Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo has listed the 110 Best Buy stores that will give impatient gamers an opportunity to play new Wii U and 3DS titles alongside their launch at E3 2013 next month, as part of its attempt to boost enthusiasm in the fact of Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles. The scheme, revealed earlier this month, will see select games put up for in-store play, though not offered for sale at that stage.

In the US, 89 Best Buy stores will be participating; the remaining 21 will be in Canada. Times on two days will be set aside for access, first from 4-8pm local time on Wednesday, June 12, and then again on Saturday, June 15, at 1-5pm local time.

The events are part of what Nintendo has already confirmed will be a software-focused E3 appearance for the company, with no new hardware expected. That’s arguably the biggest gap in Nintendo’s line-up, however. The company saw fewer sales of the Wii U than expected in the early months of 2013, blaming the shortfall on a lack of high-profile titles.

Although the stores are known, which titles will be shown is still unclear. One possibility is Nintendo’s exclusive on SEGA’s upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic Lost World, which will only be available on Wii U and 3DS; however, it could also be Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, or a number of other games.

It’s not the first time Nintendo has taken its consoles on the road to try to stimulate interest. Ahead of the launch of the Wii U in November 2012, Nintendo put sneak-peek booths in some Best Buy stores so that gamers could sample the motion-tracking console.

Participating Best Buy US stores:

Alabama
Birmingham
Huntsville

Arkansas
Fort Smith
North Little Rock

Arizona
Phoenix

California
Culver City
Elk Grove
Emeryville
San Jose
Tracy
Visalia

Colorado
Denver

Connecticut
Manchester

Delaware
Wilmington

Florida
Brandon
Fort Myers
Gainesville
Kissimmee
Miami
Pensacola

Georgia
Augusta
Duluth
Savannah
Smyrna

Iowa
Cedar Rapids
West Des Moines

Illinois
Bloomington
Schaumburg

Indiana
Greenwood

Kansas
Overland Park
Wichita

Kentucky
Florence
Lexington
Louisville

Louisiana
Harvey

Massachusetts
Cambridge
Dedham
Worcester

Maryland
Frederick
Glen Burnie
Wheaton

Michigan
Ann Arbor
Flint
Grand Rapids
Rochester Hills

Minnesota
Eden Prairie

Missouri
St. Louis

North Carolina
Cary
Fayetteville
Pineville
Winston-Salem

New Jersey
Iselin
West Paterson
Woodbury

New York
Albany
Amherst
Long Island City
Syracuse
Valley Stream
West Nyack

Ohio
Fairborn
North Olmsted
Reynoldsburg
Toledo

Oklahoma
Oklahoma City

Oregon
Portland

Pennsylvania
Erie
King of Prussia
Pittsburgh
Reading
Whitehall

South Carolina
Greenville
North Charleston

Tennessee
Brentwood
Knoxville
Memphis

Texas
Arlington
Austin
Houston
McAllen
The Woodlands
Tyler

Utah
Sandy

Virginia
Charlottesville
Glen Allen
Virginia Beach

Vermont
Williston

Washington
Lynnwood

Wisconsin
Greenfield

Nintendo lists Best Buy locations for E3 game previews is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For PS Vita owners out of the country during E3 or do not have access to a computer, it seems that you will be able to stream the event on your handheld console!

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The next generation of console gaming is upon us. Nintendo has already launched its Wii U, Microsoft’s Xbox One will be launching sometime later this year, and Sony has revealed several details about its PlayStation 4.

But unlike its chief competitors, Sony has decided against showing off the design of its next console. The company announced the device earlier this year, talked about its specs, but wouldn’t show what it actually looked like. And when the console was recently featured in a teaser for the upcoming E3 gaming trade show, Sony once again decided against showing off the device.

It’s not immediately clear why Sony hasn’t shown off the PlayStation 4. The company has, of course, been asked numerous times why it doesn’t want to show the console yet and each time, it has sidestepped the question. The move is unprecedented, if nothing else, and could be either good or bad.

See, now that we have seen the Wii U and Xbox One, the onus is on Sony to shock us. The PlayStation 4’s design can’t be something that bores us or doesn’t have as good a look as its competitors. And by hiding it under a shroud of mystery, Sony is only calling more attention to the console than it otherwise would.

That puts extra pressure on Sony at the E3 gaming show. If the console is truly something that blows our socks off, all the secrecy would have been worth it. But if Sony’s PlayStation 3 ends up being just another black box that doesn’t have anything special built-in and lacks some unique design quality, we’ll all be rather bored. And being bored in the world of gaming is a very, very bad thing.

“To make the discussion all about hardware couldn’t be worse”

Sony needs to take the attention away from its product design and start focusing more on its game library. The move the company should be making right now is to show off the PlayStation 4’s design and be done with it. To make the discussion surrounding Sony’s next console all about hardware couldn’t be worse for the company.

If history has taught us anything, it’s that software sells hardware. The Dreamcast died off because its software library was sub-par compared to that of its competitors. Sony’s PlayStation became such a hit because it had so many games available. The console’s design didn’t really matter all that much.

In this case, I’m going to give Sony the benefit of the doubt. I think the PlayStation maker truly understands the dynamics of the gaming industry and doesn’t want to take too much focus off the games. I believe, therefore, that Sony has something quite special up its sleeve. And rather than just let Microsoft and Nintendo take E3 by storm, it wants to show off something that we’ve never even thought about from a hardware perspective.

Of course, all of that could be wishful thinking. But if history serves us correctly, it tells us that Sony can pull off some miracles. And it needs another one right now.

Why Won’t Sony Let Us See What the PS4 Looks Like? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It was just the other day that Microsoft took the wraps off the Xbox One, but fret not Xbox 360 gamers because Microsoft has not forgotten you! In an interview held with GameSpot, Microsoft Game Studios executive Phil Spencer revealed […]

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Back in February during Sony’s PS4 reveal, the company didn’t show off the console itself because it’s merely “just a box.” Instead, we were treated with a look at the DualShock 3 controller, as well as a glimpse at some upcoming games that we can look forward to playing once the console is released. Today, however, Sony has teased the console itself, with several close-up angles that really don’t tell us much in the end.

The teaser video, which you can watch below, gives us a very blurry view of the PS4 console box itself, although it doesn’t look like much through an unfocused lens. Throughout the video, we get treated with quick flashes of various close-up angles of the console, including its edges, corners, vents, and logos (which we’re guessing the image above is a new logo of some sort).

At the end of the teaser, we’re treated with a date of June 10 at 6 pm PT, which is during Sony’s press conference at E3, meaning that we’ll get treated with the full PS4 treatment at E3, including more details about the hardware, as well as a release date for the console. Microsoft is also expected to show off its next-gen console at E3 this year.

Speaking of Microsoft, the company is set to announce their next-generation Xbox console tomorrow, so we’re pretty sure that today’s teaser from Sony was strategically timed to attempt to take a bit of day-before excitement away from Microsoft. However, come tomorrow, all eyes will be on the Redmond-based company and their new gaming console.

The PS4 is planned to release in time for the holiday season, and we can only expect Microsoft to do the same with their console. However, it’ll be up in the air on who out-shines who when Santa comes to town. Needless to say, it’ll be nice to have the console wars heated up again after neither company has released a new console in quite some time.

PS4 console teased ahead of full E3 hardware details is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.