144-Inch Picture for Your Console for $500

Those Lumenlabs guys are smart. First, they gave us DIY instructions for making projectors that looked like baby carriages made out of LCDs and cheap lightbulbs. Of course, who the hell has time to muss around in their basement like that? And baby carriages are for babies, like CRT TVs.

That's why they've come out with a $500, premade projector based on a 7-inch lcd panel, and 150 watt high intensity discharge light source. That bulb only costs $30, and will last 6,000 hours—that's far cheaper and longer lasting than professional projector bulbs. It has standard video inputs, but surprisingly, it has component and VGA connections. Then there's the 15-degrees of keystone correction for projecting at an angle. There's even a TV tuner and speakers inside.

Of course, for $500, you can't have everything. It's not...

Gizmodo

VIDEO: Xbox Live Vision Camera Maps Your Face Into Rainbow Six Vegas

Not a gadget, per se, but the upcoming Rainbow Six Vegas game for Xbox 360 will let you use the Xbox Live Vision Camera to let you map your face onto your character. We saw a demo of this in action before, and personally I'm pretty excited about this feature. It's not that I like seeing my face all the time—which I do, because I love myself—but mapping your likeness into the game really makes you feel like you're the one getting shot at.

Gizmodo

Hands-on with 360's HD DVD player

Reader Pete was lucky enough to attend a presentation that Microsoft and Toshiba were giving about their respective HD DVD players—Microsoft with a production sample Xbox 360 attachment and Toshiba with their HD-A2 and HD-XA2 second-generation HD DVD players.

Was he impressed? Can the Xbox 360 HD DVD attachment be used on a PC? When will these new Toshiba players launch? Jump on to find out.

We got to view some HD-DVDs discs that aren't out yet, and the picture quality was absolutely stunning. [redacted] made it clear that we couldn't discuss what titles we saw. These were 4th or 5th generation HD-DVD titles, and they really have the VC-1 encoding down to a science. They told us to keep the actual bit-rates secret, but they are only slightly higer than regular DVD bitrates which is astounding. (and we're talking about 1080p 24fps video here).

Onthexbox.com

PS3 Online: How it works

This article is a hands-on description of Sony's online services for the PS3. It contains some interesting details about Sony's approach to online gaming and an interesting comparison to Xbox Live.

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Comcast gives up on G4

Game network loses legs, will fall under E! umbrella at Comcast.

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Preview : Gears of War - Xbox 360

It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. We set off to a swanky London penthouse to play one of the most anticipated games of 2006, the third-person tactical shooter, Gears of War. We’d heard mixed previews, mainly revolving around a dodgy control system, but we’d been looking forward to the game for so long that we weren’t going to be phased by the hollers of discontent from a minority. We’ve seen plenty of trailers to know that Gears of War would look great and seen in-game footage which had blew us away, but it’s easy to be deceived with the publisher’s hype when we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes. We were excited, but also cautious just in case Gears of War didn’t quite live up to our expectations.

HEXUS.gaming

NEW! Assassin's Creed Screenshots, Wallpapers and Pics

IGN: Assassin's Creed Screenshots, Wallpapers and Pics

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent Trailer, Videos and Movies

IGN: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent Trailer, Videos and Movies

More Info: Blu-ray and HD-DVD hybrid chip coming from NEC

Both next-generation DVD formats – Blu-ray and HD-DVD – could work in one DVD player if it's fitted with a new chip due from manufacturer NEC.

Essentially creating a multiformat DVD player, the chip would enable hardware manufacturers to accommodate content such as games and movies in the same piece of hardware, whether it's recorded on Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

While rival console manufacturers Sony and Microsoft have pledged allegiance to opposing formats, a hybrid player could potentially bring manufacturing costs down for company's hoping to take advantage of multiple entertainment formats.

NEC is hoping to begin shipping the chip in April 2007. Company's such as Pioneer and LG have previously announced efforts to create players that support both formats, but have since put any solid plans on hold.

GamesIndustry.biz

JAPAN: Wii Hits TV

This Week in Japan, we take a look at the reception to Wii’s initial advertising campaign, the launch line-up and Wii points. Plus, how best to get a launch PS3 in Tokyo; sales charts, Level-5’s new game and Clover’s future… Just this Tuesday night, Nintendo began advertising Wii on television. Less than eighteen hours had passed before I heard girls discussing it on a subway. "Nintendo has a new console coming out. I saw it on TV. A home console. Not a portable console.”
The commercial was really short. Just a white background and a picture of the remote control. And an announcer -- the same guy who did the 'Brain Training' commercials -- says 'This remote controller will change your life.'

Next Generation

Atari Founder's Restaurant Opening Next Week!

Got plans for October 16th? Atari and Chuck E. Cheese founder Nolan Bushnell is opening his first uWink video game diner in Woodland Hills, California. Here's how it works: Customers order food or drinks via touch-screens built into their tables. The computers even make cocktail recommendations based on a personality quiz. And customers can pay to play casual video games while they eat or wait for their food. Sound kinda cool, but totally missing an animatronic band.

Kotaku

BOOM! Worst player in Madden '07 responds

Washington Redkins deep snapper Ethan Albright isn't getting much love from John Madden this year, courtesy of EA Sports. Albright is ranked an appalling 53 in Madden '07, which pegs him as worst in the NFL. This has earned him the nickname of digital Mr. Irrelevant, and stats in the game that are on par with Derrick Frost, the Redskins punter. Frost has a higher speed rating, which makes sense, but his toughness rating is only six points lower than the much beefier Albright. Ouch. You don't want to be near the toughness level of a punter in the NFL, since they are normally wiry and have about as much upper body strength as the guy who carries the down marker on the sidelines.

Joystiq

PS3's Oblivion will come to Xbox 360 and PC too

As many of you well know, the PlayStation 3 will be getting an updated version of smash-hit RPG Oblivion, heretofore only available on the Xbox 360 and PC. This announcement prompted concern amongst PC and Xbox 360 loyalists who worried about missing out on content exclusive to the PlayStation 3 version of the game.

Joystiq

Sony denies further PS3 delay rumours

"Any reports of a further delay to the launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe are categorically not true."

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