Totally rad, red Xbox 360 spied in Toys R Us fine print

Is this for reals? If so... yay! If the above screenshot of a Toys R Us terminal is to be believed, there might be a new, red Xbox 360 Elite on its way to a shelf near you. Details beyond the SKU are pretty scant, but the price is the same as the current Xbox 360 Elite model -- $399. We know a certain, fashion-conscious avatar who is going to be really excited if this is true.


[Via: Joystiq ]

DS Lite solar panel mod lets you leave the PSU at home

If you've got some 60 x 60 solar panels, a few diodes, some scotch tape, and a little time on your hands, you may never need to plug in your DS ever again. According to "dark sponge," a poster over at Instructables, you can convert the Lite into a solar-powered wonder that will obviate the need for your standard PSU, and make your green leaning friends, er... green with envy. The mod involves slapping panels on both the bottom and top of the device which -- when wired in parallel -- get 6 volts of power at 80 mA, which is apparently perfect for a trickle charge. The only downside is you'll have to leave the device face down for a bit, and it's advised to keep it out of the sun all day. Still, it's an excellent mod that doesn't seem too difficult to execute, and ends up saving hassle and energy... and who can knock that?


[Via: SlashGear ]

Gridplane releases hazy NXE mockup that never was

Design / animation studio Gridplane's recently unloaded photos of a mockup it contributed to the Microsoft Xbox team in charge of revamping the Xbox user interface, which eventually became the New Xbox Experience, AKA NXE. There are a few things here we like -- the design has a clean, other-worldly feel to it that's semi-appealing. However, we're not so into the milky haze that could have separated us from our beloved, fashionable avatar. Check out a few more shots of the proposed design after the break.


[Via: Joystiq ]

2eleven introduces souped-up foosball table

It's not quite as elaborate as some foosball tables we've seen, but this new rig from 2eleven will no doubt attract its fair share of attention nonetheless and, unlike some of those other units, it's actually pre-built. While there doesn't seem to be a complete breakdown of all its intricacies, the table does come equipped with some LED score displays, a pair of LCD displays apparently intended to display advertisements, an automatic ball lift mechanism and, yes, cup holders. Of course, those accommodations for ads would seem to suggest that this one isn't exactly intended for home use, but we're guessing at least a few folks out there will find a way around that.

[Via: Be Sportier ]

Sony ushers in change, hope with upcoming PS3 2.60 firmware update

Sony just dropped some details on its upcoming 2.60 firmware update for the PS3. The big thrust of the update is a new Photo Gallery app, which can sort by various EXIF data, but also the actual content of the image itself, including colors used, number of people in the photo, how old they are, and facial expressions they used when you pulled out your powdered-blue Kodak to take a few historical snapshots. Naturally you can build slideshows with music and the like. Sony's also adding with this update guest access to the PlayStation Store and DivX 3.11 support. If that's not enough magic to get you riled up, Sony's also pushing out a PSP update, firmware 5.03 that addresses "security vulnerabilities" (we wonder what that could be?) and some stability issues. There's a video walkthrough of the PS3 update after the break.



[Via: Engadget ]

Wii Fit and Arduino bring wooden Labyrinth game to robotic life

Ah, yes. Nothing like some robotics to shake all that pesky quaintness out of a well-loved, time-tested game. In this case, some folks from the Cowtown Computer Congress a couple of servos and the ever so useful Arduino to connect a wooden Labyrinth game to a Wii Fit, which appears to up the difficulty of the game while still requiring as little exertion as possible. At just $60 total (not including the Wii Fit), the project is also relatively inexpensive, and it seems that it's a fairly simple process to swap out the Wii Fit for the controller of your choice. Head on past the break for a video of the setup in action, and hit up the link below for the necessary details.

[Via: Engadget ]

ezGear's You Rock Guitar packs multi-touch and ultimate babe magnet

If ezGear's last guitar wasn't quite complex enough for you, check out it's latest product -- the You Rock Guitar. Compatible with both Guitar Hero 2 and Rock Band: World Tour for Wii, and your PC or Mac, the You Rock has a full multi-touch fretboard which simulates a "real" guitar with six strings instead of five buttons. You can hook this bad boy up with a standard .25-inch connection, or plug in your iPod or MP3 player through the mini-stereo jack to rock out to your own private collection of Metallica. The folks over at ezGear promise a SDK for even further expandability by Spring, and expect the $150 device to be available in either Q2 or Q3.
[Via: Engadget ]

SKIGYM simulator lets you break a hip from the comfort of your living room

The Wii Balance Board may be all well and good if you want to play things safe, but those looking to up the danger level a tad will no doubt want to give this new SKIGYM simulator some serious consideration, with it promising to improve your skiing ability and give you a workout in the process. Apparently, you can either hook the fully-motorized device up to your PC and play the included Alpine Ski Racing game, or simply use it on its own as a piece of exercise equipment -- we're guessing it's also only a matter of time before someone uses it to control a robot. Not surprisingly, this piece of living room clutter will also put quite a dent in the old bank account, with it running
[Via: Random Good Stuff ]

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXIV: MiWi2 Wiipoff spotted in London shop

We're pretty sure that Nintendo doesn't have anything to fear when it comes to the MiWi2, a Wii knockoff that was first spotted by Engadget Korea back in June. However, we were surprised to see the fake on sale somewhere outside of Asia -- or really anywhere for that matter. Yes, unknowing parents may have accidentally snagged one of these rip-offs instead of the real deal at an unnamed London shop, but rest assured, your little darlings probably let you know once they unwrapped it and realized you got them the wrong damn thing.
[Via: Engadget ]

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXIII: 8-bit Xbox 360 / PS3 consoles only serve to dash dreams

We've seen some pretty low tricks when it comes to giving what appears to be a gaming console to a junior, but we're pleading -- nay, insisting -- that you don't ever buy in on either of these in an attempt to pull the wool over a kiddo's eyes. Straight from a shady warehouse in China comes Rodisson Technologies' totally ridiculous Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 clones, both of which can only play 8-bit titles. The worst part, however, isn't the complete lack of effort in knocking these systems off with any level of pride; rather, it's the 10,000 item minimum order quantity. Thanks, but no thanks.
[Via: technabob ]

PS3 teardown: 30% fewer parts, $300 cheaper

When the gang at iSuppli first tore open a PlayStation 3 back in November 2006, they pegged the cost to build the $500 model was $805 in materials. Now they're back and looking inside the $400 version, which they estimate is $448.73 in parts -- still a loss leader for the company, but only by about one Ulysses S. Grant this time. The number of components has also dropped from 4,048 to just 2,820, and both the Cell processor and NVIDIA GPU have slimmed down from 90nm to 65nm. They suspect Sony might be able to lower costs and turn a profit sometime in 2009, but while you may be rooting for this generation's underdog, don't get your hopes up for a price drop any time soon.
[Via: Engadget ]

Bandai rolls out new Tamagotchi Music Star designs, earplugs not included

Bandai's been busy in their genius labs brewing up some "high tech" amusement, and they have the newly announced Tamagotchi Music Stars to show for it. You've probably been dying to create a digital diva or virtuoso all your own, and now you can, with six different options such as Glam Rock, Techno Sound, and Rising Star to choose from. Your character gets to join a band, go through hours of practice, auditions and rehearsals before making it big. Sound exhausting? Well fame comes at a price, kid. No word yet on price or availability, but you can check out their site for lots of info and a few shots of the designs. Oh: and rock on.
[Via: Engadget ]

Documents suggest Microsoft knew Xbox 360 could damage discs all along

Microsoft long ago fessed up that the Xbox 360 was capable of scratching discs, and it even offered a (somewhat limited) exchange program for damaged games, but some recently unsealed documents from an ongoing lawsuit now suggest that the company was well aware of the issue for about as long as the console has been around. According to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Microsoft first discovered the problem in September or October of 2005, and it even went so far as to send a "team of engineers" to stores across the US to determine the best course of action. Apparently, they came up with three options, two of which proved to be impractical, and one of which (installing small bumpers in each and every console) proved to be too expensive, leading Microsoft to offer the disc exchange instead. What's more, the documents apparently also revealed that some Microsoft employees thought that the warning labels on the console were insufficient, and that the company has received complaints about the problem from more than 55,000 customers as of April 30th of this year. No word on any movement just yet in the lawsuits themselves just yet but one of them, filed back in July of 2007, is seeking class-action status on behalf of everyone that's bought an Xbox 360.

[Via: Engadget ]

Stolen Xbox recovered by victim using controller, science

People will go to great lengths to steal your gear -- no big surprise there. In a nice, semi-ingenious twist, though, one Xbox 360 thief on campus at Missouri State has gotten caught by the dupe himself. Thievery victim Ryan Kestenbaum was able to connect the controller (which the crook had left behind) up to the console, which of course meant that it was nearby. He then went on a fantastic journey with the controller, allowing the LEDs -- which flash if the controller is out of range -- to guide him to the room of the thief. Kestenbaum contacted the dorm's advisor, and the Xbox was recovered, although it had sadly been reformatted and all of Ryan's saved games were gone. He said he plans on prosecuting the thief "to the fullest extent of the law," which we hopes means he'll be getting back the thousands of bottle caps lost.
[Via: Daily Tech ]

Sony to release new handheld sometime in the future

According to Eurogamer, sources close to Sony say that sometime in the future, a new PlayStationPortable will be released. While there's been no official word, the game site is reporting that there could be an update to the current PSP (which might be called the PSP 4000), and in the not-too-distant future (2010 or 2011), Sony will introduce a completely new model, confusingly dubbed the "PSP2." David Reeves, SCEE president has recently been quoted as making vague, suspicious statements such as "there are currently no plans for a PSP2," and "I go to Tokyo quite a lot and no one has referred to it - I think they have their hands full at the moment." Nice try Reeves, but If you keep up these kinds of thinly veiled allusions to a new system, we suspect it's only a matter of years till this cat's out of the bag.
[Via: Yahoo! ]

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXII: Wu Fit -- it's Wii Fit, without the supply chain issues

So far as we can tell, the Wu Fit (see what they did there?) doesn't actually come with the Wii Fit software. But unless we're being badly deceived, the knockoff balance board should operate just fine with the official game (seriously!) -- assuming that you can find it by its lonesome, which you can't. The best (er, "only good") part? It's actually in stock for $92.95, which is more than the Big N can say about its genuine counterpart in much of the world. It's okay, we know you're seriously considering this over that eBay auction -- we promise not to tell.

[Via: Engadget ]

SimCraft Apex Racing Simulator Offers Vomit-Covered Thrills [Racing Simulators]

We have seen racing simulators plenty of times in the past, but few can offer a vomit-inducing three degrees of freedom (roll 40°/pitch 25°/yaw 40°) like the Apex SC830. In fact, the SC830 is so realistic in its motion that it is good enough to train racing professionals. It features a custom USB "Plug-and-Play” hardware interface, high-fidelity motion actuators and knuckles, easy to enter and exit cockpit, adjustable mounting surfaces and a lightweight tubular aluminum framework (I'm sure it also costs a fortune). The SC830 is expected to launch during this year's CES.

[Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]

PlayStation Home already hacked?

Well, that was fast. A poster by the name of StreetskaterFU has outlined what he claims is a method of hacking into PlayStation Home's servers for download, uploading and deleting files. We're not able to verify his directions, but if true it would be a potentially calamitous oversight on Sony's part. Additionally, a PS3hax forum poster claims to have used StreeskaterFU's method and changed the movie posters and trailers and both outlines his methods and provides video proof (embedded after the break). We haven't seen any signs of this during our time with Home, but let us know if your virtual moviegoing experience has been drastically altered.


[Via: Engadget ]

Slot loading Xbox 360 enjoys its 15 minutes, heads to eBay

There's a good possibility you felt some sense of jealously when eying RDC's meticulously modded Xbox 360, and now you can act on said envy thanks to the supreme convenience of the online auction house known as eBay. That's right kids -- the slot loading Xbox 360 that was shown here just under a month ago is now on the auction block, and the $250 minimum bid means that you're paying a ridiculously small premium for all the blood, sweat and tears that were undoubtedly poured into this creation. Of course, that figure is apt to head skyward in a hurry, but maybe that would encourage you to get off your keister and craft one yourself. No time like the present to beef up that weakening DIY muscle.
[Via: Xbox-Scene ]

Valve releases Team Fortress 2 update

Team Fortress 2 received a fairly significant update today, which adds a number of gameplay tweaks to Valve’s multiplayer shooter – mostly for the Engineer and Spy classes. Following the update Engineers will be able to upgrade teleporters and dispensers to a third level, providing faster recharge and dispensing rates, while Spies will gain the ability to recharge their cloaking devices by picking up ammo.


The update also includes some new user interface features, such as a revamped HUD to show things like deaths by critical hits, players that are overhealed, and giving more information to medics when people are calling for them. Valve also revealed that next in line for the class updates will be the Scout, particularly focusing on making him more useful for the Dustbowl and Goldrush maps. They're soliciting ideas from fans, so head to the forums if you have any.

Finally, the company also mentioned that they are working on a “massive” update for TF2 on the 360 which will include all the new content that the PC version has seen in the past year, and revealed some engine improvements from Left 4 Dead will be coming to TF2.
[Via: Jose Vilches ]