Latest Gear Live Videos
Microsoft to Enter Portable Gaming Market?
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Portable/Mobile, Rumors,
Business Week writes that Microsoft is looking at getting into making a portable entertainment device. Apple’s exploded in recent years thanks to its iPod, and Microsoft’s noticed. However, the Seattle giant is thinking broader than simply creating a music-playing device. Naturally, we’d expect for such a machine to be similar to Sony’s PlayStation Portable. If Microsoft decides to release a portable machine, it should be able to play games, music, and videos. It’d also be nice if the device has other features including a calendar, organizer, and hard drive. Heck, Microsoft could clean up if it released a device with such offerings - it would just have to work on selling the thing at an ideal price. Oh, and it’d have to make sure enough units are available at launch.
Read More 
| Business Week
Advertisement
Gamespot reports that gubernatorial candidate Star Locke has proposed the creation of a 50 percent tax on games the governments calls violent. The candidate has also proposed a $10,00 tax per-abortion and also a 50 percent tax on sodas. According to Gamespot, Locke has made these taxation proposals to be able to eliminate property taxes.
While I won’t write deeply on the abortion and soda taxes (although I think they’re absurd), I will write a little on the violent game tax. Personally, the proposed tax is absolutely ridiculous. Yes, I can see how Locke could consider it punishment for making and purchasing violent games but the whole idea is a joke. Violent video games aren’t that bad and this sort of tax is completely unneeded. I have a feeling that this guy has just announced these tax proposals to gain attention. Yes, he’s getting attention, but that doesn’t translate to a win come election time.
Read More | Gamespot
Nintendo DS Lite Revealed
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
Just two weeks after Nintendo quelled reports of a rumored redesign, they go and announce the updated version of the Nintendo DS - that being the Nintendo DS Lite. Feast your eyes on the smaller, lighter, Apple-er Nintendo DS. Now, like the upgrade from the Game Boy Advance to the GBA:SP, the Nintendo DS Lite is pretty much the same machine, just tweaked out with a few improvements. For starters, it has a smaller footprint than the original DS, and is lighter. The new unit is just 133.0 x 73.9 x 21.55 mm when folded and weighs 218 grams, while the current DS measures 148.7 x 84.7 x 28.99 mm and weighs 275 grams. You will also notice that the Start and Select buttons have moved, as have the microphone and speakers.
While the LCD screens remain the same size, they are now brighter. You can even adjust the brightness between four different settings. Now, this one is currently announced for release in Japan on March 9, 2006 at a price of 16,800 yen ($145), which includes AC adapter. That is about $15 more than the current Nintendo DS sells for in Japan. No word yet on when - or if - this one will see an American release. We will definitely be keeping our eye on this one.
Read More | Nintendo Press Release (Japanese)
Marble Blast Ultra Available on Xbox Live Arcade
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
If you’ve been waiting for a new Xbox Live Arcade game, you may want to boot up your 360 now. Earlier today, GarageGames’ Marble Blast Ultra was released on the Live Arcade. We downloaded the game earlier, and we are impressed. The goal is to move a shiny marble around, navigating through platforms, collecting goodies, jumping, and reaching goals. This one will cost you 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Overall, there are 60 single player stages as well as a multiplayer mode.
Xbox 360 Shortage to Continue?
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News, Rumors, Xbox 360,
Kotaku reports of an article in USA Today that claims the Xbox 360 shortage will continue into the future. As unfortunate as a continued shortage is, we fully believe it. Microsoft originally planned to have more consoles out before the end of 2005 but as we all know, failed to do so. It seems like the company just overestimated its production capability - in pledging to ship so many consoles within a short period of time. Additionally, the worldwide release may not have been the best idea for production.
Read More | USA Today via Kotaku
Penny Arcade Book Selling Well on Amazon
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Culture, Internet,
Game Politics reports that the new Penny Arcade book, Attack of the Bacon Robots, has been selling extremely well on Amazon. The book is the first collection (of more to come) and features “strips, sketches, and creator commentary.” If you’re a fan of Penny Arcade, the book is probably worth checking out - in fact, out of all the web comics out there, Penny Arcade is our favorite.
Read More | Game Politics
Keith Schofield has put up a very entertaining and humorous music video documenting the E.T. video game. E.T. was made for the Atari around the time the movie was made, but the game was rushed to market. It was so bad that no one wanted it, so Atari ended up burying copies of it in the desert. Just go watch the video already.
Read More | ET Music Video
The Entertainment Software Association has suddenly decided to ban companies from having booth babes at E3. Apparently, the organization doesn’t want to run into any “moral issues” with angry parents and aggressive media personnel. Having been to E3 several times, I honestly have a difficult time picturing the Expo without the scantily clad women. No, I’m not a horny teenager, but booth babes have simply become affixed with the experience of the show.
E3 ‘06 won’t have booth babes. I suspect that the ESA would rather be safe than sorry - especially as our industry continues to grow. With so many people looking to, and monitoring, our industry, especially after the Hot Coffee ordeal, this doesn’t announcement might be a little disappointing but isn’t that big of a shocker.
Read More | Gear Live
Own a DS? If you do, which color or variant do you have? We’d assume most DS owners have a standard Titanium or Blue one. However, there are a few other different DS variants - most of which I didn’t even know about prior to jumping over to the British Gaming Blog. Both Japan and Europe have more standard colors than we do in North America. Additionally, Nintendo’s released some pretty slick limited edition DS variants - including the ones pictured to the right. To see all of the other DS’es out there, click the link below.
Read More | British Gaming Blog
Yahoo! News reports that West Virginia is planning to place Dance Dance Revolution games in its 157 middle schools. It also hopes to eventually spread the dancing game to all of its 753 public schools.
Well enough of the news brief - time for my thoughts. Obesity is a problem in our country. It’s a huge problem. Too many people eat poorly and don’t exercise enough, so it’s no wonder so many individuals are overweight. Some argue that video games, televisions, and computers have effectively made people exercise less because well, they’d rather be sitting on their butts inside. Regardless of how correct that last argument is, something needs to change.
People everywhere need to become more physically active. And heck, if it’s a video game that gets you to be more active, what’s the harm? It’s especially important to get children physically active because when you’re young you start developing habits that you’ll hold onto for the rest of your life. If you don’t start getting in shape now, you’ll be in a lot more trouble down the line.
So we appluad West Virginia’s move here, and hope that many more will follow.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Recent Galleries
Playfeed Categories
Playfeed Shows
Advertisement
© Gear Live Media, LLC. 2007 – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.