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Nvidia launches GeForece GT 240

While we wait for Nvidia’s next gen chip, codenamed “Fermi”, the company has followed its old style of re-branding and re-releasing old chips. Well, not quite this time, as the new GT 240 chip is still the same technology, but is built on 40nm process and includes DirectX 10.1 support — at a time where the big deal is DirectX 11.

The new graphics card is mainstream oriented, and should offer decent performance and low power consumption, at a decent price. The chip is outfitted with 96 stream processors clocked at 1360MHz, while the graphics core runs at 550MHz, with idle power load at just 9W. It’ll retail later this week for $99.

DJ Hero review

In the midst of all the Modern Warfare 2 madness and onslaught of news, we’d like to bring you something a bit more lighthearted: a review of DJ Hero for Wii. As a sidekick to Activision’s Guitar Hero, DJ Hero focuses on DJs and their world, and contains artists like Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Justice, Marvin Gaye, Beck, Beastie Boys and N.E.R.D., with over 100 songs and over 90 mixes by real DJs.

DJ Hero comes with a DJ mixing board controller, and the gameplay process is very similar to that of other “Hero” games from Activision, you punch the correct keys as best as possible, scoring the best score you can. While listening to the songs, of course. There’s a huge assortment of songs, which span almost every genre, meaning you’ll probably find something you like in there. The songs are mixed by well known DJs, and you won’t find them anywhere else — they’re exclusive to DJ Hero. While you can’t create your own DJ, you can play as some fairly decent ones, and if you’re good, you can unlock superstar DJs like Daft Punk (complete with their outfits). Read the rest of our DJ Hero review

Xbox 360 wireless N adapter available next week

Microsoft’s new wireless adapter, which support the new, and much faster N WiFi standard, will be shipping next week for $99 — quite a lot for something that comes as standard with the PS3 and the Wii (although those don’t feature N speeds). The old wireless adapter will still be available and retail for $75.

Dual-gpu ATI 5970 spotted in the wild

ATI’s upcoming dual-gpu based card, the Radeon HD 5970, comprising of two 5870 chips — which themselves are the most powerful graphics chips today — has been spotted in the wild over at PC Perspective. The card, measuring at 13.5″ inches, needs both a 6 pin power connector and an 8 pin connector as well, meaning it’s gonna draw a lot of power when fully throttled. The card is expected to be in stores this December.

Nyko launches DSi camera accessory

Nyko, the master accessory maker — well, not really, but they do make a ton of accessories for games of all kinds — have released a lens attachment to the Nintendo DSi camera, which offers 8X zoom to the rather weak 0.3 Megapixel camera. But at least it works, as you can see on the image above. Won’t win you a Pulitzer in photojournalism, but at least it won’t burn your pocket; $25 is all it set your back.

QuickDev16 card offers SNES homebrew

The Quickdev16 card, which plugs into an SNES, offers quick and easy access to SNES homebrew — the cartridge packs an Atmel AVR ATmega644 chip with a boot loader, a USB connection with which to upload a ROM, 16 megabits of SRAM, plus an RS232 converter (whatever that is). Who whole (tiny) package can be had for only $120 — cheap, when considering we’re talking about “game development” here. If you’re up to it, there’s more details about the card here.

Altec Lansing releases “stage gig” speaker

Good news to all the Guitar Hero and Rock Band fanatics, speaker-maker Altec Lansing has released the “Stage Gig”, a single speaker that sits at the bottom, facing the playing bad, just as if you’d have if you were a real musician, performing on a stage. But since you’re not on a real stage, and since you’re holding plastic guitars in your hands, you might wanna shed $100 for another plastic attachment that emits sounds of your fake plastic band right on your face.

New Xbox 360 updated locks out “unauthorized” memory units

The upcoming update of the Xbox 360 dashboard and firmware will lock out unauthorized third party memory units. Third party memory units, especially “unauthorized” ones, usually hold far more capacity — several GBs more –e than Microsoft’s own units, and are also far cheaper. Some of the third party units feature connectivity with SD and microSD cards as well. If you’re one of those using them, you’re out of luck, and you should save your stuff on an “authorized” unit. Meaning shedding lots of cash for it.

Carbon-fber/red Xbox 360 controller exclusive to GameStop

GameStop has unveiled its exclusive Xbox 360 controller, which is painted in black carbon-fiber with red inserts. The looks of it isn’t the only odd thing about this one — it’ll retail for $70, including a play and charge kit. Surely GameStop can give us a better deal than that?

MP5 Wiimote submachine gun controller

There have been a few odd Wiimote-based controllers over the years, from attachments that made the Wiimote act like a “gun”, to actually looking like a gun, which is the case with Heckler & Koch MP5 Wiimote controller, which comes with built in Wiimote, nun-chuck and Wii Motion Plus, all in one great, black sub machine gun. The controller was spotted at an expo in Hong Kong, so no word on if we’ll ever see it retail.

Logitech announces G110 gaming keyboard

Logitech, makers of the very popular G11 gaming keyboard, have revealed its successor; the G110. The new keyboard doesn’t have as an aggressive look as the predecessor, but the technology inside has been improves somewhat; the G110 features 13 programmable keys, automatic game detection that loads custom profiles for each game, and red or blue LED back-lighting on all keys. There’s no mention of price or release date at this point, but we expect the initial price point to be a notch above the older model.

Black Wiimote bundle revealed

Nintendo has revealed a new, black Wiimote bundle, which includes the Wiimote, a Wii Motion Plus attachment, and a sleeve, all in shiny black. The new bundle will be available on November 17 and will retail for $50, which is a good deal, considering a Wiimote and Motion Plus attachment would run you $10 more if bought separately. If you wish to complete your black Wiimote controller, the black nun-chuck will be sold separately for $20.

Xbox 360 wireless controller pack revealed

Microsoft is making plenty of offers for this year’s upcoming Holiday Season, and the company just announced the Wireless Controller Pack, which includes a black wireless controller and 4 Arcade games, which are; Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Lumines LIVE!, Bomberman LIVE! and Ms Pac-Man. It’s a great deal, considering the controller itself retails for $50, and the games retail combined from $20-30. The controller bundle will be released this November.

New Wii Sports Resort bundle announced

Nintendo’s Wii Sports sequel has been selling very well in all territories, and now they’ve announced a new Wii Sports Resort bundle, which will include not one, but two Wii Motion Pus attachments. The first bundle retails for $50 and includes one attachment, while the second one will only be $60 — a measly $10 more gets you one more Wii Motion Plus. It’s a great deal, considering that the Wii Motion Plus itself retails for $25.

New Xbox 360 wireless N adapter to cost $100

Microsoft’s new wireless adapter for the Xbox360, one that supports the new N standard (offering greater speed and range), has revealed that it’ll cost $100. The older adapter will not be discontinued, rather, it’ll be lowered to $80.

These prices are still far too high, considering that the PS3 and the Wii have WiFi built in. The new adapter, with its high price, will be arriving in stores next month, just in time for the next Xbox 360 dashboard update.