Though Microsoft left their new Zune hardware relatively untouched, the firmware and corresponding software got a few nice upgrades that add a bit of functionality. In the firmware, Marketplace is now available over Wi-Fi, while FM Tagging lets you mark songs you hear on the FM Tuner, and have them added to your Marketplace cart automatically. On the software side, Picks compiles a list of songs for purchase in the Marketplace based on recent listening habits, Channels offer what amount to preselected podcasts based on your tastes, Zune DJs or selected partners. Meanwhile Mixview lets you visually explore new music by seeing an artist/album's related works, influences and top listeners. Of these new features, the Wi-Fi Marketplace is a solid, necessary addition, and Mixview is a few tweaks away from being downright awesome.

http://gizmodo.com/5051440/microsoft...oftware-review ...

Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.

Interesting games are coming in from both US and Japan this week. First of all, the highly anticipated Star Wars The Force Unleashed has arrived. Sick of being a savior? Play the secret apprentice of the Darth Vader and help your mentor take over the galaxy.

Go and "catch'em all!" in the Pokemon Platinum. Aside from the powerful Palkia, Dialga and Giratina, lots more lengendary pokemon are going to make appearances. Based on the hugely popular "Diamond Pearl" this upgraded version will come with an immense amount of new elements that is going to leave players dazzled.

Trusty Bell [JPN & ASN versions] is a game that mixes the grace of Chopin's compositions with the excitement of RPGs. The magical world of Chopin's final dream is of course very intriguing, but the adorably designed, endearing characters themselves and the friendship between them are huge attractions too.

Leaving the dream world behind, its time to face a harsher reality. The battles are continuing in Warhammer and this time the war for world domination is going on in the internet via Warhammer Online. Join realms and declare war on others. Learn of the epic nature of war through brutality and violence.

Allowing you the same level of freedom of gameplay is Samurai Dou [JPN & ASN versions]. As a stray Samurai, you have the skills and guts, all you need is a person or a family for whom you can employ your powers.

Unlike the highly romanticized games or films that features deadly loyal retainers, your sense of loyalty can be compromised any minute. Walk the true path of the Samurai and take your fate within your own hands.

Battles don't stay within the feudal times or the internet, they are lasting for decades. Travel 10 years into the future in Kateikyou Hitman Reborn! Battle Arena and investigate the accidents that involve the virtual training room. As a powerful mafia group, the Bongoles have enemies everywhere, and there is only one way to ensure the family's standing in the underworld: Power.

Excitement need not come with death. In the wrestler TNA Impact! you can get involved in close range combat. Make all your slam downs and tackles count in this adrenaline pumping sports game. Aside from wrestling, you can engage in ice hockey.

Brought to you by the award winning sports game developer EA Sports, NHL 09 is upgraded with new depth and enhancements.

Fights need not be brutal just like Yakuza need not be villains. Execute a smooth chain of attacks in Hyper Street Fighter II and Capcom vs SNK 2. As for fans of Yakuza heroes, Kiryuu Kazuma is back in the US version of Yakuza 2, ready stop the spiralling chaos from spilling all over Japan.

Last, but definitely not least is Dragon Ball DS, relive the adventures of Goku and Buruma via your Nintendo DS. Go through the plot in an interactive way. Complete incorporated into the DS card are comic elements and exciting fights, bring this classic title with you wherever you are.

As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.

Xbox360™
NHL 09 US US$ 64.90
NHL 2K9 US US$ 64.90
Rock Band 2 US US$ 64.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed US US$ 64.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed ASIA US$ 54.90
TNA Impact! US US$ 64.90
Unreal Tournament III JPN US$ 64.90
Zoids Assault US US$ 64.90

PlayStation3™
Def Jam Icon (EA Best Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Fight Night Round 3 (EA Best Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
GI Jockey 4 2008 JPN US$ 69.90
NHL 09 US US$ 64.90
NHL 2K9 US US$ 64.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed US US$ 64.90
TNA Impact! US US$ 64.90
Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume ASIA US$ 59.90
Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume JPN US$ 64.90
Unreal Tournament III JPN US$ 64.90

Nintendo Wii™
Active Life: Outdoor Challenge US US$ 79.90
Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles (Best Price) JPN US$ 34.90
Cabela's Legendary Adventures US US$ 44.90
GI Jockey Wii 2008 JPN US$ 59.90
Hell's Kitchen US US$ 44.90
Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf US US$ 24.90
Kororinpa (Hudson the Best) JPN US$ 34.90
NHL 2K9 US US$ 54.90
Nintendo Wi-Fi Network Adapter JPN US$ 89.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed US US$ 59.90
The Price is Right US US$ 44.90

PlayStation2™
Cabela's Legendary Adventures US US$ 34.90
Capcom vs SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 & Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future Value Pack JPN US$ 29.90
Def Jam Fight for NY (EA:SY! 1980) JPN US$ 20.90
GI Jockey 4 2008 JPN US$ 64.90
GI Jockey 4 2008 & Winning Post 7 2008 [Twin Pack] JPN US$ 109.90
GI Jockey 4 2008 & Winning Post 7 2008 [Twin Pack] JPN US$ 119.90
Heart no Kuni no Alice JPN US$ 64.90
Hokuouki JPN US$ 64.90
Hokuouki [Limited Edition] JPN N/A
Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition & Vampire DarkStalkers Collection Value Pack JPN US$ 29.90
Medal of Honor: Vanguard (EA:SY! 1980) JPN US$ 20.90
NHL 2K9 US US$ 24.90
Odin Sphere (Greatest Hits) US US$ 24.90
SSX3 (EA:SY! 1980) JPN US$ 20.90
Speed Racer: The Video Game US US$ 24.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed US US$ 44.90
TNA Impact! US US$ 44.90
Yakuza 2 US US$ 44.90

Nintendo DS™
Air Traffic Chaos US US$ 24.90
Bratz Ponyz 2 US US$ 34.90
Dragon Ball DS JPN US$ 48.90
Hell's Kitchen US US$ 34.90
...

fsjk85 at the Australian Whirlpool forums was playing around with his camcorder's NightShot function when he found something interesting -- a hidden data matrix code on the left side of the iPhone 3G. We're guessing that's where Apple imprints the serial and IMEI numbers of each handset since it can't exactly hide them under a removable battery (cough), but we'll leave it to the rest of you to decode this sneaky tag and solve the mystery once and for all.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/18/i...a-matrix-code/ ...

Archos' Generation 5 players may have been left in the dust by the shiny new Generation 6 players, but they still have quite the fan following, some of whom have been busily doing their best to get around Archos' stock software offerings. Now it seems that one of them, a member of the ArchosFans forums, has finally managed to crack things open by hacking the bootloader, which opens up a number of possibilities including the ability to remove the hard drive volume limitation. It also seems to have had the "side effect" of revealing a few plug-ins that had been previously hidden, including "Screen," and "C" (for Core) above, although they don't appear to be of much use. The workaround apparently won't work on players with a firmware version higher than 1.7.13 though, and there aren't exactly any clear instructions for modding your own just yet

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/18/a...ayers-cracked/ ...

PALE, overweight couch potatoes. That's the stereotype of avid online computer gamers, but these joystick junkies are actually in better than average physical condition, a new US survey suggests, although they may be less healthy mentally.

Researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Palo Alto Research Center, also in California, and the University of Delaware in Newark, quizzed 7000 players of the role-playing game EverQuest II about their physical and mental health. Participants were offered a specially created virtual weapon as an incentive - the "Greatstaff of the Sun Serpent". The researchers then combined the survey responses with statistics about players' online activities and playing habits.

The results suggest that adult gamers have an average body mass index of 25.2, compared to the overall American average of 28. The average gamer also engages in vigorous exercise once or twice a week, which the researchers say is more than most Americans. The reasons for this are not obvious, although the team suggest it may be because more educated, wealthier people are attracted to computer games, and these people also tend to take better care of their health.

"Average gamers engage in vigorous exercise once or twice a week"The downside, however, was that the gamers reported more cases of depression and substance abuse than their compatriots. "They may be drawn to use the game to help deal with emotional distress," says team member Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware.

The work also suggested that young men do not dominate such games, as they are often assumed to: there were more players in their thirties than in their twenties, and older players tended to spend more time in the game. Furthermore, although fewer women played the game, those who did typically played for longer than men (Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol 13, p 993).

Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University, UK, has found that most gamers simply exhibit healthy enthusiasm for their hobby rather than obsessive addiction, and says the new results sound about right. But he adds that since the research only studied one multiplayer online game, its conclusions may not be true for single-player console games. "They involve very different psychologies," he says.

http://technology.newscientist.com/a...mg19926746.400

Nottingham Trent eh, next to my workplace ...

Tom Willits of id Software took some time recently to speak about storytelling as it relates to id's previous games, and how it will be a part of their upcoming shooter, Rage. He also dispelled rumors that Rage would suffer content cuts due to Xbox hardware limitations. Unfortunately, he called into question whether mods will be a possibility for the game, saying that the issue is still under consideration.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl.../09/17/2052208 ...

At this year's Austin Game Developer's Conference, sci-fi author Bruce Sterling gave a keynote speech about the gaming industry — looking back from the year 2043. GameSetWatch has a summary of the speech, and the full transcript is also available.
"So do people make games for this platform? Sure. Not the sort that were built for flat glass screens. We don't do those anymore, cumbersome, like a covered wagon. We don't pretend a glass screen is a window into another virtual worlds. The idea sounds silly, it's all the same world. It's always been the same world, it just changes. What we do is hang the towel [his metaphor for cheap, ubiquitous, unremarkable computers in the future] up in midair and gaze through it. And all the light that hits the far side passes through it except that the image is tagged and altered. We don't call it augmented reality, because we think reality is real, but you can still have fun with a game interface is that is everything you see."

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl.../09/17/2038259 ...

British modder Bacteria really likes cartridges. The bigger the better. He turned an entire N64 console into a gigantic, beige cart, then took a slew of cheap plug 'n play games and did the same -- though smaller and minus the neutral tones. He dubbed that latest creation the Mini-Platform Plug'n'Play Console System, and promised that Game Boy Advance integration was coming soon. Two weeks later it's here courtesy of a little solder and hot glue, opening up the massive library of Game Boy and Advance titles. Yeah, the system isn't much to look at, and with an entire GBA hanging off the back it's pushing the limits of the word "mini." But, it is an intrepid hack and, like his others, he's more than happy to tell you how he did it.



http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/17/b...orm-gets-gbad/ ...

British modder Bacteria really likes cartridges. The bigger the better. He turned an entire N64 console into a gigantic, beige cart, then took a slew of cheap plug 'n play games and did the same -- though smaller and minus the neutral tones. He dubbed that latest creation the Mini-Platform Plug'n'Play Console System, and promised that Game Boy Advance integration was coming soon. Two weeks later it's here courtesy of a little solder and hot glue, opening up the massive library of Game Boy and Advance titles. Yeah, the system isn't much to look at, and with an entire GBA hanging off the back it's pushing the limits of the word "mini." But, it is an intrepid hack and, like his others, he's more than happy to tell you how he did it.



http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/17/b...orm-gets-gbad/ ...