Don’t you just love how games evolve? From the times when they were just pure single player titles that had the rest of the kids waiting patiently for their turn at the controller to the modern equivalent of teamplay, where you and your gang go up against another team, keeping the lines of communication open through a headset and celebrating the true spirit of teamwork. Not all multiplayer games feature voice support at this point in time (most crucial games to offer this feature would be tactical titles), but the Station Voice service aims to change this. Powered by Vivox, this new service enables players to talk to each other in online titles, and it is currently a feature available in MMORPGs such as EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies. Players don’t have to fork out an additional cent for this feature to use with their current subscription plan, which is a good thing.

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There is a new router in town, and this one caters to the gaming crowd. The WL-308 Wireless 300N XR Gigabit Gaming Router is touted to offer low-latency online gaming, lag-free local network gaming and uninterrupted VoIP use. I’m still rather skeptical of the claims and will believe it only when I’ve used this, but obviously for a company to be this bold in their marketing, there must be some semblance of truth in it (no matter how skewed). Have any of our readers out there tried solutions like this, and do such devices live up to the hype and claims? This Gaming Router is said to be uniquely developed and designed for gamers and hardcore users, merging both innovative design and a supposed ‘evolution’ in networking.

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If you’re a true blue gaming geek, then the Octane 120 arcade cabinet from Dream Arcades will definitely be the platform of choice. It is based upon a “high end gaming PC”, featuring an integrated projector that throws a 10-foot screen for you to enjoy. In addition to that, it will also boast a kegerator that keeps your beer (or other favorite beverages) ice cold at all times. Heck, there are even a couple of taps - one located by the steering wheel with another behind for easy access to your drinks, and a cup holder by the wheel ensures you don’t have to keep on getting up to get your drink. The Octane 120 can play up to 200 licensed PC titles, PS3 racing games, and other Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 games through the included joystick. Audio is provided via a 5.1 surround sound system in the chassis. You’ll need to fork out a whopping $6,995 for this though.

Source: Gizmodo

Want a way to gamble your money (and life) away without really feeling the pinch there and then, only to discover in horror just how much you owe the bank in overdraft a month later? The eDeck is the perfect device for you then - it is connected directly into the Venetian’s gambling empire through Wi-Fi. Perfect for folks who want the privacy of their own rooms instead of spending their time in a noisy, smoke-filled parlor full of pretenders and wannabes. Unfortunately, the eDeck is available only to high-stakes players.

eDeck can be played in the High Limit Slot Salon at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. You can play your choice of slots, blackjack, baccarat, video poker, and either European or American roulette. Coming soon to the eDeck selection of games will be Cantor’s proprietary games including Bonus Roulette, XtraOdds Baccarat and Statjack.

I wonder whether the other casinos in Vegas will take up the eDeck.

Source: Crunchgear

Nintendo Wii owners have long suffered from the lack of a huge storage solution as there are more games that they’d like to keep on the console than what Nintendo originally thought gamers would need. Humans are a hoarding lot after all, so it makes sense for Nintendo to forsee a new development with a new sense of urgency that will expand upon the current paltry 512MB of internal flash memory found in the Wii. Traditionally, downloaded games and extra Wii content can be transferred to SD memory cards for posterity, but I’d much sooner have a hard drive in my Wii for storage purposes since deleting and re-downloading content is a big hassle in this day and age. If you’re a Wii owner and should a new model surface with a built-in hard drive, would you purchase a new one?

Source: PC World

Hasbro decided that enough’s enough, and will take up the mantle to sue creators of Scrabulous, a knock-off of their hugely popular word game, Scrabble. It seems as though the online game has infringed on the Scrabble North-American rights which falls under the wings of Hasbro after acquiring the assets of bankrupt company Coleco. In addition, since Scrabulous is available on Facebook, Hasbro has also pleasantly informed the social networking site to block the Scrabulous online game that has a pretty impressive following, attracting up to 500,000 users per day. I find this to be a rather disconcerting piece of news since Scrabulous is not new, having been around since 2006. This could be due to the fact that Hasbro is trying to push its way around after being snubbed by Facebook users who preferred Scrabulous despite the fact that an Electronic Arts and Hasbro collaboration have yielded an official online Scrabble game.

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Mad Catz Interactive has managed to snag a license from Ubisoft to come up with a range of branded accessories based on the wacky Rayman Raving Rabbids series of games. This agreement will last for many a year, giving Mad Catz a free reign in North American rights to concoct a range of accessories for the Xbox 360, PC, PS2, DS, GBA and Wii platforms. Now if you’ve ever play Rayman Raving Rabbids, you’d know just how wacky those characters in the game look like, so expect fans and non-fans of the title to pick this up based on their quirkiness and cuteness.

Press Release

Brando has the new USB M.A.D. Game Pad which was specially designed to fit virtually any gamer’s needs when traveling. I’m afraid it might be just nice for smaller sized hands, but those with larger palms and long digits will find themselves feeling cramped after a while. Still, it comes with a mini-detachable steering wheel for a mini-sized driving experience if you’re into racing simulators. The USB M.A.D. Game Pad will retail for $20 a pop and is currently available for pre-order, with the stock shipping in the middle of August.