Games and gear

The average video game can give you anywhere from eight to 80 hours of solid, fun playtime. You pick it up, pop it in, play it until you're done, and put it away (or trade it in for far too little in-store credit). Some games can pull in gamers for far more time. They're called MMOs, massively multiplayer online games, and they offer a persistent online world for gamers to explore and conquer with each other. They're the digital equivalent of crack, and can easily turn the eight-to-80 hour playtime of a normal game into an easy … Read more

First Dell grabbed Alienware. Then HP picked up Voodoo PC. Today, we learn that Velocity Micro has acquired superfast PC maker Overdrive PC.

While neither Velocity Micro nor Overdrive PC may have the same name recognition as the companies involved in other recent acquisitions, this deal definitely makes the competitive landscape more interesting. The founder of Voodoo PC said earlier this spring that it's working on a game performance-oriented retail brand. That's a direct shot at Velocity Micro and its already considerable retail shelf presence.

By scooping up Overdrive PC, Velocity Micro has made a move to protect … Read more

Need that next on-the-go gaming session to go all night? The new Extended PSP Battery from Blue Raven Technology may be your dream product. The snap-on, lithium-polymer, 4,500mAh battery pack aims to deliver as much as 15 hours of PSP playtime--a big step up from the 3 to 5 hours offered by the PSP's default battery. But the increased playtime comes at a cost: The Extended PSP Battery is about the same size and weight as the PSP itself (5 ounces for the battery vs. 6.2 for the PSP), and it costs a whopping $90. On the … Read more

Last week, the Guitar Hero truck was on the streets of San Francisco. This Saturday, it was spotted across the country in Manhattan's crowded Union Square, outside the Virgin Megastore.

(For the sake of environmental awareness and fuel efficiency, I hope it wasn't actually the same truck.)

The truck is equipped with giant video screens and speakers so that random passersby can participate in the wildly successful video game that, as I'm sure you know already, lets you rip it up to the tune of classic, and not-as-classic, rock songs from artists ranging from Cheap Trick to … Read more

Calling the "G-Tech Neber" ergonomic is like saying Al Gore is an environmentalist. But to truly appreciate the understatement, you need to see a photo of this unique piece of computer furniture, if not actually sit in it.

Shiny Shiny describes it as "part dentist chair," but the "Personal Computing Environment Station" has a lock on that hybrid. We think it actually bears a closer resemblance to the "Alternative Computer Control System" featured awhile back, mostly because of their curved frames.

Regardless of how well the Korean-made Neber compares, at least it … Read more

Designers of Second Life objects have some good news to cheer about this week, namely the implementation of what are called "sculpted prims."

A prim is the basic building block of Second Life, a virtual world that lets anyone create just about any kind of content they want. Until now, all prims began as cubes. You could stretch them to be bigger or smaller or more rectangular, but it was always a cube.

Kind of a Lego of sorts.

"A sculpted prim is a prim whose shape is determined by texture--its 'sculpt texture,'" Second Life publisher … Read more

World of Warcraft has been a goldmine for Blizzard, but that can't be all it's working on. Back before WoW ate countless lives with its grinding, raiding, and leveling, Blizzard was known for awesome strategy games such as Warcraft and Starcraft, awesome action RPGs such as Diablo and Diablo II, and even awesome platform-puzzlers such as The Lost Vikings. All of these games seem to have been left at the wayside while Blizzard focuses on keeping its WoW servers up and running, and its players chipping in their monthly fee.

That can't be the whole story. Rumors … Read more

The more things change, the more they stay the same--either that, or they just morph into each other. Take, for example, the retro '60s trend that won't go away: Just as it's kept alive the lava lamp, it continues to pump oxygen into another staple from the era--the bean-bag chair.

The "Slouchpod InteractiveXT" (sounds dangerously close to an oxymoron) updates the classic bean bag for modern times with two 5-watt speakers, a 10-watt subwoofer and connections for game consoles, media players, PCs, TVs and pretty much anything else you can plug into a socket, according to … Read more

Our Xbox 360 Elite review sample showed up late yesterday afternoon, and we're working up a full review. But that's gonna be a 3,500-word monster intended more for casual gamers and tech newbies who don't know a thumbstick from a joystick or a shoulder button from a trigger. For those in the know, here's the crib sheet on the Elite.

Cosmetics: The Xbox 360 Elite has a matte-black finish. I strongly prefer it to the "iPod white" color scheme of past Xbox 360 models. The included wireless controller and Xbox Live headset are … Read more