Hasta La Gadget!

Nielsen’s just released their anxiously awaited “State of the Video Gamer” report, and while it’s a real page-turner, there aren’t exactly any surprises in store for readers. Conducted in December of 2008, Nielsen investigated use of the three major consoles — the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and the PS3. The study found that of those three, owners of the Xbox 360 got the most use out of their console — an average of 11.4 percent of the time for the duration of the poll, while the PS3 came in a close second at 10.6 percent. The original Xbox followed directly behind that with 10.2 percent, while Wii owners gamed a sad 6.8 percent of the time… far less than that of even PS2 owners. The Wii also came in last place in terms of total days used during the poll, with an average of 5 days (PS3 and Xbox 360 users averaged 6.8 and 7.1, respectively). Hit the read link for the full, breathtaking study and see how you measure up! [Warning: read link is a PDF]

Update: As tangocat (and maveric101) point out in comments, we misread the chart the first time out, mistaking the Xbox stats for the Xbox 360 numbers. We’ve cleared that up — good looking out!

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Nielsen report ranks gaming usage for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 consoles originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s Wii, while thoroughly trouncing the competition in overall hardware sales, is way behind both the PS3 and Xbox 360 when it comes to media playback. Nintendo is about to take a step forward there with its Wii no Ma Channel, which will offer a variety of on-demand video including cartoons and other family programming — in other words lots and lots of Pokemon. Now Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is indicating that he wants that video to come to the DS, too, saying “If the Wii and the DS are connected, it should be possible to download video through the Wii and take it with you on the DS.” He also said Nintendo is “going to do it differently in a Nintendo-like way.” Given the “different” way that Nintendo handles online play compared to the competition, expect to be punching in 16-digit codes in every time you get an urge to watch someone else catch ’em all. [Warning: Read link requires registration]

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming, Portable Video

Nintendo’s Iwata wants DS video on-demand through the Wii originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we first caught a whiff of the virtual aerosol action promised by Martin Lihs’ thesis at Bauhaus University, dubbed WiiSpray, we were intrigued, but we never figured the end product would be this impressive. Lihs has since posted up a short teaser trailer showing the wall in action, controlled by a modified Wiimote controller, with results that should make even the most law-abiding artist smile. The video below shows an extensive color picker tool, interactive stencils, and what looks to be a perfectly accurate spray pattern — and it should be, as the whole is getup is sponsored by Montana Cans. We’re not sure what’s next for this technology, but hopefully Lihs and his creation will be bombing a more public location soon.

Continue reading Video: WiiSpray lets virtual taggers spray without fear of the man

Filed under: Gaming

Video: WiiSpray lets virtual taggers spray without fear of the man originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony had a good March on the console side of things. The company’s Playstation3 sold better than Nintendo’s Wii in Japan, for the first time in nearly a year-and-a-half. The console’s success is being credited to game titles from Sega Sammy and Capcom like Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 and Resident Evil 5.

The PS3 overtook the Wii in a big way, moving 146,948 systems to Nintendo’s 99,335. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 came in at a distant third, with 43,172 units. Despite this strong showing, Reuters adds, the PS3 is not expected to overtake the Wii globally any time soon.

Using PCs to do what Nintendon’t, YouTube user renebarahona is running Wii games in HD resolutions through the Dolphin emulator. One peek at Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 720p is enough to make any of us wonder what a world where Nintendo didn’t hate HD (even yanking 480p capability from the Gamecube, we’re still not over that) would be like. These games aren’t merely upscaled like DVDs, they’re being rendered in a high resolution natively with extra anti-aliasing Xbox 360 BC-style, producing surprisingly crisp visuals. Check out the embedded videos after the break (remember to hit the HD button) for an example, including how to set this up on your own computer.

[Via Joystiq & 1Up]

Continue reading Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV

Emulator runs Wii games in 720p while we wonder what might have been originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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