Apr 23

The Strike’s rod controller adds new depth to videogame fishin’

Posted in: Today's Chili, wii, xbox 360, Xbox360
The Strike's rod controller adds new depth to videogame fishin'

Like bass fishin’? Sure, we all do, but we’re not always lucky enough to be able to get out to the lake whenever we want. Enter the fishin’ videogame, a genre that by all rights should be tediously awful, but yet has proven to be amazingly popular (why, even Link is into it). The latest and greatest looks to be The Strike from Griffin International, and part of what makes it special is a motion-sensing rod attachment that works a lot like a longer Wiimote with a reel for hauling in your big catch. It has rumble and force-feedback so you can feel the strikes and, while it seems less than instantly responsive on G4TV‘s video embedded below, looks set to offer the most immersive virtual fishing experience yet. Game and rod on the Xbox 360 will cost $69.99 (it’ll hit Wii and PC too), but sadly you’re going to have to wait until the end of 2009 to get your feet wet in this one.

[Via Crave]

Continue reading The Strike’s rod controller adds new depth to videogame fishin’

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The Strike’s rod controller adds new depth to videogame fishin’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 23

Video: WiiNxtBalance tools around, doesn’t fall down

Posted in: hack, mod, nintendo, robot, Today's Chili, wii

This little bot– the NXTway-GS — is a self-balancer, and he’s pretty cute, to boot. Thanks to some clever modifications, he’s now controllable via Wiimote. Using the LEGO NXT system, and some custom firmware, the little dude is connected to a computer via Bluetooth. The video of the robot in action is after the break — but if you want to see full instructions for making one of your very own — hit the read link. And may we suggest you slap a powdered colonial wig on yours?

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Video: WiiNxtBalance tools around, doesn’t fall down

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Video: WiiNxtBalance tools around, doesn’t fall down originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 21

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 lands in June, comes with MotionPlus

Posted in: nintendo, Sports, Today's Chili, video games, VideoGames, wii

Say it with us now: “Phew!” When Nintendo announced that its Wii MotionPlus dongle would be hitting US shelves on June 8th, we all wondered why Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo’s first MotionPlus-enabled title) was set to ship over a month later. Now, EA Sports has relieved worries that early adopters would have no software to use with their new toy by announcing that Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 will hit North America on June 15th. Better still, the Wii version will be available with a MotionPlus add-on bundled in for just $10 more than the standalone title (which will run $49.99). As great as all this is, Europeans still come out better, as they’ll also see Grand Slam Tennis ship in June with a MotionPlus packed in. Ah well — it’s just a peccadillo, we’ll let it slide this time.

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Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 lands in June, comes with MotionPlus originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 17

Nintendo shares fall after surprising drop in Wii demand

Posted in: console, DS, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, Today's Chili, video games, VideoGames, wii

Nintendo may have been denying any rumors of a Wii price cut earlier this month, but it looks like it could possibly be reconsidering its options if this latest sales trend keeps up. Apparently, sales in the U.S. for the month of March clocked in at around 601,000 consoles, or about a 17% drop from a year earlier. During the same period, however, Xbox 360 sales were reportedly up a healthy 26%, while PlayStation 3 sales dipped 15% — although, in sheer numbers, both were still well behind the Wii. That unsurprisingly didn’t make investors too happy, with Nintendo shares falling 6.6% on the Osaka Securities Exchange after the news broke, which accounted for it’s biggest drop in more than two months. Also contributing to the sell-off was a 19% drop in Nintendo DS sales compared to the previous year, although the company seems to be betting pretty heavily that the DSi will quickly turn those numbers around.

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Nintendo shares fall after surprising drop in Wii demand originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 15

Nintendo not apt to add MotionPlus capabilities to older titles

Posted in: gaming, nintendo, sensor, Today's Chili, wii

Hey, you know what would be awesome? If you could actually use the MotionPlus dongle you’re going to pick up on June 8th. You see, there’s a 1.5 month gap between the US release date of the add-on and the first first-party title (Wii Sports Resort) designed to take advantage of it. ‘Course, we fully expect a few third-party games (EA’s Grand Slam Tennis, for one) to filter out beforehand, but what we were really hoping was for the Big N to provide patches for a few existing titles. Sadly, Mario has chimed in from the Mushroom Kingdom with this: “The Wii MotionPlus accessory is only for games that are designed to make use of its abilities.” Translation? You can forget about seeing MotionPlus support added to Mario Kart Wii… or Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, for that matter.

[Via Joystiq]

Gallery: Nintendo MotionPlus

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Nintendo not apt to add MotionPlus capabilities to older titles originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 14

The True Cost of Console Ownership in 2009

Posted in: gaming, Microsoft, nintendo, playstation 3, sony, Today's Chili, top, wii, xbox 360

With the price of Wii Motion Plus bringing the cost of a full Wiimote to a whopping $80, we thought we’d reexamine the true cost of buying a console today. Which is truly the cheapest?

We’re going to pretend we’re either a family of four or an apartment that wants a system loaded up with four controllers. We’ll assume you want to be able to recharge your controllers rather than wasting money on disposable batteries, and we’ll pick the model of each console that we’d recommend to a family member asking us for advice. We’ll also factor in the cost of 2 games, because nobody buys a console without a game.

So what’s the true cost of going out and buying a system today? Let’s find out.

Playstation 3
Cost of console: $400 (80GB)
Cost of 3 extra controllers: $43 x 3 = $129
Cost of charging station: $25
Cost of 2 games: $120
Cost of HDMI cable: $3

Total: $677

Wii
Cost of console: $250
Cost of 3 extra controllers: $36 x 3 = $108
Cost of 3 Nunchuks: $18 x 3 = $54
Cost of 4 Wii Motion Pluses: $20 x 4 = $80
Cost of charging station w/ 4 rechargeable batteries: $49
Cost of 2 games: $100
SD card: $12 (8GB)

Total: $653

Xbox 360
Cost of console: $300 (60GB)
Cost of 3 extra controllers: $37 x 3 = $111
Cost of 2 rechargeable batteries: $12 x 2 = $24
Cost of recharging station w/ 2 rechargeable batteries: $30
Cost of 2 games: $120
Cost of Xbox Live membership: $43 (13 months)

Total: $628

As you can see, the prices of all three consoles are incredibly close, and you can obviously fiddle with these configurations to change them. If you only want 2 controllers and are planning to only play Wii Sports, the Wii is still the cheapest, but a fully-loaded Xbox 360 with a year of Live is actually cheaper than the fully-loaded Wii (although it’s the only console without WiFi, so add $80 if you really need that). And the PS3 is surprisingly close in price, thanks to its controllers having built-in batteries and its free online service. The Nintendo controller scheme really rockets it up in price, and it’s pretty amazing that a Wii with 4 controllers is only $24 less than a PS3 with 4 controllers.

So really, it comes down to what you want in a console. But it’s surprising to see that, in real-world prices, all three systems will set you back about the same amount, with the Xbox 360 being the cheapest of them all even when you factor in a monthly fee for online gaming.

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Apr 14

Wii MotionPlus Coming June 8 for $20

Posted in: nintendo, release, Today's Chili, top, wii

After months of silence on Nintendo’s part, Wii MotionPlus has finally gotten an official release date. It’ll be out June 8th for $20.

Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort, which has been designed specifically for the peripheral, will not be available until July 26. As we reported last July, it will sell for $50, bundled with one Wii MotionPlus add-on. (In the meantime, a few third party games will fill in the MotionPlus software gap.)

Kotaku is quick to point out that “With Wii Remotes pricing at $US39.99, $19.99 for a Nunchaku and now $19.99 for the Wii MotionPlus, that means it costs $80 for a fully loaded Wii Remote.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. For a family of four, the Wii has ballooned to be a $500 system…before batteries. [Kotaku]

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Apr 13

Netflix on the lookout for gaming platforms engineering guru

Posted in: Games, gaming, netflix, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, playstation, playstation 3, Playstation3, Today's Chili, video games, VideoGames, wii

We’ve heard whispers of Netflix heading to other, non-Xbox 360 game consoles before, and now adding to the susurrus is a job listing from the company for Engineering Lead – Gaming Platforms. The description calls for someone familiar with the technical hurdles of current-gen consoles for building a small team to “rapidly prototype and iterate on a variety of platforms.” Whether or not this means we’ll be seeing PlayStation 3 or Wii services in the near (or even distant) future is anyone’s guess, but with Microsoft’s version so far a streaming success, we wouldn’t be surprised if the company took a few steps to increase the probability that 3 billionth delivered flick is digital.

[Via Joystiq]

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Netflix on the lookout for gaming platforms engineering guru originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 09

Nintendo president squashes talk of Wii price cuts

Posted in: console, nintendo, Today's Chili, wii

Incredible as it sounds, it looks like Nintendo isn’t planning on slashing the price of the console it can still barely keep on store shelves. That word comes straight from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who’s attempting to clamp down on recent speculation that a Wii price cut could be in the offing, which seemed at least a tad more plausible considering that the manufacturing costs for the console have supposedly dropped significantly since its launch. According to Iwata, rather than trying to drive up sales numbers even further with a price cut, Nintendo will instead be putting “more energy and time into making better entertainment so that our products are going to remain in the top position in our customer’s wish lists” — and now with Disc Dog, in the top position in our hearts.

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Nintendo president squashes talk of Wii price cuts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 09

Casmobot lawnmower is a slave to the flick of a Wiimote

Posted in: nintendo wii, NintendoWii, Today's Chili, wii

Most of the time we see a Wii mote controlling something tangible, it’s more for entertainment value like an airsoft gun or Rovio. The Casmobot lawnmower, developed by scientists from the University of Southern Denmark, is actually quite useful if you loathe outdoor chores. It can be steered into grass-cutting action via the tilt of the controller synced with Bluetooth. Alternatively, you can drive it for a lap around the border of the yard and then put it on autopilot to mow inside the designated zone. We wouldn’t run in front of it while its in motion, though, it’s probably not as forgiving of interruption as a roomba. Researcher Kjeld Jensen also suggested applying the same technology to your grandmother’s wheelchair, but we really don’t think she’d appreciate that. See it for yourself in the video after the break.

[Via Switched]

Continue reading Casmobot lawnmower is a slave to the flick of a Wiimote

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Casmobot lawnmower is a slave to the flick of a Wiimote originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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