gaming

Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm a console gamer. Always have been, since my friend down the street in Minneapolis got an Atari 2600 in 1979, and I trumped him a year later with Mattel's Intellivision. (Along with George Plimpton, we found Intellivision's Major League Baseball to be clearly superior to Atari's Home Run baseball. Intellivision baseball, hockey, and skiing were pretty much all I cared about in 1980.) Like Larry King with wives, there's long list of consoles that I traded in for newer models over the years: Intellivision to Intellivision 2, to … Read more

One of gamers' biggest beefs with the PlayStation 3 will soon be a thing of the past. At the kickoff press conference for the Tokyo Game Show, Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai confirmed longstanding rumors that a rumble-ized version of the PS3 Sixaxis controller is on the way. The Dual Shock 3--which looks essentially identical to the existing Sixaxis PS3 controller--will hit Japan in November, then make its way to North America and Europe early in 2008. Devil May Cry 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4 are two of the first 11 games that will support the new Dual Shock's vibration function, and existing titles can be retroactively updated to support rumble via online updates.

Other notable announcements from Hirai's keynote:… Read more

The New York Times has a new Facebook application it launched today. It's called The New York Times Quiz, and as you'd expect, there's some question-asking going on here, and if you're not up on current events, you're likely to make a fool of yourself in front of all your Facebook buddies. The quiz is composed of five questions about yesterday's news. Each question has five answers, and it's up to you to pick the right one. While Google may be one click away, you're urged to figure things out on your own.

After submitting your guesses, you'll find out how you did instantly. Your results are judged in three separate sections. The first is your Times IQ, which is an aggregate rating of your performance on each quiz you take. You also get ranked to your friends, and in comparison of Facebook users as a whole. It would be nice to have your results compared to how others did in each of your networks, although this is something that could be added later on down the line if The New York Times feels like doing some extra coding.

Along with the results section, you get a link to each related story on The New York Times for every question. Ideally this would create a scenario where users go to check their wrong answers and fill in the blanks, although the application is kind enough to let you know what the right answer was either way. You also get a list of five stories to read up on for tomorrow's quiz, which gives you a heads up--and a chance to avoid being embarrassed again if you did badly.

The New York Times is doing two things right here. The first is making your results public. There's nothing worse than having your lack of knowledge shown off to everyone, and while you can tweak what gets published in the news feed, people can still see your scores in the results page. The second is getting you to come back and visit the site--specifically The New York Times--to get ready. Assuming you're willing to put in the time, your quiz score will always be 100 percent and you can rule your friends--except those who use Google News to figure out the answers.

[via ReadWriteWeb]… Read more

At the Office 2.0 conference, I met Paul Pluschkell, the CEO of Spigit. Spigit is a marketplace for ideas, reminiscent of a prediction market. But it's not quite one, since prices are set by an algorithm that takes more into account than just market demand. "It looks really complicated," I told Pluschkell. He told me that if I gave the site 5 minutes of concentration, it'd be crystal clear.

I gave it more time than that, and found the site very interesting. It's not what I would call clear, though.

The main site is … Read more

Rock-star wannabes can now unleash their inner Slash on two new platforms: Aspyr Media, in partnership with Activision, has announced that the massively popular music title Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be available to PC and Mac gamers this fall.

With more than 70 songs in the set list, and more original master tracks than ever before, according to Aspyr, players will be able to shred from many of today's artists, as well as from rock legends such as Metallica, the Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam. Expanded online multiplayer game modes will also allow PC and Mac … Read more

It looks like the little 7-year-old girl in this video can kick some serious booty on Guitar Hero. She may not be the only tyke around who can rock the music game (see this 5 year old and this 8 year old go at it), but still, it's damn cute watching her work that heavy metal with such speed and intense determination.

This video recently bubbled up on MySpace, where it has, of course generated hundreds of comments that alternately slam the girl for missing notes or spending time playing video games in the first place and praise her … Read more

One of the advertised improvements of the new PSP Slim was the fact that it could be recharged via its USB port. And while that may not sound like a major feature, for anyone who's ever traveled with a tangle of three, four, or even more AC adapters (laptop, phone, iPod, BlackBerry, ...), it was certainly an attractive idea. Unfortunately, it didn't quite deliver. Yes, the new PSP can be charged via its topside USB port, but the caveats involved make it more trouble than it's worth: the USB charging is almost twice as slow, only works when the PSP is powered on and in a dedicated USB charge mode, and it needs a PC as a source--it won't charge from a standalone AC-to-USB adapter. Thankfully, a handy accessory from Kensington provides a much better USB charging solution--and it works with both newer PSPs and the original models.… Read more

When Nintendo announced the Wii Zapper back at July's E3 show, the company promised the $20 add-on would be bundled with a game (a "pack-in," in gamer parlance). And today the company made good on the pledge: The Zapper will include Link's Crossbow Training, a Zelda-themed target shooter. The game will progress from simple bull's-eyes to moving targets (including enemies from the Zelda series), and--while I wouldn't expect much more than a glorified "how to use the Zapper" tutorial--something tells me Crossbow Training could be as infectious as Wii Sports. Either way, … Read more

Which layout do you prefer on your game pad? Do you like Sony-style, with the left analog stick low and symmetrical with the right analog stick? Or perhaps you prefer Microsoft-style, with the left analog stick high and level with the face buttons. Regardless of your preference, usually that choice is limited to the system you're on or which PC game pad you use.

Saitek has released the Cyborg P3600 Rumble Pad, the first PC game pad we've yet seen that lets you choose between the two layouts on a whim. Instead of a fixed layout, the Cyborg … Read more