Hasta La Gadget!

Sony had a good March on the console side of things. The company’s Playstation3 sold better than Nintendo’s Wii in Japan, for the first time in nearly a year-and-a-half. The console’s success is being credited to game titles from Sega Sammy and Capcom like Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 and Resident Evil 5.

The PS3 overtook the Wii in a big way, moving 146,948 systems to Nintendo’s 99,335. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 came in at a distant third, with 43,172 units. Despite this strong showing, Reuters adds, the PS3 is not expected to overtake the Wii globally any time soon.

OK, we admit it: We were excited to get the Nintendo DSi in the office. And yeah, the company’s always-clever press packaging only intensified matters. Senior blogs editor Carol Mangis did the honors.

The DSi is out on April 5th for $169.99 (Carol mistakenly said $149 in the video; she’s sorry). And take a look at our hands-on preview of the DSi here.

This just in: If you’re planning to be in the Los Angeles area around midnight on April 4, head over to Nintendo’s launch party for the DSi! Details after the jump.

That blurry, numb sensation you feel just behind your eyes? Yeah, you’ve been staring at a computer screen for far too long. According to a recent study, Americans spend an average of 8 hours a day staring at screens–TVs, PCs, cell phones, and so on. About 61 minutes of that time is spent taking in TV ads.

The dominant form of media delivery in most Americans’ lives remains the TV, according to the $3.5 million study conducted by Nielsen. The PC has edged into second place, though, beating out the radio, with the struggling world of print in fourth place.

The study also found that most age groups spend about the same amount of time sitting in front of screens. 45-to 54-year-olds actually rack up the highest daily rate, with an hour more than other groups.

If you’re a Nintendo DS person, you’ve probably already hoovered up all available information about the forthcoming DSi. Well, as is typical in life, reading about something and experiencing it are often very different. Dan Evans and I were reminded of this today, when Nintendo hosted a “sneak preview” of the DSi in its New York office. When we got our hands on the new handheld console, we decided it was just possibly more fun than either of us had anticipated.

For me, the most entertaining new thing is what you can do with Nintendo Camera feature, using the 11 different “lenses” built into the DSi. Stretching out images, adding “graffiti” and “stamps” (see more pics after the jump) and creating kaleidoscope-like effects (like the one above) is my idea of a good time. The DSi will also let you do many weird and cool things with your music and with 10-second sound bites you record yourself. Then there’s the SD slot and the ability to download games… This is a whole different experience!

We saw some other, um, stuff we can’t tell you about yet. Suffice to say, the new DSi is very engaging. I am now very sure that I want one.

I’m not sure who these “Beatles” are, but apparently a lot of people have taken to them. I think they might be new. Of course that hasn’t stopped them for getting their own video game. Harmonix and MTV have come together to bring the world a Beatles-centric version of Rock Band. The companies today doled out a few new details about the latest entry into the franchise, including a release date.

The Beatles: Rock Band will debut on September 9th (that’s 9/9/09, incidentally) on store shelves in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The game is being released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii. Accessories for the game include the guitar, bass, mic, and drums, with a limited number of instruments being modeled after the ones that John, Paul, George, and Ringo played.

The game will run $59.99, standalone guitars $99.99, and the Limited Edition Premium Bundle will cost your $249.99. No need to worry, though–the game is also compatible with all existing Rock Band instruments.