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Tiny RC Tanks That Fight
Daniel Rutter writes "I've just reviewed a couple of Konami's Combat DigiQs - tiny little remote controlled tanks that can shoot each other. You can stage a two-, three- or four-tank battle, every tank for himself or in teams of two, on a coffee table. They rock."
Toys are just getting cooler and cooler these days. Why couldn't I have had RC Tank wars when I was a kid? It's just not fair.
Oh well. I guess I'll go back to playing with Lego and my good 'ol Speak-n-Spell.
I am a filthy pirate.
http://www.konami.co.jp/th/micro_ir/combat/english /index.html
ThinkGeek's had this for a while
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5776
It's laser tag though. Office Fun!
$cat
weapons of minute destruction?
The writeup of the article with the same text is already on JesusGeeks.
A playground sandbox, a few quarts of 10w40, and you've got your very own miniature Iraq to "liberate"!
nah you must be confused, that was gorilla.bas :)
But do you actually get killed when your tank blows up? I really find the lack of realism in games these days to be disturbing.
If these fire actual projectiles (as opposed to just a light beam), then I want one for my girlfriend's cats!
However i've had massive problems with every 3D version i've tried. Not only is my first guess almost always rather off because of the complications of the third dimension, but adjusting the shot takes a long time as well. It just takes way too long and isn't as much fun.
Of course hopefully the toy tanks wouldn't take so long to render, and it would be really easy to multi-thread and have them all shooting at once :)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Scary when the tanks are being dwarfed by their remote controls 8-)
I've solved this problem by continuing to buy toys for myself - and now I've got money!
Fact is that as a kid I don't think I would have appreciated the coolness of this. A friend of mine had one of those helicopters that flew in circles, and model rocketry stuff, and I liked it but I thought it was all part of being a kid.
Now I own a Vectron Flying Saucer and a bunch of other cool stuff, and I still play with at much as if I were a kid. But now I realized how awesome it is scientifically, and the fact that things weren't always this cool.
Somehow wanting something for thiry years makes it that much sweeter. Makes me look forward to being eighty.
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Believe me, I'm as surprised by my comment as you are.
...those tiny tanks, connected to a PC, so we can play over the Internet with our distant geek friends. :-)
:-)
Yeah of course we have videogames, but it would be much cooler to have the game happening in real-life 3D on a small table in the living room.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
Any /.ers care to take on the challenge?
"Knowledge is half the battle!" - GI JOE (he would have read the whole article, then gone off to kick Cobra Commander's ass...)
My brother and I ordered them from Japan back during Christmas. They are in fact really cool little toys.
The advantages these little things have over the other MiniRC craze are:
No ugly/fragile antenna (IR Control)
Better cosmetic detail of the bodies. A couple little plastic pieces to glue on for added effect are included.
The IR Weapons onboard complete the ultimate childhood fantasy of having your little plastic army men fight.
Good control unit with swapable modules so you can use the same radio to control all the different types of tanks...
The IR control is pretty good as far as range is concerned as long as you have line of sight. You have to mind that you point the control unit in the general direction of the tank... I've been stalled and hit a couple times because I didn't pay attention. There are cool little LED special effects and shaking when your opponent hits you with a shot...
These things will have you building little obstacles and battlefields pretty soon after playing a couple rounds...
Glad somebody wrote a review on these Konami tanks... Very cool... There are also hobbyists who make larger 1/15 scale versions but they cost hundreds... You can get two of these for about $100 plus shipping from Japan right now.
I was going to put off the kids thing a few more years, but I need a justifiable reason to spend $125 on these things. So, if there's any women out there who would like to get married and have my child soon there after, and also provide me with your Visa card so I can order these tanks (for are soon to arrive child), please send me a message.
Thanks
Cool features I haven't seen mentioned here yet:
They are a bit pricey, but the WWII Winter set includes two tanks, plus obstacles to hide behind and decals.
The only other downside is that they're a little fragile.
Design for Use, not Construction!
FINALLY!
"Stuff that matters."
The normal editors must be on vacation...
looks just like a real (scale) plane
flies well
is relatively inexpensive and easy to make
Pick any two!
Even so, some people do do R/C combat with scale models ... but it's a lot of work making the planes and keeping them flying :)
R/C plane combat is certainly done. Some is done with infrared `guns', like this, some is done trying to cut a ribbon trailing behind the other plane, and some is done by literally trying to bump the other plane out of the sky.
In all cases, even when you're not trying to, the planes tend to collide quite often. So you need planes that are very resiliant, and that usually means that they aren't going to be scale models of anything -- instead, you concentrate on them flying reasonably well and being tough.
The American claims are lies. The brave loyal men of the Republican Guard today destroyed 500 tanks. I myself crushed over 50 with my bare feet.
Former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf
Radio controlled tanks are nothing new - my neighbor had one 60 years ago.
He sat inside it, a radio signal came in, and in response to that message, he shot at Germans.