Call of Duty (commonly abbreviated CoD) may be immensely popular, but the series is far from perfect. As Ryan Evans points out in his delightful parody, cheekily titled Cod of Duty, a lot of standard FPS campaigns are “short, not terribly interesting, and completely over the top with their story elements.” Cod of Duty begins in a forest, where you’re given a pistol and instructed to “leave no fish alive” because the evil cod are planning to destroy a nearby town. The title was created as part of the One Game a Month challenge — which explains its simplistic graphics — and the game’s humor make it very worth the 15 minutes it takes to play. You can download it for free for Windows, Linux, and OS X, or play it in-browser on Evans’ site….
This is the taco-firing cannon built by Torchy’s Tacos in Austin, Texas. It uses compressed carbon dioxide to shoot bandana-wrapped tacos up to 200-feet and into the hands of a lucky bystander. Or, if I was there, into the hands of a man who just punched and kicked everyone else in the crowd screaming, “THOSE ARE MY TACOS, TOUCH ONE AND DIE.” I take my tacos very seriously. Burritos? Meh — I might stab you for one depending on where it’s from. “Taco Bell?” YOU’RE A DEAD MAN. “Del Taco?” DEAD WITH A SIDE OF EXTRA DEAD. Still, the whole eating thing — that’s a lot of work. That’s why I just came up with what might very well be my best idea ever. “Fire tacos straight up your ass and save yourself all the chewing?” *wink* When I bend over pull the trigger as fast as you can.
Hit the jump for one more shot and a video of a crowd scrambling for shot tacos.
This is a series of photographs from couple Kimberly and Daniel’s zombie themed engagement shoot by Love Out Loud Studios, which sounds like the kind of studio that isn’t afraid to yell, “SHE’S THE BEST AND I WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH HER!” from the top of a building. Me? I used to work at Hate Quietly Studios and would always mutter things like “God I just wanna stab you” under my breath. Fun fact: I got fired for actually stabbing someone. I’m joking, I got fired for always being hungover and never showing up for work. “The usual reason” I tell prospective employers during my interview.
Hit the jump for a condensed version of the series but be sure to check out Love Out Loud for the whole thing.
A solid chunk of my formative years was spent lurking under tables, peering around corners, and generally tiptoeing around whenever possible. I fancied myself a tiny James Bond (or Weng Weng, considering my heritage) and — strange as it may sound — there’s nothing I wouldn’t have given to have the bitplay BANG! remote controlled lamp help me live out my pre-adolescent fantasies.
And how exactly would that work? Well, putting aside its sleek, minimalist design, the remote to operate the lamp is a little white gun. That’s right, if you’re ever in need of more light, just shoot the lamp to turn it on or off — the gun/remote has a range of just under 50 feet too, so there’s no excuse for leaving that lamp on as you wander throughout the house. Sadly, I haven’t been able to determine whether or not the gun makes that wonderful ricocheting bullet sound when it “fires,” which would just put me over the moon.
Update: The gun does in fact make the shooting sound. Consider my day made.
Even better, the lampshade automatically tilts itself when “shot” into the off position to complete the effect. I suppose if you wanted to take the boring approach, you could always just use the on/off switch located on the power cord, but where’s the fun in that?
Alas, the lamp comes with a pretty hefty price tag — it’ll set avid spy impersonators back a cool $ 299, and I imagine that constantly turning the lamp on and off just for kicks may require users to stock up on plenty of extras.
Dammit Spidey, Did You Just Shoot A Doily At Me?: Spider-Man Gets The Steampunk/Rockabilly Treatment
Remember artist Denis Medri’s series of steampunk/rockabilly Batman characters? Well he’s back, this time with Spider-Man ones. Well, really only Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Vulture, Rhino, Kraven and Doctor Octopus. They look good. Also, like they could all be defeated with a laser-pointer. Cool goggles, bro — EAT RED DOT!
Hit the jump for the rest.
Ogmento is a gaming company dedicated to the creation of high-quality augmented reality games. Although AR games aren’t that rare – the 3DS does a few quite well and there are a number available on mobile phones – Ogmento is focusing on higher-end experiences. The demo above shows how they’re able to track targets in real time and, with a few button presses, have a tank fire into a crowd of luminaries including Will Wright and Bruce Sterling.
The company currently sells an AR game called NBA: King of the Court. The tank game, above, is a prototype.
The company is using a number of cool rendering technologies to make the AR experience more compelling. For example, the tank game includes an “x-ray” feature that will fill in space that is destroyed in the game, creating engrossing gameplay.
“This is the first time in history of mobile phones a technology like SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) is running in real time and in parallel to high-end rendering and reconstruction of the physical space,” said CEO Ori Inbar. “SLAM is a technique typically used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build up a map within an unknown environment (without a priori knowledge), while at the same time keeping track of their current location. It is now being understood in game play environments where the computer can drop in digital assets that understand their physical environment including surfaces, walls, etc.”
Inbar and his co-founder, Brian Selzer, have experience in gaming and augmented reality. Selzer worked with Fox, Activision, EA, and Marvel creating online and mobile content.
The company raised $ 7 million Series A in a round led by Chart Venture Partners with participation from CNF Investments, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and other private investors.
As this demo shows, AR is more than just greasy kid’s stuff. Although it’s really hard to see where the space is headed, it’s clear that games like this one become more interesting once the entire environment becomes fully mapped and trackable. The added x-ray fun is just gravy.
The latest in what I like to call pro-point-and-shoots (I’d put the Canon G12 and the S95 in this category), the TG-1 from Olympus promises high-speed, f2.0 snapshots in a body that can take a lick and, potentially, keep on ticking.
When we last saw Olympus, they were killing it with their micro 4/3s models. This one, at 12-megapixel shooter, is a little bit different but it still is compelling enough to carry as a second camera. It has a backlit CMOS sensor and TruePic VI image processor as well as high-speed autofocus and a 10x zoom.
Best of all it comes in a package that fits in your pocket without issue.
From the press release:
Olympus draws on its heritage of creating rugged, durable cameras that take the worry out of life-on-the-go shooting with the new Olympus TG-1 iHS. Marking a revolution for the Tough Series of Waterproof, Shockproof, Freezeproof, Crushproof and Dustproof compact cameras, the Olympus TG-1 iHS combines incredible durability with iHS technology, the world’s first high-speed bright f2.0 lens on a Tough camera and converter-lens compatibility to create a versatile system camera. The combination of durability and outstanding image quality make it possible to shoot in even the harshest conditions. Capture beautiful underwater scenes and aquatic life, snap photos of dusk-lit peaks or record your ride down the rapids in dazzling 1080p Full HD Video.The camera will costs $ 400 and is available in July.
You might think the POV / action sports camera world has been a bit of a two horse race recently. That could all change, however, now ION has muscled into the scene with its Air Pro HD sports camera. The firm’s dabbled with handy cameras before, but now it’s dipping a well armored toe into the helmet-cam market. Needless to say, that means it’s rugged, waterproof, and built to eat dirt — or at least capture the moments when you do.
Your action is scooped-up in full 1080p HD, and there’s a 5-megapixel stills option for when you want to frame that killer jump for static posterity. The lens is a 170-degree wide-angle affair, you can change the FOV if you wish, but it’s definitely enough to grab all the action. There’s also no display on the device itself, but there’s a reason for that: operating the Air Pro is a ridiculously straightforward task. With just one click you’re recording, even if switched off. The two controls on top are all you need to get the essential jobs done with this device, a button for switching it on and off (and taking stills) and the sliding record switch — this set-up also means you can physically feel if it’s recording, even when you can’t see it.
Gallery: ION Air Pro – Hands On
Continue reading ION Air Pro POV camera: shoot on the piste, upload to the cloud, we go hands-on (video)
ION Air Pro POV camera: shoot on the piste, upload to the cloud, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This lesson will teach you all how to perform the advanced Beyblade technique, Sliding Shoot! Sliding Shoot can be used to control fast Beyblades and maneuver the patterns your Beyblade follows during the Bey Battle! Beyblade Channel is presented to you all by the World Beyblade Organization. Please check us out at worldbeyblade.org! Goooo~ SHOOT! NOTE This video showcases Sliding Shoot being used with HMS generation Beyblades. Sliding Shoot also works with all other Beyblade systems. Video Rating: 4 / 5
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I’m not really sure how it’s been upgraded since the last time we saw it (new paintjob?), but this is a video for the Navy/BAE System’s latest incarnation of their railgun. Man, I love how the launch screen in the control room looks like something straight out of Windows 95 with a giant ‘ABORT!!!!’ button (picture HERE). Really makes me feel safer about the nukes.
It fires a 40-pound metal slug up to 5,600 miles per hour from New York to Philadelphia, slamming into its target with 32 times the force of a “1-ton car being thrust at 100 mph.”
The plan is to continue testing over the next five years, ramping up the energy level to 32 megajoules and beyond. How to power such an extraordinary gun is another question entirely, however. The Navy is hoping for an ambitious rate of ten rounds per minute, but at the moment, there’s nothing in our fleet that could deliver that kind of juice.
Oh, there’s something in our fleet that could deliver that kind of juice alright — and his name is Optimus Prime. Kidding, he’s an 18-wheeler, not a boat! He can’t deliver anything but shit to Wal-Mart and a lackluster performance on the big screen. BOOSH — transform and suck it, Optimus!
Hit the jump for a brief demo of the I would take a shot of that to the gut for the right price.
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