Cool toys and Gadgets

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Back in the day it cost just one quarter to play your favorite arcade machine. Well, now you can play two Atari arcade classics for just one penny. They aren’t totally faithful to the original arcade machines, but hey it only costs a penny and you get to save that penny. A penny played is a penny earned.

Every coin you drop in starts a new game, which is much cooler then say, dropping your coins in a bank shaped like a pig. These aren’t easy to find outside of Japan, but Strapya World is taking pre-orders and they will ship them worldwide. They’ll cost you $39.90.

Saving your coins is fun again. If I had saved every coin I ever put into a full sized machine, I’d be a very rich man instead simply a handsome blogger.

[Strapya] VIA [Technabob]

Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Computers, Desktops, Software / Applications, Gaming, Accessories, Console, Games, Miscellaneous, Originals, Features

Many people generally associate Black Friday as a time to buy big electronics such as HDTVs, GPSs, gaming consoles, computers, etc.  But, it is also a time to buy interesting little gadgets to make your children, or even yourself, happy.  I decided to take a look at a lesser-known store, KB Toys, and see what they were offering this Black Friday.  I didn’t go straight for their big stuff, but rather their smaller gadgets, and here’s what I found pretty interesting. 

Spider-Man accessories

He’s got a great comic book, a great movie, and has some pretty cool accessories.  KB Toys has a bunch of Spider-Man stuff and a few gadgets that caught my eye was a MP3 player and a Plug-n-Play gaming system. 

The MP3 player is something I wouldn’t recommend getting if you want store a lot of media and videos, but if you want to give it you child who really likes Spider-Man, I’m sure they would enjoy this very much.  In terms of specs, it comes with 512mb of storage, and can be expanded by 1GB (at the most) via SD card, and requires 1 AAA battery.  This sold for $49.99, but now sells for $29.99.
 

The next Spider-Man accessory is a game that you just have to plug into your TV and it works.  Instead of a normal game controller, it comes with an actual Spider-Man jet ski, so you can ride your way through the 7 games it comes with.  I remember seeing stuff like this at arcades, and they were always fun to use.  I would recommend this for your child.  Unfortunately, it requires A LOT of batteries - 8 AA.  Also, don’t sit on it just to try it out as it only holds up to 90 pounds.  This used to sell for $59.99, but now sells for $39.99. 

Games

That above Spider-Man game could also fit in this category, but I felt it was more appropriate to keep it there.  In addition, we have an Air Puck Hockey game and Civilization III for the PC. 

The Air Hockey game is similar to what you often see at arcades - it comes with one puck, two sticks, two goals, and, of course, the puck glides on air.  It also requires 4 AA batteries.  This would make a great gift for children, teens, and even adults if you like air hockey.  It used to sell for $29.99, but now sells for $11.99. 

Next, is the Civilization III PC game, which is similar to Age of Empires by Microsoft.  Features include:

  * Improved combat options for enhanced war-making capabilities
  * More interactions, alliances and realistic A1 responses that put you in the middle of negotiations and diplomatic actions
  * Advanced trade system manages resources, trade routes and spread of technology
  * New elements of Culture, Nationality and the Arts help focus empire building efforts
  * Active world generator creates more realistic maps, detailed barbarians and minor nations
  * Game Editor Suite lets you create customized civilizations, maps and rules
  * New easier-to-use interface for streamlined management and better control

The game is meant for all ages and used to sell for $12.99, but is now $9.99. 

The King - Elvis Presley

Dubbed Alive Elvis, is great for anyone who loves The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.  It features Elvis in a leather jacket and his iconic hair style.  Basically, you can opt to have him play his songs, sing along with him with the included microphone, have him dance to your own songs, and you can even let him tell you a little about his life.  Unfortunately, it requires a lot of batteries - three AAA and eight D batteries.  It used to sell for $299.99, but now sells for $79.99. 

Thank you very much for reading this.  I hope you enjoyed some of the gadgets I found to be interesting during the 2008 Black Friday. 

Read [KB Toys]

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Remember when it cost just a quarter to play your favorite arcade games? What would you say if I told you that you could play two Atari arcade classics for just one red cent a game.

While these pint-size versions of Breakout and Tetris aren’t totally faithful to their arcade counterparts, they only charge a single shiny copper penny to play.

Each mini-machine is actually a piggy bank, which encourage you to deposit coins in exchange for games. Every coin you drop triggers the start of a new game, which is a whole lot more fun than putting your pocket change in the back of a porcine ceramic bank. Check out the video below to see some gameplay action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

These rarities are tough to come by outside of Japan, but the guys over at Strapya World have started to take pre-orders (¥3850 / $39.90 USD) and are willing to ship them worldwide.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

This week I've been mostly fiddling with an HTC Touch HD, polishing off Fallout 3, Mirror's Edge, episode two of the Penny Arcade game and studiously contemplating which of the recent netbooks to spend my cold, hard cash on. More on that last one next week.

Next up, the best of the channel over the last seven days:

 
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Even the Xbox Live Marketplace is getting in on the post-Thanksgiving sale madness. In fact, they’ve just posted up some great price reductions on some pretty cool arcade games and add-ons for some of your favorite current games.

Beginning on Friday and ending on Sunday, you can get discounts on all sorts of titles from the Live Marketplace. Everything from Rez HD to Brain Challenge have gotten price drops, each only costing 500 Microsoft Points. They were formerly priced at 800 points.

Additional downloadable content is also on sale for Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band and Forza. Themes are included as well, such as those for Sonic Unleashed and Gears of War 2. Check out the full list of on-sale items below:

Xbox Live Arcade Games
Rez HD - 500 Microsoft Points
Arkadian Warriors - 500 Microsoft Points
Assault Heroes - 400 Microsoft Points
Catan - 500 Microsoft Points
Brain Challenge - 500 Microsoft Points
Boogie Bunnies - 500 Microsoft Points
Golf: Tee It Up! - 500 Microsoft Points

Paid DLC
GH3 Metallica “Death Magnetic” Full Album - 1000 Microsoft Points
Forza – March Car Pack - 400 Microsoft Points
Crackdown – Getting Busy Bonus Pack - 500 Microsoft Points
Rock Band All That Remains Pack 01 - 290 Microsoft Points
Lips – The Remedy (Jason Mraz) - 100 Microsoft Points

Themes
Gears of War 2 – Last Day - 180 Microsoft Points
Sonic Unleashed - 180 Microsoft Points
Castle Crashers Premium - 180 Microsoft Points

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So you thought iPod Touch was just a cellular radio-less version of the iPhone? Well, this may sound true for the first 1st gen iPod Touch, but the case is a bit different with the successor. Handheld Games Corp’s CEO, Thomas Fessler claims that the iPod Touch 2G houses a 532MHz processor as compared to iPhone 3G that has a processor running at a clock speed of 412MHz.

“Our first step to increase fps performance was to introduce hardware dependent levels of detail. Where we can easily display two 1500 polygon tennis players with 32 bones each on the iPod touch 2G and maintain fast and fluid game play, the original iPod touch just chokes, and in some instances so do the iPhones. To speed up the touch, we reduced the players to 800 polygons in farther away moments of gameplay, and are now using 1000 polygon models for close ups, bringing the original iPod touch game play performance level close to that of the iPhone 3G. We’ve taken this approach across the board with great results.”

Handheld Games sells their maiden game, TouchSports Tennis in the App Store for $4.99. The first version is expected to lag in devices except iPod Touch 2G. the company has revealed that their next version is on their way for older versions giving better playback framerate.

[Via Toucharcade]

Advertisement: Samsung Hub - Tracking minute steps of the Korean Giant

   Turns a lowly Arcade system into a 60GB system.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

You can now buy an Xbox 360 for under £100 - and from an unlikely source.

Sainsbury's has slashed the price of the Microsoft console by £30 - offering the Arcade version for £99.97. If you want the higher specced 60GB version, you can get that for £139.97. Need a Wii instead? That's down £30 as well - on sale for £149.97. No change on the PS3 though.

It's an unexpected move from Sainsbos, coming so soon after Microsoft made its own reduction of the Xbox 360 price. Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come and we'll soon find ourselves in the middle of a full-on credit-crunch price war. Bring it on.

Anyway, now the weekend's here, take a look at what we've had on Tech & Gadgets this week.

Reviewed: Nikon D90

 
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