And
we're back! Here's hoping all of you had wonderful Passovers or
Easters, whichever you celebrate (or don't if you don't). Things have
been quite busy with us away, Sony in particular. The company has
added more downloads to the Playstation Store, including an update to
Gran Turismo HD Concept, the GTA IV: Things Will Be Different teaser,
a free Armored Core 4 demo and more movie trailers. If you weren't
already aware, Sony also dropped the price of the PSP Core model from
$229.99 CAD to $199.99 CAD and added Daxter and Syphon Filter: Dark
Mirror on the Greatest Hits list, effectively dropping their price to
$24.99 CAD. Microsoft announced their Xbox 360 Elite. The system will
be priced at $479 USD and approx. $550 CAD and will include a 120GB
Hard Drive, an HDMI port and cable, and will also be black. There
will be black accessories to complement the console, so don't worry
about that. As far as dates go, the current release date for the
system in the U.S. is Sunday, April 29th. That may also be
the case for Canada, though much of what we have seen so far suggests
a May 4th release instead. One final thing about the
Elite, just to clear up any confusion people might have about it, it
does not come with an HD-DVD player included!
Now
for a quick store stock check before we get into the rest of the
day's news. Playstation 3s are in abundance. You can pick one up
pretty much anywhere you want, if you want. Xbox 360 are no problem
either, as well as PSPs. DS Lites have finally reappeared in stores
after a sudden disappearance a couple of weeks ago. Nintendo retail
reps we spoke to didn't have much to say about it, except that April
is going to be a much better month for seeing the systems on the
shelves. That also applies to Wiis, in the case of most retail chains
at least. It's probably safe to assume that Toys'R'Us will still be
running its bi-weekly flyers with limited quantities of Wiis in it
for some time to come. This is one of those weeks, by the way. Now
for the rest of the day's news.
EA's
Glenn Entis to speak at SIGGRAPH

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SIGGRAPH
2007 announced a new addition to its featured speaker lineup today,
in replacement of what is normally a single keynote speaker. G
lenn
Entis, Chief Visual Officer of Electronic Arts will be the first of
three featured speakers at the show.
Entis
will speak about recent accomplishments and upcoming challenges for
interactive graphics in video games at the 34th International
Conference & Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques being held 5-9 of August at the San Diego Convention
Center in San Diego, California. Entis is the former CEO of
Dreamworks Interactive and his responsibilities at EA include working
with the world’s finest gaming industry artists and designers on
the pre-production and visual development of game software. He also
serves on the Board of Governors for the Emily Carr College of Art
and on the Advisory Board for the Masters of Digital Media, a new
graduate school program at Great Northern Way in Vancouver, BC.

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Noise
cancelling microphone headset, that's Genius
We
can't help it if it's so easy to play with the name, it just works.
Genius announced the availability of its new surround sound headset
today. The new HS-04U Dolby Gaming USB Headset has what Genius calls
“an open-air design” that makes it comfortable to wear, using a
lightweight headband and soft-cushioned ear pads. The most notable
part of the headset though, is its “military grade”,
noise-cancellation microphone, which allows others to hear them
clearly no matter what. The headset runs for $49.90 USD. For more
information on the headset and its specs, you can check out
Geniusnetusa.com.
Boom
Boom Rocket launches
EA's
first Xbox Live Arcade game, Boom Boom Rocket, launched today. The
new rhythmic fireworks game is now available in Canada, the U.S. and
Europe for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone. Players
play by triggering rockets to the beat of the music while travelling
through a 3-D cityscape. The fireworks have been choreographed to ten
original tracks created by Ian Livingstone. The game has single and
in-house mutliplayer modes, as well as a few different difficulty
levels. More interesting though, are the Freestyle Mode and the
game's built in Visualizer, which allows people to watch a fireworks
display to their own music. Though the game is currently only
available in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, EA is already working on
versions for future release in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.