console

So it's the first trial of its kind. The console and gaming industry is looking to land its first knockout with a court victory over Matthew Crippen. Crippen was running an xBox modding business and things weren't looking so good. The tide quickly turned just a few minutes in to the case when the judge dropped some bombs on the prosecution. For a precedent setting case, you would think they would have their ducks in a row, but just the opposite happened...read more

Apparently Microsoft thinks its Kinect motion control device is the &#*% and now expects to sell 5 million units this holiday shopping season, up from the company's previous forecast of 3 million.

If Microsoft's projections prove true, this would make the Kinect the biggest Xbox product launch ever, at least in terms of sales, Dina Bass from Bloomberg News noted in a Twitter post. Regardless, this holiday shopping season looks to be a boon for motion controlled gaming, with the Wii already established and Sony selling its Move controller.

Listen up all you console weenies (and we mean that endearingly), the long anticipated Fall update for Microsoft's Xbox 360 Dashboard is being kicked out today. This is a mandatory download, which means if you choose to shun the update, Microsoft will shun you right back by cutting off Live access. We're okay with that though, because the ability to (finally) search in Netflix is worth the update hassle alone. And the ESPN3 channel is pretty damn groovy too.

To get it, just sign into Xbox Live and...wait. Maybe you'll get the update right away, maybe you'll have to wait a bit. If it's the latter, signing in and out won't force Microsoft's hand, so don't do it because all you'll end up doing is pissing off your friends with constant notifications that you're online.

If you recently bought a Sony PSP Go, hopefully you kept a receipt. If you did, bring it back to the store on Friday and see if they'll match refund the difference from the upcoming price drop. That's right, the PSP Go will soon be $50 cheaper, or so the Web chatter goes.

Even with the $50 price drop, the handheld console will still run $200. Kind of expensive if you ask us, especially with a PSP 2 and Nintendo 3DS both on the horizon.

It does matter if you've made the naughty or nice list, the only way you're scoring a Nintendo 3DS console for Christmas (that's right, we're not afraid to say "Christmas") is if you find a prototype left behind in a bar, a la the iPhone 4 pre-release fiasco.

You can scratch off New Year's too. Nintendo doesn't plan on releasing the 3DS until February 26, 2011 in Japan, with "other markets" slated for March, according to a report in The New York Times.

That gives Nintendo one more holiday shopping season to shove its regular DS console into consumers' hands. After that, it's game on for the 3DS, Nintendo's upcoming glasses-free 3D console. And before you chalk it up as a gimmick, the 3DS has already been scoring praise from those who played with a prototype at this year's E3 convention. When it does finally launch, Nintendo will have the market all to itself, as no one else seems to yet be working on a 3D console.

"When asked about the final name of the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata replied, 'the final product name shall be announced in the not-so-far-away future.' OK, but the final name of Nintendo’s new hardware might actually be Nintendo 3DS, if trademarks filed in Japan are an indicator.

Nintendo registered Nintendo 3DS, N3DS, and two more curious terms – 3DSPlay and 3DSWare. The latter sounds like the Nintendo 3DS’ version of DSiWare, a downloadable game service Nintendo introduced with the Nintendo DSi. Perhaps the Nintendo 3DS is getting its own shop with downloadable games. 3DSPlay is quizzical. Could it be a WiiPlay equivalent?" source

"Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. " source

"Capcom Entertainment, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, and Nintendo of America today announced an exciting new bundle featuring one of the most highly anticipated titles for 2010, Monster Hunter Tri, and combining it with the new Classic Controller Pro™ for the Wii™ system. The Classic Controller Pro's more traditional control configuration will give gamers the ultimate Monster Hunting experience when the bundle becomes available in North America this April at a suggested retail price of $59.99." source

"We've been hearing a lot of talk about a Wii HD (some say it'll even contain a Blu-ray drive), but Fils-Aime took the opportunity to deny (again) that it's on its way. He claimed Nintendo will only release a new console when everyone's bought a Wii—over 26 million have been sold reportedly—so we've got to wait until the market is "tapped out" until we see anything new.

Fils-Aime predicts that won't happen for "years." So, despite the Wii being on sale since 2006, don't count on Nintendo actually pleasing gamers—they're too busy after your Mom's money."

"Coming good on its promise, Sony's PlayStation Network Digital Comics service has launched, with PSP owners in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa able to download Marvel classics for as little as 99 cents. Along with Marvel Entertainment comics, Disney, IDW Publishing, iVerse Media and several other publishers have supplied Sony with their wares, with 550 available today, including Iron Man, Spiderman, X-Men, Transformers and Archie." source