consoles

It seems like just yesterday we were talking about how Ouya's dream of raising a million dollars on Kickstarter to bring a $99 console and open gaming platform to the people was well...ambitious, to say the least.

Actually, that wasn't even 24 hours ago, but already the public's desire for a hackable console has made it clear that Ouya's ambition must be pursued, nay fulfilled (by the promised March 2013 delivery date, hopefully). Within about eight hours, the $950,000 goal was met. And at last check, more than 20,000 people had pledged north of $2.5 million.… Read more

Hard-core gamers like a challenge. Just ask gaming business veteran Julie Uhrman.

Uhrman wants to disrupt the gaming industry with an affordable console called Ouya, a name she hopes will become the battle cry of game developers. Her company is soliciting developers to help build an open ecosystem of games on Android, essentially bringing the openness of mobile games back to the TV set.

"It's very ambitious -- it's hardware, it's software, it's building an ecosystem," Uhrman said.

But Uhrman said she believes her team has what it takes to challenge the status quo. … Read more

An Xbox isn't just an Xbox. In other words, it's good for more than just playing games, though obviously it has considerable acumen in that department.

It also makes a great Windows Media Center extender, which is awesome if you've paired your PC with one of the CableCard tuners I've mentioned here in the past.

And don't forget streaming: the Xbox gets its Roku on by pulling down Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, and other popular services. (Alas, you need an Xbox Live Gold subscription, which annoys me to no end, but that also enables … Read more

It wasn't that long ago that the Nintendo Wii was one of the most sought-after items on the planet. Especially around the holidays, when supply simply couldn't meet demand. The then-revolutionary game console was selling on eBay for double, triple, even quadruple its $249 list price.

Now you can get it for 80 bucks.

Specifically, GameStop has the refurbished Nintendo Wii console for $79.99, plus $4.99 for shipping (and not including sales tax, where applicable). That's the lowest price I've ever seen.

Of course, Nintendo's next-generation Wii U console is just around the corner, … Read more

LOS ANGELES--It's been a big year for the people behind Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console, and its growing ecosystem. Month after month, the machine tops the console sales charts, and it boasts some of the most anticipated exclusive games in the industry.

This week, of course, the Xbox team is cheek-by-jowl with all of its partners and developers, and its competitors. It's E3 week, after all. And at its Monday media briefing, and at its mammoth booth at the Los Angeles Convention Center here, Microsoft has been touting its latest attempts at separating the Xbox from … Read more

Update: Voting is now closed. Thanks for helping us choose a winner. Stay tuned for an upcoming CNET Top 5 on console controllers.

All this E3 coverage recently has me thinking it's time for a Top 5 on console game controllers.

I have my thoughts, and I'll be sure to poll our CNET editors for their opinions too. In fact, I'll probably have the final Top 5 span the best game controllers of all-time, just to keep things interesting.

But I also want to know what you think. To keep it manageable, I'm restricting this reader'… Read more

E3 shows tend to fall into two categories. Those that are about hardware, and those that are about software.

Last year, at E3 2011, hardware was king, with the first look at the new Wii U console, as well as Sony's PlayStation Vita. Along for the ride was Microsoft's Kinect camera and the Nintendo 3DS, which, while not brand-new last year, were both finally coming into their own as commercially viable products.

Other than that, it's been a while since hardware was king at E3 (and we're not counting the missing in action Wii Vitality Sensor). … Read more

Microsoft is rumored to be ready to unveil a new app this week at the E3 game conference for the Xbox 360 that will allow users to play video and other media on tablets and phones.

The AirPlay-like companion application -- dubbed "Smart Glass" -- will also allow users to beam content back to their game consoles for viewing on larger screens, according to an Engadget report. The app is also expected to be made available for tablets and phones running on Windows, Windows Phone, Android, and iOS.

Seemingly adding credence to this report is another Engadget report … Read more

The OS X 10.7.4 update that Apple released yesterday has been a relatively smooth update for many people, and is a recommended update because of its fix for a password logging error and the ability to preserve users' preferences for whether to open windows when logging back in. However, a few people have found that this update causes massive number of kernel-related error messages to be displayed in the system console.

As described by Apple Discussion member "paddyiyer", after updating the following messages can be seen repeated in the Console utility:

5/9/12 7:20:… Read more