As each year goes by, all the gadgets and gizmos get smaller and smaller. And more and more start to become obsolete. You would never think that the cable box could disappear. Well, think again.
The wonderful folks over at Microsoft has showed us that the process of elimination has begun. With the most recent update, the Xbox 360 will now be able to do more than just play video games, watching movies using Netflix. Besides Hulu Plus, there will be more selections of what you can watch now on your system. MSNBC’s The Today Show and Epix, cable movie channel, are a couple of the first channels to be added. More are expected to join, such as Youtube, DailyMotion, and HBO GO (coming sometime in 2012) are just some the the channels coming.
Of course, not all are free. You need an Xbox Live Gold membership to be able to use the new features, which is understandable. That is the easy part. There are, and will be some channels that you will need separate service accounts to use, such as Netflix and HBO GO. Now if you think you can get rid of you cable provider, hold on for now.Verizon FIOS and Comcast Xfinity will be bringing their services to Xbox, but not until later. Verizon will be using the gaming system as a limited set top box, which will start later this month. Comcast is hoping to have their system ready by early 2012. They will be offering ther “On-Demand” services, but not live television.
The other part of this update is for the Kinect. With advanced terchnology now at hand, you will now have the ability to search through your xbox using voice activation. The system uses Bing search engine to find what you are looking for. With everything squeezing into our Xbox 360, certain products like Boxee and Google TV might have some good competition.
It has been quite a week, and quite a day around these parts. Lots of things getting done, but not a lot of news on one of our favorite topics. Coffee is like that some days there is a ton of stuff to talk about, others…. not so much. We have a bunch of Halloween themed stories to bring back from the dead, and some fun gadgets and news to discuss join us!
Are you a Rhythm Gamer? Guitar Hero god? Completed Physcobilly Freakout on iNSANE? nicely done. However real guitar players have long since derided these accomplishments as “button pushing” and other less savory terms.
File Rock Band, Guiatr Hero and Dance Dance Revolution into the same catagory. Follow instructions on a screen to get better in a very specific set of tasks. I love those games. I beat my friends who are much better dancers than I am in DDR, but it doesn’t translate to real life. And that has alway left gamers at a disadvantage.
Enter Rocksmith. A game where you plug your real guitar into your Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 or even your PC! It comes with a cord with a 1.4 inch jack on one hand and a USB jack on the other.
I love me some Sour Patch Kids. And according to the video a new game called World Gone Sour This video has some seriously quotable lines, and a lovely Star wars reference.
The recent release of “Dead Island” has gained good reception on the gameplay. However, what made “Dead Island” a big success was something better than the game itself. When the trailer for the game hit the internet, about 10 million hits were made to the video in just 2 days.
With a huge response to the trailer, LionsGate Entertainment has bought the rights to the video game fromDeep Silver, who published the game. In a statement released from LionsGate, they said, “This is exactly the type of property we’re looking to adapt at Lionsgate. It’s sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love.”
Although it is still in the early stages of development, LionsGate has chosen Sean Davis, who has produced “Dazed and Confused”, “Tombstone”, and “The Mummy” series, will be producing this zombie movie.
Why does he continue to license his products to other companies in an enticing manner. For every goofy Star Wars Toaster which burns an image of Darth Vader into a piece of bread we have a wonderful compilation like this! The Star Wars Xbox 360. 320 gig hard drive, R2D2 style paint job and a cool white kinect sensor? Oh yeah it totally has a Gold C3P0 controller. THE LED is BLUE! that right there is enough for me to throw money away. I like blue.
My one question about these bundles. For 450 dollars why don’t we ever get a second controller? I mean come on! If you have the money and the time George would love for you to give him some of the former.
With the Gears of War saga coming to an end, Calibur11 has decided to bring out something special for the occasion. Calibur11 is a company that enhances the style and productiveness of the Xbox 360.
For the release of Gears of War 3, Calibur11 will be selling this scary, but unique vault, also known as a case. The design is creepy enough to keep the light on at night while playing video games. With the “Bleed Out” custom paint, a controller cradle, and an infected omen, this will certainly grab the attention of gamers worldwide.
What makes this vault so special is that the infected omen. It lights up in 4 different modes. It will tell you when you are down by glowing red. What also makes this purchase special, is that in each box, is an opportunity to win a life-size Gears of War Cog-armored suit. The only downside to this product is that it only fits the Xbox360 Slim. For $89.99, this is definitely a purchase for a true gamer, and a fan
So you’e a geek of many trades, you love yourself a little Lord of the Rings on the Weekends, a little Xbox 360 at night to pwn some n00bs when the mood strikes you, a dash of hacking spark, and you have a flare for the dramatic… This hack uses the Kinect Sensor portion of the Xbox, man I want one of those, now I have a reason to get it.
This is probably a project for you. The fine folks over at The Technology Studio in the UK have blended the creepy picture that follows you around the room with the Eye of Sauron, and an Xbox Kinect. The display is a system called a pufferfish, which produces a wonderful 360 degree viewing experience. This is fantastic i love the sound effects to boot! This needs to be in my office. That way I can be the Mouth of Sauron, and the really the bad guy, just his accomplice. It wasn’t me …. Blame the EYE.
Mark Bongo,owner of Major League Mods and Xbox modder extrodinaire has come up with another winner. This time giving the business to R2D2. This one of a kind unit comes complete with a projector, Aux inputs and a heavy dose of awesome.
Where do the controllers go? Huge thanks to mark for tipping us off concerning his latest masterpiece.
Gearboard takes a very common problem with modern gaming machines and hopes, at least the concept will take off. Everyone who dabbles in game systems has started to see the creep, game by game, peripheral by peripheral much more of our storage is being devoted to game specific pieces of hardware. Gearboard is an attempt to take these and put them on the wall out of the way. The only peripherals i don’t see fitting into this systems are the Dance Dance Revolution mats currently living under the couch in the CaffiNation Lair. What say you to peripheral creep and how you deal with it?
All this change and fresh air made me unveil the new CaffiNation Layout and design, so make sure you stop on by and tell me what you think. I’m working on a couple of small problems and a few final touches but I like the bold new look.
Due to E3 happening this week there are a ton of news items floating around about video games in general i roll through a general discussion about a couple of things in the industry as well as take a look at some of the cooler announcements. We also look at lawnmowers, peek and Windows 7 and see whats trending in the world of Caffeine.
Overall the show is a bit front loaded, but no less awesome we are running today’s episode on a good deal of coffee, but what else is new? Like a Indy race this episode is open wheeled. I’m getting a little tired of the show note format i was using so i’m trying to go off the reservation a bit more with these episodes. Still delivering fresh and new content but not necessarily being tied down to one article on a topic.
Please let me know which style you prefer? Links galore, or freewheeling discussion. I’m probably going to stick with a mix for now.
This show is hampered by a migraine, couldn’t explain it and can’t get rid of it. So we had to look for the only cure out there. The best tech news always makes me feel better. I dug up some of the most off the wall and oddball links stories and quips from my bevy of sources to bring this to you. Then I dug into the well of caffeinated and foody culture to wash it all down with. I hope you enjoy what We found today.
In this collection of news bits we gladly give you the great news items that were either sent in or collected for use in the CaffiNation 218 but we just couldn’t shoehorn any more content in. Witty banter aside these are great fodder for thought. Frequently the things that don’t always make it into the Episodes are the pieces that require more to research or care to be put into the treatment thereof. Still I hope you enjoy today’s offerings.
On today’s Run You’ll see: The Pentagon, The White House, Bill Gates, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Apple Read the rest of this entry »
As each year goes by, all the gadgets and gizmos get smaller and smaller. And more and more start to become obsolete. You would never think that the cable box could disappear. Well, think again.
. The display is a system called a 
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