pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/01/hava4.jpg" width="494" height="371" /a href="http://gizmodo.com/tag/hava"Hava/a, the lesser-known video streaming system, is going to be doing some crazy social TV sharing called Sociable TV./p pa href="http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2009-01/hava-introduces-sociable-tv-and-more/"Zatz Not Funny/a says that their upcoming service will be able to share live or DVR content with either a group of people or the entire world, just via their web portal. This brings us one step closer to my dream of being able to watch East Coast TV at the same time as my friends on the East Coast, with me on the West Coast. /p pSociable TV is supposed to hit mid-year, and they've got an iPhone client in the works as well. [a href="http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2009-01/hava-introduces-sociable-tv-and-more/"Zatz Not Funny/a]/p br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=515c38eb09b3f731d10157e0770205cap=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=515c38eb09b3f731d10157e0770205cap=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=515c38eb09b3f731d10157e0770205ca" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=bq7aeRVQ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=CoFTx4DK"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=9Gymb6ra"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=9Gymb6ra" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=P5eovv0T"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=P5eovv0T" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/5cNVS63MZ08" height="1" width="1"/

Hava, the lesser-known video streaming system, is going to be doing some crazy social TV sharing called Sociable TV. Zatz Not Funny says that their upcoming service will be able to share live or DVR...

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Friday it has paused offering downloads of the public test version of its new version of Windows due to "high demand."div class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Reuters/InternetNews?a=QXC1CDOC"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Reuters/InternetNews?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Reuters/InternetNews?a=83UNOW5d"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Reuters/InternetNews?i=83UNOW5d" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Reuters/InternetNews?a=xVdDkHoY"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/Reuters/InternetNews?i=xVdDkHoY" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Reuters/InternetNews/~4/5LWvdkJ_Zls" height="1" width="1"/

The exciting news that North American gamers will get Halo Wars a few days earlier than planned wasn't exactly news. It was a mistake. It's still landing on these shores March 3rd.

Yes, Microsoft's Robbie Bach misspoke during last night's CES keynote. Nowhere in the world is Halo Wars' release date February 28th. It's hitting Japan and Asia Pacific on February 26th; Europe, Middle East and Africa on February 27th; and it's waging war on the Americas on March 3rd.

We're pretty sure that February 5th release date for the demo is correct though. Microsoft reps haven't issued a correction on that.

http://kotaku.com/5126557/ces-09-who...-still-march-3

In a rather pointed media alert distributed yesterday, Sony illustrates why they believe the PlayStation 3 is the most complete console entertainment experience, complete with a handy table to highlight the competition's shortcomings.

Sony's statement in the alert echoes points tossed about in forum flame wars all across the internet. The Xbox 360 has no built-in Wi-Fi and online multiplayer isn't free; the Wii lacks enhanced features such as DVD playback and a hard drive - we've seen it all before. Just not generally in the form of an official company communication.


The Xbox 360 requires additional money, multiple upgrades and additional external devices, putting a burden on the wallet and adds clutter to the entertainment center. And the Wii's lack of enhanced features comes at the expense of a comprehensive entertainment solution. So as PS3 continues to evolve without the need for additional parts or expenses, expect the competition to continue peddling add-ons in an effort to keep up with the Jones'.

http://kotaku.com/5126537/sony-calls...ddling-add+ons

Sony's CES booth holds promise for the wi-fi connected multimedia hound: a PSP that acts as a software remote for networked audio streams. While experimental and not yet confirmed for release, the software looks cool.

The PSP basically acts as a cheaper software remote for your Sony brand AV receiver. It would give users the option of browsing and controlling audio on a laptop steaming to the receiver, all via the PSP. The receiver unit on the show floor was, I believe, the STR-DA6400ES — one of the pricier home theater options Sony offers.

Currently, the interface follows the Xross Media Bar standard used in recent Sony products and, while it could use some massaging, it works.

No word on when or if Sony plans to release this little software perk to the public, but we'd guess expressing your interest in getting your hands on something like this wouldn't hurt.

http://kotaku.com/5126742/ces-09-son...-remote-at-ces

At the Panasonic's booth, Kevin Martin (right) watches tje 'Cable PSA' DTV parody for two minutes without speaking. We're guessing that he hadn't seen the sketch before and won't be viewing it again....

I present to you a new build of Sabacc Basics.

Sabacc is a game played in the Star Wars universe. I've used the same rules as Casino Sabacc.

Unlike Casino Sabacc, in Sabacc Basics the dealer has the ability to call.

The link:

http://rapidshare.de/files/41314106/...sp.tar.gz.html

The last few revisions:

Version 0.7.0a
* Fixed: Completed transition to PSP dialogs.

Version 0.7.0
* New: Card face names and suites are rendered using Peter Schuster's New Aurebesh. I can't find any license info online, hopefully it's ok for me to use it.
* New/Fixed: Some dialog changes.
* Fixed: Misc. bug fixes.

Version 0.6.4
* Fixed: PSP crash on startup.
* Fixed: More dealer call logic.
* Fixed: Rearranged the event handling code within the game itself. It no longer uses switch/case, PSP and Keyboard controls now being handled within the same blocks as opposed to separately. Right now the keyboard is useless on PSP as there is no IR keyboard support. The keyboard is used in the Linux/PPC development (testing) builds.

Speaking of the Linux/PPC build, if there is demand I may consider releasing MacOS, BSD, Linux and possibly Windows versions as this project nears completion.

Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has crunched data for December sales, and tallied up the ten biggest games in Japan. Wonder what's number one with a bullet?

Sure ya do! Here's the list for the December 1 to December 28, 2008 sales period:

1. DISSIDIA (PSP)
Square Enix
Launch: 12/18/2008
December Sales: 660,262 units
Total Sales: 660,262 units

2. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
Nintendo
Launch: 11/20/08
December Sales: 481,695 units
Total Sales: 895,302 units

3. Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
Nintendo
Launch: 11/6/08
December Sales: 403,279 units
Total Sales: 855,427 units

4. Wagamama Fashion Girl's Mode (DS)
Nintendo
Launch: 10/23/08
December Sales: 299,170 units
Total Sales: 549,348 units

5. Professor Layton and The Last Time Travel (DS)
Level 5
Launch: 11/27/08
December Sales: 267,365 units
Total Sales: 628,143 units

6. Pokémon Platinum (DS)
The Pokémon Company
Launch: 9/13/08
December Sales: 258,843 units
Total Sales: 2,287,337 units

7. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii
Bandai Namco
Launch: 12/11/08
December Sales: 251,183 units
Total Sales: 251,183 units

8. Rhythm Heaven Gold
Nintendo
Launch: 7/31/08
December Sales: 221,971 units
Total Sales: 1,350,671 units

9. Wii Fit
Nintendo
Launch: 12/1/07
December Sales: 211,651 units
Total Sales: 2,967,297 units

10. Gundam Musou 2
Bandai Namco
Launch 12/18/08
December Sales: 206,438 units
Total Sales: 206,438 units

http://kotaku.com/5126959/the-ten-bi...n-for-december

PC computer game Pangya is coming to the PSP and bringing a lot of costumes with it — about 1,300 costumes, actually. Like, this bikini outfit.

http://kotaku.com/5127114/pangya-gol...-1300-costumes

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association rings in the new year with news of their first anti-piracy raid of 2009, in which they seized computers and more than 1,000 illegally copied games.

The raid occurred in Staffordshire, England, at a house that was running an illegal copied games business via online classifieds site Gumtree.com. The raid kicked off with an ELSPA investigator and a Staffordshire Trading Standards officer visiting the house of a 30 year-old unemployed man, delivering a console to be altered. While they waited, the game pirate offered them copied Xbox 360 titles, which were purchased to be analyzed.

http://kotaku.com/5127249/elspa-cele...y-raid-of-2009

Phantasy Star fans rejoice! The Nintendo DS entry in the series that hit Japan last month is coming to America, as Sega announces Phantasy Star Zero for U.S. and European release next winter.

Phantasy Star Zero is set on an alternate Earth 200 years after a massive war called "The Great Blank" brought civilization to its knees. Humans rebuilt, as they always do, and adventures soon began to strike out beyond the boundaries of human cities in order to hunt monsters.

Players choose one of 14 customizable character types and head out into the wilderness, alone or with friends via wireless or internet play, using the DS touchscreen to scrawl helpful messages and pictures of genitalia in order to communicate.

Definitely a DS title I am looking forward to. Check out the screens below, and then settle back and wait for winter 2009 to roll around.

http://kotaku.com/5127411/phantasy-star-zero-heads-west

Atlus delivers old school beat 'em up gameplay with a badass 70's cop show vibe to the palm of your hand, announcing Tokyo Beat Down, coming in March to the Nintendo DS.

It's a 3D beat 'em up with shoot 'em up tendencies, allowing players to punch, kick, shoot, stab, parley, and explode their way out of any situation as they fight to restore justice to the mean streets of Tokyo as a member of the Beast Cops. They'll be able to play through the game as three different characters, with story branches leading to multiple endings, though no one really plays this sort of game for the story, do they?

Of course not. They play them to be the badass copy in a white blazer, and you'll find plenty of white blazers in the screens below. Tokyo Beat Down hits the Nintendo DS hard on March 10th.

http://kotaku.com/5127533/atlus-deli...eat-down-to-ds

Halo Wars! No, Robbie Bach isn't bumping up the release and giving me early code, I'll just be playing it as much as possible at CES. That and some Killzone 2. Embargoes be damned!

Surely there's no embargo on the six level preview at Sony's CES booth, so I'll be plopping down in front of one of those Bravia monitors and firing away at Guerrilla Games' upcoming shooter. Then I'll be scouring the CES show floor for things to occupy my time, whether they be crossbow shaped Wii Remote holders or 3D versions of last year's biggest hits.

What about you, dear reader? Will you be playing any games this wintry weekend?

http://kotaku.com/5127727/what-are-y...g-this-weekend

What does 2009 have in store for the video game industry? A potential sales plummet spurred by no new Rock Band, Sony’s struggle to reinvent itself and a dash of gaming-changing innovation from Nintendo.

It may be Nintendo’s greatest stumbling block.

How do you appeal to novice gamers first dipping their toe into the interactive world of video gaming without turning off the hardcore gamers who are the backbone of most game sales?

A recently uncovered patent filed by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto may not be the solution to the problem, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

In it Miyamoto, the famed developer behind Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, describes a sort of cruise control for video games, a system that would allow neophyte gamers to switch back and forth between watching and playing a video game. Think of it as having a buddy around who can play the hardest bits of the game for you, but hands over the controls when things get fun.

The concept would also introduce video play-throughs of a game which a player could bring up as a pop-up window when they get stuck.

”I think this is brilliant,” said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter. ”This just shows that Nintendo is an adult company that is very sophisticated about who buys their software.”

”I think part of what we are seeing here is Nintendo’s cultural propensity to try interesting things,” said Ben Schachter, video game analyst with UBS Investment Bank

The accidental unveiling of the patent comes at a time when game companies are feeling increasing pressure to innovate in order to avoid the bad news cropping up in the industry lately.

A number of development studios closed up shop over the past few months and earlier this week rumors hit that Sony may cut entire divisions to make themselves more competitive in a number of markets, including video games.

Sony Computer Entertainment seems to be playing the long game in this latest generation of consoles.

”They’re certainly not dying,” Pachter said. ”I think they made a strategic decision back in 2004 to over engineer a box and create something they decided in their paternalistic way was better for all of us.

” I think they’re going to be proven right, in five years we’re all going to want that.”

Schachter agrees, though he says that this past holiday season should be a ”Harvard case study on how not to drive your brand.”

In the short term Schachter thinks that Sony has to cut the price of their console and convince game developers that they’re not this generation’s Gamecube.

The video game industry as a whole may soon face similar issues. While sales seem to be holding up, Schachter thinks that a coming drop in music-game sales may change that.

During the Consumer Electronics Show this week Harmonix said they wouldn’t be releasing Rock Band 3 this year, instead focusing their efforts on their upcoming Beatles music game.

That means gamers will need to buy two or three games to make up for not purchasing a new Rock Band, Schachter said. And I think he’s right. Most gamers don’t walk into a store looking to spend a certain amount of money, they come looking for fun, price is often secondary.

But what about that Beatles game?

Too niche, says Schacter, to see the same level of success as Rock Band.

http://kotaku.com/5127950/can-2009-i...of-a-recession

Square Enix's Dissidia: Final Fantasy returned to the top of the charts in Japan, after a week off thanks to previous champ White Knight Chronicles. How did the Level 5 RPG fare in week two?

While the PlayStation 3 game slipped, it held strong in the top ten, slipping to sixth. We call that "legs." Not the sturdiest of legs, mind you, considering pretty much nothing else came out against this week's chart-toppers, but legs nonetheless.

Also leggy is Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III, which got a sales shot in the arm for an 11th place finish. The rest of the charts is mostly the Wii and Nintendo DS stuff we've been charting for months. Read on for the top thirty, according to Media Create.

01. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP) - 104,000 / 770,000
02. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) - 89,000 / 1,535,000
03. Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) - 77,000 / 998,000
04. Wii Fit (Wii) - 74,000 / 3,125,000
05. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii) - 73,000 / 949,000
06. White Knight Chronicles (PS3) - 71,000 / 278,000
07. Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (DS) - 68,000 / 615,000
08. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 67,000 / 2,133,000
09. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 62,000 / 271,000
10. Momotarou Dentetsu: 20-Shuunen (DS) - 57,000 / 204,000
11. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III (PS3)
12. Pokemon Platinum (DS)
13. Karaoke Joysound Wii (Wii)
14. Pikmin (Play on Wii) (Wii)
15. Phantasy Star Zero (DS)
16. Wii Sports (Wii)
17. Professor Layton and the Final Time Journey (DS)
18. Power Pro Kun Pocket 11 (DS)
19. Gundam Musou 2 (PS2)
20. Gundam Musou 2 (PS3)
21. Meccha! Taiko Drum Master DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (DS)
22. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
23. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009 (PS3)
24. Musou Orochi Sairin (PSP)
25. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Wii)
26. Wii Play (Wii)
27. Mario Kart DS (DS)
28. Tales of Hearts - Anime Movie Edition (DS)
29. Wii Music (Wii)
30. Penguin no Mondai (DS)

http://kotaku.com/5127835/dissidia-e...eller-in-japan

Earlier this week, Sony sent us an oddly timed media bulletin, trumpeting the PlayStation 3's value versus the Wii and Xbox 360. It also accused Nintendo and Microsoft of "peddling add-ons." What say you, Microsoft?

"First, I would say we absolutely would not want to trade places with Sony," said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360. "We feel like being half the price of the PS3 served us quite well this holiday."

"The fact that we're doing this at half the price of their platform, we feel confident that we're delivering great value," he added. "I believe that we deliver more value for games and entertainment than any other platform on the market."

Speaking to Greenberg at CES this morning, he expressed Microsoft's anticipation that the sub-$200 price point will give the Xbox 360 the majority of its sales. Greenberg namechecked Sony's success with the PlayStation 2 at the more mass market price, hoping to emulate its last-gen success.

"At the end of the day, consumers vote with their dollar," Greenberg said, adding that he expects to see Microsoft's console sales in December show growth over its 2007 performance, in anticipation of NPD sales data. "I don't think people take comparison grids into retail stores."

"I would rather talk about why you should buy our console than why you shouldn't buy the competitor's system."

We'll have more from our interview with Aaron Greenberg at CES later.

http://kotaku.com/5128008/ces-09-mic...eddling-claims

Electronic Arts has announced its first foray into PlayStation Home with a dedicated EA Sports label game space, the EA Sports Complex. Set to appear in the Home open beta this spring, the space will contain live leaderboards for all of the EA Sports label's titles, along with games designed specifically for the space (multiplayer poker and an arcade-style Formula 1 racer have been revealed thus far).

EA Sports president Peter Moore said in a press release, "As part of our continued commitment to the connected experience and the digitization of our business, the EA SPORTS Complex is a rich new online environment that presents a compelling and immersive social gaming experience for the global sports audience." Come again, Peter? English.

As you can see in the first released image of the space, there will be ads aplenty. In addition to banners and other signage, the space will feature multiple video walls displaying ads trailers for upcoming EA Sports titles. EA has confirmed that it is working with SCEA on additional Home spaces for its Games and Casual labels.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/08/ea...d-space-games/

"But all my games are already in 3D!" you exclaim, quick to accuse Joystiq of being "bias" and desperate to downplay the PlayStation 3's magnificent graphical capabilities. Rest assured, dear reader, that this post concerns real three dee, the kind that leaps off the screen and subtly mocks you for donning a pair of silly, silly glasses.

Ars Technica had a brief glimpse at some new 3D technology on display at Sony's CES booth and came away impressed. Though a Sony representative remained mum on specifications and insisted that it was merely "a look at what 3D could look like if Sony decided to move in this direction," the effect on PlayStation 3 games proved most enticing. After peering through "a dorky set of black glasses" at Wipeout HD, post author Ben Kuchera noted, "I was ready to whip out my credit card right there."

Late last year, a stereoscopic 3D Certification and Advocacy group claimed that Sony was fully intending to support 3D stereoscope technology, in both movies and games, in 2009. In the interest of embracing as many dimensions as possible, we sincerely hope the CES showing manages to draw out a few more credit cards. (But not from tech journalists -- those are usually maxed out.)

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/08/ce...tech-with-ps3/

a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/olympic_pollution.html"New Satellite Data Reveal Impact of Olympic Pollution Controls./a small[Via a href="http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/i_thought_it_got_easier_to_bre.php"James Fallows/a]/small br /

a href="http://www.livescience.com/health/090109-smarter-men.html"Smarter men have more sperm/a (a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/realitybase/"via/a) br /

pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/aftermarket/" rel="tag"Aftermarket/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/tunertuesdays/" rel="tag"Tuners/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/supercars/" rel="tag"Supercars/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/porsche/" rel="tag"Porsche/a/pdiv align="center"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/1272799/"img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/sledgehammer_lead.jpg" alt="" //abr /span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"smallClick above for a high-res gallery of the SPI Sledgehammer/small/spanbr //div br /Most stock components in a production car can only be pushed so far. Keep adding horsepower and torque, and eventually...well, something is going to break. Some people, however, are all about exploring the limits. Take Tym Switzer, for example. His tuning company, Switzer Performance Innovation of Oberlin, Ohio has come up with a bolt-on tuning package for the Porsche 997 911 Turbo that offersa href="http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/28/first-drive-bugatti-veyron/" Bugatti Veyron/a aping performance. So, how much power can the stock internals in Stuttgart's 3.8-liter flat-6 take? Apparently, quite a lot. br /br /The shop has recorded 850 horsepower and 727 lb-ft of torque on the rolling dyno, equating to over 1000 horsepower at the crank. Real world performance should be mind boggling, with the car reportedly reaching 60 miles-per-hour in the mid two second range, blowing through the 1/4 mile in just 9.79 seconds at 146 mph. Pricing looks to be just as fierce, with the Sledgehammer package retailing for $span style="font-style: italic;"49,990/span. While that's a lot of coin for a suite of bolt-ons, the performance would appear to speak for itself. span style="font-style: italic;"Videos of both the dyno run and the 1/4 mile pass can be viewed a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/09/tuner-creates-1000-horsepower-porsche-911-with-bolt-ons/"after the jump/a as well as SPI's official press release. /spanbr /br /div class="postgallery"pstrongGallery: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/"SPI SLEDGEHAMMER/a/strong/pa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/1272799/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/sledgehammer_1_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/1272800/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/sledgehammer_2_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/1272794/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/sledgehammer_3_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/1272795/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/sledgehammer_4_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/spi-sledgehammer/1272796/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/sledgehammer_5_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //a/divbr /[Source: a href="http://www.switzerperformanceinnovation.com/"Switzer Performance Innovation/a]br /a target="_blank" href="http://swizterperformanceinnovation.com/"/apa href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/09/tuner-creates-1000-horsepower-porsche-911-with-bolt-ons/" rel="bookmark"Continue reading emTuner creates 1000-horsepower Porsche 911... with bolt-ons./em/a/pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/09/tuner-creates-1000-horsepower-porsche-911-with-bolt-ons/"Tuner creates 1000-horsepower Porsche 911... with bolt-ons./a originally appeared on a href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:32:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feed