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We can't stop buying this PS1 iPhone case

by Justin McElroy { Jul 2nd 2009 at 2:45PM }

Our problem isn't that we're waffling on whether or not to buy one of these gorgeous, felt, PlayStation One-shaped iPhone cases. Our problem is that we can't stop buying them. Every time we confirm our order we think of yet another reason we need one. What if we lose the first one in a house fire? What if the second one goes through the wash? What if we want our iPhone to have a different yet identical outfit for every day of the week like Doug Funnie?

We hope you understand our predicament. We also hope you understand why they seem to be temporarily sold out.

[Via Gizmodo]

Natal, PS3 motion wand inspire new wave of plastic props

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jun 26th 2009 at 10:45PM }

Do you get the sense that Project Natal is ... missing something? Accessory peddler dreamGear does. The maker of such essentials as the 3-In-1 Player's Sports Kit for Wii, the 7-In-1 Player's Kit for Wii, the 10-In-1 Player's Kit for Wii, and the 15-In-1 Player's Kit for Wii is already hard at work trying to adapt its enhancements for Microsoft's upcoming motion technology release. "One of the biggest challenges for peripherals firms is keeping up with changing technology, particularly the trend toward interactive gaming started by Nintendo and now embraced by Microsoft's Project Natal," dreamGEAR COO Richard Weston explains to MCV. Molding a plastic steering wheel that fits in everyone's hands is a true challenge, you see.

"From all the recent revelations at E3 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, motion sensing devices and add-on accessories for these devices will be the main focus in the future," Logic3's sales manager Paul Croucher frighteningly foretells. So then, the snooker cue attachment for the PS3 wand confirmed? Please, make it STOP.

Mad Catz SFIV FightSticks in stock at Capcom Store

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jun 24th 2009 at 2:45PM }

Heads up! The Capcom Store received a long-awaited shipment of Mad Catz's official Street Fighter IV FightSticks today. Both the standard ($69.95/$79.95) and rarer Tournament Edition ($149.95) models are on sale for PS3 and Xbox 360. (Note: The FightPads are still out of stock.)

Still reading? You must not be interested. These bad boys go fast ... but are they built to last?

Gallery: Mad Catz Street Fighter IV controllers

[Via Capcom Unity]

This iPhone controller is giving us a bone

by Justin McElroy { Jun 24th 2009 at 4:00AM }

Do you ... do you get it? Because it's a bone. Yeah, we were pretty proud of that gag, too. Now, we'd like to take you, the reader, inside the joke, to show you how it was created. Think of it like that Sesame Street short about making crayons, only with lulz. In fact, if you could play that music in another tab, it would be ideal. Go ahead, we'll wait.

1. We looked at this bone-shaped controller for the now accessory-compatible iPhone, and then we died inside.
2. We decided we probably shouldn't suggest that the people who made the phone, 22moo, should themselves die, as they may be completely nice, albeit awful, people.
3. We tried, in vain, to pick up our spirits.
4. Our spirits irrevocably broken, we decided to make the most obnoxious, insipid gag we could think of about the controller and leave it at that.
4a. We also decided against including additional details about the controller, because if you're interested in it, you can go right to hell.

Xbox 360 wireless mic sold separately this fall for $50

by Ben Gilbert { Jun 23rd 2009 at 12:30PM }

We're having a hard time wrapping our heads around this one, so do us a favor and bear with us while we put our heads down and power through. Microsoft is releasing a wireless microphone this fall meant to be used with "your favorite Xbox 360 music games," a list that includes: Lips, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Rock Band 2, Disney Sing It: High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Lips: Number One Hits, and The Beatles: Rock Band.

We know, we know -- you're asking yourself, "Why would Microsoft release more peripherals? Just to add extra confusion to the Joystiq instrument compatibility matrix?" According to Microsoft, the mics are meant to assist in your living room rockstar efforts, and will retail this fall for an "estimated retail price" of $50. Meanwhile, the promise of Lips mics working in Rock Band 2 has yet to arrive and an asterisk in Microsoft's press release from earlier today indicates that these new mics won't work either without a title update. Does that mean we'll finally see the allowance of Lips' mics in RB2 when these new mics ship in the fall?

Logitech's premium guitar controller hits in August, carries high axe-ing price

by Randy Nelson { Jun 18th 2009 at 3:15PM }

If you were to trade in or sell all eleventy plastic guitars crammed into the corner of your living room, you might just be able to afford Logitech's newly announced premium wireless Guitar Hero controller. Priced at $199 and pegged to street in August, the peripheral is a feature-for-feature equal of the previously revealed PS2 / PS3 model, only it's orange. (Why not Xbox green? We know at least one band who'd endorse it.)

Like the PS3 unit, it has a real wooden neck (maple, if you're curious), a rosewood fingerboard and some seriously tough -- yet quiet -- strum and whammy bars. While it's designed with GHWT (and all 70 other Guitar Hero titles) in mind -- hence the slider/tapping area on its neck -- you'd know if you checked out our instrument compatibility matrix that it'll work with Rock Band, too. (And Rock Band 2 ... too.)

Watch the video we've placed after the break to witness a Logitech rep get all touchy-feely with the controller.

[Via Engadget]

Continued →

Finally, an official Virtual On Xbox controller -- for only 20 times the cost of the game

by JC Fletcher { Jun 15th 2009 at 6:15PM }

Hori is now accepting preorders (in Japan) for an official Twin Stick controller for the Xbox Live Arcade version of Virtual On Oratorio Tangram. The Twin Stick EX will be in stores this November, at a cost of ¥30,000. That's around $305. The game, of course, came out at a price of 1,200 Microsoft Points, or $15. We heard some complaints about the game's price being too high upon release, but this really puts it into perspective!

In any case, if you like the game enough (and a lot of people do), it's worth a lot to have a good controller, even if the game was a bargain. And Hori tends to use high-quality arcade machine parts in its controllers. That said, it's going to be painful to pay shipping on top of that $300 when the import retailers pick this thing up.

Looking a little plainer than the Dreamcast Twin Stick controller, and a lot plainer than the Saturn version, this model uses a Real Arcade Pro base as its body. The Xbox face buttons are located on the body, and the bumpers and triggers are moved to the joysticks, which map to the D-pad and right analog sticks.

[Via Kotaku]

Nyko: Project Natal not a threat, but a 'challenge'

by Tracey John { Jun 10th 2009 at 9:00AM }

When Microsoft unveiled its controller-free camera technology dubbed Project Natal during E3 last week, you'd think that gaming peripheral makers might start asking President Obama for a bailout.

But not so. At least not for Nyko. The manufacturer of third-party accessories, whose core business is unlicensed Wii products, doesn't see physical controllers going away anytime soon. In fact, Chris Arbogast, Nyko's director of marketing, has a hard time seeing casual gamers letting go of the Wii remote.

"People in the casual market like feeling something physical to keep your hands aligned," he said. "When you grab the Wiimote and swing it, it feels like you're swinging a baseball bat, versus pantomining swinging a bat. I think that if you take all [the controllers] away and you're just pantomiming everything, there may be some disconnect with realism there."

Obviously, working for Nyko, Arbogast has to stay positive. However, if Project Natal does take off, we wondered if the company has a Plan B. Arbogast said it might force Nyko to "think outside the box." "We'll have to think of other ways we can accessorize and augment the players' experience," he said. "Not with a controller anymore, but with other things to add to that camera functionality. It could be a whole new avenue of business that opens up for us because we'll be forced to challenge ourselves."

Luckily for Nyko, Project Natal is probably a long ways off, with analysts saying it won't trump the Wii just yet. Until then, you can enjoy another innovation in camera technology: the Nyko DSi Zoom Case.

Your Shape determines your shape with a camera

by Mike Schramm { Jun 1st 2009 at 10:22PM }

Ubisoft has revealed a camera-based fitness game, coming this holiday season for the Wii. Your Shape comes with a custom USB camera that plugs right into your Wii, and will use the visual input to determine whether you're slim or sloppy, and then give you a trainer-based workout designed to send you in the right direction.

It's a good thing Ubisoft is being so innovative here -- the Wii fitness market is virtually untapped so far. Could a game with a casual interface designed with the promise of a more healthier lifestyle actually sell? We'll have to wait and see -- the bundle is due out sometime this year.

Mad Catz signs multi-year deal with Microsoft for wireless tech

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 29th 2009 at 2:30PM }

Although we haven't discussed Microsoft's Force grip on its proprietary wireless tech in a long time, it appears Mad Catz doesn't have to worry about it for the next few years. The peripheral manufacturer has signed a non-exclusive multi-year licensing agreement with the console maker to "manufacture, market and sell Xbox 360-branded wireless specialty video game controllers."

Mad Catz CEO Darren Richardson believes the Xbox 360 is a "key focus" of its licensed accessories business, as evidenced by its Capcom deal. Now we wait for that well-received SF IV tournament stick to go wireless -- for those who can afford the 0.0000008 millisecond lag.

One turntable to rule them all: DJ Hero vs Scratch: The Ultimate DJ

by David Hinkle { May 27th 2009 at 1:45PM }

Click image to compare

With two high profile DJ-'em-up games coming out in DJ Hero and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, many are likely scratching their heads at which turntable and promised experience is going to be superior. Well, we can't comment on the latter (until E3, anyway), but we can take a look at the two competing controllers. We stacked them side-by-side for your viewing pleasure and compared all the known details in our gallery below. Enjoy!

Gallery: Battle of the best turntable: DJ Hero vs Scratch: The Ultimate DJ

PSP Extended Life Battery gets extended life

by Majed Athab { May 25th 2009 at 3:00PM }

Oh, so it's not discontinued after all, you say? Well, that's good for anyone looking to add a couple extra hours of battery life to their PSP. Those looking to do so should check out SonyStyle, where a new model of the Extended Life PSP Battery has popped up. Though it's not yet available and listed as backordered (for $44.99), we know this battery is all-new, given the different model number (now PSP98560, was PSP-280) and PSP-3000 compatibility.

Apparently, someone on the PlayStation Forums has claimed to have already purchased one of these babies. If the forum poster is to be believed, then we can expect this battery to be just as bulky as its predecessor. Also, keep an eye on Sony's press conference next Tuesday; we'd assume that would be the most likely of places for more details.

[Via Engadget]

Sony to never stop getting sued for rumble technology

by Griffin McElroy { May 19th 2009 at 1:55PM }

It's been more than two years since Immersion and Sony settled their kerfluffle over the latter party's infringement on the former's "haptic feedback" (rumble) technology. However, Sony's not quite out of the woods yet -- it's currently the subject of yet another civil suit, filed this time by Craig Thorner, an engineer who also held a number of patents relating to haptic feedback.

Brace yourselves -- this gets confusing. After its settlement with Sony, Immersion was set to take on Performance Designed Products (PDP) for similar rumble-yoinking reasons. PDP contacted Thorner for some pre-litigious preparation. They negotiated terms for the licensing of his patents -- though Thorner used the same lawyers who represented Sony to help with said negotiation. His complaint is that these lawyers got him unfavorable results in the negotiation, including low royalty payments, and the inclusion of a provision that would grant a patent license to Sony.

So, technically, Sony's getting sued for patent infringement and legal malpractice. Hopefully, no suspected shady dealings will go down in this case. We'd hate to see Sony get stuck in some sort of inescapable infinite lawsuit loop.

Update: Turns out we've already turned your attention to this intense legal showdown. Consider this a helpful accidental reminder!

The 'Wii Riiser Aerobic Step' for ... the Wii Balance Board

by Ben Gilbert { Apr 22nd 2009 at 7:00PM }

From the folks that brought you ... erm ... a bunch of case mods for the Xbox 360, comes the "Wii Riiser Aerobic Step" for your Wii Fit Balance Board. Just in case you were unsatisfied with the heights that the existing step peripheral offered, Zoozen has gone out and created an attachment to boost the level up to a more challenging four inches.

The company contests this is the average height of an actual stepper (which we won't point out also costs significantly less than the Wii Fit and "Wii Riiser Aerobic Step" combined), and as such, will help "improve your step aerobic workout." While we're sure this peripheral would attach to your Balance Board that much easier than two pieces of equally sized wood, we're not so sure it would serve a different purpose. Zoozen's "Wii Riiser Aerobic Step" is available now for the not-so-nice price of $39.99.

Dark Ops Wii Light Gun: It's the Wii light gun Jason Statham would use

by Dustin Burg { Mar 11th 2009 at 10:30PM }

The Cobalt Flux-developed Dark Ops Wii Light Gun is one of the newest peripherals vying for consumer attention. It's marketed to those of us who want to look Transporter-cool while playing Umbrella Chronicles ... oh, and to those of you who're simply tired of white peripherals.

Per the item description, the Dark Ops gun allows for independent use of the Wii nunchuck, gives easy access to the Wiimote's face buttons, and sports a nifty Lock 'N Load feature that totally makes the remote look like a clip. For your gun. A gun clip. Like, totally. All that for only $19.95. We're guessing the light gun's accuracy is significantly increased if its wielder dons a tuxedo, maintains a calm (yet cool!) demeanor, and kills bad guys for a living.

[Via GoNintendo]