Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Microsoft today released the Beta of their XNA Game Studio Express software development kit. The SDK will allow independent developers to create games for Windows Vista and the Xbox 360 (soon). Now you still have to know how to program in C# in order to use this software, so it’s not for the uninitiated.

The new Samsung LN-S5296D is a 1080P (1920×1080) resolution 52-inch LCD flat panel HDTV due in stores by September. The set is one of the largest LCD flat panels you can get on the street for less than $5000 USD.

Electronic Arts and Criterion announced today that Burnout 5 is in development and slated for release sometime in 2007 on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The new game will offer an expansive universe with tons of traffic to destroy.

A couple of months back, I posted about my concerns that my Xbox 360 had overheated and died as a result of the next-gen game Prey. Now Kotaku is reporting about an Xbox 360 developer who reported an esimated 30-50% failure rate on Xbox 360s used in the testing games, with even higher failure rates on the zombie-killer Dead Rising.

HDBeat has received a tip from a Best Buy staffer that the long-awaited TiVo Series 3 HD DVR will be in stores very soon. According to the tipster, the device is listed now in Best Buy’s computer system with a scheduled “in stock” date of September 17th with a Best Buy SKU of 7974418 (UPC is 400079744186 and Model number is TCD648250B).

Xbox insider Major Nelson is reporting that Microsoft has released a new backwards compatibility update which provides support for the following games: Aggressive Inline Aquaman: Battle of Atlantis All Star Baseball 2003 All Star Baseball 2005 Burnout 3: Takedown Catwoman Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart UPDATED Counter Strike Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth Dead to Rights Digimon Rumble Arena 2 UPDATED ESPN Major League Baseball Fatal Frame 2 Ford vs.

The soon to be released Logitech Z-10 Interactive Speaker System features a built-in display capable of showing title and track information for the currently playing digital music track. Data for the backlit LCD is fed via the speakers’ USB connection.

At the 2006 International Meeting on Information Display in South Korea, Samsung demonstrated prototype portable screens using AMOLED display technology. AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) claims to have a much greater contrast ratio, lower power consumption, better viewing angle, wider color gamut and faster refresh rate than similar TFT LCD screens.

LG is working on a 42-inch LCD monitor capable of displaying images in either 2D or 3D without glasses, by simply toggline a switch. At this time, there are no other details on the technology or when a release is expected.

While Microsoft is touting the wonders of the music sharing features of the new Zune media player, I’m quite familiar with a project in which a team from the MIT Media lab developed a similar wireless music sharing capability a couple of years ago.

Crunchgear has broken the news that the initial Microsoft Zune media player will be manufactured by Toshiba, not Microsoft. The device has been registered with the FCC as the Toshiba 1089. It’s been confirmed that the player features a 30GB hard drive, a 3″ LCD, USB 2.0 and 802.11 b/g connectivity.

I don’t know how I missed this video when it came out back in June… This guy recorded his call with the AOL anti-cancellation nazis. It would be really funny if it weren’t so sad. Actually, it is really funny…

This Audiovox D1420 portable DVD player is just about an inch more in diameter than the DVD itself. The tiny player features a built-in 4.2″ 16:9 LCD widescreen and battery life is quoted at 2.5 hours, so you should be able to watch most full-length movies on a single charge.

..or are you just glad to see me? The folks at Wenger thought it would be a good idea to create the ultimate in Swiss army knives by including every tool they make (85 in all) in a single form-factor.

“Virtual” desktops are for wusses. The new Powerscape Ultra HD from Zenview is the ultimate in desktop monitor rigs. The system features a huge 30″ diagonal widescreen LCD at 2560×1600 resolution, flanked by four 20.1″ “surround” monitors in portrait mode at 1200×1600 resolution each, for a total screen resolution of 7360×1600.

Not to be left out of the pack, the Nintendo DS Lite is jumping on the multi-color bandwagon this fall with the release of two new colors, “Onyx” and “Coral Pink.” These are expected to ship in the US on September 13th.