from GI.Biz

Virgin Megastores has predicted that handhelds will outsell current generation consoles this Christmas - and that includes Tiger Telematics' beleagured Gizmondo.

The retailer says that the Xbox 360 is likely to be the best-selling console this festive season, followed by the Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and Game Boy Micro - with the Gizmondo in fifth place.

Neither the current generation Xbox or PlayStation 2 were mentioned in Virgin's forecast, however. Which may seem odd, since Sony recently announced that it has now shipped 100 million PS2s worldwide, shifting nearly 50,000 units just last week.

The Gizmondo, on the other hand, has not fared so well - only 5000 units were sold in the three months following launch.

But perhaps sales have picked up since. A Virgin spokesperson told our sister site, Eurogamer, that the predictions were made "based on sales at the time" - which would suggest Gizmondo has been outselling Xbox and PS2 in Virgin Megastores branches recently. ...

Speaking at the 33rd annual UBS Global Media conference, Nintendo of America's chief marketing officer spoke candidly to an audience of analysts and investors about its approach to expanding the games market.

Unsurprisingly, innovation and a desire to reach new, non-traditional audiences was a focus for Reggie Fils-Aime, as he discussed marketing games, and the forthcoming next-generation Revolution console to casual gamers, families and a female audience, in addition to the 18-24 year old male.

The speech included several quotes praising the company's ambitions and continued innovation in reference to the Revolution console, including publishing powerhouse Electronic Arts, quoted as saying: "It's a brilliant controller, and as usual we can credit Nintendo with being innovative and neat and fresh and fun. They continue to pioneer in our industry… They make some of the best games in the industry… And we look forward to partnering with them."

After stressing the continued success of the Nintendo DS which, according to Nintendo, is still outselling Sony's PSP, Fils-Aime pointed to the Nintendogs phenomenon, which has generated immense excitement amongst gamers young and old worldwide. The title has sold just under a million units in the US alone, and has attracted twice as many female players than usual. According to Nintendo, the DS has achieved total sales of around 6 million to date, compared to 4.26 million for the PSP.

To bring home the point once and for all, Nintendo president was quoted in the presentation as saying: "If we cannot expand the market, all we can do is wait for the industry to slowly die." ...

Nintendo has announced that more than 200,000 unique visitors have made use of its new Wi-Fi Connection service since last month's launch, logging nearly 3 million connections around the globe.

Wi-Fi Connection allows Nintendo DS owners to play titles such as Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk DS online, via either Wi-Fi hotspot, wireless router or a special USB dongle.

The service launched alongside Mario Kart DS in the US on November 14th, with a European release following on November 25th. Since then, according to Nintendo, more than 45 per cent of DS owners have taken the game online.

So far, Nintendo has yet to confirm whether any third parties will publish games which make use of the Wi-Fi Connection service. The first party title, Animal Crossing: Wild World, is out today in the US, while Metroid Prime Hunters will hit the shops on March 20th. ...

Updated version of the original Harvest Moon DS, primarily targeted at female players. Not only is the main character in the game a girl, all the romance scenarios have been completely changed to work better from the viewpoint of the female player.

More info --> http://www.yesasia.com/?/info.php?pro...5&lsaid=219793 ...

News from Lik Sang



Time is at "multimedia convergence". Apple and Sony consider PSP and iPod to be competing products, Microsoft acknowledged the supremacy of the little iTunes player on the MP3 marketplace by including support for it in the Xbox 360... People listen to music, watch movies and play games. Nothing new under the sun since the 20th century, one might point out, except we now do all that in the digital world, where everything is connected together.

iPod is clearly the number 1 when it comes to portable music and it has already been adopted by millions of technology freaks worldwide. A large share of these gadget-lovers happen to be gamers too and are therefore already on this very web page, buying a PSP, a Nintendo DS, searching for an Xbox 360... or getting bored reading this text. One thing is for sure, if your handheld gaming console fits in one of your pockets, the iPod is probably in the other. I know that for one simple reason: me and my colleagues at Lik Sang are exactly the same

For all of us geek-chic specialists, Lik-Sang.com is now happy to provide all the essential accessories for iPod Video, iPod mini, iPod nano and all other iPod generations, at very affordable prices mind you! The starting line-up covered in this feature already consists of a few dozens of products, and we have several more deliveries of additional cool items that are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. So keep sticking to these very columns for future updates to come.

Docking Stations, Speakers, Stylish Stands

If you have a 3G, 4G, Photo or Mini iPod, un-tether yourself from the headphones and start enjoying music with friends through Logitech's M22 Portable Speakers. Well respected in the PC world for great sounding speakers at a good price, these collapse for easy transport, and come with a deluxe, hard-shell travel case. Running off either 4 AAA batteries or the AC adapter (again travel friendly, supporting 100-240V) you can keep the tunes coming whereever you are. At just US$ 59.90, not only are these for iPod, but the standard 3.5mm stereo jack can also bring new life to your discman, laptop or almost any other audio device.

Feel like kicking it up a notch over the M22 speakers? Logitech's MM50 Portable Speakers work with the brand spanking new 5G Video and nano iPods, plus the Mini, Photo, 4G and 3G. Using 3 inch pressure drivers, these bad boys pump out the bass without getting distorted, while 3-D sound processing widens the stereo experience, making the tunes seem to come from an area around 60 cm (two feet) wider than the speakers themselves. No expense has been spared in this set, with features like a wireless remote, built in rechargeable Li-ion battery which lasts up to 10 hours, and through the worldwide (100-240V) AC adapter, it'll charge both its battery and your iPod simultaneously. Again coming with a custom travel case, you can take the big sound from this small package everywhere and anywhere for US$ 149.90

Toss away your limited home stereo remote, leave those CDs in their cases, Logitech is streaming your iPod music over the wireless. By connecting the receiver to your stereo system with RCA jacks (those red and white ports) or any powered multimedia system with a stereo-mini jack, you can use your iPod to select a playlist, change tracks, and even adjust the volume. Time magazine faced off such wireless music transmitters recently, and this one came out on top, but beyond the home stereo solution, Logitech have wireless headphones letting you enjoy digital music with no strings attached. Integrated controls on the headphones let you adjust the volume, select, play and pause tracks without ever reaching for your iPod, and they'll last up to eight hours per charge, coming with an AC Adapter (110-240V).

Both the wireless stereo set and headphones use 2.4Ghz Bluetooth technology, putting them far beyond the FM quality of iPod in-car transmitters. This also packs a range of up to 10 meters (33 feet!), and frequency hopping technology ensures you always get interference free, crystal clear audio. Finally, instead of draining juice from your iPod, the wireless transmitter even has its own rechargeable battery, and accepting sound from anything with a headphone socket, you can use this is on all iPods or other audio players. Experience total musical freedom at US$ 149.90 for the Wireless Music System, or US$ 119.90 for the Wireless Headphones. ...

News from Lik Sang



Time is at "multimedia convergence". Apple and Sony consider PSP and iPod to be competing products, Microsoft acknowledged the supremacy of the little iTunes player on the MP3 marketplace by including support for it in the Xbox 360... People listen to music, watch movies and play games. Nothing new under the sun since the 20th century, one might point out, except we now do all that in the digital world, where everything is connected together.

iPod is clearly the number 1 when it comes to portable music and it has already been adopted by millions of technology freaks worldwide. A large share of these gadget-lovers happen to be gamers too and are therefore already on this very web page, buying a PSP, a Nintendo DS, searching for an Xbox 360... or getting bored reading this text. One thing is for sure, if your handheld gaming console fits in one of your pockets, the iPod is probably in the other. I know that for one simple reason: me and my colleagues at Lik Sang are exactly the same

For all of us geek-chic specialists, Lik-Sang.com is now happy to provide all the essential accessories for iPod Video, iPod mini, iPod nano and all other iPod generations, at very affordable prices mind you! The starting line-up covered in this feature already consists of a few dozens of products, and we have several more deliveries of additional cool items that are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. So keep sticking to these very columns for future updates to come.

Docking Stations, Speakers, Stylish Stands

If you have a 3G, 4G, Photo or Mini iPod, un-tether yourself from the headphones and start enjoying music with friends through Logitech's M22 Portable Speakers. Well respected in the PC world for great sounding speakers at a good price, these collapse for easy transport, and come with a deluxe, hard-shell travel case. Running off either 4 AAA batteries or the AC adapter (again travel friendly, supporting 100-240V) you can keep the tunes coming whereever you are. At just US$ 59.90, not only are these for iPod, but the standard 3.5mm stereo jack can also bring new life to your discman, laptop or almost any other audio device.

Feel like kicking it up a notch over the M22 speakers? Logitech's MM50 Portable Speakers work with the brand spanking new 5G Video and nano iPods, plus the Mini, Photo, 4G and 3G. Using 3 inch pressure drivers, these bad boys pump out the bass without getting distorted, while 3-D sound processing widens the stereo experience, making the tunes seem to come from an area around 60 cm (two feet) wider than the speakers themselves. No expense has been spared in this set, with features like a wireless remote, built in rechargeable Li-ion battery which lasts up to 10 hours, and through the worldwide (100-240V) AC adapter, it'll charge both its battery and your iPod simultaneously. Again coming with a custom travel case, you can take the big sound from this small package everywhere and anywhere for US$ 149.90

Toss away your limited home stereo remote, leave those CDs in their cases, Logitech is streaming your iPod music over the wireless. By connecting the receiver to your stereo system with RCA jacks (those red and white ports) or any powered multimedia system with a stereo-mini jack, you can use your iPod to select a playlist, change tracks, and even adjust the volume. Time magazine faced off such wireless music transmitters recently, and this one came out on top, but beyond the home stereo solution, Logitech have wireless headphones letting you enjoy digital music with no strings attached. Integrated controls on the headphones let you adjust the volume, select, play and pause tracks without ever reaching for your iPod, and they'll last up to eight hours per charge, coming with an AC Adapter (110-240V).

Both the wireless stereo set and headphones use 2.4Ghz Bluetooth technology, putting them far beyond the FM quality of iPod in-car transmitters. This also packs a range of up to 10 meters (33 feet!), and frequency hopping technology ensures you always get interference free, crystal clear audio. Finally, instead of draining juice from your iPod, the wireless transmitter even has its own rechargeable battery, and accepting sound from anything with a headphone socket, you can use this is on all iPods or other audio players. Experience total musical freedom at US$ 149.90 for the Wireless Music System, or US$ 119.90 for the Wireless Headphones. ...

Ok I have a question about the online play for the DS. Is there any way to play games online that don't have an online fearure? I mean like the PSP that can play AD-Hoc modes over the internet via a program and some configuration. ...

For some reason Linker4U won't e-mail me a password so I can log on to their site. Is Divineo's hardware (http://www.ubid.com//cgi-bin/div-us/dd-ds-m3sd.html) equally as good? What do you think? ...

Sjurk has released a great new game (and nice website too) written in Lua, heres the info:

Solitaire Mahjongg is a freeware game, developed in Lua by Sjur Kristiansen for the Sony PSP. Get the game and installation instructions in the downloads section.

Solitaire Mahjongg is a game of strategy, memory and luck. It uses 144 Mah-Jongg tiles, arranged in a pile called "The Dragon". Match the titles in pairs to clear the board and win the game.

You can play either a laid back solitaire game, or a fun two player hotseat challenge.

Features
Single player solitaire
Two player hotseat challenge
Classic Dragon (or Turtle, as some call it) board layout
Classic Mah-Jongg tileset
Small footprint. Only takes about 1.5 MB on your memory stick
Freeware. This game will cost you zip, nada, nothing.

Screenshot and download via comments ...