Filed under: Gaming

Although the battle for next-gen supremacy is in full swing, the best-selling console in the land remains the venerable PS2, so it was only a matter of time before developers tried to cash in on the buzz surrounding Wii by cranking out some motion-sensing titles for Sony’s older machine. First up to the plate is In2Games, which will add to its existing motion sensing catalog with the announcement of Realplay Golf, Tennis, Pool, Racing, Bowling, and Puzzlesphere at the Leipzig Games Convention later this month. The $60 games each come with a custom motion sensing controller, enabling players to fill their homes with as many crazy peripherals as possible. We’re all for more motion controlled games — especially if the controllers are as hackable as the SIXAXIS and Wiimote — but if In2Games really wanted to bring the next-gen experience to the PS2, they’d take out the rumble, no?

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Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo wasn’t exactly all that specific when it recently warned of possible Wii shortages through the 2007 holiday season, but it seems that some component makers now have a bit more to say about the matter, and they’re claiming that tight supply of IC chips, PCBs and other parts has forced Nintendo to delay its plans to expand production. According to DigiTimes, that would make any easing of Wii shortages in the second half of 2007 ‘unlikely,” although we’re guessing that they’ll still be a fair bit easier to come by than they were last holiday season.

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Filed under: Gaming

Wiimote knock-offs have been a bit slower coming than we expected but, as evidenced by the shot above, they are finally starting to make it out into the wild. This particular one, apparently spotted at a Wal-Mart, promises to mix something purporting to be “motion controls” with some sort of football game — likely on the order of Mattel’s LED-based games from the late seventies, we’re guessing. No word on what it costs, but we wouldn’t wait too long to pick one up if you’re curious; there’s no telling how long Nintendo will let this one fly.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Announcements, Gaming

We know you’ve been dying to find out who’s taking home that super rare signed 300-Edition Xbox 360 Elite. Well, you can all officially bum rush Erik Burgardt, since he’s the lucky sucker taking this thing home.

Just for good measure, in addition to the signed Xbox and 300 HD DVD, Microsoft also hooked him up with a copy of Forza 2, Crackdown, a year’s Xbox Live service, and 1600 Microsoft points. Congrats Erik, everyone — including and especially us — is incredibly jealous.

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Filed under: Gaming

It’s not set in stone, but in an interview with CNET.au, RedOctane cofounder Charles Huang suggested that the DS version of Guitar Hero III would include a guitar controller “as long as it makes sense and it plays well.” Huang went on to say that RedOctane is “exploring ways to get peripherals on a DS game,” and that the company is working on approach with Nintendo’s assistance. Given the novel controllers we’ve already seen hit the DS, RedOctane’s got some work to do to back up Huang’s assertion that GHIII on the DS “will play probably unlike any other DS game that has come out,” but we’re willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt — they seem to have a handle on that whole “gameplay” thing.

[Via DS Fanboy]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

It looks like NVIDIA may have a special treat (of sorts) for gamers in China, as DigiTimes is reporting that the company is now selling a 128-bit version of its GeForce 8400GS in the country, something that apparently wasn’t on its original roadmap. According to DigiTimes, “sources at graphics card makers” say that the new chip is “very similar” to NVIDIA’s GeForce 8500GT, with the only apparent difference being that it operates at a lower core frequency. Those same sources are also apparently speculating that the “new” 8400GS could in fact simply be GeForce 8500GT chips that did not pass testing and were then downgraded in order to clear them out. For its part, however, NVIDIA doesn’t seem to be saying anything about the matter.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Gaming

Clearly due to the current heat on Microsoft concerning the Xbox 360 RROD, disk scratching, and overheating scandals, Sony’s Dave Karraker is mooning on the company’s official blog over a recent PS3 Vault “stress test” called “How to kill a PS3 console” which showed the company’s game system to be surprisingly resilient in the face of extreme conditions. “A lot of noise has been made recently about the reliability issues of one of our competitor’s systems,” Karraker said, then went on to kick some sand in Redmond’s eye by adding “Did it fail? Nope. Like the Energizer Bunny, it kept going and going and going.” Admittedly, the tests — which included running games and Blu-ray movies for 108 hours in a typical “living room” environment, placing the console in a freezer van then lowering the temperature from 50 degrees to zero, and powering the PS3 in a sauna where heat increased from 100 degrees to 120 degrees over a nearly three-day session — were quite extreme. In the end, however, the testers say besides being “extremely hot” after coming out of the sauna, the system is running fine and back in regular use. Microsoft, the ball’s in your court.

[Via DailyTech]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Gaming

Well it appears that despite all of our wishing, hoping, and positive-thinking exercises, Microsoft has failed to deliver on a small dream of ours, namely, 65nm chips for the new HDMI-rocking Xbox 360 Premiums. Despite signs pointing otherwise, new photos show that this batch of systems continue to carry the Zephyr motherboard layout, which uses the older, hotter 90nm chips, though the boys in Redmond have addressed the heat issue a little bit with the addition of a second “daughter” heatsink attached to the CPU by heatpipe. The new 65nm “Falcon” boards — which chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) confirmed are in production — are still on their way according to the rumor mill, slated for release sometime this Fall. Interestingly, Microsoft and TSMC have just laid plans to produce the Xbox’s graphics-memory subsystem using the chip manufacturer’s 90nm embedded DRAM spec. We won’t speculate on when we’ll start seeing that addition appear, however.

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Filed under: Gaming

They may have had to wait a bit longer, but Australian gamers can now save a considerable chunk of change on a new Xbox 360 just like the rest of us, with the Core model now even able to boast the same price tag as the Wii. That puts it at A$399.95 (down from A$429), while the 20GB Xbox 360 Pro drops all the way from A$649 to A$579.95 (or $486US at the current exchange rate). According to Gamespot, Xbox regional director for Australia and New Zealand David McLean also confirmed that the HDMI-equipped Xboxes would be making their way down under as well, as would the Elite and Halo 3 Special Edition varieties of Xboxen, although he’s apparently not quite ready to get specific about prices or release dates for those just yet.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Displays, Gaming

While the PS3 is probably the console you’re least likely to lug around with a screen attached to it, Nevover seems to think that there’s enough people willing to do just that, and it’s apparently planning to offer a clip-on screen to make that task somewhat more manageable. While it doesn’t exactly look like it’s ready to be released, the screen will apparently measure seven inches, and boast a 480×234 resolution, a “high” refresh rate, a pair of 1W speakers, and dual headphone jacks. No word on a price or release date just yet although, as unlikely a pairing as it seems, we’re sure this won’t be the last such screen to compete against your better judgment.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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