The Brando Wii Cooking Mother Kit

Just in case you didn’t believe me when I said Brando made some weird stuff, here’s your proof. Brando has a collection of Wiimote accessories to spice up the Cooking Mama experience. Just incase your imagination is a little bit broken; the set will let you have a slightly more authentic gaming session.

According to Brando the set includes a “Frying Pan, Knife, spade & Fork” with odd capitalization choices included. I don’t exactly know what a spade is as far as cooking is concerned, although Google reveals that it might be an ice cream scoop. However, judging by the pictures on the Brando site their spade looks more like a spatula, or is it a Spatula? They also claim: “Making the game more realistic, increase the fun of the game.” So if you’re into wielding plastic cooking utensils for your Wii, the set is available now for a mere $17.00.

[Via Engadget]

Brando’s Solar Powered USB Charger

Hot on the heels of certain other solar powered products comes one that’s a little more compact, a bit more useful, and a hell of a lot less stupid looking. Brando (the king of many useless gadgets, like SolidAlliance) has released a compact solar powered USB charger. The charger unfolds to reveal two solar panels that can be used to charge your favorite USB gizmos, like an iPod or a cell phone. It also comes with an AC adapter to use it indoors and its wide variety of voltage settings lets you adjust it to fit your gadget.

The use of solar power makes this charger perfect for bringing along an iPod or a cell phone on a camping trip, if you want to rough it, but keep a few tech goodies handy. Plus, because it is relatively small it would fit easily into a backpack or any other luggage. It isn’t the cheapest of gadgets, but at $69 it is certainly affordable if you’re just dying to keep your tunes going on that long camping trip.

[Via Engadget]

Samsung X820 Takes a Beating

There isn’t a whole lot to say here. The picture just about says it all. I’ve always thought Samsung stuff (phones in particular) did a pretty solid job at standing up to a beating and this just about proves it.

[Via Engadget]

SunRed’s Solar Powered Motorbike

Equipping a car or SUV with solar panels would be relatively easy seeing as there is plenty of surface area. Just think, the latest incarnation of the box-like hummer sporting solar panels head to toe. Anyways, SunRed is attempting to create a motorbike that is fueled by solar power. The only problem is that motorcycles don’t exactly have enough surface area to cover with solar panels. The solution? Turn a relatively sleek craft into a big, honkin’, snail-esque, monstrosity.

That’s right. If you’re looking to cut your bike’s dependency on gasoline you’re going to have to sacrifice the wind in your hair and look like a total moron. What’s more SunRed claims that the bike’s new 25 square feet of solar paneling will harness enough of the sun’s energy to let you about 13 miles at up to about 30 miles per hour. Groundbreaking and world changing! Not quite. Most sport bikes today get average MPG somewhere in the 30’s and 40’s, not to mention they can go four times as fast. Plus, this means that I would hardly be able to make it to Wawa and back on this thing, and it would take me almost twice as long to do it. Plus because this thing requires sun to charge up you’ll have to leave it in your driveway for all of your neighbors to gawk at.

[Via Engadget]

Take Two Takes a Break on Manhunt 2

This news is a bit old now, but since I posted about Manhunt’s shaming earlier this week, I thought I would let everyone know that Take Two will be shelving Manhunt 2 for the time being. Reportedly a Take Two representative was quoted as explaining that the company “has temporarily suspended plans to distribute Manhunt 2 for the Wii or PlayStation platforms while it reviews its options with regard to the recent decisions made by the British Board of Film Classification and Entertainment Software Rating Board.”

Interestingly this news musters up a bit of speculation. The whole ‘AO’ rating debacle gave the game a ton of press. So, down the road when Manhunt 2 does get released as an ‘M’ rated game, (assuming it will) it will have garnered tons of publicity and will have the potential to sell in impressive numbers. While it will take a bit more time and money to revamp the game, it could end up making Take Two tons of money. However, because the game is currently being shelved there is no solid evidence that Manhunt 2 will ever see the light of day.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Zune Addict!

You may remember last week I posted a picture of a man who you might call a Zune Fanboy. Well, if there was any question about the guy’s alliegence to the Microsoft Zune, this second picture confirms that he is indeed a Zune Zealot. It appears as if our favorite Zune addict has returned to the parlor to get yet another tattoo representing his favorite DMP.

[Via Engadget]

Lots of Trouble for Manhunt 2 on Wii

The Nintendo Wii is generally thought of as a family console because of a barrage of family oriented marketing and lots of fun and fuzzy cute games. So, it came as a bit of a shocker when Nintendo and Take Two/Rockstar Games announced Manhunt 2 for the pure and wholesome console. The game has been described as ‘a murder simulator.’ Combine the gruesome game play with the ‘hands-on’ controls of the Wii and Manhunt 2 is the next best thing to smothering that annoying guy down the street with a plastic bag.

Well, it’s a rough time for the publishers now. In a barrage of news today regarding the game, we find that Take Two is going to bleed some serious cash. The first revelation was that the game was banned in the UK for its extreme violence. David Cooke of the British Board of Film Classification was quoted as saying that “There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game.” Further it was suggested that they had no suggestions to improve the content of the game so that the ban would be lifted.

The second blow to the publishers came as the ESRB gave the title an AO or Adults Only rating. This is essentially a death sentence for a game as far as mainstream success is considered. The harsh rating would keep the game off the shelves of almost all retailers and squash the game into obscurity. Not to mention the AO rating lumps Manhunt 2 in the same category of games like “All Nude Cyber,” “The Joy of Sex,” and “WET – The Sexy Empire.”

Just as you would expect, it was also reported today that Gamefly (the Netflix of videogames) would not be carrying Manhunt 2 because they enforce a no AO policy. This also goes for Blockbuster who has a no NC-17 policy regarding movies. The final blow came today as Nintendo announced that they would not allow the release of the controversial game with the AO rating.

To get Manhunt 2 out, Take Two is going to have to dodge the AO bullet by substantially editing the game to get the rating reduced to M (Mature). So, all of the work that has gone into the game is going to have to be redone to satisfy the ESRB and Nintendo. There is also the possibility that all of the flack that the game has already caught may lead stores to shun the game even if the rating is changed. The only other remaining option is for Take Two to simply cut the chord on the game and head in another direction.

I for one am disappointed by the whole situation. While maybe the game deserves the AO rating, I would still like it to be released. And if it did actually get out I was planning on buying a copy, because it was likely to become a rare game. Finally, I’d like to say that I’ve been playing games all my life, and while playing games I’ve killed countless of robots, ferocious animals, and people. But, guess what! I know how to separate reality from a game and I’m sure anyone who is right in the head can too. Even if it is a ‘murder simulator’ that doesn’t mean that people who play it are going to become murderers. By that logic when schools give demonstrations of what it is like to drunk drive, they would actually be driving all of their students to knock back a few and hop behind the wheel! Ridiculous isn’t it?

[Via Wii Fanboy]
[Via Wii Fanboy]
[Via Wii Fanboy]
[Via Wii Fanboy]
[Via Wii Fanboy]

Third-Party ‘Wii Blaster’ Coming Soon

Ever since the advent of the Wii there have been designs for a Wiimote toting gun running free on the Internet. Finally there is one design that is coming to market, and soon. The Wii Blaster will hit store [Gamestop only] shelves come June 27th. Thankfully the $19.99 price point is quite reasonable, because how much can they actually charge for a hunk of functionless plastic? I mean the Blaster doesn’t actually do anything by itself. In order to make it work you’ll need a Wiimote and Nunchuck, which, obviously, if you’re a Wii owner you have both. But, the Blaster, in itself, just some molded plastic.

Clearly they’re going for the nostalgia factor here. The Blaster looks a bit like the old Nintendo Zapper and is intended for use with light gun-like games, only with the use of the Wiimote. They claim that you’ll be able to use it with Duck Hunt, but there is yet to be any official word on Duck Hunt’s Virtual Console release. It seems likely that the Blaster would work with it when it does come out, but until then I think it’s a clever marketing ploy to increase sales a bit. I wonder how many people will buy it intending to play Duck Hunt on the first day and be sadly disappointed.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Nintendo Dominates May Videogame Sales

I haven’t reported on NPD numbers in the past, but they’re always interesting so I’ll start sharing them. So, if you don’t know, NPD stands for National Purchase Diary and the numbers are calculated by The NPD Group Inc. Each month the numbers are calculated on various different types of products, but videogames are going to be my focus. The numbers come about a half-month after the end of the period which they are calculating and for video games they calculate hardware and software sales.

Hardware Sales:

* Nintendo DS: 423K
* Nintendo Wii: 338K
* Sony PSP: 221K
* Sony PlayStation 2: 187K
* Microsoft Xbox 360: 155K
* Sony PlayStation 3: 81K

Basically Nintendo is kicking ass and taking names and they have been for months, basically since November when the Wii was released. And the DS just continues to print money. Month after month the DS sells multiple times almost every other console or handheld on the market. Also, in relation to my last post, check out those stellar (notice the sarcasm) sales numbers on the PS3.

Software Sales:

* Pokémon Diamond (DS)
* Mario Party 8 (Wii)
* Spider-Man 3 (PS2)
* Pokémon Pearl (DS)
* Wii Play w/remote (Wii)
* Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)
* Guitar Hero II w/guitar (Xbox 360)
* Spider-Man 3 (Xbox 360)
* Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360)
* Guitar Hero II w/guitar (PS2)

As far as software goes, the wealth is spread pretty evenly between several systems, again, however, notice that the PS3 doesn’t even have a title in the top 10. Some other things that are interesting about these numbers are the popularity of PS2 titles, and Guitar Hero on both PS2 and 360. It’s hard to say that the PS2 (and its games) selling well is a bad thing (because it’s not) but it is interesting how Sony’s ‘last-gen’ system is overshadowing their latest and greatest. Also, Guitar Hero II is still continuing to sell a ton of units and at the premium $80 price with the guitar included.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

PS3 Price Cuts Coming! Eventually.

After saying that one potential (future) cause of the PS3’s failure could be it’s high price, Sony CEO Howard Stringer is saying that Sony is looking into reducing the price of the PS3. What he doesn’t say is just about all the relevant information. Of course, we all know that the price of the PS3 is going to come down, eventually, so you’d hope that maybe we’d get some details out of the guy.

However, as a business tactic you wouldn’t expect Sony to announce a future price cut officially or its amount because that would effectively kill sales of the PS3 until the announced date. This is especially true considering the fact that the PS3 isn’t exactly selling like hot cakes.

[Via Engadget]

Man Gets a Zune Tattoo

LOL, just LOL. I wonder if getting Zune ink makes you more popular in the ‘social.’

[Via Engadget]

Domains are Live!

Last night I registered technosyncratic.com and technosyncratic.info and today they’re live and directing to my blog!

So, for future reference, if you’re typing in the URL, you don’t have to worry about typing out http://technosyncraticblog.blogspot.com (although it should still work) it's simply www.technosyncratic.com. I’m not exactly sure how to make it so you don’t have to type in the ‘www’ at the moment, but hopefully I’ll get that sorted out so it’s even easier.

Domain Registration!

For years, basically since I knew what exactly a domain was, I’ve wanted to own a domain. When I started blogging I thought it would be cool to own the domains for my blogs. However, Bêtise was taken and so was Audiosyncratic. Now, however, I switched the name to Technosyncratic and guess what domain is available! Tonight I decided since domains are relatively cheap, and I have a Visa I would just go right ahead and register my domain! That’s right! Technosyncratic.com is now my domain (so is Technosyncratic.info, you can’t be that $0.99 price).

The domains aren’t live quite yet, since it takes some time to get DNS servers straightened out. But, in the next few days you should be able to get here by going to either of my new domains. It’s not much easier, especially since most of my traffic (not that much) comes from people clicking links, but I just think it’s damn cool to own a domain.

Difference Between LED and CCFL?

Yesterday I posted about the updated MacBook Pros. One of the points I relayed from Apple is that users won’t see any differences between the previous CCFL screens and the new LED backlit screens as far as brightness or contrast goes. Well just one day later Engadget has a whole bunch of comparison photos for you to gaze at.

While the difference isn’t astonishingly huge, it seems pretty clear to me. The old CCFL MacBook Pro is on the left in the image above while the LED model is on the right. It’s pretty obvious that there is a discernable difference between the models. So, on top of the speed boosts in the new models and the improved battery life, it looks like LED will also give you a slightly brighter image.

[Via Engadget]

Apple Updates MacBook Pro Today

So for a while now we’ve been expecting some updates to Apple’s laptops, since his Steveness announced that Apple would be using LED Backlit displays in the coming future. Well, today seems to be that day. While LED backlights will only be gracing the 15-inch model (for now at least) there’s a whole bunch of updated stuff thrown into these silver puppies.

For starters an extra $100 in the 17-inch model gets you the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card which will provide up to 1920 x 1200 resolution (yes that’s full HD if you’re interested) Unfortunately there’s still no support for Blu-Ray, but all the DRM that would need to added in kind of holds that back. Perhaps with the release of Leopard this fall we’ll see some HD goodness coming our way.

Even better yet, the MacBook Pros now feature Intel’s latest Centrino platform ‘Santa Rosa’ if you’re interested, which you probably aren’t you can get all the technical details on that on the Wikipedia page. This also means that 802.11n wireless comes pre-enabled, which was an issue recently.

The biggest addition is really the LED backlit screens, but there’s not much that consumers are going to notice because of this. The most important factor in this change is the environmental benefit. Previously the LCD screens used a technology called CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent), which Green Peace gave Apple a lot of grief about. Apple said that LED backlighting could possibly provide somewhere between 30 minutes and 1 hour more battery life, but it depends on use. Other than this possibility, users won’t be noticing any increases in brightness.

The pricepoint for the MacBook Pro still comes in at $1,999, which is still pretty steep, but all the new additions definitely increase the value. Plus, Apple’s free Nano student discount is in effect again. So, if you’re laptop shopping for the coming school year, it might be time to make the switch because your Education discount can knock a few hundred off the price of the laptop and score you a free iPod.

[Via Engadget]

Various Nintendo E3 Rumors

I read a few days ago that somewhere there were rumors circulating about some Nintendo announcements coming up at this year’s (downsized) E3. At the moment I’m having some trouble finding the article about it, but I believe it was on Wii Fanboy. Anyways, as I remember, the rumor stated that Nintendo would announce the release dates for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy. The rumor also states that they will also be announcing the Wii iteration of Mario Kart and on top of that a new piece of hardware!

Since, dates for two already announced games aren’t exactly big news and everyone and their mother knows that Mario Kart will eventually be making its way to Wii, the most shocking (and partially unbelievable) speculation is a hardware announcement. When I first heard I was immediately thinking that it could be a slightly more powerful Wii or something, but it just isn’t feasible at this point.

However, today I saw an article on Engadget rehashed the rumors of an external hard drive add-on for the Wii. While Nintendo is saying this is only a rumor, it seems like this could possibly fit the ‘hardware announcement’ profile. It makes a lot of sense, seeing as the Wii only comes with 512MB of storage and the system has 2 USB ports just sitting there. And with the number of games on the Virtual Console ever increasing gamers are bound to fill up their storage sooner or later. Additionally, there are some more rumors going around that the VC could see games from Neo Geo, which could take up about 300MB each. So, while I wouldn’t put money on it, I’m going to say that if there is a hardware announcement at E3 from Nintendo, this could very well be it.

Yet another rumor pertaining to the Wii is the possibility of colored Wiimotes hitting the shelves sometime soon. Wii Fanboy reported today that a store clerk from the UK snapped a shot of an upcoming SKU with the description “Wii Remote Blue.” It’s not too much to go on, but it certainly seems possible since Nintendo has a long history of multi-colored products and of course colored Wiimotes were present at E3 last year.

[Via Wii Fanboy]
[Via Engadget]
[Via Wii Fanboy (Again)]

SanDisk SSDs to 64GB

This isn’t exactly ground breaking news but SanDisk just announced that they’ve doubled the size of their 2.5” and 1.2” solid-state disk drives from 32GB to 64GB. Mainly the good news is that as storage capacity continues to increase these more efficient drives will become more viable as options in more efficient laptops. The idea is that they access data much faster and use less power, so they’re perfect for a fast and energy efficient portable. Plus, the 64GB size puts these drives right into the ring with typical laptop drives that range from 60GB to 120GB.

One more application for these drives could be iPods or other portable media players. Currently iPods offer up to 8GB of solid-state memory in the iPod Nano and up to 80GB in the hard drive model. Using a solid-state disk in full-sized video iPods would do a whole lot of good. These drives are not only smaller but also use less energy (as I’ve stated) so that means longer battery life, plus they have no moving parts so you don’t have to worry about messing anything up when you go running with your tunes.

By the way, if you didn’t know, you’re not supposed to go running with your iPod (unless it’s a Shuffle or a Nano). Regular iPods and the old Mini’s have moving hard drives and the shock from running with them can screw things up inside and eventually lead to an untimely death of you several-hundred-dollar investment.

[Via Engadget]

Mii’s in the Wild

A couple of Mii’s seem to have escaped from their Mii Channel on a Nintendo Wii as they were spotted at an Anime convention in Canada.

I can’t say I’m much into the cosplay thing, but these Mii’s are just plain hilarious. Plus you’ve got to give them some credit the costumes are great.


[Via WiiFanboy]