Posted 11/05/09 at 11:10:56 AM by Paul Lilly

It looks like Walmart is gearing up for Black Friday a little early this year. How so? The mega-chain has begun advertising several one-day in-store specials slated for this Saturday November 7th at 8AM.

Among the sale items is an Xbox 360 Arcade console for $199, which will be accompanied by a $100 gift card. That essentially brings the price down to just $99, provided you can make use of the gift card.

Other sale items on tap for the one-day special include a 15.6-inch HP notebook with an Intel Celeron processor for a shade under $300, a Blu-ray player for $150, a 42-inch 1080p Sharp LCD TV for $498, and a few more items.

According to Fudzilla, this is just the first of ongoing Saturday specials that will continue until Black Friday.

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Posted 10/22/09 at 09:26:12 AM by Paul Lilly

We've stopped counting the number of rumors suggesting Blu-ray hardware would somehow integrate with the Xbox 360 gaming console, whether as a built-in drive in a revised edition, or as an add-on accessory. The details would vary, but all the rumors shared one thing in common: They were all bogus. So why are we paying it any attention now? Because this time, the rumor's coming straight from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

During a video interview with Gizmodo, Ballmer spent a couple minutes talking candidly about the Xbox 360 and project Natal, but he appeared to be caught off guard when asked if Microsoft would adopt Blu-ray in a bid to take over the home theater.

"Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there," Ballmer began as he wiped his eye. "You'll be able to get Blu-ray drives, and Blu-ray drives as accessories."

Does this mean a Blu-ray add-on is in the works, or did Ballmer simply not word his answer carefully enough? We don't know, but when Gizmodo pinged Xbox spokespeople about Ballmer's answer, more fuel to the speculative fire was added.

"Our immediate solution for Blu-ray quality video on the Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we're not ready to comment."

In the past, Microsoft made it a point to quickly squash Blu-ray rumors, but that isn't the case this time around. Draw your own conclusion on what that could mean.

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Posted 10/19/09 at 11:15:55 AM by Paul Lilly

Here's some potentially bad news for Xbox 360 console gamers - according to market analyst Michael Pachter, the price of an Xbox Live Gold subscription will shoot up to $100 per year, perhaps as early as 2011. What the hell?

"You can't hook into Xbox LIve Gold if he's playing on a PC," Pachter said on how Microsoft seemingly abandoned the PC as a gaming platform. "That's the other problem - you really want to hook every gamer who has a 360, you want them to buy all their games on 360, play everything multiplayer, pay you 50 bucks a year so that, in a couple of years, it's a 100 bucks a year."

While the numbers might be up for debate, Pachter seems convinced that Gold subscription prices are definitely on the rise. But is he off his rocker?

Current Gold level subs run $50 per year, or half of where Pacther predicts pricing is headed towards. In return, gamers get access to online multiplayer gaming, the ability to stream Netflix movies to your console (provided you're also a Netflix subscriber), and a few other odds and ends. Minus a few proprietary features, it's all stuff you can do on the PC for free, so it would be a tough sell to up and double the price of a sub in a 24-month time span.

Would you pay $100 for an Xbox Live Gold subscription? Hit the jump and sound off!

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Posted 10/16/09 at 09:45:18 AM by Paul Lilly

To celebrate "Talk Like a Pirate Day," Telltale Games gave away free copies of Tales of Monkey Island: Episode One to gamers and scurvy landlubbers alike. But don't worry if you missed out on your chance to reap all the rewards of piracy without crossing moral (and legal) lines, because Telltale is giving you another chance to become a swashbuckler without spending all of your grog money.

The freebie offer has come and gone, but from now until midnight (Pacific Time) on Sunday, October 25, Telltale Games is slashing the price on the full first season of Tales of Monkey Island by $10. For 25 bucks, you'll have access to all five episodes, which breaks down to $5 a pop. As a bonus, Telltale says season purchases are eligible to receive a collector's CD, made available at the end of the season, for the cost of  shipping

Chapters One through Three are available to play now, with the remaining episodes "coming soon."

Offer Link

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Posted 10/14/09 at 03:27:18 PM by Paul Lilly

Nvidia's Tegra platform continues to woo big-name customers, most recently attracting Nintendo, who reportedly is in talks with Nvidia to provide some extra oomph for its next-gen DS handheld console.

The deal marks a win-win situation for both involved. For Nvidia's part, no other handheld console would put Tegra in more hands, courtesy of the DS's 68.3 percent worldwide market share. And for Nintendo, tapping into Tegra gives the company's console a power boost sure to be well received by consumers and developers alike.

Until more details are released, we can only speculate on what the next DS might be like, but it's at least feasible that on top of the added muscle, it will also sport backwards compatibility with the existing DS library, assuming Theo Valich's sources prove reliable.

What will also be interesting to watch is how this relationship between Nintendo and Nvidia plays out in the home console market. Might Nvidia replace ATI as the graphics vendor of choice in whatever supersedes the Wii? We'll have to wait to find out.

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Posted 08/19/09 at 08:29:20 AM by Paul Lilly

Oh boy, we can't wait to see the reaction to this one, so here goes. Take a good look at yourself in the mirror, and if need be, have your birth certificate handy. Do you see an overweight, 35-year-old depressed person staring back at you? if so, you qualify as an average gamer, says a new study.

Published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University, and Andrews University put their heads together to comb through survey data from 522 adults ranging in age from 19 to 90 and living in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

"Video-game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns," the researchers noted.

The findings apply to both men and women, noting female gamers are at a higher risk of depression than women who do npt play videogames, while male gamers reported a higher BMI and more time spent surfing the Internet than men who don't play games.

The researchers admit the study isn't conclusive, but went on say that their findings "appear consistent with earlier research on adolescents."

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Posted 08/18/09 at 04:45:00 PM by Paul Lilly

Originally released in February 2009, Acclaim's MMORPG The Chronicles of Spellborn has gone into a redevelopment stage. This is expected to carry into 2010 and will include a bevy of enhancements and changes as the game morphs from a monthly subscription model into a free-to-play title supported by micro-transactions.

 In the meantime, Acclaim tells us it still has its servers running the original version and has decided to make Spellborn free to play.

"We felt like people missed out. They didn't get to see what Spellborn was really like. And we are going to fix that," David DeWald, Community Manager for Acclaim, wrote in an email.

While the original version remains 'frozen in time' and free to play, note that there will be no upgrades or patches.

Download Link

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Posted 08/17/09 at 09:45:39 AM by Paul Lilly

Whether you lost your license for racking up too many points for speeding and reckless driving or just can't stand to be anywhere else other than behind the wheel, Logitech has you covered. The gaming peripheral company today announced the G27 Racing Wheel, which it says is "designed to deliver the definitive sim racing experience."

For three Benjamins, the G27 will have you gripping tight corners and feeling the road courtesy of a dual-motor force feedback mechanism. A hand-stitched leather wheel helps justify the cost of admission, as does a six-speed gated shifter complimented by a new LED RPM/shift indicator. Other features include steel-constructed gas, brake, and clutch pedals, and more programmable buttons than the G25.

Logitech says the G27 will be available in the U.S. and Europe sometime in September and will work with both PCs and the Playstation 3.

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