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Need more evidence that physical media is inching towards the door? Enter this Reuters conversation with Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello. While the company — the largest publisher of “interactive entertainment” (AKA video games) — is hurting on sales during the awesome global recession currently underway, he thinks the future is digital. All digital. Riccitiello had this to say on the matter:

“When people think of games, they traditionally think, in the U.S., of what sells on the Xbox, the PlayStation, and the Wii, and they forget about all these online services that are out there… if you add all that stuff up, it’s almost half the industry now. It’s about 40 to 45 percent. Next year it’s likely to be the larger share of the total industry and it’ll be bigger than the console games all put together.”

He went on to say that if EA’s digital arm was a standalone company, “it would be like the darling of Wall Street.” Of course, he’s not just talking about XBLA and the App Store — this is an all-encompassing view of the digital market, including casual gaming, Facebook apps, and WoW transactions as well. It may not be the kind of all-encompassing push needed, but we are hoping this sort of noise rattles the industry enough to mobilize smarter, more centralized methods of online distribution.

EA CEO says digital gaming sales will overtake console numbers next year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to the new Engadget, humans! As you can tell by taking a quick look around, we’ve been doing some major work on the site behind the scenes, and we couldn’t possibly be more excited to finally share this work with the rest of the world. For months now — nearly the whole year — we’ve been tinkering, adjusting, tweaking, and honing the experience at Engadget with one goal in mind: do what we do as best as we can, and bring news to our readers better than anyone else. We think we’ve achieved that goal through a lot of hard work and long days (and nights), and it is truly awesome to finally be able to show everyone!

Obviously there is a ton of new stuff here, and if you’re a long-time reader of the site, you’ll probably be a little shell-shocked at first. Don’t worry, we’re still cranking out news the way we always have; in fact, we think the new design will allow us to crank even harder and provide more up-to-the-minute info to you guys. If you’re a new reader, you picked the right time to check us out, because the site has never been more organized, had more content, or been more useful to someone who’s reading us for the first time!

We just want to say that this has been a long labor of love, and we’re thrilled that we get to share it with the world. We think that the new Engadget evolves our work in a major way, moving us from a straightforward blog into something else, an expandable amalgamation that fuses the good bits of blogs, social media, news sites, magazines, and video into something bigger than those parts.

We’re going to walk you guys through some of the major new features (there are a ton, believe us), but first we want to talk a little about how the site got to where it is right now, and who the people are responsible for this thing. Read on after the break for all the info!

Update: Hey, we’re having a few issues with the introduction of the new site. Hang tight, it’ll be perfect soon!

Continue reading Welcome to the next Engadget

Welcome to the next Engadget originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look what just arrived in the mail. Yes, we are aware of your extreme jealousy.

Filed under: Gaming

Limited edition ‘Modern Warfare 2′ Xbox 360 unboxing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not going to bore you with details, but we are going to tell you that it’s more than worth your while to watch this demo video for the iPhone title “Endless Racing Game.” We can’t attest to how fun (or not fun) the game is to play, but the clip is certainly worth your 90 seconds of attention. Check it out after the break.

[Thanks, Lena]

Continue reading ‘Endless Racing Game’ iPhone demo video isn’t endless, is endlessly entertaining

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Software

‘Endless Racing Game’ iPhone demo video isn’t endless, is endlessly entertaining originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two items of note for future owners of the DSi XL (aka, The Gigantic DSi) Nintendo has slated for a November launch in Japan (and Q1 2010 here in the US). First, if you’ve been wondering just how much bigger this thing is in comparison to the previous version of the handheld, wonder no more. The device has been spied in action on Japanese television, and it really is quite enormous. How big? Well luckily the folks at Joystiq have put together an awesome little FAQ about the handheld (including exact dimensions — 161 x 91.4 x 21.2mm for those keeping count) which addresses all the pressing issues and more. Check out the XL strutting its stuff on video after the break, the bop on over to the ‘Stiq to fill up on notable quotes and quotable notes.

[Via Kotaku]

Read - DSi XL FAQ: Sized up
Read - My Game News Flash on the DSi XL

Continue reading The DSi XL gets sized up, then Joystiq answers your nagging questions

Filed under: Gaming

The DSi XL gets sized up, then Joystiq answers your nagging questions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen a few odds and ends on the ODROID — an Android-powered gaming device due this December — but we’ve never gotten a look at the handheld in action. That all changes today, as we’re privy to a new video of the spec-stacked (833MHz Samsung S5PC100 CPU, 512MB RAM) gamer taking an SNES emulator out for a spin. As you can probably guess, the device doesn’t flinch at a screenful of Space Megaforce sprites, but that’s not surprising given the horsepower. Now if only someone could get this configuration into a phone. While you impatiently wait for that to happen, hit the clip after the break to see what kind of damage the ODROID does on its own.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading Android-based ODROID handheld shows off its SNES emulation skills on video

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Android-based ODROID handheld shows off its SNES emulation skills on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know, sometimes at Engadget, we feel compelled to cover a story not because it’s particularly new, or newsy, or relevant to the topics of the day. Sometimes, you just have to cover something because it’s amazingly cool. Enter this completely awesome video from the musician Denkitribe, wherein the DS, Korg DS-10 software, the software’s formant synthesis, and the natural talents of said musician are used to replicate the vocals from Daft Punk’s hit “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” There’s not much we can put in text which this doesn’t lay out in song. Check the whole thing after the break… you’ll thank us later.

[Via Technabob]

Continue reading DS, Korg DS-10’s formant synthesis used to create Daft Punk vocals, general awesomeness

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

DS, Korg DS-10’s formant synthesis used to create Daft Punk vocals, general awesomeness originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That’s right kids. Netflix movie parties, avatar accessories, Games on Demand (though no proper Xbox 360 titles yet — this is just the preview after all). We just got the update and are exploring right now, so stay tuned. If you’re one of the select few, let us know in comments!

Some notable bits thus far:

• Netflix now has way, way more options. You can actually browse content via the app, which is great. As a commenter points out, HD content is now denoted with a tag.
• There isn’t any avatar prop content available just yet — hopefully we’ll get to pick out an awesome gun to carry around soon though.
• No Games on Demand content from the current gen console is available, but apparently the games will start rolling out in early August (sigh).
• As we noted in previous posts, the preview doesn’t boast any of the Last.fm, Facebook, or Twitter additions yet.
• We know they’re still working the kinks out, but there seems to be noticeable slowdown when shifting between pages, something we’ve never noticed before in the NXE.

Filed under: Gaming

The new Xbox Live dashboard update preview is… live! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re familiar with the emulation scene (and let’s be honest, you are reading Engadget), then you know the name ZodTTD — the brain behind some of the best jailbroken emus for the iPhone, including variations on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and most importantly… the TurboGrafx-16. Now the master-hacker has brought his goods to the Pre, cooking up a version of psx4all on the Palm device, with the aforementioned GBA and TG16 ports on the way! Interestingly, he reports that the performance on the Pre is actually better than that of the iPhone 3GS, and of course he’s hacked access to the keyboard, allowing for (more) proper control of games. There are still kinks that are being worked out (sound emulation, screen scaling, etc.), but it looks like we can expect big things in the near future. We at Engadget know everyone will rest a bit easier tonight knowing that real gaming on the Pre is at hand. We’ll hopefully be getting our hands on a version soon, but for now hit the read link for more info, and check out the full video after the break!

Continue reading The Pre gets PlayStation gaming and more thanks to ZodTTD (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming

The Pre gets PlayStation gaming and more thanks to ZodTTD (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sick of having to use your inconvenient mouse and keyboard to do “internet searches” for ROMs of your favorite retro games? Well a gentleman named Matthias might just have the answer to your prayers — a USB SNES cartridge adapter. The enterprising DIY’er has created a combo hardware and software solution that allows you to plug in your dusty carts directly to your rig, and see the ROMs appear as standalone files which you can then load into the emulator of your choice. Apparently there are still some kinks to work out (like getting data rates up for larger games), and Matthias already has plans underway for a multi-system solution. Still, this is impressive stuff, even if it means we’ll have to repurchase any titles we’re missing from reputable online auction houses. Hey, at least it’ll cut down our visits to “Russian porn sites.” Check out the video of the whole thing in action after the break.

Continue reading SNES USB cartridge adapter should set eBay aflame

Filed under: Gaming

SNES USB cartridge adapter should set eBay aflame originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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