Gadgets and Video Games

There’s a stuffy business piece over on Yahoo! News about how gaming accessory makers are rolling in teh moneyz — at least $5 billion last year, according to EEDAR analyst Jessie Divnich. Rather than offer up a bunch of boring figures on which plastic guitar sold best, or who had the most popular Wiimote charging solution, we figured we’d introduce you to some of the very items that have made accessories such a big business over the past few years. Firstly, there’s the Trauma Center Kit , a favorite of home surgeons and people who like to look ridiculous while playing games.

See the original post here: 
Accessory makers had a big 2009, to the tune of $5 billion

The latest carrot to be dangled before the teeming mass of The Legend of Zelda fans comes from a recent interview in Famitsu magazine, via Andriasang . There, director Eiji Aonuma says he hopes that Nintendo will be able to “show something playable ” at E3. What?

Read more from the original source:
Aonuma hopes to show ‘playable’ build of new Zelda at E3

If you use it to play the game, it’s in the game , right? While they aren’t all bundled like Peter Moore suggested in 2008, EA announced that it has made agreements with three companies to produce EA Sports-branded game peripherals. While no details about the actual product lines have been announced (except that some of them will be used with EA Sports Active , which does come bundled with accessories), EA did name the three companies it’s working with. Sakar International will market EA Sports accessories for Wii and DS, as well as “a full range of EA Sports-branded multi-media and computer accessories”; Sunflex Europe will sell an unspecified line of peripherals in Europe; and, most mysteriously, A4T will produce accessories for “all platforms, including iPod,” with exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland.

See more here: 
EA Sports announces upcoming line of peripherals

It’s only fitting that a Wii game based on a theme park attraction would be controlled with a device based on a toy. Peripheral company Thrustmaster just announced its first Disney-licensed accessory, a Wii gun shell reminiscent of Buzz Lightyear’s ray gun, coinciding with the European release of Toy Story Mania! The Ray Gun NW is expected in European stores by the end of September at a price of €14.99. Sure, it’s a bit frivolous, but maybe you can think of the gun as enhancing the 3-D effect found in part of the game. Even without glasses, it would totally look like Buzz Lightyear’s gun is, like, right there in your hand! Toy Story Mania receives a ray gun controller originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Read more here:
Toy Story Mania receives a ray gun controller

Indie developer GT Productions may have a simple idea with iPhone’s SpringFling . But, they’re putting some advanced features into the game, like Facebook and Twitter intergration. Even the controls are a bit more complex than you might expect. Developer Alex Schwatz told us, “The touch input for SpringFling functions just like you would expect if you wanted to compress a spring and send it flying: just drag downward anywhere on the screen to compress and let go to launch.

See the original post: 
Indie title ‘SpringFling’ falls on iPhone in October

Instead of sharing images of its Modern Warfare 2 peripheral lineup with us yesterday, when they announced everything , Mad Catz has given IGN a “worldwide exclusive” video tour which (and maybe it’s just us) isn’t quite as effective at triggering our consumer gland as some good, ol’ fashioned photos. Nevertheless, the highlight of the video lineup is, undoubtedly, the “Combat Controller” for both Xbox 360 and PS3. They each go for $50 (yeah, that’s the approximate manufacturer’s suggested price for the first-party controllers!) but that $50 doesn’t quite get you a first-party experience.

View original post here:
Mad Catz Modern Warfare 2 peripherals caught on video

our best guess Knowing us, we’re going to need some extra Modern Warfare 2 accessories when the game releases this November — and no, the $150 collector’s edition certainly isn’t enough! Mad Catz is thankfully answering the call from those of us yearning for more ways to spend money on non-essential MW2 items (non-essentials being everything other than the game disc, of course), detailing today its previously announced accessories . The damage ranges from $15 to $100 for 10 different items, such as custom controllers, mice, faceplates, and even something dubbed “skinz.” We’ve been promised images of said items later in the week, so we’ll just have to wonder what a “Throat Communicator” could possibly look like until then. Mad Catz detailz mice, controllers, ‘Throat Communicator’ for Modern Warfare 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read

Tons of companies were at E3 to show off their game accessory series, but nobody had a more eye-catching setup than Gametech’s WaSaBi line. The accessory line, which features traditional Japanese patterns and ukiyo-e artwork, first launched in Japan in December of last year. Gametech has just opened sales to American customers, using this flashy booth both to attract their attention and to gauge their interest with surveys

More here:
‘WaSaBi’: Game accessories with Japanese spice

click to enlarge Sony had a spot in its press-only booth area reserved for showing off the various accessories that will be available for PSP Go when it hits US shelves on October 1 . There were cases, wrist straps, Sony-branded screen protectors … and wait, what was that

See the original post here:
PSP Go and buy all-new accessories

Forza Motorsport 3 game director Dan Greenwalt is proud of his game. More specifically, he believes that Forza 3 has surpassed all of the competition, most notably Gran Turismo . When asked how Forza is positioned against other racing stalwarts like Need for Speed and Gran Turismo , Greenwalt did not mince words

View original post here:
Turn 10 on Forza 3: "No game competes with us"