Kios Geek. It's All About Geek

Microsoft’s Game Room for Xbox ‘rewinds’ the hits in our hands-on demo

The Oracle — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:38:00 +0000

Microsoft showed off its new retro-tastic Game Room UI for Xbox 360 in playable form at GDC last week. While the “make a virtual representation of a gaming space” idea might seem ripped straight from Sony’s Home, there aren’t really any actual similarities — outside of the fact they’re both in 3D, at least. You dive disembodied through the different game rooms pretty intuitively, with different company collections on the bottom “level” of the mall-like UI, and upper levels set aside for your own collections of the games. Unfortunately, once you actually select an arcade cabinet, the UI gets rather overly complex, with all sorts of modes you can play the game in, sorts of scores to be tracked and an indecipherable menu tree that makes it a real chore to exit a game. We’re sure arcade fanatics, ready to pit their scores against the best of them and looking for truly in-depth functionality are going to love all this, but for us poor simpletons it’s a little much to take in all at once. Luckily, Microsoft saved the best for the actual gameplay. Not only does it nicely emulate inserting coins and even entering in codes on a virtual keypad, but when playing games in the non-ranked classic mode there’s a “rewind” function accessible at any time with the tug of the left trigger. The screen gets those VHS-style wavey lines and you can mend your errors instead of losing a valuable life or having to start from the beginning. It’s perfect for patching over the quarter-munching difficulty of some of these games, and it might even be enough to pull us away from our polygon-drenched gorefests now and then to don an inexplicable bear avatar and spelunk some Crystal Castles. Check out a video of Game Room after the break, and stand by for a launch of the service on March 24.

Continue reading Microsoft’s Game Room for Xbox ‘rewinds’ the hits in our hands-on demo

Microsoft’s Game Room for Xbox ‘rewinds’ the hits in our hands-on demo originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments
read full article from Engadget

Comcast will beat DirecTV to the punch by broadcasting the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11

The Oracle — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:56:00 +0000

Very cagey way to play it Comcast. While DirecTV, ESPN and Discovery were first to say they would have 3DTV broadcasts back at CES, the cable company will actually be the first to deliver it, starting with the Masters Tournament (but why not the 3D broadcast of the Final Four?) April 7-11. That’s right, the first “live next-generation 3D broadcast of a major sporting event on TV, the first live simulcast of a next-gen 3D event online, and the industry’s first live multi-camera next-gen 3D production” will be on cable (& internet), not satellite or telco. Again, that’s right, if you don’t have a 3D television set up yet, it will also be streamed at Masters.com (no word whether this is a Comcast only or if it will be open to all) for those with a 3D setup on their PC. We’ll temper our expectations until we see what kind of quality is able to squeeze through Comcast’s fiber backbone and down our neighborhood coax wires, but this should certainly blow away the anaglyph stuff currently offered on VOD. Of course, the old school HD streams will still be broadcast on ESPN and CBS, but if Tiger really does make his comeback at Augusta this should give us a better view of the course (and any residual damage from that “car accident”) than ever before.

[Thanks, Simon]

Comcast will beat DirecTV to the punch by broadcasting the Masters Tournament in 3D April 7-11 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Comcast | Email this | Comments
read full article from Engadget

Three Windows Phone 7 Series devices, all in a row

The Oracle — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Well, there they are, the only three confirmed Windows Phone 7 Series prototype devices that currently exist. From left, we have the new Samsung slate that debuted today, the just-for-demos unbranded Asus unit that was the star of MWC, and the LG slider that we got cozy with at the Engadget Show. We’re still hoping for more time with the Samsung — and we’re pushing for more detailed specs on all of these — but check out some high-res crops in the gallery below.

Gallery: Three Windows Phone 7 Series devices, all in a row

Three Windows Phone 7 Series devices, all in a row originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments
read full article from Engadget

Origin PC offers overclocked 4.3GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition on Genesis desktop

The Oracle — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:01:00 +0000

You know what’s better than a stock 3.33GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition CPU? Not much, but we’re guessing that a 4.3GHz overclocked version of the same chip just might be. If you’re thinking the same, and you’ve got $1,044 to spare in order to find out, upstart gaming rig maker Origin PC has the means to get it to you. The outfit’s Genesis desktop can now be ordered with Intel’s freshest slab of silicon for $895, or you can snag an extra gigahertz for another $149. We know you’ll make the right call.

Origin PC offers overclocked 4.3GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition on Genesis desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Origin PC | Email this | Comments
read full article from Engadget

Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme now available in beta (video)

The Oracle — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:57:00 +0000

Even if your handset of choice won’t be eligible for upgrade to Windows Phone 7, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy the look and feel of Microsoft’s latest and greatest with a well-executed skin, right? Looks like Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme is available in passable beta form — great news for any and all of you jealous WinMo 6.5 users who might be reading this — and it can be had right now (as in now!) at the XDA Developers forum. Want to see it do its thing? Peep the video after the break.

Continue reading Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme now available in beta (video)

Jaxbot’s Windows Phone 7 Series Theme now available in beta (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mobiputing | XDA Developers | Email this | Comments
read full article from Engadget