Well Kinda.

This guy created a head tracker for his xbox. It cost him about $6 and what it does is track his head movements and translate them for the console.

So it is kinda like VR.

Slacklog: XBox Headtracking system....

If you're into hacking, and are good with a soldering Iron (and don't mind turfing one of your Xbox controllers) I'd check this out!

So you may have already heard, but the Nintendo DS light - the rumored new handheld - is now available from Nintendo.

In fact, here's a product page for the new console.

Now we all know that there has been lots of speculation - will they or won't they. In fact we've seen supposed mockups of the handhelds which turned out to be homebrews that people have done on their own.

But, based on this product page it's clear to see that there is indeed a new DS coming on March 2nd (see the translation of the product page here).

Yes it's true - now that the 360 is out, M$ has pulled the plug on the original.

According to our friends at Kotaku, there was an inside tip given to them about this.

Of course M$ responded in typical fashion, saying a whole bunch of nothing.

So, boys and girls, if you want to keep your console, better start making some noise or there won't be any original Xbox games available much past this summer.

NextGen has a great article speculating on the Revolution.

In it, the author speculates on what the PS3 really will be - will it be just another console or could it be more.

He says that Sony plans to make some announcements in the next few weeks. He further speculates that the company will throw it's support behind blu ray, the next high definition DVD format.

As such, Sony needs the backing of major motion picture studios, which apparently it does have - at least verbally.

This could lead to a real battle over DVD formats if they backs blu ray because HD DVD also has backing. And the movie companies won't want another beta vs. VHS battle.

According to the author, Sony is betting that people won't buy the console for the gaming, instead they'll buy it for the DVD playback - gaming is secondary. And this would be a slap in the face for M$ which rushed to get the 360 out by Christmas.

In any case, he does say "its all speculation" but even if he's partly right, this could be an interesting year. Not only for console gaming but also the movie industry.

MAKE: Blog: Use a DS as a wireless keyboard/gamepad

According to the RevolutionReports forums, this picture is a screenshot of the new revo screen.

Sure it could be - it looks kinda unprofessional to me - after all, if they are going after the 360 crowd don't they want to make the console appeal to post-pubescents?

Extremetech has a great article on hacking your psp sound.

Check it out here

It provides and intro into your PSP's audio system, letting you know what formats it accepts. It even gives you tips on how to do things like access your ITunes library and more.

Be sure to check it out if you have a PSP and are a fan of hacking it.

This just in from DCEmu - word that your favorite Sega games will be available on a plug 'n' play console.

Similar to the recently released Atari Flashback, this small device will carry a variey of games built in.

There will be 2 versions of the new console: and 10 in 1 and a 20 in 1 system. All together are 48 games licensed to be distributed in the unit.

More details can be found at the DCEmu website.

It appears that Telematics has filed for "Administration" for Gizmondo. Administration is similar to creditor protection. The company hopes to be able to use loans to repay some debt before creditors move in. More details here:

Next Generation - Gizmondo Reaches Crisis Point

Rather than post individually on these I thought I'd share them all in one convenient entry:

Use the Nintendo DS as Wi-Fi scanner

Hacking Your PSP Audio

10 mods for a NES controller

HOW TO - DS eReader modification

Wow

How badly do you have to feel to do this to your Xbox?

I mean, sure maybe you couldn't beat Halo, but is that any reason to destroy your console like this?

Maybe this is what happens when your console gets more attention than your wife. :)

MAKE Blog links to a new PSP Devkit. Check it out!

MAKE: Blog: PSP Devkit for GTA homebrew released

No, M$ hasn't succumbed yet. But some enterprising person has figured out that you can use freely available M$ software to create an app that will encode on the fly so that you can watch your favorite DivX and XviD on the 3609 despite its preference for WMA.

What it does is convert your DivX on the fly to WMA before it streams it, so you can use the console to expand it's media center capabilities.

Full details can be found here.

According to this post:

Sony MemoryStick Duo 4 and 8 GB: Digital Photography Review

One of the CES announcements that didn't quite make the news was about new MemorySticks for the PSP.

Later this year expect to see new models with 4 and 8 gig capacities.

Three California men have been formally charged under the Digital Millenium Copyrights Act for selling modded Xbox consoles with pirated games.

Next-Gen reports that Jason Jones and Jonathan Bryant, co-owners of ACME Game Store, and Pei "Patrick" Cai were named in the indictment Thursday.

For a mere $265 you could have purchased one of these consoles along with 75 games.

RevolutionReport.com has a great interview with ATI's Public Relations Manager for Consumer Products, John Swinimer on ATI, the CES, the Revolution and Hollywood.

It's mostly about Hollywood, but there are some good Nintendo tidbits as well.

IGN has a great article on the revolution and the proposed "virtual console" - Revolution's game download service.

According to Nintendo, the Revolution will not only have a wireless connection, but it will allow you to download all your favorite NES and SNES games as well as select N64 classics.

Can't wait for this one....

I found this great article about how Nintendo is going to deal with the controller issue.

It's common knowledge that most people are fed up with current controllers. While they are comfortable to hold on (much better than first gen consoles) the number of buttons and complexity of the controllers is too much for some people. Pressing "A" "B" "X" "Y" "UP" at the same time for a special feature is too much for some people.

So when Nintendo decided to go back to its roots and make something simple to use, yet offers the features some hard core gamers want I found it was refreshing.

After all, imaging a controller which reacts to how you hold it - tilt it up and you go up - tilt it down and you go down.

Motion sensitive controllers have been a long time coming. I hope for Nintendo's sake these controllers work as promised.

Gotta love Gizmodo at CES time - they must have quite a few people there taking pics and talking to reps about new products.

And some are even paying attention to what's not there. Like when they noticed that the PS3 was missing it's "interesting" controller which was debuted at E3.

You can read the full post here but essentially they speculate that perhaps (and hopefully?) the new console would get a better controller design.

We got this from Slashdot:

An anonymous reader writes "HardOCP has done it once again. They have an article running down the process of water cooling an Xbox 360, and with surprising effectiveness and remarkable styling." From the article: "We had plans to water cool an Xbox 360 for over a year now. Little did we know that not only will this water cooling project be more fun than the original, but it may even be practical. Imagine that. With reports of heat related issues and a heat sink that can get almost too hot to touch after marathon gaming sessions, the Xbox 360 water cooling project now had a sense of purpose. We bought a retail Xbox 360 specifically for this project. The minute we got it back to the [H] labs we tore into it and, with a little help from the fine folks at Koolance, we have put together a water cooling solution that will handle anything the Xbox 360 can throw at it and literally knock your socks off." Actual implimentation with hand-holding. Hexus.net was discussing a kit to do this a few days ago.

Link

Well kinda

I came across this earlier so I thought I'd share it.

Apparently, phantom, the infamous "play it all" console maker is back again, this time selling a "lapboard" which is really a combo mouse and keyboard with a few cool features. (see screenshot here).

The keyboard can be angled upwards to create a surface for the mouse to operate on underneath, and has extra keys for playing left or right handed. It is also wireless and can operate at a distance of up to 30 feet

360 news announced at CEs. M$ has brought another manufacturer online to help keep up with demand.

But the big news is HD-DVD support coming in 2006 for the 360. Hopefully this drive doesn't scratch discs :)

Live from CES: Microsoft and the 360 - Gizmodo

According to Slashdot this is such a serious and widespread problem that GameFly, a game rental service, has already posted a policy on the matter.

The site goes on to say "the problem being particularly pronounced if users move the Xbox 360 while it is in use. However, some consumers are reporting that their Xbox 360 hardware will scratch discs without being moved."

No surprise really, in Microsoft's rush to get the console out the door it's problems like this that will continue to creep up.

I think I'll wait for the Revolution to come out :)

Wow - I bet you've seen these mod sites - showign you how to do this or that to virtually everything. But I cam across this site that has a ton of NES mods you can apply to that old system laying around your house. Check it out:

NES Mod links

Yup

Due to an unfortunate hosting issue we were down for a bit. As a webmaster I should know when my account is suspended, but I didn't.

Yup that's right, I host this site, yet for some reason I suspended it :) Darn automated scripts!!!

Anyways we're back and to let you know what's happening let me fill you in.

Over the coming months you will notice some new changes. On the backend we'll be moving to different hosting - something that's a little quicker and more reliable.

Also, we'll be changing the backend a little, and hopefully updating the site with a fresh look and tons of new categories. We expect 2006 to be our best year ever!

So, be sure to check back often and watch what happens!

It appears so, over at Joystiq they've had some run-ins with "friendly" Xbox staff who are "cracking down" on email switchers.

Hmm, didn't realize this was such a security concern. Oh well, go figure. Check out the entire post here:

Joystiq