When it comes to spectacular forms of illumination LED Cubes lead the way, but they are dime a dozen in today’s high tech world. Hungarian tech start-up PirateGames have recently been show-casing their take on the LED cube, the PiXXL, and it has a twist that may just re-invigorate the way we look at these brightly lit six sided cubes, its interactive.
As its name might suggest each of the giant cubes six sides are covered in a 32×32 grid of RGB LED pixels but buried underneath its skin is a Raspberry Pi with a full array of motion sensors that gives the PiXXL the ability to sense movement aloowing it to interact with its owner.
Pixel pushing powerhouse NVIDIA are well known for producing
powerful video cards but they have another product that has been quietly
selling by the millions for the last 4 years. The Tegra X1 SOC is that piece of
silicon and it is the electronic brains inside two very impressive gadgets, the
Nintendo Switch and the NVIDIA Shield TV.
First announced in 2015 the X1 is a mobile gaming powerhouse
built onto a single tiny silicon chip. The X1 got its first big break in 2016
when Nintendo decided to use the chip in its new transforming console the
Switch, which was subsequently launched March 2017. In the 2 years since the
Switch has sold over 34 million units. At the same time NVIDIA has sold
millions of their Shield TV’s.
The PlayStation Classic may only be a week old but the
creativity of the hacking community has already shone through with instructions
for loading games onto the mighty little console appearing over the weekend.
In the distant past of gaming, in a time before analogue sticks protruded prominently from our game controllers there existed a console that took the world by storm, the PlayStation. Today Sony has resurrected this gaming legend and gaven the world the PlayStation Classic, simultaneously giving the retro gaming world a huge shot in the arm.
Real time strategy fans rejoice, one of the all time classic RTS games could be returning to the PC for your gaming pleasure. Command & Conquer is universally loved as one of the greatest RTS games of all time and a reboot may be in the works. EA game production manager Jim Vessella mentioned this weekend that EA have special plans for the franchise on its 25th anniversary. The original Command & Conquer blew peoples minds when it was first released on the 31st of August 1995. Now with its 25th birthday fast approaching the PC gaming community is waiting with bated breath to see what EA has in store.
Razer have been producing gaming hardware for many years and with their foray into mobile phones last year they created an entirely new category of phone, the gaming phone. This year they have cemented their place in the mobile phone gaming market with the release of the Razer Phone 2. With flagship features that you would expect to find on a top end phone along with gaming optimisations the Razer Phone 2 is pushing hard to steal market share from Apple and Samsung.
It used to be that the only guarantees in life were death and taxes, but in this high-tech world we can add the march of technology and internet rumours to this list. Rumours of the next generation PlayStation have been especially abundant in recent months and they are painting a very interesting picture. With far more continuity between generations it is looking like Sony’s move to AMD for the PS4 is starting to pay off for everyone. Will this be a case of evolution being better than a revolution? Will the console wars switch tracks and be won by the dark horse Nintendo? Can anyone believe it’s been so long since the last GTA game?
The battle to dominate gaming in front of our TV’s has raged since the birth of video games in the 80’s. With the release of the classic mini consoles reliving these gaming memories and catching up on classics that you might have missed has never been so much fun, or simpler. Many of the biggest names of the 80’s and early 90’s are present NES, SNES, Sega MegaDrive, Commodore 64 and the soon to be released PlayStation.
Retro gaming is all the rage at the moment, and while Sony may be late to the retro game it has turned up to a knife fight with a 44 magnum. Mind you turning up well armed when going to war with Nintendo is not a bad strategy.
The PlayStation Classic is Sony’s latest weapon in the console wars and this mini marvel will be packing 20 games pre-loaded and ready to rumble. Only 5 of games have been officially announced thus far; Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Ridge Racer Type 4, Tekken 3 and Wild Arms. The remaining 15 are the subject of much speculation and you can bet Sony will trickle feed the announcements of the remaining games to us as the release date edges nearer, building the marketing momentum. The number of wish lists floating around the web is evidence that it is already working. Here at Highpants we have just one wish, Gran Tourismo.
If like us you love DIY, retro gaming and want to tinker with a Pi then there is one project that combines them all, and is well worth considering, the PiCade X HAT. The 2018 update of this excellent do it yourself project provides a relatively simple build that produces an incredibly cool result, an awesome desktop retro arcade gaming machine complete with arcade joystick and display that fits into a little cabinet worthy of even the grandest man cave.
