Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s PlayStation Vita gaming handheld caps its selectable content at 100 items, one unlucky forum user recently found out. Despite having a 32GB memory card for the Vita with 9GB of free space left, the Vita told him (as seen above) that the device caps displayable content at 100 items. Worse yet, anything beyond the 100 had to be outright deleted, and the Vita had to be restarted — if you want to access anything beyond the 100, you need to delete something else. Egads! The Vita in question contained a 32GB memory card with “around 50 [PlayStation] Minis, 10 PSOne titles, 20 or so mandatory apps, and 20 Vita/PSP games/apps” — something we could easily see ballooning now that PlayStation Plus is on Vita.

Management of memory card data can (thankfully) be handled on a PC or Mac using Content Manager Assistant, lest you worry that your data is trapped. Still, having to hot swap between (expensive, proprietary) memory cards on the Vita kinda flies in the face of large storage capacity memory cards, like the 32GB one employed by the unlucky person who discovered the limitation. For its part, Sony isn’t saying anything just yet, but we’ll update if we hear more.

[Photo credit: “shagg_187,” NeoGAF]

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Sony

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Source: Neogaf

Our CES plates were jam-packed full of eye-opening conversations this year. We had the chance to speak to top tech luminaries, entrepreneurs, celebrities and fellow journalists. Much of that opportunity arose from the return of our stage, parked right in the middle of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Grand Lobby. We blew things out this year, packing the schedule from the show’s opening on Tuesday morning to its close on Friday night.

Below we have a list of the interviews we did at this year’s show, both on-stage and off, so you can relive the thoughts, theories and comments that defined this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Continue reading CES 2013: Interview roundup

Filed under: Announcements, Cellphones, Desktops, Cameras, Displays, Misc, Gaming, GPS, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Household, Laptops, Peripherals, Podcasts, Robots, Tablets, Transportation, Wearables, Wireless, Storage, Networking, Internet, Software, HD, Mobile, Sony, HTC, Nokia, Verizon, Sprint, LG, AMD, RIM, Lenovo, NVIDIA

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Perhaps the form factor of PowerA’s previous Moga — a Bluetooth-enabled Android game controller — was too mobile for you? PowerA’s got you covered, showing off its full controller-sized Moga Pro this week at CES 2013. The differences from Moga’s previous iteration are clear and many: a rechargeable battery built in, a d-pad, larger face buttons, full analog sticks with click, and shoulder buttons just above triggers (and a backlight, if you’re into that kinda thing). There’s also a stand included, should you choose to use the Moga Pro with your Bluetooth-enabled Android tablet — the controller’s built in phone holder extends all the way up to the (enormous) Note 2. To call it a big difference seems to be a disservice to a device that is essentially completely different from its forebear.

The Moga Pro is a solidly built, comfortable controller. Where the Moga felt a bit constricting and prone to causing hand cramps over long use, the Moga Pro feels as natural as a regular game console controller. The triggers out back resemble those of the Xbox 360’s gamepad, and the same quality applies to the clickable dual analogs on the face. The d-pad is perfectly serviceable as well. However, as Android games aren’t built with a controller in mind, the experience actually using the controller in-game (we played Dead Trigger) was a bit wonky. A bit of lag — easily perceptible — stood between our button presses and action in the game. This may not make a huge difference to some folks, but to anyone used to console or PC gaming, it’s an unacceptable situation. The folks at PowerA say this issue can be overcome by developers should they choose to invest in a solution, but we’re not so confident that devs will make that investment. Time will tell.

The final addition is a switch for two separate modes: A for the standard Moga Pro mode, and B for an “H.I.D.” mode. What’s H.I.D., you ask? Yeah, we did too — apparently it’s an emerging standard for Bluetooth controller. It’s yet to be solidly accepted across the board by various peripheral manufacturers, but just in case it does, the Moga Pro will be ready. As for when you can get your hands on the Moga Pro, that’s another question altogether. We were given a spring 2013 window and no price point for the device, but we’re anticipating a similar pricing to the $50 that the original Moga cost.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, Tablets, Mobile

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Who hasn’t dreamed of having a Tricorder from the show Star Trek? Qualcomm announced the Tricorder X Prize last year, who’s aim is to create a Star Trek-like device. Those who are interested in fame and fortune, as well as the $10 million prize, can finally register starting tomorrow and then they have to actually make it happen. There have already been over 250 teams pre-registered for the competition, and those interested can head to the official site for the full guidelines and actually register for the site.

Filed under: Handhelds, HD

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Source: Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize

NVIDIA surprised the world last night by transitioning from hardware component manufacturer to game console manufacturer in one fell swoop, introducing the world to its portable game console, Project Shield. A 5-inch “retinal” HD multitouch display sitting atop a full-on game controller that resembles a blend of the Xbox 360 gamepad’s curves and the PlayStation 3 DualShock 3’s unfortunate analog stick placement, all powered by the newly revealed Tegra 4 quad-core cortex A15 processor. The console’s set to ship in Q2 2013, and it promises stunning graphics for the Android games it’s made to run, as well as a direct streaming option employing NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience application. That means not just Android games, but also full-on PC games, with built-in Steam Big Picture Mode integration. It is, frankly, an impressive package. But the proof’s in the pudding, right?

We got our first chance to go hands-on with the device this morning — our first hands-on with any Tegra 4 device, mind you — and came away impressed. Beyond being a speedy handheld, the 5-inch LED makes high-def PC games look even more visually stunning. Sheer pixel density alone meant that our test run of Need for Speed: Most Wanted looked even better on Project Shield than it did on the PC running it. More importantly, there was zero perceptible lag.

As for controls, Shield is a bit on the unwieldy side of things. In an effort to make the screen foldable, clamshell-style, with the full gamepad underneath, the analog sticks are sunk into the body. While it didn’t make any of the games we tried unplayable, it did feel a bit less comfy than, say, an Xbox 360 controller. The DualShock 3-esque placement of those analog sticks isn’t helping either, but sadly that doesn’t look like it’s changing — the sticks are where they are for function’s sake.

Continue reading Hands-on with NVIDIA’s first game console, Project Shield (update: now with video!)

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, HD, Mobile, NVIDIA

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