[ame]https://youtu.be/JH2vp8_ybdY[/ame]
If you've ever been in the middle of an intense video game when a housemate demands you stop playing so they can watch TV, you'll surely appreciate the promise of Cross Plane. The Kickstarter project is looking to raise $350,000 to build a device that looks a lot like a Nintendo Wii U GamePad, but actually is designed to act as both the screen and controller for your Xbox or PlayStation. Cross Plane is a gaming controller with a 7-inch, 720p display sitting between a standard array of joysticks, buttons, and triggers.
The controller promises to deliver about four hours of battery life. This isn't much, but it should be enough to enable gamers to play on in the midst of an interruption for someone else's TV time. Cross Plane uses a standard HDMI transmitter and receiver setup to wirelessly stream video from a TV, PC, or gaming console to the tablet-like device. Unlike the Wii U's GamePad, the display on Cross Plane isn't a touch screen, and there are no sensors, cameras or mics. One key feature Cross Plane will have, however, is rumbling haptic feedback.
Bringing Cross Plane into reality won't be cheap. The minimum donation level that will actually get a controller in your hands, if the project hits its funding goal, is $349. Just one day into its campaign, the project has raised about $6,000 dollars.
The Cross Plane resembles a Wii U GamePad and the two have something more in common than just a launch price: both mirror video and audio output to their respective controllers. The difference is that unlike Nintendo's faltering console, the Cross Plane uses wireless HDMI to do so and (as demonstrated in the video after the break) can basically stream content from any device with an HDMI port -- including Ouya, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Whatever it's plugged into bears the processing load, meaning that if your PC can't run Crysis 3, neither can the Cross Plane.
Designer Advanced Gaming Innovations (AGI) also implemented swappable cartridges (the red bit sticking out in the above picture) containing system-specific hardware support. This serves two functions: One, it cuts down on "interference and issues" between the analog and digital layouts of certain architectures. Next is that it ensures you only have to buy carts for the systems you want, presumably cutting down on price. Speaking of which, a $349 pledge snags you a unit with one system cartridge and $410 nets you a handset with two.
