And here you were expecting this day to never, ever come. At long last, e-tailer Justek has begun to ship UMID's dainty mbook M1 to customers all over the globe, with pricing set at $659.42 for the Linux model and $765.78 for the Windows XP model (along with an 8GB microSD card). By this point, you already know whether or not you can live without one, so now's your chance to pull the trigger before Monday rolls around with a weekend full of regrets.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/22/u...dwide-for-659/ ...

Cute Sharp, real cute. Brag about releasing the world's first 20-inch LCD HDTV with a built-in Blu-ray player, but don't even mention to consumers that they won't have the luxury of seeing their flicks in full resolution. For reasons unknown, the latest set in the AQUOS DX range does indeed pack a remarkably convenient integrated BD player, but the 1,366 x 768 resolution makes the whole thing sort of pointless. As Liz Lemon would say: "That's a deal-breaker, ladies." At any rate, folks who snap one up in Japan will also find a digital TV tuner, DVD support, a 1,500:1 contrast ratio and 450 nits of brightness. It'll be available in black (LC-20DX1-B) and white (LC-20DX1-W) for ¥150,000 ($1,593) at the tail end of next month in the Land of the Rising Sun.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/22/s...lu-ray-player/ ...

Sony Ericsson's finance team may figure that it needs a wheelbarrow full of cold, hard cash in order to steamroll through the next decade, but we know better than that. What it needs, friends, is Android, and in the worst possible way. At a launch event over in Taiwan this week, SE Asia-Pacific's vice president of marketing Peter Ang was quoted as saying that the outfit's first Android-based smartphone would actually be humming along on Android 2.0. So, there are two ways to take this: one is that Android 2.0 is just around the bend, which would totally rule, but is absolutely unrealistic to believe. The other, more feasible possibility is that SE's first Android-based phone won't hit the market until your next grandchild is born, which definitely doesn't bode well for a handset maker that can't possibly reinvent itself soon enough.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/22/s...ed-smartphone/ ...

If you have HDMI out on your game consoles and HDMI in on your computer monitor you can pretty much stop reading. If, however, you're still stuck in the analog realm, check out Castrade's upcoming CG-USC01HD-PLUS Game Box. It sports composite, S-video, and component inputs, porting everything over to VGA at resolutions ranging from 800 × 600 at 75Hz all the way up to 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz. But, with maximum input resolutions of 1080i or 720p, true 1080p to your display is right out. DVI output would also have been nice, but there are adapters for that, and since the box sports a VGA pass-through you can use that same monitor for PC gaming, too -- you know, in case you start to miss patches and pesky DRM and such. The Box ships in Japan on May 27 for ¥10,000, which equates to about $100 here. Just like that white PS3 in the background, though, there's no word of an official US release.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/22/c...ga-sweet-noth/ ...

Last summer Groovin' Blocks got WiiWare movin' with its rhythm-based puzzle play. IGN liked it, and gave it a 7.6. The game is now branching out beyond WiiWare and will be released as a retail disc for the Wii and a download for the iPhone. Developer Empty Clip is adding new levels and songs to the retail disc.

Zoo Publishing (Order Up!) will be delivering these two new versions of Groovin' Blocks. Look for them this summer.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/985/985487p1.html ...

Today, MTV and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B) and Pepsi announced a multi-platform "Drink Up, Rock Out" promotion that will give away thousands of Rock Band DLC music tracks and games. Music lovers and gamers nationwide will be able to win prizes instantly and will have the opportunity to participate in the first-ever Pepsi Rock Band music video contest that will award one talented band a 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Moonman. The summer promotion begins June 2 and continues through the MTV Video Music Awards.

As part of the "Drink Up, Rock Out" promotion, fans who see a Rock Band icon on specially-marked packages of 20-ounce and 1-liter bottles of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max and other Pepsi products are encouraged to look under the cap for a code and then go to www.PepsiRockBand.com to enter the code for a chance to win prizes. During the promotion, MTV and Pepsi will give away a Rock Band?2 Special Edition bundle every hour and thousands of Rock Band downloadable tracks each day. Additionally, fans can enter a weekly sweepstakes for opportunities to win a trip to a Harrah's Entertainment property, Xbox 360 Consoles and other great prizes.

"MTV's Rock Band has quickly established a new gaming platform that is extremely popular with music fans and gamers alike," said Ralph Santana, VP of cola marketing, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. "We're partnering with MTV to bring a new exciting twist to the game that will give one lucky band a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a taste of stardom."

Christina Glorioso, Vice President Marketing Partnerships for MTV Games added: "Pepsi is continuing their long standing tradition of being on the forefront of music with the decision to partner with Rock Band, the genre-defining music game platform that allows music fans and gamers to interact with and discover music like never before. This campaign has something for every Pepsi consumer from those that love to rock to the fans that love to cheer on their favorite bands."

And for those Rock Band groups who seek fame, Pepsi, Rock Band, and MTV are giving fans the opportunity to win a Moonman for the first time by entering their own Rock Band music video into the competition. Entrants can choose a song from the official competition list – available at www.RockBand.com/Pepsi and start making their Rock Band music video right now. Music video submissions can be uploaded to www.PepsiRockBand.com where bands and fans will be able to enter, view, rate and vote on their favorite Rock Band music videos. To jump start the promotion, MTV Games is giving hardcore fans, those that upload a music video on the first day of the promotion (June 2 before 6pm EDT), the opportunity to win a trip to Los Angles the very next day to be the house band at the Rock Band booth at E3. Fans must register separately on June 2 to be entered for the chance to win this prize at www.RockBand.com/Pepsi.

For a shot to win the Moonman, Pepsi Rock Band music video submissions will be accepted June 2 through July 28. Beginning August 8 – September 1, fans take the reins as they vote online and decide the fate of the winning Rock Band band. The winning band will travel to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, walk the red carpet, receive their very-own Moonman statue, and will be featured in a spot produced by MTV to air the night of the awards show.

Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages (www.pepsi.com ), based in Purchase, N.Y., is PepsiCo's refreshment beverage unit in the United States and Canada. Its U.S. trademarks include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Mug, Aquafina, SoBe and IZZE. The company also makes and markets Tropicana juice drinks, Dole and Ocean Spray single-serve juices and North America's bestselling ready-to-drink iced teas and coffees, respectively, via joint ventures with Lipton and Starbucks. For more information, please visit www.pepsiproductfacts.com. ...

If you have a few dozen minutes, might we direct your attention to Nintendo's investor relations page? The page is now home to an English language transcript of a Q&A session that was held during a Nintendo financial briefing on March 8.

Over three pages, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata addresses a number of issues, giving some hints at possible pricing strategy, and some tantalizing teases at big things to come for the end of the year.

One particularly notable point is about pricing. Previous quotes from Iwata suggested that the Nintendo CEO might be dead set against price drops. This may not be the case, however. In the Q&A, he clarified: "I have never said that cutting the suggested retail price is not in the cards. However, price cuts in one country can certainly affect other countries. For example, when you say that we should cut the price in Japan due to the current domestic market situation, once the suggested retail price is cut in Japan, people outside Japan will anticipate the same around the world."

The pricing comment was specifically in reference to the DS Lite. The questioner suggested that Nintendo drop the older system's price in Japan in order to spur increase sales.

Regardless of the system, Iwata still doesn't seem too keen on price drops at present. "While the price cut is said to surely increase demand," he explained, "it must be clear from a variety of analysis so far that the effect cannot last very long. Accordingly, if we really do enact a price cut, it must be exactly when it can maximize the business. At least for now, I have no specific ideas about the price cut at all."

Iwata also addressed the topic of used games. "If it were illegal acts like piracy, we could criticize them. But, however hard we may express our concern about the secondhand market, as long as they are not illegal, it does not do us any good."

Nintendo's solution to the used games problem? Explained Iwata: "Nintendo must continuously craft ideas so that our consumers will feel like owning the purchased products or think about how to motivate the customers to purchase new products instead of used ones."

And, just to whet your appetite for what will hopefully be a busy few weeks of Nintendo announcements as E3 approaches, here's what Iwata said about Wii sales: "The reason why I said today that April, May and June sales of Wii will not reach last year's results but that the situation will change from the summer of this year was because the company has been preparing for several titles to be launched toward the end of this year that can drive the market."

Perhaps a few of those titles will be shown at E3? Be sure and check out the full Q&A, and speculate away in the comments area below.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/985/985433p1.html ...

If you have a few dozen minutes, might we direct your attention to Nintendo's investor relations page? The page is now home to an English language transcript of a Q&A session that was held during a Nintendo financial briefing on March 8.

Over three pages, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata addresses a number of issues, giving some hints at possible pricing strategy, and some tantalizing teases at big things to come for the end of the year.

One particularly notable point is about pricing. Previous quotes from Iwata suggested that the Nintendo CEO might be dead set against price drops. This may not be the case, however. In the Q&A, he clarified: "I have never said that cutting the suggested retail price is not in the cards. However, price cuts in one country can certainly affect other countries. For example, when you say that we should cut the price in Japan due to the current domestic market situation, once the suggested retail price is cut in Japan, people outside Japan will anticipate the same around the world."

The pricing comment was specifically in reference to the DS Lite. The questioner suggested that Nintendo drop the older system's price in Japan in order to spur increase sales.

Regardless of the system, Iwata still doesn't seem too keen on price drops at present. "While the price cut is said to surely increase demand," he explained, "it must be clear from a variety of analysis so far that the effect cannot last very long. Accordingly, if we really do enact a price cut, it must be exactly when it can maximize the business. At least for now, I have no specific ideas about the price cut at all."

Iwata also addressed the topic of used games. "If it were illegal acts like piracy, we could criticize them. But, however hard we may express our concern about the secondhand market, as long as they are not illegal, it does not do us any good."

Nintendo's solution to the used games problem? Explained Iwata: "Nintendo must continuously craft ideas so that our consumers will feel like owning the purchased products or think about how to motivate the customers to purchase new products instead of used ones."

And, just to whet your appetite for what will hopefully be a busy few weeks of Nintendo announcements as E3 approaches, here's what Iwata said about Wii sales: "The reason why I said today that April, May and June sales of Wii will not reach last year's results but that the situation will change from the summer of this year was because the company has been preparing for several titles to be launched toward the end of this year that can drive the market."

Perhaps a few of those titles will be shown at E3? Be sure and check out the full Q&A, and speculate away in the comments area below.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/985/985433p1.html ...

Square Enix uploaded a bunch of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days trailes on Japan’s Nintendo Channel. The videos aren’t new, but one clip shows characters outside of Organization XIII partnering with Roxas.

If you freeze frame the trailer at 4:45 you can see Donald and Goofy are playable characters (thanks for the tip Ricardo!!). This appears to be cut from multiplayer footage so it’s unclear if you can use either character in the story mode. The video also shows Sora in his bright red Kingdom Hearts 1 outfit bouncing around too. Whether Sora is playable or not is still up in the air.

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/05/21...-in-3582-days/ ...