3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

iConsole Micro Android 5 TV stick shown at MWC
MindLeap Relies on Your Thoughts to Guide You Through VR
PS4 breaks new milestone with 20 million units sold
NVIDIA’s Shield Set-Top Box Sets Gaming Consoles on Fire
Huawei Might Be Making the Next Nexus Phone

iConsole Micro Android 5 TV stick shown at MWC

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 10:00 AM PST

All things said and done, between MWC and GDC we have gotten quite a few gaming related news as of late, the iConsole amongst them.

TV sticks are a great solution for those without a smart TV to be able to access these functionalities, and a new pocket sized device running Android 5.0 might be just what they need if they want gaming as the center of the experience, thanks to its 64-bit Intel quad-core Atom processor. This is the iConsole micro, an Android TV console with some 32GB of storage,Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n wireless connectivity – plus, the storage can be expanded via the use of SD cards. This stick has an HDMI connector that llos it to be plugged straight into the TV for easy setup, and easier use.

The iConsole (tricky name, as it’s running Android after all) was unveiled during Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015) in Barcelona and will launch this summer at some $129 USD – for what it’s worth, though, this device connects to the Amazon App Store and not the Google Play Store, so depending on where you buy your apps, this might be an important factor on whether you purchase it or not.

Via Lilliputing

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MindLeap Relies on Your Thoughts to Guide You Through VR

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 06:01 AM PST

MindMaze MindLeap Thought-Controlled VR Gaming 01

Everyone involved in making VR headsets wanted to showcase their products at GDC 2015, but it was MindMaze’s thought-controlled virtual reality gaming system that really stole the show.

MindLeap, as Switzerland-based neurotechnology company MindMaze named its brainchild, really brings something revolutionary to the table, and even though it was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, its developers insist that it could have applications way beyond that.

“MindMaze puts your brain into the game. Never before have neuroscience, virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D full-body motion-capture come together in a games system. Gamers will be able to see, feel and experience virtual gameplay with absolutely no delay or need for controllers. The technology will enable game developers to deliver responsive virtual games experiences, further immersing gamers into the gameplay and creating opportunities for deeper levels of engagement with consumers,” explained Dr. Tej Tadi, founder and CEO of MindMaze.

Doing away with gamepads or controllers, and relying instead on brainwaves and motion capture cameras to interpret the users actions and intentions makes the whole experience far more realistic.

As mentioned by the company’s CEO, MindLeap can also be used for augmented reality applications, not just for VR. The cameras located in the front of the headset will capture the surroundings and depending on the triggers, it will display AR elements in front of the user.

Regardless of the type of artificial reality that MindLeap will be used for, the manufacturer promises near millisecond synchronization, and this is yet another factor that will increase the realism of the gaming experience. The system consisting of a pair of NeuroGoggles and 3D motion capture cameras will be compatible with Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, as well as with Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles, so there shouldn’t be any content deficiencies.

The $8.5 million funding round that MindMaze has just closed will enable the Swiss company to implement the technology in the medical field. As far-fetched as it may sound, the MindLeap thought-controlled VR system could be used for accelerating recovery in patients whose motor functions have been affected. Monitoring the brain while motivating the patients to interact with the virtual reality will help scientists have a better grasp of how movement recovery could be accelerated.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Dexmo haptic exoskeleton that grants you control over virtual matter, or the Vertigo Simulator.

PS4 breaks new milestone with 20 million units sold

Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:00 AM PST

The PlayStation 4 is continuing its accelerated sales pace, and now sits above 20 million units with competitors lagging behind.

The latest of the Sony consoles, the PS4 keeps its steady yet incredible selling pace and has broken a new milestone after selling over 20 million units, as of March 1 – some 2 millions since the last report in January. Concretely, the PS4 has sold 20.2 millions, and the place does not seem to be slowing down. The announcement came amidst the Game Developers Conference, where Sony showed some of the virtual reality add-ons the console will receive this year.

The PS4 launched two years after Nintendo’s Wii U, and already sold twice as much, with the Xbox One being its closest competitor with some 10 millions since the last report, that don’t count the holiday sales. It seems that Sony’s bet of focusing on the PS4 is paying off by the end and its four pilars (gaming, pictures, music and devices) all see healthy and doing well.

Via CNET

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NVIDIA’s Shield Set-Top Box Sets Gaming Consoles on Fire

Posted: 04 Mar 2015 12:57 PM PST

The graphics card manufacturer has just unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco the next member of the Shield family: a set-top box that focuses on gaming.

SF’s GDN 2015 may not be the best scheduled event in the world, since it takes place at the same time as the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any launches there worth reporting. The NVIDIA Shield set-top box carries a price tag of $200, which really may seem a lot for an Android TV-powered device. However, Jen-Hsun Huang emphasized at the press conference that included the launch of the product that the Shield set-top box brings together “revolutionary TV,” a “gaming console” and a “supercomputer.” Well, my other computer is a Cray, so I’m curious of what’s under the hood of this innovative thing.

Touted as the “world’s first 4K Android TV,” the NVIDIA Shield set-top box won’t run into any problems while streaming (via Gigabit Ethernet) or playing local content (via HDMI) at that resolution. After all, it includes the Tegra X1 super chip, which at the moment is the best SoC NVIDIA has to offer. In case the two connections aren’t available and users want to play content directly from the Shield, they can rely on the internal memory, and if those 16GB aren’t enough, then the microSD slot and the two USB 3.0 ports might come in handy.

The Shield supports voice commands either via the gamepad’s mic or via a remote control that’s not that different from the one of Amazon’s Fire TV. However, the new Shield isn’t as much about watching movies as it is about gaming. According to Huang, NVIDIA’s set-top box is 35 more powerful than the next such device, and twice as powerful as the Xbox One. That’s a really courageous statement, and the first reviews of the device should confirm or infirm that.

Android gaming is really catching up, and in the not-so-distant future, I can see mobile games competing head-to-head with their console counterparts. The Tegra X1 packs not only a lot of processing power, but also an extremely competitive GPU, so there will be no such things as glitches while gaming on the Shield set-top box. Some of the console games that got an Android port specifically for the launch of the new NVIDIA product include: Borderlands: The Presequel, Doom 3: BFG Edition, The Talos Principle, Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance. More titles will surely follow once the device is available.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Tegra K1-powered Shield tablet, or the Project Shield Tegra 4 portable Android gaming console.

Huawei Might Be Making the Next Nexus Phone

Posted: 04 Mar 2015 12:21 PM PST

At the end of February, a Weibo message suggested that the maker of the next Nexus smartphone (or tablet) is based in China, and recent reports indicate that Huawei might be the one.

That particular message is believed to have been posted on Weibo by iSuppli’s Director of China Research Kevin Yang. GizmoChina claims that Huawei has been confirmed as the maker of the next-gen Nexus phone, and that Google will also partner up again with LG for a Nexus device this year.

LG made two Nexus phones, and Google has a habit of going back to its partners. After all, the tech giant went back to HTC to get the Nexus 9 done four years after the launch of the first ever device from this family, the HTC Google Nexus One. On the other hand, a partnership with Huawei doesn’t seem that far-fetched now, that the Chinese OEM has made its first Android Wear smartwatch.

Come to think of it, Motorola Mobility, the maker of the Nexus 6 smartphone, is now owned by Lenovo, a China-based company, so the entire rumor may be a PR strategy to keep the Nexus line fresh in memory.

If Huawei really proves to be the maker of the next Nexus phone, this proves that the Chinese company really fears Xiaomi, which at the moment is China’s number one smartphone vendor. Such a move could also help diminish the misconception that all that Chinese companies do is create copycats of popular devices. Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer division, described Xiaomi at MWC 2015 as an “ultra low-end brand” for “low-end people.” I would say that his language is not at all professional, and more than that, he simply denies to see the truth.

As much as I admire Xiaomi, I’m happy that it won’t mingle with others, as I want it to remain Google, Samsung and Apple’s competition. Otherwise, these three giants wouldn’t have anything to fear but themselves.

Regardless of who’s going to make Google’s next device, I really wonder if it will still fall under the Nexus brand. The Nexus 7 trick might not work for every device out there, so what is that they have in mind? They can’t simply go and name their devices Nexus 6 II or Nexus 7 III, and apart from the number 8, all the others have had their go.

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