GADGATIC

Although it’s been a long time since we’ve even thought of the DVD-ready Wii, the morning edition of Nihon Keizai Shimbun (via IGN) reports Nintendo pres. Satoru Iwata told stockholders that, given the current demand for the Wii, the company’s priority is still on that model. Iwata also said the 1seg tuner for DS in Japan will be released this month at retail (it’s currently only sold online).

The Japan-only DVD Wii was originally expected to be released in the country sometime late last year, but given the company’s general inability to keep up with Wii demand, at this point Nintendo has time to sit around like Winnie the Pooh and think about the Wii’s next hardware iteration. As long as the cash keeps flowing, what’s the rush?

Check out today’s update on the Nintendo Channel for DS demos

Sony hasn’t forgotten about you loyal mylo 2 (er, COM-2 mylo) owners just yet, as a recently rolled out software update provides a nice list of extras for those who care. Revision 1.201, which is only available for the latest of mylos, adds support for video recording, provides a new menu for “easier photo and video uploading,” adds a function for formatting Memory Stick Duo media, adds support for 16GB MD Duo cards and improves Flash playback of YouTube videos. The upgrade also adds support for WMV files and the SHOUTcast widget while improving “system stability.” The download is slightly hefty at just under 60MB, so head on down and get the new stuff headed your way.

Ever since Motorola was tossing the Tetra name around in 2005, the brand has catered to those operating in less-than-beautiful conditions. The T-Pad smartphone is no exception to the rule, boasting a shock-proof (MIL-STD-810F) casing, IP65 waterproof rating and a keypad that resists dust, debris and any other manner of matter. Specs wise, you’ll find a 640 x 480 resolution display, Intel’s Xscale 400MHz CPU, Windows CE.Net 4.2, Bluetooth, 64MB of SDRAM, USB connectivity and optional WiFi / GPS. Unfortunately, this little bugger is reportedly stickered at £1,300 ($2,592), so unless your employer is picking up the tab for you to have a mobile while wrestling polar bears at the North Pole, we’d probably recommend a cheaper alternative.

While the original Rock Band is still going strong, Harmonix is already looking towards the next bit of kit that it hopes will be cluttering your place, with it now getting official with Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Time time around, it seems the Xbox 360 will be getting a jump on things with a launch in September, with the PS3 version set to follow “later in the year.” Both of those will, naturally, be coming with all new instruments, including the tasty Fender Stratocaster pictured above, but you will be able to use your current gear if you want to spare the extra clutter and save a few bucks. What’s more, you’ll also be able to carry over all your current downloaded content and, as IGN reports, you’ll even be able to download and play new tracks on Rock Band 1 once Rock Band 2 is out. Of course, Harmonix is saving most of the details for E3 next month.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) recently granted a patent on a “hand-held [sic] device with touchscreen and digital tactile pixels.” It could be a little out there to say this could be the PSPhone or even another PSP but we can always hope. One interesting detail about the announcement is the mentioning of a game device being one of the applications of this tactile device.
It is, however, easy to say that we shouldn’t be seeing much production from this patent for a while.

UK mobile provider O2 posted a page earlier today offering the iPhone 3G with a pay-as-you-go plan costing £300 (≈ $593) for the 8GB model, and £360 (≈ $711) for the 16GB model. The plan includes six months of WiFi and browsing. After the first six months, you can purchase browsing and WiFi access for £10 (≈ $20) monthly.

The offer is available to all new and upgrading customers who purchase an iPhone 3G with Pay & Go until December 31.

The page, however, was taken down moments later, replaced with a page that omitted pricing. Some of the other pages (Tariffs, for example) were not found on the server. Strange. The page says that more information “will be available shortly so come back in a few days.”

Your conspiracy theories are always welcome in comments.

How’s firmware 4.00 going for you? Pretty good? Are you having any issues Googling from the XMB and changing the speed of your videos? Chances are some of you probably are, because Sony has just announced that firmware 4.01 will be released very soon. As in, within the next few hours. Don’t get too excited, there are no new features. This is a bug fix for everything that went wrong with 4.00.

In our opinion, the only thing about 4.00 that needs to be fixed (or “improved,” as Sony put it) is the lack of any real new features. Nevermind, eh? There’s always 4.02.

These PSP Phone rumors just won’t go away, will they? Another one has surfaced today via UK marketing magazine, Marketing Week. Their sources say that a phone incorporating elements from the PSP will be out in time for Christmas 2009. Interestingly, the article also intimates that “the relationship between Sony and Sony Ericsson has become ‘frosty’” and that “Sony would “never give its PlayStation branding” to the Sony Ericsson joint venture.” Interesting.

If this phone is in the works, despite a breakdown between Sony and Sony Ericsson, could Sony be working on it alone? GameIndustry.biz state that Sony have previously confirmed that they are not working with Sony Ericsson on any such device. We’ll be keeping our ear to the ground in case any new information becomes available.

And it’s about time too. Sony has revealed today, during a Strategy Meeting in Tokyo, that the PSP will finally be getting direct access to the PSN Store. That means no more having to deal with cables, memory cards or PCs. Good news for Mac lovers. It also means that you’ll be able to download content from any WiFi hotspot. Pretty tasty.

There’s no real release date, other than “this fiscal year,” which could mean anything up to next April. The service was announced at GDC earlier this year, but no timeframe was announced. There’s a chance we’ll be hearing more about this at E3 next month, so stay tuned for that.

Sony PlayStation executive Kaz Hirai has announced a movie download service is coming to the PS3 this summer for the US, with similar service for Europe and Japan at a later date. Hirai told reporters (via TMC) that more details will be announced month, presumably at E3. The first images of the program were found via Hirai’s presentation on the Sony’s corporate site (PDF file via PS Beyond).

Sony has already launched a video on demand service with the Korean PS3. The service would compete with, among others, Microsoft’s Xbox Live Video Marketplace, which launched November 2006. We can’t help but wonder, given rumors and advertisements, if “movie downloads” translates to general video downloads (TV, movie, etc.). We’ll find out more next month.

Coin collecting in the Coconut Mall will kick off on July 1st. I am yet to try any of these tournaments. I think this will be the first one I go for.

Looks like Sprint’s gargantuan marketing blitz for the Instinct is in the process of paying off, because the carrier has announced that the Samsung device has become its best-selling EV-DO device ever in the first week of availability. Long-term popularity will depend largely on word of mouth as early adopters decide whether they made the right purchase, of course, but it’s a promising sign for a company that hasn’t had a ton of good news to report lately. They’re reporting that the overwhelming popularity has led to shortages in some areas, but go on to assure us that “Samsung has increased efforts to deliver new supplies of Instinct on a daily basis and manufacturing plants are operating at full capacity to keep up with the demand.” Here’s our question, though: Sprint makes a point of saying that it’s their best-selling EV-DO device, so what’s their best-selling device regardless of technology — the Sony Z-100, perhaps, also known as the baddest cellphone of all time? After the iPhone at least.

The state of PC gaming has been a hot topic in recent months. Some members of the industry have maintained a positive outlook while others have been a bit more negative. Now Microsoft VP John Schappert has decided to chime in and agree with the former group, saying that things are fine and dandy in the land of mice and keyboards.
“Today I’m excited to report that Microsoft and a growing community of the gaming industry’s leading publishers, hardware manufacturers and retailers have made the Windows-based PC the largest gaming platform in the world. Every major region will see PC gaming continue to grow in audience, game revenue and hardware purchases for the foreseeable future. While the challenges we face as an industry are many, PC gaming has never been stronger, and we’re confident this trend will continue in the years to come,” he stated before a Games for Windows event earlier today.

“The past year has seen exponential growth in online activity and sales, continued platform and hardware innovation, and continued success with the Games for Windows branding initiative, which adds prominence, a quality and technical bar, and a consistent look and feel to the retail PC gaming experience.”

Schappert backed up his statement by releasing a list of sixteen games (viewable after the jump) that will be releasing under the Games for Windows brand in the next few months.

While I certainly agree with his overall message that PC gaming isn’t going away any time soon (one need only look at the billion-plus install base to realize that), I’m not sure that these games were necessarily the best example of that — all of them besides Crysis Warhead, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, and Zoo Tycoon 2: Ultimate Collection are cross-platform. Still, for those of us in the old guard that prefer to have physical copies of the games we’ve bought, it’s nice to see Microsoft stick up for the retail side of PC gaming.

When we say portable Xbox, we definitely don’t mean strapping yourself to an HDTV and walking around the block — that’s just dumb AND pointless. One look at the compact little model above though, and you might find yourself tempted to play around with the idea.

Of course, it’s not real at all — it comes from T3, and it’s merely a vision of what a portable 360/Zunephone would look like. Pair it with the hot chick holding it in the gallery pic, and you have a surefire seller on your hands. Would this be relevant to your interests?