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Diamond and gold PCs class up the floor under your desk
Most of the questionably-ostentatious gear we see is designed for use on the go -- why else spark out your kit if not to blind your frenemies at the club? -- but at some point even Diddy runs out of handhelds to ice up, which is where Japan's Zeus Computer steps in. The company is offering two different glam desktops for your wallet's delight: an ¥80,000,000 ($747,768) diamond-studded model, or (for cheapskates) a ¥60,000,000 ($560,826) gold version. Both offer a 3GHz E6850 Core 2 Duo on an Asus board with 2GB of RAM, a 256MB GeForce 8400GS, 1TB drive, Blu-ray + HD DVD combo drive, and Vista Ultimate -- but that's not at all what matters here, is it?[Via F******gaijin, warning: sitename may be NSFW]
Diamond Multimedia puts its spin on ATI's HD 600 / HD 650 TV Wonders
Yeah, ATI's 600 / 650 TV Wonders have been around the block a time or two before, but it looks like Diamond Multimedia has chosen today to unveil its versions of the aforementioned products. Available now all across the web, the firm is cranking out seven models between the two flavors, and as expected, each supports ATSC / NTSC, while just a few play nice with Clear-QAM. So far as we can tell, you'll receive the exact same kit with a snazzy Diamond badge, but we suppose there's nothing wrong with that, eh?
A bargain diamond in the AH rough
I can't say I shop the AH enough to spot a great deal when I see one (I mostly just use the AH to offload all the BoE junk I collect, and Auctioneer watches prices for me easily enough), but I can appreciate the feeling frostaholic talks about here: just like opening up a loot window and seeing that drop you've always wanted, there's definitely a thrill in finding a long-awaited AH bargain.And I don't know that we've talked about Bottomscanner in any depth before, but that's exactly what the addon is designed for-- given the price information from Auctioneer, you can hit a button in Bottomscanner, and the addon will scour the Auction House for any items that are priced for less than they're worth. It's automatic speculation, really, and while it only works because not everyone is using Auctioneer (because if everything was priced right, no one would find it cheap), it can be used to find good deals.But still, there's nothing like finding a diamond in the AH rough yourself. Checking the AH for an item and then finding it one day for half the price you expected to pay-- that's an entire realm of excitement in this game by itself.
DS Fanswag: End of the Year Blowout!
It's been a good year, but sadly, like all those other years, it must come to an end. Before we roll out the red carpet for 2008, however, we wanted to give 2007 the send-off it deserves -- and what better way to do that than by offering up huge prize packs for our loyal readers? All you have to do is leave a comment on this very post telling us which DS model(s) you own, between now and December 26. The giveaway closes that night at 11:59 p.m. EST, and we'll announce the winners, chosen in a random drawing, on December 27. You may only enter once per day, and as usual, entries are limited to legal U.S. residents age 18 and older. Please check the official rules for any other questions.But enough of the details -- let's get to the prize packages!DS Fanboy's End of Year Fanswag BlowoutGrand Prize Limited Edition Gold DS Lite + The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (bundle) ($149.99) Nintendo DS headset ($9.99) Custom Robo ($29.99) Dementium ($29.99) Drawn to Life ($29.99) Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game ($19.99) John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland ($29.99) Mega Man ZX ($29.99) Pokémon Diamond ($34.99) The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) ($19.99) Geometry Wars: Galaxies swag Dementium skin Pokémon Diamond stylus Cruise on past the break to see the rest of the prizes!
Science classes look to Pokemon for answers
Growing up, we all had our share of classes in school that approached education from an odd angle in an effort to keep us from staring out the window while daydreaming of the game we left on pause before getting on the bus. Games seldom played a role in the classroom, though the times spent playing educational games like Oregon Trail in school still make up some of our most fond memories. We were too busy having fun to know -- or care -- that we were being educated.Similarly, Nintendo, it seems, has latched onto the idea of tricking kids into having fun while learning. The company has partnered with the National Institute of Aerospace and Nortel LearniT for a set of downloadable lesson plans for science teachers that use characters and concepts from Pokemon, specifically Diamond and Pearl. Examples include learning how to tell time by the sun by studying the time-controlling Pokemon Dialga, or looking to Palkai's ability to control space as a window into the real universe. It's a interesting concept, obviously, though this flirts a bit too close to in-school marketing for our tastes. Aimed at children in grades 3-8, it's a good bet that many of these kids already know and play Pokemon, but for those who are not already one of the Nintendo faithful this could be an effective, if questionable means to secure new followers. 'Gotta catch 'em all' indeed.
Amosu's diamond-encrusted Nokia N95 tempts the affluent
Amosu's at it again, and while its £12,000 ($24,475) diamond-clad Nokia isn't the priciest handset we've ever seen, it's still more than most of our wallets can handle. This N95 is reportedly coated in 18-carat white gold and smothered with 325 diamonds totaling 3.3-carats. Furthermore, only ten of these beauties will ever be created, with each of them boasting its production number and having the ability to be customized to the customer's liking. If you're into this type of thing, and have absolutely nothing better to spend your cash on than a phone you'll never use, hit the read link and break the bank.
Sony offering up Swarovski crystal-clad E010 DAPs
Just in case you've been out of the loop for some time, this DAP certainly won't go down as the first to come glazed in Swarovski crystals, but Sony has nevertheless teamed up with Abiste Corporation to craft the limited edition Walkman E010 lineup. The players will be available in pink, violet, black, blue, or gold colors, have removable caps adorned with Swarovski glass crystals, and won't arrive to your domicile for two solid months after you initially place an order. 'Course, those even remotely interested in one of these beauties should know that it won't come sans a premium, and while you can snag the lowly 1GB flavor for "just" ¥15,800 ($134), the 2GB rendition will run you ¥18,800 ($160) while the 4GB unit demands ¥24,800 ($210) -- while supplies last, mind you.[Via Luxist]
DS conquers all competitors in UK, prepares to assault mainland
The British gaming industry sales watchers at MCV are reporting today that the DS has overtaken both the PS2 and PC in unit sales and overall market value in the UK. They attribute the little portable's triumph to its strong sales since Easter, as well as bumper crop of high quality releases, including Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and More Brain Training, that currently account for over 15% of the all game sales! While sales of Apple's iPod might indicate otherwise, one has to wonder how long the DS can hold onto its worldwide domination. But by then, it'll be time for some new colors or an even sleeker form factor. Onboard flash memory, anyone?
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sell 10 million
Diamonds and Pearls are exactly what Nintendo is swimming in, as the latest two entries in the Pokemon franchise have hit 10 million units total worldwide. Japanese consumers are responsible for 5.2 million of those sales, with the U.S. taking second place for most addicted Pokegamers. The pair of games just launched in Europe three days ago, so expect those sales figure to keep on rising.[Via DS Fanboy]
DS Daily: Caught 'em all?
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have been out for just over two months, and we suspect that there are still plenty of you out there playing. Either you've picked your copy up after the release date (which we always do) or you're just still working on catching and training those little buggers. Pokemon is a fairly deep game despite its apparent childishness, so it can take a long time to finish (or to decide to stop playing.)So who's still playing regularly? We ask because we're slowly building up our team in anticipation of a glorious future Game Night in which we can compete in a non-awful fashion. We emphasize slowly-- it turns out that work often takes time away from leisure activities. Outrageous, we know.
DS Daily: Chimchar or Turtwig?
Choose wisely, young Poké-masters. Who will it be?
Rumors: Pokemon cheaters banned from online play
So you think it's cute, trying to cheat on being a pokey-man collecta', huh? I hear you're getting your hits using these Action Replay codes with Pokemon Diamond/Pearl: National-Dex Catching All 493 Pokemon All Shiny Well, I got news for you, buddy. Word on the street (i.e. Wii60 forums) is that Nintendo is banning players who are caught using the aforementioned codes from online play. No trades, no barters, just cold isolation with yourself. My Pokeymans, let me show you them ... I can't? Oh, nuts![Via DS Fanboy]
Pokemon Company CEO: Pokemon is important
Having covered some basically illicit Pokémon content, we'll turn now to more official channels-- it doesn't get more "official" than Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara. Ishihara believes that a certain franchise is going to win the "hardware war" for Nintendo. Guess which franchise? No, not Clu Clu Land. "The hardware which has Pokémon on it will be the winner," he told Gamespot. Ishihara was also down on multiplatform development, saying that not being able to design around one system's unique features stifles creativity. Amusingly (to us) Ishihara hinted that he had "ideas" for the next Pokémon games. Of course he does! We all do: they're all in the previous games. We love Pokémon, but we are willing to admit that they're pretty much all the same game.[Via Next Generation]
My Pokemon saves: Let me hack them
Pokesav is an editor program that allows you to hack your Pokemon Diamond and Pearl saves, adding rare Pokemon, changing their abilities, and doing all kinds of crazy hacky stuff. It appears that not only can you generate any Pokemon, you can then assign them abilities outside their type, and with more PP than the abilities can usually have. You need some kind of homebrew ability to do this, obviously, since you need to get your savegames onto the computer. There's even a database of downloadable Pokemon, so you can get started cheating right away. We wouldn't recommend you use ill-gotten Pokemon online, but for your own use, we don't see why you should be bound by the limitations of the game.Check after the break for a tutorial video sent to us by the Hall of Bards. Pokesav is serious business.
Diamond stuffs 1GB onto ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT
With leading-edge graphics cards getting more and more dedicated RAM shoved onto their PCBs, it's only surprising that it has taken this long for a 1GB single GPU card to hit the market. Diamond Multimedia has just announced the launch of its Radeon HD 2900 XT 1GB, which packs a full gigabyte of GDDR4 memory, second-generation unified shader architecture, 512-bit memory interface, integrated CrossFire scalability, and built-in HDMI support. Moreover, it also includes ATI's Avivo display technology, dual-link DVI output, HDCP compliance, and DirectX 10 support. No word just yet on what kind of premium you'll be expected to pay for this momentary claim of superiority, but we'd wait for the benchmarks to see if it's even worth the extra coin.
Addonics unveils the Diamond internal / external hard drive enclosure
While flash drives and pocket hard drives are all well and good, sometimes you just gotta move all the data on that 1TB monster to another machine and go -- and Addonics has got you data-intensive road warriors covered with their new Diamond line of SATA / eSATA hard drive enclosures and cradles. Mounting a drive in the enclosure gives you what appears to be a regular, if somewhat slim, eSATA drive, but the entire unit can then be slid into one of the Diamond cradles mounted in a 5.25-inch bay, giving you a host of internal connection options, from plain ol' USB 2.0 to direct SATA to SCSI. Depending on how you configure your setup, prices range all over the place, but a standard SATA / eSATA rig should only set you back about $50, according to Addonics. Not bad, not bad at all.
DS Daily: Is Phantom Hourglass still your most wanted?
Way back in January, we asked you what game you wanted most this year, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass won by a ridiculous margin. Since then, we've learned more about the game, and seen more of how it looks. We also know that there are other goodies to anticipate this year. So now that we're approaching the halfway point of 2007, we thought we'd ask -- is Phantom Hourglass still your top choice, particularly now that Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are out?%Gallery-3279%
Nintendo dominates April's NPD
Remember the days when Nintendo's hardware was at a permanent and incredibly depressing third place in the sales charts, month after month? We sure can't; all this success has gone to our heads.The April NPD numbers, tracking hardware and software sales in North America, were released recently and Nintendo once again obliterated the competition. The Nintendo DS and the Wii took the top two spots for the fourth month running, with 471,000 and 360,000 units sold, respectively. Both of these figures more than double their nearest competitors (PSP and the Xbox 360), and the PS3 could only move a paltry 82,000 units.It's the same story in software. Nintendo took home the top four spots across all systems with the releases of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and Super Paper Mario, along with the still oddly popular Wii Play. The Pokemon titles, of course, were only available for a single week in April, yet still captured the top spots with a combined 1.7 million units sold.It just makes you all tingly inside, doesn't it? For the full hardware and software figures, click after the break.
Iwata reminds Nintendo of America who's boss
(Hint: it's Iwata. Iwata is boss.) Nintendo just released their financial results briefing, which contains a transcript of a question-and-answer session with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Ever wondered what it would be like to work for Iwata? This quote should replace that wonder with terror: "When I received a report from the U.S. that they sold 1 million Pokémon Diamond & Pearl already, I asked them, 'why did you sell only 10,000 Brain Age last week, when Europe sold through 30,000?' This is a typical example of how I communicate with our people in the U.S."Why would Iwata be so mean in the face of ostensibly great news? Because he's a huge jerk? Probably not. For one thing, Pokémon selling a million copies doesn't mean that anyone at Nintendo of America did anything particularly well. All they had to do was release it, making sure that the word "Pokémon" was clearly visible on the box.But more importantly, Iwata isn't looking just to sell a bunch of games. He wants to expand the gaming market in the US like the DS has in Japan, and for that, Brain Age needs to get into non-gamers' hands. Then Nintendo can sell a bunch of games to them as well as to Nintendo fans. As Iwata notes in the report, 500,000 DS systems were sold in the US in March, which is a large number, but not as large as the 600,000 to 700,000 sold in Japan each month.[Via NeoGAF]
Parish's rejected Pokemans review: Let us show you it [update 1]
For a change of pace, 1UP's Jeremy Parish sometimes submits reviews in webcomic form. He tried to do just that thought of doing that for his review of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and was denied, but went with the more traditional approach in the end. Luckily for us, personal blogs face no such content approval process. But rather than scrap the idea altogether, Parish has drawn up part 1 of his Pokemon review comic on both his 1UP blog and his personal blog GameSpite, with a promise to continue the story of ... well, of a guy reviewing Pokemon.We're big fans of Mr. Parish-- we listen to his 1UP podcast Retronauts every week, just like every sane person should. Not only that, we continue to be enthralled by anything that makes use of the "Pokemans" meme. So there was no choice but to post this comic when we saw it. Our hands were tied. What do you think about "alternative" review formats like this one?Update: Changed to reflect the actual circumstances of the strip's creation, thanks to a correction from Mr. Parish himself.
