By Margot Carmichael Lester
Here are the facts, ladies. Two-thirds of all men in television-owning households between the ages of 18 and 34 have videogame consoles, according to media research company, Nielsen. That means your chances of going with a gaming guy are pretty high.

What can his choice of gaming system tell you about him? We convened a panel of experts to give you the scoop:

* Carl Arinoldo, Long Island, NY-based psychologist
* Ed Magnin, chairman, Game & Simulation Programming, DeVry University’s Dallas Metro campus
* Ted Owen, CEO, GGL, an online gaming network in Santa Monica, CA
* Shane Satterfield, editor-in-chief, Santa Monica-based GameTrailers.com, an online gaming site


Q: What does a PlayStation reveal about a dude?
Arinoldo: The PlayStation 3 may indicate that the user is any “early-adopter,” someone who likes to be the first on the block to have things. Owning the PS3 may also send the message that the person may have deep pockets.

Owen: This is your 21st-century individual who enjoys gaming and demands the best out of his experience—and probably his women. The PS3 guy enjoys life to its fullest. He is sophisticated, intelligent, enjoys competition and is willing to wait for a good thing. He is loyal as well.

Satterfield: This guy is in the know. He knows the right people, goes to the best restaurants and doesn’t wait in line to get into the club. This guy will be difficult to keep up with, as he is always working. When he’s not, he uses videogames as a chance to unwind and relax.

Q. What does a Wii tell a gal about her potential date?
Owen: That he is selfish about his passion, but he knows the Wii is acceptable because of its social interaction functionality. He is smart enough to find a way to continue to game and not scare his date away.

Magnin: Wii says he’s a fun guy. The Wii-mote will force him to get up off the couch and actually get a little exercise while he’s playing. Of all of the consoles, the Wii is probably the best date machine, as a lot more of the games appeal to both sexes. Challenge him to a game of tennis or bowling.

Satterfield: This guy is not the typical slack-jawed, bleary-eyed gamer who wants to sit on the couch staring blankly at the screen for hours on end. You can rest assured that this type of guy is smart with his money as the Wii is only $250 compared to $399 for the Xbox 360 and $599 for the PlayStation.

Q. And what does the Xbox divulge about its owner?
Arinoldo: There is a wide variety of games available through the Xbox 360... so one may be better able to find games in common with a significant other who may not be an avid gamer. Preferring the Xbox 360 may say that the owner is willing to play cooperatively.

Magnin: Xbox 360 says he’s probably into serious gaming. Take a look at his game stats. Ask him to show you how many hours he spent playing his favorite games. Many guys log 100 to 200 hours on their favorite games.

Satterfield: These guys tend to like extremely violent, visceral games, as well as the social aspect of connecting with friends online. They may be living out an active and social life through games, because they are a bit on the shy side. Xbox 360 fans tend to make good money and like to spend it. These guys are passionate about gaming and that transfers into the bedroom as well.

Of course, these expert opinions won’t apply to all men who own these consoles, so don’t consider them absolutes. But they should help you gain some solid clues about that videogame-playing guy you’re seeing.

Source : http://msn.match.com/msn/article.asp...id=6&GT1=10582 ...

via IGN

Today Koei announced it will release Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power (available in Japan since April 2004) next February in the U.S. The Nobunaga's Ambition series has been around since the NES/Famicom days and focuses on historical simulation and strategy.

"The Nobunaga's Ambition series defined the simulation genre when it first debuted in 1983," said Amos Ip, Senior VP at KOEI Corporation. "The engrossing gameplay in many ways set the standard by which all other console simulation games would be measured. The franchise continues to be enjoyed around the world and has garnered numerous awards. Now, with Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power the engrossing strategy and simulation elements are presented in a rich 3D environment. Koei is excited to reintroduce the Nobunaga's Ambition series to veteran players and to a new generation of fans."

Rise to Power is set during the 16th century in feudal Japan. Players assume the titular role of Nobunaga or of a rival warlord and must unite Japan under one rule. But each quest for power begins with a starting point, and there are over 300 to choose from in Rise to Power.

This is the first game in the series to use a 3D, real-time battle system. The last title in the franchise to see a U.S. release was Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness on the SNES. ...

via IGN


Online play is now enabled for FIFA Soccer 08, Electronic Arts announced today.

Be a Pro: Online Team Play, available as a free download for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, allows up to five players on five different consoles to control individual players on the same team, supported by AI teammates. You'll be able to play against up to five rivals playing on five different consoles.

You can choose to play as a single, fixed player the entire game, with free-roaming players, or teams can have a combination of both.

FIFA Soccer 08 was released for PS3 and 360 on Oct. 9 in the U.S. and Sept. 28 in Europe. ...

via Engadget


We've seen a couple pretty press photos of the forthcoming DS 1seg TV tuner, but nothing beats video -- and the Japanese promo video unearthed by the crew at Gamebrink delivers the goods in spades.

Apart from the usual orientation and aspect ratio settings, the tuner has some neat extra features -- you can take notes on one screen while watching on the other, and it also can be set to take screenshots whenever the closed captioning changes, allowing you to flip through a show like a picture book later.

Japanese DS fans can get their hands on the 1seg tuner starting on the 23rd, according to Gamebrink. Check the whole video right here. ...

via Engadget


It hasn't exactly been easy to pin down the exact type of chips used in the new 40GB PlayStation 3s, but Sony's Kaz Hirai now appears to have finally put the matter to rest -- at least for now.

In an interview with the folks at Impress, he said that the new model does in fact use the swanky new 65nm process for the Cell chip after all, but not for the system's RSX graphics chip, which gets stuck with the same power-hungry 90nm chip as before.

Despite that, Hirai says that the new Cell chip alone is enough to "cut the power usage of the system considerably," an amount that had previously been been reported as 120 to 140 watts (down from 200 watts before).

In related news, Hirai also confirmed that neither the 20 or 60GB models (with their increased backwards compatibility) are in production at the moment, but he said that "depending on how the market reacts, it's possible for Sony to produce them again." ...

via Gizmodo




Switching resolution on the PS3 isn't too complicated, but if you're trying to do it from memory on a TV that's blank because you've got the wrong settings it's nigh impossible. With the XCM E-SETER, you can quickly push one of the labeled buttons and switch quickly and instantly to the desired setting, bypassing all that Sony Cross Media Bar goodness their programmers worked so hard to port from the PSP. $29.99 [£14] is a bit too much if you rarely use this, but if you're taking your PS3 to your friends' houses to show off how great Heavenly Sword and Folklore are, you probably stopped reading and ordered this already. ...

via Gizmodo




Unlike the official Nintendo Wii lightgun accessory that has the trigger up in the front hand—which is more awkward than Frankenstein dancing—the dreamGEAR Wii GameBlaster has only one trigger, and it's in the back. Also unlike the official gun, it takes in both the Wiimote and the Nunchuk controller and connects the two without visible wires. This actually looks better than the real thing, and if you can somehow reprogram the trigger button in-game to be on the Nunchuk instead of on the Wiimote, you've got yourself the optimal zombie shooting experience. ...

via Kotaku


If you're in the PAL or Asian territories, you may have discovered that your 1.2 GB download of the brand new Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo won't @!#?@!ing play on your PlayStation 3. It's not a bug, despite it's somewhat awkward behavior. It's intentional. Yes, the Uncharted demo is sadly region specific and won't play on anything but a North American PS3. It's the kind of slap in the face that hurts so much worse after a 1200 MB wait in line.

We contacted Sony Computer Entertainment America who confirmed that the US version "does not allow for cross-region play" and that "the Japanese and PAL demo will both be released soon, but we don't have confirmed release dates." Unfortunately, the delay in the non-North American enjoyment of the Naughty Dog adventure can simply be chalked up to Uncharted's release date in its respective territories. Cold comfort, I know. ...

New update of the Sega Dreamcast emulator for Linux.

Changelog:

* Fix configure script to abort if it doesn’t find a required library (eg, libGL.so or
libz.so)
* Add checks to the configure script for linux/cdrom.h, and avoid building the
CD-Rom driver if it’s not found.
* Add preliminary support for nulldc-style gdi images
* Implement gdrom mode select command (mostly stub)
* Fix some non-64bit-safe code
* Fix the maple 0×00000700 issue ...