Our friends in Japan will soon be able to free their USB ports from the tyranny of charging SIXAXISes (SIXAXES?), as Sony has announced they'll soon be releasing an AC adapter that can charge two PS3 peripherals. It's coming to Japan on Dec. 18 for 2,800 yen (about $28 USD).
No, we don't have a date on a U.S. release yet, but, our knowledgable friends at PS3 Fanboy hypothesize it will be cheaper when it reaches our shores.
Hey there, Blu-box. We suppose you've heard by now that Microsoft has denied your existence yet again? It's true. This time, it told Edge Online, "As we've said before, Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on." Now, now, Blu-box. Don't cry. We know that just yesterday it sounded like you were finally going to get to come out of hiding.
Microsoft doesn't hate you, Blu-box. It's just focused on other things right now. It told Edge that, "Games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available." That doesn't mean you're not important. Hang in there. You could still possibly be announced at CES in January. So just try not to be so blu about things, 'kay? You can still play lots of cool games between now and then, like Fable 2 and Gears of War 2. Aww, you're smiling again. That's the spirit!
We wish we had some insight for you that could put this image into some different perspective, but it's exactly what it looks like: A lightsaber attachment for your Wiimote. You pay $35, you put one of them on your controller and it makes your pretender work better. Seriously.
As we've said on the Joystiq Podcast, if you're unable to have Wii fun without an attachment like this, you're tantamount to a fetishist unable to climax without the introduction of leather-bound dominatrices or rubber replications of farm animals. So, feel free to pick up the two-pack, but just make sure the store's empty beforehand, OK?
Hey ladies! Be honest, if there's one problem with today's Rock Band and Guitar Hero plastic guitar offerings, it's this: they're not pink and/or heart-shaped enough, right? Here to right this egregious wrong are pop starlets Aly & AJ, both of whom have lent their considerable skills (being women?) to the design of the above two "fun and feminine" plastic guitars.
Of course, since these guitars are built exclusively for the ladies, you'll find they're only compatible with the Wii and PS2 since ... uh, we're really not sure why that is. Regardless, if that works for you, and you've got $69.99 to burn ('spensive!), hit up your local retailer in mid-October. Check out another pic of the guitars – and a video of the teenagers pitching the gear on E! – after the break.
While it looks like one helluva Wiimote attachment, this gangly peripheral is actually a portable Rock Band (or more appropriately, Rock Band 2) drum kit made by Mad Catz for Xbox 360. So no, we won't be flailing the loose ends about as we race our karts through Moo Moo Meadows. We're told the pads must be laid flat, like on a sturdy coffee table (best not glass) -- or in our case: the unpaid intern's back, or better, draped over his neck like some gaudy Jesus piece -- and repeatedly smashed to the beat of the on-screen cues. We're currently testing the "designed to withstand over 1 million strikes" certification, though the same intern has begun to complain that his wrist hurts. To which we reply: "Dude, stop hitting yourself." (Yeah, we're evil like that.)
The "Official Rock Band Portable Drum Kit for Xbox 360" is currently in limbo on GameShark for $59.99 (and Buy.com for $10 less).
Forced with making up for lost time in the battle for rhythm game supremacy, Konami is evidently taking the curious path of removing bullet points from the back of Rock Revolution's future box art. First, despite a corporate lineage that includes Karaoke Revolution, Konami axed the expected vocal portion, leaving just guitar and drum tracks. (Wouldn't want to cannibalize those Karaoke Revolution sales, would we?)
Now, Konami has axed the axe, telling MTV that they'll only be offering the unwieldy drum kit in mid-November, about a month after the standalone game launches October 14th. The full peripheral lineup from the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games should work just fine with Rock Revolution but, something tells us Konami's going to have a tough time leading this revolution. Well, there's always a chance of a legal payday!
Since our initial impressions, we've had a few weeks to get used to the ION Drum Rocker set (a variant of the Alesis DM5 Pro set -- pedal, cymbals, pads/hardware). More importantly, we've had a few days to play on it with Rock Band 2. Is it worth the $300 cost of entry? Read on for our final thoughts.
Gallery: ION Drum Rocker: Unboxing, Set Up and Impressions
The saga of the Wii hard drive continues. While "geeks and otaku" everywhere wonder – often aloud – why Nintendo hates them so much, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime tells Latin American Nintendo magazine Club Nintendo (roughly translated by Nintendo Everything and corroborated by GoNintendo), "We are working on a storage solution ... We have never said that it will be a hard drive nor have we mentioned how we will fix this issue, but we are going to deliver a better way to store the games."
If it's not a hard drive, then what is it? Super futuristic holographic storage mayhaps? Or USB mass storage support, so you can use that external HDD you've already got? Hell, we'd settle for enabling game playback from the totally under-utilized SD slot. Then all Nintendo needs are some halfway decent WiiWare titles, and we've got ourselves a deal.
Source – Reggie: We never said the Wii storage solution is a hard drive Source – Reggie says no hard drive...but a better solution
In a world where video providers seem to be adding increasingly disruptive digital rights management into their video streams, you can always count on video game accessories to provide a hole for unprotected video to break through. First it was the Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive, whose component output allowed for DRM-free copying of the now-defunct high-def discs. Now it's Sony's European PlayTV digital video recorder add-on for the PS3, which CVG reports can "export [recorded] videos to your PS3's XMB menu as MPEG-4 video" for free use on other devices.
At a time when everyone from Tivo to Microsoft seems to slap some sort of protection on digital video recordings, it's frankly a little baffling that Sony (itself a major video producer) would leave this hole in its digital recorder. Not that we're complaining, we're just waiting with trepidation for the other patch shoe to drop.
The PlayStation Blog has listed some details for North America about the new PS3 headset available this fall. The peripheral will be available in the $60 SOCOM: Confrontation bundle, or as a standalone peripheral for $50, similar to the price in Japan. Some features of the headset include:
"High-Quality" mode with use on PS3, offering noise cancellation and a better chat quality on the console.
The quality of the headset will allegedly allow for more accurate commands of AI-controlled squad mates in Confrontation. There will also be "voice animation" where the player's avatar will "mimic" them during voice chat.
There will be an in-game status indicator exclusive to the headset. It will display connection status, battery charge, speaker volume and mute status.
Cradling the set back on the dock will turn it into a "desktop microphone" while charging.
So, what say the headset purchasing vox populi? Is SOCOM worth spending an extra $10 for your fancy new Bluetooth PS3 headset?
Our friends at PS3 Fanboy recently had a chance to try out the guitar equivalent of the ION Drum Rocker: Starpex's premium (i.e. not plastic) guitar controller, which more or less looks like a gutted Fender Stratocaster. Their verdict is that the Starpex plays very well, but the $180 price tag is likely to turn off more than a few people. Bonus points for being fully compatible with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but no word on an Xbox 360 version. The Starpex will be available for PlayStation 3 and PS2 rockers, with a Wii version reportedly on the way later.
Although no official details about the PS3 wireless keypad's pricing or launch date (beyond "late November") have been released, Amazon.com is shedding a little light on the situation. The online retailer currently has the peripheral listed at $49.99 with a ship date of Nov. 30.
Although the date may be a placeholder, an Amazon representative informs us, "Pricing details come from our vendors. So that is the price that Sony gave us." Once again, Sony hasn't made any official statements about pricing, but retailers seem to be getting some details.
A recent poll on PS3 Fanboy showed that 46% of responders would pay no more than $20. Only 4% of participants would actually pay the current listed price for the peripheral.
Remember when Neversoft's Brian Bright allegedly told G4 that a new peripheral was coming to Guitar Hero World Tour, and G4 speculated it would, in fact, be a keyboard? We had a chance to talk to the very same Brian Bright who told us that "a keyboard controller deserves to be introduced with its own game. This is something we're thinking about." B-b-b-but what about all the keyboard section in the song creator? Bright says, "there are reasons why we haven't included a keyboard controller." He elaborates that not all of the songs have keyboard parts so, "adding a keyboard controller would either have limited our choices, or the players."
... so Keyboard Hero: Billy Joel confirmed? Check out the full interview for more on World Tour's song creation system.
Building on reports of an impending Xbox 360 price cut, which allegedly will drop the Arcade SKU below Wii to $199, comes the reemergence of Microsoft's elusive motion controller, now rumored to be included with the Xbox 360 Arcade this holiday. A source "close to Microsoft's marketing department" detailed the bundle to X3F, claiming the new Arcade system will feature a 512MB memory card (in place of a hard drive), the New Xbox Experience pre-loaded and a motion controller, along with a few compatible minigames developed by Rare.
The motion controller supposedly will be sold separately as well, in a package that includes even more minigames. The controller is said to be compatible with all versions of Xbox 360. So how 'bout it, Nintendo -- you gonna trump this by tacking on HD?
G4 claims to have gotten "the hot word" on a new Guitar Hero World Tour peripheral from Neversoft's Brian Bright who "wouldn't go into detail about what it will be," though he apparently said the new peripheral was "specifically for the game's Studio mode."
We've reached out to Activision for some kind of comment or confirmation; however, until then, speculation seems to be the name of the game. G4 is guessing keyboard, which is all well and good. And who knows, it may well be a keyboard. We're not oracles here. But as long as we're just guessing, why not guess a little bigger, y'know? That's why we're happy to announce Joystiq's official guess for the rumored new Guitar Hero World Tour peripherpal: keytar.
Posts in category peripherals
