Filed under: Gaming

Sony and Microsoft may have sorted things out with Anascape (otherwise known as the self-proclaimed ruler of all analog sticks) before things got too out of hand, but Nintendo has been busy fighting it out with the company in court, which resulted in them being ordered to dish out a hefty $21 million earlier this year -- a ruling that Nintendo naturally appealed. The big N is now facing another setback, however, as a US District Judge has rejected Nintendo's request for a new trial, which could potentially result in a ban on sales of Wii Classic Controllers, WaveBirds, and GameCube controllers (not to mention GameCube systems). To avoid that, Nintendo will apparently either have to post a bond or put royalites from the controllers into an escrow account. For its part, Nintendo seems to be remaining defiant, saying that it "was already planning to appeal this case to the Federal Circuit court," and that this new ruling "does not impact that decision."

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Gaming

We weren't terribly impressed with Nintendo's recently unveiled MotionPlus add-on, but we're even more disappointed by this. Reportedly, scads of third-party developers revealed at E3 that the Big N's latest Wiimote accessory was just as much a surprise to them as it was to any of us. In other words, Nintendo didn't bother giving its external devs any advance notice in order to get the ball rolling on compatible titles, or so it seems. Unfortunately, this also means that we probably won't see any MotionPlus-ready games hitting shelves from anyone not named Nintendo for months to come, but it's not like Wii Sports Resort can't hold our attention for a solid year, right?

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming

PSP hacker "FreePlay" has turned his gaze to the PS3, and come up with a method for the first PS3 homebrew outside of Linux and that little "hello world" proof of concept a few months back. The minimal devkit doesn't seem built to take advantage of the PS3's wiles, however, and is instead working with the Java prowess built into the Blu-ray playback end of the PS3. Who knows how much power that'll lend to homebrew developers, but it's Java, so we're not expecting great things either way. Wake us when we can play PS2 games, would you?

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Filed under: Gaming, GPS

Only John Koller knows how serious John Koller, Sony's senior marketing manager for PSP, was when mentioning that GPS-enabled games could eventually hit the PSP, but he definitely threw it out there. Speaking about the forthcoming GPS add-on for the PlayStation Portable, Koller stated that said module "changes the dynamics of GPS but also changes the way developers think about games on PSP, because you can start integrating GPS into it." He continued on by mentioning that Sony's own first-party studios were "already looking at a number of things [involving GPS in games]," and concluded by asserting that a GPS game could land on the system as early as next year. Considering just how long we've been waiting for the add-on, we're not holding our breath on the titles.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming

Interesting that this didn't get announced at E3, but Games for Windows Live is now free for all. Yep, totally free, cross-platform multiplayer with the 360 included -- which obviously raises the question of whether Live will ever be free on Xbox. We think that's a pretty safe no -- unlike Games For Windows, Xbox Live actually makes money, which is pretty hard to turn down, and without a ton of competitive pressure from, say, Playstation Home, it's hard to see why Microsoft would turn that funtime cash fountain off. Still, there's always hoping, right?

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Filed under: Gaming

Okay, okay -- we get it. So maybe there's just not enough room in a genuine Zapper to fit all the necessary innards of a Nintendo Entertainment System into, but it's just a bit weird to see the Big N's antiquated console crammed into some other light gun. Similar to the NES-in-an-NES-controller mod we peeked earlier this week, this unit includes a plethora of games and all the controls you need; just plug it up to a TV, pop a few batteries in there and you're golden. Is it any surprise this guy was tracked down on Ben Heck's own forums?

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming

Continue reading Sony said to be prepping PSP-3000 with built-in mic

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Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

Can't wait to understand what Netflix integration on the Xbox 360 will be like? Stop daydreaming and click on past the jump then, as Major Nelson takes you through the entire process on video. We could continue on explaining how easy it looks to navigate to one's Queue, press play and pop some popcorn, but we'd rather let the aforementioned expert handle that.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Continue reading Netflix on the Xbox 360 gets demonstrated on video

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

There's just one problem with this, the way we see it: most folks with $3000 earmarked for a gaming laptop probably already own an Xbox 360. Just a thought. Other than that we see little to dislike about this little promotion. Dell is offering up its top-of-the-line XPS M1730 system with an Xbox 360 Elite bundle tossed in for good measure. The bundle includes, a pair of faceplates, two game and of course the Xbox itself, and while it's not exactly "free" -- you're looking at a couple hundred dollar premium over a similarly specced M1730 -- it's still a savings of over $300, and should be eBayable, if nothing else. Offer expires July 24th.

[Thanks, Cezar]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Generally speaking, Oppo has stuck to its bread-and-butter: decently stylish PMPs and a well-received family of upscaling DVD players, respectively. Now, however, we're seeing a trio of concepts which allude to a future unit (or three) boasting gaming functionality. Unfortunately, details beyond that are few and far between, and we're not even certain of their place of origin. In other words, don't bet on seeing these hit shelves in the foreseeable future, but keep your fingers crossed that they do anyway.

[Thanks, Raz]

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Filed under: Gaming

If you're looking to step up to a 60GB Xbox 360 but have an irrational fear of Amazon, Circuit City just put it up for pre-order. The price is still $349.99 but ship date is August 6, two inexplicable days later than Amazon. The site lists an HDMI output with upscaling DVD player, which is nice to see. Other than that, all else looks to be the same -- no Circuit City bonuses like cables, games, or other schwag.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

This one has been around the block a time or two, but considering you have absolutely nothing else to do on a Sunday, you might as well dust off that DIY kit and get to work. What you're looking at above is a genuine (albeit modified) NES controller playing a bona fide classic on a laptop. Amazingly, all of the software required for such a marvelously good time is stuffed tight within the controller itself. Take a step back and digest that -- your very own NES emulator (with ROMs), shoved inside a Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Does it get any more awesome than that? Hit the read link to start building your own and let us know. Video of the action after the jump.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Continue reading Modder shoves emulator, ROMs into actual NES controller

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Say, is this a Microsoft SideWinder-branded keyboard? Looks like it might just be. It looks like it'll go by the name of SideWinder X6, and feature a detachable numeric keypad, programmable keys, and "cruise control" (don't quote us, this is from a translation) which emulates a steady keypress. It'll run $80 in September -- that is, if this doesn't just turn out to be pure rumor.

[Thanks, Husar]

Update: Reader RainMotorsports points out that the side profile looks, well, unconvincing. Certainly right, especially when you ask yourself where those giant knobs went. Hey, we never said this was a sure thing!

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Filed under: Gaming

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Filed under: Gaming

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Oh man, remember that one time we tried to balance the teams in your favor, so there were like eight guys on your side, and just two of us? And then we still kicked your ass at CTF? Yeah, well XIM is gonna get you nowhere. Sure, the newly refined mod can hijack the Xbox 360 controller input and allow you to use just about any USB input device with the console -- for instance, a keyboard and mouse -- but we're still gonna shoot you in the face while you're trying to remember where that shotgun spawns, steal your flag right out from under you, and then snipe your base's spawn points. Get used to it. Simulated video of us owning you is after the break.

[Via Xbox-Scene]

Continue reading XIM2 brings your keyboard and mouse to the Xbox 360. But you still suck at Halo.

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

We're guessing the naming scheme here was quite intentional, though we'll be the first to say Bandai's Smart Berry has very, very little in common with RIM's stockpile of handsets. Nevertheless, this "mobile communicator" joins the small crowd of other tween-centric chat handhelds with wireless capabilities that enable four of these things to talk to one another "for email, chat and online games within a 10-meter diameter." For whatever reason, messages are limited to 64 characters (and you thought SMS was bad...), and in case that little tidbit grows increasingly frustrating, there's a virtual pet on board to take your mind to a more blissful place. Sure, we can see younger gals being entertained by this for a few weeks or so, but the ¥10,290 ($96) price tag just seems a bit outrageous, particularly when you consider the lack of a color screen. Yeah, for real.

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Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

So it seems that NVIDIA has been sneaking its 9700M / 9800M GPUs into potent gaming laptops for a little while now, but we're finally getting some official-ish verbiage on the new-ish families. The GeForce 9700M GT, 9700M GTS, 9800M GT, 9800M GTS and 9800M GTX should all be available as we speak in some of your favorite portable LAN machines, with the latter capable of a mind-melting 420 gigaflops. For more on the graphical powerhouse that could be sitting within your machine right now, check the read link.

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Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

So much for early 2008 or even July for that matter. Sony's David Reeves now confirms that PlayTV -- the €99 PS3 TV tuner / DVR add-on -- will hit the UK on September 10th. The service will then march onto the continent before completing the European rollout in December -- Australia and New Zealand get theirs in January or February. Notably, the service will in fact record television in the background without interrupting your regularly scheduled gaming regimen thanks to the recent 2.41 firmware PS3 update. Phew, for a moment we felt threatened by a lack of manufactured distractions.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

When you're Intel, everyone from governments to gamers wants to know your next move. So pay attention, DigiTimes has it on shaky word from "motherboard makers" that Intel's next quad-core, 3.2GHz Extreme "Bloomfield"-class gaming processor for overblown desktop rigs will hit for $999 when purchased in bulk by PC manufacturers -- a traditional price-point for Intel's top o' the line Extreme silicon until the launch of its $1,499 Core 2 Extreme QX9775 earlier this year. We should also expect $562, 2.93GHz and $284, 2.66GHz versions before the year is up.

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Filed under: Gaming

It's neck-and-neck but Nintendo looks to have just slipped past Microsoft in terms of total US sales for current generation game consoles. What's more, it's pulling away with a 3:1 sales lead for the month of June. NPD Group reports more than 666,000 Wii consoles were sold in June compared to 405,500 PlayStation 3s and 219,800 Xbox 360s. That makes for a total of 10.9 million Wiis sold in the US since it launched in November of 2006. Impressive. Even more so considering that Microsoft had a one year head-start to reach a second place position of about 10.4 million US console sales.

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Filed under: Gaming

We promise this is the last Rock Band 2 post of the day (okay, maybe hour), but we were just pulled aside at E3 to peep some less-than over-the-radar product sheets for some upcoming Mad Catz accessories. First off, the Premium M.I.C. ($50) is said to have "studio quality" sound all the while including control buttons -- something we didn't realize was missing from the original Rock Band mic until we thought about it. Then we spotted the Portable Drums ($60), which is great news for those of you who excel at drums but like to play Rock Band on the road. They can be used on any surface and even come with foldable drum sticks. Next up, the Official Cymbals ($30 for a pack of 3 or $15 each) for the new Rock Band 2 drum kit are coming from Mad Catz. Remember those three 1/8-inch plugs on the back of the drum kit head? Yeah, these plug into those. Finally, the Kick Drum Screen doesn't really do much, but it certainly will make you look like a pseudo-real drummer (depending on the angle). Mad Catz says all of these random accessories will hit store shelves this fall. Oh, and apologies for the image quality -- these were literally taken in the corner of a crowded room with maybe two seconds of view time per page.

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Filed under: Gaming

Although Sony announced that the updated 80GB PS3 "Core" configuration would come to the States in September, it looks like other parts of the world will be getting it a little earlier -- Sony Computer Entertainment Europe chief David Reeves told reporters last night that the new SKU would hit Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand on August 27th. Worldwide pricing wasn't announced, but Sony confirmed that the new model would cost £299 in Britain and €399 in Europe. Sadly, it doesn't look like the Playstation Store's new video service will be making the trip anytime soon, but Reeves said that Sony is "working on it." That's great -- we're still more interested in a 60GB launch console, though.


[Thanks, Matt]

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Filed under: Gaming

While we love Rock Band 2 as much as the next guy, playing that miniaturized plastic controller will forever look a little dorky (or just make us look like giant men, which is kind of cool). Nothing wrong with looking dorky -- heck, we make a living of it -- but Mad Catz's new full-size Stratocaster and Precision Bass controllers for Rock Band 2 are bringing the cool back. They're exactly what you think they are: actual Fender Squire axes turned into Rock Band 2 controllers, with the size, heft, and weight you'd expect from dad's electric guitar. Of special note was the Precision Bass controller, which has a dual flipper and thumb rest to allow fast pickers to do their thing Entwistle-style. They are also wireless, will come with a foot pedal for overdrive, and the guitar controller will have a whammy bar, of course. Unfortunately, Mad Katz didn't add the optical sensor for display calibration, but we'll forgive them for now. Look for these for $199 in Q1 2009 for both Xbox 360 and PS3. We caught them live at E3, and they look as impressive as they sound. Peep the gallery below if you dare.

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Filed under: Gaming

If you're jonesing to get your Rock Band 2 on like we are, you'll be all over these new shots of the game's upcoming controllers that we got all grubby on today at E3.

First, the new guitars not only look better, but they will include some welcome hardware tweaks. The new axe includes an optical sensor that will make syncing the game to your display a breeze. Rather than go through that annoying tap..tap...tap synchronization scheme, all you'll need to do is hold up your controller to your display and it will figure things out with you based on your screen's refresh rate. In addition, the new guitars have been updated with slicker fret controls that make it easier to slide from one to the other. Meanwhile, the strum bar has been tightened up a bit. No clicking, though -- the guys at Harmonix say no one "dreams of playing a metronome" anyway. A dig at Guitar Hero? Perhaps, but if you're looking for some click feedback from your controller, look elsewhere.

Continue reading Rock Band 2 hands on, live shots, Ion drum kit, first impressions: woot!

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Filed under: Gaming

Good news, plastic rockers -- Activision announced at E3 today that its upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour game will work with Rock Band's controllers, including the drumkit, and that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on Xbox 360 has received an update that "should" make the game compatible with Harmonix's axes. Nothing too wild on the Aerosmith tip, as the guitars should just work now (finally!), but Activision's had to do some work to make World Tour play nice: the game is designed for a five-pad drumkit, but it'll compress down to four to work with Rock Band's set. See? Friends all around. Is that so hard, guys?

Read - Guitar Hero: Aerosmith updated
Read - Guitar Hero: World Tour

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Filed under: Gaming

So yeah, we got a chance to check out Nintendo's new MotionPlus accessory. Wii Sports Resort is the only title announced right now that requires (or supports) MotionPlus, and we gave a couple of the games a run (like sword fighting and jet-skiing). Basically we're a little at a loss as to how this does anything truly differently or more effectively than current controllers. We get that it's got additional MEMS accelerometers that supposedly bring the relationship of motion and gameplay to a more 1:1 ratio, and for the motion types we tested, it did seem to work -- but the experience and level of immersion felt basically the same. So what's the deal? More after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo MotionPlus hands-on: blah.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Remember that PlayStation-branded SOCOM Bluetooth headset we told you about a while ago? Not surprisingly, it's for real, and we spotted it in Sony's booth alongside SOCOM Confrontation here at E3. It looks to be a relatively nice unit, a bit bigger than your standard Bluetooth headset intended for phones, and the USB charger it comes with is clearly intended to hang out with your PS3. Sony points out that the headset sports a giant mute button for your in-game arguments with significant others, and battery time is promised to be "exceptional." They wouldn't tell us exactly how exceptional, but we'll believe them for now. Finally, they did confirm that you'll be able to pair this with your cellphone in case you want to show off your SOCOM love while away from your living room.

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Filed under: Gaming

We got a chance to sit down with Sony Computer Entertainment of America's CEO Jack Tretton, who gave us the lowdown about a few things we've had on our minds.

PS3
On backwards compatibility: Jack explained that Sony looked at how to "not take a greater hit on production cost, without losing PlayStation's heritage ... Hardware / software for backwards compat wasn't all that expensive. ... but we're selling PS2 software to PS2 customers, and selling PS3 software to PS3 consumers." Still, Jack seems to feel like it may have been the wrong move. "I would like to have had it in there, but Sony's collective strategy determined we could afford to lose it. We've now gone down that road, and we're not going back."

On DRM and the video store: As of right now, Tretton is a firm supporter of the need to DRM content on the PlayStation platforms, and Sony believes that "the drm for a song maybe isn't as important for a movie and a game... this is way too hard a business to make money in to allow people to own multiple copies for the price of one." (That's what they all say!) "I'm all for allowing an individual consumer having the freedom to do with their content what they want," but Sony has no intention of opening its video up any more than it has to.

PSP
On drive or flash storage: Sony has "definitely thought about storage on the PSP," and understands the inevitable "march towards digital content delivery device." But in terms of a drive-based PSP, they have "nothing that's imminent." (Read: don't hold your breath.)

On how downloadable video affects the already sad state of UMD: UMD "has struggled, and it wasn't handled effectively from the beginning. ... I firmly believe in a digital model" as they're rolling out, but Sony is "still going to support UMD" as a device for movies.

What's preventing PSP software sales: Three things. Title ports from PS2 games (people don't want to buy the same title twice), and the PSP's media functions. But Jack put the most emphasis on "piracy in the hundreds of thousands of units are preventing software sales. it's a problem that affects our software sales right now."

Continue reading SCEA CEO Jack Tretton dishes: DRM is in, backwards compatibility is out, and video UMD lives on

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Filed under: Gaming

Those of you who didn't stay up late last night and check out the new PlayStation Store on your own now have nowhere to go. Stuck inside your cube with no early lunch, no way to slip out at 3:00 -- nada. Thankfully, the crew over at PS3 Fanboy has the goods to satisfy your appetite until you get home. Tap the read link for a gallery of hands-on shots, and chime in below with your likes / dislikes once you've had a chance to meander around yourself.

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Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment

The long delay until Sony launched its video download service (actually more like a few hours), is over. HD and SD rentals, and SD purchases from an assortment of movie studios is now available in the Playstation Store by selecting the video button at the top left. Need to know what's available in your region but aren't near your PS3? Check out the website for a list of what awaits.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming

Sure, Guitar Hero and Rock Band have fake plastic Gibson and Fender controllers, but cheap plastic ain't exactly rock'n'roll -- which is why this new StarPex PS2 / PS3 guitar controller looks pretty sweet. The ersatz Strat features a hardwood body and neck crafted by "a leading guitar manufacturer" (we'd bet $100 it's made by Samick), as well as solo buttons, an Overdrive / Star Power button in addition to the tilt sensor, and both wired and wireless capabilities. On top of that, the electronics are modular, so you'll eventually be able to swap parts and build your own custom axe. Sounds great -- but you better start singing in the subway, since this thing'll set you back $179 when it goes on sale late next month. Yeah, maybe we'll stick with the plastic axes after all.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Never has one company mooched off of poor design like Nyko. Okay, so maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but according to the peripheral maker, the original Xbox 360 Intercooler is the top selling third-party accessory for the Xbox 360 -- despite the fact that it's known for torching consoles and leaving bits of carpet hot and bothered. Nevertheless, the long, long overdue Intercooler TS (for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) features a built-in temperature sensor and its own dedicated AC adapter, which will hopefully solve the aforesaid issues experienced with the original. This new, non-hazardous version will sell for $25, while the old, potentially hazardous iteration will somehow remain on store shelves for $20. Spend the extra $5 -- it's cheaper than a new house.

Update: Nyko pinged us to say that the original Intercooler is no longer being sold; the $20 version will be the Intercooler EX.

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Filed under: Gaming

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Filed under: Gaming

10:23: We're en route to Sony now, stay tuned!

11:11: We're waiting outside the entrance. Tons of people in front of the entrance to the show. Veronica Belmont is getting tons of fan response for Qore. People are taking pictures with her.

11:25: We've just taken our seats at Sony's conference in front of what could only be described as a wall of screens: 7 main screens and roughly 64 smaller screens. OMG, Vaio LCD's everywhere. You'd think this was a Sony event.

Continue reading Engadget & Joystiq live from Sony's E3 2008 keynote

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Filed under: Gaming

Sony just announced at E3 that it's cutting the price of the 80GB PS3 to $400 in September, and that the new model will have the "current functionality" of the 40GB PS3. So it's really more like the 40GB PS3 is getting a capacity bump, since we're taking that to mean backwards compatibility is going out the window. That also means that the 80GB PS3 now costs the same as a 60GB 360 and an Xbox Live membership, which should make the decision a little harder for some people. We're also wondering if that's the end of the line for PS3 backwards compatibility entirely -- we have a feeling launch consoles are about to get a little more precious.

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Filed under: Gaming

Sony just announced at E3 that Playstation Network users now have the ability to rent and purchase moves and TV shows. Like, immediately -- the service is getting flipped on tonight. It's not just Sony content, either: Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Turner, and something called Funimation are signed up from the get-go. Video will be available in both SD and HD, and TV pricing starts at $1.99. Movie purchases will run $9.99 - $14.99, while rentals will be $2.99 - $5.99. What's more, the content is "portable," meaning that videos downloaded on your PS3 can be watched on multiple PSPs. It doesn't look like movies can be purchased in HD, but downloads are progressive so content starts playing a minute after you hit begin the download.

PSN users will also get a single persistent sign-on across every device that can access the network: PS3, PSP, PC. It's not clear whether those aliases will carry over into games themselves or if friends lists will start working across devices as well, however. The integration is scheduled to happen for this fall, though, so you might want to go and grab your handle of choice relatively soon.

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

The last Wii keyboard we saw was pretty hellaciously ugly, but Logitech's take on the much-needed peripheral is actually fairly sleek. The all-white keyboard doesn't quite have the flair of the diNovo Mini, but it does have full-size keys, and for $50 it isn't bad -- and it's officially licensed by Ninty, so there are dedicated zoom, quit, forward / back, and OK buttons. Sadly, however, it's not Bluetooth -- there's a proprietary 2.4GHz USB receiver -- but you can't win 'em all. Should be available in August.

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Filed under: Gaming

Continue reading Engadget & Joystiq live from Nintendo's E3 2008 keynote

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Filed under: Gaming

We knew this one was coming, but we didn't know the details. Nintendo busted out the new MotionPlus Wiimote add-on at its E3 keynote today. The device, which attaches to the rear of the controller, will be used to tighten up and refine motion sensing on the Wii, and its tweaks will be levied in a new game that the accessory comes paired with called Wii Sports Resort. The console-maker says the MotionPlus brings 1:1 sensing to the Wii, which will enable detailed control heretofore unseen on the system. We're getting more info (and hopefully a hands-on with the little guy at some point) so stay tuned.

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