Xbox 360 wireless controller with transforming D-Pad coming November 9th
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hardware, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
Microsoft is set to release a newly redesigned Xbox 360 wireless controller with a transforming D-Pad this November. It’s no secret that the D-Pad on the Xbox 360 isn’t exactly popular with gamers, so the company supposedly went back to the drawing board, and came up with a D-Pad can be changed from disc-form to “plus” form just by turning the D-Pad itself. In addition to that change, the controller also has concave analog sticks, matte silver color, and gray A, B, X, Y buttons as well.
The catch? While the controller seems like it would be awesome, you can only get it as part of the new Play & Charge Kit which will be available on November 9th for $64.99. Yeah, even if you don’t need another Play & Charge Kit, that’s the only way you’ll be getting this controller, as Microsoft won’t be making it available as a standalone product. $64.99. Microsoft is definitely doing all they can to get more money out of Xbox users these days.
Gallery: Xbox 360 wireless controller with transforming D-Pad coming November 9th
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Final Project Natal hardware to be white
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Hardware, Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360,
In the grand scheme of things, this is just a minor Project Natal detail, but it is still worth noting that it appears that the final look of the Natal camera motion sensor accessory will be white. In all the teasers for the product, it’s been black, and in live demos, Microsoft has always gone out of their way to cover up the camera so that no one would get a peek at what it looked like until they were ready. That said, German site RTL did a video feature on Project Natal, and in that video you are able to get a look at the camera.
Read More 
| Gamertag Radio
Gallery: Final Project Natal hardware to be white
Nintendo DSi XL: Hands on
Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Features, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
You know, when I look at the Nintendo DSi XL, I can’t help but notice the similarity in form factor to Apple‘s iPad (though the DSi XL was released first - thanks for catching that, astute readers!). Nintendo recently announced the US release of the n-th iteration of the DS, now focusing on a bigger screen. Come to think of it, both companies have a penchant for constantly releasing new SKU’s of existing hardware every few months with minor tweaks to inexplicable demand by an attention-deficit public, all while making the people who just bought their newly-outdated hardware feel small and relatively ashamed.
Either way, we got our hands on one at the GDC in San Francisco. Hit the jump for relevant deets.
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Gallery: Nintendo DSi XL: Hands on
Holiday Gift Guide for the Gamers
Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
“... Or how I blew your college fund on sparkly trinkets.”
Thanksgiving is now over, and so the spirit of crass materialism rides in on a chilly breeze. The holidays are almost here, meaning that you’re likely going to need to drop some hard earned ducats on the people who make it a point to hound you year-round. That being said, if you’re not a hopeless misanthrope like myself, you might already be thinking about what to buy for others. Or for yourself. I’m not going to make any judgment calls, you selfish bastard. I don’t have time for jolliness. I’m like Dorian Gray, all ash and suffering on the inside.
So here’s a list of some fun things your can buy for the gamer in your life this year. Some of it is older, some of it is more obscure, but nothing is obnoxiously expensive, per se. Have fun, you wacky kids.
Hit the jump for the list. If you have any suggestions of your own, please leave them in the comments. Oh, and if you want more, non-game-related gift ideas, check out our full Holiday Gift Guide!
Click to continue reading Holiday Gift Guide for the Gamers
Gallery: Holiday Gift Guide for the Gamers
Milo: A Project Natal demo
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Casual, E3, Xbox 360,
So we’ve told you everything we know about Project Natal, now we are going to show you Milo. You’re probably wondering, what else can you do with this besides haphazardly do karate in your living room, right? Well, with Project Natal, you can do more than just play active games, because the platform can use it’s sensing abilities in many other ways. Check out Milo, a game being developed by Peter Molyneaux, and see what the amazing possibilities are of Project Natal. We want this. Now.
Gallery: Milo: A Project Natal demo
Project Natal FAQ and video
Project Natal blew our minds yesterday during the E3 2009 Xbox Media Briefing. Project Natal is a new method of playing Xbox 360, with no controller required. Instead, it “sees” your entire body, and tracks your movement in 3D, and even responds to voice commands, directions, and even your face. We’ve got a video demo for you above, which you should take a look at, as well as a bunch more info on this exciting product. Read on.
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Gallery: Project Natal FAQ and video
Nintendo DSi: What does it mean for you?
Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Culture, Editorial, Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Portable/Mobile,
So, as we’ve already reported, Nintendo has announced the DSi, a spiffy new iteration of the DS franchise. There’s the larger screens, smaller profile, music playback, SD card slot…But what’s got everybody in a kerfuffle about it is the 3MP camera embedded in the system, both on the top and between the screens. The burning question now is what exactly Nintendo plans to do with the system, and how they’re going to integrate the features. So, if you want some uninformed opinion about the possibilities and future of the DSi, kindly hit the jump.
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Gallery: Nintendo DSi: What does it mean for you?
Nintendo Possibly Readying New DS This Year, with New Features [UPDATED]
Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Rumors,
According to Japanese business site Nikkei Net, Nintendo may be prepping to release a brand new Nintendo DS (not pictured) by the end of this year. Supposedly, the new and improved DS will feature build-in music playback, better wireless performance, and, most interestingly, and onboard camera, all for less that 20,000 yen. There has not been an official press release by Nintendo, so you’ll want to wait and see how this develops, but it means that the new DS may integrate some of these features into new games, a la Final Fantasy: Before Crisis (which had you use your cell phone camera to craft materia). If past indicators hold true, it should arrive just in time for your Christmas shopping blitz, which would be fortunate, since the Wii has been perpetually sold out each holiday season - and I think that we’re all contractually obligated at this point to throw our money at Nintendo with every re-launch of a system.
UPDATE: Looks like we were right on this one, as Nintendo just announced the new Nintendo DSi!
CNet
Gallery: Nintendo Possibly Readying New DS This Year, with New Features [UPDATED]
Harmonix Co-Founder Answers Questions About Rock Band
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Accessories, Downloadable Content, Features, Hardware, Microsoft, Music, PlayStation 3, Wireless, Xbox 360,
The Official Xbox Magazine’s podcast has an interview this week with Harmonix co-founder and president Alex Rigopulos about their upcoming game Rock Band. In the interview he talks about the game bundles, although light on concrete details he does confirm a band-in-a-box bundle that will include a guitar, drum kit and microphone. However, he goes on to say that the PlayStation 3 version will include a wireless guitar controller while the Xbox 360 version will have to include a wired guitar because Microsoft‘s wireless technology is too expensive to make the bundle reasonably priced. Since the 360 also has only two USB ports, the 360 Rock Band bundle will also be packed with a USB hub.
Rigopulos goes on to discuss the game’s career modes a little, saying there will be both solo career mode that progresses in a linear fashion similar to what Guitar Hero players are used to, but they are also including a less linear band career mode. In this mode you traverse to various venues trying to build up your fan base and in some cases return to previously played locations to maintain your fame there. Also it’s worth noting that the solo career mode will not include a bass career track so your options are vocals, guitar and drums in solo career mode. But Rigopulos did reveal that the finale songs for each career path (and therefore likely the difficulty distinctions throughout) will be different for each instrument, and he even said that at this point the drum finale will be The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
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Gallery: Harmonix Co-Founder Answers Questions About Rock Band
Apparently That Xbox 360 Red Light of Doom Problem Hasn’t Been Fixed
The image you see above isn’t some generic image we grabbed off the net - it’s my personal Xbox 360. I know what you might be thinking - another one? Yeah, another one - but there is a bit more to this story. This Xbox 360 you see above has been used for all of 20 minutes. You see, about three weeks ago my old box 360 crashed and was giving me the three Red Lights of Doom. I sent it in for repair, and today I finally got a replacement. This actually is a replacement - they didn’t fix the one I sent in, they just sent me a new one. This one happened to have been manufactured on 8/15/2007. Anyway, I got it in the mail, hooked everything up, went through the Dashboard configuration, and started playing a demo. Fatal Intertia. We got tired of that after about ten minutes, and decided to boot up the demo of Stranglehold. We got through the opening sequence when everything froze. Fair enough. I had to manually turn the Xbox 360 off because it wouldn’t even respond to the guide button. I turned it back on, and was presented with yes another Three Red Ring Circus.
Now, if that isn’t enough, this flies right in the face of something that Peter Moore told Engadget and Joystiq back at E3 - in mid-July:
I think that there is a lot of confusion with the consumer in exactly how this issue has been remedied. Not just with the extension of the warranty but with the hardware. Exactly what has had to go on to fix the problems that people have been having?
I’m not sure that the consumer needs to understand the complex technical fixes that we need to do for the multiple different problems that come together to create the three flashing red lights. I think the ability for us, all the consumer cares about is my console going to be ok? And if it isn’tm are they going to fix it and take care of it immediately? And if I [already] paid them to fix it, will I get my money back? And the answer is yes to those questions.
But are you guaranteeing or insuring that the systems that are rolling off the assembly lines now and the systems that will be returned to consumers will be fixed properly this time. It won’t be a situation where there are multiple replacements.
Yeah. I mean, nothing is perfect, guys. And the other two hardware companies have their problems as well. I can’t guarantee everyone in the world that we go fix one thing and then something else [won’t] happen. No I’d be stupid to make that guarantee. But I feel very, very good about the quality of hardware now. You guys know this, every day in the factories where we are building these and where we are learning more about it. Sony’s very good at it, Nintendo is very good at it, and we’re very good at it. You’re constantly tweaking, moving parts around, you’re renegotiating with suppliers because your goal is to continuously raise the quality of the box, and bring the price down. Because you have to get your costs down to be able to move your pricing to the level you want. If your costs never came down, then price would never change.
So yes, you can’t guarantee that something won’t go wrong - we get that. But at the very least, Microsoft, you should be able to guarantee that if something like this does happen, that you have some sort of expedited method for dealing with it so that your consumers who spend hundreds of dollars on your hardware aren’t sitting without it for 8-12 weeks because of your hardware problems. Also, I think it is a fair expectation that if you said everything would change in mid-July, that a console manufactured a month later would be clear of these issues.
UPDATE: As always, there are trolls who are claiming that this story must be made up, because a console manufactured over two weeks ago could in no way make the 8 hour plane trip from where it was made all the way over to here in Seattle in that timeframe. I must be some sort of Sony or Nintendo fanboy, just making up the story - they want images to prove I’m not lying. I grabbed a couple of shots of the back of the console, which you can check out after the break.
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Gallery: Apparently That Xbox 360 Red Light of Doom Problem Hasn’t Been Fixed
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