We had the bare essentials when we spotted Netgear’s Digital Entertainer Elite trying to waltz through the FCC unnoticed, but now we’ve got the hot, juicy details required to make those things called “purchasing decisions.” Wired has it that the media streamer will check in during Q1 2009 at $400, which will buy you a roomy 500GB hard drive, “an updated user interface that allows users to choose content from free sources such as YouTube and Flickr,” full 1080p support and the ability to swap out the HDD should the owner choose. The catch, however, is that the box is currently disconnected from most major content providers, and without a link to Netflix (or similar), users will have to either provide their own material or simply surf over to online portals such as Hulu. Four bills is a lot to ask for something in the “been there, done that” bucket — we’ll give it three months before the first substantial price cut.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Details flow on Netgear’s EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Culture

Just dying to see new footage of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand? (No, really, are you dying? We’ll call for help.) Well, you’ll get to peep it in the background as the rapper performs – live and in person – at Spike TV’s 2008 Video Game Awards on Sunday, December 14. Those are the VGAs to those in the know.

Mr. Cent will be joined (not all at once, mind you) by Weezer, All American Rejects and LL Cool J. “Video games and music are an explosive creative combination,” according to Spike TV vice president,

Casey Patterson. Sony Picture Studios, the event venue, could not be reached to confirm that it holds adequate creative explosion insurance.

No coin-cidence: 50 Cent, 50 Cent game to appear on Spike VGAs originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, LLC., Ford, GM

The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Wednesday to pass the Auto Rescue/Bailout Bill by a vote of 237 to 170. The contents of the bill came from concessions made by Congressional Democrats to White House demand, which include $14 billion in government loans, $1 billion less than was previously discussed, and the creation of a “Car Czar” appointed by the president to oversee the automakers’ progress. It is widely recognized that the bill is a stop-gap measure meant to float General Motors and Chrysler through the end of March. This would give them time to renegotiate with its creditors, the UAW and other companies. If all goes well, the status of GM and Chrysler will be reviewed around March 31st to determine if further federal assistance is required, which it likely would be unless the economy magically recovers and people start buying new vehicles again in larger numbers.

Continue reading House passes Auto Rescue/Bailout Bill, still faces heavy Senate opposition

House passes Auto Rescue/Bailout Bill, still faces heavy Senate opposition originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, First Person Shooters

In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac community director, Brian Intihar, drops some Resistance-related info – and the prices on map packs for the original Resistance: Fall of Man.

Previously $7.99, the full collection of four maps will set you back zero dollars beginning tomorrow, December 11. (The original two-map pack debuted in June of last year at $7.99, and was followed by two more maps in November ’07 for $4.99.) There are still people playing the original game – now a PS3 Greatest Hit – but most have moved on to the sequel, a likely reason for the price reduction elimination.

Insomniac will further add to the PS Store’s delivery of free stuff tomorrow with three new, no-cost Resistance 2 themes for your XMB.

Map packs for original Resistance free starting Dec. 11 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Here’s something that doesn’t happen everyday with legacy airlines — an announcement that something is actually ahead of schedule. After hearing that Delta would equip its entire US fleet with Aircell’s Gogo in-flight WiFi in 2009, along comes a release from Aircell that says otherwise. In fact, it proclaims that “Delta Air Lines is expected to launch service before the end of 2008.” Furthermore, the company has confessed that “most major US carriers are in advanced discussions with or are already contractually committed to Aircell,” which certainly bodes well for avid travelers who take issue with long periods of disconnection. Aircell is hoping to have its in-flight internet tech installed in 2,000 commercial aircraft by the end of 2009 — talk about making the friendly skies “friendly” again.

[Image courtesy of Gadling]

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Delta pushes in-flight WiFi plans ahead, Gogo to hit 2,000 planes in 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

We spied the Logitech G13 Gamepad when it was announced earlier today, and now Engadget Chinese has caught wind of something else that may be in store for us. The keyboard pictured above is apparently the G18, and we while we have almost no solid info on it, we can glean a few things, such as the apparent groupings of fast function keys on the left side of the board (some which seem to be numbered G11-G15), not to mention that tiny display at the center. We don’t know when we can expect this beast to arrive, but the G13 Gamepad is expected in January so fingers crossed.

Filed under: Gaming

Logitech G18 gaming keyboard shows its not-so-ugly face originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Action, Adventure, Casual

In addition to tomorrow’s for-pay Street Fighter outfits, Sony will be gifting LittleBigPlanet fans with the first part of a free, two-piece SackSanta costume for your SackBoys (or SackGirls). Stage one is the Santa suit; the hat and beard will be available on the PlayStation Store (again, for free) the following Thursday, December 18.

Like the milk & cookies you leave out for the real Santa, this costume will magically disappear from the PS Store come January 8. We’re assuming it won’t be replaced with a coal costume.

Sony to deploy free, multi-stage Santa SackBoy costume originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Biz, MMO

German based game publisher Frogster International Pictures is expanding its reach over the pond. Today the company announced the launch of its US subsidiary, titled Frogster America. Its interim CEO is Sean Kauppinen, who previously worked at Sony Online, Ubisoft and other game companies.

Frogster America’s first product will be the US launch of the fantasy free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic. The new US business is setting up the servers to run the US portion of the game and expects the commercial launch of Runes of Magic in North America by the end of the year. There’s no word yet what other games Frogster America plans to release.

Frogster America launched originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Biz, MMO, Champions Online

It looks like Cryptic Studios had its choice of buyers rather than being courted just by Infogrames/Atari. While the publisher announced that they have purchased Cryptic earlier this week, Edge Online reports that Ubisoft was also in the running to buy the original City of Heroes developer.

Ubisoft’s chief financial officer Alain Martinez admitted during a speech today in New York, “We lost one deal, which we were a bit mad to lose: Cryptic, a U.S. company that was taken by Atari. We were disappointed, but that was one try at an MMO.” Ubisoft has made it no secret that it wants to enter the MMO genre including one based on their Tom Clancy franchise.

Meanwhile our sister site GameDaily has posted up a new chat with Atari’s president Phil Harrison who talked more about this week’s Cryptic Studios purchase. Harrison stated that in terms of future MMO revenues, a micro-transaction model is looking more and more viable. He states, “I think it’s going to become the preeminent business model for the future, but not all games will work for that style. Some will be subscription-based, some will be micro-transaction-based and some will be a combination of the two.”

Ubisoft tried and failed to buy Cryptic; Atari president talks originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It’s hardly the first example of the technology — we saw a very similar system from Delphi in action at CES last year — but Mercedes-Benz’s new SPLITVIEW COMMAND system appears to be one of the first instances of it being used in a production vehicle, and that certainly counts for something. From the looks of it, the system is very similar to the Delphi one, with the 8-inch display able to let the driver keep an eye on the GPS while the passenger simultaneously watches a DVD or something equally distracting on the very same screen. That’s done with the use of a special filter that masks the display and only lets the proper pixels slip into view depending on where you are seated. No word on what sort of premium the system will demand, if any, but it’ll apparently be available on all S-Class models starting in the summer of 2009.

[Thanks, Ashley]

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Mercedes-Benz intros SPLITVIEW COMMAND system originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments