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We knew Dell's flagship gaming desktop PC, the XPS 730 H2C, was going to be fast but we were wondering "is it fast enough to justify the massive price tag?"

Hot Hardware have come out with an equally massive review that answers that question and many more, taking a detailed look at the build quality, interior, and cooling system of a $6300 XPS 730 H2C then putting it through it's paces with a wide range of performance tests and benchmarking.

Go read the full review for all the details but here's a taster:

"The XPS 730 may be the last of its kind. Perhaps the design team of the XPS 730 also realized this, inspiring them to try and make it the best 700 series machine to date. Whatever their inspiration, the XPS 730 turned out to be a great gaming and multimedia computer. The XPS 730 represents the fourth generation in Dell's XPS 700 series and it exhibits a maturity of design that only iteration and refinement can bring. It is clear that Dell has thought long and hard about the complaints levied against past generations of XPS 700 series and they have systematically addressed them while maintaining all of the high-points and charm of the earlier machines. We heartily recommend the XPS 730 and the XPS 730 H2C to anyone in the market for a high-end gaming/multimedia computer and we are happy to award the XPS 730 H2C our coveted Editor's Choice award. "

Dell XPS 730 H2C review and benchmarks at hothardware

Acer has announced a new line of high-end gaming PCs that feature an interesting lever open case design (that looks like a cross between Gordon Freeman and Transformers) and the tagline "Faster. Deeper. Harder. Further" (which hopefully won't get this page tagged as "adult" in the search engines.

These PCs come with Vista (unfortunately), Intel Core 2 Extreme or Quad processor, nforce 780i SLI chipset, up to 8GB RAM, 4 hot-swappable RAID capable hard drive bays, and up to 3 way SLI with Nvidia GeForce 9800GTX graphics cards.

No word yet on price or availablity.

Acer Predator PCs

Yep, you get a vomit colored DS lite. Now showing up for pre-order on some European sites along with a hot red version.

Forget innovation and improving technology.... lets just paint it a different color and watch the $$$ roll in.

puke DS lite via ubergizmo

Back at CES in January 2005 we got to play with one of the first Gizmondo gaming consoles and we weren't impressed. (Actually we thought it was a piece of cheap crap that was on a rollercoaster ride to oblivion.)

Well guess what? after sales of about $2m (and a loss of about $382m in 2004/5 amid links to Swedish organized crime) they went bankrupt, and the Gizmondo disappeared for ever...... until now.

Like diarrhea from extra spicy chili you can't get rid of it that easily: Carl Freer (the founder of Gizmondo) has confirmed that he is hard at work on the relaunch of the Gizmondo which will be "upgraded" to Windows CE 6 and will have a separate graphics chip.

Stayed tuned for live coverage of this trainwreck as it happens........

gizmondo stuff at engadget

Joystiq reader Mat Brady sent in some interesting concept art he put together.

He calls it the iwish because "I wish Sony would get their act together and improve the PSP. So many people are doing such amazing and innovative things these days, and yet the only innovative thing to happen to the PSP since 2005 was that it got a little slimmer."

Mat then goes on to discuss convergence and the prerequisites for a converged device.

Personally I don't think we will have a true converged device until we have projected head-up displays (that don't look like dork glasses) along with virtual input devices - otherwise there is no way to fit a keyboard, a good sized high res touchscreen, and a game controller in a device small enough to carry in a pocket.

(mat's blog)

Microsoft is giving a bunch of Xbox 360 kiosks to children's hospitals - I'm sure that will be especially appreciated by the kids who have hurt themselves playing Wii.

Microsoft Corp. today announced a new partnership with Companions in Courage, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting children and families who are overcoming life-threatening obstacles. As part of its commitment to providing fun, interactive entertainment for children, Microsoft is supplying hundreds of Xbox 360 game kiosks to playrooms in children's hospitals across the country, intended to provide a respite for young patients and be a catalyst for fun. In addition to select games, movies and television content, the Xbox 360 kiosks will provide access to a secure, private network that allows hospitalized children across the country to play games and chat over Xbox LIVE, the world's largest social network connected to television.

At a campaign stop in Indianapolis Obama attacked Grand Theft Auto 4:

"Now, this isn't intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids. Across the board, middle-class, upper-class, working-class kids, they're spending a huge amount of their time not on their studies, but on entertainment."

Typical Democrat blaming an inanimate object instead of people: the gun went off and killed him, the drugs made him the way he is, the computer game raises our kids wrong.

Bullshit!

It isn't the computer game that creates bad kids, bad parenting causes bad kids.

Why doesn't Obama blame bad parents for letting their kids have access to adult themed games? because he doesn't want to lose their votes.

Lots of leaks concerning the Xbox 360 and Gaming Horizon has summarized them well:

16:9 HD Game Play
3 USB 2.0 Ports
Support for 4 Wireless Controllers
Detachable 20GB Hard-drive
Wi-Fi Ready
3 PowerPC CPUs at 3.2GHz
500 Mhz ATI GPU
512 MB GDDR3 Ram

(lots more at Gaming Horizon)

Engadget has scored a coup with the first photo of the Xbox 360, apprently taken by someone with a cameraphone at the Xbox 360 Revealed launch party in Los Angeles.

Looks vaguely mac-like to us.

(via Engadget)

We got to play with the Gizmondo, is a gaming console?, is it a multi-function device?, were still not sure.

It is a lot smaller than we thought it would be, and the screen quality is good but hampered by it's 320x240 resolution.

Don't go buying this for it's camera (it sucks) or its wide range of games (there aren't many available yet, although Gizmodo reports than it may get Halo soon).

Reasons to buy it include instant messaging, built-in GPS, listening to music and watching movies, and bluetooth connectivity.

If Gizmondo is going to succeed they really need a larger range of unique games.

The Sony Playstation Portable is now available in Japan, and SorobanGeeks has lots of photos of hundreds of crazy Japanese people (plus a few tourists) waiting outside at 1am for the stores to open.

Expectations of a US release date and price for the PSP are March and $150-$160.

In the bad news department Tim Rogers reports that the PSP has pathetic battery life: under 3 hours.

Photos at SorobanGeeks

Sony has announced the price and release date for the PSP Playstation Portable game/entertainment console, and it is better than anyone expected.

The PSP will be available in Japan on December 12th and will cost 19,800 Yen (about $185).

Expectations of a US release date and price for the PSP are March and $150-$160. (Comparable to the Nintendo DS which will retail at $150).

(via cnet)

Half Life 2 is going to be the second game this year to really push the CPU, processor, and memory requirements of your PC to the limit.

If you want Half Life 2 to run faster and look as good as possible graphically you could drop a couple of grand on new hardware or you could read IGN's Half-Life 2 Optimization Guide.

The Half-Life 2 Optimization Guide tells you how to make Half Life 2 run faster by tweaking your existing systems.

The tips start with the obvious: removing spyware, defragmenting your hard drive etc, then move onto more detailed graphics card driver settings and tweaking the windows XP memory and file system.

IGN Half-Life 2 Optimization Guide

Buy Half-Life 2 for $44.99 at Amazon.com

Update: Yep, it was a fake. Don't believe the information below.

Playstation Magazine in the UK claims the scoop on pricing for the Sony SPS Playstation Portable. May be fake but here's what they say:

Package 1: Playstation Portable, Rechargable Battery, Battery Charger, 32MB MemoryStick: $199.

Package 2: Playstation Portable, Rechargable Battery, Battery Charger, 64MB MemoryStick, Strap with Headphones, Camera: $299.

Package 3: Playstation Portable, Rechargable Battery, Battery Charger, 256MB MemoryStick, Strap with Headphones, Camera, Aluminium Case, GPS, Translation Software: $399.

(thanks Dave, John, and gizmodo)

The Tapwave Zodiac 2 games console has been reviewed by trustedreviews.

The Tapwave Zodiac 2 is an interesting use of the Palm OS: designed from the ground up as a game console not a PDA it features 128mb RAM, 200mhz ARM processor, bluetooth wireless, 2 sd card slots, and 3.8" 480x320 screen and costs $399.

There is also a Tapwave Zodiac 1 available with 32mb RAM for $299.

Trustedreviews thought it was ok but didn't like the small selection of games available for the Tapwave Zodiac 2.

Full review

Looks like I was right in August 13th when I said the Nintendo DS game system would launch before thanksgiving.

Nintendo have just confirmed the DS will launch in the US on November 21st at a price of $149.

The Nintendo DS features two 3 inch LCD screens with the bottom screen touch sensitive like a PDA, it has a port for connecting a microphone, wireless connectivity (both 802.11 and a proprietary Nintendo system), 16 channel sound, and two processors.

(thanks portagame)

The Tapwave Zodiac 1 games console has been reviewed by hardextreme.org.

The Tapwave Zodiac 1 is an interesting use of the Palm OS: designed from the ground up as a game console not a PDA it features 32mb RAM, 200mhz ARM processor, bluetooth wireless, 2 sd card slots, and 3.8" 480x320 screen and costs $299.

There is also a Tapwave Zodiac 2 available with 128mb RAM for $399.

Hardextreme gave it 10/10.

Full review

Sony has revealed some of the specs for the Playstation Portable game console.

The Playstation Portable will have a 333mhz CPU, a media processor (for handling audio and video), a 3D graphics engine (capable of 664 million pixels or 35 million polygons per second), a security processor and a power manager.

The Playstation Portable will support both USB 2.0 and MemoryStick expansion, and it will have 32mb DDR SDRAM memory.

The screen of the Playstation Portable will be a 4.3 inch 480 x 272 pixel widescreen LCD, and data will be stored on 1.8GB 2.4" optical discs.

The Playstation Portable will be 6.7" x 2.9" x 0.9" and will weigh 9.2 ounces.

It is rumored the release of the Playstation Portable will be delayed to the second quarter of 2005, and it is expected to cost around $400.

The Tapwave Zodiac games console, already available in the US and Asia, will finally land on European shores in the next few months.

The Zodiac is an interesting use of the Palm OS: 128mb RAM, bluetooth wireless, 2 sd card slots, and 480x320 screen.

Other news is that there will soon be a SD Wi-Fi card for the Tapwave as well as a PS2 style controller.

Rumors abound that the Nintendo DS will be available before Thanksgiving (November 25th).

The Nintendo DS is a big step forward in terms of features on a portable game system: it has two 3 inch LCD screens and the bottom screen is touch sensitive like a PDA.

The Nintendo DS also has a port for connecting a microphone, wireless connectivity (both 802.11 and a proprietary Nintendo system), 16 channel sound, and two processors.

It also features 2 slots for games, one for Gameboy Advance games, and a new one for DS games which can be over 1GB in size.