Category: Gaming

Nintendo hasn’t been too keen on letting us mere mortals stroke the Wii U, as no amount of coins could unlock the console’s cabinet at E3. Surprisingly though, Inside Games managed to get up close and personal to this white box outside its little cave, and then came home alive with a few clear shots. Mind you, there’s hardly anything exciting here: we’re just gazing at some air vents on the side and back, plus a few ports — including HDMI — on the latter. As pointed out by our brethren over at Joystiq, only time will tell whether this curvy Wii U will come with an attachment to imitate its predecessor’s vertical standing. Check out the backside after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo Wii U console shown off in its bright, minimalistic entirety

Nintendo Wii U console shown off in its bright, minimalistic entirety originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sadly we weren’t able to get our hands-on the new console that’s going to come along with the Wii U controller. Every operational unit is clad in shimmering Lucite and locked away. But, from what we can see peering through the glass it’s more or less a curvaceous Wii. It’s a little bit chubbier, maybe a hint taller, but the design is much the same: glossy white and a big disc slot. Nintendo definitely isn’t giving up on physical distribution for this round. All that we can see beyond that is a power button, a reset button, a red sync button, and a little flip-down door much like on the Wii. What’s behind the door? Memory cards? More buttons? Magic? Feel free to speculate wildly in comments.

Zach Honig contributed to this report.

Nintendo Wii U console eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in our day, overclocking one’s PC was akin to a fine art. It took skill. Precision. Effort. Cajones. These days, it’s just about as simple as blinking. Or winking. Or winking while blinking. MSI’s made the simplification of PC overclocking quite the priority over the past few years, with OC Genie and an updated Wind BIOS from last decade putting all sorts of power into the hands of mere mortals. At Computex this week, the outfit took things one step further with the Afterburner Android app. Purportedly, the GPU tool enables users to monitor the temperature, voltage and fan speed of their graphics card via a WiFi connection, and if you’re feeling froggy, you can overclock and overvolt to your heart’s content. Details beyond that are few and far betwixt, but we’re hearing that it’ll soon work with GPUs from other vendors, and that an iOS variant is en route.

Continue reading MSI’s Afterburner Android app makes GPU overclocking as easy as Facebooking

MSI’s Afterburner Android app makes GPU overclocking as easy as Facebooking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony may be busy flipping the PlayStation Network switch back to the “on” position around the globe, but one locale where it won’t be doing so just yet is its homeland of Japan. The Dow Jones newshounds report that the Japanese government refuses to allow Sony to reactivate its ailing network until satisfaction is reached on a couple of outstanding issues. The first is that the company’s promised counter-hacking measures announced on May 1st have not yet been fully enacted — though details of what has or hasn’t been done yet are understandably unavailable — and the second is that Japan wants to see further preventive measures taken to ensure users users’ credit card numbers and other private data won’t be exposed through their use of Sony’s online services again. These sound like rational demands to us, and Sony is already in talks with the authorities to make sure it lives up to their expectations.

Continue reading Japan won’t allow Sony to turn PSN back on until it’s assured it’s safe

Japan won’t allow Sony to turn PSN back on until it’s assured it’s safe originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 01:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yet another platform has been conquered by the affronted fowl: the web! Angry Birds‘ web client is built in WebGL, so presumably browsers other than Google’s Chrome should be able to run it as well, and even if you can’t handle WebGL, there’s Canvas support too. 60fps are promised on most modern PCs, and we’ve spotted SD and HD labels, suggesting there’ll be a choice of quality to match your computer’s performance. Offline gaming will also be available.

Chrome will get some exclusive content, such as “Chrome bombs” and other cutesy bits. Rovio just noted it’s “really, really happy about the 5 percent,” referring to Google’s pricing model of charging a flat fee of 5 percent to developers on in-app purchases in the Chrome Web Store. Yes, the Mighty Eagle will be a purchasable option for the impatient among you. The game will be available in the Store immediately after Google’s I/O 2011 keynote, so look out for it shortly.

Update: And the Angry Birds have landed. Hit up the source link below to obtain the free app.

Angry Birds gets a web version, coming to Chrome Web Store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a “good news, bad news” kind of a day in Super Mario land, as Nintendo’s announcement of a Wii successor has been followed up with the delivery of the company’s financial results for fiscal year 2010, which don’t make for happy reading. Nintendo’s net sales of $12.4 billion for the period ending on March 31st 2011 was 29 percent less than it tallied during the previous year, while its $825 million of net profit was also a staggering 66 percent lower than it earned last year. The 3DS has sold well so far, reaching 3.61 million transactions worldwide, but the Wii is down to 15 million global sales, which marks a 25 percent contraction from its FY2009 total of 20 million. So the impetus for a hardware refresh of the Wii is clearly there, now it’s just a matter of waiting for E3 to find out exactly how Nintendo plans to go about it.

Nintendo sells 3.61 million 3DS handhelds, but sees 2010 net profit decline by 66 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 04:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dungeon Defenders: First Wave cost $3 when it first came out. This week, the iOS version will cost you ninety-nine cents. But if you want to play the Unreal Engine-powered tower defense game today, you can have it for free — developer Trendy Entertainment is now leaning on Android’s new in-app billing system to pay for the whole thing. We can’t give Trendy all the credit, of course, as Glu Mobile’s Gun Bros and Tapulous’ Tap Tap Revenge 4 are doing the same thing, but to our knowledge both of them were free to play from day one. Free-to-play gaming has been a controversial proposition in the console and PC gaming space — most publishers would just like to sell a game once, and call it a day. On phone, however, where apps are expected to be cheap, it could indeed make more sense to charge users for items and upgrades than to have users “buy” the game. Either way, we penny-pinchers are pleased as punch with the idea. PR after the break.

Continue reading Android’s in-app billing makes a dent: Dungeon Defenders free on Android Market

Android’s in-app billing makes a dent: Dungeon Defenders free on Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’re tearing it up in Angry Birds, finding elegant smashed-avian-solutions for every level, and then you hit a wall. No matter what you do you can’t figure the level out. Take a peek at these video walkthroughs to blast through to the next level.

If you’re a purist, you’ll just have to keep plugging along until you solve that level. If you’re stuck on Episode 3 and you’d really like to cruise on to Episode 4, it’s worth sneaking a peek. Alternatively, maybe you’ve beat all the levels but you’re having a hell of a time getting all the Golden Eggs. Whatever your motivation you’ll find the solution you’re looking for in the videos below. We’ve divided the game up into all of the thematic levels in the core game followed by the Golden Egg cheats.

Angry Birds: Video Cheats for Every Level	How To Use Clipping Masks (And Not Layer Masks) in Photoshop	How to Remotely Control Your PC (Even When it Crashes)

The Nintendo 3DS, once slammed as an eye-destroying device, is now being thought of as a tool for diagnosing eye disorders. According to Digital Trends, optometrists feel this could be a useful tool for early warning signs.

“The 3DS could be a godsend for identifying kids under six who need vision therapy,” associate director for health sciences and policy for the American Optometric Association Michael Duenas told the Canadian Press.
Kids who can’t see the 3D effect could possibly have a lazy eye. Dizziness or discomfort caused by the 3DS could also indicate a vision problem. Of course, there is still contingency of cranky old men who aren’t having it.”Kids should be out running around,” noted director of the Vision Performance Institute at Pacific University Jim Sheedy.[Digital Trends] More »

Before you go leaping to any conclusions, do remember that Microsoft plans on keeping the Xbox 360 going until at least 2015 so we’re not really talking imminent changes here. Nonetheless, the software giant has listed a plethora of new job openings, with the most interesting ones being at its Mountain View research campus, where a team responsible for “defining and delivering next generation console architectures” is looking for fresh blood. A graphics hardware architect is sought to ensure that the next Xbox strikes the optimal balance between the awesome and affordable, while a design verification engineer and a few others will be hired to test and help develop prototypes. This bolstering of numbers seems to indicate Microsoft is starting to ramp up research and development on its next-gen home entertainment linchpin, and while nothing’s likely to emerge from those Mountain View labs in the short term, the mere sound of clanking tools and buzzing electrons is getting us excited already.

Microsoft goes on a hiring spree for new Xbox hardware devs, staffing up for next console push? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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