angrymilkman writes "Here are two interesting new approaches where researchers modified the popular Guitar Hero game so it can be played by gamers with disabilities. Air Guitar Hero modifies the Guitar Hero controller so someone without limbs can play it by using electrodes attached to the user's residual arm. Blind Hero is a mod for Frets on Fire that uses a haptic glove that can turn visual feedback into haptic feedback, allowing blind gamers to play Guitar Hero songs." There have been a variety of Guitar Hero hacks in the past, including a custom drum pad for playing the guitar part, using the plastic guitar as a real instrument, and rocking out with your bike, but it's nice to see some more serious modifications showing up.
We're seen plenty of cheap plastic MP3 land-fillers in our day. But those usually originate from deep-down within the fetid bowels of some no-name manufacturing house in southeast Asia, not the once illustrious Creative. The Zen Moo (yes, Moo) appears to be be a Zen Stone with extra bits of plastic and paint added to achieve Cow. Like the Stone, you get a small OLED, 2GB of memory, 20 hours of playback, and FM tuner to the delight of kids across China (where the Zen Moo was announced) -- hey, it's never too early to destroy a child's hearing. Gift-wrapped product waifs holding the accompanying speaker accessory after the break. Update: Seems the Zen Moo is a tribute to the 2009 Chinese New Year, year of the plastic cow.[Via EpiZENTer, thanks Oscar M.]
Yup. More Black Friday deals. This time from Toys 'R' Us. Sure, they're not a blue chip games retailer, but if you're in the market for Guitar Hero or a PlayStation 2, they might be worth a look. Particularly for the PS2 deal, since every purchase nets you a DVD remote, a copy of...21 on DVD (OK, not so hot) and six free games. Those six are probably from a list, but hey, free is free.
Doorbusters:
* FREE Play Station 2 Deal – 6 FREE Games, FREE “21” DVD and FREE Play Station 2 DVD Remote with the purchase of the Play Station 2 System * FREE Nintendo® DS™ accessory with the purchase of Nintendo® DS™ Brain Age Bundle or Nintendo® DS™ Super Mario Bros. Bundle * More than 80% off Xbox 360 Wired Guitar Hero Game Controller * Up to 50% off Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle for Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360
To go along with the launch of the New Xbox Experience, Microsoft and their valued publishing partners have released a range of premium themes. The word "premium" comes in when you consider they cost 250 MS points each. Anyway, in typical Xbox Live style, when Microsoft's Larry Hryb pointed the themes out earlier today on his blog, there was no way to actually preview what they looked like. Gah. Not to worry - some kids over on GAF have done the next best thing, and are taking screengrabs like it's going out of style, snapping pics of almost every theme.
Like Oblivion before it, Fallout 3 is a great game. And like Oblivion before it, Fallout 3 launched fundamentally broken. And broken across all three of the game's platforms. If you're lucky, all you've had to contend with are crashes, lock-ups and graphical glitches. If you're unlucky, like me, you've been unable to even play the game. Well, a few weeks of silence on Bethesda's part has been broken, with a comment on the game's support forums revealing that the company "are currently working on a patch for all three platforms". With the amount of problems in the game that was bound to happen eventually, of course, but it's nice to hear something from the guys on the subject. We were starting to think you didn't care!
Holy cow! Just in time for the upcoming Year of the Ox, Creative has released its Zen Moo line of mp3 players and speakers in China. Based on the Zen Stone, you can get either the Zen Moo or the Zen Moo Plus. Both come with 2GB storage, support for MP3 and WMA, a 20 hour lithium battery and a built-in speaker. The Plus adds a translucent blue OLED display, FM radio reception, MIC voice recording and an alarm clock. Prices weren't available on the site, but I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find if you hoof it to China. [iMP3.com via Epizenter] galleryPost('zenmoo', 3, '');
That's right. MANDATORY. Refuse to put trophies in your game and you, developers, will be SHOT. Your families, BILLED for the expense. Or...at least, Sony will be very cranky with you. Because, come January, all new PS3 games must have trophy support. No ifs or buts. So no more patching, no more developer ambivalence, no more inconsistencies. Not sure why Sony didn't do this from the start, but doing it now, at the middle, is better than never doing it at all.
Today, the media streaming service Orb announced their official iPhone application, OrbLive 2.0, allowing you to stream your media files across multiple devices via 3G, EDGE or Wi-Fi. The last incarnation of OrbLive was launched before the App Store was introduced; thus requiring a jailbroken iPhone. The official application allows for a more intuitive and streamlined experience instead of the traditional browser interface. It'll save you time from syncing all of those files that you claim don't exist buried in the dim recesses of your hard drive, giving you just a lil' more "special time." Eh, let's try not to forget special time doesn't mean it's "share-with-everyone-around-me" time, shall we? Not unless it involves physical interaction. [MarketWatch]
Apple has made its 2.2 update to the iPhone software available via the desktop iTunes update mechanism. The new version adds direct podcast download within the iPhone iTunes application, Google Street Views, and other improvements.
newVideoPlayer("/palin_turkey_gawker.flv", 480, 360,""); Like any other governor/aspiring president, Sarah Palin had to pardon a Turkey right before Thanksgiving. But then, because she's a moosehuntin' MAVERICK snow eskimo, the former Republican vice presidential nominee had to do something fun 'n differ'nt, like give a TV interview in front of a guy chopping off animal heads, and then call the activity "neat... levity." We'd hate to see what a rip-roaring good time looks like for the Alaska governor, but points to her for drumming up some free national TV exposure that reinforces her frontierswoman image without doing her any real harm. Video after the jump (keep an eye on MSNBC's leftist subtitles!).
1968: Karen Schroeder, a second-generation resident of the Love Canal neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, gives birth to an infant girl with multiple birth defects. The enormity of the neighborhood's affliction will take a few more years to come to light.
Love Canal was a never-used, late 19th-century hydroelectric channel that was sold to the Hooker Chemical company in 1942. Between then and 1953, Hooker used the site to bury 22,000 tons of chemical wastes in barrels.
Hooker sold the site to the Niagara Falls School Board for $1, and the board built an elementary school there in 1955. A blue-collar suburban neighborhood flourished around the disused industrial site.
Flourished is probably the wrong word. Schroeder's parents found black sludge seeping through the walls of their basement starting in the late 1950s. A woman who ran a beauty parlor in her basement developed a debilitating weakness and had to give up working. Trees and shrubs died. Noxious chemical smells hung over the neighborhood.
Schoolchildren developed strange rashes and vague, unexplained allergies. Sometimes, they played with phosphorus-laden dirt that exploded with a crackle when lumps of it were thrown to the ground.
Baby Sheri Schroeder was born with an irregular heart beat and a hole in the heart wall, nasal bone blockages, partial deafness, deformed ears and a cleft palate. As she grew, her family realized she was mentally retarded. Her teeth arrived in a double row on her lower jaw, and she suffered from an enlarged liver.
Heavy rains in the mid-1970s caused groundwater levels to rise. Swimming pools lifted up out of the ground. The buried waste rose closer to the surface.
The Niagara Gazette began reporting in October 1976 about chemicals seeping into basements in the Love Canal neighborhood, with stories of harm to humans, pets and plant life. Chemical analyses showed 15 organic chemicals, including three toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state and county health departments began to take notice, testing the neighborhood's soil, water and air, as well as blood samples from residents. Still, it was August 1978 before the state health commissioner declared a state of emergency, closed the school and ordered an evacuation ... but only of pregnant women and children under age 2.
Soon it was learned that Hooker had buried 200 tons of dioxin at Love Canal, that residents suffered a high rate of miscarriages, birth defects and chromosomal damage, and that 10 percent could develop cancer.
U.S. Rep. Al Gore (D-Tennessee) charged in 1979 that the tragedy had been avoidable. He publicized a 1958 internal Hooker Chemical memo, describing three or four kids burned by materials at the Love Canal waste site. The first lawsuits were filed in 1979.
Early amelioration work released noxious smells in the neighborhood, and the evacuation area was widened. More schools were shut down. Government programs bought condemned homes and tore them down. Hundreds of families evacuated, but 60 families remained behind. Cleanup costs have been estimated at $250 million.
A federal judge eventually found Hooker Chemical negligent but not reckless, and parent company Occidental Petroleum settled with the EPA for $129 million.
Staff Sgt. Brian Schar got behind the wheel of a white Chevy Colorado yesterday and went for a spin. The vehicle remained snugly parked in a room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington, despite the large screens in front of the truck, which showed a street-level view of...
Sony have a bit of an uphill battle in front of them this Christmas. Console sales have been poor compared to the competition, their flagship games for the season haven't been the MEGAHITS they were hoping for and Home is...well, yes, you know all about Home. So what was needed from the company was a rousing holiday season television advertising campaign! One that shows off the very best features of the console, the best games, the benefits of the online network! Well, across their two commercials, they got it half right. The PS3 one above will seem like moonspeak to anyone who doesn't already know what LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm are, but it's got exploding couches and looks pretty, so it's OK in my books. But the second one?
It's for the PlayStation Network. What it should have said was "kinda like Xbox Live, but free". Instead, it takes...well, it's got Pain in it. And the unreleased Home. And...Hancock. Egads.
Some of our more jaded readers may poo-poo Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe's softer, more broad reaching one-on-one violence, but there's one organization who has no qualms with the T-rated brawler. That would be the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry which has reviewed the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game, finding that it "will likely facilitate an adult joining a teenager in video game play." Not a sexy box quote by any means, but maybe better than we were expecting.
T. Atilla Ceranoglu, M.D. weighs in with his (or her) opinion on the latest Mortal Kombat, talking up the game's decreased gore and parental control options. That and "the easy learning curve and easy to use controls make it quite manageable for those unfamiliar with video gaming." Is Midway swimming in the seas of the Blue Ocean?!
Ubisoft today took the wraps off two alternate player skins you can use when playing the new Prince of Persia. One is Altair, of Assassin's Creed fame, making his second guest appearance for the year, albeit this time in a setting that's a little more appropriate. The second is the Prince from Sands of Time. To get Altair, all you need to do is register on Ubisoft's site, and you'll get him for free. For the Sands of Time Prince, you need to preorder the game from GameStop. For a secret, Kotaku-exclusive third skin, click through...
Yup. More Black Friday deals. This time from Toys 'R' Us. Sure, they're not a blue chip games retailer, but if you're in the market for Guitar Hero or a PlayStation 2, they might be worth a look. Particularly for the PS2 deal, since every purchase nets you a DVD remote, a copy of...21 on DVD (OK, not so hot) and six free games. Those six are probably from a list, but hey, free is free.
To go along with the launch of the New 
Like Oblivion before it, Fallout 3 is a great game. And like Oblivion before it, Fallout 3 launched fundamentally broken. And broken across all three of the game's platforms. If you're lucky, all you've had to contend with are crashes, lock-ups and graphical glitches. If you're unlucky, like me, 
Holy cow! Just in time for the upcoming 
That's right. MANDATORY. Refuse to put trophies in your game and you, developers, will be SHOT. Your families, BILLED for the expense. Or...at least, Sony will be very cranky with you. Because, come January, all new 
Today, the media streaming service Orb announced their official 
Like any other governor/aspiring president, Sarah Palin had to pardon a Turkey right before Thanksgiving. But then, because she's a moosehuntin' MAVERICK snow eskimo, the former Republican vice presidential nominee had to do something fun 'n differ'nt, like give a TV interview in front of a guy chopping off animal heads, and then call the activity "neat... levity." We'd hate to see what a rip-roaring good time looks like for the Alaska governor, but points to her for drumming up some free national TV exposure that reinforces her frontierswoman image without doing her any real harm. Video after the jump (keep an eye on MSNBC's 
Some of our more jaded readers may poo-poo Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe's softer, more broad reaching one-on-one violence, but there's one organization who has no qualms with the T-rated brawler. That would be the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry which has reviewed the PlayStation 3 and 
Believe it or not, the New 
Ubisoft today took the wraps off two alternate player skins you can use when playing the new Prince of Persia. One is Altair, of Assassin's Creed fame, 