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Rumor: Mad Catz to Release First 3rd-Party Wiimote
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Rumors, Wii,
A user over at the Gametrailers forums recently posted some photos he allegedly took with his camera phone showing what looks to be the first 3rd-Party Wiimote, made by Mad Catz. While the shell of the Wiimote itself has a contoured grip that mighty be comfy (or perhaps, bit more than comfy), the flat trigger buttons on top of the Nunchuk attachment just look plain-old painful. Hopefully this Wiimote iteration will have a non-slip grip too, so that we don’t have to go out and buy all new controller gloves.
Click the jump for more pics…
Click to continue reading Rumor: Mad Catz to Release First 3rd-Party Wiimote
Read More 
| Gametrailers.com forums
Gallery: Rumor: Mad Catz to Release First 3rd-Party Wiimote
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NPD: Xbox 360 HD DVD Sells 92K In US
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Xbox 360,
NPD continues to report on holiday sales data; this time the research firm tells Next Generation that the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive has sold 92,000 units since launch. The numbers break down into 42,000 in November and 50,000 in December, or roughly 2 percent of the Xbox 360 install base. With Microsoft claiming that the HD-DVD drive is selling out at retail, this would suggest either that Microsoft is having a hard time producing units or that they are limiting drive production for some other reason. While the HD-DVD drive competes with Sony’s Blu-Ray format, the Xbox 360 add-on might also be seeing competition from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Even though users can only rent HD movies via the service, owners of the Xbox 360 premium system don’t have to pay out for additional hardware. Every PS3 comes with a Blu-Ray drive, so total sales for that format look good, but one will have to look at movie sales rates to get a true indication of the relative popularity of the competing formats.
Read More | Next Generation
Gallery: NPD: Xbox 360 HD DVD Sells 92K In US
Japanese Hardware, Software Markets Show Massive Growth
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360,
Japanese publisher Enterbrain has released the software and hardware sales totals for 2006. According to a report from Gamasutra, the publisher is claiming that Japanese video game hardware grew year over year 160%, while software sales grew 125%. The best selling hardware for the year was, of course, the Nintendo DS, moving over 7.5 million handhelds. Software sales charts were also dominated by the DS, which represented 8 of the top 10 titles of the year. Leading the list was Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The top non-DS title was Square’s Final Fantasy XII for the PS2. Wii Sports made the top 100 in the 21st position, but no title for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 were represented on the list. Nintendo managed to completely dominate Japan this year, and so far there are no signs of this changing any time soon.
Read More | Gamasutra
Gallery: Japanese Hardware, Software Markets Show Massive Growth
MotorStorm for the PS3 Will / Won’t Run at 1080p 60fps?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Driving, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Another day, another Sony PR fumble… The web is all a-titter this time with the controversy over whether or not Motorstorm for the PS3 will or won’t run at 1080p and 60 frames per second. For all of you catching up on the history of this story, here’s how it’s gone down so far…
1080p resolution running at 60 fps has been the holy grail of gameplay for quite a while, and a spec that the PS3 can technically support (though it has only done so currently in relatively “empty” titles like Gran Turismo HD and NBA 2K07). This has been a bullet point touted by Sony for a while, since the Xbox 360 doesn’t currently support games running at true 1080p. So when Peter Dille of Sony gave his keynote indicating that the already-beautiful Motorstorm would be running at 1080p and 60fps, the web was ablaze with Sony fans declaring victory. Motorstorm already looks amazing, with some great texture work and impressive physics, and having the game run at that high of a resolution and framerate almost sounded too good to be true. Still, even the attendees at the Sony CES booth were proclaiming that Motorstorm would be breaking this technical barrier. Well, after all this hubbub, it turns out that somebody either got it wrong, or was exaggerating the numbers, or just plain didn’t talk to their technical staff. Motorstorm will be running at 720p and 30fps, at least according to the developers.
All of this has put ArsTechnica’s Ben Kuchera in a pretty foul mood.
It’s not like the gaming press made up the 1080p, 60fps Motorstorm story by ourselves. Sony employees were telling the press that would be the resolution and the framerate. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, and say the people running the televisions at trade shows may get their facts wrong. Of course, the Senior Vice-President of Marketing for your company should know better.
In the CES keynote, which you can watch here, Peter Dille states that we’ll see Motorstorm at 1080p running at 60fps. He makes this point strongly, in an attempt to prove the power of the PS3, before telling us it’s the only “true” high definition system on the market. I would say that point is arguable at best, but there is no doubt he was selling Motorstorm as an example of their 1080p content.
Please Sony, just make sure you’ve got your facts right before you start touting your console’s specs, mmmkay?
Read More | 1up.com
Gallery: MotorStorm for the PS3 Will / Won’t Run at 1080p 60fps?
NPD December Numbers: $3.7 Billion, PS2, DS Dominate
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
December’s NPD final numbers have been released, and the video game industry as a whole did remarkably well, selling over $3.7 billion during the final month of the year. According to a GameDaily report, this puts industry growth year-over-year at 27.8%. In hardware, the biggest seller overall was the Nintendo DS, moving over 1.6 million handhelds. This was followed by Sony’s “last-generation” console, the PS2, which sold an amazing 1.4 million consoles sold.
For the current generation of consoles, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lead the pack at 1.1 million sold through December, followed by Nintendo’s Wii with 604,200 sold and Sony at 490,700. Supply constraints clearly impacted both Nintendo and Sony for their next generation offerings; Nintendo’s worldwide launch stretched console supply impossibly thin, and production issues kept Sony from pushing as many consoles to market as they would have liked. Microsoft has to be happy with their totals, maintaining their lead in the face of new competition, and the continued success of the PS2 helps take the sting out of Sony’s meager PS3 launch.
On the software side, Microsoft’s Gears of War continued to sell well and moved more than 815 thousand units, and clearly helped drive sales of the Xbox 360. Guitar Hero II was a huge seller for the Playstation 2, and the combined sales of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii and Gamecube moved over one million sold; Zelda for the Wii continued to have a huge attach rate with Wii console buyers, selling 519,200 units against more than 600,000 consoles.
Overall, each of the three console manufacturers has something to brag about for the month of December, and while the relative sales are interesting now, this is just the beginning of the next console war; most analysts are predicting that the holiday season for 2007 will be when consumers will see how the competition really shakes up.
Read More | GameDaily
Gallery: NPD December Numbers: $3.7 Billion, PS2, DS Dominate
New Champagne PSP in Japan, Starting Feb 22nd
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Survival Horror,
With its shiny new exterior and designer-sounding color, the “champagne” PSP appears to be trying to emulate the success of the Dolce and Gabbana RAZR. Personally, I think the shade ends up looking a lot more like the default color choice for Cadillac-driving old fogies.
Whether you love it or hate it, though, chances are you won’t be able to get your hands on this PSP for a while anyway. These tiny bubbles won’t be available in the States just yet, and currently the only place you can read about it is on the poorly-Google-translated Playstation Japan website. If you’re into the import scene, you should see these popping up on eBay around February 22nd, for around $200.
Read More | Google Translation of jp.playstation.com
Gallery: New Champagne PSP in Japan, Starting Feb 22nd
Microsoft Claims HDMI Xbox 360 Prototype Only
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Internet, Xbox 360,
GameSpot recently talked with Chris Satchell, general manager of the game developer group at Microsoft about the recent Xbox 360 announcements and the rumors of an HDMI-enabled Xbox 360. First, discussing IPTV, Satchell stated that the initial launches of IPTV would be from licensed Xbox 360 consoles direct from IPTV vendors. There is a possibility that Microsoft would provide the IPTV technology as a downloadable update later as the market demands. Satchell also denied the existences of larger capacity hard drives for the Xbox 360, and dismissed the rumors of a Xbox 360 shipping with HDMI as merely “experimentation” that the company is working on. Satchell basically stuck with the corporate message on Xbox 360 upgrades, and will probably continue to do so until they are ready to release a new box to the market.
Read More | Gamespot
Gallery: Microsoft Claims HDMI Xbox 360 Prototype Only
Zune Games To Appear By July 2008
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Casual, Hardware, Internet,
It was anticipated early on that Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player would offer some kind of gaming in the future; after all, the Zune already utilizes Microsoft’s point-based transaction architecture for song downloads and the MP3 player was created by one of the parents of the Xbox, J Allard. Now, it appears that there is a timeline for games on the device, according to a report from Bloomberg News. Peter Moore has confirmed that the Zune will see games support within 18 months to bring it on par with the iPod. Hopefully this will happen sooner, rather than later. By June 2008, the iPod will more than likely have advanced to its sixth generation release of the platform; Microsoft may need to have more up its sleeve to keep pace.
Read More | Bloomberg
Gallery: Zune Games To Appear By July 2008
Guitar Hero 2 for Xbox 360 to Launch in March, W/ Microtransactions
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Music, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Activision has finally announced a launch date for Guitar Hero 2 on the Xbox 360, and while it’s not too far away, the wait is going to seem interminable for most Xbox 360 owners. You’ll be able to get your hands on the Xbox 360 iteration of the game, along with the specially-designed “Xplorer” guitar, around easter 2007. In addition, Red Octane has plans for the Microsoft marketplace and its possibilities for downloadable content.
Dusty Welch, Head of Publishing, RedOctane, said of the game when it was first unveiled back at X06 last September: “With its large integrated hard drive, Xbox 360 provides an incredible platform for facilitating downloadable content. We believe there is no better title to feature micro-transactions than a music game like Guitar Hero II, where the content is the basis of your experience. The relationship with the Xbox Live Marketplace creates endless possibilities for exclusive content.”
Playstation fans may be able to gloat for a while at the fact that the Xbox won’t be seeing a wireless guitar just yet (the Xplorer included with the game will be wire-ful). Then again, Microsoft fans might be just as keen to point out the fact that you can’t even play Guitar Hero on the PS3, due to its lack of PS2 controller ports.
Read More | VideogamesBlogger.com
Gallery: Guitar Hero 2 for Xbox 360 to Launch in March, W/ Microtransactions
IPTV Confirmed For Xbox 360
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Hardware, Internet, Xbox 360,
Microsoft confirmed via press release that an IPTV client will be coming to the Xbox 360 during the holiday 2007 season. IPTV will integrate with the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to allow services like video on demand and digital video recording to work with Xbox Live features like voice chat and instant messaging. Microsoft’s partners for the launch include AT&T in the US, BT in the UK, and Deutsche Telekom in Germany.
The full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading IPTV Confirmed For Xbox 360
Gallery: IPTV Confirmed For Xbox 360
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