QMotion recently announced that it will be working on a new wireless skateboard-style controller that will be used in Xbox 360 games in the near future. What do you have to say to that? I personally think this is a positive development in the right direction, but the big question is this - will it sell? Even if the answer is in the affirmative, will it sell well at all? After all, QMotion has to recoup the research and development costs in addition to marketing it across worldwide. Hopefully there will be some sort of skateboard game that will be released on the Xbox 360 console which will see sales figures of this wireless controller take off - after all, title-specific hardware rarely sells well unless it is bundled along with the game itself (like Mario Kari Wii’s steering wheel) or is a pre-requisite with a whole lot of followers (Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises).

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Every kid wants to learn how to drive a car before he or she even goes to school, but Driver’s Education is any kid’s least favorite class. I never thought driving could be made so boring.

Fortunately, teenagers today can now learn Driver’s Education from this great game on the Nintendo DS called Drivers Ed Portable. Developed by DreamCatcher Games and JoWooD, it offers a “fun way for new drivers to study the material”.

This game features two modes: Test and Train. The Test mode has some sample tests from all 50 states for the written part of the driver’s license examination. It also has tests from 13 Canadian provinces and territories, as well as tests from other countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. As players take these tests, the game tracks a player’s progress so that he or she knows what areas are needed for improvement.

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I don’t know about you, but somehow many people still equate Asians, especially the Chinese, to be too thrifty for their own good. I suppose it is payback time for Microsoft as they are working on price cuts for its Xbox 360 console in Asia, trimming the recommended retail price by a measly 5% to nearly 20% in a quartet of areas throughout the region. South Korea benefits the least with a 5% cut, while Taiwan’s 20GB model will receive a 17% discount. Singapore benefits the most from this price revision exercise with a 19.5% drop. As for Sony, they took the opposite route in Singapore by raising its 40GB PS3 price to $394. Guess accountants from those two companies are busy trying to predict the impact of these price moves, while Nintendo execs sit back and continue smiling smugly knowing that their Wii and DS will still sell well at the current pricing that has remained unchanged for a fair bit now.

Source: Crave

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The music industry has evolved into a Xerox machine, of sorts. A copy upon a copy upon yet more copies. We’re waiting for the point where the major music labels throw up their hands in confusion and admit to their defeat. Because you know that’s what is happening. The music companies have already lost as an industry. It’s just a matter of discovering a way to cut their losses and work out a deal with the people behind the copies.

If we’re heavily invested in the music industry, we’d be turning to companies that make products such as this Virtual Console USB Duplicator. Capable of duplicating 60 1GB USB flash drives in under two minutes, the Virtual Console is the music industry’s worst nightmare. This easily allows the average home music pirate to create a 1GB music sampling for 60 of their closest friends. Take into account that their friends could very well be making copies themselves, and musicians have a real problem on their hands.
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Last week, I covered a story about someone who put an entire Nintendo Entertainment System inside of a Super Mario Brothers cartridge. I would like to take the next logical step on NES emulator reporting, and discuss the FC Mobile, an NES emulator that is completely portable.

For a portable gaming system, the FC Mobile is one thick mobile device. After all, the Playstation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS are about half the size of the FC Mobile, and they both play games that are way more advanced than anything the NES ever put out. Considering the size of the NES cartridges that the FC Mobile plays, I suppose that it had to be this thick.

The larger size does give it a screen size advantage of 2.4 inches. If a user wants to play their 8-bit games on a bigger screen, he or she has the option of plugging the FC Mobile into the television with an AV cable.

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Isn’t it amazing how much smaller our technology is, compared to what our technology was? I once heard that the first computers took up entire buildings, and yet they had no more memory than an average cellular phone. That’s decades of progress in electronic technology for you.

I am proud to report that in just two decades of electronic progress, someone has actually designed a Nintendo Entertainment System that is the size of an NES cartridge.

Popular console modder and DIYer Kotomi has created the Fami-Card, which uses a now-vintage 8-bit Super Mario Brothers cartridge for a housing for a full NES player. A Chinese NES emulator is used for running the games, and there is room enough for a full-functioning cartridge slot, video audio out, reset button, and even ports for the joysticks.

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Say you can’t get enough of Guitar Hero and would love to bring the experience with you wherever you go - ThinkGeek has the solution with the Guitar Hero Handheld Game.

Just like the real game, you’ll press the keys as the “notes” slide down the fret bar - playing along to some of the best loved rock standards (there are riffs from 10 rock songs, including Smoke on the Water, Rock this Town, Cherry Pie, Heart Shaped Box and more). And when you need to ramble on, the neck folds down and you can either clip it to your gig bag with the integrated carabiner or slip it in a pocket.

This nifty little device allows you to rock out for $14.99 a pop.

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Some of you might remember the 7 inch LCD Wii Screen that I reported on yesterday, so I felt it only just to report on an LCD screen for the PS3. I have to tell you, these two products are so alike, that someone probably got sued.

Both of these screens are similar in the way they can conveniently attach to your console and play your favorite games. The screens are exactly the same size at seven inches, but it appears this PS3 screen is concave in contrast to the flatscreen for the Wii.

The Wii Screen can plug into a cigarette lighter or wall outlet, but the PS3 screen is plug-in only. I suppose that makes the PS3 screen not as portable as it should be, but hey, portable technology for video game consoles is relatively new. I suppose you could get yourself a PSP if you really want portable Playstation gaming.

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