Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s really been big today on emphasizing that Gingerbread is better than ever for game development, and that’s already bearing itself out thanks to a page culled from the Android 2.3 SDK where we see a handful of new keycodes in the system clearly targeted for gaming: L1, L2, R1, R2, Select, Start, and so on. Does it have anything to do with the Sony Ericsson Zeus Z1 and all the PlayStation phone noise, though? We imagine it lays some of the groundwork, but all told, it’s hard to say — after all, PlayStation famously uses shapes for its primary controls, and we wouldn’t be surprised if Sony were working on a separate development environment of some sort for PlayStation-branded titles rather than letting it all flow through the official Android SDK proper. We also don’t yet know whether Sony Ericsson’s gaming efforts are coming in the Gingerbread or the Honeycomb timeframe (though we’re definitely expecting news next February at MWC), but one way or another, game devs should find it a little easier now to map the controls they need.

Android 2.3 definitely supports game controls, may (or may not) be PlayStation-related originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The new expansion pack features an environment redesign, two new playable races, a level cap increase from 80 to 85, guild advancement, rated battlegrounds, and a slew of other features.

The $80 Collector’s Edition, meanwhile, features a 176 page art book, The Art of the Cataclysm which features a ton of never seen images from the creation of the game. There’s also a behind-the-scenes DVD, a soundtrack album, a limited edition mousepad, and a 60 card deck of trading cards.

The pack also gives the user access to an exclusive in-game pet named Deathwing. According to Blizzard, “he may not be a breaker of worlds just yet, but Lil’ Deathwing will still proudly accompany heroes on their struggle to save Azeroth from his much, much larger counterpart.”

Microsoft may be struggling to sell phones, but over in Xbox 360 land, things are going crazy. The Kinect controller-free controller has sold a whopping 2.5-million units in just 25 days.

The Kinect, which uses a combination of infra-red projectors and various cameras to track puny humans in their living rooms and therefrom control the on-screen action, has been a success since the pre-sale queues on launch-day, something usually seen in only the cultish world of Apple. And with the sales of Nintendo’s Wii declining after years of sold-out, hard-to-find success, it’s looking like the Kinect will be the new king of jumping-around-in-front-of-the-TV-and-looking-stupid this holiday season.

And don’t just take my word for it. Microsoft is optimistic in its press release, predicting five million units sold this Christmas, hopefully combating the festive flab with a bit of game-related exercise. Here’s a money-making tip for any speedy games developers out there: Write a Kinect-compatible game called “Guilty Gym Membership” and get it in stores for January 1st 2011, and you’ll be very rich indeed.

Xbox 360 Surpasses 2.5 Million Kinect Sensors Sold [Microsoft]

Photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:

• How Motion Detection Works in Xbox Kinect
• How Facial Recognition Works in Xbox Kinect
• Kinect Teardown Reveals IR Projector, Fan
• Kinect Not Colorblind, Some Testers Find
• Kinect Running on Multiple Platforms, Looking Cool
• Gadget Lab Podcast: Xbox Kinect, Wired's Fall Test, Skyfire …

Never mind your 103-inch plasmas or Guinness Word Record-holding stadium displays, real gamers do their thing on LCDs that span a cool seven thousand and five hundred square meters (translated into imperial measuring units, that’s… a lot!). What you see above is a little glimpse of an MMO enthusiast with a big passion and no less sizable wallet. The gent in question was displeased by the fact a competing guildmaster in the Chinese MMO Magic World Online 2 got to play in an IMAX theater, and therefore decided to one-up him in the only way possible: by hiring Beijing’s crazily oversized display (titled “All Beijing, look up!”) for a little session of supersized gaming. Jump past the break to see it on video.

Continue reading Chinese man plays MMO on titanic screen, pleads for higher pixel density (video)

Chinese man plays MMO on titanic screen, pleads for higher pixel density (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Black Friday is one of those new school traditions we can really get behind: the consumer’s holiday, where trampling an elderly person is perfectly acceptable as long as you end up with a $40 netbook. Well, Nintendo‘s getting in the spirit this year with two new orange and green DSi bundles for your shopping pleasure. The bundles serve to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the famous Super Mario Bros. games and come with Mario Party DS. The bundles will be available on November 26th (yes, that’s Black Friday) for $149.99. Full press release is below.

Continue reading Nintendo rolls out orange and green DSi bundles especially for Black Friday stampedes

Nintendo rolls out orange and green DSi bundles especially for Black Friday stampedes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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