With the announcement of the upcoming Project Natal, everyone is looking forward to being able to play games without the use of a keyboard and mouse. Just like the iPhone revolutionized touchscreen phones, Project Natal will revolutionize motion-sensor gaming. All of the research going into these touch and motion technologies fall into the realm of Human Computer Interaction (or HCI for short). You can find students and hobbyists researching and creating all different kinds of HCI technologies all over the world.

Forcedtodrive talked about a guy using a Theremin to play Super Mario Bros. Here is a cool video of an HCI project where researchers use a light projector and their own shadows to draw, play Pong, and click and drag objects:

This environment is cheap (only using a light projector and a notebook computer), and shows the potential for manipulating the computer with peripherals beyond those you find in the common household. And since the video has been around for over a year, you can see that Microsoft wasn’t the first to think of using our bodies alone to play games.

My coworker showed me her new phone (a Sanyo SCP 2700 from Sprint, shown left) and I noticed a button with a smiley face on it. I asked her what that button was for and she told me it’s for easy access to emoticons.

To me, that’s like putting a button on a baby’s rattle that releases balls of flames.

One of the concepts I love to hate when it comes to text messaging and typing on the Web is the emoticon. I used to teach a computer/technology applications course at a local university and I covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from binary code to computer generated imagery. One topic that always brought upon a big discussion was “netiquette,” or etiquette on the Web.

One major rule that I teach the students is that you should NEVER use emoticons and abbreviations in formal emails, and you should ALWAYS spell and grammar check. Although this seems like common sense, even my college students tend to ignore the rules by emailing me like they’d text message their BFF. With the excess of abbreviations and emoticons, they say it’s only natural for all of it to spill onto formal communication.

Could you imagine a world where all smart phones and laptops had a key/button for emoticons or common abbreviations like LOL or BRB? Imagine your boss letting you go with text message instead of a formal pink slip: “s2s got 2 let u go ”

You can learn more about the importance of netiquette from these hot moms:

REVIEW BREAKDOWN
type: Game review
platform: Nintendo DS
+: a must for fans of Suda 51
+: incredible story
+: interesting cast of characters
+: a truly original experience
+: half funny/half disturbing atmosphere
-: frustrating to no end, though self aware
-: linear to a t
-: “puzzles”, for lack of a better word, consist of simply finding a number in a manual
-: most gamers will hate this game
gamer appeal: fans of Suda 51 and weird s*** in general. Just picture a game version David Lynch’s “Inland Empire”
comparisons: Killer 7, and… Nothing else, really

gameESC score:

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We’ll miss you…

Yesterday, Best Buy CMO Barry Judge announced a new endeavor for entertainment retail giant Best Buy via his blog:

As we continue to explore new ways to make our customers happy, Best Buy is moving into the used games market. This week, several of our Dallas and Austin stores will test a kiosk-based model that allows customers to insert their used games into a kiosk that will scan it for functionality, and immediately issue a voucher that is instantly redeemable for a Best Buy gift card. It’s a pretty slick system and one of the few trade-in programs to provide instant gratification; you get the gift card on the spot and can redeem it on anything in the store – not just another game. We’ll also be testing the sale of used games in those stores, and some of the kiosks will even rent games and movies. We’re excited about this test, especially because we know how deeply passionate our customers and our employees are about gaming, movies and entertainment overall. And the trade-in and used value propositions will give those passionate customers even more choice and value at Best Buy.

Used games? Uh oh, GameStop… could your current reign as the trade-in kings finally be coming to a well-deserving end? Suffice to say, they’re not worried. In a statement to the Star Telegram, the company had this to say:

GameStop understands that trading in used games and consoles is a highly-assisted activity. We are very confident in our business model that allows our expert associates to help consumers trade in product, a fact not addressed with a self-serve process.”

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Although it might not feel like it just yet (in 78 degrees in New York City), Summer is here and it’s gonna get hot. Tell your avatar to take off that tuxedo and get into these cool summer clothes. Major Nelson gives up the scoop:

Male
Rashguard
White Vest
Swim Shorts
Surfer Shorts

Female
Flower Vest
Surfer Hot Pants
Surfer Shorts
Surfer Skirt
Surfer Dress

I didn’t know that a “wife-beater” is really called a “white vest”!

If you’re someone who spends their time playing flash games on the internet, you probably wouldn’t mind heading over to The AddictingGames Showdown and voting your favorites. The winners will be announced this Saturday on Nickelodeon at 8:00 pm ET. The categories include the following:

Most AddictingGame
Best Performance by a Monkey
Most Courageous Stick Figure Stunt
Greatest Escape Game
Best Game from Planet Random
Your Mom’s Favorite Game
Best Performance by a Robot
Most Adrenaline Pumping Game
Poppiest Pop Culture Game
Mostest Edumacational Game

Best Performance By a Monkey… hahah.

I love when they have video games on television, either casual or “core” titles, so even though I’m 23 years old, I’ll probably be watching Nickelodeon this Saturday.

Who would guess the cast of the newly released “Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen” would have so much to say about video games?

After Shia LaBeouf decided to lay the smack down on the Nintendo Wii earlier this week, his costar Megan Fox, Hollywood’s latest It girl, tell’s family gaming blogWhat They Play how much she loves the console:

What are your thoughts on the Wii getting kids active?

Megan Fox: I’m totally a fan of the Wii, I’m just not good at it. I actually have a Wii Fit and it’s actually a really hard workout. It’s pretty interesting. I think it’s amazing you can combine exercise and gaming. There really are games like Raving Rabbids and there are these little missions that you have to do where you run. You’re running with your arms but I swear to God I was so out of breath after every time I completed a mission. It really gets your cardio workout and it’s a video game, which sounds crazy. But I think that’s amazing. I hope we keep heading in that direction.

Also in the interview, Ms. Fox talks about the Super Nintendo being her first console and Aladdin being her first game, a title both JJ and I still talk fondly about. Those damn magic carpet levels were so hard…

While I whole-heartedly agree that the Wii is not the console of choice for “core” gamers, to outright dismiss someone for owning one as The Beef did in his Nintendo bashing interview is just plain ignorant. Video game racism, I tell you! At least Megan Fox is bright enough to realize it.

Don’t ask me why, but after seeing the trailer for the movie adaptation of Hitman, I had high hopes for the film. The trailer was slick and shiny and because I was just a mild fan of the game, I wasn’t emotionally invested enough in the franchise to be worried about a botched adaptation. Besides, the movie had guns, violence, and an attractive Russian girl in a red dress (similar to the Resident Evil movies which I so very shamefully love). How could they screw it up?

Well, they did. The movie sucked. Big time. Yes, the movie had all of the things listed above, but somehow it was all so boring. Much like the other game-to-movie endeavors like Doom, Max Payne, and any of the steaming piles of excrement that Uwe Boll likes to shovel on us, Hollywood can’t figure out video game adaptations.

Now 20th Century Fox is ready to try again with “Hitman 2.” The studio has confirmed with movie news website, IESB, that a young new writer by the name of Kyle Ward will be attempting to do a better job than the original writer, Skip Woods (AKA the guy who penned the atrocious 2001 John Travolta flick, “Swordfish”). To be completely honest with you, I have no hope for this film at all. Mr. Ward has nothing noteworthy under his belt and his next project is another game-to-movie adaptation based on Kane & Lynch. Jesus…

As you can tell by my confessed love of the Resident Evil movies, I don’t expect much from a video game adaptation. To prove this even further, I saw DOA: Dead or Ailve in the theaters twice. All I ask is for a good time. Hey, who knows? Maybe Hitman 2 will be great! It certainly could be, it just seems like Hollywood has a hard time making a video game movie that’s fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Are there any video game movies that you enjoy? How about Silent Hill or Mortal Kombat? You must admit, those movies were pretty cool. Or not. Let me know in the comments!

Followers of Major Nelson’s Twitter were treated to a pretty strange site this morning: Twitter, Facebook, Last.FM, and Sky branded Xbox Box 360 consoles.

There’s no word on whether or not these are going to be released to consumers as limited edition consoles or merely skins, but seeing as Twitter is quickly becoming my favorite thing on the internet I definitely wouldn’t mind scoring one of those cute little light-blue consoles. Aww….

Hey, as long as I can virtually blow people to bloody matter with a shotgun over Xbox Live, what does it matter if my 360 is adorable? What do you think? Do you plan on trading your red Resident Evil 5 console for a red Last.FM one any time soon? Let me know in the comments.