Get ready, America! Nintendo is getting ready to shove another iteration of their stupid-popular handheld down your already-stuffed gullet come April 5th. Retailing for $169.99, the DSi will include two 0.3 megapixel cameras, better speakers, flash card support, and a complete absence of a GBA slot.

The question is, do we really need this?
Read more

5 comments

The console wars, where the scarring battlefield of two or more different factions of gaming zealots identify themselves under a unified corporate banner in the hopes that their choice of gaming machinery will somehow be the one saving grace of their identity. I am a veteran of many of the original console wars, the worst one in my memory was the one that occurred between Sega and Nintendo back in the early 1990s when it was Super NES vs. Genesis for the “king of 16-bit” crown. It is only through the wisdom that I have gained in my 25 years of gaming that I know now how wrong these idiotic battles are.
Read more

4 comments

Over at Softpedia, there are rumblings that Microsoft could announce the release of a new 360 model as well as a price cut for current models at E3 in July. Microsoft is likely hurting as the PS3 sold more units in May than the 360 (about 208,700 and 186,600, respectively according to the NPD) and this trend is expected to be the case in June, too .

Part of the reason for Sony’s success as of late is the recent run of PS3-exclusive titles on the system (MGS4, we’re looking at you) according to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich:

This is likely due to the exclusivity factor as exclusive releases on Sony’s platforms have historically shown to be a better hardware driver than that of multi-platform releases. On average, PS3 exclusive games sell 45% more, throughout their lifetime, than multi-platform titles available on the PS3. Exclusive titles for the other two systems, the Wii and Xbox 360, only boast a small increase in lifetime sales over multi-platform titles.

With E3 less than a month out, we’ll know soon enough whether this holds any water or not.

[Via Evil Avatar]

1 comment

Let’s face it, there’s a ton of skins out there for your consoles and electronics that are extremely ugly, bulky, and cliche. I’ve tried several skins in the past, but I was never satisfied with any of them. Then I found a product called GelaSkins. Out of all of the lame skull, flame, and flaming skull designs the market carries, finally, I found something worth checking out.

Read more

3 comments

What do you do if you want to copy something that’s already been done, but don’t want to seem unoriginal? You can always just make it more complicated, which is what Activision has done with the drums for Guitar Hero 4, to differentiate them from Rock Band’s drums.

The June issue of Game Informer has an article on Guitar Hero 4 which includes a picture of the drum peripheral, and instead of four pads like in Rock Band there are three pads and two cymbals (they both have one pedal), giving the GH4 drums an extra pad.

Read more

14 comments

Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan, is putting his cart before the horse by speculating on what the NPD report for April (which is expected for release on the 15th) will state.

He casually says that Pokemon will sell well, GTAIV will sell many copies and push more people to buy new game systems, Mario Kart Wii will drive more sales for Nintendo, as will the continually high selling copies of Guitar Hero III and Rock Band.

Read more

No comments

Gibson Guitar Inc is claiming that Guitar Hero infringes on one of their patents from 1999. The patent it for a “system and method for generating and controlling a simulated musical concert experience,” but unfortunately for Gibson they never actually created that, just filed the patent. Now, with the success of Guitar Hero, they’ve realized what a great profitable idea it really is, and they want some money too. Here is a portion of the patent, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office website:

A musician can simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3D display that includes stereo speakers. Audio and video portions of a musical concert are pre-recorded, along with a separate sound track corresponding to the musical instrument played by the musician. Playback of the instrument sound track is controlled by signals generated in the musical instrument and transmitted to a system interface box connected to the audio-video play back device, an audio mixer, and the head-mounted display. An external bypass switch allows the musician to suppress the instrument sound track so that the sounds created by actual playing of the musical instrument are heard along with the pre-recorded audio and video portions.

Read more

2 comments

You can’t unscrew the pregnant woman.

Late last month a story surfaced about a gamer by the name of Nathaniel who sent his Xbox 360 in to Microsoft for repairs after it got the infamous red rings. However, his console had special significance because it was covered in unique signatures and custom artwork. He was at first hesitant to part with it, even if it was only to be temporary, but he eventually decided to send it in instead of attempting to fix it himself. He even took precautions like calling ahead and sending a letter with his console to ensure he received the exact same one and the marker wasn’t smudged or removed.

When he got it back, while it was his exact console like he had requested, all the signatures and artwork was gone. Despite his call, letter, and the fact that the permanent marker was obviously meant to be there, someone had cleaned it all off before returning it to him.

Fortunately for Nathaniel, however, Bungie and Microsoft have decided to do whatever they can to help. While they can’t replace the permanent marker that once covered his case, they can shower him with even more, and that’s what Bungie has done already and Microsoft plans on doing.

Read more

1 comment

There is only one thing that can stop all of the rampant fanboy-ism that is devouring the industry that I love, and I pray that I never see the day where it happens. The minute that it happens I will officially be done with video games…and that is if the industry evolves into having only a single home console. Who am I kidding, I’ll still be into video games when I’m old and gray no matter what. If interested in seeing my opinons on this and how we would see the death of the fanboy, click the jump below.

Read more

4 comments

I’m not going to pretend I really understand what any of this means but here we go anyway. Rumor has it that the XBox 360 will be getting two more motherboard/chipsets code named “Opus” and “Valhalla.” Put those together and you’ve got something that sounds like a really epic opera, “The Valhalla Opus.” We already have the Xenon, which was the original chipset, the Zephyr, which came in that fancy Elite you picked up, and the Falcon (Punch!), which is in the current systems with a 65 nm CPU. Plus there is the Jasper, which has both a 65 nm CPU and a 65 nm GP together, but isn’t in systems yet. Put those together and you get Jasper’s Xenon Zephyr Falcon, which is a strange bird that can breathe fire.

Digressing from sticking together 360 chipset names and figuring out what they are, these two new chipsets look to pretty much clean up on their predecessors. In fact the Opus will literally do this as it is a Falcon generation motherboard designed to fit in a Xenon case, sporting a 90 nm GPU and a 65 nm CPU. This is a bit less powerful then the other chipsets and so would probably be used simply to refurbish old or busted 360’s, which is good for the environment and for no longer having to worry about RRoD.

The Valhalla on the other hand cleans up in every other way. It is basically the unified Jasper but more powerful, more energy efficient, more reliable and cheaper. It will also do your homework, walk the dog and if you’re really desperate perform oral sex. The Valhalla seems to be the dream 360 chipset, incorporating everything you’ve been wanting and booting out everything you hated, plus allowing for a cheaper selling price. Too bad you’ll have to wait to get it, as they won’t be coming out till 2010. This really makes the Jasper, rumored to be coming out next year, look bad. It has a lame name and is in second place even before it comes out.

1 comment