Ah, here we go again. With the huge success seen by Guitar Hero: On Tour and its accompanying peripheral, rumors are already swirling that an Activision title by the name of Tony Hawk's Motion could deliver the next great hand occupier. A recent rating (of "G," obviously) was handed down for the elusive game by Australia's Classification Board, leaving many to wonder (read: hope) if said title will eventually ship with some sort of DS-compatible motion control accessory. Considering just how hot these bundled gizmos are right now, we'd say signs are pointing to "yes."

[Via DS Fanboy]

We weren't terribly impressed with Nintendo's recently unveiled MotionPlus add-on, but we're even more disappointed by this. Reportedly, scads of third-party developers revealed at E3 that the Big N's latest Wiimote accessory was just as much a surprise to them as it was to any of us. In other words, Nintendo didn't bother giving its external devs any advance notice in order to get the ball rolling on compatible titles, or so it seems. Unfortunately, this also means that we probably won't see any MotionPlus-ready games hitting shelves from anyone not named Nintendo for months to come, but it's not like Wii Sports Resort can't hold our attention for a solid year, right?

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Nyko's got a knack for delivering some of the ugliest, most preposterous third-party peripherals on the planet, yet -- for whatever reason -- we can't help but love 'em. The latest abomination from the outfit that begins to grow on you almost immediately is the Media Hub for PlayStation 3. For those that went cheap on the 40GB PS3 and missed out on a multicard reader and the full array of USB ports, this here adornment presumably connects to one of those USB sockets and adds three more while tossing in the card reader you've so dearly missed. Thankfully, Nyko's only charging $19.99 for this, so you should be okay even if your ship has yet to come in.

[Via Joystiq]

So we've basically seen the wired version of this in Belkin's RockStar, but at least that made a modicum of sense. This, however, does not. Thanko's i2! Streams works as such: you plug one of the wireless transmitters in between your DAP / PMP and headphones, and up to five of your pals simply hold onto a receiver unit with earbuds of their own. As you can guess, those five pals now have your music piped to them through the air. The only problem? Why hold on to one of these things when you could pick up a chintzy DAP of your own down the street for a couple yuan / yen / whatever? Thanko's wonders never cease...

[Via CrunchGear]

We understand that not everyone practices safe spinning, so for those of you who've been burned by neglecting those disc condoms, Sanwa's cranked out what amounts to your morning after pill. The CD-RE1AT actually looks like a Sony Discman circa 1986, but instead of playing back your favorite Gin Blossoms jams, it spends its time removing scratches and repairing discs. Seems a pretty simple solution if it actually works, but we're not going to be the first to drop our ¥7,350 ($70) in order to find out.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Okay, so we already went way-too-vague on you when asking which mouse ruled them all, but we're hoping to narrow things up for you gamers out there with this one:

"I spend a fair amount of time on my PC playing a variety of games. First-person shooters, RPGs, a little of everything. I've heard lots of people recommend a certain mouse as a great overall device, but I'm looking for one that caters to gamers. Which mousing device on the market today gives gamers an edge and comes with features that we actually care about?"

If you're reading this now, chances are you've managed to log off long enough to help this guy out. Then again, if you're vying for top spot in those online death-matches, maybe you don't really want to give away your secret after all. Care to have your question plastered on the site? We'd typically recommend faxing your questions over, but IT just hooked us up with this fancy ask at engadget dawt com email address that you can try instead.

While there are a myriad devices -- such as the Saitek Pro Gamer Command Unit and Belkin n52te SpeedPad -- available to complement your mouse when gaming it up, MousEX extensions look to actually alter the way you handle your critter. The outfit is apparently looking to roll out a number of extensions, but the one currently available (dubbed the Glider; $29.95) enables users to attach their current mouse to a pad along with its programmable keyboard, where he / she can then move the cursor without actually curving their hand around the mouse itself. It also features a whole heap of buttons to store your favorite macros on, and in case it wasn't apparent, looks to assist the everyday user a bit more than the hardcore gamer. We know things such as this are better explained via imagery, so check out an informative (but slightly mundane) video after the jump.

Apparently, Logitech isn't content with pretty much "pwning" the entire PC peripheral industry -- they want to dip into the Wii's pool as well. According to an industry site, Logitech has plans to unveil a new controller which combines motion sensing and rumble features into one fierce, unstoppable Wiimote-killer. Or so we're thinking. In an interview with Chris Spearing -- head of the UK and Ireland divisions of the company -- both controller features were complimented, and then Spearing went on to say, "Hopefully we'll be at the forefront of pushing that further, combining some of the two." In addition, Spearing discussed his admiration for Nintendo and its business models, though he seemed to feel that Logitech could best the Japanese company's Wii-work, saying, "If you couldn't improve on it, we wouldn't be in business, and that's the same for all products." Want to hear more of this kind of talk? Check the read link for the first part of the two-part interview.

So you've thrown down some major cabbage and gotten yourself a serious gaming PC for the new year, and now you want a mouse just as fitting -- well look no further than Razer's DeathAdder, say the guys over at ExtremeTech. They took the sinisterly-named peripheral for a spin, all the while pitting it against their previous fav, the Logitech G5. Well after some grueling rounds in the pits, the DeathAdder eked out a tie with the champ, garnering a 10/10 rating and the lofty distinction of being one of the best mice they have ever used; Team ExTech loved everything about the slithery rodent, from the feel of the rubberized shell to the perfectly placed thumb buttons to the fully customizable drivers. So based on the review, it seems that any gamer even remotely serious about their ranking should be considering, if not knocking down the doors to add this glowing glory to their arsenal -- if they can deal with "only" five buttons, that is.

Can you imagine controlling your computer with a peripheral that resembles a fluffy bar of soap? Well hear us out, because the Soap pointing device from Microsoft Research offers to combine the accuracy of a traditional optical mouse with the freedom of a wireless, even desk-free peripheral. The device, which consists of a soft, fluffy hull coating a wireless optical mouse core, reads the fabric's movement when the user applies outside pressure, and reports it as a position (think: rolling a bar of soap around in your hand). Through a demonstration in combination with a mobile keyboard in Unreal Tournament (albeit with dumb bots), the creators have shown that Soap offers a degree of accuracy that comes close to a table-bound mouse; when the user squeezes, the Soap can even outclass desktop mouse performance in large wall display setups. If users can cope with the idea of blasting away fiends in UT with a ball of fluff and Soap gets a commercial release, if nothing else you can be sure that an entire cottage industry will spring up around supplying fake eyes and tails to turn the Soap into a line-up of cute, pointable rodentia.

[Via hackaday]

Today Logitech got a clue: why sell one device to the burgeoning Internet calling community when you can sell an entire suite of peripherals. Introducing the EasyCall Desktop which Logitech claims is the world's first mouse, keyboard, headset and speakerphone combo. In essence, EasyCall Desktop does for desktop clutter what Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple did for software -- take a bunch of disparate tools, give 'em the same look and feel and enhance each for relatively seamless interaction across the suite. In addition to a cordless keyboard and laser mouse (which, while not stated, will likely both feature Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR like other Logitech Desktops) the package includes a tethered stereo headset which can be attached to the full-duplex speakerphone. The speakerphone, apparently also wired, acts as the Internet calling control center and features Logitech's RightSound echo cancelation technology to get the most from VoIP apps like Yahoo Messenger with Voice, AOL's AIM, and of course Skype. What's odd is that a Skype specific keyboard will also be launched as part of the Desktop but only in Europe -- go figure. Expect the kit to ship in the US and Europe by mid-September with an expected retail price pegged at $130/€130.

[Via CrowdedBrain]

This wasn't exactly the kind of peripheral we've been searching for to upgrade our Xbox 360s here around the office, but hey, if your box is overheating and you don't want to send it back to Redmond (or can't because of, um, certain "modifications"), check out Nyko's Intercooler. Yup, basically it's just a fan system for better ventilating your Xbox, but the $20 you spend here might might well extend the life of your early console. Then again it might not, and it could be another effective way to create some more fan noise in your livingroom. Win-win if you ask us.

[Via I4U]