Entertainment Electronics Blog

Elecom has released another set of keyboards with the TK-U01MAL series. Both are available in USB with a 3m long cord, and are available in black to match your PS3 and in white to match your Wii. Since these two keyboards are primarily made to be used with the two gamimg devices, they can also “stand-up” so that they take up as little space as gamers aren’t slobs and can be Ikea-net if they put their mind to it. Till now, nothing on pricing or whether the Elecom TK-U01MAL series keyboard will be available in the States.

But you can always import, if only you wish.

Finally comes Sony’s PS3 Slim: slick, black, with 120GB hard drive and for $299. This slimmer console is 36 per cent lighter and 33 per cent smaller and will consume around 30 per cent less energy. Uhm… It’s quite slimmer indeed. And because of its slimmer price, the current $399 PS3 model, with an 80-gigabyte drive is expected to cut price imminently. Now, it seems that getting slim is actually a good idea.

It’s reported that the new PlayStation 3 will become available in stores from September 1, 2009. Here are some pictures:

Great news for Nintendo DS/DSi owners! Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have just announced two new handheld games are in the works. The games will be called Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver and will be hitting store shelves in North America and Europe in spring 2010, after releasing in Japan next month.

These new games are not entirely new, but remakes of the old Gold and Silver editions of the Pokemon series. Only this time there will be some touch-screen features, updated graphics and sounds, and “a host of surprises” for the two Pokemon titles, Nintendo says.

Some people may don’t like Pokemon games by thinking that it’s the same story over and over again, without any difference. For me, Pokemon games aren’t just about the story, it’s about the adventure, and building up a stronger team over time. The actual story in the game is something that happens under the surface. Hope they’ll be great!

By using the PlayStation eye and microphone, Sony is going to detect and record your emotions, including laughter, anger, excitement, sadness, joy, and even boredom.

According to the patent filing, this technology identifies emotions by reading facial expressions, as well as group behavior such as two players high-fiving each other. As you watch a program or play a game, the PlayStation 3, hooked up to a camera and microphone, would analyze your face, body language and any sounds you make or actions you perform. This gets turned into metadata which is then sent back home to see how well a piece of media is being received.

It’s true that they could get more accurate reviews and data on the way people react to games or movies, but I don’t think it’s really needed. I think sales figures and gaming review sites already do a good enough job. On the other hand, I’m still wandering if it could detect players’ laughter at its ridiculous idea.

If you own a Wii 4-Dock Battery Recharge Station, unplug it now! Otherwise, you’ll feel the burn. So far there have been six reports of overheating and two hand burns. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced a voluntary recall of these recharging stations for Nintendo’s popular game console. The chargers in question carry the names Psyclone Essentials and React Wii 4-Dock Battery Recharge Stations. They were sold between January 2008 and July 2009 for $50 through Toys ‘R’ Us, Amazon, Target, and Best Buy, according to the CPSC.

“We have chosen to voluntarily recall the Psyclone and React Wii 4-Dock Recharge Station products upon learning of extremely isolated cases of the battery overheating, causing the batteries in the unit to short circuit,” Psyclone president and CEO Bob Griffin wrote in a note on the company’s Web site. Consumers can contact Psyclone by calling 888-344-4702 Monday through Friday from 9am – 5pm Eastern time, or e-mailing at productsafety@psyclonegamer.com for further instructions.

I hope this information could do a favor to some people. For me, I just use rechargeable AA batteries, and while I worked at game that’s what I recommended people use due to that problem. And there cheaper and can be used in anything then.

To Nintendo, there’s no limitation for imagination, as well as freak. Now, according to the actual online patent page, Nintendo is making the inflatable, Wiimote-implante cushion to simulate riding on the back of an animal or being in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. And the nunchuk, held in one’s hand, serves as reins, a lasso or sword. Here’s the strange illustration.

It’s nothing but ridiculous. It isn’t cool like the instruments of Rockband, and doesn’t seem to have the practicality of a Dance Dance Revolution pad. Imagine you ride this kind of stuff in your room, flail at a TV screen. Oh, for God’s sake. It’s so so so freakish or even idiotic! At least, I won’t do it, I have my dignity.

Here’s great news for Guitar Hero followers! The Wii version of Guitar Hero 5 will be able to stream music from a high-capacity SD card, eliminating the need for hard disk drive.

As IGN properly explains:

All the tricks used for both Guitar Hero and Rock Band in the past – leaving internal memory open- is gone. Instead, straight-up booting off the SD card is available, and that means easier downloads, larger expansions, and quicker loads when bringing in song data from the SDHC card into GH5.

And since Guitar Hero brings with it a vast array of different titles as part of their DLC, Activision says that a 32GB SDHC card can hold up to 800 songs. Even better it’s a clear sign that more downloadable content could be used to enhance other Nintendo titles, maybe even keep Wii owners playing the console.

The sequel to the best selling first person action game in history, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2: Call of Duty 4 is coming soon in November. Rumors have been spread over and over around the November release, saying that together with it will come the new developed accessories we still don’t know clear. Moreover, Mad Catz, leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, has announced that they have partnered with Activision and Infinity Ward to develop a range of controllers and accessories. The release goes on to state that the company will develop accessories for all platforms currently announced for the title, which include Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3 systems.

“Mad Catz’s innovation and fresh approach from Day 1 has been great,” said Vince Zampella, CEO of Infinity Ward. “Their team has really poured their hearts into the new line of accessories for Modern Warfare 2 and we can’t wait for our fans to have a chance to play for themselves this November.”

What indeed is Mad Catz building, the coolest ever in existence or the opposite? We can make a guess.Will they be new types of night-vision goggles, turbo controllers, or even a “special” keyboard and mouse for the game? Well, whatever, the answer is coming out soon.

John Carmak, influential game desiner and technical director of id software, has predicted that Sony will be the first to make a move into the next generation of gaming hardware, probably to prevent “the same kind of 360 lag from happening to them again”.

“The whole jockeying for who’s going to release the first next-gen console is very interesting and pretty divorced from the technical side of things,” Carmack told CD-Action, as spotted by Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry.

“Whether Sony wants to jump the gun to prevent the same sort of 360 lag from happening to them again seems likely.

“As developers, we would really like to see this generation stretch as long as possible. We’d like to see it be quite a few more years before the next-gen consoles comes out, but I suspect one will end up shipping something earlier rather than later.”

One of the main reasons behind the success of Microsoft Xbox 360 is its release one year ahead of Sony PlayStation 3 as well as considerably lower pricing. Sony might want to release its PlayStation 4 ahead of its arch-rival. But anyway, I hope this generation could last a long time. I hate they force me to buy these new stuff.

This is either completely ludicrous or completely ingenious: the Thiphone. You read it right. That’s not a misspelling of “The iPhone.” Rather, the “Thi” in ThiPhone is actually pronounced like “thigh,” as in your leg’s thigh. As implied in its name, the device straps your iPhone, iPod or any mobile device securely on your thigh so that you can use your hands for other stuff…like driving, reading or eating peanuts on a plane.

I don’t think it’s necessary, but anyway, it’s an interesting idea. There’re also many other interesting ways to place your iPhone or iPod. Let’s see these pictures.

            Wooden Docking Station                  Speaker + Alarm Clock + Docking Station

Rotary Phone + Docking Station                          Toilet Roll + Docking Station

Speaker + LED Lamp + Docking Station          Speaker + Bed Light + Docking Station

Clock + CD Player + Docking Station                       Speaker + Docking Station