Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the DS Lite will be old ancient news by the time Easy Piano hit the market, but those who’ve learned to be content in life (and have somehow managed to resist the urge to snap up a DSi in place of their older handheld), have probably been hunting for this date. Valcon Games has just announced that its piano-teaching title (and the highly comical / interesting 13-key accessory) will be landing in North America in “early 2010,” but it didn’t go so far as to fess up to an MSRP. Not like it matters — you know you’re totally lining up to snag this during a midnight launch, regardless of how many heirlooms are forced onto Craigslist.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Easy Piano bringing keys to the DS Lite in ‘early 2010’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may simply be able to chalk this one up to some freewheeling speculation and rumination, but Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata went pretty far out on a limb in talking about the future of the company during a recent sit-down with the Financial Times, and indicated that Nintendo may just be looking outside the gaming industry for a little inspiration. Apparently, Iwata is intrigued by the Kindle “because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost,” which he says wouldn’t “fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products.” He did go on to note though, that “in reality, if we did this it would increase the cost of the hardware, and customers would complain about Nintendo putting prices up,” but said that “it is one option for the future.” At the same time, however, Iwata also seemingly downplayed the short-term potential for download-only games, saying that he thinks “it will take quite a long time” for the industry to shift to them — although he did hedge his bets somewhat by pointing out how unpredictable the games business is.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo’s Iwata muses about Kindle-like business model for future handheld originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh how the mighty have fallen. Nintendo just announced that its interim net profit was cut by more than half to ¥69.49 billion (about $770 million), from ¥144.83 billion last year at this time — figures that won’t be helped by the cheaper Wii price tag announced at the end of September. Speaking of which, Nintendo sold only 5.75 million Wii consoles from April to September (down 43% from last year) and cut its full year sales forecast for the April 09 to March 2010 period to 20 million units, down from an expected 26 million. DS sales were also off 15% from last year and we doubt that a bigger screen on the new DSi LL model will change that dramatically.

Nintendo profits sink on declining console sales, weak game selection originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know, sometimes at Engadget, we feel compelled to cover a story not because it’s particularly new, or newsy, or relevant to the topics of the day. Sometimes, you just have to cover something because it’s amazingly cool. Enter this completely awesome video from the musician Denkitribe, wherein the DS, Korg DS-10 software, the software’s formant synthesis, and the natural talents of said musician are used to replicate the vocals from Daft Punk’s hit “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” There’s not much we can put in text which this doesn’t lay out in song. Check the whole thing after the break… you’ll thank us later.

[Via Technabob]

Continue reading DS, Korg DS-10’s formant synthesis used to create Daft Punk vocals, general awesomeness

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

DS, Korg DS-10’s formant synthesis used to create Daft Punk vocals, general awesomeness originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh Nintendo, you tease. You still won’t give us that jet black Wii console bound for Japan, but you’ve got no problem giving us in North America a taste of the dark side with a black Wiimote and Motion Plus bundle, coming this holiday along with a black nunchuk sold separately. With any luck this is just the sign of things to come, and should the Wii’s sales momentum drop, we’re sure quite a few new colors will start shipping their way over here (light blue, anyone?). On the more portable side of things, the DSi will be adding pink and white to its repertoire on September 13th. Unless the House that Mario Built is feeling particularly nasty, prices should be the same as their pre-existing color counterparts — you wouldn’t put a premium on a palette swap, right Nintendo?

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Black Wii remote bundle coming to North America, no matching console in sight originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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