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A brief dig unearths Kaseki Horidaa site
An official site has just appeared for Kaseki Horidaa, Red's dinosaur-based title in which players dig up fossils, assemble them to create a dinosaur army, and then send them out to fight with other dino armies. For the winners: ultimate victory! For the losers: uh, we presume they just perish and eventually become fossilized all over again. It's a vicious cycle. But we digress.There's plenty of screens and character art over at the official site, and also (more interestingly) some footage of the game, including a brief slice of action from the battles (here), and also a video showing an actual excavation in process, with the stylus being used to gently chip away at the dirt around a fierce-looking skull (here - scroll down and you'll see it). There's elements of both Spectrobes and Pokemon on display here, and that's no bad thing.[Via Go Nintendo]
Dig up fossils and enslave dinosaurs on your DS
Famitsu has a pretty interesting look at a new game for the DS. Developed by Red and published by Nintendo, Kaseki Horidaa looks like Pokemon on steroids. Instead of deceptively cute creatures that hide dangerous attacks, the game will feature blatantly scary dinos with unspeakable power. Unlike Pokemon, the game will allow players to compose a 3-dino team. Gaining a new dino comrade demands the player dig up fossils, as each ferocious beast is made up of 4 different parts. And digging up fossils isn't as simple as blowing away virtual dirt by blowing into your DS's microphone.There's a real sense of tension here, as players can just as easily destroy a fossil as liberate it from its earthy confines. But, with over 100 different types of dinosaurs in the game, breaking a fossil or two won't be too much cause for concern. And, based on what dinosaurs you make, they'll be adept at attack, defense or support.That's about all we could get from the Famitsu page (machine translation is being a royal pain with this, for some reason), so for some more eye candy, be sure to head on past the break to see screens. And keep an eye on DS Fanboy for more news on the game as it develops.
Around Azeorth: Ancient mystery unearthed
You've probably seen plenty of screenshots of the floating islands of Nagrand, but this one stands out among the others. Look closer and you'll see something a little different embedded in the side: a fossil of...what? Player Sin of Alexstrasza who sent us the shot suggests perhaps ancient flying clefthoof. What do you think?Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing. And please, no more sunsets. No, really. Ok, only if it's a sunrise in new Patch 2.4 lands. We'll take those anytime. Oh, and no more shots of Omen killed in Ogrimmar. It's cool, we get it. A lot of it.%Gallery-1816%
Show and Tell: Dual use
DS owners are all about maximizing potential through duality. To go with our dual screens, we're often looking for things we can force into double duty, and reader airpolgas has clearly mastered this art. He turned a simple watch tin into a veritable treasure trove of DS goodness. Sure, he says, it may not fit in a pocket, but that's okay -- his wife's purse is also dual use when they're on the go. We also can't help but admire his choice of Phoenix Wright for the glamour shot above.Of course, his niece helpfully points out that, if anything happens to the case, he just may be screwed. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you!Hit the jump to see a few more pictures of the Fossil tin, and remember, if you have something to show off, we want to see it. From crafts to cakes to collections ... whatever you've got, if it has a little Nintendo flavor, we want to see it. Just take some pictures (or copy your web album links) and send them to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
Dig up this Animal Crossing necklace
We love Etsy. We just can't help it. The online craftster's marketplace seems to have a never-ending supply of Nintendo-related goodies. Well, never-ending until each one sells out, of course, but not to worry -- more items pop up to replace those that disappear. This one certainly popped up (oh, forgive us our puns) when we were digging around the marketplace this afternoon, and for Animal Crossing devotees, it's just adorable.Also, it glows in the dark, which is an automatic win.[Update: Except, like, it's not a necklace at all, as was helpfully pointed out by commenters. However! It's still cute. Who's with me? Yeah?]
Sony Ericsson MBW-100 unboxing
Yeah, early reviews seem to indicate that Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth (along with its Fossil and Abacus cousins) watch isn't all that, mainly on account of its bulk, its price, and the fact that it only seems to work with Sony Ericsson phones -- but that doesn't mean it isn't still cool. Reader Gareth was kind enough to send us some comprehensive eye candy of his MBW-100's unboxing, and he reports a pretty positive experience with it so far. In pairing it with his P990i, he found that setup was super easy and the controls / caller ID were quick to operate, but the crown jewel might be the "out of range" functionality that notified him quickly when he left his abode sans phone. Click on for the rest of the pictures![Thanks, Gareth M.]
Fossil's Bluetooth watches earn FCC thumbs-up
It pretty much goes without saying that these little morsels of wrist tech were going to be finding their way into the FCC's clutches, but it's still always interesting to browse the documents nonetheless. It appears that this filing represent approvals for Fossil's own FX6001, along with the Abacus branded AU6001 and AU6002 and the Sony Ericsson MBW-100, which makes sense considering the guts are identical among all four variants. Most notable for folks anxiously awaiting the arrival of these timepieces in their friendly local Fossil shop will probably be the user's manual, which while short and sweet, still manages to convey the stuff you absolutely need to know for when you tear that box open. Enjoy the reading material!
Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch reviewed
The concept of a watch that does anything more than just display the time and date has so far been a commercially unsuccessful one. Plenty have tried to make gadget phones that people actually want to wear, but all have failed. The most recent attempt to do a gadget watch properly is Sony Ericsson and Fossil's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch, which PC Magazine recently reviewed. Rather than going all out and designing a watch with full PDA functions, the partner companies decided to design a watch that could display simple information -- caller ID, text messages -- sent to it from a Bluetooth enabled phone. It's this "watch first, gadget second" approach that gives the MBW-100 immediate appeal to non-geeks, but unfortunately this particular watch isn't going to usher in a new era where everyone wears such a device. The MBW-100 is too expensive ($399), too limited (it currently only works with Sony Ericsson phones), and is too bulky for mainstream appeal (men with skinny wrists need not apply), although it's the closest that anyone has come to successfully integrating gadget functions into a wrist watch without sacrificing style and the whole displaying-the-time thing. Hopefully future iterations will really get it right: watch this space for more.
Fossil drops three more Bluetooth watches
Sony Ericsson and Fossil didn't just get their hands dirty with a single power-user Bluetooth watch, it turns out they have 'em for the unwashed masses as well. On the left we have the Fossil Caller ID FX6001, while they other two answer to ABACUS MobileWear AU6001 and AU6002. Unfortunately, these watches look to be lacking any sort of music playback controls, and are still beholden to Sony Ericsson compatibility -- though it doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to hack up a phone from a different manufacturer for some Bluetooth watch fun. The good news is that these watches are headed straight for the States, on the cheap. The FX6001 will be available in late October for $250, while the AU6001 and AU6002 will be out in mid-October for $200, with some UK and Germany availability as well. Friends, these are good days to be in possession of a wrist.
Sony Ericsson and Fossil team up for Bluetooth watch
We're just not sure what there isn't to love about Sony Ericsson and Fossil joining forces to bust out sexy Bluetooth watches. The duo's new MBW-100 effortlessly pulls off that "I'm probably a secret agent, but I don't need to parade it around" look that we've been trying to pull off ever since we can remember, and the watch packs in some useful Bluetooth 2.0 stuff as well. First off, there's a straight-up analog watch face, which keeps this thing classy, while a small OLED display below helps you manage the Bluetooth functions, shows incoming caller and notifies you of new SMS messages. If receiving a call, you can tap a button to silence the phone ringer, twice to reject the call, while another button handles play/pause and track skipping on your music player. The stainless steel watches will come in the silver color pictured, along with a limited-edition black version, and Sony Ericsson hopes to be shipping these globally Q4 2006 for around 300 Euros ($382 US). Head over to Engadget for a few hugemongous pics and a pre-release user guide snippet we got our hands on.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Switched On: The gist on your wrist
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: Watch maker Fossil was among the first companies to support MSN Direct, the smart objects technology first offered by Microsoft in a number of timepieces. Earlier this year, the company, through its Abacus brand, revisited the technology in its Abacus Smart Watch 2006. While the watch is still on the bulky side, it's slimmed down a bit and Fossil has used a sloping profile to minimize the watch's girth. In fact, the Abacus 2006 was no thicker than a workaday Seiko men's watch I purchased last year. Other improvements include more memory and the inclusion of a year of MSN Direct service. Abacus offers the watch with a metal band that nicely complements the watch's masculine design for $179, as well as a number of leather straps. Unlike nearly any other consumer product that includes Microsoft software, it has nary a trace of Microsoft branding. Like all of the MSN Direct watches, the 2006 Abacus uses FM radio technology to communicate updates to the device. After activating the timepiece, you choose content channels from a Microsoft Web site. The content has diversified considerably from when the watch was first launched, but it's still mostly focused on the basics, including a variety of different "faces" -- two of which I found attractive, three more of which were acceptable, and several of which were just hideous.
SPOT lives: Abacus Smart Watch 2006
Even though Fossil has washed its hands of SPOT, Abacus, its "tech" brand, soldiers on. Some shady character was trying to hawk these to us at CES, but it looks like Abacus' next attempt at MSN Direct will debut in more official channels starting next month. Besides being incrementally prettier than their last round, the Smart Watch 2006 is available in a wider variety of styles, has twice the memory, and is alleged to download data faster from the SPOT network. What may not have occurred to Abacus, however, is that a cheesy black-and-white digital watch face is a cheesy watch face at any speed. We'll wait for SPOT 2.0, thanks. [Via SpotStop]
OnHand wrist PDA unstrapped
The last time we heard anything about the OnHand wrist PDA was probably close to two years ago. So, given its almost complete lack of marketing, distribution, buzz or sales, we're not exactly surprised that manufacturer Matsucom has decided to call it quits and stop producing the device, which managed to incorporate a full set of PDA functions into a fairly ugly watch. The OnHand was hobbled not just by a laissez-faire approach to marketing and a poor design, but by its use of proprietary technology and limited PC support (despite being introduced in 2003, it used a serial cable instead of USB). The small OnHand community did come up with some decent hacks, including a GPS hookup and an external keyboard, but that wasn't enough to keep this going. If you're still dying to get a wrist PDA, though, all hope isn't lost. Despite constant rumors of its death, Fossil's Palm-based Abacus wrist PDA is still available from TigerDirect for about $50.
