Because augmented reality glasses should probably be for those who actually need them, researches continue developing more economical solutions for suffers of debilitating strokes and spinal-cord injuries, Engadget reports. These glasses track eye movement with $35 worth of parts.  The tracker works with two video console cameras and a pair of eyeglasses that, after calibration, can precisely track the pupils — allowing them to control a cursor or move a paddle. The researchers also figured out how to “click” the eye-mouse by winking, and can even use more precise adjustments to calculate gaze depth — meaning subjects will be able…

As early as 1992, games were mapping human faces onto screens. Mortal Kombat was one of these games, and its first actor was Daniel Pesina. Verge has the story of how one game design student ran into Pesina accidentally as he was teaching martial arts. The gracious game actor agreed whole-heartedly to an interview, and he bears all—from Mortal Kombat‘s inception to his career now. What’s most interesting though, is that because the games industry was young, and its actors without a union, their work was easy to exploit. When the game, and then the sequel, sold something along the…

A feature in yesterday’s NY Times charts the tale of an amateur baller who found his way to Brooklyn from Florida via Portland, seeking “the city’s mythical ownership of pickup basketball.” Intent on discovering the “city’s truths” in basketball, Isaac Eger found out how to take a hit, dance around the playful threat of another opponent’s “poker,” and stand his ground. Then Eger has a moment of clarity when he observes how the potential violence, aggression, and grace all hangs in the delicate balance of the city and its citizens, the game and its players. Another thing that struck me,…

In his review of the pseudo-subversive Spec Ops: The Line for Grantland, famed game writer Tom Bissell lists 13 potential reasons why we play a genre of games whose volume of violence surpasses that of most mediums up to this point. From passages to personal stories to jotted notes, the review is as comprehensive as it is conflicted. Part V alone is a canon of games that he believes use violence in subtle, creative ways—games that don’t posture violence to end all violence.  A few shooters I regard as having handled violence as well as can be reasonably expected, given the medium’s…

Beyond videogames, simulacrum, shady politics, and even the best watch-dog journalism, independent filmmaker Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer) wants us to realize drones as the synecdoche of present civilization. In a recent interview with the senior editor of New Inquiry, Rivera waxes polemic about how this machine epitomizes our great, severed civilization. The drone is the most visceral and intense expression of the transnational/telepresent world we inhabit. In almost every facet of our lives, from the products we use, to the food we consume, from the customer service representatives around the planet who work in the U.S. via the telephone, to…

It’s no retina scan, but with the new Android OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, all you need is a good look to unlock your data-treasure chest of a phone. The New York Times reports: This comes under the general heading of “biometrics,” a highfalutin way of saying the phone has the ability to recognize you by physical characteristics. And face unlock isn’t the only example. Nuance, which makes voice recognition programs such as Dragon Dictate, has been demonstrating a voice lock called “Dragon ID,” which isn’t on any devices yet. If you’re running Ice Cream Sandwich, go to your security…

Variety is reporting that the next Batman from Rocksteady, makers of the Arkham series, is going back to the chromatic ’50s.  New, highly stylized title is being developed as a prequel that revolves around Batman’s first meeting with the Joker. It’s based on the Silver Age of DC’s comicbooks from the 1950s when the Caped Crusader teamed with other heroes like Superman and founded the Justice League of America. Sources are vague, but it makes sense following the rampant success of the Avengers mashup. 

The ideal scientist is addicted to research. But when time is of the essence, crowdsourcing with games of pattern-finding in a real world context has proved an efficient way to get the world to do research for you.  Following suit, Britain’s Wellcome Trust, a global charity for the advancement of biomedicine, has teamed up with Mobile Pie to offer PhD students in biomedical science to medical humanities the chance to turn their research into a game—for science. The contest is called Gamify Your PhD, and to help get you started, they’ve designed a crash course game design app found below.…

It’s been confirmed that Trent Reznor has composed the theme song for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, a game set in the future where the U.S. is in a cold war with China, which will surely heat up, considering fans would probably be disappointed with a game of ceasefire. Whether Reznor was inspired by direct deathmatch gameplay is unclear, but he’s intent on giving massacre its due weight.