consoles

Xbox 360 scores huge sales win in January

The Xbox 360 is still scoring big amidst a slump in overall gaming sales.

Microsoft's hot gaming console was the best-selling platform in the U.S. in January, its 13th month in a row at the top of the charts, NPD Group said yesterday.

For January, Microsoft sold 270,000 Xbox 360s,  grabbing 49 percent of the console market last month. The Xbox accounted for $310 million in total sales (hardware, software, and accessories), the highest number for any console in the U.S. January also marked the 11th month in a row in which the Xbox grabbed … Read more

Sony PlayStation Vita free to play at select GameStop stores

Gamers eager for a taste of Sony's upcoming PlayStation Vita console may be able to try out a playable demo unit at their local GameStop store.

The Vita is available at more than 3,300 GameStop stores across the U.S. to offer potential buyers their first hands-on experience. Entering your ZIP code at GameStop's Vita Web page displays a list of your closest stores, but it looks like you'll need to call them to see which ones have a playable unit on hand.

The units will offer eight different games to try out--Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little … Read more

Next Xbox to prevent you from playing used games?

Will the next Xbox restrict you from playing your favorite used games?

Gaming news site Kotaku reported yesterday that the so-called Xbox 720 will incorporate some type of anti-used game technology. Citing a "reliable industry source," Kotaku admitted that it's not clear how such a technology would be set up and if it means the Xbox wouldn't play used games at all.

One theory is that a game would be tied to an Xbox Live account so that only the original buyer could play it. But as the gaming site points out, that type of restriction … Read more

Relive a console classic

Sonic CD is an excellent iOS port of what's widely considered the best game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, an ill-fated but critically acclaimed 1993 release for the Sega CD console.

Anyone who has even passing familiarity with video game history will know the Sonic schtick--speeding around, spinning and jumping, and collecting rings--and the coolest thing that sets Sonic CD apart from other Sonic titles is a time-traveling feature that essentially lets you experience three different versions of each level (past, present, and future). The game looks and feels like the original, with settings and unlockable extras that … Read more

Here's what an HD Zelda Wii U game might look and play like

LAS VEGAS--Nintendo held a few behind-closed-door meetings with an up-close and personal demo of the Wii U at CES 2012.

While the vast majority of demos and presentations were mostly stuff I had heard before, I was able to put together what playing a Zelda game on the Wii U might look and play like.

I had seen this quick Zelda on Wii U teaser video before, but through some generous imagination, I was able to carefully piece together how it could potentially work.

The Wii U's tablet controller's screen is very impressive, and would be the perfect … Read more

Microsoft to pair DVR with next Xbox?

The next iteration of Microsoft's Xbox may be a real game-changer for consumers' living rooms.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the software giant a patent on December 27 for an "integrated gaming and media experience," in which content could be recorded on a gaming console.

Here's the essence of patent No. 8,083,593 according to the USPTO abstract:

A digital video recorder (DVR) application running alongside a television client component allows users to record media content on the gaming console. The DVR application also integrates itself with the console menu. Once integrated, … Read more

The Nintendo 3DS finally gets Game Boy Advance games

How to get Game Boy Advance games on your Nintendo 3DS:

Travel back in time to when the Nintendo 3DS was $250. Buy one. Travel back forward in time to December 16, 2011, look in the Nintendo eShop for "settings," click "your downloads," and collect your 10 classic GBA games.

Back when Nintendo first announced a 3DS price drop, early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS were understandably frustrated. However, those early customers became "Ambassadors" entitled to 20 free downloadable games--10 NES, 10 Game Boy Advance--that Nintendo promised would be available before the end of … Read more

Watching online video via game consoles grows in popularity

People are increasingly using their game consoles for more than just playing games.

Thanks to the greater availability of Netflix, Hulu, and similar services, streaming videos via a game console has grown in popularity over last year, according to a study from Nielsen released yesterday.

Surveying more than 3,000 people in the U.S. in October, Nielsen found that video streaming now accounts for 14 percent of all time spent on Microsoft's Xbox 360, 15 percent of time spent on the Sony PlayStation 3, and 33 percent spent on the Nintendo Wii.

As a whole, time spent on … Read more

Best and worst stereoscopic 3D console games

It sometimes seems that the only time people talk about 3D TV lately is to knock it.

The much-hyped 3D revolution hasn't exactly set the world on fire after it kicked off at CES 2010, and even though plenty of new television sets are 3D compatible, the actual amount of 3D content available remains slim (and with 3D losing its luster at the box office, it may become slimmer still).

One possible exception is stereoscopic 3D video games, currently supported by both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Stereoscopic 3D feels like a perfect fit for this technology, which hypothetically only needs to render the 3D information already present in nearly every game (with the exception of, for example, 2D side-scrolling games).

On the PC side, stereoscopic 3D has been around for several years, thanks to Nvidia's 3D Vision platform, which uses compatible hardware and active shutter 3D glasses to enable you to at least try and play almost any PC game. Some games work better than others, and chances are you don't have the right PC hardware, but it's definitely fun to play around with different games (Dragon Age, Portal, etc.) and try your luck. … Read more