There’s a new gaming handheld in town. It’s called the Nintendo 3DS XL. And I couldn’t care less.
Now, those who have been reading my columns on SlashGear know that I’m not exactly the most understanding when it comes to Nintendo products. The devices are nice and all, but when we actually account for their gaming quality – and appeal to the hardcore gamer – I can’t help but feel they fall short. I’ve felt that way about the GameCube, Wii, and the 3DS.
Those who cover the gadget and technology universe in news know that Microsoft is more than ready for a face change – they’re ready for a whole nip and tuck age reduction. With the logo they’ve released today, they’ve made it clear that they’re willing to make their way into the post-PC age – or perhaps the mobile age, if you want to call it that. While many companies flounder with fabulous software and hardware because they don’t want to see their precious graphic design change, Microsoft has hired Pentagram to make it work.
This month we’re hearing rumors upon rumors that Samsung will be releasing their second full iteration of the Galaxy Note line with a “2″ model toting a massive 5.5-inch display – but you might want to go ahead and skip it. We’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy Note – the first one – since it was released, and are now working quite actively with both the Galaxy Note 10.1 (the tablet-sized version of the device line) as well as the Samsung Galaxy S III. As it turns out, there might not be a need for yet another Samsung display size.
As I’ve noted on SlashGear before, I have what some might call a gaming closet museum. Over the last couple of decades, I’ve collected consoles, handhelds, and popular games, and kept them on the ready in the event I want to go old school and power on my old Atari 2600 or check out an NES title.
It’s time to get realistic about all the Apple TV rumors – with an Apple TV device that’s essentially a box and a controller that hook up to any TV you like, there’s no reason for Apple to take any other steps. Today’s inside tip comes from the Wall Street Journal where they say Apple is speaking with cable providers to get an in on wired content not provided by iTunes. While it does make sense that they’d head out and make sure they’ve got all the right connections in the industry before releasing a product, this simply does not fit with Apple’s way of doing business.
I was using my Apple TV the other day to stream some music to my television and thought about something: prior to the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, rumors suggested that Apple was going to announce a new Apple TV operating system that would support applications and all kinds of other goodies. There was also some speculation that the company might offer up a new Apple TV set-top box that would come with some storage for the apps.
Sony was once viewed as the world’s most successful gaming company. After it launched the original PlayStation, many wondered if it could take off until, well, it did. And as we all know, the PlayStation 2 was a gaming juggernaut.
But all of that changed with the PlayStation 3. The console launched at a price that was far too expensive for what customers were getting, and it lacked the uniqueness of Nintendo’s Wii, which caught on quickly. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, while not as popular as the Wii, benefited from a strong online-gaming component.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro has company, with Lenovo revealing its own Windows 8 slate, the ThinkPad Tablet 2, targeting the all-important enterprise segment. Like the higher-spec Surface, Lenovo’s new tablet has content-creation features like a digital pen and all the remote management your IT team demands; it also has the more flexible full version of Windows 8, rather than Windows RT. And, like Microsoft, Lenovo is playing pricing cards close to its chest. One thing is already becoming clear, however: Windows 8 may well struggle to compete in business markets.
It may not be Pebble‘s $10m, but with OUYA‘s $8m Kickstarter has its newest standard-bearer, and around sixty thousand sets of eyes turn to the mailbox for the promised early-2013 deliveries. It’s a surprising degree of patience – however ill-suffered – considering the short-shrift we give most products, software updates or even just the regular postal service if they dare to make us wait. Immediate gratification is arguably at odds with today’s trends, but there’s another angle that makes Kickstarter so appealing: it’s the rumor-mill we can buy into.
Although all of the talk surrounding Cupertino currently centers on Apple’s iPhone, I can’t get the company’s television out of my head. I own an iPhone and have an iPad. And although I’ll likely buy Apple’s next handset, it’s the company’s television that has me drooling.
Based on the reports surrounding Apple’s television at the moment, I can all but guarantee that I’ll be buying one. I love the idea of iCloud integration and I firmly believe that it’ll come with an App Store. Better yet, it’ll deliver high-quality visuals that should make its competition reevaluate their future decisions.
When Apple decided to put a tablet into the market, they made it clear that, at least at first, they’d only have one model – this “hero” strategy is now working for Google’s Nexus 7 tablet as well. With the iPad being the single most popular tablet device in the world – with no contenders to speak of as far as sales go – you’ve got to wonder why no company has stuck to their guns with a single product name (with slight variations in each generation’s upgrade) like Apple has. Google isn’t exactly taking this strategy to heart with the Nexus 7, but the fact that it’s popping up in the news so often with headlines like “sold out” attached to it has got us thinking: has Android finally got a hit?
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