via cnn

Jaana Baker is no klutz -- note her second-degree black belt in tae kwon do. She's also an avid video gamer who puts out a Web-based comic called "Level 99" in her spare time.

So how did Baker end up launching the controller of her new Nintendo Wii (pronounced "we") right into her 37-inch TV? Like some other owners of the new game console and its motion-sensitive wireless remote, Baker took the freedom to move a little too literally.

A particularly spirited round of Wii bowling caused her to lose her bearings before unleashing what she had hoped would be a perfect strike.

"It was like a loud crack," she said, recalling the moment the "Wiimote" glanced off her coffee table, snapped its wrist strap and hurtled into her flat-screen TV. "It was kind of surreal, actually. I thought I was dreaming at first."

It appears that Baker is not alone. In recent weeks, the Web has been alight with reports of excited gamers losing their grip on the Wii's controller or smacking their arms into nearby objects.

After issuing a general "calm down" to its customers a week ago, Nintendo Co. has responded by quietly beefing up the controller's fabric wrist strap, spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn said. (Full story)

And while most executives would cringe if their flagship product suddenly became associated with shattered electronics and the occasional flesh wound, some observers say the lighthearted buzz could deliver a perfect shot of viral marketing.

"What it says is, this thing is so fun that people get carried away," said Adrian Ho of the advertising agency Fallon Worldwide. "A progressive brand manager would look at that and say, 'You know what? Actually, that's pretty good.' "

Wii sales lead competitors
The offbeat stories certainly don't seem to have hurt sales. The market research company NPD Group estimates that U.S. consumers bought 476,000 Wiis in the two weeks following its November 17 launch. That beat Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console, which sold just under 200,000 units in roughly the same period amid widespread shortages.

Some analysts, like P.J. McNealy at American Technology Research, say the Wii isn't exactly a direct competitor with the PS3 because Nintendo purposely avoided getting into a war over which system has the hottest graphics.

Instead, Nintendo has focused on capturing customers outside the traditional niche of quick-fingered young males by playing up the Wii's ability to get people swinging their wireless controllers like swords, baseball bats or golf clubs.

That's why the missiles began flying. The Wii's popular sports games, included with the console, appear to be the main instigator of lost grips on the devices that look like TV remotes, Nintendo of America's Llewelyn said.

"It's kind of this novel way to play, and I think people are just figuring that out and may have gotten a little overexcited when they were playing," Llewelyn said.

Takes a flaying, keeps on playing
That's what happened to Jessica Chobot, a writer at gaming Web site IGN.com, who sprained and cut a finger on her right hand while trying to rally for a comeback victory in Wii baseball.

In the excitement of trying to put a little something extra on her fastball, Chobot said, she got a little too close to her thick wooden coffee table.

"You obviously don't need to go through all the motions, but I did because I was frustrated, and smashed my hand along with the Wii controller right into the table as hard as I possibly could," she said.

The impact sent a few Wii parts flying, but the remote lived up to Nintendo's reputation for durable hardware and quickly snapped back together.

"The controller still works, and that's the important thing," Chobot said, adding that her finger seems to be mending well.

Llewelyn said Nintendo has only verified a few scattered instances of Wii remotes flying because of faulty wrist straps.

"Because of the nature of the Internet, of course, it gets magnified so one or two occurrences becomes 2,200 experiences," said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst at IDC.

But the company might take heart that gamers seem to be blaming each others' klutziness more than they're criticizing Nintendo's design.

"On one hand, obviously we love that people are talking about our system. But we prefer when it's talking about the great game play experience," Llewelyn said. "Fortunately, I think that's what everybody is really talking about." ...

via the herald


LIVING IN THE shadows of two bigger, meaner consoles, the Nintendo GameCube has often been overlooked as a viable gaming alternative.

Still, with its bargain price, steady diet of kid-friendly titles and the occasional show-stopper game that thrust it into the limelight, the little box that could has had a decent run with the big boys these past five years.

And now as Nintendo fully ramps up its Wii marketing onslaught, the GameCube takes a bow and for all intents and purposes, exits stage left.

It’s a shame it didn’t have a more glitzy year to commemorate its retirement, but 2006 wasn’t without its moments. Here’s a bit of what caught my eye in the last year:

GAME OF THE YEAR


Runner Up No. 3: Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Natsume)


Expanding on the success that was Animal Crossing, the cutesy characters and addictive chores really sparkled in this harmless little title. The presentation might have screamed preschool, but the gameplay found here was surprisingly engrossing and helped launch similar games like the Viva Pinata series.


Runner Up No. 2: Mega Man X Collection (Capcom)


Proving that there’s still some life in 2D gaming, this title boasted all six of the Mega Man X titles plus a new bonus game, ensuring players’ fingers and hands would be sore for weeks to come. Younger gamers loved the gameplay and the older set welcomed the walk down memory lane.


Runner Up No. 1: Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts)


Even the most sceptical of gamers was won over by this inspired mash-up of two of childhood’s most endearing franchises. The attention to detail and great use of humour combined with the kind of action and adventure only Star Wars can provide made this game a colourful distraction with something for everyone.


Grand Prize: The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (Nintendo)


It’s fitting the GameCube’s final great game would be one featuring one of its most iconic franchises. While heavily touted as a Wii launch title, this game packed almost the exact same masterpiece into the GameCube version. One of the most anticipated games on any console in 2006, Twilight Princess delivered the goods and then some in a staggering 50+ hour epic that ranks up there with any other Zelda game to date.


Honourable Mention: Chibi-Robo (Nintendo)


Small in size but heavy on the charm, this was a guilty pleasure of a game, a title you could just pick up and play without a care in the world. Quirky and unique, Chibi-Robo managed to turn a mundane homestead into a world of wonder, and players were keen on reaping the rewards.

SHAME OF THE YEAR


Stinker Award: The Ant Bully (Midway)


This hopeless exercise in mediocrity is a classic example of how Hollywood’s infiltration of the video game industry can choke the creativity out of game development. A plea to game studios: just because you CAN turn a movie into a video game doesn’t mean you have to. Please think of us gamers and not just your bottom line!


Dubious Mention: Super Monkey Ball Adventure (Sega)


Bright colors and loud noises might entertain newborns but they sure don’t make for a great gaming experience. Frustrating enough to drive away even the most resolute of players, this simian-laden nightmare of a platformer marked a precipitous drop in what was once a respected franchise.

HIGHS & LOWS


Biggest Surprise: Where’s Mario?!


It’s amazing to think that it’s been over a year since Mario starred in a GameCube game. Last seen in Super Mario Strikers, Nintendo’s ambassador to the world spent 2006 starring in a plethora of Nintendo DS handheld titles before popping up all over the Wii’s Virtual Console in games of yesteryear. He’s due back on the Cube sometime in 2007 in Super Paper Mario, but his absence was keenly felt during this console’s farewell tour.


Biggest Letdown: So Many Ports, So Little Interest


A staggering number of releases on the GameCube in 2006 were originally developed for other consoles and ham-handedly ported to the GameCube in a most unceremonious fashion. It’s hard to blame studios for obeying the whims and forces of the video game market, but when the majority of new GameCube titles are available to play in better form on other platforms, that leaves a lot of Nintendo loyalists out in the cold.

OUTLOOK


Nintendo might not have officially retired the Cube, but they’re definitely tuning up the band and getting a cake ready.

With a sharp decline in third-party releases in 2006, the determined push behind the Wii and boundless development opportunities on the handheld front, fans of the GameCube don’t have a lot to cheer about as 2007 draws closer.

Despite a relatively low sticker price, a healthy game library and rich character history, the GameCube will soon be fighting just to remain on shelves in many retail outlets as the next-gen slowly becomes current-gen and display ...

I reported a couple of days ago about the release of the Silver PSP in Japan but Play Asia dont ship to Europe, thankfully SuccessHK do, heres the info:



What's inside the box of SONY PSP SONY PSP Standard Pack Silver Latest Version

PSP (x1)
100V-220V Power Adaptor (x1)
Rechargeable Battery (x1)
Travel Adaptor (x1)

Price:USD 196.00 approx £100

Buy from SuccessHK ...

New from SuccessHK



PS3 Original Bluetooth Remote Controller
10 meters effective range
Battery Monitor
Enables DVD and Blu-Ray Disc (BD) playback ...

via engadget

We've seen a fair amount of N-Gage-esque devices hit the international front, and shoving more and more functionality into gizmos we Americans will probably never touch is becoming quite the fad, but Sunconnection's SC-VP128SD combines the short-lived goodness of Nokia's handheld with Japan's (apparent) all-in-one mentality. The device sports an orange or black color scheme, 128MB of storage, an SD slot, USB 2.0 connectivity, AV in / out (NTSC / PAL compatible), built-in equalizer, a 2.5-inch LCD, voice recorder, and a "digital video camera" that can purportedly snap stills or record full motion video to your SD card. Additionally, it plays nice with MP3 / WMA on the audio front, while playing back ASF video files as well, and weighs in at just 90-grams. Although we've certainly seen sexier multi-tasking handhelds hit the market, there's not much to complain about here for just $84 -- except for its absence in the US, of course.

screen via comments ...

via engadget

We're sure you've spent an hour or thirty in Zelda by now, and maybe you've tightened up your bowling and golf games in Wii Sports, but face it: your most notable Wii achievement so far is that Mii avatar you've been tweaking these past few weeks. The good news is that while your most recent dungeon exploits might not translate so well to some sort of torso covering garment, Mii on a Tee happens to be a quite aesthetically pleasing way of showing off your Wii fanboyism. Unfortunately, at £19.99 (about $35 US) these things aren't exactly free -- though there's no use worrying about that, we know you can't resist.

More Info ...

MrMr[iCE] has again updated his SnakeSP game. It now has amazing graphics. A new thing this time is that you can replace the wav sound files with your own to customize it. Just mind, the files need to be exactly the same file name as the originals.

Movie clip of SnakeSP running

Download via comments
Via QJ ...

Pikix release #4 -codename Fat Dolphin- is out!
-------------------------------------------------
Pikix is a VJ software aimed to be used on the handheld video game console GP2X. It's a good alternative to laptops: the machine fits into your pocket.
As the release archive contains a windows version as well, you can try Pikix on your computer, no GP2X required.

What new :
Big speed improvements
Pikix now manages 2 video layers.
19 decks availables
read more in the "read me first.txt"
Get it here :
http://www.pikilipita.com/vj

http://www.pikilipita.com/vj/pikix4.jpg ...

Mat17 has released a new version of the great application PspIrDA which lets you transfer files through IR from one PSP to another or to and from cell phones, PDAs, etc.

Here are his notes for this beta version:


He has also made a little compatibility list which shows that many Nokia and Siemens phones seem to be working with this, while Sony Ericsson phones are having problems.

Therefore, he plans to release a series of beta releases and is counting on everyone's test logs and reports to make it work better. So please, send your test result logs to [email protected] so he can improve this.

Download via comments
Via mat17 ...