On the downside, only two of the four buttons felt like they were naturally positioned, with the glowing mousewheel awkwardly out of reach. Perhaps smaller hands will have an easier time scrolling, but when you've got dainty digits like I do, it's hard to imagine the current form factor working for a wide range of players.

Verdict: A good gimmick that works for simple shooters, but not for those in need of a robust button set up.

I have no idea how it feels, but Nyko's Perfect Shot for the Wii remote certainly looks kick ass. My only issue is that I tend to forget about controllers that I have tucked away in elaborate cases, like the one still sitting dormant in my Guitar Hero controller.

The HXT set up did make for a fun little diversion, as that goofball smile on my face wasn't forced. The sensation of getting shot in the head without actually giving up brain matter is oddly exhilarating, if at times uncomfortable for the skull. The vest feedback wasn't as jarring and the TN Games team said they were planning on less intense "force cell" hardware for the final helmet, for those worried about too much cranial abuse.

It currently works with two titles, Call of Duty 2 and the company's own Incursion—which is not so good—but they're planning for support in a bunch of shooters, including Half-Life, Doom and Quake titles.

One advantage the Retro Duo has over some of the other NES/SNES clones is its ability to properly play the original Starfox, which looked and played just as we remembered it. The double duty console looks like a pretty nice product for anyone who still has plenty of retro titles on hand and isn't already in possession of similar products like the FC Twin. More pics of the consoles are in our gallery below.

In addition to those short-session downloadable games, plans for more legacy PSP titles are planned. Koller said the company will be re-releasing older PlayStation Portable titles as downloads, ones that "retailers aren't interested in carrying at this stage, games that we hear a lot of demand from PSP owners—titles like Wipeout, Twisted Metal—gamers who say 'I want to play this' but can't find it at retail anymore."

Speaking of retail, Koller confirmed that SCEA will be publishing more UMD movies and at a reduced price point. "We definitely understand that releasing a '70s era romantic comedy at $29.99 didn't appeal to most of the demographic," he said, telling us that retailers were "bullish" on carrying the UMD movie format at a more sensible price point.

He said that the company wasn't particularly concerned about the recently confirmed option to copy Blu-ray movie content to a PSP biting into the UMD video market, saying that "Any way we can help get that multimedia content onto the PSP, we're going to take it."

We'll have more from our Q&A with John Koller throughout the week.

Gizmodo had a chance to go hands on with that sexy OLED keyboard that can change each key to whatever you want instantly. The good news is that the Optimus Maximus keyboard itself functions like it should, it's responsive, snappy, but not too noisy. The ability to customize your keys also seems pretty locked-down. The only downside I could see from the hands-on at CES was that the keyboard gets greasy "very greasy" when you use it. That sounds like a HUGE issue to me. As someone who uses his keyboard so much the letters actually wear away, I couldn't stand having a board that was tactilely disagreeable, which is a pretty big disappointment for me because I've been jonesing for this keyboard since it was first announced back in the 1500s.

Hands on With Optimus Maximus Keyboard [Gizmodo]

I braced for something from Gundam lore, but Sasaki surprised us both with his choice: Pac-Man. The thing holding him back from a SC IV guest appearance, he said, was that Pac-Man doesn't have a weapon. Now, I could have sworn I'd seen Pac-Man sporting a helmet and lance at some point...

The BBC News had a sit down with Bill Gates at CES recently and instead of asking him their own questions, they asked him their viewers. This gem, the first in the Q&A video, asked Gates about the hardware issues that have plagued the Xbox 360, almost since launch.

We've had a lot of questions from people who weren't really happy with the kind of service they've been getting from Xbox in the last few years... What are you going to do to ensure that new consoles are more reliable than previous versions

Well we certainly had to apologize to our uses about a number of box that had to be replaced. We did that for free for all of those people, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the way we handled it. We've got incredible reliability on the new work we've done. Our commitment is that it will be the most reliable video game box out there. People really love the Xbox because of the content, but we've got to make sure that the hardware never stands in the way of that.

Later in the interview he was asked about Vista and the possibility of releasing a version that would be no-frills, but still support game playing.

Any chance of a no-frills operating system? Just a system that plays PC games and a few basics. I hate the compatibility issues Vista has. And he ends "Help"

Ha ha. Well Vista has been a very successful product. Obviously because it is so broadly used and connects up to everything we get a lot of feedback. Things to improve, new things to work on. We're hard at work on things ,we do downloads of improvements all of the time and of course there will be a major new version coming along. So Vista is very successful, ties into the new hardware advances, but we love getting the feedback. People are very passionate about their PC. They use it more than anything else.

Are you proud of Vista, because a lot of people are questioning whether you should be.

No, I'm very proud of Vista. Like all of the products we ship as soon as we get it out we hear how we could do this differently and that differently but it has been a very important product for the industry a lot of great things were done in Vista. Now we are hard at work on what comes next.

Bill Gates Interview [BBC]

The continued problems were a result of not simply too many people trying to connect and play on Live, but also that too few Xbox Live team members were in the office to react. "It's easy when we're all the office in November, but on December 25th, it's harder to get a hold of everybody," Penello said, later adding "I hope people feel like [giving away a free Live Arcade game] is a fair make good for the inconvenience."

Penello also came to the Live team's defense, noting that "I'd also say in seven years, this has happened maybe zero other times, but I can't remember a time when, other than the slow downloads we had when we launched Video Marketplace, we have had a service outage that wasn't planned."

While Microsoft's Penello and Jeff Bell gave us the impression that the problem is largely addressed when we asked at CES, some of us at Kotaku are still having connection issues, specifically gamertag recovery unresponsiveness. Unfortunately, I'm away from my Xbox 360 and can't report on my own successes or failures with the service. We've heard fewer complaints from readers over the past few days, but still want to hear from you if you're having troubles.

Graphics aside, how does it play? Like a Soul Calibur should. The developer has decided, wisely, not to fix a game that's not broken.

As with many fighting game sequels, Soulcalibur IV is not only prettier, it's faster than its predecessor. Moves are lightning quick in the build we played, but the game's speed, not obscenely fast, may still be in the tweaking stages. The game's director asked us, after a lengthy gameplay session, how we felt about Soulcalibur IV's speed implying that it was up for discussion.

The demo we played featured only three playable characters, Mitsurugi, Taki and Cassandra. The trio were in their trademark outfits, with no option to play with a secondary (or tertiary) costume, so we didn't get eyes on with any unreleased looks for the returning fighters. In person though, everyone we did get a look at though was quite easy on the eyes. Sure, Taki's boobs flopped about ridiculously with the slightest breeze it seemed, but that's not necessarily a complaint.

Graphically, Soulcalibur IV does a few new things. The team has added a respectable amount of bloom lighting, rendering nice bright sunlight to Cassandra's oversaturated stage and bringing a nice glint to Mitsurugi's blade. Characters cast realistic shadows on stage floors, with foliage on the two levels we got a look at dropping believable, organic shade on the combatants.

Outside of the Greek stage, which may be Cassandra's or Sophitia's, the only other arena was more tropical in nature, a lush oasis with hippos and flamingos bathing in the background. Some elements of the background looked to be 2D textures, but this was only noticeable when one wasn't playing the game and many graphical nitpickers may not notice.

Some of the movesets have changed from Soul Calibur III, most noticeably Cassandra's. She played faster and with a more aggressive set of attacks than before, with a couple of new kicks we certainly didn't recognize. Honestly, though, I'm more of an Ivy and Yoshimitsu player, so don't consider me the authority on movesets for the available souls.

Unfortunately, there were many game improvements we would have liked to play but couldn't. Online play wasn't available, nor was the new gauge that allows for "finishing moves" that can end a fight without a ring out, expired time limit or win by health gauge. We also didn't get to preview the custom character creation tool. We were especially intrigued in it by the Soulcalibur IV team's decision to allow costume choices to affect how your character fights (read: heavy armor choices can make for a slower character).

Speaking of ring outs, they did feel a bit more challenging to pull off. In one match against Siliconera's Spencer Yip, a pair of what seemed like assured ring outs turned into a loss for me and a win my still in-bounds rival.

The build we played was nowhere near finished, as it was missing voiceovers, plenty of characters and the odd animation, but it seems that everyone came away pleased. We're definitely looking forward to playing a more complete Soulcalibur IV, as it appears from a few hours of gameplay that the Project Soul team has built a purchase-worthy set of new features on top of a solid foundation.

Cnet has posted their the nominees for their annual best of CES Awards. The awards include a gaming category which lists, this time around, a wireless nunchuck from Nyko, Gateway's FX gaming desktops and that mammoth Alienware curved monitor everyone is going gaga over.

Hit the jump for the run down of the three gaming nominees and the link to see Cnet's full write up on the products and the entire Best of CES nominee list.

Nyko Wireless Nunchuck
The Nintendo Wii uses a wireless remote to begin with, but that remote still manages to use a cord half the time. Most Wii games use both the Wii Remote and the Wii Nunchuck, an analog stick peripheral that plugs into the base of the remote via a long cable. Nyko first cut the Wii cord with the Wireless Sensor Bar and is taking away yet another tether with the Wireless Nunchuck. The Nyko Wireless Nunchuck connects to the Wiimote via a little wireless dongle that clicks into the controller's accessory jack.

Gateway FX7020
Gateway bowed two new gaming desktops at the show today, the high-end FX540, and the more modest FX7020. The former is an update to Gateway's year-old customizable, semi-high-end Intel-based PCs. The FX7020 packages a quad-core AMD Phenom chip in to a relatively affordable $1,099 package. Gateway's FX7020 represents the type of PC we expect to see a lot of in 2008: the $1,000 to $1,500 gamer that finally has the graphics horsepower to handle the newest 3D PC games.

Alienware's Curved Display
Alienware put on what it termed a "technology statement" in Vegas tonight with the aptly named "curved display." That's its unofficial name. It also has no price yet, and no release date more specific than "second half of 2008." What we can tell you is that after the brief minute or so we spent with this monitor, we think high-end PC gamers are going to be excited for it. The specifics are that it's a rear-projection DLP screen that can run at a resolution of 2,880x900 pixels (wider than a 30-inch LCD, but not quite as tall).

Best of CES [Cnet]

Now, it's time to play.

I just can't get enough of these LittleBigPlanet play videos. This first one shows off the addition of in-game death in a lava pit level. The second video, on the jump, shows how easy it is to make a level of mountains and buildings. It really is amazing and makes me itchy to play the game and start creating stuff.

POSDATA and sister company POSBRO announced at CES today that their portable online gaming device for cell phones, the G100, will be coming to America. US consumers can find the WiMAX device on sale late 2008 - early 2009, but the G100 and the WiMAX gaming network will be available and online in Korea early this year. No word yet on what the games will be, but the companies promise a "variety of online game titles... to meet customer's tastes". And why, exactly, do these companies think it will be wildly popular in the US?

The effect of portable online gaming device will be inspiring in US where video game through TV and online game on PC are quite popular among young people. In the near future, they will be playing high quality online games through G100 via mobile WIMAX network.

Hit the jump for the press release.

Jan 09, 2008 03:30

POSDATA Launches WIMAX Game Business in US

LAS VEGAS —(Business Wire)— Jan. 9, 2008 Today at CES 2008, POSBRO, POSDATA's subsidiary for mobile WIMAX device, announced the intention to launch mobile WIMAX online game business in the US market.
POSBRO has been developing mobile WIMAX specialized terminal under the brand name of FLYVO, and unveiled the world's first portable online gaming platform, named G100, at WiMAX World USA, Chicago, 2007.

KT, the world's largest mobile WIMAX operator currently servicing more than 100,000 commercial subscribers, already signed a commercial agreement with POSBRO to provide online game service via G100 to KT Wibro network starting early 2008 in Korea.

Continuing this success, the G100 will be launching in US around the beginning of 4Q, 2008, or end of 1Q, 2009, according to POSBRO. The G100 will be demonstrated at SPRINT's booth, in CES this week showing the potential of SPRINT's XOHM(TM) Mobile WiMAX network.

"We're delighted to bring this revolutionary mobile WiMAX device to US market, and it will dramatically change the way people enjoy games and Internet while they're on the move," explained Mr. Joonil Shin, CEO of POSBRO.

"We are pleased that POSBRO is expanding its presence to the U.S. market with its leading on-line game products," Mr. Bin Shen, VP, Product Management and Partnership Development for Xohm. "The development of devices and services like this will demonstrate the power of true WiMAX mobile broadband."

The effect of portable online gaming device will be inspiring in US where video game through TV and online game on PC are quite popular among young people. In the near future, they will be playing high quality online games through G100 via mobile WIMAX network.

POSBRO is currently adding up variety of online game titles which are optimized for G100 platform in cooperation with major game developers to meet customers' various tastes.

There wasn't a whole lot of details flapping around when Robbie Bach announced that British Telecom would be the first company to team up with Microsoft to offer consumers an Xbox 360 set-top IPTV box.

Fortunately the BBC was able to squeeze some details about the box out of British Telecom. Chief among them is the fact that despite rumors, and our fervent desires, the box will not be able to receive or record live television. Boo!

The service actually sounds like a more robust version of the Video Marketplace Microsoft already offers on the box.

As well as access to BT's library of on-demand content, users will also be able to watch hundreds of movies and other digital content, including its near-live FA premier League football matches. ... "The reason for streaming only on the Xbox is because currently the console does not have the capability for live TV or enough hard drive for practical downloading of content," explained a BT spokesman.

Well that sucks.

Xbox will host BT's TV service [BBC]

One thing's for sure, The Agency isn't even remotely attempting to attract lapsed Everquest or EVE Online gamers or anyone who feels that chopping virtual lumber is a fun way to spend a Friday night. No, The Agency is all tits, ass and guns, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. There are no bearded dwarf women or obese two-headed trolls to play, just foxy chicks in skin-tight outfits with overtly sexual walk animations and super cool, badass dudes that come in two flavors: sleek and burly.

That may sound like there's a limited character customization option, but it's actually quite broad, from what we've seen. It's just that everyone seems to be painfully attractive, as the game is striving to be the MMO equivalent of a Bond flick. Character design seems to have a bit of Team Fortress 2 aesthetic to it, with an emphasis on more caricaturist silhouettes. The two agency factions, UNITE and Paragon, will add more variety, as the former is more upscale with the latter more a gritty merc type.

One of the design decisions that will probably be welcomed by non-MMO types is that character creation doesn't lock you into a class, as the game is essentially classless. Your class is what you wear, so if you want to play as spec ops or a field medic, you'll have to deck yourself out in the appropriate gear.

The game is running on the Unreal Engine 3 and even in it's alpha stage, looks like a graphically competent shooter and a rather pretty MMO.

Being heavy on action as a shooter and a time-investment as an online multiplayer game, there has to be something to do between the bits of target tracking and large scale firefights. You won't be craft grinding, however, as NPC agency operatives will pick up the slack for you there—think 24's Chloe to your Jack Bauer or Q to your Bond. They'll not only help with tech, you can call on them from the field to support your stealth efforts. There won't be much in the way of blacksmithing or pelt gathering. Instead, the team has added things like casino games and intel gathering by taking photos, along with vehicle challenges, to spice up the gameplay. You'll also be able to play a game of Q*bert, should the mood strike you, as it's one of the included mini-games.

One of the more interesting aspects is The Agency's reach outside of the console or PC. The team is planning to feature SMS support in the final product, so, if you opt-in for it, you can receive text messages from your agency operatives with updates and story driving situations. Talk of PSP and Home support was mentioned, but given the vagueness of those plans, we'll wait for a future update before getting too excited about such talk.

It sounds like the gang at Sony Online Entertainment are trying to do something original with their latest MMO effort and the game seems to have a solid set of original ideas. Whether those disparate parts can come together to be an ultimately satisfying shooter and an online RPG remains to be seen, as the game is still early. We're looking forward to playing at least one of the betas, a time frame for which wasn't provided.

Yesterday when Reuters reported that Microsoft will consider going to Blu-Ray if consumers demand it some people sort of freaked. Among the list? Microsoft. Today the company reached out to us to "clarify" a story they say was missing some much needed context.

There was a critical element of our comments missing from the story — Microsoft currently has no plans at this time to consider Blu-ray as an option. We continue to believe that HD DVD is the best optical solution for consumers, since it's the only format today that delivers quality experiences at affordable prices.

When I pressed the spokesperson for a little more details about how the story was contextually incorrect, they cut to the chase:

While the article states that Microsoft might possibly look into Blu-ray, we just want to emphasize that there are no current plans to consider Blu-ray as an option. Microsoft continues to be dedicated to the HD DVD format and we don't want the Reuters article to mislead or suggest otherwise.

So HD-DVD has at least one stalwart supporter in their corner still.

Microsoft Will Consider Going Blu-Ray if Consumers Demand [Kotaku]