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

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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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Filed under: Gaming, Storage

While Microsoft’s multi-SKU method has allowed it to hit the market at a dramatically lower price than the PS3, there are certainly some tradeoffs to that Xbox 360 Core model. Most notably, the lack of a hard drive means almost zero games have been released that make decent use of the drive in the Premium and Elite models, since Core users would be left out of the fun, no matter how few of them there may be. Luckily, Microsoft is finally lifting that restriction, and will be allowing HDD required games on a case-by-case basis. Developers will be required to estimate the max storage their game will grab, and state plainly on the box the requirement. Of course, Final Fantasy XI has been choking up 360 hard drives for over a year now, but hopefully these new official guidelines will get the creative juices flowing at a few more MMO studios so we can finally end those painful jaunts from the couch to the PC to get in some level grinding.

[Via Joystiq]

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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

Those of you aching to pull open your PSP and do a little modding but afraid to void your warranty — or worse, brick your baby — will want to check out the Virtual PSP Modder software from AcidMods. The Windows tool allows you to practice taking a PSP apart, look at the inside at up to 5X resolution, poke around with a virtual screwdriver and tweezers, tinker with the LEDs, apply random mods to see what works, and more — all without having to crack open your actual, working PSP. Or course, there’s no PSP emulation, so you can’t play any games, and you’ll have to somehow translate what you do on the screen to real life at some point, but hey — even Ben Heck had to start somewhere. Check out a fairly boring video of the software in action after the break.

Continue reading Virtual PSP Modder lets you try before you hack

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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: Cellphones, Gaming

Samsung looks to move forward into the realm of mobile gaming with two new U.S. patents involving gameplay-oriented handsets. For starters, patent #1 (pictured above) describes a “portable communication terminal for games.” The display on this design involves a hinged “flip” that unveils a dual-row numeric keypad complete with phone navigational array when opened, and a gaming d-pad when closed (we hope that hinge is solid); the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons are near the earpiece and always visible. More info on the second patent application after the break.

[via Unwired View]

Read - Patent 1
Read - Patent 2

Continue reading Samsung looks to patent two new gaming phone designs

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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

For those that recall the oh-so-green Wii developer unit from last year, this here console may look a tad familiar. The difference, however, is that this Wii is a bonafide retail unit customized by its (now prior) owner to express his fascination with all things Yoshi. The console itself touts a spray of Yoshi on one side, while the white base was tattooed with eggs. Of course, you can certainly find a few flaws here and there if you look hard enough, but those imperfections are easy to forgive if you’re an unashamed Yoshi fanboy. Sadly, this here unit has apparently found a new owner, but the creator did mention that he may “do this again” if the demand is there. Check out the rest of the photos after the jump.

[Thanks, Brian]

Continue reading Customized Yoshi Wii console finds new home

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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, Storage

One of the main impediments keeping many people from modding their own consoles is their lack of handiness with a soldering gun — not to mention the whole voided warranty thing — but now a new product is said to be on the horizon that moots both these points in a single blow, the ‘Vast’ advanced custom memory card for PlayStation 2. According to MaxConsole, which claims to have a dialog going with the developers, Vast “essentially exploits a flaw in the PS2 memory card system” to give you the same functionality derived from a hard-wired mod chip sans the need for a single power tool. The only real “proof” we have of this product so far is the above screenshot, which MaxConsole tells us was captured from the card’s proprietary operating system; if this is all on the level, we should know more before the scheduled launch, which is said to be a mere two weeks away.

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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

Yes sir, Europe too is getting an Xbox price reduction announcement this morning. Starting Friday, our cultured brethren with better hair cuts will see the 20GB Premium model drops €50 to €349.99 while the disk-less Core version falls €20 to €279.99. The 24th also marks the European introduction of 120GB Elite model for €449.99. Welcome to the brave new world kids.

[Thanks, Richard and Barry T.]

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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: Robots

It looks like Robot FX has run into a bigger obstacle than it’s bargained for, with the company now facing not one but two lawsuits from iRobot over alleged patent infringement. Apparently, iRobot thinks that Robot FX’s “Negotiator” robot is a little too similar to iRobot’s popular Packbot, and it’s asking for a permanent injunction to prevent Robot FX from selling any more of the bots, along with the usual damages. Adding further to the intrigue is the fact that Robot FX was founded by a former iRobot employee, who is specifically named in the second lawsuit claiming misappropriation and misuse of confidential information relating to the Packbot. Sadly, it seems that the whole matter will have to be settled in court, and not in a winner-take-all robot death match as we would have hoped.

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

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