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We get the feeling this isn’t the motion sensing surprise that’s likely in store for Xbox 360 fans at E3, but it’s still great to see this controller moving beyond the hype stage. After being spied late last year and detailed around two months ago, the Gametrak Freedom motion controller is now listed at GameStop with an October 15th ship date. The controller, which will come bundled with Squeeballs: Island Party for the Xbox 360, is already up for pre-order, promising gamers who shell out $69.99 a grand total of 11 motion sensing party games. Unfortunately, there’s no word on how much extra Freedom sticks will run, but based on the price of this kit, we’d wager not much.

[Thanks, Josh]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Gametrak Freedom Xbox 360 motion controller up for pre-order with Squeeballs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 23:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A huge number of games are being showcased at E3 2009. Xbox.com provides a list of the games at E3.

The hottest name in racing games and the world’s most progressive maker of sporty luxury cars announced they have forged a partnership centering on the highly-anticipated debuts of the 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro and Xbox 360’s Forza Motorsport 3 later this year.

This article at Gamasutra takes a look at how the compulsion to hoard and accumulate objects, as well as the desire to accomplish entirely abstract goals, has become part of the modern gaming mindset. “The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation explains that in compulsive hoarders: ‘Acquiring is often associated with positive emotions, such as pleasure and excitement, motivating individuals who experience these emotions while acquiring to keep acquiring, despite negative consequences.’ Sound familiar? The ‘negative consequences’ of chasing after the 120th star in Mario 64 or all 100 hidden packages in Grand Theft Auto III may be more subdued than those of filling your entire house with orange peels and old cans of refried beans. But game designers know that it’s pretty damn easy to tap into this deep-rooted need to collect and accumulate. And like happy suckers we buy into it all the time, some to a greater degree than others.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Remember when those slim PS3 shots came out and skeptics bemoaned the missing “spiderman font” as proof of mischief? Well, if you believe that the PSP Go is a lock, and really, at this point there’s no reason to doubt it, then a side-by-side shot of the PSP Go and slim PS3 box art should be quite revealing… and it is. Note the similar font, horizontal band, and general placement of device specs like memory capacity. Pretty similar, thus giving the slim PS3 rumor that much more weight. If this is the new slim PS3 then the only question now is whether it’ll be unveiled at E3 next week or not.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

PSP Go box design lends more credibility to slim PS3 rumors originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wii Fit not cutting the fat fast enough? Don’t sweat it, the house of Mario is getting ready to make your weight loss competitive. According to Japan’s Nikkei business daily, Nintendo will be launching its Wii Fit plus in autumn that will let users compete with friends and family over the Internet to “lose weight and other activities” — the latter presumably hinting at cruel taunting Miis with the ability to point and laugh at the fatties. The new balance board is said to feature more precise measurements to better hone your sense of embarrassment and shame. E3 kicks off next week where we’ll undoubtedly hear more if the rumor is true.

Filed under: Gaming

Nikkei: Nintendo’s Wii Fit plus coming to make weight loss competitive, Internet fun originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 04:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen some pretty weird stuff in our years on this planet — heck, we’ve revived our own drenched Sony DAP by burying it in rice for 48 hours — but this is easily one of the most bizarre gizmo resurrections we’ve ever come across. As the tale goes, one valiant NVIDIA GPU owner apparently bit on a myth which suggested that a pinch of time in the oven (quite literally, might we add) would repair faulty GPUs that were throwing up oodles of vertical lines. After purchasing another GPU to replace his ailing 8800GTX, he figured he had zilch to lose and gave it a shot; lo and behold, the temporary warmth seemingly melted the solder points and healed micro-fractures that were causing the unwanted lines. We’ve yet to hear how his attempt at returning the new GPU went, but hey, there’s always eBay. Give the read link a look if you’re still in disbelief.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

NVIDIA GPU resurrected after 10 minutes at 425°F originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 21:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lyonhrt writes “Engadget and Gizmodo have spilled the beans on the news of the new UMD-less PSP Go that comes with 16GB of memory and a slide screen; also among the features will be built-in Bluetooth and an undisclosed memory slot. The console will be sold alongside the PSP-3000, but there are no details on price at this time. This is obviously Sony’s answer to the lost battle with the PSP Homebrew and Hacking Communities, which have cost many thousands of lost sales with custom firmwares.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We’re still not sure where Alienware gets off calling this thing “all powerful” — where do you go from there? — but we certainly like what’s under the hood. This 17-inch M17x desktop replacement, which is due for E3 next week, has started cropping up early and we’ve gotten a quick look at one in the flesh. It weighs in at 11.5 pounds, and packed to the gills it can handle dual GeForce NVIDIA GTX 280M GPUs, an Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-core processor some fancy overclocking options, and up to 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM. There’s also the lovable GeForce 9400M integrated graphics with HybridPower switching for when you want to turn things down a notch and write a nice, long letter to your mother while milking the overtaxed nine-cell battery for all it’s worth. Outside the raw horsepower, Alienware’s revamped its design, with a hefty aluminum chassis, user-configurable lighting accents and a great many radar-evading accoutrements — oh, and facial recognition for login and timed auto-logout. The display is configurable up to 1920 x 1200, and the laptop can pump out a good many pixels to an external monitor as well — we saw it powering Dell’s almost-ready 2880 x 900 curved display running Crysis with no problem. Other options include Blu-ray, up to 512GB of SSD storage in the dual drive bays, and perhaps best of all: a $1,799 starting price, which includes a GeForce GTX 260M GPU to get your feet wet.

We got to play with the laptop a bit at a recent event, and were seriously impressed with the look and feel of the thing — somewhat of a rarity in the over-plasticized gaming space. As we mentioned, Crysis ran fine, and while the hardcore gamer-on-the-go with endless supplies of cash might be a bit of a rare breed these days, at least they haven’t been forgotten… though they are in store for some serious back problems in later life.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Alienware M17x gaming laptop hands-on: it isn’t quite “all powerful,” but it’ll do in a pinch originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look up there, folks. That’s the future of Sony’s hopes and dreams in the handheld gaming sector. With just hours to go before the company’s official E3 2009 press event, it looks like the pieces are all coming together. First a UMD-less game release, then a highly credible mole giving the PSP Go a name, and now — live action shots. The images here were sourced from an obviously slipped June 2009 Qore video, and aside from giving us a look at the slider-based system (which, let’s be honest, looks a ton like the questionably successful mylo), we’re also told that it’ll tout 16GB of internal memory, built-in Bluetooth and an undisclosed memory slot. If all goes well, it’ll ship this Fall for a price to be determined, and it’s actually not slated to replace the PSP-3000, as both of ‘em will attempt to live on store shelves harmoniously… at least for awhile. Oh, and don’t worry — we’ll be on hand in LA to bring you all the impressions we can muster early next week.

[Via PlayStation Forums, thanks Matt and A1]

Update: Video is now after the break! Thanks adizzy615!

Update 2: Official press shots have emerged. [Via Engadget Spanish]

Update 3: A few more official specifications are flowing from the full Qore video (pardon the sync issues). Here’s the dirt:

• 3.8-inch display (resolution is undisclosed)
• 43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000
• 16GB of Flash storage
• Bluetooth built-in; supports handset tethering and BT headsets
• No UMD drive
• Memory Stick Micro slot
• New Gran Turismo, Little Big Planet and new Metal Gear Solid (!) on the way
• Full PlayStation Network support (movie and TV rentals / purchases)
• Integration with PlayStation 3 (works the same as the PSP-3000 does)
• Sony views each of its products as “10-year lifecycle products,” so the PSP “needs to live on.”

Continue reading Video: Sony’s PSP Go leaks out before E3, is obviously a go

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Video: Sony’s PSP Go leaks out before E3, is obviously a go originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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