Category — Video Games & Consoles

What’s the deal with the rush on Black Friday and Holiday shopping?  Judging by the barrage of holiday advertising, and rumors of shortages on some electronics and video games, you might think that Christmas is just a few days away, rather than several weeks away.

According to Yahoo! Tech, several video games, and electronics may be in short supply this year.  Among them are the Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit, and Guitar Hero World Tour.  I did a quick search just to see how online supplies of these items are faring.  I had no problems finding a ready supply of each of these items, but will admit that’s subject to fast and furious change this time of year. [Read more →]

If you want to add that Saturday afternoon gaming experience to your Monday morning office experience, here’s something to add to your collection of iPhone accessories.  Marware’s Game Grip fits both iPhones and the iPod Touch, for a a video game controller feel while playing iPhone games.  But is it useless foam, or finally a worthwhile iPhone gaming attachment? Gizmodo and CrunchGear seem to be voting “useless foam”.

The Game Grip includes silicone grips, a silicone cover for your iPhone, and a silicone cover and spacers for your iPod touch.  You can charge your gadgets with the Game Grip in place, and wear your earbuds or headphones.  The Game Grip is available for pre-order at Marware for $50.  Zowee, 50 clams?

The next time you’re playing Nintendo Wii or XBox, think twice before offing anybody or anything.  According to an  article I read yesterday, a Japanese woman was jailed on charges of hacking to commit the virtual murder of her online husband’s persona after he unexpectedly divorced her.  Whew!  Time to step back into reality.  All of these acts supposedly took place within a game called “Maple Story”.

More in video game news… keep faithful old Fido away from your Nintendo Wii, and your iPod for that matter.  According to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, a recent study by PetPlan (a pet insurance company) named the top ten electronic gadgets for injuring pets.  iPod and Nintendo Wii topped the list, followed by Sony Playstation, and Nintendo DS.  Injuries named in the study included everything from falls to electrical incidents…eeewww.  One other thing that ranked high on the pet injury list- karaoke machines??  I don’t even want to know the details on that one.

Here’s a screenshot of the much-anticipated “Dexter” iPhone game.  Slashgamer.Com reports that Icarus Studios is developing the game, based on the hit TV series.  “Dexter” for iPhone will be designed  as a detective game, in which players assume the role of Dexter- the ever-popular blood spatter analyst by day, and serial killer by night. Upon investigating crime scenes, and finding clues, “Dexter” players will also have the task of determining the fate of the criminals they apprehend.

Fans will be thrilled to know that, according to Television Revival, Showtime just ordered up 2 more seasons of “Dexter” which will take the  series through the next year.

I read in the news this morning that the release of the latest PlayStation 3 game, LittleBigPlanet, is indefinitely delayed due to religious concerns.  According to the LittleBigPlanet article, the game, which was set to be released tomorrow, contains music mixed with scripture quotes from the Qur’an, something deemed seriously offensive to some Muslims.

With the game so close to it’s release date, it’s inevitibly sitting in the back rooms of WalMarts and Targets everywhere.  I’m betting there will be a few copies of this on Ebay within hours.  The new version of LittleBigPlanet is set to be released October 27.  So, just a few more days of waiting for this much-anticipated PS3 video game.

Apparently, gaming chairs have come a long way since the glorified beanbags of a few years back. Although they used to be just an ergonomically convenient place play video games and sit close to the TV, now some gaming chairs are no-holds-barred wireless playgrounds for gadget lovers. And, they’re not just for video games…many of them will work with MP3 players and DVD players in addition to video game consoles.

The gaming chair above, the Pyramat PM450WR, is a wireless and rechargeable sound rocking chair. With a 50-Watt, 5-inch subwoofer, the Pyramat chair is equipped with enough sound capabilities to send the vibrations of your game or movie right through you. There’s also a headphone jack, RCA multi-player audio outputs, RCA inputs, and bass control. The wireless sound is transmitted from up to 20 feet away.

The Pyramat gaming chair is compatible with Playstation, X-Box, GameCube, PSP, all iPods, most DVD players, computers, TVs, and stereo systems. I found it at Boy’s Stuff, a British e-store, for the equivalent of $389.

Here’s an audio dock for improving the sound quality of your PSP movies and games. Made for Sony PSP Slim, the speaker dock pumps out stereo sound, and it has a built-in rechargeable battery for extending play time. The PSP audio dock, available at HSN, also includes an extra slot for storing a UMD. It’s priced at $49.95.

Here’s a cool crystal case for your PSP 2000 Slim. The Play-In-Case will protect your PSP Slim from damage, but still gives you access to the headphone jack, and data transfer. You can also insert and remove UMDs without removing the case. Sourcing Map has the PSP Play-In-Case for $5.

So, all those rumors circulating this week appear to be true… Nintendo DS is getting a makeover, in the form of the Nintendo DSi. According to Kotaku, speculations were confirmed at Nintendo Japan’s fall press conference on Wednesday.

Reportedly, the Nintendo DSi will include a camera, an SD card slot, and WiFi features for purchasing downloads. Here’s the big bummer though- the Nintendo DSi will won’t include a slot for playing GameBoy Advance games, so save you old Nintendo DS unit for that.

Japan will see the new gadget hitting shelves on November 1, but the rest of us will have to wait until next year to purchase a Nintendo DSi for around $180.

Designed for runners and cyclists, this GPS watch tracks your distance, speed, and even your heart rate.  The Garmin Forerunner 405 has a touch bezel for easily controlling all the features while you’re working out.  It’s also equipped with wireless capabilities for transferring your information to and from your laptop when in range.

Some of the functions on this Garmin GPS watch are very similar to those of handheld GPS units.  It allows you to mark waypoints, save locations, and has a back to start feature.   Just in case you have friends who have the same watch, you can even share information with other Garmin Forerunner 405 wearers.  It’s waterproof to IPX7 standards, which means it can take up to 30 minutes under a meter of water.  The battery lasts up to 8 hours in workout mode, or 2 weeks on standby.  I found the Garmin Forerunner 405 at Modell’s for $349.99.

Nintendo Wii fans know that those silicone Wiimote skins can be a pain when it comes to putting your controllers on a Wiimote charger, or switching back and forth between Wii accessories.  This new Wiimote charger uses induction to charge your Wiimotes, meaning that there are no metal contacts, and it will charge your Wii controllers through their silicone protectors.  Sounds convenient, but still a little weird, huh?

The Wii charger holds 2 Wiimotes, and a full charge lasts around 25 hours. Not sure when or where this new gadget is available, but I’m researching it. The InCharge battery pack was developed by TeknoCreations, a New Mexico based consumer electronics company.  Source:  Wiifanboy.