jetpack

One of the in-development video games that we're more intrigued by every time we see it is Dark Void, Capcom's upcoming sci-fi action title. The basic hook is simple -- while strapped into a Rocketeer-style jetpack, a cargo pilot sucked into the Bermuda Triangle has to zoom around and rescue innocent humans from some alien types.

Pulp origins aside, the game mixes fast-paced aerial combat with a standard cover-based third-person shooter. That you can kick your jetpack into high gear at almost any time makes the action unpredictable -- you can just as easily zoom past enemies and attack them from behind (or above), as shoot through them the old-fashioned way.

Getting a chance to have some hands-on playtime with the game recently, it lived up to many of our expectations, but also showed a few challenges. Flying around in wide-open outdoor spaces was easy to get the hang of, anyone who has flown a video game airplane or spaceship will find it feels familiar. Smashing headfirst into a rock formation was predictably fatal, but at least somewhat easy to avoid. … Read more

It's the stuff of science fiction and James Bond. Strap a jet pack to your back and fly like a bird--sort of. But jet packs are science fiction no more.

It's 1,500 feet across from cliff to cliff, and more than 1,000 chilling feet down to the bottom of the Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River near Canon City, Colo.

"You're going to see me on the other side. This isn't an 'Evel-Knievel, get-a-lot-of-media-out-and-just-screw-it-up' gig, you know," stuntman Eric Scott told CBS station KCNC-TV correspondent Rick Sallinger prior to the flight. … Read more

Yves Rossy leapt from a plane and crossed the English Channel on a homemade jet-propelled wing set on Friday.

Rossy, who is also known as FusionMan, averaged 125 mph as he zoomed across 22 miles. The flight lasted 10 minutes to 13 minutes--depending on whether one is counting the channel crossing or the entire flight. He even did a figure eight as he came over England.

Personally, I would settle for a jetpack.

CBS News has a video courtesy of the National Geographic Channel.

If there was ever a case where we would strongly encourage competition, this would be it--and the products in question have barely hit the market.

In March we lusted unabashedly for a Jetson-style "Rocket Belt" being developed in Mexico, but its $250,000 price tag put it slightly out of range for a Father's Day gift. Only a few months later, however, we learn that Jetpack International is offering a rival model that's "competitive priced" at only $155,000, according to Popular Mechanics. Still a tad steep for us, but that's a pretty … Read more