Kotaku: full disclosure!

So Now I Have A PSPgo

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:00:00 MDT

This morning, I got a PSPgo from Sony for reviews and whatnot. I had a chance to check out Crecente's PSPgo at TGS. Those who already have the PSPgo, any words of advice? Things you like? Things you don't?

Hit us up in the comments section.

John Riccitiello Buys Up EA Stock

Leigh Alexander — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:20:00 MDT

Stating that it's good for senior executives to invest in their own companies, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello just picked up almost $1 million worth of EA's own common stock, a company spokesperson said today.

It's Riccitiello's second time ever buying EA stock, and this time he purchased 20,000 shares, at about $48.37 each. The move comes one day after EA extended its deadline to acquire Take-Two.

The EVE Online BOOT.INI Problem Explained

Mike Fahey — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:20:52 MST

Back on the sixth, popular space MMO EVE Online released their Trinity update, which added an all-new (and quite dazzling) graphics engine, with the unfortunate side-effect of deleting some XP users' BOOT.INI file, effectively stopping their PC from booting. While a "We're so sorry" and a fix would have sufficed, the director of the EVE Online software group Dr. Erlendur S. Thorsteinsson has posted a dev blog explaining the bug in great detail, from origin to fix to helping customers get their PCs up and running again by calling in external tech support like the Geek Squad. While the explanation basically amounts to irresponsibility on the team's part and lack of diverse hardware - which is really inexcusable - CCP showed some real class in fixing the issue, which could explain why they have a fan base so loyal they actually fly to Reykjavík, Iceland to hang out with them.

About the boot.ini issue [EVE Insider Dev Blog - Thanks Tyson]

An Elite Loaner

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:00:16 MDT

Shortly before I left for the Tokyo Game Show, my "fixed" Xbox 360 crapped out (right after I got it back from repairs). And when I returned from TGS, there was an Xbox 360 Elite waiting for me. Microsoft sent me a "loaner," while my console is getting a fix it. I put my 20GB HDD on it and am not using the HDMI cable. The machine does seem to run quieter than my first gen Xbox 360. But man, the Elite sure can get hot. Here's the pickle, though: It's an American Elite, and I live in Japan. Not sure if that makes life easier or not. Wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft sent everyone whose console broke an Elite to hold them over during the repair wait? Expensive, too!

Bashcraft's E3 Schwag

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:00:17 MDT

Here's my E3 schwag disclosure: a single Square Enix notebook. I did get a Rock Band shirt and a small poster. I believe the shirt made it to Japan. The crushable poster stayed behind. What I missed out on: GTA IV shirts were being given out at the Take 2 presser. Yet, I didn't take one. Collective members of the gaming press rifling through the stacks, looking for their precious XL sizes made me not want to wear a GTA IV shirt. Like ever. The Square Enix notebook is pretty nice — it's sturdy, has paper and comes with a pen — smart schwag for journalists! In short, it's thoughtful, and I can actually use it. Other companies, take note.

Nintendo Media Summit Schwag Bag

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:40:27 MDT

Disclosure. It's not just an unintentionally hilarious Michael Douglas and Demi Moore movie based on a Michael Crichton novel about sexual harassment and CD-ROM drives, it's also an attempt to make clear that we get stuff when we go to media events. That stuff above, for example, was the thrust of the Nintendo Media Summit schwag bag.

In addition to some highly coveted press releases (you should feel this paper stock), we got Wii water bottles, light up Wii remote keychains, a Nintendo branded notebook, some Wii points and an unknown amount of Wendy's giftcards. Mmmmm... Wii points.

While I'll be taking advantage of what both cards have to offer, freeing the remaining and useless $3 held hostage by the Shopping Channel, the rest is going into the schwag pile to be given away to some lucky reader. Watch for an upcoming contest, packed with videogame branded junk... err, highly prized and valuable items! Michael McWhertor

First Blush With The DS X-Treme

kotaku.com — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:40:25 MDT

This morning, a FedEx man came knocking. "Oi!" he said in a thick, drunken brogue. "Is this Toiteen?"

I perceived by his inability to pronounce the theta phoneme that he was, in fact, from Dublin 4. As I live in Dublin 6, this would usually be enough for me to frantically slam the door in his face and call the Gardai: Dublin 4iners are not welcome in the well-to-do area of Ranelagh. Still, I welcomed him, because tucked underneath his beefy forearm was a package containing my DS X-Treme review cart.

The DS X-Treme Cartridge is the current top-of-the-line in DS flash carts. Currently, DS Flash Carts are a convoluted affair, in which you link a regular GBA flash cart with a long ribbon to a DS cart called a PassMe device. Or so I understand: it sounded so inelegant and convoluted I never bothered to try.

But the DS X-Treme? Just an amazing little device.

I've spent a few hours fiddling with it. Expect a full review as soon as I put in some more time, but this is how easy it is: you plug the cart via USB cable into your computer. It is immediately
recognizable as a removable disk (like a keydrive) on both Windows and OS X. Transfer was lightning fast.

You then simply drag homebrew programs, mp3s or roms over to the cart, eject the cart and plug it into your DS. When you load up the cart, you can select from a list of programs or games, or play mp3s. The interface for mp3 playing is extremely slick, gathering information from tags, just like an iPod. Naturally, the playbacks a bit hampered by the tinny speakers on the DS Lite, but I'd imagine the fidelity's quite a bit better with some headphones.

So far, I have yet to find anything short of DS Doom that doesn't simply work. DS Doom? I suspect I'm doing something wrong, because other people report success.

Since this probably needs to be said, I am testing ROMs, since for me, that's the real use for one of these carts: keeping numerous games on a single cart, for convenience's sake. However, I am testing only games I own, and when the full review goes up, I'll even post pictures of me holding up the boxes to prove it. needless to say, ROMs seem to work fine, which I'm sure will be a big plus to the vast constabulary of pirates out there. There's plenty of space, though: I was able to put 15 games on the cart before it ran out of space.

Another neat little feature is that the cart actually features these adorably flashing disco lights, when you plug it into the computer, have your DS turned on or are playing music. You can even adjust the settings to change the color to anything you'd like. It's nice to see a company make a nod to Gay Gamer with some brightly flashing pink and purple lights.

So far, I am just hugely impressed. I've used GBA flash carts before and not a single one of them was this elegant or well thought out. Expect a longer review later in the week. For now, check out these early reviews:

Review at GBAtemp.net
First Grope: DS-Xtreme Nintendo DS Media Enhancer, over at Gizmodo

Unless the thing spontaneously explodes, I imagine I'll give this a very high review. If you're interested in preordering, you can go over to the official site and find a reseller near you. It's pricey... around $135... but, so far, it seems to be worth every penny. An extremely elegant solution. Florian Eckhardt

DS X-Treme [Official Site]