Archive for December 17th, 2008
It took a little longer than we’d heard due to some last-minute complications, but Panasonic’s deal to buy almost all of Sanyo has finally been approved by Sanyo’s major shareholders. Under the deal, Panny will buy out some 70 percent of Sanyo for ¥131 ($1.50) a share, making the total deal worth some ¥560B ($6.41B). That’d be lot of scratch even if the economy wasn’t in the tank, but Panny thinks it’ll be worth it to take over Sanyo’s position in the solar and rechargeable battery markets, which it thinks are due to blow up. Er, not blow up like that — in the fun-filled raining-cash way. You get the idea. Xactis for everyone!
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Panasonic to officially purchase controlling stake in Sanyo for $6.4B originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Western Digital cuts 5% of its global workforce
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action
1UP has pummeled new details out of Namco Bandai and The Mark of Kri devs at BottleRocket concerning the upcoming Splatterhouse remake, which will bloody up the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime next year. Among the finer points spilled include a return of many of the series’ weapons, including the 2-by-4 and meat cleaver, while Rick’s arsenal has been expanded to include multiple weapon classes and “a few surprises.”
Speaking of the original, while Namco believes the source material’s graphics are “best left to nostalgia,” the team notes that they have tried to remain faithful to the series’ 80s horror movie vibe. Even so, the devs admit that gore is what the game “is going to be all about,” promising that players will have “a very messy good time.” It’s amazing what you can do with that little ‘M’ on the box. Still, we wonder if the title will come with a disclaimer warning kids that inevitably get hold of Spatterhouse that lumber is absolutely not to be used in this manner.
Splatterhouse focuses on gore for ‘a very messy good time’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There’s no denying that Brando has a special place in its heart for shrunken keyboards, and the latest addition to its product line continues the trend. This appropriately titled “Wireless Illuminated Super Tiny Keyboard” is a slim 15mm, has 56 keys, and operates wirelessly via an included dongle. Yeah, it may not have Bluetooth or handy media keys — but you can’t argue with that electric blue backlight. If this info has got your fingers twitching, you can order one now for $47 with shipping expected by “end of December 2008.”
[Thanks, mtviolets]
Filed under: Peripherals
Brando’s latest mini-keyboard: blue backlight, impossible to type on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Business
When it comes to the much anticipated Ghostbusters game, Atari’s Phil Harrison – somehow it still sounds wrong – clearly wants Activision to know what it lost when it cut the game (and several others) loose earlier this year. Speaking to MCV, he called out Activision-Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, on the decision.
“What Bobby, perhaps unhelpfully said, was that those games were franchises which wouldn’t make $100m of revenue and generate sequels,” Harrison said of Blizzivision’s choice to offload Ghostbusters. “If that’s his benchmark, then fine – and we’d love to aspire to the same benchmarks. But you know what? I would love to turn Ghostbusters into a $100m franchise, just to prove him wrong.”
That may not happen, but given the hype and fan following – not to mention the fact that it’s coming out on at least five platforms – Activision might yet kick itself when the sales numbers are tallied.
Phil Harrison would ‘love’ to prove Activision wrong about Ghostbusters originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While we may not know exactly what item we’re looking at in the photo above, we do know that we like it. This hot peripheral showed up on Lenovo‘s photostream without any explanation, and from the image it seems pretty much like a keyboard-lover’s dream; it looks to be wireless, psychotically thin, and boasts an integrated trackpad and numpad. If you’ve been itching to find a stylish companion to that ThinkPad USB Portable Secure HD, this may just be the keyboard for you. As expected, no info on pricing or availability, but we’ll definitely keep our eyes out for more as it becomes available.
Update: Damn, it looks like this is just a super-hot pic of a new rev of Lenovo’s already-released wired UltraNav keyboard — as our astute commenters have pointed out, it’s probably on Flickr because it was posted on Lenovo’s Design Matters blog today. That’s not to say we wouldn’t take a wireless version of this bad boy in a heartbeat — feel free to rock us, Lenovo.
Filed under: Peripherals
Mystery ThinkPad keyboard pops up on Lenovo’s Flickr page originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPhone, MobileMe
 To say that MobileMe hasn’t made everyone happy may be a bit of an understatement. We don’t generally hear from the satisfied customers, but we have received a fair amount of email from dissatisfied users of Apple’s “cloud computing” solution. Given the barrage of negativity, it’s nice to hear a positive take now and then. TUAW reader Rob had just the thing …
While at the dry cleaner one day, Rob’s iPhone was stolen. He immediately chalked it up as gone forever, and proceeded to purchase a brand new one that same evening. It was the next day when unfamiliar contacts began to appear on the new phone. The (not-too-bright) thief was unwittingly supplying him with names and phone numbers of his or her closest friends, via the magic of MobileMe synchronization from the stolen phone to the cloud and eventually to his new phone. “It didn’t take long for me to realize that MobileMe was leading me right to the thief!” wrote Rob.
Thanks to the fact that he caught on to it before he’d had time to remotely disconnect his account, MobileMe provided the groundwork for a little social engineering. Rob made quick work of wrangling a name and phone number from the provided contacts, supplying the police with everything they needed to get Rob his phone back. By the end of the night, he had his original iPhone in his possession.
There you have it, a MobileMe success story! Sure, this doesn’t make up for the problems which have plagued MobileMe, but it’s a great story. The recovered phone is “pretty much brand new,” according to Rob, and is currently up for auction on ebay.
Thanks for sending this in, Rob!
TUAWiPhone thief thwarted by MobileMe sync originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Apple Financial
 AAPL fell 6.57 percent today after the Macworld announcements yesterday and a general retreat among tech-sector stocks. The company’s stock closed at $89.16 per share, and over 42 million shares changed hands.
A lot of the selling was done last night in after-hours trading, with the stock opening the day’s trading this morning around $91 a share.
In related news today, Oppenheimer Funds cut its rating on Apple stock from “outperform” to “perform,” based largely on the fact that Jobs will not present the keynote speech at Macworld Expo next month.
Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner wrote a note to clients, saying “we don’t know why Steve Jobs has pulled out of his annual address at Macworld [...] Whatever the reason, the unexpected announcement has underscored the greatest risk to Apple’s long-term success — its dependence on Jobs’ health and its apparent lack of a succession plan.”
AAPL has remained off its 52-week low of $79.14, which it recorded on November 21.
TUAWAAPL falls $6.27 during rough trading day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Hardware, Sandbox, Simulation, The Sims 3
System requirements for PC games are getting more and more important to consumers and the game that will likely be the biggest selling PC game of 2009, The Sims 3, now has had its requirements revealed. The UK Sims 2 web site has revealed the hard numbers which are below. The Electronic Arts people sim is due for release in February 2009.
PC Desktop
XP (Service Pack 2)
Processor: Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 1 GB
Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
Graphics: Ram 128 MB
Vista (Service Pack 1)
Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+
Memory: 1.5 GB
Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
Graphics Ram: 128 MB
Laptop
XP (Service Pack 2)
Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+
Memory: 1.5 GB
Graphics GeForce: Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
Graphics Ram: 128 MB
Vista (Service Pack 1)
Processor: Pentium: IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+
Memory: 2.0 GB
Graphics: GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
Graphics: 128 MB
[Via Shacknews]
The Sims 3 system requirements revealed originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii
First of all, check out some giveaways currently going down at DS Fanboy and Wii Fanboy. Here is your chance at a pair of Tecmo titles, and here is your chance at Animal Crossing: City Folk. Hit up those posts to find out how to enter.
Now that we have that out of the way, have you seen the news on next year’s releases yet? Check out the DS list here and the Wii list here. Then, be sure to check out our links below.
DS
Wii
Nintendo Fanboy Weekly: Dec 11 – Dec 17 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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