Hasta La Gadget!

They’re a growing threat, these simple games with their simple designs, simple controls, and simple graphics. They don’t offer the full, premium experience that the real gamers want. They aren’t hardcore enough. They aren’t serious enough. They’re just too… casual.

In the ’90s these were all complaints used to describe the strengthening console menace. Back then, a younger me squandered his meager income at the local Babbage’s or Electronics Boutique, stores full of PC games in cardboard boxes — console titles relegated to a few little shelves. It wouldn’t take long for those consoles to take over those stores and, along the way, the entire industry. Between just 1998 and 2006 console software sales more than doubled, from $2.5 billion to $6.7 billion, while PC game sales dropped from $1.8 billion to $970 million. Even the FPS, once exclusive domain of the PC, is now a console enterprise, with Call of Duty: Black Ops launching on 4.9 million sales on the Xbox 360 and PS3. The PC version, meanwhile, sold less than 400,000 copies (the NPD lumped them in with sales of the Nintendo DS and Wii versions).

Who cares about ancient history? If you’re a gamer you should, because it’s happening again. This time, though, its console gamers lobbing the same lamentations at Angry Bird players, Words With Friends addicts, and ever-sneaky Fruit Ninjas. As smartphones and tablets get more powerful, the dedicated gaming machine looks more and more quaint. Where once software supported hardware in one big, happy family, it’s all becoming rather more… disjointed. For a gamer like me, that’s a little troubling. If app gaming does for consoles what those consoles did to the PC scene a decade ago, a lot of big game studios are going to be in trouble, and a lot of gamers are going to be pining for the good ‘ol days.

Continue reading Console vs. PC redux: how mobile gaming will reshape the industry (again)

Console vs. PC redux: how mobile gaming will reshape the industry (again) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s seen fit to tell us many of the PlayStation Vita’s specs, how much it’ll cost ($249 for WiFi, $299 for 3G), and who gets it (everyone). Amidst all the hullabaloo at E3 2011, however, we missed seeing that Sony was showing off the new handheld’s internal memory cards. Good thing an eagle-eyed member of the public snapped a pic of the 4, 8, 16, and 32GB cards on the show floor. They look awfully similar to garden variety SD cards, only there’s a little notch in the side confirming they hew to Sony’s unfortunate habit of using proprietary storage formats. The cost of the cards remains shrouded in secrecy, but life’s more fun when a little mystery’s involved, right?

Sony PlayStation Vita’s removable memory looks like it’s an SD card, but it isn’t originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s already brought Xbox Live integration to Windows Phone 7, and it looks like you can count on some similar, if not deeper, integration in Windows 8 as well. Speaking to The Seattle Times, Microsoft VP Mike Delman said that “Live has been successful on the Windows Phone,” and that “Live will be built into the PC. It will be the service where you get your entertainment.” Delman went on to add that “Xbox Live will the pervasive media service across devices,” and that “whether it’s us or Apple or anybody else, people want to be able to navigate through multiple devices in a certain ecosystem very seamlessly so we’re committed to that.” As you might expect, however, he was still fairly light on any further specifics, but he did say that assets like Live and SkyDrive will be unified, and he promised that Microsoft will have plenty more to show at next year’s E3 — according to Delman, “you will not just see consoles and handhelds at this show next year, this show’s going to morph into other devices.”

Microsoft talks Xbox Live integration in Windows 8, says service will be ‘pervasive’ across devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, there are plenty of great gaming goodies to be found on the floor at E3, but some of the best stuff is much harder to find. For example, SteelSeries’ new Diablo III Mouse and headset, which were revealed to us when the prototype devices were pulled from a backpack. The headset packs the same 50mm drivers, retractable boom mic, and overhead suspension design of its Siberia V2 stablemate, but adds some sinister-looking design tweaks. These cans come murdered out in matte black with lava red accents (which can be turned off) courtesy of 18 LEDs, plus matching red external speaker grilles. There’s also a braided cord that plugs into your Mac or PC via USB.

We got to see the Diablo III mouse as well, and found it sports an ambidextrous design similar to the SteelSeries Xai. Its inky exterior is cloaked in smooth, soft touch plastic sporting silvery tribal accents, and a glowing ember Diablo III logo and trim around the scroll-wheel. Given Diablo’s click-happy gameplay, Steelseries gave the mouse beefy Omron switches that are good for 10 million presses (which are backed by a five year warranty). All those clicks are tracked by custom driver software that also lets users tailor the pointer’s button layout by dragging and dropping character-specific commands to the button of your choosing. Now that your appetite has been whetted with the design descriptions, here are the details that matter most: the mouse will cost $69 and the headset $119 when SteelSeries starts selling ’em at BlizzCon in October.

Continue reading SteelSeries Diablo III headset and mouse: demon slaying flair for your skull and desktop

SteelSeries Diablo III headset and mouse: demon slaying flair for your skull and desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft asked us to drop by at E3 to chat up a generically identified “Xbox executive,” imagine our surprise when we found Kudo Tsunoda hiding behind door number six. Wearing his signature shades, Kudo gave us a brief primer on what makes Kinect great, or at least a heavy endorsement of Kinect Fun Labs. While we can certainly dig the bit-sized gadgetry Fun Labs has to offer, we like to dig deeper — will the Kinect hardware ever be integrated into other devices? Any plans for Microsoft’s 3D tracking camera and Windows 8? Kudo did his best to feed our ravenous appetite for answers.

It wasn’t easy on poor Kudo, of course — more than once we saw him glance longingly at his wrangler, a friendly PR rep keeping him from spilling the beans on anything too awesome. Probing about Windows 8 and Kinect produced one such look, and while our man very lightly suggested that Microsoft does more than games — and that the dual-camera device might start showing up on other devices — the big M had nothing to announce at that time. Kudo did go on to say, however, that we can expect to see new, innovative, “oh my gosh, I can’t believe Kinect can do that” experiences at E3 year after year, citing this year’s keynote for some recent examples. While we couldn’t coax any leaks about Xbox or Kinect successors out of the man, it’s good to see Microsoft’s continued dedication to improving the platform.

Kudo Tsunoda doesn’t tell us a thing about Windows 8 support for Kinect originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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