Gamers who are looking for a unique perspective into their video gaming habits will definitely get a kick out of Emotiv Systems' Emotiv EPOC neuroheadset. This unique gaming accessory allows you to control in-game characters using the neuron signals transmitted by your brain. Other details about this neat gadget can be found in the full article after the jump.

We all knew that Big Blue would come through some day. As Intel preps it's new Penryn 45nm processors for the personal computer market, IBM also takes a stroll down the same reduced die package lane. And at the recent ISSCC, short of International Solid-State Circuits Conference, IBM made their plans known to roll out a 45nm version of the CELL Broadband Engine whose 90nm, 65nm cousins currently power the various Sony PlayStation 3 SKUs.

Seems like the Nintendo DS is getting around these days. Balance, a downloadable PC puzzle game, offers an option to use the DS for its tilt controls. Balance is mainly a 3D pinball-like game where you tilt the board in order to guide balls to marked targets. While the default control calls for the use of a mouse, KAMPO Interactive also offers the option to use either a Nintendo DS to control the game, or an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Active Protection System’s motion detection system.

Contrary to what you may think, the DS controls do not use the stylus; Balance uses the DS Motion Card, which is quite appropriate considering its tilt-gameplay. The DS also uses its Wi-Fi connection to send motion, rotation, and orientation data of the handheld to the PC's external controller plugin, making for a seamless control of the game.

Now, this opens up a whole slew of possibilities for the DS being used with the PC. Can the Nintendo DS be used as a graphics tablet? With this development, it looks like the answer's going to be a definitive yes.

Check out the DS Motion Card and the Lenovo Thinkpad in action after the jump.

Microsoft tried to light a fire a few days back, saying free software like Linux violate 235 of their patents. Without fear, Linux creator Linus Torvalds stepped up to the challenge and say a few things.

Torvalds threw the allegations back at Microsoft, saying, "It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does." With big M not stating specifically which patents the Linux OS violates, there's no reason for Torvalds to back down.

"Don't you think that if Microsoft actually had some really foolproof patent, they'd just tell us and go, 'nyaah, nyaah, nyaah!'" said Torvalds.

If given the same review about violating patents, Torvalds believes that Microsoft would find itself infringing patents from various other companies.

"Basic operating system theory was pretty much done by the end of the 1960s. IBM probably owned thousands of really 'fundamental' patents," says the Linux creator, which would mean Microsoft is as culpable in violating patents as much as Linux.

A recently conducted study by the Kelley Fay Group, sponsored by Jack Morton Worldwide, pranced into the business world of marketing and the facets of business to business (BtoB) and business to consumer (BtoC) conversations. Top in the list of the study's findings is that "word of mouth" marketing is the topmost influence on business buying decisions.

 

In fact according to the study, when one business executive shares marketing relevant information with another executive, such a means has been far more effective for the business ranks than any other communication channel available to them.

The report found that 50% of business executives claimed they would more likely by a product or service based on word of mouth, while around 49% will just pass the word on to others. According to them, person-to-person information sharing has twice more influence than that of advertising.

Click on Full Article for more findings and suggestions of the study.

 

Given that the 2007 Online Game Development Conference (OGDC) is just a few more days away, we'll be updating the previously reported speaker list with a fresh new 8-pack. This latest announcement includes the presence of industry bigwigs like GameSpy director Todd Northcutt, as well as PopCap Games business development director James Gwertzman. Here's the full list:

• JJ Richards - GM, Xbox Live, Microsoft
• Charles Merrin - Vice President, RealArcade, RealNetworks, Inc.
• Brett Close - President & CEO, 38 Studios
• Todd Northcutt - Director, GameSpy Technology, GameSpy / IGN Entertainment
• Tom DuBois - Producer, Global Online Studio, Electronic Arts
• James Gwertzman - Director of Business Development, PopCap Games
• Victor Wachter - Online Community Relations Manager, Cryptic Studios
• Craig T. Dalrymple - Community Relations Manager, EverQuest II, Sony Online Entertainment
  

Also confirmed to be arriving at the event are groups like IBM, Nvidia, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Game Studios, Cartoon Network, K2 Network, Multiverse, DigiPen, Pearl Research, Fox Interactive Media, Gas Powered Games, Midway Studios, WildTangent, High Voltage Software, Flagship Studios, and Ensemble Studios.

Keep posted in case more information on additional speakers is announced, as this year's OGDC goes down this May 10 to 11, at at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle.

Ever since the PC hardware industry grew aware that the silicon chip was soon to hit the hardest dead-end in computer history, they shifted gears and went from single-core, chip-melting speedy processors to multi-core, lower-speed versions of today's processors.

Soon, the software industry even followed suit, offering everything from multi-core, multi-processor capable operating systems to 64-bit ready kernels.

However, even as time dragged on, the game industry tucked tails and didn't catch up. With true-blue hardcore gamers shifting from 3 GHz beasts to 2.4 GHz multi-cores, it finally dawned on the many game devs that the time to adopt their titles to multi-core processing was now. Better late than never.

Chris Taylor's Supreme Commander was one of the very (few) first to have been designed from the ground up with multi-core processing in mind. Released last February, it took advantage of the extra core to simulate more realistic AI, while providing enough processing power to handle epic numbers of units in a significantly large map.

But then many other PC games, including Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, and id Software's Quake 4 and Doom 3 were patched to take advantage of an extra processing core. It wasn't as optimal a solution as Supreme Commander, but according to Ted Pollak of Jon Peddie Research, "It won't give the same kind of performance, but it's going to help, and it's better than nothing."

But since the developers spend too much time and resources designing a game from the ground up (and that's with middleware, pre-acquired graphics engine code and an army of devs, folks), the one reason why a game developer turned its back on Intel's drive for multi-core games is the more time needed to adopt a serial coded game to parallel processing platforms.

Thanks to RapidMind, the guys behind the development platform for IBM's CELL BE processor, a solution for the multi-core development is ready for use. Ray DePaul, CEO of RapidMind, said, "It's a way to continue to use serial programming but achieve a parallel approach to data parallelism."

Their solution makes use of a similar development platform used for the CELL 8-core processor: an x86 version of an application programming interface (API) that will accept serial programming code and decide how to distribute the processing load to the cores available to the software. PeakStream is one other multi-core solutions provider that has an API very similar to RapidMind's.

So all those early adopters and hardware enthusiasts out there take note: soon you'll be able to finally tout real scores from benchies on true-blue, multi-core designed games. But what would that mean for a good percentage of single-core users still out there?

Remember our coverage of the East Fishkill area? The one where we told you guys that most of Sony's and Microsoft's console chips come from the area? Well here's another East Fishkill related post.

In order to highlight the deep science behind the latest video games and to encourage middle school students to pursue careers in math and science, IBM will distribute an education package, including print, video and other multi-media materials, to members of IBM’s On Demand Community, IBM’s global volunteer initiative with nearly 80,000 employees and retirees.

Educational sessions at East Fishkill will be led Dr. Michael Nelson, IBM’s director of Internet Technology and Strategy. He says:

The introduction of next generation systems from the leaders in video gaming offers a unique opportunity to reinforce the importance of math and science education at the earliest possible age, Kids love gaming, and math and science make games possible.

As much as this sounds like IBM is doing something that is completely selfless, the truth is that they're helping themselves out by helping everyone out. IBM is after all the company that's set to gain the most from this next-gen console war since all three consoles use chips from them. Getting kids into the maths and sciences is IBM's way of ensuring that in the future there will be capable people out there for them to employ.

Helping yourself by helping others, hey, if Oprah can make millions out of doing that, why can't IBM?