Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Russia’s Art Lebedev Studio has designed the Optimus Mini Three, a custom keyboard/display device that allows you to place “widgets” outside of your computer screen. The keyboard combines three soft-keys with three super cool, full color 96×96 pixel OLED screens and special software which lets you create your own display widgets and send them to the USB-connected device.

A couple of weeks back, I reported a rumored October 2 launch date for the eagerly anticipated Gears of War. Well today, Microsoft Game Studios announced an official launch date of November 12, 2006 at a retail price of $59.99 USD (A $69.95 “Special Edition” is also anticipated – no surprise there).

According to an article at gamesindustry.biz, Nintendo is likely to price its first party Wii titles at $49.99 USD, keeping their pricing in line with the GameCube, Xbox and PS2. This is in contrast to the $59.99 price points for most Xbox 360 games, and the $59.99+ price points that have been mentioned for PS3 titles.

If you’ve got the dough to spend, you can now have an flat panel multimedia audio/video system outdoors. Lux Entertainment has released the ARIIS-WFSSMCE outdoor entertainment center. Housed in a weather-resistant stainless steel armor shell, the system incorporates wi-fi (802.11 a/g) streaming of TV, FM and Internet Radio broadcasts as well as your own video or audio via an embedded Windows Media Center Extender.

Creative Labs has announced the release of a new version of their Zen Neeon music players, improving significantly on the original models by adding a color screen, video playback and greater memory capacity.With these specs, these players look poised to take on the Apple’s rival iPod Nano line: 1, 2, and 4GB options 1.5″ Color Display (128 x 128 pixels) Audio: MP3, WMA, and WAV Video: Transcoded AVI FM Tuner 5-band Equalizer Voice Recorder Line-In Recorder 20 hour battery life for audio, 8 hours for video 5 brushed-metal colors Dimensions: 81 x 42 x 12.5 mm; Weight: 50g Initial pricing has only been announced in Singapore, as follows: S$199.00 (appx.

Microsoft is coming fast and furious these days with additional content on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Earlier this week it was Ninety-Nine Nights, now the GTA-esque actioner, Saints Row is available for you to try out.

Hi-Def Digest has posted the first head-to-head reviews of three movies recently released in both Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats. While none of the three cross-platform titles is really deserving of the high-definition treatment, at least the comparison gives us some sens of the two formats in an apples-to-apples test.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) made an official announcement today in response to the rumors floating around that E3 2007 would be canceled. The show will go one but with a new, smaller format. According to the ESA the event “…is evolving into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities…” In addition, Gamespot is reporting that ESA President Douglas Lowenstein has stated that the show will be pushed back until July 2007 to “give publishers more time to polish their holiday releases.”

From the random video vault, I’ve compiled a bunch of great ancient video game and computer commercials from YouTube. It’s really amazing how far we’ve come. Enjoy the retro goodness… Apple II Computer:

This just in… Next Generation is reporting that the Entertainment Software Association is expected to cancel the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video gaming expo for the forseeable future as a result of the joint pullout of a number of major exhibitors.

I recently stumbled across this video posted by k4rn4ge, the dude with the all-time high score on Geometry Wars Evolved for the Xbox 360. Personally, I’ve never managed to get past 250,000 points on the game, so I’m in awe of this unbelievable score of 21,242,600 points.

Our friends over at Oppo Digital, makers of the universally loved OPDV971H DVD Player, have just released this odd little DVD/LCD TV combo, the LT-2007. Combining a 20″ LCD screen (4:3 ratio) and a DVD player into a single white housing, the set displays a striking resemblance to some of the early Cinema Displays from Apple.

Developers Q Entertainment and Phantagram released the demo version of their Xbox 360 hack and slash title Ninety-Nine Nights on the Xbox Live Marketplace today. The game has gained alot of advance buzz due to the massive battle that can involve hundreds of enemies.

For those of us who have DirecTV’s HR10-250 TiVo, it’s a bittersweet reality that a new HD DVR has been in the works for quite some time. While I personally love the TiVo UI, the current HD DVRs have been fraught with problems ranging from overheating, to HDMI connectivity bugs, to dying hard drives.

Oregon Scientific, know for their typically utilitarian designs for weather and time gadgets went totally off the charts by hiring world reknown designer Stefano Giovannoni, to design this ultra-hip alarm clock with a great LED backlit display in a retro sci-fi font, and a nifty removeable wireless time projection sphere.

One of my favorite arcade games of all time, Galaga, has made its way onto Xbox Live Arcade today. Unlike some of the other classic games to make it to XBLA (hear me Frogger!) this one appears to be a faithful rendition of the original game, complete with online scoreboards and Xbox Live achievements.