MSI has announced that people wishing to get their hands on an MSI Wind U100 Netbook can stroll into their nearest Best Buy starting today and pick up the 10" 3-cell version with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and Windows XP for $399. Before your rush out to get one though, keep in mind that the updated U120 version with HDSPA could hit before Christmas.

The UK will be the first place to get the Vision, and there are apparently a few prototypes to be won in London arcades. The video detailing the console has been pulled from YouTube already, but a few details survive. It will play "Java mini games", which suggests a similar experience to the "games" you can play on your cable-TV box at home.

Still, a pocket TV, despite being the ultimate 1980s throwback, could be worth buying if there are some classic Sonic games on there (ie. the first two, and no more). The Register's comments are chock-a-block with references to the Gamegear, Sega's last and fateful foray into the handheld market. It's failure was a real shame, as it was a great little device (despite poor battery life). There was even a TV-Tuner add-on.

Thanks to ISO50 for posting this amazing recording of Delia Derbyshire's utterly haunting 1964 sound collage, "Dreams," in which Derbyshire set "a collection of spliced/reassembled interviews" of people relating details about their recurring dreams (or nightmares) against her own "dissonant, often terrifying musique concrete soundbeds..." Listen alone/in the dark for the full effect.

It's rare that anyone wants to play bass in Rock Band; it's the instrument you trade off on between rounds on the guitar, or you give it to the least-talented member of the band if you're breaking in a new player. The Mad Catz Fender Bass looks to change that, however, by making playing the bass fun.

This is the main event right here. Peak has designed a full-sized Rock Band and Guitar Hero controller made out of real wood. It's wireless, although you can use a wire to hook it into your PS2 system. There are also two dongles for the PS2 and PS3. Sony fans have a lot to be happy about as this works on both its systems and is wireless.

The most interesting development, however, arrived only today: a free software upgrade that permits the Vudu box to play movies in a new movie-quality level, called HDX. It’s a reaction to all the Web sites, cable companies and satellite services whose “hi-def” movies don’t look nearly as good as they should because they are so heavily compressed.

The HDX versions of Vudu movies are insanely sharp; they make standard films look blurry and washed out by comparison. It’s like seeing a movie on VHS videotape and DVD side by side.

During their Fall Press Conference today, Nintendo have - as expected - announced a new version of the Nintendo DS. Called the Nintendo DSi, it eschews the GBA slot (boo!) in favour of a slight downsizing (it's a little thinner) and a range of improvements. The handheld's screens have been enlarged, and will now be 17% bigger (at 3.25 inches) than those found on the DS Lite. As for the rumoured additions, both have proven to be correct, with "audio enhancements" made to the handheld, while it will also now include a .3 megapixel (640x480) camera. And that's just the start of it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Apple will not publish a Flash player for the iPhone unless and until there exists some other mobile phone that (a) does run Flash, and (b) starts taking sales away from the iPhone. Which, my guess is, means never. Apple has no motivation to allow it.

If Adobe really wants to get Flash on the iPhone, they should shut up about the iPhone and start talking about and coding for Android. An excellent implementation of Flash for Android would give Adobe some amount of actual leverage. Until then, Adobe’s just embarrassing themselves every time they mention it.

I made a short video about how to trick people into thinking you're halfway decent at Mega Man 9.

This is that video.

We want to see how today's new generation of video cards stack up in terms of gaming value. There exists a wide range of video cards you can purchase; from the $150 Radeon HD 4850 to the $1100 Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX. How do figure out what will suit our needs? Also, is there such a thing as "GPU overkill" right now? We are here to answer these questions and find out what kind of gameplay experience and performance is delivered between $150 and $1100 using the newest generation GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA in single and multi-card configurations.

$150-$300 Price Range: Radeon HD 4850 - $150, GeForce GTX 260 - $215, Radeon HD 4870 - $250, Radeon HD 4850 CrossFire - $300

$390-$550 Price Range: GeForce GTX 280 - $390, GeForce GTX 260 SLI - $430, Radeon HD 4870 CrossFire - $500, Radeon HD 4870 X2 - $550

$780 - $1100 Price Range: GeForce GTX 280 SLI - $780, Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX - $1100

But there is often an untold aspect involved in setting an embargo date: Some embargoes are in place for no other reason than to give another site an exclusive on that review. Let's call bullshit on this process right now. Did that site do any extra work to get the exclusive coverage -- and I mean, real legwork or investigative work, not just putting together the best "deal" for the publisher? No. The only work involved may have been making the review sound effusive enough to justify the high score that allows the site to keep the exclusive, thanks to certain restrictions occasionally requested by a publisher's marketing department. Embargoes designed to protect the publisher from a bad score, or a competitor's deal with a publisher, fly in the face of why embargoes were originally created, to protect the public interest -- not the publisher interest.

Yes, in the past, pre-Crispy, I was in the business of negotiating for exclusive reviews. First review always means the best traffic, right? The numbers bear that out. I came to realize exclusives were not worth the risk for games with extensive multiplayer components, because they couldn't properly be tested pre-release. How do you review a multiplayer game when you can't test it in real-world conditions against people who aren't developers and on servers not belonging to the developers or publishers?

1. We've got games your 10-year-old won't be better at. GOG.com offers you critically acclaimed games from major publishers in every genre. Don't let your kids mock the graphics; remind them that the classics never go out of style, unlike their totally wicked haircut.

2. So you're cheap. It's okay--we are, too. For less than the cost of a lunch at some lousy diner you can own some of the greatest games of all time. No matter how big the file is and how successful the game was, you'll leave the table satisfied that you got a great deal for your money. As an added bonus, our house specialities won't make you sick.

3. You buy it, you keep it. Don't let your DRMs turn into nightmares (clever, no?). You won't find any intrusive copy protection in our games; we hate draconian DRM schemes just as much as you do, so at GOG.com you don't just buy the game, you actually own it. Once you download a game, you can install it on any PC and re-download it whenever you want, as many times as you need, and you can play it without an internet connection.

4. All games are Vista and XP compatible.

Last week, while visiting Criterion Collection headquarters to observe their transition to Blu-ray, I brought up the subject of digital downloads. To my surprise, they let slip a little detail that sheds light on how a master disc maker like Criterion will manage in an all-download future.

As we've seen, even "HD" digital downloads are far from the quality of Blu-ray, so there's a hesitance to offer up their restorations in a format that doesn't live up to their very high standards. Lee Kline, Criterion's Technical Director says "I would be depressed if we just went from standard-def DVDs to standard-def downloads."

Just in time for the run-up to Bethesda's Fallout 3, GameTap has added both of Black Isle's original Fallout RPGs to its lineup. To celebrate, the company is offering the first Fallout in its free subscription rotation.

Hailed as one of the better PC games of all time, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic romp through a ruined American West, featuring a cast of memorable characters and an uncompromising tactical combat system.

Nintendo plans to launch a new version of its popular DS portable gaming device with a camera and music player function, according to a report in the Sunday edition of The Nikkei Business Daily.

The new version will have better wireless capability for connecting to the Internet and will cost under ¥20,000 (US$189), the report said. It will be offered first in Japan, it said.

Nintendo was not immediately available for comment.

This allegedly leaked photo of new Nintendo DS screens has played a game of Google Translate telephone before making its way to Giz wearing red sox and green hair, but from what we can make from the source, the big difference in the updated display is a shift in screen size from 3 inches to 3.25 inches. It's still not a widescreen system like many of us would prefer, but then again, the alteration shouldn't mess with the aspect ratio of existing DS titles, either.

...(Murray) also went on to say that his enthusiasm for Ghostbusters was heightened after recording the voice of Peter Venkman for the video game over the summer. In fact, he said he found himself walking down the street singing the Ghostbusters theme song and then thought people walking around him were going to start yelling at him to "get over yourself, Bill," so he stopped... But the enthusiasm was there.

How cool is that?!?!?

Is it finally game over for Florida lawyer and violent video game opponent Jack Thompson? Judgment has been entered in the case that started last year and came to a head when Judge Dava Tunis recommended permanent disbarment for the bombastic, showboating law man. The court has approved the report and has ordered that JT is officially disbarred as of 30 days from today (9/25/08).

T-Mobile’s new G1 smartphone based on Google’s Android platform has been positioned against Apple’s iPhone by the media, but that attempt to set up a dramatic showdown has fizzled as details show the two products aren’t very similar.

Even before Google first outlined its Android strategy a year ago, it was clear that the rumored “gPhone” wouldn’t be competing against the iPhone, but rather with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, which threatens Google’s ability to push its search and information services to smartphone users. Apple’s iPhone has served as an outlet for Google’s services ever since it was released.

Industry sources told TG Daily that while the 8000 series is being phased out, all 55 nm 9000-series GPUs will carry a G100-series name. By the end of 2008, Nvidia will be offering today’s 9000 series as G100, GT120, GT130, GT140 and GT150 models.

When the 2009 45 nm GPUs arrive, which seems to be the case around Q1 or Q2, Nvidia will have fully transitioned to the new branding structure: Enthusiast GPUs will be integrated into the GTX200-series, performance GPUs into the GT200-series, mainstream GPUs into the GS200-series and entry-level products into the G200-series.

The new branding should clear up some of the confusion in Nvidia’s product lineup today.

The Canon Rebel DSLR isn't a video camera, but if you have the time and energy like San Diego resident Ryan Cashman, you can make a pretty neat stop-motion animation with it.

Cashman explains he set the Rebel's exposure to 20-30 seconds, and he drew the LED piano player with a green LED keychain. He then strung all the photos together in Adobe After Effects and added in the music (also his original composition). Pretty neat. Kind of looks like a little cactus. I wonder how long it took him?