Re: Boston Dynamics

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My original post from 11/13/2009 (below) on Boston Dynamics can finally be updated with some new footage of their latest projects; it looks like they’ve been busy. First, Petman 2.0:

The upsized and upgraded BigDog known as AlphaDog:

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November 13, 2009

I had seen videos of ‘BigDog‘ before, but Boston Dynamics new robot is pretty crazy. Meet ‘PETMAN‘:

Here’s the original ‘BigDog’ Video:

First Pair of Marty McFly Shoes

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The much publicized reveal by Nike last night ended with an auction for the very first pair of Marty McFly shoes (Nike Air Mags) going for $37,500. The winning bidder? UK-rapper Tinie Tempah! Tinie has already said the he “has so many clothes, (he) keeps some in (his) aunt’s house”, so I wonder if that’s where these are headed. TMZ has the video of the actual auction going down.

Nike is releasing 1,500 pairs of the shoes on eBay, with proceeds to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. So if each pair sells at this price, that’s $56.25 million!

Here’s Michael J. Fox revealing the sneakers on Letterman last night:

Here’s the original scene from Back to the Future 2:

And here’s the promo video featuring Kevin Durant, Bill Hader, Christopher Lloyd, Tinker Hatfield and Donald Fullilove.

I just wish I would’ve got one of the initial mystery promo packs…

Garbage

Check out some Italian research going into a garbage robot. This thing is actually out on the streets:

Watch out WALL-E.

‘Trash robots are being seriously considered as a viable alternative to huge, inefficient garbage trucks that often can’t fit down narrow Italian streets’ (Gajitz).

Unrelated to this project I also saw a concept for garbage powered streetlights:

‘Doubling as a trash bin, the lamppost then uses the methane, a byproduct of trash, as a fuel to power the lamps’ (I New Idea).

2-Legged Dog

I had seen videos of ‘BigDog‘ before, but Boston Dynamics new robot is pretty crazy. Meet ‘PETMAN‘:

Here’s the original ‘BigDog’ Video:

University of Oregon Studies Madden Gamers

I came across an article today regarding some research done by the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. The points it makes about aren’t really mind blowing – like I would assume Madden players to be more avid NFL fans; they bought an NFL video game – but it is still kind of interesting. Check the full release out here; here are some excerpts:

[Not the real Madden or NCAA cover, but it's Oregon and I play NCAA]

“According to the fan avidity score, the more hours playing the Madden NFL game correlates to a more devoted and involved NFL fan. The most passionate of these fans are less likely to miss a football game on Sunday than most non-Madden players and are likely to attend at least one NFL game per season.”

“According to the survey, Madden NFL players on average consume 35 percent more football content than those who do not play the game. This measurement included information on viewing, attending games, and purchasing habits related to the game of football.”

“One of the greatest differentiators between Madden NFL gamers and those that didn’t play the game was football viewing patterns. When it comes to watching football games, there is no NFL fan more reliable than a Madden NFL player, as 42 percent of Madden NFL players indicated they never miss a football game due to other activities. Only 12 percent of non-Madden NFL players would make the same claim.”

“In this year’s study, the Madden NFL Football IQ survey found that Madden NFL players continue to be more knowledgeable about the game of football than non-Madden players. Out of a total of 25 questions, Madden NFL players scored higher in all five survey categories. Categories where Madden NFL players scored significantly better were Game Situations and General Knowledge categories, where Madden NFL players scored 19 and 12 percent higher, respectively.”

Tracy Morgan AKA Scoopy Giles?

I came across this on digg yesterday and had to post it; I’ll be posting some singles soon too fyi. Anyways, this is Tracy Morgan rapping under the name ‘Scoopy Giles’. Scoopy is finally coming out publicly about being the lost founder of Def Jam Records, and this is his song from ’1988′ called ‘Dumplin’ Butts’. I think Tracy is pretty funny, and this is a pretty good parody; it’s promoting some 2009 Hip Hop Honors awards show on VH1. For some reason the videos aren’t on YouTube:

http://digg.com/d315vMs

… and here’s another one of Scoopy being interviewed by Nancy Grace. Some funny good quotes in this one haha:

http://digg.com/d315bBW

And here are some pretty funny commercials Tracy did for the ESPN video games years ago:

ESPN Football Video Game Commercial (w/Warren Sapp)

ESPN Basketball Video Game Commercial(w/Ben Wallace)

ESPN Hockey Video Game Commercial 1(w/Jeremy Roenick)

ESPN Hockey Video Game Commercial 2(w/Jeremy Roenick)

Orbital Drop Shock Trailer

New Halo 3: ODST live action trailer. I originally thought that ODST would make a great game to release before a Halo movie because it gives a bunch of new faces to the game (i.e. players never see Master Chief’s face). This trailer definitely shows the movie potential of the franchise. And after watching District 9 last night, it’s pretty obvious a Halo movie would do well if it was anywhere close to as good:

Insane Trailers

Here are a couple interesting trailers for new games I got in my email. The first one was prototyped using Torque. They both look amazing aesthetically; I especially like the style on the second one:

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet:

Machinarium:

Modern Warfare 2 Leaked

Here is a video of Modern Warfare 2 Gameplay that was leaked from Game Crazy Con. Can’t wait for this game to drop:

New Super Mario Bros. Suits

“There is a new trailer available for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, showing off some of the new suits and multiplayer action from the game. This is pure Nintendo: you may not be initially amazed at the graphics, but the play looks incredibly solid and fun. Take a look at what’s likely to be Nintendo’s next big thing.” Ars Technica

Looks like there are some pretty tight suits; I think the penguin one might be my fav. I’m also excited for the multiplayer with what looks like up to 4 players!