Games and gear

I woke up this morning and clicked on the System Update icon on my PS3 and lo and behold, the rumored 1.5 firmware update was available for download. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't offer a change log saying exactly what the firmware update does, but there are plenty of tidbits out there on blogs from PS3 enthusiasts.

The biggest issue that the update fixes involves backward-compatibility with PSOne and PS2 titles, some of which looked like garbage on HDTVs when played on the PS3. Titles that didn't support 480p output exhibited loads of artifacts and jaggies. Allegedly, all that'… Read more

You've read our discovery of the car guitar, but what about a guitar made from car material?

Blackbird Guitars' Rider is a hollow-neck, small acoustic guitar made of carbon fiber--the same material used for high-end cars and motorcycles.

The guitar debuted last week at the 2007 NAMM show, a musical instrument trade show, in Anaheim, Calif.

While not entirely handmade (the guitar was designed and partly manufactured using a CAD program), Blackbird's site says each guitar is "artisan made."

Pricing starts at $1,500, according to Gizmodo UK.

There was much fanfare over here as fellow Craver Will Greenwald finally got his hands on a Wii earlier this week, but new rumors about the blogosphere* are indicating that the much-coveted Nintendo console may already be due for a bit of a facelift. Well, not really. But the Wiimote, of screen-smashing fame, might be getting some adjustments to deal with some of the most common user complaints. According to a German gaming news site, the grip will be improved to make it a little easier to hold onto, and the Wiimote will somehow have a rechargeable battery. As Kotaku blogger Luke Plunkett says, &… Read more

Yesterday, the Nintendo Wii hit the shelves once again...and left just as quickly. Nintendo's latest "relaunch" (store restocking) of the system was once again met with fairly crazy enthusiasm. The Wii might be a bit more available now in more rural areas, but if you're in a city, you should be ready for a prolonged hunt.

I finally got my Wii yesterday morning, and I was lucky. I woke up early and got to the Circuit City in Bergen, New Jersey, around 8:30 a.m., an hour and a half before the store opened. … Read more

So remember that laptop that Asus announced earlier today with the ATI Radeon X2300 graphics chip? Sounds to us like Asus just blew a nondisclosure agreement on AMD/ATI's next-generation graphics chip.

It's been common knowledge for awhile that ATI's next-generation, DirectX 10-compatible graphics chip, code-named "R600," is in the works. It's supposed to be the direct competitor to Nvidia's already-released GeForce 8000-series graphics chips. The actual shipping name of the R600 products has been under wraps, although U.K. tech site the Inquirer claimed last week that the chips would be the … Read more

Bill Gates isn't the only bigwig who's putting his John Hancock on limited editions. Not to be outdone, Michael Dell is signing a special line of his namesake laptops that feature an exclusive World of Warcraft theme, according to Laptoping. But unlike so many other so-called special editions, this one is truly limited--to only two, both for sale now on eBay.

"The custom-painted Burning Crusade Edition features (artist Mike) Lavalle's airbrushed re-creation of original composition from the new World of Warcraft expansion," according to the eBay listing. The XPS M1710 gaming laptop also has a … Read more

When the New England Patriots visit the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday in the NFL's AFC Championship game, Boston.com hopes the result will be a foregone conclusion: the Patriots will win 38-31.

That will be the final score, according to a Madden NFL 2007 simulation of the game performed by Boston.com on an Xbox 360. This is thanks in part to Colts kicker--and former Patriots hero--Adam Vinatieri missing two field goals. A video of the game's virtual highlights is posted on the site.

Boston.com's game is not the official EA Sports Madden NFL 07 simulation … Read more

The good news: I have found photos of what is undoubtedly the most awesome iPod case ever, thanks to Make Magazine's blog.

The bad news: Like most stuff featured on Make, you can't buy it anywhere.

Flickr user sirljohns has put up a sort of tutorial of how to make a fully functional iPod case out of an old Game Boy console, but you'll still need a good amount of technical know-how in order to build one yourself. Nevertheless, this is about as cool as it gets.

"You are a young gifted mountain climber traveling to Nepal with your best climbing buddy Carlos, to find the legendary Abominable Snowman (otherwise known to locals as a "Yeti"). Not long after your arrival in the Himalayas, Carlos goes missing. What do YOU do?," asks R.A. Montgomery.

Do you look for your friend Carlos or do you continue searching for the Abominable Snowman without him? You decide. Only this time, you click a link instead of turning to page 46.

The Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) series books of yesteryear are back as downloads for … Read more