Sony announces ‘snackable’ 100MB Minis for PSN Store

Over in beautiful Cologne, Germany, Sony has just confirmed what we’ve suspected for months now. Exclusive to the PSN Store, loyal Sony gamers will soon have access to a new segment of titles, ones that’ll be available anytime and anywhere that there’s an internet connection. The 100MB (or less) selections — which are being officially called Minis — are designed to take advantage of the “smaller development cost on the PSP,” and if all goes well, we’ll see 15 games (such as Tetris, Hero of Sparta, MiniGore and Fieldrunners) launching on October 1st. There’s been no mention yet of how expensive these “snackable” apps / games will be, but we’re holding Sony to its promise of 50 by the end of 2009.

Update: Press release after the break.

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Sony announces ‘snackable’ 100MB Minis for PSN Store originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tony Hawk: RIDE makes official US debut on November 17th

Turns out GameStop’s October 13th listing for Tony Hawk: RIDE was just a hair off, to the tune of 36 days or so. Activison Blizzard’s sent word today that the skating simulator’s official North American launch is set for November 17th — plenty of time to practice your faux ollies before showing your family some virtual board skills over Thanksgiving meals. Additionally, Europe’s now official for November 20th, but we already heard that last week. No word on pricing, but across the pond, GAME.co.uk is pushing that £99 / $168 figure pretty hard, and while we’re willing to bet that’s the official Europe price, we’re not convinced that’s any indication of what we’ll be paying stateside.

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Tony Hawk: RIDE makes official US debut on November 17th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tony Hawk Ride Limited Edition skateboard outed as UK version gets priced and dated

While details aren’t 100 percent confirmed for those of us across the pond — Activision has yet to come out and verify those October 20th / $120 listingsTony Hawk Ride and its white not-quite-skateboard will be launching November 20th in the United Kingdom for £99.99, or about $168 in US currency. European retailer GAME will be selling a limited edition version of the game, which will sport a red and black skateboard and surprisingly no markup in price whatsoever. You know, it’s a good thing the console cycle seems to be extending beyond its formerly four-year pattern, because these plastic peripherals are gonna be doing a number on our bank accounts.

[Via Joystiq]

Read – Tony Hawk Ride dated and priced
Read – Limited Edition listing

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Tony Hawk Ride Limited Edition skateboard outed as UK version gets priced and dated originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What CTA’s iPhone steering wheel lacks in style, it also lacks in convenience

For many users, any game that ends up installed on an iPhone is something of an after-thought: It sits there, quietly, waiting for a spare moment in the dentist’s waiting room or on the train. But CTA Digital, a company known for its various game controllers, has a vision of the future that includes people lugging around little plastic steering wheels with an iPhone-sized hole in the middle. We don’t know how much this “Basic Steering Wheel for iPhone and iPod Touch” will actually bring the “feel of driving a real vehicle” to Ferrari GT, but the guy in the video sure looks like he’s having fun. Allegedly works with most horizontally configured racing games, and includes adapters for the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch, and iPod Touch 2G. See for yourself after the break.

Continue reading What CTA’s iPhone steering wheel lacks in style, it also lacks in convenience

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What CTA’s iPhone steering wheel lacks in style, it also lacks in convenience originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: DJ Hero makes cameo in Kid Cudi video, comes back full circle

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.


Something very peculiar popped up while we were watching Kid Cudi’s “Make Her Say” music video. Just as the song is winding down, Mr. Cudi (also known as Scott Mescudi) can be seen “air scratching” while someone in the above frame takes the pantomime one step further with DJ Hero‘s turntable peripheral. The connection runs much deeper, though: the song was produced by Kanye West, whose rise to fame arguably came when he produced Jay-Z’s critically acclaimed album The Blueprint… and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, in turn, happens to be one of the two artists (along with Eminem) promoting DJ Hero. Funny how that works out. Video after the break, and jump to the 3:03 mark if all you really want is another glimpse of the controller.

[Thanks, Laxuo and AG Beast]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: DJ Hero makes cameo in Kid Cudi video, comes back full circle

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Screen Grabs: DJ Hero makes cameo in Kid Cudi video, comes back full circle originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bored? Befuddle Your Images

This article was written on November 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

Befuddlr One of the games that I’ve always enjoyed doing on the computer are the image puzzles, where you provide an image and it scrambles it all up for you to reorganize. Often times the puzzle only has one blank spot that you can use for sliding around the different puzzle pieces, kind of like this game.

A new site, called Befuddlr, is almost the same thing except you do it with Flickr photos! They have several different galleries of images you can choose from, some of which are particularly challenging. Once you pick an image to work with you’ll want to try and memorize it, and then hit the “Befuddle it!” button. That will scramble the image so that you can begin rearranging the different pieces in the correct order.

It’s a little easier than the sliding puzzles since you’re not restricted to sliding pieces around, but at the same time all of the pieces have to remain in the image making it nearly impossible to try and organize them. If you find yourself in a bind go ahead and click the “View original on Flickr” link located above the image to see what you started with. Once you get all of the pieces in the correct order Befuddlr will let you know, and it will tell you how long it took to complete the puzzle.

Beware: This will quickly consume large amounts of your time without any warning. Play at your own risk!

Befuddlr Homepage

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DJ Hero Renegade Edition now accepting callers, lists for $199.99

So how badly do you want that metallic DJ Hero turntable? The game’s official website is now directing your attention to GameStop and Amazon, both of which are now accepting pre-orders for the Renegade Edition (due to launch October 27th alongside the standard bundle) for just one copper Lincoln under $200. That’s a $80 premium over the regular bundle but does also include a stand / carrying case hybrid and a two-CD collection. Then again, it’s also well over the cost of the entire instrument bundle for Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour. Anyone gonna bite?

[Thanks, HArry]

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DJ Hero Renegade Edition now accepting callers, lists for $199.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wii MotionPlus Review

The Wii MotionPlus, Nintendo’s hardware patch to make true on the promise of true motion-control gaming, is here. While it’s pretty damn amazing—it truly is 1:1 motion detection—it still isn’t perfect. And part of that is the software.

Click for gallery

The Hardware:
The are two components to the Wii MotionPlus, the hardware attachment itself and the software that supports it. The hardware, which consists of a sensor which detects rotation that hooks into the expansion/Nunchuk port of the Wiimote, allows the setup to feed back exact 3D positional information to the console. It still requires the other motion-detection systems of the Wii, including the sensor bar, which may contribute to the flaws of the overall system.

Here’s the best example of what we’re talking about. In Wii Sports Resort’s Swordplay mode, where you swing around a kendo sword, there’s a game called Showdown where you advance along a fixed path and swordfight about 50 continuous people. Even after calibrating your sword (Wii MotionPlus) at the start of the fight, the sword will go about 20-30 degrees askew after a few minutes of swinging, requiring you to recalibrate the system quickly by pressing down on the D-Pad. That wouldn’t be bad, except for the fact that the Wiimote is still susceptible to interference from bright sunlight through a window or any pair of incandescent lights it thinks are the sensor bar, which totally screws up your orientation.

But for the most part, it’s 1:1 motion. Wave your Wiimote around and the sword follows. You bowl or throw frisbees or swing a club or shoot a basket and the Mii on screen actually traces the actions of your controller. It’s a very different experience than the past three years of flicking around the Wiimote. If you control your environment (limit the amount of sunlight, don’t have any light bulbs to interfere), the hardware does what it claims.

The Software:

We tested it with the three types of games that are out now, Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo’s own offering that it’s been working on since the MotionPlus unveil at E3 2008), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Golf) and Virtua Tennis 2009 (Tennis). We passed on Grand Slam Tennis since we didn’t think we needed to test two tennis games to get the idea of how tennis worked for the platform, and reviews on Amazon rate the two titles as more or less equivalent in MotionPlus usage.

Tiger Woods: The game lets you go 1:1 motion in terms of your swing, but still manages to keep the game a game. There are three modes of difficulty, basically how realistic you want to map your motions, with the advance mode putting the most control of drawing and fading into your hands. I’m not a golfer, so I can’t say with any kind of expertise how realistic this is, but it felt like what I was doing actually made a difference on screen. Instead of just going through any old swing, I had to pay attention to my form and keep the Wiimote face pointing the right way through contact with the ball.

The two questions that you have to ask are if the implementation actually makes you feel like you’re making 1:1 motions with the golfer on screen, and whether or not it’s fun. It is definitely fun, but it’s not exactly 1:1 in terms of being ultra realistic. As good as the Wii MotionPlus hardware is, the developers took the liberty of not making the speed of your swing reflect the speed of your swing in game. Point being, very few people can actually swing as hard as Tiger, so in order to make the game entertaining, they had to level the playing field. If you really wanted to do 1:1 golfing, you’ll have to pony up some club fees and go outside.

Virtua Tennis: Now tennis I do know, and Sega’s implementation definitely is not 1:1. In a MotionPlus tennis game you would imagine the avatar on screen taking his backswing at the same time you do, mirroring your forehand, backhand or even overhead smash windup. It does not. In fact, it still gets confused half the time as to whether you’re even doing a forehand or a backhand!

Trying to direct the ball crosscourt, down the line or up the middle is equally as futile—I could only get this to work accurately at most three shots out of five. The positional data from the Wiimote is there obviously, since other games have that data, but the game chooses to process it in a weird way. Like in golf, swings don’t map 1:1 in that the speed of your swing doesn’t quite determine how fast you swing. I can hit a decent serve, but I’m nowhere up into the 130s.

But the most annoying part of the game is the constant calibration. You have to point your Wiimote at the middle of the screen before every point (screenshot above), holding it still so the game knows where “front” is. Again, a huge waste of time when you want to be playing, and it puts the limitations of the platform in your face every few minutes.

As for the two questions of whether or not the game lets you feel like you’re playing 1:1 and whether or not it’s fun, we have the same answer. It is fun, but it’s definitely not 1:1. It’s a few steps up from Wii Sports Tennis (the first one, without MotionPlus), but it definitely isn’t a “realistic” tennis experience. You will, however, be able to get more of a workout since you’re trying to go 1:1 instead of just flicking your wrist. I’d imagine that this is similar to experienced golf players playing Tiger Woods; because you actually know what you’re doing, the fact that this isn’t quite 1:1 makes the process more frustrating.


Wii Sports Resort:
The fact that Nintendo’s own game is the best, both at showing the potential of the MotionPlus and in the implementation, should be no surprise. They developed the hardware and they’ve had the most time incubating their game, which makes Wii Sports Resort the most polished of the bunch.

I won’t go through each of the games—you can catch that on Kotaku’s review—but I will touch on some of the highs and lows. The previously mentioned Swordplay is pretty great, despite the quirks in the mode that caused frequent calibration issues, and really translates your swinging into sword motions well.

Frisbee and basketball and bowling and table tennis all fare equally well, and actually make you feel like you’re controlling what’s happening on the screen. It’s a feeling that was lacking from Wii Sports. Letting go of the frisbee (B button) at just the right time determines angle, height and power, and flicking your wrist in basketball actually determines the angle your ball approaches the hoop.

But the flaws of Wii Motionplus show up in games like archery and canoeing. In archery, you hold the MotionPlus with your non-dominant hand to aim the bow and pull your string back with the Nunchuk. The MotionPlus gets de-calibrated super easily so that “front” often means 30 degrees off to the side and 20 degrees down. And in canoeing (as well as table tennis), you have the problem of the Wiimote not knowing which side you’re pulling your controller to, so precision is not as perfect as you’d imagine.

Verdict
The hardware is a big step forward, but it’s not the end of the road. If I had to put a number on it, I’d say this was 80% of the way there to delivering true 1:1 motion detection in the hardware. Unless Nintendo releases a Wii MotionPlusPlus, I don’t expect that it will get all that much better in this generation, hardware-wise.

However, even with the slight limitation that the hardware platform has, the software can make up with it by allowing you to do things that cater to its strengths and avoid its weaknesses (like detecting which side of your body you’re pulling the controller towards). Sega’s tennis implementation, for example, is one that needs refinement, whereas swordplay and frisbee and basketball—for the most part—are fine.

But if your question is if the Wii Motionplus is fun, it definitely is. It’s the closest you’ll get to 1:1 motion gaming until either the Sony or Microsoft motion solutions come out in 2010. Go and give Nintendo some more of your money. [Amazon]

Really gives you the sense that you’re doing 1:1 motion


Wii Sports Resort is actually fun, and comes with one MotionPlus adapter


Not all games use motion equally well, with Wii Sports Resort being the best of the bunch now


Constant calibration in certain modes and certain games are annoying and somewhat of a waste of time

DJ Hero goes renegade with premium edition turntable, DJ stand

If your virtual disc-scratching needs something a little less silver and little more dark, brooding, and bronze, Activison today announced the DJ Hero Renegade Edition bundle, which includes just such a peripheral with promised premium metal controls and finish. The full package also comes with a hardshell carrying case that doubles as a stand, and less impacting on the gameplay itself, a Jay-Z / Eminem two-CD collection with unreleased tracks and a collectible case designed by Shepard Fairey. No word on price, but if that rumored $120 tag for the standard edition pans out, you can expect to be paying a prettier penny here. Browse the new gear, including the Wii version of the standard turntable, in the gallery below.

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DJ Hero goes renegade with premium edition turntable, DJ stand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watchmen Director’s Cut movie / PlayStation 3 game Blu-ray combo now available

If you have the dominant high-def optical storage format — which can serve both movies and games with equal aplomb — built right into your consoles, shouldn’t you be leveraging that synergy? Well, the assimilation is now complete, as Watchmen Director’s Cut launched today with The End is Nigh Parts 1 and 2 for PlayStation 3 in tow. The price of admission here is a penny under $50 before tax / shipping — and considering both parts of the game cost $30 total on their lonesome, that’s none too shabby of a deal. It’ll be interesting to see what film and tie-in game make the merge next — anyone up for a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory re-release?

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Watchmen Director’s Cut movie / PlayStation 3 game Blu-ray combo now available originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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