Let’s talk portable gaming: isn’t it incredible how much the platform has growth, to the point where Angry Birds or Plants Vs. Zombies are more than games, and part of our culture?
Part of this exponential growth is shown by the characters becoming recognizable by themselves, and actually being pretty ...
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Sony's decided to spill the beans on PlayStation Mobile, its upcoming cross-platform gaming service. It will connect to your own PSN ID, linking into its software store and aiming to offer up a "wide range of portable experiences." We're still looking at PlayStation-certified devices here, but Sony's also announced that ASUS and (bizarrely) Wikipad hardware will join the (pretty Sony-centric) line-up. We can already recognize a handful of Xperia phones alongside the Tablet S and, of course, Sony's premier handheld, which will also be able to play the incoming selection of mini-games.
Continue reading PlayStation Mobile detailed: different screens, same games
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablet PCs
PlayStation Mobile detailed: different screens, same games originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sony's handheld will get its own companion bundle for its incoming (and exclusive) Call of Duty title. The set will include the game, a PlayStation Vita and a carry pouch -- camouflage pattern TBC. Unfortunately, Sony it neglected to mention a price or a date -- though it's likely to arrive around the same time as the game, later this year.
Continue reading PlayStation Vita Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified bundle announced, pricing MIA
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PlayStation Vita Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified bundle announced, pricing MIA originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sony's kicked off its Gamescom event in Germany by revealing a new deal for games playable on both the PS3 and its handheld relative, the PS Vita. The incoming PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale and Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault will be two of the first titles to arrive on both -- with a single purchase giving you both versions. According to Jim Ryan, president and CEO for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, you'll get both copies in the single package but there's no word on whether both, or one, will be digital download-only. We'll update this post when we hear more.
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PS Vita and PS3 cross-buy feature revealed: buy one copy, get the other free originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If glossy handhelds covered in fingerprint mess aren't your thing, then Nintendo's recently-announced matte finish DSi consoles might appeal. The games maker took to Twitter to announce that both the red and blue options could arrive in stores by the end of this week -- presumably with that tempting $100 price tag. However, if you're holding out for some extra-large 3D gaming, there's still a few weeks to go.
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Nintendo DSi gets Matte Red and Matte Blue finishes, shrugs off sunshine glare originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Supersized screens may be the centerpiece of Nintendo's 3DS XL, but a new Iwata Asks interview reveals that its top display packs some new anti-glare tech too. Takashi Murakami, from the company's Mechanical Design Group, notes that each of the LCD's three glare-prone layers were specially treated to reduce reflectivity from the original 3DS' 12 percent, down to three. According to head honcho Iwata, anti-reflection coatings have been on the Big N's radar since the GameBoy Advance era, but were typically abandoned because they were too pricey. The Q&A session also confirmed something we noticed when we put the handheld through the review gauntlet -- the larger display increases the parallax effect, which translates to a deeper looking 3D experience. If your current handheld's screen bounces too much light for your liking, the XL can take its place starting August 19th in North America.
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Nintendo 3DS XL sports less reflective screen than its predecessor, improved parallax effect originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 04:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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As Nintendo attempts to get its eShop up to speed with Sony's PS Vita provision, it's finally announced a July 28th launch date for its first two downloadable games. Alongside the in-store release of the 3DS XL, the full versions of both Super Mario Brothers 2 and the latest iteration of Dr. Kawashima's Brain Age / Training will be available for online purchase in Japan, priced at 4,800 yen (around $61) and 3,800 yen ($48), respectively. Nintendo already offers a mixed bag of retro titles and demos to download, but this is the first time it'll wheel out fully-fledged 3DS games.
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Nintendo 3DS gets first downloadable titles next week: Super Mario and Brain Training sequels originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 06:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |Nintendo | Email this | Comments Each time I look at a photo of the Nintendo 3DS XL I wonder why Nintendo didn’t just add a second circle pad to the console from the start. I always figured it was because Nintendo wanted to sell the Circle Pad accessory. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is offering up the official explanation of why the portable console only has one circle pad.
According to Iwata the main concerns for Nintendo when designing the 3DS XL console was longer battery life and to have as large a screen as possible. He says that a second circle pad was never a main focus when designing the console, but it was something Nintendo looked into. He claims that the second circle pad would’ve required a physically larger portable and a smaller battery.
Iwata said during a recent interview, “When we looked at the design of the 3DS XL, we had to look at various factors. One was battery life. One was the overall size of the unit. And we had to make some trade-offs. The choice, if we were going to include the second analog stick, was to reduce the size of the batteries or make the unit much bigger. What we wanted to do was have a bigger screen in comparison with the overall size of the system, so we had various discussions and had to make trade-offs, and this is the outcome.”
[via Nintendo Life]
We spent a good chunk of time getting to know Nintendo's 3DS XL, which sidesteps the notion of a second analog stick -- despite peripherals adding one to the older model. Now Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, has weighed in on the game maker's decision, saying that trade-offs were made for both battery life and the overall size of the unit. Iwata shrugged off those controller complaints, saying: "[The lack of a second stick] isn't my main focus when I look at the 3DS XL, it's one point we had to cover, but for me personally I'm quite happy with the product we're able to offer. " If you're serious about your strafing and shooting, at least there's the eventual super-sized add-on.
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Nintendo president: 3DS XL isn't big enough for a second analog stick originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you like your portable gaming three-dimensional, clam-shelled and big, then Nintendo's 3DS XL fulfills those broad, unconventional requirements. It's a design refresh that more closely references both previous generations of DS hardware (and the incoming Wii U) -- all while touting a substantially bigger, 3D-capable, parallax-barrier screen. Aside from a larger battery, the XL's internals rehash what we first saw over a year ago: the controls remain the same, with no addition of a (mildly) hardcore gamer-courting second analog stick. For what it's worth, the device does arrive with a 4GB SD card in-box (up from 2GB in the original), matching the approximate doubling in physical dimensions. 18 months is a long time in gaming, especially these days, and although 3DS sales have recently rallied against Sony's latest, we reckon the 3DS XL has double the appeal of its forebear. We'll explain why right after the break.
Continue reading Nintendo 3DS XL review: bigger is better, but it's still not quite enough
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Nintendo 3DS XL review: bigger is better, but it's still not quite enough originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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