xmas
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The Pac-Man Christmas tree
Finally, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, and even old Pacster get some religious iconography happening for themselves. A creative group of X-mas-and-Pac-Man-loving cats and kittens in Madrid have created a truly festive monument to the holiday... and the video game. Check the video after the break for the whole, utility-burning display in action -- and commenters, feel free to translate.[Via technabob]
Porsche's Kinderbob sled: far more luxury than your child needs
The kids can never have it too good these days, right? If you absolutely, positively must have the best possible sled for your angelic child, you can do no better than the Porsche "Kinderbob" (or as we like to say, pricey sled). With metal runners, a working horn, and enigmatic Porsche styling, your child will be the talk of the town -- and the focus of the neighborhood bully's hatred -- all winter long. You can't pick these up from the US Porsche stores, but if you motor to the German site, you can plunk down an affordable €65 (or about $95) and probably get it in time for the holidays.[Via OhGizmo!]
Joystiq Holidaze: explaining the Xbox 360 SKUs
We'd love to say picking up Xbox 360 is as easy as going to the store and grabbing the first box with the console's name on it. For better and worse, this generation of consoles gives consumers many choices at the (potential) expense of causing confusion at the store. So it's with this in mind that we present you this handy guide for discerning the difference between the various Xbox 360 versions (aka SKUs) out there. Please note that the red and green coloring is not only festive decor for the holiday season but also a subjective highlight of what each version excels in (or subsequently lacks). #comparechart { border: 2px solid #333; border-collapse: collapse; } #comparechart td { padding: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc; vertical-align: top; margin: 0; line-height: 1.3em; font-size: 80%} #comparechart th { font-size: 80%; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; padding: 4px; background: #eee; } #comparechart th.mainth { font-size: 100%; border-bottom: 1px solid #333; } #comparechart td.red { background-color: #f08c85; } #comparechart td.green { background-color: #b3e2c4; } Elite HaloEdition Pro Arcade Core Hardware Price $449.99 $399.99 $349.99 $279.99 $199.99* Storage 120GB HDD 20GB HDD 20GB HDD 256MBmemory card none Color Black Green/Orange White White White HDMI port Yes Yes Certain models** Yes Certain models** Bundled Accessories Ethernet cable Yes Yes Yes No No Headset Wired Wired Wired No No Play &Charge Kit No Yes No No No Video cables HDMI 1.2,Component,Composite Component,Composite Component,Composite Composite Composite Controller Wireless Wireless Wireless Wireless Wired Other Xbox Live Silver,1 Month Gold Silver,1 Month Gold Silver,1 Month Gold Silver,1 Month Gold Silver BackwardsCompatibility Yes Yes Yes No*** No*** Notes:* The Core model has been discontinued. The $199.99 price tag is based on the GameStop refurbished price.** See explanation below*** Hard Drive requiredAnd just in case you still have questions, we've gone ahead and written up a F.A.Q. after the break.
Rockefeller Center Christmas tree goes LED
It looks like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be a considerably smaller energy hog this holiday season than it has been in years past, as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that the tree will be lit up with LED lights for the first time - 30,000 of 'em, to be specific. That'll apparently reduce the tree's energy consumption from 3,510 kilowatt hours per day to just 1,297 -- a savings that, as the AP points out, is roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by a typical 2,000-square-foot house in a month. While it's not clear if it'll be used for the tree or not, the owners of Rockefeller Center also took the opportunity to show off a new 365-panel solar array on the roof of one of the complex's buildings, which is apparently big enough to lay claim to the title of the largest privately owned solar roof in Manhattan.[Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]
What ever happened to All I Want for Xmas?
Remember the "All I Want for Xmas is a PSP" fiasco from last year? Well, one of our readers, Michael, cued us in on the surprising (and delicious) fate of Sony's marketing blunder. It now takes you to the Haagen-Dazs website, which proudly advertises their new cinnamon dulce de leche ice cream. Yum! Could this be a hint at an upcoming Haagen Dazs PSP game? Will firmware 4.00 include free wireless ice cream? You tell us!
Sony's flog the best of 2006
The Consumerist is running a poll, chronicling the worst of the worst fake blogs (flogs) to hit the web this year. Among the contestants are Walmart, McDonald's, and of course... Sony's PSP. The "All I Want for Xmas" fiasco caused even more bad publicity for Sony, painting them as desperate for PSP sales. Hopefully, 2007 will see a change in marketing tactics: one that doesn't involve the use of a middle-aged man pretending to speak like the kids.As of writing, the PSP flog is leading the pack with 74% of the vote.
What did Santa leave under the tree?
For those of you who, like us, are now done unwrapping the gifts and tallying up the final scores, we'd like to know what Wii gifts have been bestowed upon you. Did you unwrap a Wii, or perhaps got yourself a few games? Did you instead get that extra Wiimote and nunchuk you'd been searching for? Let us know in the comments!What did we get? Well, plenty of clothes (growing up sucks) and some gift cards. With about $150 in cards to various retail outlets, we plan on getting ourselves some gaming goodies.
What did Santa leave under the tree? (update 1)
For those of you who, like us, are now done unwrapping the gifts and tallying up the final scores, we'd like to know what DS gifts have been bestowed upon you. Did you unwrap a new DS Lite, or perhaps got yourself a few games? Did you instead get those accessories you were looking for? Let us know in the comments!What did we get? Well, plenty of clothes (growing up sucks) and some gift cards. With about $150 in cards to various retail outlets, we plan on getting ourselves some gaming goodies.[Update: Whoops, we had Wii on the brain! We meant which DS-related gifts, not Wii.]
Happy Holidays from Wii Fanboy
For many of us, today is Christmas. We celebrate by exchanging gifts and drinking egg nog. Some of us also plan on watching a certain football game. However, this isn't the case for all of our readers and we would just like to take a moment and wish the best to those who celebrate Kwanzaa, Hannukah, and/or any other holiday. May your family be safe and if you don't have anything else to do for the day, stick around. Just because it's a holiday doesn't mean we get off!
WRUP: avoiding the relatives and hiding in the closet with our DS edition
For us, and we assume a lot of you, this weekend will be filled with Christmas activities and visiting relatives to catch up. We're fine with that and bring our DS Lite in tow as a back-up in case things get too boring (they usually do). Now, you may be wondering But there is Friday and Saturday to play games, so what will you do then? You're right, but you forgot to account for our indentured servitude that never allows us to leave our cage incredible sense of procrastination, which demands we go shopping for gifts tonight and tomorrow.So that leaves us with Sunday, where we'll be visiting our relatives (who undoubtedly will attempt to squeeze our cheeks). That means we'll have to duck somewhere quiet and do what we do best: stomp Goombas and find contradictions in witness testimony. Our extended family isn't much into gaming, you see ...What about you? Is your family all about gaming, meaning your Christmas weekend (or any other holiday you celebrate) will be filled with some multiplayer gaming? What are you playing?Past posts: What were you playing?
Flog archived for your pleasure
Just in time for Christmas, the "All I Want for Xmas" flog (contraction of the words fake blog; blog, of course, is a shortening of weblog; weblog, of course is a compound word created from web and log; and logs are better than bad ... they're good), has been reuploaded by the Consumerist (complete with awful YouTube vids) after its sudden disappearance. Apparently, they wanted to preserve "this importance [sic] piece of internet poo."[Via Joystiq]
All I want from Sony is better advertising
The Internet is filled with tons of awful, awful things. And the people of Something Awful make their living looking for the Internet's worst. They discovered a Sony-owned and operated blog called "all i want for xmas is a psp." While many PSP enthusiasts will agree with an idea like that, the blog is clearly corporate. Watch this video, found on the site, which features a suspiciously old looking white "teen" that performs a video so bad, it's not even funny. Do you think this kind of advertising would work... on anybody?[Via Joystiq]
Loco Roco Christmas downloadable demo
Get in the holiday spirit with Loco Roco. It appears, as promised, a Christmas themed version of Loco Roco has hit the net for your downloading pleasure. If you've downloaded demos before, you know what to do:1. Download the demo ZIP file.2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file.3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.5. Copy NPJG90001 folder into directory. Check out our new demos site:demos.pspfanboy.com
25 hottest games before Christmas
Pocket Gamer UK recently compiled a list of 25 noteworthy games coming to our beloved handheld by year's end (for British gamers, at least). If anyone says the PSP doesn't have games coming up for it, prove them wrong by showing them this incredible list. Which ones do you plan on picking up?Ridge Racer 2Power Stone CollectionSOCOM US Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo 2Every Extend ExtraPilot AcademyMetal Slug AnthologyKillzone: LiberationHOT PXLNeed for Speed CarbonGun ShowdownGrand Theft Auto: Vice City StoriesMadden NFL 07Capcom Classics Collection ReloadedJustice League HeroesWWE Smackdown! vs. RAW 2007Metal of Honor HeroesPro Evolution Soccer 6Ace Combat X: Skies of DeceptionLumines IIThrillvilleSEGA Mega Drive CollectionTony Hawk's Project 8Football Manager Handheld 2007Lego Star Wars II: The Original TrilogyTOCA Race Driver 3 ChallengeWhew... that's quite a list. I know I'll personally be picking up at least five of these titles. Also, is it just me, or are game titles just getting way too long these days?
DS, Wii set to dominate the holidays
Japanese media giant Enterbrain recently surveyed retailers, as reported by Gamefront.de, about their expectations for game system sales this holiday season. We know you're not surprised, but right now? The show is all Nintendo. Retailers were asked, "Which next generation console do you think will sell better this Christmas?" The results lean heavily toward Nintendo -- 88% thought the Wii would boast better sales, and 11% settled on the PS3. We're not sure if it's worse that Microsoft wasn't even listed (perhaps because the Xbox 360 was released last year) or that Sony only garnered 11% in the poll.The Wii loses, however, when it comes to all systems ... because 60% of retailers queried thought the Nintendo DS would be the top dog of all holiday console sales. Only 32.8% chose the Wii ... and a shocking 3.3% picked the PS3.
Gifts for Winter Veil
Well, it looks as if Great-Grandfather Winter has really outdone himself this year, with loads of presents for all the good Orcs & Humans. If you haven't stopped by and seen him in Ironforge or Orgrimmar this season, better get there fast, 'cus you might just have a gift waiting under the tree!My Paladin found a few gifts waiting at hearthside with his name on them...and some of them are pretty nifty seasonal gadgets, too. I don't want to give anything away yet to anyone who hasn't had a chance to open theirs, but everyone run and grab your gifts, then come back here & tell us all what you got!
The Horde Get a Christmas Card
An Alliance guild on Bonechewer realm decided to give their Horde "friends" in Ogrimmar a nice Xmas present in the form of Lethon the Dragon. Nicely done!- Mirror link to video.
