40Tech

If you haven’t already heard about Sony’s PSP 2, codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP), then you are in for a treat! The NGP features power enough to rival the Playstation 3 — and that’s not just fluffy marketing-speak. The specs of this little beast are off the charts.

Hit the jump for a rundown of what’s included, and a NGP gameplay video of Uncharted.

Microsoft’s Kinect, has already started a mini-revolution in the geeky world of modding. Since hacker Hector Marcanreleased the open source drivers that he created for Kinect, innovations using the technology have been appearing with speed that can only be described as plaid (my apologies to anyone who didn’t get that reference — and a cookie to the first commenter to identify it).

Some of the more interesting hacks I’ve come across after the jump.

What will they think of next?  A few years after the Wii revolutionized gaming with its motion-sensing Wii remote, Microsoft has raised the ante with its Kinect Sensor for the Xbox 360.  Think of the Kinect as a Wii on steroids.  The idea behind the Kinect is that YOU are the controller.  In fact, you don’t use a controller when using the Kinect.  Instead, the Kinect detects your body movements to facilitate gameplay.  But is it fun?  Read on.

Minecraft is all kinds of insane. It’s called a computer game, technically, but it’s really more like Lego — Lego that you can use to build your own, well… pretty much anything!

For example, you might have heard about this one fellow that built the framework of the USS Enterprise D (Star Trek: The Next Generation). Yeah, he built it on a 1:1 scale. 1:1!! Do you have any idea how HUGE that is? If you don’t, not to worry — the builder’s words on the subject leave very little to the imagination…

All but the last are free!

If you have kids from one to four and have an iPhone, you will want to take a look at the games below. They are great for simple play, as well as educational tools to help stimulate your child’s development in everything from numbers, letters, and shapes, to critical thinking, motor skills, reading, and imagination. Your curious child will gain some serious satisfaction from being able to play with mommy or daddy’s toy, either alone or with you, and you will be able to instill in them an early respect for your expensive technology (of which we all find more of in our lives these days). Except the last one, all of the iPhone toddler games in the list are free, and offer hours of educational entertainment for your budding baby!

Hit the jump for some great (mostly free) toddler games for the iPhone!

You may remember that the first generation PS3  allowed your system to be partitioned and function as a (limited) Linux computer. In fact, it was a major selling point of the PS3. However, if you haven’t heard, in version 3.21 of the Playstation 3 firmware, released on April 1st (and thought a poor joke by [...]

If you have a curious toddler — either your own or just a frequent visitor — then you know how much they truly enjoy pressing the buttons on your computer. Secretly, you are probably certain that the child is bent on pressing just the right combination of buttons at just the wrong time so that [...]

Ten days ago, we previewed Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare’s latest RPG offering for the PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. We’ve now had almost two weeks with the game (Evan on the PC, Bobby on the PS3), so we should have a full review for you soon, right? Well, one small problem. Dragon Age is [...]

Like Baldur’s Gate? Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? How about Mass Effect? Well then, prepare yourself… BioWare’s newest masterpiece has hit stores and is preparing to rock your world! Dragon Age: Origins has been officially released for PC, xBox 360 and Playstation 3. Dragon Age, touted as the “spiritual successor of Baldur’s Gate”, [...]

Remember the good old days, when games were hard? I mean really frustrating, “throw the controller at the television because there are no save points and I just died — again!!” hard? Most people I know have fond memories of Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, Pac-Man, Centipede, Pitfall, and many, many more. As they should, too, given [...]