Wiimote = deadly weapon?

If you've missed it, there have been numerous reports of the straps on the Wii remotes breaking loose and freeing the lethal devices from the hands of the overexuberant. Stories of walls, TVs and laptops getting smacked by the errant devices are circulating, along with an official statement from Nintendo warning folks to be careful if their palms begin to sweat. But I think it all just adds to the realism of the games. Imagine getting clunked in the head when your pal swings the golf club in Super Swing Golf and it slips from his hand, just like a real club. And imagine his crys of pain as you smack him back on the head when you chuck it back at him. Now all we need is flying balls that really break windows!

Links
Nintendo strap safety statement & diagrams: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wiiplay.jsp
Via http://kotaku.com

The Sony Faithful

As the countdown to launch continues, lines are forming outside of stores such as Best Buy. Despite delays and compatibility issues, there is still strong demand for Sony's PS3 game console due to launch in the U.S. tomorrow. It's a good thing, too, for Sony, since it has so much invested in this, from the new Cell fab venture with Toshiba and IBM, to its proprietary Blue Ray DVD format. PS3's limited supply won't help either. It means that Sony will miss a lot of holiday sales that could be picked up instead by the Nintendo Wii, which is coming up fast from behind and is due to launch on Sunday. Will Sony's faithful who can't get a PS3 of their own convert? We'll find out very soon.


More blogs about best buy ps3.

PS3: Rarer than Diamonds

PS3 is out, but you’re not getting one.

People stood in line before 7AM at a store in Japan for a chance to buy the Sony PS3 space heater (good grief, they’d have to be giving away $1000 bills to get me to do this). Sony could only build 100,000 of these for the Japan launch, so stores had a very limited supply. The riot squad was standing by with megaphones, just in case things got ugly.

The launch in the U.S. is likely to inspire violence, too, with only 400,000 of these things to go around for the whole country (compare that to the Nintendo Wii supply, which we're told is 4 million units available worldwide, starting November 19). Think back to the Tickle-Me-Elmo riots of recent years or the Cabbage Patch Doll Wars of the past. And sorry, Europe, like the Holiday Barbie of a decade ago, your PS3 will be replaced by an IOU letter from Santa this year.

Let’s hope for Sony’s sake that the limited supply inspires people to pay the high price tag for this much ballyhooed, much delayed, newfangled console with its futuristic Cell processor. Sony needs some cash now, or you won’t be seeing many more of these things next year.

Via AP and AP again.

Vista Appears on the Horizon

Now that Microsoft has announced the release date for the consumer version of Vista as January 30, 2007, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, Virginia, the OS does exist, you're just not going to get it for Christmas. Of course this means that there won't be a huge push for PC purchases this holiday season, at least not bigger than a typical year, but leave it to the games consoles to pick up the slack in your credit card charges with anticipated sales of the Nintendo Wii, which some reviewers are calling a kids gaming platform, and the Sony PS3, which I'm told is very hot--literally due to the new IBM Cell CPU. Should be nice to warm your toes with on those cold winter evenings. Ho ho ho!