MAKE » Blake Maloof

Babystepping Towards the Holodeck

Blake Maloof — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 01:59:44 +0000

Sci-fi fans have grown up dreaming of stepping into a virtual world that’s indistinguishable (in sensual terms) from this one. Just load up a program and you’re in different a time, or another world. As technology has advanced, we’ve seen virtual worlds and characters become increasingly realistic, but we’ve only […]

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3D Printing Game Worlds with Sandboxr

Blake Maloof — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:09:52 +0000

Imagine being about to 3D print customized characters, enemies, and props from your favorite computer games. That's the idea behind Sandboxr.

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Gesture Tracking without a Kinect

Blake Maloof — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:22:20 +0000

We're all familiar with wildly waving your arms in front of a Kinect to control an on-screen avatar, but the special hardware required ultimately limits the reach of this technology. But webcams are now built into nearly every laptop and mobile device on the market. What if you could wave your arms in front of your iPad to play your favorite motion control games?

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Flying Drones with Jedi Mind Tricks

Blake Maloof — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Since last we saw NeuroSky’s mind-reading game controller (at last year’s GDC), developers have been hard at work finding fun and interesting ways to use the device. I got a chance to try a few of them out and to move things with my mind. First up was an Unreal […]

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MAKE at the Game Developers Conference

Blake Maloof — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:36:56 +0000

Blake Maloof is at GDC this week searching for new developments in gaming and gaming hardware that might be of interest to makers.

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Childhood Tinkering Inspires Hardware Innovation

Blake Maloof — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 04:09:06 +0000

If you're a maker and a parent, you probably let your kids take things apart. According to Toys For Bob's lead engineer, Robert Leyland, developer of the Skylanders Portal of Power, you're doing the right thing.

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How-To: Add Articulation to Skylander Figures

Blake Maloof — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:30:42 +0000

Ever since Skylanders was released last holiday season, one of the most commonly requested additions to the franchise has been articulated toys. Custom toy maker Jin Saotome decided not to wait. He’s created a bunch of highly articulated Skylanders mods, many featuring plastic representations of their powers. Now he’s produced […]

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Jeri Ellsworth Rocks a Commodore 64 Keytar

Blake Maloof — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:14:01 +0000

If you’re walking around Maker Faire you may see a woman skating around with a strange looking instrument. That’s maker extraordinaire Jeri Ellsworth with her bass guitar made out of a Commodore 64. And did I mention she’s playing it while on roller skates? That’s talent! Filed under: General

Alt.GDC: Developing Skylanders’ Innovative “Portal of Power”

Blake Maloof — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:31:21 +0000

Finishing up his GDC coverage, Blake Maloof sits down with some of the developers of the Skylanders' "Portal of Power," which started out life with sink and toilet plumbing parts!

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Alt.GDC: Angry Birds [Cue Echo] … in Space

Blake Maloof — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:57 +0000

"Hey, kids! Wanna learn about gravitational physics?" "Noooo!" "Hey, kids! Wanna play Angry Birds?" "Yeeeeah!!!"

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