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Silver DualShock 3 lands in Japan on June 20
PlayStation players in Japan can spruce up their console collection with a "Metallic Gray" variant of the DualShock 3 wireless PS3 controller, washing ashore on June 20 for 5,500 yen ($59), and that's including tax.While the metallic gray controller looks suited to Raiden's fashion sensibilities in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, it launches in conjunction with The Last of Us. That's just fine, since a controller based on that game would probably be covered in fungus. There's no word on a stateside release of the silver DualShock 3.
Samsung expands Galaxy S III colors: yes, you can get brown
Samsung just couldn't relegate itself to a two-tone, blue and white Galaxy S III universe -- the company is using the run-up to IFA 2012 to triple the size of its smartphone's palette. We've seen the Garnet Red model arrive early at AT&T, but it now looks to be spreading abroad; the previously leaked Sapphire Black is equally official for those who don't think the original blue is dark enough. We're also seeing two more colors that have been relatively undiscovered, including a Titanium Gray and an unconventional Amber Brown. No, not that kind of brown, although it may be the first time in awhile that earthy hue has claimed such a high profile. Color choices will vary depending on the carrier or store, which leaves a distinct chance that you'll be switching networks or hunting down importers if you've got to have just the right shade of Hyperglaze in your life.
A different shade of Galaxy S III spotted in Germany (video)
While Europeans earnestly wait for their pre-ordered pebble blue superphones to appear, a hands-on video from Germany is purportedly showing us a darker, grayer version of Samsung's Galaxy S III. While the skeptic in us would say it's just a lighting issue, the back cover looks perceptibly different to the blue-hued slab we spent time with during its big reveal. It looks almost monochromatic -- and even shinier, if that's possible. The color borders on gun-metal gray and we have to admit, we're already a little smitten. Samsung's had issues bringing the blueish hue to the masses, so this could turn out to be the new non-white color option. Black and white is a bit played out, so our fingers are crossed that we'll get to have our pebble-colored cake and eat it. Check out the possible new look in a hands-on video after the break -- and bring on the hot pink option.
PSA: AT&T's HTC One X now in stock, get it while it's frosty
While the AT&T One X is getting some flack for being blocked from HTC's bootloader unlocking program, the good news is that it's officially available starting today. So long as you're not fazed with having Sense 4 sprinkled on top of your 4.7-inch Ice Cream Sandwich, the dual-core, LTE-enabled device is on offer in gray or white for $200 with a two-year contract ($150 if you order through Amazon Wireless). Hit up the source links below to get your hands on a One X to call your own -- and don't forget to parse our review if you're still making up your mind about this frosty treat.
BioWare: 'Gray Jedi' playstyle in SWTOR will reap rewards
Do you have aspirations in Star Wars: The Old Republic of becoming a neutral Jedi like Jolee Bindo -- but the light side/dark side alignment system is getting you down? Good news: The BioWare team is hard at work creating rewards for those who toe the line between naughty and nice. Speaking with PC Gamer, Game Director James Ohlen spilled a few more details about what he calls the "Gray Jedi" playstyle, which will be supported in an unspecified upcoming patch. Gray Jedis (or Gray Smugglers, Gray Inquisitors, etc.) happen when a player creates a balanced mix of light and dark side choices over his or her career and ends up staying in the "neutral" zone on the alignment meter. Because the game currently incentivizes strong light or dark side playstyles with specific rewards, neutral players are left out in the cold. Fortunately, the system that's coming will cater to these dirty, filthy neutrals. "We don't want to force people," Ohlen said. "Once we get to the next stage of our light side/dark side system, you'll see the rewards. Light side, dark side and the gray items will all get more powerful."
The Queue: Grey guilds
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.I'm just going to let that video speak for itself today, and get started on the questions. @sammagher asked... "Why do grey items even exist, if only to be sold to vendors or occasionally used as RP gear?"
IndieCade 2009: The finalists
IndieCade 2009 was held in Culver City, CA this past weekend, and the local art galleries and restaurants were filled with independent games and their developers from all over the world. The festival billed itself as the "video game Sundance" and lived up to this self-made reputation, putting 29 different indie games on display, both throughout the weekend and during a Thursday night opening ceremony MC'd by Uncharted 2's Richard Lemarchand (shown above with festival founder Stephanie Barish).We've rounded up the festival's finalists in the gallery below. You may be familiar with a few of them, including Twisted Pixel's The Maw and a selection of well-known iPhone titles, but all of these titles deserve your attention -- and a playthrough!%Gallery-74606%
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic starts hitting shelves in gray
Saying that the 5800's now available in gray might actually be a bit misleading, seeing how all variants of the phone are primarily black -- rather, the colored strip around the phone's beltline is now available in a strapping shade of gray. That marks a change from the red and blue that the phone initially launched in, though you won't find the gray version in just any country; just a handful of lucky markets in Asia and Europe (plus the US, go figure) have launched it so far, so keep your ear to the ground if you're looking to scoop it up locally. It'd look nice if they redid the entire phone in, say, red or white from top to bottom instead of repainting that strip alone, wouldn't it? [Via Cell Addict Blog]
MSI Wind U120 looks classy, classic in gray
MSI's Wind U120 just went on sale last month here in America, and already we're being presented with yet another hue from some other corner of the globe. The stark gray version looks to posses the very same innards as the white and black model already out, but externally, it's an entirely different animal. 'Tis a shame we haven't a clue where this is headed for release, but we'll put our bucks on somewhere not named USA -- at least at first.Update: Well, what have we here? It's on sale now at Amazon for $349.99.[Via Slashgear]
Showing all questgivers on the minimap
Players have been asking for a way to track even their gray quests for a long time (in order to go back and do them for lore or reputation value), and now it looks like Blizzard is finally listening. Tigole says that in the next Wrath beta build, even gray quests will be trackable on the minimap, like normal quests are now. While a few players argued when the minimap first got updated that it would make the game way too easy, I've found (as I've been leveling my alt again lately) that it actually lets you focus on the important part of the game -- the quest text. Not poking around looking for those exclamation points keeps your mind on what's actually going on as you go back to a quest giver, and makes it more fun as you turn in the overdeveloped gizzard or whatever you're giving away.So good news on this one for completists -- if you've been thinking about going back and hunting down all of the old quests, for reputation, for the new achievements, or just for the heck of it, you might as well wait until you can see them on the minimap.
A rainbow of Nunchuks [Update]
A fairly dreary, rubbish "rainbow," admittedly, but a rainbow of sorts. These 'chuks are all part of Nyko's new Kama range of wireless nunchuks, and are classified as gray, black, pink, and gold (the one on the right, apparently). They also happen to be limited edition, and that's probably why Nyko is happy to charge us $35 per nunchuk, a considerable mark-up on the $20 you'd pay for a standard wired Nunchuck (how passé!). The gray ones are up for sale now (there's 300 of them to go round), and the other colors will follow in the coming days (the black and gold are the rarest, numbering only 150). Nyko already has a wireless nunchuck out on the market previously released a wireless Nunchuck adapter, so we don't doubt that these would also do the job nicely. However, unlike the adapter, this is a standalone wireless Nunchuck. No messy cords to bundle up. But $35 for a peripheral that will clash with our lovely white Wiimotes? We'll pass on this one.%Gallery-21332%[Via Siliconera][Update: Update: Corrected a few errors in the article. $35 is the standard price for all of Nyko's Kama wireless nunchucks: the limited edition Kama line of nunchucks cost the same as Nyko's standard Kama Wireless Nunchucks soon to be released.]
Gray Xbox 360 to make an E3 appearance? [update 1]
See something a little out of place above? Yup, far left, see that? It's an Xbox 360 ... but gray!The big Microsoft E3 press conference airs tonight and so the Gamerscore Blog crew took a few pictures of the venue (a high school) where all the fun will be going down later and posted them to their Flickr account. But they obviously posted photos that they shouldn't have and quickly pulled a bunch of pictures featuring the venue and the rehearsal. But Joystiq reader Rickard Gudbrand was quick to take a screenshot of the one gray Xbox image (but we found a higher res one here) before it was pulled. Indeed, it is a gray 360.So, what does this gray Xbox 360 mean? Well, we aren't sure and will have to probably wait until the press conference later tonight, but we'll go out on a limb and say it may have to do with either a price cut or be a reworking of what the Core system offers. Microsoft ... always wanting to surprise as if it were Christmas in July.Update 1: We've stumbled upon a higher resolution version of the leaked photo. Enjoy.[Via Joystiq]
Nokia adding gray to N95 color palette?
If neither "plum" nor "sand" were to your liking, it seems the Nokia N95 palette is already expanding just weeks into its official release. Nokia doesn't seem to be admitting it yet, but a HowardForums member recently took delivery of an N95 decked out in dark gray (the bottom device, compared to a plum example on the top). We can only hope Espoo's going to bless this one as being available to the public at large, since it'd clearly make for a more business-savvy (never mind neutral) choice than either beige or purple -- and remember, Nokia, an expanded selection was promised at some point![Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog, image via Darla Mack, thanks Benny]
The facts behind quests and their XP
While the "rumor" that starts this thread is really stupid and completely untrue (that red quests will give you negative XP), later on, the thread actually clarifies a few things, even for me, about quests and the XP they grant at different levels.Any quest you get has a level associated with it-- that's Blizzard's method of determining which quests you should do at which levels. As listed in the thread:Grey - TrivialGreen - EasyYellow - Somewhat Difficult (Blizzard says "Normal," but some yellow quests are more frustrating than others)Orange - HardRed - Very Hard(There are addons, also, that will do away with the whole color thing and simply tell you what level your quests are-- I use MonkeyQuest.)But here's the thing, and this is something I had wrong: every quest you do gives exactly the same amount of XP, unless it's gray. If a quest gives 4000xp, it'll give 4000xp whether you do it at red, orange, yellow, or green. I had previously thought that a red quest would give more XP (because that's how it works with monsters-- higher level kills mean more XP), but that's not the case with quests.And here's the other thing I learned: while killing a gray mob grants no XP at all, gray quests do give XP, but it drops for every level the quest is gray to you. That number is determined by this formula-- gray quests are 5 or more levels below you, and the XP you receive drops as your level rises.Finally, while the same XP is given for a quest no matter when you do it, it still might not be worth it to only do green quests-- 1100xp is great at level 17, but not as helpful at 22. While doing red quests won't actually give more XP, they will push that experience bar farther (because the bar is relative to the XP you need for next level). As with mobs, you generally want to be doing yellow quests, while doing orange or red when you can (when you have a group willing to help out) and green when you have to.
On a slow news day, CNN discovers that retirees enjoy the Wii
As if the news of older individuals enjoying the Wii was anything new to us, CNN found themselves late to the party in reporting it. They focus their story on 82 year old Ruth Ebert, self-explained apathetic towards all things gaming, that is until she got her hands on a Wii. "It was funny, because normally I would not be someone who would do that," Ebert explains after giving a match of Wii Sports: Tennis a go. She ended up losing the match, explaining that such a loss was alright by her as "I didn't mind losing to a video game. It couldn't rub it in." Yeah Ruth, well you try losing to a Mii of Hitler, that hurts.The rest of the article talks about others in the Virginian retirement community and their experience with the system.
