Hasta La Gadget!

Sony has slashed the price of its PS Vita handheld console, albeit initially only in Japan, trimming both the WiFi-only and the 3G versions of the gaming device down by as much as a third. Previously priced at 29,980 yen for the PS Vita 3G and 24,980 yen for the PS Vita WiFi, Sony confirmed during a recent livestream that the gaming gadget will now be just 19,980 yen ($212).

Meanwhile, there are also some extras to be had for Japanese gamers. All PS Vita owners in the country will get a free week’s worth of PlayStation Plus access, Sony confirmed, with around six free titles to play this month.

The Japanese price cut will take effect on February 28, though there’s no word from Sony as to whether the company intends to chop the PS Vita in other markets. That news might be saved until later in the week; on Wednesday, Sony is holding an event in New York where the focus is believed to be the PlayStation 4.

Finally, there’s a new, “Ice Silver” color version of the PS Vita, though again it’s only been confirmed for the Japanese market so far. Despite Sony’s ambitious expectations for the handheld, sales have been sluggish overall. The company’s most recent financial results revealed sales – along with the PSP – of just 2.7m devices in the most recent quarter, and Sony cut its estimates for full-year sales by 30-percent.

[via Eurogamer]

Sony slashes PS Vita price in Japan as sales struggle is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG hasn’t been shy with the Optimus G Pro, its 5.5-inch 1080p quadcore behemoth, but now we know the oversized Android handset is headed to North America sometime in Q2 2013. Fronted by a 1920 x 1080 Full HD display that’s capable of 50-percent more brightness than rival phones, LG says, the Optimus G Pro also introduces some new software features, including a “Dual Recording” system whereby both the front and rear cameras shoot simultaneously, meaning that whoever is taking the photo also gets included in a 360-degree panorama.

There’s also tracking focus in the camera, something common on standalone shooters but more rare on smartphones, together with a dual-window multitasking system similar to what we’ve seen Samsung do on the Galaxy Note II. Buyers in South Korea will get full QShopping support, for online price comparisons and ordering while you’re browsing physical stores.

As for the rest of the hardware, it’s a 150.2 x 76.1 x 9.4mm phone tipping the scales at 172g, and LG will be offering it in both “indigo black” and “luna white.” There’s LTE, HSPA+ and EVDO inside, along with WiFi (and WiFi Direct support), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, HDMI SlimPort output, USB 2.0 Host, and a microSD card slot for up to 64GB cards to augment the 32GB of onboard storage.

The 1.7GHz dualcore processor – Qualcomm’s 600 Series Snapdragon – is paired with 2GB of RAM, meanwhile, and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with LG’s usual tweaks. The main camera runs to 13-megapixels, while the front is 2.1-megapixels, and the whole thing is powered by a sizable 3,140 mAh battery.

Those in Korea will be able to snap up the LG Optimus G Pro from Wednesday, February 20, across three carriers simultaneously. Those in North America, Japan, and elsewhere in the world will have to wait for a sequential launch sometime in the second quarter, though our guess would be that LG will have more to share at Mobile World Congress next week.

LG Optimus G Pro starts US and global spread in Q2 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This map, put together by China File, plots all of the publicly available suppliers who fuel Apple’s production lines. While the majority are found in Asia, it’s interesting to see that the rest of world represents, too. More »

Divorce can be one of the most stressful events in life, second only to a spouse dying. In fact, a divorce can become such a complicated and nasty affair that many people have joked that a spouse dying is a less stressful event because at least you don’t have to fight the deceased in court!
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The return of the living dead, or rather, Sega, a company that has not churned out a video game console for the longest time after calling it quits with the Dreamcast (that was a pretty good console in its own right, by the way), is back thanks to the help of hobbyists and enthusiasts. Clearly created just for hardcore fans of Sega, the new laptops will boast of interchangeable covers that were specially designed to resemble its old school game consoles.

The quartet of custom laptops would be the Sega-blue Mega Drive (that was known as the Genesis in the US), with the Saturn and Dreamcast alongside in tow. Each of these creations will be accompanied by a 15.6-inch display at Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels), Windows 8 as the operating system of choice, and a trio of pre-loaded custom Sega themes (wallpapers, icons and sounds), not to mention 60 songs from classic Sega games. Unfortunately, you will not find emulators on board to run classic Sega games. Features include an Intel processor and Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset, a 500GB hard drive, 4GB RAM, a DVD burner drive for the bare bones model, and these will be available from June 3rd onwards, retailing from around $1,075 and goes all the way to $2,094, depending on the make and model. Too bad they are Japan-only at the moment but who knows? Things might change down the road.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Microsoft Job Postings Confirm Additional Windows And Windows Phone Blue Details, President Obama Thinks Required Programming Language Learning In High School Is A Great Idea,