Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve ever caught yourself humming the Angry Birds theme song, then perhaps you should check out tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra’s video game tribute concert. The group will play more than 20 songs made famous by games like Tetris, Zelda, Call of Duty and of course, Mario Bros., as part of London’s annual music festival. When asked to create the ultimate gaming remix, composer and arranger Andrew Skeet vowed to keep it old school, while giving folks the best bits of music. It’s not the first time someone’s paid tribute to these hits, and we’re hoping it’s not the last. Check out the full setlist and video after the break.

Continue reading London Philharmonic Orchestra goes cover band with tribute to video game themes

London Philharmonic Orchestra goes cover band with tribute to video game themes originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still in a holding pattern waiting for the NFL regular season to start and fall TV shows to premiere but luckily college football is here to save the day. It’s not alone though, check out our highlighted picks of the week right here, followed after the break by our weekly listings of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

College Football
While the pros — a distinction that is getting fuzzier and fuzzier *cough* Miami *cough* — get ready for their season to start college football teams will be getting back to it this weekend. UNLV and Wisconsin have the first high profile matchup of the year on ESPN (and ESPN 3D) Thursday night while Oregon and LSU play Saturday in a game that could have National Championship implications right away. We’ll include some of the high profile national matchups on our schedule, but you can click here to find out where every nationally broadcast game will be on throughout the season — we know how tough tracking Middle Tennessee can be.

The Hour
BBC America will air the third of six episodes of this drama on Wednesday night as it takes us behind the scenes of a 1950s TV news show featuring The Wire’s Dominic West. While it’s a period piece with plenty of sex, sexism and whiskey if you’re looking for a Mad Men clone you’ll likely be disappointed. The short story arc doesn’t build Don Draper-like lead characters, but the Suez Crisis, spies and a suspicious death form a strong enough backdrop for us to sink our teeth into. If you’re a fan of British TV we’d rate this one below the excellent Luther, but well above Law & Order: UK — check out a trailer after the break.
(August 31, BBC America, 10 PM)

Madden NFL 12
It’s that time of year again, when Madden comes out and we resort to couch based battles of supremacy for bragging rights and more. As usual, not that much has changed from year to year, but there are updates including a new collision system that promises to improve tackling, custom playbooks and new camera angles cribbed from NFL Films archives. After generally positive reviews — it snagged a 3.5-star rating from our friends at Joystiq — we won’t stop you from laying down $60 one more time for EA’s annual refresh.
($59.99, August 30)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (August 29th – September 4th)

Must See HDTV (August 29th – September 4th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If we didn’t already know those cats were mad about customizable controllers, we just got a reminder: the Mad Catz Major League Gaming Pro-Circuit Controllers. These professional-grade PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers allow competitive gamers to adjust the gamepad’s weight and swap out key components — such as exchanging the controller’s analog stick for a D-pad. Want your PS3 controller to have a Xbox 360 layout? No problem. If the insane kitty’s ambitious Onza competitor isn’t your thing, check out the MLG Tournament Edition Fightstick, featuring the same Sanwa Denshi components used in Japanese arcade cabinets. It may not have its sibling’s stick-swapping action, but its 13-foot controller cable, classic layout, and left-right stick toggle mode (for emulating the missing analog thumbstick) still aims to please. The Arcade Fightstick can be had now at the GameShark store to the tune of $160, but the Pro-Circuit gamepads aren’t due out until closer to the end of the year. Hit the break for a pair of extra pictures and the standard PR.

Continue reading Mad Catz Major League Gaming controllers offer swappable thumbstick layouts, fancy arcade buttons

Mad Catz Major League Gaming controllers offer swappable thumbstick layouts, fancy arcade buttons originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In some weird alternative universe, this is how retail is done: you walk into a store, buy a voucher for a digital product, and then download it. It’s a model that GameStop is embracing by offering digital PC game purchases through its retail locations. There are certain benefits to buying from a brick and mortar location — for one thing, customers can use trade-in credits for their purchases. And those who pre-order a digital copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution — the first game being offered through this model — will receive some extras including downloads of earlier entries in the series. Just be mindful of pop-ups — they’re way worse in real life.

Continue reading GameStop brings digital download purchases to stores, thus completing the retail circle

GameStop brings digital download purchases to stores, thus completing the retail circle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turns out, the home of Mario and Sonic is still a tough world to penetrate for Microsoft’s gaming division, despite its near-decade presence in the market. While homegrown Nintendo and Sony products receive much of the love and Yen, newly-hatched industry outsiders are left to fend for themselves. Having finally broached the one million mark in Japan for its five-year-old console, MS is shifting the focus to its Kinect launch failures. Unsurprisingly, the full-body motion control accessory hasn’t jump-kicked its way into as many Japanese hearts and households as the Ballmer-led company would like, so it’s shuffling the deck at its Japanese outpost in order to spin the strategy a bit differently. Announced via press conference today, Takashi Sensui — former head of the Home and Entertainment division — will now oversee the newly created Interactive Entertainment Business division. Also in the works are some very culturally-tailored IPs for the Kinect platform: the Suda51-produced Codename D and a version of Steel Battalion from Capcom. Whatever the result of this renewed push may be, it sure won’t be long before Microsoft gets to give Japan the old next generation college try. After all, third time’s the charm.

[Image credit via In.com]

Microsoft tells Japanese gaming division to try, try again originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 01:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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