Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo has a history of releasing snazzy special edition hardware outside of the U.S. and two Japan-only Pokemon X & Y 3DS XLs have now been added to it. The blue passive-3D dual-screen handheld features a pair of new legendary pocket monsters — Xerneas and Yveltal, if you’re curious — and is out October 12th. The second of the duo is going to be more elusive than a Mew. To snatch a metallic gold 3DS XL (also with Xerneas, plus a slew of others), being in Japan to coincide with X & Y’s release isn’t enough: fighting off the rest of the trainers at Pokemon Center retailers October 12th is on the bill, too. May the best Pokemaster — with 22,800 yen ($227) — win! You didn’t think The Big N was gonna make it easy to catch ’em all, did you?

Filed under: Gaming

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Via: Kotaku (1), (2)

Source: Pokemon (Japan)

The Nvidia Project Shield, a handheld gaming device from the graphics card-maker that was set to debut Thursday, will be delayed until July, the company revealed today. In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Nvidia explained that it had to delay the release after discovering a mechanical issue tied to a piece supplied by a third-party company. The full statement is below.

During our final QA process, we discovered a mechanical issue that relates to a 3rd party component.  We want every SHIELD to be perfect, so we have elected to shift the launch date to July.  We’ll update you as soon as we have an exact date.

Perhaps most disappointing is that there isn’t a set timeframe for when the Shield will make it out to early buyers. Nvidia says in a blog post that it’s working “around the clock” with the supplier to correct the issue, but that doesn’t indicate whether we’ll see it arrive early or late in July. If it’s an issue that shut down production lines and affected all units, the likelihood is that Nvidia will need at least a few weeks to put everything right.

We’ve already gotten our hands on Shield, and while the hardware wasn’t the production version, the software seemed ready for market and the control layout was pleasing. Hopefully that means this is just a minor hiccup, and the July launch will go off without a hitch.

There’s no question that Nintendo is hurting these days, mostly owing to the lackluster reception for the Wii U. The company’s Scott Moffitt is upbeat, however: he tells CNET that the Wii U should enjoy a 3DS-like sales renaissance this holiday now that games in bigger franchises, like Mario and Zelda, are on the way. Of course, the 3DS also had the advantage of a dramatic price drop — but never you mind that. As for the handheld’s own performance this year? Moffitt claims that the 3DS is the only dedicated console whose sales are still growing, and he expects the system to have its best holiday yet. His positions on the 3DS and Wii U strike us as optimistic when Nintendo is up against two major console launches and the ever-present threat of smartphone gaming, but the gaming giant has defied the odds more than once in its history.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Nintendo

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Source: CNET

Is it worth adding a lop-sided $20 piece of plastic to your already-substantial 3DS XL in order to gain a second analog thumb stick? It’s a good question and finally one worth asking now that Nintendo has announced that the currently Japan-only Circle Pad Pro for the XL will start shipping in the States tomorrow. When we went hands-on last year, we found that it added predictable amounts of girth and also blocked the cartridge port, but compensated by making the handheld more comfortable to use, not least by adding larger shoulder buttons as well as the thumb stick. It’s also worth pointing out that the smaller 3DS version of the accessory enabled better controls for left-handed players in Kid Icarus, so there could be some subtler benefits too. We’ve embedded our hands-on video after the break, so you just need to hold a $20 bill up against your screen and decide which looks better.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Nintendo

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Via: NeoGaf

Source: Nintendo

I’m not sure what it is with the cheap Chinese gadget makers and their desire to make things that look like the Sony PSP, but they keep doing it. Funny thing is, the latest PSP lookalike has better specs than the PSP itself.

The Megafeis G600 handheld runs the Android 4.0 operating system. Under its hood it’s got a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU (compared to a 333MHz CPU in the PSP), along with a PowerVR SGX531 GPU. And unlike the PSP-3000, the Megafeis has a hi-res 800×480 display (more than twice the resolution of the PSP). It’s also got an HDMI 1.4 compatible video output and support for full 1080p video output.

It’s only got 512MB of DDR3 memory built in, but you can expand up to 32GB of storage with a microSD card. You’ll also find a built-in motion sensor, and a 5-inch capacitive touchscreen – both of which aren’t present on the actual PSP. Wi-fi supports only 802.11 b and g, but still that beats the 802.11b PSP-3000.

Of course in addition to running Android games on it, you can use it with emulators to play classic N64, PSX, GBA, NES, SNES, and Genesis games on it. However, one thing that the Megafeis G600 can’t do out of the box is play actual PSP games – although you might be able to get the PPSSPP emulator to run on it.

One other thing that the Megafeis has going for it – it’s dirt cheap. It sells for under $85(USD) over at DealExtreme.