A couple of days ago I found a link to a video of a college student who was recreating the popular Arkham Horror board game for the PC. It wasn’t an official release by Fantasy Flight Games, but rather a graduation requirement for school. Her plan seems to be pretty solid. Since this is a school project, EU law covers this as fair use and she intends to present this post-grad to the guys from FFG and see if some partnership can be struck.

In the meantime, Andi needs your help. She’s looking for beta testers till Feb 5 2012. You may be an Arkham Horror fan — or a fan of board games in general and getting a free download definitely won’t hurt. The game looks epic. One of the things I never liked about Arkham Horror was that there were just too many expansions to play and I got into it pretty late. The game’s setup is also pretty tedious as you’ll need about 3 square meters of space to get this game really going. This digital edition solves everything.

It must be noted that this isn’t just a direct port of the game. It’s a “3D interactive” version of Arkham Horror where you actually walk around the board and do stuff.

The game is currently only available on the PC with support for old school LAN. VoIP support for multiplayer to be added in the future. But as of now, let’s give Andi our full support to make this game a reality!

If you live near one of ten select AMC theaters, you (or rather, your kids) can watch the 3D edition of The Phantom Menace with special “young Anakin” 3D glasses, a collectible freebie, and take part in activities geared toward younglings children.

On February 10th, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace arrives in theaters in 3D, and Lucasfilm is playing up its appeal to kids with parties that will be free to attendees at ten select theaters. Ticket holders at these theaters will receive, at no extra charge, a collectible Star Wars Fighter Pod toy from Hasbro and a pair of the stylin’ “Anakin Skywalker Podracer 3D Glasses” you can see below. They’ll also get to enjoy a special LEGO play area, Darth Maul face painting, Star Wars character appearances for photo ops, and live demonstrations of the upcoming Xbox Kinect Star Wars video game.

The ten theaters participating in these exclusive activities are:

• AMC Southlake 24 in Atlanta
• AMC Loews Liberty Tree Mall 20 in Boston
• AMC South Barrington 30 in Chicago
• AMC Highlands Ranch 24 in Denver
• AMC Tustin 14 at The District in Los Angeles
• AMC Ontario Mills 30 in Los Angeles
• AMC Empire 25 in New York
• AMC Garden State 16 in New York
• AMC Mesa Grand 24 in Phoenix
• AMC Emeryville Bay Street 16 in San Francisco

Okay geeky guys and gals, be honest. I know Episode I is monotonous. We’re talking, could-have-been-made-by-Ben-Stein’s-teacher-character-in-Ferris Beuller kind of boring. But there are exclusive Star Wars collectibles up for grabs here, and Lucasfilm’s press release says they’re only available “while supplies last.” And you know those goggles especially are going to be all over eBay the afternoon of the 10th — and people will buy them.

Are the collectibles worth the price of admission?

Star Wars is coming back to theaters next year — and this time it’s in 3D. But Lucasfilm is using the questionable strategy of starting with The Phantom Menace, easily the most reviled chapter in the saga. Here’s a new trailer for the 3D version of Episode I.

Conspicuously absent from this trailer for the re-release of The Phantom Menace in 3D is Jar-Jar Binks, the most hated character in the Star Wars saga. Does George think that if he doesn’t mention the offensive Gungan that we’ll forget about him? He’s not that naïve, he can’t be.

But the choice to focus on the more grown-up aspects of the story (Jake Lloyd’s terrible acting notwithstanding) is hard to miss. Darth Maul features prominently, and there’s a big emphasis on the Jedi battles and flights through space. Of course, seeing a 2D trailer for something that’s in 3D kind of makes the whole thing moot. But it’s an interesting reminder of what else is in the movie besides Jar-Jar, for those who haven’t watched the movie in a while.

Can 3D make The Phantom Menace a more enjoyable movie to watch? I mean, if there’s one thing this movie has going for it, it’s all the eye candy. Every frame of the film is filled to the brim with tons of visual details, so seeing how Lucasfilm separates those elements to give them depth holds a certain technical appeal. The story itself isn’t really that bad, but it’s told in such a clunky way that it’s just hard to watch sometimes.

So what do you think? Will you hit the 3D theater when Star Wars returns? Come talk about it with us.

The artist: FredoART from DeviantART. He goes by the name Fredo, although his real name is Wladimir Inostroza. This guy is only 20 years old, and he is from Santiago, Chile. He loves rock music and loves playing with reality with his art. All these details kind of fade into the background though, when faced with the artist’s talent.

Basically, he draws 3D images on paper, making the end result look anything like drawings. To add to the realistic effect, he also incorporates real objects in his work. Just take a look at some of his 3D drawings to see what I mean.

I suppose anyone can draw a bottle. Heck, even I can draw the outlines of a bottle. But how many people do you know can make a drawing of a bottle look like a real bottle placed atop a sketchpad?

Bottle by FredoART

It gets better, though. A bottle is simple, but how about an animal?

Owl by FredoART

Fredo is not content with small animals. You know that proverbial elephant in the room? You can literally have one if you have this drawing.

Utero by FredoART

Lana by FredoART

For more of Fredo’s awesome 3D drawings, visit his DeviantART page.

As a child my mother didn’t have the disposable income necessary to provide my brother and I with the latest and greatest toys on the market. Instead, on rare occasions we received a G.I. Joe action figure, but more often than not we were presented with a plastic bag of small, green, army figures. These figures and our imagination occupied much of our formative years.

Be Your Own Souvenir, upon reading up on the project and watching the video below, instantly brought those tiny plastic toys and my youth to mind.

From the creators behind Be Your Own Souvenir, Barcelona’s BlablaLab:

“This proposal aims to connect street users, arts and science, linking them to under-laying spaces and their own realities. The installation was enjoyed during two weekends in January 2011 by the tourists, neighbours of La Rambla and citizens of Barcelona.”

Using 3 Kinect sensors and openKinect, Be Your Own Souvenir scans people in real-time and generates a miniature figurine. Absolutely amazing.

According to BlablaLab:

“All the software used in this project is free and open. Custom software has been developed using openFrameworks and openKinect in order to produce a tunable full 360 degree point cloud. Using a midi controller, the three different input pointclouds (3 Kinects) can be adjusted in space and resolution. The resulting combined point cloud is processed by Meshlab to produce a mesh reconstruction. Skeinforge takes the mesh, previously cleaned up through Blender, and outputs a gcode file, which can feed a cnc machine (Rapman 3.1).”

While not available for mass use at present, as soon as it is, I for one will rush to wherever the machine is setup and have my own figurine created.

What about you? What pose would you strike for the miniature you created?

NotCot

Be Your Own Souvenir! from blablabLAB on Vimeo.

Fans of Star Wars and Star Trek no doubt dream of the day when a 3D, 360-degree, on-demand, immersive, digital environment is made a reality for any and all who want it.

We’ve covered how MIT, using a Microsoft Kinect, has created a holographic image replicating the iconic scene from Star Wars where Princess Leia’s cry for help was beamed from the bowels of R2-D2.

In line with that project and the desire for a 3D, 360-degree system, PhysOrg reported on a 3D fog display, but the system lacked the 360-degree experience.  Now, new technology from Japan may soon make the dream of a 3D, 360-degree environment, a reality.

Researchers at Osaka University in Japan have created a 3D and 360-degree display projecting images from various angles onto a cylindrical, fog, display.

In doing so, the project provides a combination of multiple-point of view projectors,  with the cylinder allowing for a display that is 3D regardless of which side of the object you view it from.

To create the image three projectors are needed, making the project in its present form less than perfect for mass production and consumption.

The Osaka team believes the technology, when perfected, will have mass appeal both in the areas of entertainment and healthcare.

Unfortunately, any joy experienced by those industries and consumers alike will have to wait until the 3D, 360-degree display is more refined.

What do you think of the researcher’s project?  If made available to consumers and businesses, would you want one?  What real-world application(s) do you envision the project could impact?

PhysOrg

Big news for 3D movies: All six Star Wars films are coming to theaters with full 3D conversions. Only unlike recent films that were filmed in 2D and converted to 3D with less-than-spectacular results (*cough*ClashoftheTitans), this being Star Wars, Lucasfilm is not rushing the conversion process, using painstaking attention to detail to give it the best conversion possible.

“Getting good results on a stereo conversion is a matter of taking the time and getting it right,” says John Knoll of ILM. “It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful. It is not something that you can rush if you want to expect good results. For Star Wars we will take our time, applying everything we know both aesthetically and technically to bring audiences a fantastic new Star Wars experience.”

Sounds good, right? I mean, I love filling George Lucas‘ ultra-deep pockets to see yet another version of the movies we love so much, with ever-higher ticket prices, as much as the next guy.

But sadly, I must temper that enthusiasm with this: Lucas has decided to convert and release the 3D versions to theaters in chronological order. Meaning the first one to return to theaters in 3D will be The Phantom Suck, which will arrive sometime in 2012. If that movie is well received at the box office, Lucasfilm will then proceed to release each film sequentially, one year at a time. (I.E., Attack of the Clones would arrive in 2013, and so on, up to Return of the Jedi in 2017). Lucas will then release the six films in 3D on home video, by which time 3D televisions should be more prevalent.

So. Will you pay a higher ticket price to go see the Star Wars films again, in 3D?

Nintendo has not yet revealed the 3DS‘ full specs, but here’s what we do know. The touchscreen, on the lower panel, offers more precision than the DS’ touchscreen, and although there’s a “telescoping stylus” that comes with it, extending to four inches in size, players at E3 are being encouraged to use their fingers. The touchscreen has a 320×250 pixel resolution.

Up top is where the real magic happens, with a larger, 3.53-inch widescreen display. This display is where 3D imagery is shown, and as I noted before, Nintendo is most proud of the fact that its 3D gaming doesn’t require special glasses. It offers a 800×240 pixel resolution, which is a significant bump from the DS.

Early word from the show floor is that the 3D effect is fairly dazzling, though it only works for players looking straight-on at the 3D screen. Those watching from the sides will see only the distorted dual images. But reports indicate that the imagery is sharp and responsive. A slider on the right side of the screen allows you to adjust the depth of the 3D effect from high, all the way down to standard 2D.

The overall look and feel of the device is very close in size and weight to the DS, but Nintendo is quick to note that this design is not final. (Which, based on the way they refined the Wiimote right up until its launch, just means that the design here is close, but it will be tweaked before release.) The 3DS will have two cameras on its rear side, allowing users to take pictures in true stereoscopic 3D. There’s also a camera on the front side, just like the DSi. All three cameras are set to 640×480 pixel resolution.

Additional stats: 3DS game cards will hold 2 GB of data; WiFi operates in the 2.4 Ghz band, supporting IEEE 802.11 with enhanced security; just like the Wii, the 3DS will be configured to receive data via the Internet while in sleep mode; and in a welcome improvement over the DS, there’s a new “slide pad” that’s basically a jazzed-up D-pad-style joystick. Everything I’m hearing from E3 is that the slide pad is smooth and responsive.

The rest of the 3DS’ specs are similar to its predecessor, with the usual face buttons, microphone, and both a motion and gyro sensor. It has stereo speakers on either side of the 3D screen, and runs on a lithium ion battery. Unsurprisingly, the 3DS will play DS games (but won’t up-convert them to 3D), which is recharged via a cradle charger.

What we should be a little more interested in is the fact that this humongous event is the epitome of how technology is paramount in our lives. While those who are purely interested in the sport may not think about it, people who pride themselves in being tech savvy should realize that this is the first time in history that an event of this magnitude is going to be totally covered and followed digitally.

Think gazillions of bytes travelling through fiber optic cables all over the world, bringing news and updates about the happenings at the World Cup. From the kick off to the final game, this is what the picture is going to look like! Television sets, computers, mobile phones – all of these gadgets will be used to keep updated.

Even better, games are going to be broadcast in 3D!!! This should be the next best thing to actually being in South Africa to watch the games! Originally, 25 games were supposed to be broadcast in 3D – a joint venture of Sony and ESPN. Friction came into the picture and talks have been jeopardized but don’t discount this possibility yet. And, even if you don’t get to watch games in 3D, 720p HD should be good enough!

Who’s excited about the World Cup? Who are you rooting for? Whatever medium you’re going to be utilizing, this is going to be one heck of a sporting event for sure!

We already know that a number of consumer electronics companies and broadcasters are pushing full steam ahead with plans to launch hardware and programming in 3D, and now Sony and CBS have partnered to open up a 3D Consumer Research Centre.

Located in the CBS Television City research facility at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, it’s designed to be “a dedicated resource devoted to studying 3D in all its forms”. That’s according to Sony Electronics’ executive VP and CMO, Mike Fasulo.

Created in two zones, one section will focus on 3D theatrical entertainment while the other concentrates on 3D home entertainment.

Visitors will be able to see the latest 3D cinema releases coming up, as well as explore the latest hardware such as HDTVs, PS3 and 3D Blu-ray and learning about new launches such as ESPN 3D.

Obviously, you’d expect the facility to be highly Sony focused, though there’s also support from RealD, a company providing advanced 3D filters and eyewear.

Now you can buy your own 3D glasses that also function as sunglasses. The maker of these 3D glasses, MicroVision Optical, says that they will also be providing 3D prescription glasses. Also a huge plus next to having a choice in frames, I saw “Avatar” wearing the 3D glasses over my own prescription glasses. A bit unhandy at times when wanting to re-adjust my own glasses.

If you where wondering if sunglasses are suited for indoors 3D movies; Most 3D movies require polarized 3D glasses . MicroVision Optical made good use of this fact hence the sunglasses and 3D in one with FDA approved UV filters. Being that these are premium made 3D glasses the viewing experience of 3D movies should be better then with the loan/one time use glasses you get at the the movies.

3D glasses seems to be the next thing everyone will own in the future. When having a movie night in a couple of years you will have to tell your guest to remember to bring along their 3D glasses or not because you have one for everyone.

Over at the MIT Labs, the Fluid Interfaces Group is running a project that involves what they call Cornucopia, a “personal food factory” which is essentially a three-dimensional printer that brings together ingredients to produce food. The machine stores food in refrigerated canisters, and then when food is needed, the machine pipes in ingrediets, and heats or cools these as necessary. These are then deposited layer by layer until the desired output is achieved.

Cornucopia’s cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user’s favorite ingredients. These are piped into a mixer and extruder head that can accurately deposit elaborate combinations of food. While the deposition takes place, the food is heated or cooled by Cornucopia’s chamber or the heating and cooling tubes located on the printing head. This fabrication process not only allows for the creation of flavors and textures that would be completely unimaginable through other cooking techniques, but it also allows the user to have ultimate control over the origin, quality, nutritional value and taste of every meal.

The research lab says the project is currently starting. Will the Cornucopia change the way we prepare and consume food? Or is it just a glorified refrigerator / oven / food dispenser? I think the main advantage of this gadget is the precise control by which users can define how much they want to eat, in terms of nutrition content, and how one can create textures and flavors that might be difficult to achieve through traditional cooking techniques. Now that’s something that I think even celebrity chefs can’t do!

Not all of it’s brand new, but CES is a great place to showcase it. There are geekier conventions, of course, but what would it be if Forever Geek didn’t give a decent nod Vegas way and showcase some of this year’s highlights.

The show is still rolling as we speak, so we may not have captured all the best bits yet. Still, let’s take a look at what’s hot at CES.

3DTV

You don’t have to look far before you find someone talking about 3D TV. It’s set to be one of the next big things and major players are lining up to get a piece of the action.

CyberLink, working in partnership with the Blu-ray Disc Association and major chip manufacturers including NVIDIA, Intel and AMD, has been showing off its 3D Blu-ray for PC solutions. That hopefully means lots of compatibility and less confusion for consumers.

XpanD showed off its latest advanced 3D active-shutter glasses designed to work with 3D-ready LCD, plasma and DLP displays. Any content encoded in 3D and that plays back at 120fps will compatible with the glasses, which are remarkably sleek given the technology hidden inside.

Dell has jumped on the 3D bandwagon with its 23-inch Alienware OptX monitor. As it shares its name with Dell’s inherited line of gaming PCs and notebooks, you can be sure that it’s aimed at gamers. Oh, and the Alienware M15x gaming laptop is also 3D-ready.

Many other manufacturers have decided to put “3D” in their blurb, including Toshiba on its new Qosmio X505 multimedia laptop.

Both Toshiba and Samsung have declared TVs containing processors which are capable of converting standard two-dimensional content into three-dimensions, and no doubt other top TV manufacturers will be doing the same.

And in case you think 3DTV is a long way off, the Consumer Electronics Association — though they may be over-optimistic — reckon that some four million 3DTV-ready sets will be sold this year.

Audio

CES always sees a huge range of speakers, headphones and other audio products come into the market and there’s no way we can cover them all, but enough interesting developments caught my eye to mention them here.

Firstly, Bowers & Wilkins has extended its range of good-looking, highly functional products which include the amazing looking 800 Series Diamond loudspeakers. They’re backed by names such as musician-producer Dave Stewart, film composer James Newton Howard and Abbey Road sound engineer Peter Cobbin. You can find out more at Bowers & Wilkins web site.

There are also some far-from-run-of-the-mill iPod docks and speakers including the Zeppelin.

Another Great British audio manufacturer (not that I’m biased or anything) is Naim Audio. They’ve just launched the UnitiQute high-end all-in-one audio player that’ll handle FM, DAB and Internet radio, streaming audio, iPod and USB sources. Find out more here.

Display and Touch

Pushing on with new technology in the world of touchscreens, Pacinian introduces its Surface Actuation system that offers a thin, responsive and power-efficient feedback system for use particularly in mobile devices.

Darice has already reported on a new material being considered for e-book readers. LG Display has created “metal foil” e-paper technology which is not only touch-sensitive and fairly high resolution but is also bendable.

Jayvee looked at Samsung’s transparent AMOLED screens which are sure to find some interesting applications over the coming few years.

Processors

Intel has introduced new features and processors including Turbo Boost Technology on its mainstream processors, the first 32nm processors, and Core i5 processors which are supposed to be around twice as fast as existing PCs.

Overall, Intel has introduced some 25 processors, wireless adapters and chipsets.

Gadgets

The Photosimile 5000 is an interesting product that will take a professional photograph of any object within seconds. It includes a 28-inch light box with 6500K daylight bulbs, automated camera positioning system and a turntable together with a Canon DSLR and imaging software.

Not only do you get a range of photos but also 360˚ and hemispherical Flash files. Neat.

Phone Halo Protect is a small Bluetooth-enabled device that can be attached to valuables and then used to locate them from an enabled smartphone.

Sticking to the location theme, Lok8u intros its GPS locator watch: the multi.m8 allows the wearer to be located with a 10-foot accuracy.

For those who just can’t survive without the magic of instant pictures, Polaroid has created a 12MP digital camera with a built in photo printer. It’s Polaroid for the 21st century.

We’re only partway though CES, so when the dust has settled we’ll take a look at some of the other gadgets that made it big here.

The fact is, manufacturers have crammed so many intensive functions into today’s televisions that high-end processors are a must. Gone are the days of a CRT blindly pushing out a picture one line at a time ad infinitum. These days, every pixel can be controlled on-the-fly to ensure the best picture is produced on our favourite LCD or plasma set.

Now, Cell TV is designed for the high-end TV market, boasting some 143 times more processing power than available in current TV models. It fits with an improved display panel with a Direct LED backlighting system featuring 4,608 LEDs and 512 distinct dimming areas (in other words, more control over light and dark areas in an overall picture and hence a better contrast ratio).

OK, that’s a lot of rhetoric, but one of the interesting applications, which builds on Toshiba’s existing technology, is that of improving the quality of low-res video content.

Yes, TV is going high definition and we have Blu-ray and HD/near-HD downloads, but the fact is that low-quality video, particularly from online sources, is still a reality, and an increasingly popular source of entertainment.

Toshiba’s Resolution+ system reduces the compression artefacts commonly seen when lo-res video is put on a large screen.

Oh, and just to add to the 3DTV mix, the Cell TV processor is powerful enough to handle that, too. Toshiba’s system will also convert 2D video into 3D in near real time. Interesting — if it’s any good it would increase the range of 3D quality material available as consumers wouldn’t have to wait and hope for films and games to be shot in 3D in the first place.

Obviously, how good these systems are remains to be seen. Upscaling and improving SD content is never as good as HD, and pseudo-3D isn’t going to be as good as material shot in 3D in the first place, but it still opens up a wealth of possibilities.

Oh, and just to finish off, Toshiba has promised that LED backlighting will feature in all of its LCD TVs, even the more entry-level ones. That makes sense, given the enormous benefits of LED.

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is definitely bringing up some interesting new display technologies, including Samsung’s transparent AMOLED and more. I just hope these systems, if and when they make it to the general consumer market, can play well together. Toshiba’s Cell TV is expected to arrive towards the end of 2010.

Sony, Discovery and IMAX have agreed to work on a channel that will show a range of programming that will make the most of the three-dimensional experience, including natural history, space exploration, adventure, engineering, science, technology, movies and kids programmes.

Most people are aware of the global impact IMAX has had, as well as the sort of output Discovery is capable of, and naturally Sony is keen to boast its 3D credentials.

Sony isn’t the only company to be working on 3D technology, but it is already forging ahead with plans to film the 2010 World Cup in 3D and to launch a range of 3D products this year.

Other countries are also looking into starting 3D TV broadcasts, including Sky in the UK. And although some manufacturers are working on TVs that will display 3D as-is, there’s probably no getting away from having to wear those silly coloured glasses for a few more years yet.

Now, thanks to a deal with FIFA, the governing body of world football, up to 25 games from next year’s World Cup in South Africa will be filmed using professional 3D cameras.

Given that HDTV itself is only starting to catch on in a big way (in comparison to regular TV, and bearing in mind that some people think they’re watching high definition when they’re not), I can’t see adoption of 3DTV being particularly quick.

That is, people might be prepared to wear those silly 3D glasses in front of a regular HDTV, but when it comes to “proper” 3D TV I think it will be a while before they’re commonplace in the living room.

Panasonic told us that this year would be 3D’s year, while an analyst for Screen Digest said major sporting events like the World Cup would help drive new technology. The last one (in 2006) was a major test for high definition TV.

So, as you are unlikely to have a 3D TV by next summer, and even if you did you’d be hard pressed to find anyone broadcasting in 3D, here’s how you can grab a piece of three-dimensional football heaven.

Live public viewing events in Berlin, London, Mexico City, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Rome, and Sydney

Promo trailers for the Official 3D Film at Sony stores

After the event, a Blu-ray disc of the Official 3D Film.

Bear in mind that the official specification for 3D on Blu-ray, originally put forward by Panasonic, is still under review. Given how long the HD DVD versus Blu-ray battle took, getting this standard ratified might take until the 2014 World Cup.

(Photo credit vramak)

Build your own art simply by dragging and dropping the various blocks into position. Remember that if you want things to look right, you have to place the rear and lower blocks first, unless you’re making some kind of surreal voxel art.

There’s a gallery for inspiration, and you can change the size of the grid for developing more intricate artwork.

Volexart.ru (Via)

The conception of this project consistently derives from its underlying architecture – the theoretic conception and visual pattern of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. The Basic idea of narration was to dissolve and break through the strict architecture of O. M. Ungers “Galerie der Gegenwart”. Resultant permeabilty of the solid facade uncovers different interpretations of conception, geometry and aesthetics expressed through graphics and movement. A situation of reflexivity evolves – describing the constitution and spacious perception of this location by means of the building itself.

The maps aren’t the same as the original, but the gameplay is all there. So if you’re a fan of Mario, or just feel like re-living some of that memorable gameplay you experienced on the Nes give this a quick download by clicking here.