Oh Apple, what are you up to? Just like we saw right around this time last year in preparation for Apple's new iPhone 3G and updated iPod touch, Apple is placing huge orders of NAND chips thereby threatening the supply in demand by other tier-one vendors. This time we've got DigiTimes confirming earlier reports that Apple is cornering the market on flash memory -- specifically, the Taiwanese rumor rag is reporting orders of "100 million 8Gb (8 gigabit, not gigabyte) NAND flash chips mostly with Samsung Electronics." That's twice the size of the order reported last year. The tiny memory chips are then recombined during manufacturing into the larger 16GB, 32GB, and so on capacities we expect to find in our handheld consumer electronics. Anyone still doubting new Apple handhelds in June?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/a/ ...

Most of the time we see a Wii mote controlling something tangible, it's more for entertainment value like an airsoft gun or Rovio. The Casmobot lawnmower, developed by scientists from the University of Southern Denmark, is actually quite useful if you loathe outdoor chores. It can be steered into grass-cutting action via the tilt of the controller synced with Bluetooth. Alternatively, you can drive it for a lap around the border of the yard and then put it on autopilot to mow inside the designated zone. We wouldn't run in front of it while its in motion, though, it's probably not as forgiving of interruption as a roomba. Researcher Kjeld Jensen also suggested applying the same technology to your grandmother's wheelchair, but we really don't think she'd appreciate that. See it for yourself in the video after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/c...-of-a-wiimote/ ...

"After doing some digging, we can confirm that the release this fall will be international . While we were not able to get a list of countries that the Zune will ship to, we can confirm that it will be shipping to: Australia, China, and Europe. A company representative told me that there will be far more countries that the Zune will be shipping to. Stay tuned for more, including specs and pictures (We've seen the internal video!). I'll leave our readers with this: It's slim and you won't need a D-Pad. Feel free to speculate."

We pretty much knew that new hardware was coming this year, but the interwebs are blowing up over a single tweet from Brian Seitz where he confirmed that there's new hardware in the pipeline. People seem pretty excited about a new Zune, so that's good to see. The above quote from this Neowin article has more specifics than I've seen elsewhere - though I disagree with the use of "confirm" when they can't quote their source. At any rate, if this news is accurate, I'd say it's very big news indeed. Not only does it seem to firm up the rumour about an iPod Touch-like Zune (slim and no D-Pad), but it seems the Zune is finally ready to bust out of the confines of North America. Take this all with a large grain of salt mind you, because none of this is confirmed, but I think it's worth getting excited about! I wish I could add my own speculation into the mix based on what I learned spending two days with the Zune team, but I can't...I do hope though to be among the first to be able to provide you all with accurate information when the time comes.

http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/sho...this-year.html ...

There's all sorts of rumors flying around about the Zune right now. Keep in mind that there is absolutely no official word about this. Cruleworld's Lifestream spotted this one and its definitely a big deal if its true. Without coming out and saying it directly, Volvoshine has indicated that we should expect to see Netflix come to the Zune.

This is something that I would really want to see happen so I will say I am very excited if this is true. I think video subscription is key for the Zune. With that said I'm not sure what this would actually mean. Netflix streaming via Zune software doesn't make that much sense. If I'm at my computer then I could just stream via Netflix anyway.

Now could this mean that the next iteration of Zune software will allow streaming of Netflix via a WiFi connection? That seems to at least make more sense as an option. The only other way to get video onto the Zune would be via downloading it and Netflix has no current service like that. That would be my preference since that would let me watch video when I don't have a net connection but the potential to have Netflix streamed to the Zune itself could be a killer feature.

I don't know what this means but I can't wait to find out!

http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/sho...your-zune.html ...

Online retailer Amazon now has its own Xbox Live store. The retailer recently entered the arena of used games, and already has a downloadable PC game store -- and will now add Microsoft Points, XBLA games, and other subscriptions to its offering.

The new Amazon Xbox Live Store is currently in beta, and becomes the only other outlet besides Xbox Live Marketplace itself through which consumers can buy games and points digitally.

Customers who make purchases via Amazon's store will receive a download code they can use on Xbox Live Marketplace. The store beta launches with about 100 titles available, including Braid and Castle Crashers.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=23116 ...

The big Final Fantasy XIII demo is all set to hit Japan next week. But just ahead of that, Famitsu has come through with a huge update on the game via an interview with director Motomu Toriyama.

There's a whole lot of new information in the interview, but let's start off with some details on the demo. The demo is split into two parts. The first part puts you in control of Lightning, who's joined in battle by Sazh. In the second half, you take control of Snow, who's joined in battle by the Nora crew. Vanille appears in the second half as well.

As previously detailed, the demo encompasses the first hour of the game. A group of people are on a train on route to their expulsion from Cocoon after being accused of having taken influence from Pulse. Lightning arrives on the scene just as the group has started to revolt. Meanwhile, on a separate train, Snow and crew are among the to-be-purged and have started a revolt of their own.



Click here to watch FF XIII in motion.Here's some of what you won't experience in the demo. Although Lightning and Sazh start off together, you won't learn about their relationship until a reflection scene that takes place after the events of the demo. Also, while the demo lets you play from the perspective of just Lightning and Snow, the final version will also have sequences that take place from Vanille's perspective. As you advance with one character, the game will switch to another character and you'll experience what that character has been up to. Apparently, such scenes run in parallel with one-another like one of those "Meanwhile..." transitions in a movie.

Most of the demo takes place in an area of Cocoon called "Hanged Edge" (please note that our roman form for this name could be incorrect). This area is on the border of Cocoon and has taken the most influence from Pulse when compared to other areas of Cocoon. It's a dark area, but this is apparently not indicative of the full FF world, which Toriyama describes as being bright and like a futuristic city.

The end of the demo will feature a look at a new character who appears in prison clothing. Toriyama hinted that she's an important character, but did not get into specifics.

The magazine expressed surprise with some of Sazh's motions from the demo (yes, the Famitsu editors were able to sample the demo ahead of everyone else -- see below for what they thought). Apparently, Sazh reacts with surprise from the kickback of his weapons. It turns out that he's not particularly used to battle, and ends up making a lot of unnecessary movements on the battle field.

Sazh's Chocobo may end up appearing along side Sazh during battle. This is something that Toriyama has, in past interviews, suggested might happen, and here he said that the development team is actively looking into it. One problem, however, is that the Chocobo's fur uses a "rich" rendering technique, which makes putting it into the battle system difficult.

Lightning and Snow will take center stage in the demo.On the note of Chocobos, there will be standard Chocobos in the game as well, Toriyama confirmed. However, they won't be used as a means for transportation.

Moving on to the battle system in general, the interview cleared up a lot of the areas that have been a mystery until now. First up, Toriyama explained that the FFXIII battle system is based around the concept of fusing strategy and action -- that is to say, adding the flash and speed of action to command-based battles.

The demo will give only a sampling of the game's strategic component via the ability to stock up commands. Another area of the strategy, which won't appear in the demo, comes from your allies. During battle, you control just one character. Your allies are controlled by AI. However, they react to the moves your character makes. The strategy here comes from figuring out how to connect with your allies and better draw out their abilities. The demo will offer a basic glimpse at this, with allies going in for follow-up attacks when you send an enemy into the air. The final version will give you better control over such things. Specifically, it seems that you'll be able to switch off freely between the characters.

We'll see just about 30% of the final battle system in the demo, explained Toriyama. The game's "Evolved ATB" system (the name for this system is currently under consideration) will show itself in only its base form. There won't be summons in the demo, although they'll be in the final. Additionally, the demo will limit you to just three move stocks, while the final version of the game will have your possible move stock increase as your character develops. The final version will also have changes to the game's menus to make it easier to input commands once you have a lot of commands at your disposal.

Toriyama also revealed something particularly surprising about the battle system. At the end of each battle, your character's HP will be totally recovered! The game ...

Tri-ace's mystery RPG project, announced on April 1st, got its full unveiling today through Famitsu. Continuing the naming tradition of Infinite Undiscovery, the next title from the company is titled End of Eternity. And in a surprise move, the publisher of this multiplatform PS3 and Xbox 360 RPG won't by Square Enix, but Sega!

End of Eternity takes place far in the future on an Earth whose environment has gotten so bad that people have moved into a giant mechanized tower called Bazel. This tower reaches far up into the sky. The upper floors house religious facilities, including the religious leader who's known as the "Cardinal," and the rich. The lower floors house the poor as well as mining areas.

Bazel's creation is far in the past as the game kicks off. We're introduced to three characters: the 17-year-old male Zaphyr, the 26-year-old male Vashyron, and the 19-year-old female Subject #20. Zaphyr, the game's main character, and Vashyron live together and work for a private military firm. Subject #20 was manufactured for an experiment which required that she be set to die at 20 years of age. Upon learning how little she has to live, she fled her research facility.

Gameplay in End of Eternity is split between fields spanning the floors of Bazel and the dungeons that are located on those floors. These two areas of the game have different movement systems. In the fields, you view the action from an overhead view and move your party about on a hexagonal grid, encountering enemies at random. During dungeons, you move your character about in third person and can see your enemies in advance, transitioning seamlessly into battle when spotted.

The battle system (this appears to be shared between both fields and dungeons) takes place in semi-realtime and gives you control of one character out of a three character party. When you're moving about on the battle field, time progresses as you engage in flashy gun fights. Once your move ends, time freezes, allowing you to strategically plan your attack.

There's still a lot of mystery surrounding the battle system, and all of End of Eternity for that matter. Details will presumably be more abundant on Friday as the game's official site opens up at eoe.sega.jp. Sega and Tri-Ace will be putting up movies and more at that site, so those who love their JRPG should definitely check it out.

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/970/970964p1.html ...

Prototype, the promising looking open-world superhuman game from Activision, has been given a firm release date, coming to European shores on June 5 with a North American release shortly after on June 9.

Starring shape-shifting superhuman Alex Mercer, Prototype looks to be a particularly inventive take on the increasingly busy open-world genre.

We last saw Prototype at this year's New York Comic Con, and we'll be bringing you the latest details on the game later today.

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/970/970941p1.html ...

TPN have released a new podcast for the PSP:


http://psp.thepodcastnetwork.com/aud...0090407_94.mp3

http://psp.thepodcastnetwork.com/200...handheld-2009/ ...