Pity that busy monster, gamers-unkind…to Nintendo’s extraordinarily successful pint-sized hexahedral Gamecube-with-motion-control. Who knew the Wii would become the sales darling of the current generation? The Nintendo ditto-heads, sure, but they thought the Virtual Boy would usher in head-mounted gaming long before the Wachowskis were jamming knitting needles upside the backs of pasty-faced heads.

No one got it logically right then, analysts included. We’ve all had our arms twisted round behind our backs since, as the Wii’s stampeded over Sony and Microsoft in worldwide unit sales and put the lie to cries of “gimmick” and “fad.” The numbers tell the story: 53 million units worldwide, against Microsoft’s 32m and Sony’s 24m.

Or do they? If you like the sort of games I do–stuff like BioShock, Fallout 3 (PCW Score: 90%), and Fable 2 (PCW Score: 100%) or wargames like HPS’s Napoleonic Campaigns and SSG’s Decisive Battles series–you’ve probably flicked through Nintendo’s holiday bill with disappointment verging on disdain. This year’s no different. Wii Fit Plus? New Super Mario Bros? That’s it. (Of the nearly 400 total titles queued for release, those were the only two Nintendo saw fit to highlight.) Smart as those two may turn out to be, they’re basically updates to safe and friendly franchises. When a publisher like Electronic Arts does this, it’s the devil. When Nintendo does it? We’re supposed to call it “innovating.”

Now there’s rumor of a price cut for the Wii from $250 to $200, a 20% slice that’d be the first since Nintendo introduced the system three years ago. Nintendo’s been turning a tidy profit on the Wii hardware for some time. By comparison, Microsoft and Sony have had to absorb massive cost-of-manufacturing shortfalls. Developing for the Wii is dramatically simpler and cheaper, too. The result: Developer and publishers flocking to the Wii to grab a piece of the action.

Would a Nintendo price cut be enough to counter recent ones from Sony and Microsoft? Propel the Wii back to comfortable monthly victory margins after dramatic monthly sales drops?

Maybe. If you’re a Wii buff, I can say “I hope so” vicariously and for your sake. But if I’m being honest and openly selfish about it, I hope not. Speaking as a guy who only reaches for his Wii remote these days to play stuff like the Metroid Prime trilogy, Zelda, Mario Galaxy, and World of Goo, I want the kinds of games I like to play (and the systems they’ve hewed to) getting the sort of developer attention they deserve. Games more like Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Assassin’s Creed 2, and less like Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 or Barbie and The Three Musketeers.

Nintendo’s predicament? Mediocrity fatigue. A manically massive library of depressingly prosaic Wii games. Xbox and PS2 gamers ready to update and finally enticed by Microsoft and Sony’s price drops. Full-kitted cutting-edge media centers that let you stream audio/video from the web, media-laden storage hubs, or external USB hard drives entirely free. Microsoft and Sony’s impressive “casual” entertainment libraries and advanced motion-control interfaces incoming next spring. The arrival of Windows 7 alongside cheap computing kit from Intel, Nvidia, and AMD. And bottom line, a breadth of gaming experiences you just can’t get on the Wii.

Call me antediluvian, call me shortsighted. Sometimes trends are forward-looking. Then again, sometimes they’re not.

Interesting Post

• Airplane Lifting a 7000LB Cannon
• Inspiron Mini 9 Laptop
• New Xbox 540 coming soon?
• Microsoft hopes to turn it around with Zune HD
• New iPod Nano impresses, Zune improves
• Logitech USB Computer Microphone
• Nikon D5000

A new Xbox 540 will be released in autumn next year, 2009, at least that’s what everyone is saying. Rumors have it that the new Xbox model will be a slimmer version of the current 360 and will be quicker and quieter, similar to the PS2 slim systems. From Taiwan, the system will get the Valhalla chip, it’ll will be combining the processor with graphics which can enable the system to be slimmer.

Microsoft denied to comment on the rumor and have said they will not be releasing any new console in 2009, but this won’t be a new “console”, it’ll mearly be another model. No one have mentioned anything about Xbox getting a Blu-Ray drive to compete with PS3 ever sinced the HD-DvD vs Blu-Ray war ended.
The 540 won’t be that interesting, lets just wait until 2010 when the Xbox 720 comes out.

[ via xboxfocus ]

Related Posts

• Xbox Handheld Rumor
• Xbox 720 Rumor

Here it is 7″ lcd screen with built in sensor bar for you nintendo wii addict.

Take your favorite Nintendo Wii games on the road with the Nintendo Wii 7″ LCD Portable Screen. The Nintendo Wii 7″ LCD Portable Screen features a swivel frame, so that you can rotate the screen 360 degrees to angle you prefer. The LCD Portable Screen has a 180″ reverse imaging function so that you can flip the screen to your preference, and its hard casing protects the Nintendo Wii console from bumps, drops and scratches.

The Nintendo Wii 7″ LCD Portable Screen draws power with the Nintendo Wii console; the LCD Portable Screen also features a built-in sensor bar so that you do not need to carry a separate sensor bar around with you, as well as built-in stereo speakers and on-screen multilingual menu. The Nintendo Wii 7″ LCD Portable Screen includes a carrying case to transport your Nintendo Wii, as well as a car adapter for immediate use on the road.

Features:

• Designed for Nintendo Wii
• 7″ LCD panel (640 x 480 resolution)
• Swivel frame for 360 degrees screen rotation
• Reverse imaging function
• Built-in sensor bar
• Built-in stereo speakers
• On-screen multilingual menu
• Hard casing protects Nintendo Wii from bumps, drops and scratches
• Power shared with Nintendo Wii console

Includes:

• Nintendo Wii 7″ LCD Portable Screen
• Carrying Case

Car Adapter

Get it while its available.will not last long so grab yours now!

[via ddrgame.com]

Interesting Post

• Viliv x70 UMPC
• iPhone 3G S Hands On
• MM51.6 – PC Speaker Review
• OLED TV Technology
• Mamiya 645ZDb Medium Format 645AFD III Camera
• New Linux Powered Media Sharing Linksys WRT160NL Router
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10

Rumors have been running around about Microsoft creating a Zune and Xbox handheld device for sometime now. While there is no official word from Microsoft, the UK publication T3 seems to think these rumors may become a reality and have published artist impressions of what they think this new device may look like. Its also rumored that because Microsoft already owns various mutlimedia applications, this new Zune/Xbox hybrid will not only feature handheld gaming but wireless internet and phone services as well.

Related Posts

• Xbox 720 Rumor
• New Xbox 540 coming soon?

PSP Go was recently announced at Sony’s press conference.  The new console will have a slide up screen, use no UMD drive, have an upgraded storage of 16GB, and also slightly smaller than previous PSP model.

Storage have been upgraded to 16GB along with a Memory Stick Micro slot.

Having no UMD drive means no more walking to stores to buy your game, everything will be downloaded directly from the PlayStation store through WiFi.

Screen display have been reduced from 4.3 to a 3.8-inch.  Sony claims the new Go will be 43% lighter than the PSP 3000.  Bluetooth and WiFi is of course built in.

PSP Go will have full PlayStation Store Newwork support, meaning movies and TV purchases will be available.  It will also intergrate with the PlayStation 3.

The only disappoiting news is it will still be single analog, Sony have yet to come out with dual analog PSP.

The console will retail for $249 and is available for North America on October 1st.

Related Posts

• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10

So what’s taking Tekken 6 so long to launch it’s console game, the arcades version have been out for almost two years now.  Whatever the reason is, Namco have announced Tekken 6 for PS3 / XBox 360.

The time around there will be 40 playable characters to choose from along with 16 stages.

Along with the game, there will be the Wireless Fight Stick Bundle.  It’ll include a wireless arcade stick by HORI and an art book.  The bundle will retail for $150 for both consoles.

Namco have annouced the game release to be Octobet 27th this year.

Interesting Post

• To Wii or Not to Wii
• OQO Model 02 Review:Is this the most expensive UMPC?
• Nikon D5000
• Inspiron Mini 9 Laptop
• Eco Friendly LCD Televisions
• Microsoft hopes to turn it around with Zune HD
• New Xbox 540 coming soon?

Fast SSD, GPS, Web cam, sub 700gm weight, great styling, hi-res LED backlit screen, good accessories and a capable platform that’s giving  ‘I don’t really bother to measure it’ battery life. And how much is this going to cost? $599. That’s half the price for way, way more features than even the best devices were offering in 2007 or 2008. I’m looking at a price comparison site right now and the (hard drive equipped) Q1 Ultra (3G) is still selling in Germany for the equivalent of about $1400. Forget the Q1 Ultra folks. It’s time to move on.

We met with Viliv in Computex and talked about their roadmap for 2009, the S5, the S7 (still on the roadmap) and they kindly handed over an X70 EX Premium Air (the 32GB SSD and 3G version) for long term testing. This one is ‘98%’ ready so we’ve effectively got a release candidate in our hands here. All the packaging is final and we’ve also got the car kit and the leather case.

Unboxing was a rather careless affair as I stripped the packaging down for the journey home from Taiwan but it’s all good quality and much the same as with the S5. My first five minutes with the device were spent at altitude while others slept around me but again, there were no show stoppers. I was immediately happy with the speed of the device. Fast boot and fast access to apps without any stalling is a good indication of a fast SSD.

If you’ve followed reports of the Viliv S5 you’ll know that everyone is happy with the build quality. They use strong but stylish plastics, good design and have a high production quality. The same is true of the X70 which is slim and robust. From me it also gets the award for the best ever backside!

Ergonomics and balance are good although I do have to highlight that it suffers a little from Kindle disease. The buttons on the left and right parts of the frame are all too easy to press when you’re holding the device in one hand. Fortunately there’s enough unused frame space to get round the problem but it takes a few days use before you adjust your the holding position.

Viliv have recessed the ports into the side of the device which creates a nice lip for holding it. You’ll find a single USB 2.0 port (that could be an issue for some,) a video breakout port (the same as found on the S5. VGA, component and S-Video out) an SD card slot, reset button, power port and a mini USB port.  On the top you’ve got a headphone output, power and lock slider, indicators for Wi-Fi, disk and power, an antenna (connected to the 3G antenna on the 3G versions) and a an extending stylus.

Across the front fascia (clockwise from top-left) you have a cursor joystick, webcam (1.3mp) A, B and C buttons, on the bottom left there’s an external mic (many people missed this from the S5) the on-screen keyboard button, FN button and Menu button.

Related Posts

• Inspiron Mini 9 Laptop
• OQO Model 02 Review:Is this the most expensive UMPC?
• Vehicle-mounted Mobile Computer

The report states that in addition to being backwards compatible with all Xbox 360 games, the Xbox 720 will enhance select Xbox 360 releases with improved draw distance, better speed, additional functionality with the new controller, and possibly new features, such as Xbox 720-only downloadable content.

Xbox Evolved compares the jump to playing Crysis on a mid-range PC, then updating the video card for better performance. The site adds that it has a solid history of reporting on new Xbox hardware, as it was the first to report that the Xbox 360 would have an optional hard drive, unlike the original Xbox which packed a hard drive in each unit.

According to the site, developers will need to implement forwards compatibility in their upcoming titles, providing the hypothetical Gears of War 3 as an example, but these tools aren’t yet available as the Xbox 720′s specifications are not yet finalized. Several industry figures have predicted that the next generation of consoles will arrive by 2012.

The site offered no details on backwards compatibility, leaving it unclear if the Xbox 720 will use software or hardware-based emulation to play Xbox 360 games. The Xbox 360 utilizes a specially-coded software emulator to play original Xbox games and bump up their resolution, though only certain titles are compatible.

Related Posts

• Xbox Handheld Rumor
• New Xbox 540 coming soon?