Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re not really down with strumming a fake guitar in Guitar Hero, perhaps you’d prefer to try your skills on the 1s and 2s. We’re talking turntables here: scratching, mixing, and rapping with the new DJ Hero 2 game. Released today from Activision, the makers of Guitar Hero, DJ Hero 2 allows you to mix tracks, battle with another DJ, and add vocals with a mic. 

DJ Hero 2 comes in three variations: the DJ Hero 2 Party Pack ($150), which comes with two turntables and a microphone, as well as the game, of course; the Turntable Bundle ($100), which comes with just the game and one turntable; or, if you already own DJ Hero and have a turntable or two, you can buy just the game for $60.

The update features a slew of new DJ and vocal multiplayer modes, including innovating DJ Battles, and over 80 mixes. The people at Activsion got some of the best DJs to produce and mix sets. DJs featured include Tiesto, DJ Shadow, DJ Jazzy Jeff, A-Trak, Diplo, and Z-Tip, among others. The tracks that come with the game are some of the most popular jams out there by artists like Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Naughty By Nature, Missy Elliott, The Chemical Brothers, Gorillaz, and M.I.A., to name a few.

The game itself hasn’t changed much. PCMag reviewed the original DJ Hero and gave it a 4 out of 5. Though mastering the skills of turntablism can be a little tricky, once you get the hang of it, DJ Hero is quite the addictive game. Take a look at the review to get a feel for the gist of the game.

To celebrate the launch of DJ Hero 2, Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy are adding a few incentives to the package. Between October 19 and October 23, Amazon is offering a free copy of Linkin Park’s new album “A Thousand Suns.” If Linkin Park isn’t quite your cup of tea, check out Best Buy where a Party Bundle or Turntable Bundle will get you a free hard-shell carrying case that converts into a game-ready DJ stand. Lastly, certain specially-marked Wii or XBox 360 Party or Turntable Bundles at Walmart will also come with a $10 gift card to Walmart.com.

Yesterday it was the Nintendo Wii, today PlayStation 3 owners are the ones who get to enjoy streaming video from Netflix without leaving their couches, and without having to keep the Netflix disc in their DVD trays. Just fire up your PlayStation 3, head to the XrossMediaBar (XMB,) and you should see the Netflix app there, ready to download.

Once you have it installed on your PS3, the disc will no longer work. You’re free to use it as a Frisbee or a coaster for those drinks you can enjoy now that you don’t have to get up to watch a movie. At least PS3 owners will be able to enjoy streaming video in beautiful 1080p HD with Dolby 5.1 channel surround sound, something Wii owners sadly didn’t get yesterday, but that’s more Nintendo’s problem to solve than Netflix’s.

The Nintendo Entertainment System turns 25 today. The October 18, 1985 launch of the system was pretty unassuming–particularly in light of the game changer the console would become after it received a wide release in February the following year.

Nintendo did a bit of a trial run on this day, a quarter of a century ago, releasing seventeen titles in New York City, including such future classics as Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong Jr., and Excitebike.

In honor of this occasion (and to make you feel even older than you already do), here’s a quick tour of Nintendo’s first 25 years in the USA.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 is a multimedia machine. There’s little the thing can’t do, when it comes to the full entertainment experience. Until now, however, there’s been one missing feature that has stuck out like a bit of a sore thumb. The thing has been a complete disappointment when it comes to storing little domestic weasels.

One crafty PS3 owner has set out to address that stigma, proving, once and for all, that the high-end gaming console is, in fact, a perfectly good place for a ferret to sleep–well, after a few fairly minor alterations. You know, things like scoping out all of the system’s innards and replacing them with polka dot sheets.

The little white ferret in this video seems to be genuinely enjoying her life, so perhaps it’s worth a few hundred dollars, after all. No word on whether the furry white model is compatible with Blu-ray yet. Video after the jump.

I told myself I wasn’t going to get hooked, but it all happened so fast. I downloaded the Angry Birds Demo to my Droid, and ten minutes later, I couldn’t put the thing down, sitting on the subway, ignoring my fellow passengers, while slingshotting birds into the rickety structures.

Honestly, my only saving grace was the fact that the demo (Angry Birds Lite) is only 15 levels–all of which I quickly beat.

I’ve been simultaneously anticipating and dreading this day–the full version of Angry Birds is available for Google’s Android operating system. Right. Now.

Interestingly, while the demo version of the app was made available through Google’s Android Market, the game’s manufacturer, Rovio, has opted to sell this version through the third-party app store GetJar. The good news, however, is that unlike its iPhone counterpart, the full Android version is totally free,

It’s ad-supported, actually. And there will be some in-game purchase available as well. The extremely frustrated will be able to buy the Mighty Eagle, for example.

There goes my free time.