Hasta La Gadget!

GameStop’s Black Friday ad leaked out a few days early, and there are some pretty decent deals if you’re buying a new console — each of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo’s systems come with pack-in games, and they’re fairly good ones too. Still, the items your gadget-loving soulmate truly wants under the festive hearth are nowhere to be found in the ad — so don’t be surprised if you have to pay top dollar if you’re planning on grabbing a commemorative red Wii, hacker-friendly Kinect or a PlayStation Move as part of your holiday haul.

GameStop breaks out the bundles for Black Friday, but not the cream of the crop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 06:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rage HD for iOS is a seriously gorgeous game — well worth the $2, if you ask us. Now that he can look up from his monitor, id Software’s technical wizard John Carmack is making the interview rounds — let’s see what we can glean, shall we? On the subject of Rage itself, expect the first patch to add Game Center support as well as some bug fixes / minor tweaks to prettify the game further. And if you picked up the SD version, consider yourself among a more exclusive crowd: sales have been majorly lop-sided in favor of HD. “If it’s that big of a difference,” he told TUAW, “we probably won’t offer the low-end, standard def version [in future games].”

We already know Carmack’s thoughts on the iPhone vs. Nintendo DS / PSP, as they’ve been echoed before once or twice, but here’s one new to us: “You should be able to do something that’s better on an iPad than anything that’s done on the Wii,” according to the John that spoke with Kotaku. That’s all purely theoretical, as it’s really up to the developer as to how much power it takes advantage of, and even with the tablet in question, “we’re nowhere close to maxing out what could be done on an iPad.” Oh, and Android? There’s work being done for the Little Green Platform as well, but via TUAW John, “there’s a lot of things with how the distribution platform works and the diversity of the platforms that you have to target, where things are still much, much nicer on the iOS world.”

As for id’s next foray in the “iOS world,” Joystiq learned that a driving game based in the Rage universe is in the cards, and perhaps something inspired by Quake Arena: “maybe focusing on the lightning gun, and call it ‘Lightning Arena’ or something, that would be a full roam-around FPS game.” When asked about his resemblance to one Kevin Bacon, all reports indicate Carmack vanished behind a green-tinted smoke cloud of 1s and 0s, leaving in his wake a three-foot tall statue of Commander Keen made from old shareware discs.

id’s Carmack talks Rage HD, iPad’s power, and future iOS games originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rather like Nokia and its market share obsession, Nintendo just can’t seem to stop talking about its hardware sales lead. The company’s US chief, Reggie Fils-Aime, recently dished some NPD data detailing the specific advantage that the Wii has over its competitors in the US since the current console generation launched: Mario’s team has managed to sell 30.4 million units of its hardware, followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 at 21.9 million and Sony’s PS3, which lags somewhere far behind with 13.5 million total sales. On the more mobile front, DS sales have ratcheted up to 43.1 million, more than doubling the PSP’s 17.7 million shipments to the US of A. Nothing we haven’t heard before, really, but it’s always good to get a statistical update for the sake of keeping flamewars as informed as possible.

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime dishes cumulative sales numbers for current console generation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks as if we’ve located the proverbial “ugly stick”: behold the Snakebyte Premium Remote XL+ Wii controller. It’s not the first third-party Wiimote to have built-in MotionPlus, in fact, Nyko beat Nintendo’s own upcoming Wii Remote Plus to market with the Wand+. Still, the Sunflex’s Premium Remote XL+ has a certain lack of stylistic direction that may surpass even the drab gray Wand+ for the title of “ugliest Wiimote.” The Snakebyte, which includes USB-rechargeable batteries in addition to its traditional duties, is out now for $35, $5 under Nintendo’s pricetag.

Sunflex Snakebyte Premium Remote XL+ does integrated MotionPlus, third-party style originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After three years of record earnings, the mighty house that Mario built is reporting a net loss of ¥2.01 billion ($25 million) in the fiscal first half ending 30 September versus a profit of ¥69.49 billion a year earlier. In addition to the adverse affects suffered under a strong yen, Nintendo’s sales for the first half of its fiscal year were down 35 percent to ¥363.16 billion due to lower demand for its Wii console. According to the Wall Street Journal, this represents Nintendo’s first net loss in the fiscal first half in the last seven years. The future outlook is pretty grim too with Nintendo forecasting an annual profit drop to the lowest level in six years as Wii console sales decline for the second year in a row. Ouch.

Nintendo posts half-year net loss, a first in seven years originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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