Gadgets and Video Games

You’re going to watch the above trailer (dubbed “The Law”) for Rockstar’s upcoming Red Dead Redemption regardless of what we say about it here, so we thought we’d try a little experiment: Don’t watch it! That’s right, don’t watch it … instead, close your eyes and just listen to it. The voice acting oscillates between excellent and simply serviceable and the dialogue sounds historically appropriate; but the music … the music is where this trailer sets itself apart.

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Red Dead Redemption trailer — "The Law"

If you’re someone who loves themselves some arbitrary console performance figures, Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi has you covered. Speaking to VentureBeat , the Gran Turismo creator reckons the latest game in Sony’s flagship racing series taps “about 80 percent of the processing power” of the PlayStation 3,” adding, “the PS3 hardware has a very high peak performance. The better you manipulate it, the better it performs.” That last quote sounds more like it’s about an engine than a console, which isn’t surprising given the amount of time Yamauchi spends behind the wheel of the actual supercars from his oft-delayed game . We seriously hope he’s not aiming to use 100 percent of the system’s potential — we’d really like GT5 to come out before a child born today is able to drive a real car.

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Yamauchi: Gran Turismo 5 uses 80% of PS3’s power

The Joystiq Podcast Appreciation Group – the JPAG – is a group of mostly good-looking people. And while it’s true that there are a handful of folks that aren’t much to look at, there isn’t a single one that isn’t charitably minded. Take, for example, the ongoing New Gums Day Fundraiser for Wesley Johnson, a JPAG member whose “gums deteriorated as a result of his die-uh-beetus.” To help young Wesley with the cost of his medical care, the JPAG is holding a live telethon (embedded after the break!) and giving away plenty of prizes. If you’re getting here late, you can still donate here . Details are on the event’s Facebook page

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Joystiq Podcast Appreciation Group charity fundraiser, happening now

On another trademark walkabout, Siliconera dug up evidence of Let’s Go Island: Lost on the Island of Tropics and its European logo. The paperwork implies that Sega’s arcade shooter, Let’s Go Jungle: Lost on the Island of Spice , is apparently getting a sequel or console port — if the trademark leads to action. The arcade version of Let’s Go Jungle has two players sitting in Jeep-looking booth with mounted light guns. It’s not a stretch to imagine an on-rails shooter for the Wii, as the console goes with those like peanut butter matched with slightly inaccurate chocolate. Check out a video of Let’s Go Jungle — and its amazing voice work — after the break.

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Sega trademarks ‘Let’s Go Island’; possible ‘Let’s Go Jungle’ sequel or port

After a strong 2009, Sony plans to focus its efforts in the coming year on some new initiatives — notably the still unnamed and, with a ” Spring 2010 release ,” curiously under-promoted PlayStation Motion Controller , 3D games, and the PlayStation Network. In a recent GamePro interview, Sony marketing head John Koller said the company will be focusing on these “three big pillars” going forward, and detailed its plans to expand on each.

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Sony’s Koller calls ‘motion control, 3D gaming, PSN’ focal points of 2010

Though we just found out about Mega Man 10 , we won’t have to wait long at all before we can try it. Nintendo’s new Q1 schedule gives a March 2010 date for the WiiWare run-and-gun — just two months after Capcom starts releasing Phoenix Wright ports. What a wonderful time to have an Internet-connected Wii and enjoy Capcom products. With the release so close, we expect more information to come out soon, starting with character art for all the bosses and the mysterious third character. We currently only know of the delightful Sheep Man and Commando Man .

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Nintendo: Mega Man 10 teleporting down in March

Tags: a-few-examples, avatar, flickr, following, img-style, new-additions, the-following, tomorrow-on-the, Xbox

Activision is pulling out a majority of the stops for the last month of 2009, adding a highly varied assortment of tracks to Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero throughout the next 31 days. Included are track packs from OneRepublic and The Fall of Troy, an “Indie Rock” pack which includes songs from Spoon, Pavement and Nada Surf, a “New Years Rock” pack which features music from Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and No Doubt, and finally, a totally free song which will arrive shortly before the holidays: Steve Ouimette’s version of ” Hark The Herald Angels Sing. ” These songs follow the franchise’s usual DLC pricing structure: Each single track will cost 160 ($2, 200 Wii Points), while each track pack will cost 440 ($5.50, 550 Wii Points) .

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Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero: December DLC

And you thought Halo 3 -themed Game Fuel was bad. A recent round of advertisements have taken Japan by storm, all of which either shill for Final Fantasy XIII , or some product based on the unflagging RPG franchise . Posted after the break are a series of videos, including a short TV spot for the game, two ads for the presumably refreshing Elixir beverage , and a commercial for a commercial (well, a behind-the-scenes documentary) which will be released shortly after the game is released in Japan. Also, they’re making a perfume based off the game’s main character.

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Japan facing Final Fantasy XIII oversaturation crisis

When Chris Herbert decided to pop the question to his girlfriend of three years, Belle Starenchak, he picked the most romantic place he could think of: Anime Weekend Atlanta, with both dressed as Pokemon. It … kind of makes sense for them. Belle, or “PikaBelleChu,” is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer Edition for her massive Pikachu memorabilia collection, and Herbert met her by staging a Pokemon auction

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Raichu cosplayer uses Marriage Proposal