginger, food that had a reputation for warming up the body. Hormonal balance is key for avoiding wrinkles and age spots, and body temperature and weight fluctuations are good indicators for any hormone swings, which can get awry from overwork and stress, according to Konami.

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Many notebooks have tried to claim the title of being the world’s fastest or the world’s most powerful laptop or even a desktop replacement laptop, but the Stealth Series is the true holder of this title. The Stealth Series Notebooks are a 17-inch extreme laptop notebook that packs quite a wallop under the hood, including a Intel’s Core 2 Duo desktop processor, Dual NVIDIA 7950GTX, up to 4GB of RAM, up to three hard drives in a RAID 0/1/5 array, 7.1-channel audio, built-in stereo speakers, the ability to house dual optical drives, integrated TV tuner, 1.3-megapixel webcam, and a flash card reader to boot. You’ll also find an array of ports and connectivity options, including WiFi, Bluetooth, FireWire, 56k modem, USB 2.0, and DVI / S-video outputs. All these components require the 11.9 pound laptop to have a 12-cell Li-ion will last much over an hour under full strain. We know you’re wondering, so if you’ve been eying a mobile gaming rig - this is it!

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US Army has started implementing Microsoft’s newest gaming system, the XBox 360, to help train soldiers with simulated combat and war games. The United States military has always been aware of the synergy between gaming and its new weapons systems. On a side note I read that when the Department of Defense was designing the new Air Force jet F22 Raptor, it brought in the expertise of young gamers to give suggestions on the layout and configuration of the interface to make it more intuitive for the Airmen of the future.

Recently, the US Army conducted its first live-fire exercise, Experiment 1.1, using Future Combat Systems (FCS) technologies and equipment. The military exercise was apart of the most comprehensive Army modernization effort and was held at Oro Grande Range at Fort Bliss, Texas. This included a robot designed to take out snipers and code named the RedOwl. The inventory of military robots and unmanned vehicles doesn’t stop there though. The XBox controller is used to control and maneuver robots. The controllers are not completely wireless however. It looks like the controller goes to a pack on the soldier which communicates wirelessly to the robot. Not only does having a wired controller save on batteries, it simplifies the system, by only having one wireless system versus two, which cuts down on points of failure.

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