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Joystiq Holidaze: the guitar compatibility guide
#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.x360th { font-size: 100%; border-bottom: 1px solid #333; background-color: #66FF99;} #comparechart th.mainth { font-size: 100%; border-bottom: 1px solid #333;} #comparechart th.ps3th { font-size: 100%; border-bottom: 1px solid #333; background-color: #99ccff;} #comparechart td.red { background-color: #f08c85; } #comparechart td.green { background-color: #b3e2c4; } 'Tis the season for shredding plastic guitar controllers in a virtual environment for screaming, adoring virtual fans - do you know if your plastic axe can rock with your game? Through playtests and corroboration via other sources, we have combined three handy charts (one for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and now Wii) to let you know what guitar controllers work with what games.First, the Xbox 360: Rock Band Stratocaster Yes No* No** Guitar Hero 3 Les Paul Yes Yes Yes Guitar Hero 2 Xplorer Yes Yes Yes Notes: * Can navigate menus, but during the songs the green button is stuck down, orange is red, and everything else is dead** Interestingly, the drums are recognized, so you can actually navigate menus using them, but playing songs is a no go.The PlayStation 3, however, has a much "easier" choice (after the break).
Joystiq Holidaze: best of Black Friday
Stuffed full of poultry, pork, potatoes, pie and gravy you rise from your food coma dazed, angry, and ready to shop. It's still dark outside. Welcome to Black Friday.We've trimmed the fat and cut the crap, bringing you the gaming highlights from the retail world's annual sale. Remember, the best shopper is an armed a prepared shopper. Use this guide to target the needs of your whiny loved ones, while avoiding bold-lettered traps (Joytip: It's no bargain price if you're cleaning out retail garbage). This year's sales favor Xbox 360 products, though there are valuable savings in the PlayStation 3 department. As for PSP? Not so much (actually, none at all). And only a few Nintendo-brand listings pop out (Joytip: Unless you're camping on the concrete, ignore Wii bundle listings; the console will be as scarce as ever).This Joystiq guide focuses on brick and mortar retailers (Amazon's Black Friday listings are here) and only includes our recommendations. (Joytip: Each image is linked to additional information about the corresponding product). Please use the comments section to share additional deals you've discovered!
Mana Princess shows off a Gift Pack for Black Friday
Our favorite WoW crafter, Mana Princess, sends word that she's updated her store for the holidays-- not only has she added some Alliance and Horde ornaments (just in time for tree setup), but she also told us about her Black Friday sale, in which she's selling a gift pack of everything you see above for just $35. It's the perfect gift for the WoW player in your life (even if that's you). And because it's in honor of Black Friday (and also her birthday), when those items are gone at that price, she says they're gone.Now, lest you think we're guilty of favoritism here, while we do like MP a lot, we do realize she's not the only WoW crafter on the block. If you've got some crafts you want to show off (whether you're selling them or not, feel free to drop us a line over on our comment form, and give us a heads up on what you're up to. We love everything WoW, and while Mana Princess makes some great stuff, we're sure she's not the only game in town.
Xbox 1 owners: Buy Xbox 360, receive Halo 3 free [update]
Much like singing sensation Sonny & Cher, the Xbox 360 and Halo 3 form a highly entertaining and nigh inseparable duo -- this despite one's lower life expectancy and the other's habit of keeping fans satisfied by getting a face lift every few years. No enormous corporation is more aware of this than Microsoft, which has revealed a new incentive for U.S. shoppers considering its sphere-stamped system. [So much for that: Microsoft has reworded the promotion, clarified the stipulations and made the offer a lot less magnanimous at the last minute.] If you're an original Xbox owner with a paid Xbox Live account and purchase an Xbox 360 between November 21 and December 21 of this year, you'll be entitled to a free copy of Bungie's sci-fi opus. As it's not present inside the console's packaging, you'll have to wait for Microsoft to mail the game to you (it arrives by January 18, 2008). After unpacking your new system, you'll be expected to convert your Xbox Live account to a Gold subscription, and enter your details, including the system's serial number, into this registration page before December 21. While you await the arrival of Halo 3, be sure to scope out some of the other reasons that make the system worth owning this holiday... assuming you haven't already been swayed by the fine offerings from competitors. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sony announces holiday lineup, still believes in Unreal Tournament 3
Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced its 2007 holiday lineup for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Network and PlayStation Portable. The full list (posted after the break) contains every released and unreleased title the publisher expects to add to the cacophony of "Buy me!" screams echoing throughout the aisles this festive season. Highlights includes the cringe-inducing PAIN, stealth saga Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus and Lara Croft gender bender, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for PS3. You'll also spot a burst of confidence regarding the timely arrival of one Unreal Tournament III, despite the fact that publisher Midway has written it off for 2007. Is Epic Games going to perform an unlikely Unreal miracle, or did someone miss the memo?
It's Halloween! Look at some pumpkins!
Having a wife that indulges you in your obsession with gaming is nice, but one that participates in said obsession is even better. Hence, we have these two lovely pumpkins, carved by reader Colleen and her husband (unless his name is Colleen, which we've never heard before), they're some of the most awesome pumpkins our little eyes have ever seen.If you have a Nintendo-related pumpkin of your own, be sure to link it in the comments below. And, if you didn't know, Joystiq is running a contest right now looking for these kind of creations.
Gift services go live worldwide for holidays
Sure, maybe a lot of you don't find the idea itself terribly exciting, but we are definitely pleased to hear that the Wii Shop Channel's new gift feature will be live worldwide in time for the holidays. Now you'll be able to gift friends with awesome old games without having to track them down in physical form -- and without unloading a lot of cash, either. That's a win all around.It might also be worth noting that Gamefront's headline on the announcement had the "Wii Gift Channel" in English, and since "das Gift" means "poison" in German, Google's autotranslator informed us that the Wii Poison Channel would be a go in December. We're not quite as excited about that one, frankly.
Buzz! makes beeline for North American PS2
Alright, so the connection between Buzz! and bees is no more than a tenuous one meant to serve the purposes of a trite headline, but in our defense, it's entirely possible that Sony's quiz game may ask you a question about bees at some point. This seems especially likely in the one called "Junior Jungle Party" -- what is a garden if not a junior jungle? After selling 18 gazillion copies in Europe (smart people live there!), Sony Computer Entertainment America has finally seen fit to bring the Buzz! franchise to North American PlayStation 2 owners, h@rdc0rez and casual alike, for the holidays. The series emulates a trivia-based game show, complete with creepy host and obnoxious huge-red-button-controller. If we're to believe David Amor, boss of developer Relentless Software, Buzz! is the perfect game to enjoy with those friend things we've heard so much about. "The Americans are ready for Buzz," he declares. "I think it's that time. Buzz! is real immediate social gameplay. It's perfect for inviting a group of friends around, whether they're into games or not." Look for Buzz! The Mega Quiz and Buzz! Junior Jungle Party on store shelves tomorrow. Read -- AnnouncementRead -- America's Ready to Buzz! (Next-Generation)
All I want for Christmas is my HDTV... and an Apple
A national survey of 1,200 consumers conducted by Solutions Research Group found that 3 out of 4 surveyed Americans wanted a new gadget this holiday season. The rankings went a little something like this: HDTV (35%) Windows-based notebook (20%) Digital camera (17%) Windows-based desktop computer GPS car navigation Cellphone Digital video camera Nintendo Wii Sony PS3 HD DVD or Blu-ray player So where's Apple, the big bad daddy of consumer electronics? Well, their best showing was the MacBook with an 11 ranking followed by the iPhone at number 15. Pretty good when you consider the level of brand awareness this represents in a field of otherwise unspecified laptops and cellphones. In fact, 1-in-6 consumers are hoping for some type of Apple gear under the Chanukazaa tree this season.
Wall-to-wall Wiis in stores this holiday season
In an interview with The Mercury News' Dean Takahashi and Mike Antonucci, Nintendo of America president (and t-shirt subject) Reggie Fils-Aime assured us all that there'd be tons of Wiis forthcoming this holiday season. "The good news is we're flowing more and more product into the marketplace, and the amount of Wii hardware that will be in North American stores will be unprecedented-- substantially more than the launch, substantially more than has been seen to date," Reggie told "Dean & Nooch." But don't start clearing warehouse space for Wii forts yet, Toys R Us employees: "The bad news is that given the level of demand, and given the fact that the more we put in, the more we sell, it is still gonna be difficult to get hands on the Wii."Which, of course, means that you still need to do a bunch of legwork to get a system. Reggie suggests calling retailers, figuring out shipment dates and times, and basically the same kind of stuff we all had to do to get our Wiis over the last year.[Via Game|Life]
Orange busts out the Christmas phone launch list, too
Nothing says Christmas like a jauntily doffed Santa hat and a big cellphone blowout list, of course. Orange has such a list but instead of heading into new and slick territory like its neighbor Vodafone, they've just broken out the pastels and had a coloring session. Featuring the LG Shine, Samsung F210, and Sony Ericsson's W580i and W200i, sound hot? yeah, kinda, except they're all in pink. We'll also see the launch of the Sammy U600 in purple and the Sony Ericsson W910, in red. Here's hoping there's something else under the tree from Orange during the holidays this year, because we just aren't getting a festive feel from that lot.
