Category: Video Games

The rumor mill has started to buzz about what we might see from the big console players at the upcoming E3 conference, scheduled for July 11 to 13, 2007. According to a forums post over on Wii60, a person claiming to be a “Floor Manager” for the show has revealed the following items as some of the key items that Microsoft will show for their Xbox 360 console: New Crimson Skies game to be announced Bungie working on new title/series not related to the Halo/Marathon Universe Epic Games to show Gears of War 2 Trailer Microsoft have bought the Star Wars Battlefront 3 rights.

Without a doubt, the theramin is one of the oddest musical instruments ever invented. Usually heard cranking out spaceship sounds in 1950’s B-movies, it’s otherworldy sounds are unmistakeable and truly quirky. So it is with much glee that I bring you the Wii-mote powered theramin, playing the inimitable Theme from Star Trek.

Strike another blow against Sony’s PlayStation 3 console. Already faced with a serious lack of available titles, it looks the console has lost another game in its arsenal with the revelation that the latest game in the popular Katamari Damacy series is now likely to be an Xbox 360 exclusive.

You won’t have any trouble finding the buttons on this massive replica of Nintendo’s famous NES controller. Game fan Philip Torrone and his team of builders put together this 5-foot wide joypad for the recently completed 2007 Maker Faire.

The dedicated gaming fanatics over at Game Rave claim to have gotten their hands on what could be a rare piece of video game history. This chunky device is purported to be a prototype for the original Sony PlayStation.

Most video game enthusiasts will tell you that the Xbox 360’s joystick is one of the best designed gaming controllers of all time. Now it appears to have gotten the “thumbs up” from the U.S. Army.

Leave it to the folks in China to bring us a single portable gadget that crams so much into such a little package. The TX-0088 Portable DVD Player not only features movie playback from DVDs, it can also play MP4 format videos burned to disc or a USB flash drive.

While it’s certainly not as slick as Ben Heck’s Wii laptop casemod, this new accessory from Pega HK makes your Nintendo Wii a little more mobile. The device adds a perfectly matched 7-inch LCD screen to the top of your Wii, making it easy to play the console anywhere you’ve got an outlet.

The editors over at Fortune magazine were kind enough to dissect the Nintendo Wii controller recently, revealing an interesting tidbit. In addition to all of the well known features of the controller, the Wii-mote appears to have a special chip on board which is designed for voice processing applications.

A console modder known as sir crx has fabricated a mashup between an Xbox 360 controller and a Wii-mote, allowing the Wii control to operate the Xbox 360. From what I can tell, he modified the 360 controller to accept Bluetooth commands, then uses it as a proxy for connecting to the Xbox through Microsoft’s proprietary wireless scheme.

The world’s most prolific console modder, Ben Heck, has a new trick up his sleeve. This time, he’s partnered up with a company called Gameport to design a portable emulation console for mass-production. Currently in the prototype stages, the pocket-sized Gameport will be capable of emulating multiple classic 8-bit systems, currently the Atari 2600 and Colecovision, with additional systems to come in future.

Some serious racing fanatic has gone above and beyond by putting together this insane Xbox 360 racing rig. He’s got the living room all decked out with a real racing chair, a force feedback wheel, and an amazing 3-screen panoramic display.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the X-Arcade Tankstick home arcade controller and put it through its paces. It’s definitely worth a look for you die-hard arcade gamers out there. Let me start off by saying that the Tankstick is a one mammoth controller.

If you own an Xbox 360, you already know the crack-like addictive powers of the retro-mod arcade shooter Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. If you’re a Nintendo fan, you’ll now be able to get in on the action.

If you’re into classic arcade games, you might want to check out this new home arcade gaming system from DreamAuthentics. Each Katana personal arcade system is custom assembled, so you can pick your own selection of console graphics and marquees, as well as the control scheme.

Whee. Sony is rolling out yet another firmware upgrade for the PlayStation 3 console. The impending version 1.80 upgrade adds a couple of new features, but the most significant one purportedly adds upscaling of DVD, Playstation and PlayStation 2 games to as much as 1080p resolution.