Before you Wii addicts get too excited, it’s not a Wii remote at all, but a well disguised USB stick.

This design uses the Wii A button to pop out the USB connector. The spring loaded mechanism looks a little stiff (see video). What’s great about this product, is it looks just like the Wii remote - but far from it and for the Wii fan - it stores between 1 & 8GBs of whatever you want.

So what do you call a Wii remote look-a-like USB stick? The Wedisk of course. For those interested in a gift giving idea, the company will also custom label the remote with your logo.

Source: Techeblog.

To digress back to middle school days has never been easier than with the USB Whack It arcade game. Or maybe Halo and Doom3 are just over done with technology and some good-old-fashion mole banging is required.

As with future cell phones the Whack It is powered via USB so don’t expect any download-able high scores or on-line gaming forum for stiff competition…just power.

Gadget Box didn’t reveal the mallet used for mole bashing, but if you’re the competitive type I’m sure an open hand and some good force will get you the high score every time. I’d say a perfect Christmas gadget gift.

Source: SciFi.com

The 3rd and final edition in the Halo video game trilogy got released Monday night at midnight. Microsoft expects to sell an estimated 4 million copies of Halo 3 (read MethodShop.com review) in the U.S. during the next 30 days according to Gamesindustry.biz. Think 4 million seems a lot for a video game? Keep in mind that “Halo” (2001) and “Halo 2″ (2004) sold 14.5 million copies worldwide.

But because there is so much anticipation and hype around Halo 3, corporate employers and school systems are fearing that their staff and students will spontaneously be calling in sick this week.

Here are a couple quotes I found on USA Today.com:

“I’ve already talked to my teachers and got my assignments for Tuesday. I don’t plan on going to class,” says Dane Mitchell, 20, a Cincinnati State and Community College sophomore. “I’m going to pick up the game at midnight from GameStop, go to a friend’s house, and play it for 36 hours,” he says.

Like Mitchell, Neil Godwin, 21, of Milford, Ohio, reserved his copy more than a year ago. He’s taking a vacation day Tuesday from his job as a Kroger computer help desk analyst to play Halo 3 all day with his brother.

Corporate sponsors are also helping fuel the hype around Halo 3. Even if the last video game you played was Pong in the 1980’s, Microsoft still wants you to know about Halo 3. Everyone from Burger King, NASCAR, Pontiac and even Mountain Dew have promotional deals with Microsoft for Halo 3 that rival such theatrical franchises as Harry Potter. Last night I even saw a ‘limited edition’ Halo 3 Mountain Dew 12-pack labeled as “Game Fuel.” I guess there’s probably enough sugar and caffeine in a 12-pack of Mountain Dew to even keep a Polar Bear up all night.

Beyond the corporate sponsors, promotional advertising blitz and the Internet buzz, Halo 3 is special to gamers because it’s the final chapter in the Halo series. It’s the last time fans will get to see their beloved Master Chief in action. Halo 3 is equivalent of how important “Return of the Jedi” or “The Return of the King” was Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans. It’s the end of a saga.

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Talk about awkward. The first time I played Guitar Hero I felt like a fool - well, for about 15 seconds, then I feel in love. If you haven’t tried it - play it - and oh how Guitar Hero has grown. One of the most popular video games on the market the Guitar Hero franchise is now stretching out to Rock Band. And if you haven’t heard of Rock Band, this will explain the Guitar Hero sporting a 4 port USB hub.

Rock Band is an unreleased music video game being developed by Harmonix Music, the creators of Guitar Hero. The idea is expanding the air guitar concept of Guitar Hero to a full rock band. Rock Band will offer players the ability to function in a virtual band by providing up to four players with the ability to utilize four different instruments (guitar, bass guitar, drum set and microphone).

The 4 port USB hub gives the ability for these players to sync together in the off-line, or same room, player setting. Although Rock Band will include an on-line sync capability.

The Guitar Hero controller sports the USB ready version for both PS3 and Xbox 360. The product isn’t available yet, but is due out in late October.

Source: Kotaku

Turtle Beach has long been a pioneer in personal digital audio. The new Ear Force AK-R8 is no exception. Released just days ago, the perfectly tuned, surround sound USB headphones are self-proclaimed to be the pinnacle of PC gaming headphones.

While headphones and sound cards have traditionally been considered separate items, the Ear Force AK-R8 multi-speaker headphones and USB interface are designed to work as an integrated system to enhance the unique surround sound capabilities of the headphones.

What is unique about the AK-R8 is the ability to tweak the surround sound to your exact liking then saving those settings for future use. The Turtle Beach headphones provide five independent 10-band equalizers for the two front, two surround and center speakers, allowing individual customization so given all the 3D games on the market it’s important not to underestimate the value of getting the exact sound you want during game play.

Some of the bullet point/features include:

• True 5.1 surround sound from 8 speakers
• Ability to monitor outside sounds while wearing headphones
• USB audio interface with multi-channel amplifiers
• DSP sound environments with presets
• High-fidelity large-diaphragm drivers
• Dual sub-woofers for deep vibrating bass
• Professional grade, durable construction
• Super comfortable ear cup and headband design
• 10 band, 6-channel EQ
• Ambience effects
• Positional and removable boom microphone
• Built-in stereo microphones

The USB audio interface, which drives the multi-channel headphones, also features separate 5.1 or 7.1 analog and digital outputs. In addition to the headphones and the USB interface, the AK-R8 includes a USB cable, an optical S/PDIF adapter for connecting to home theater equipment, an installation CD and a quick-start manual. The AK-R8 are compatible with Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

You can purchase the Turtle Beach AK-R8 Surround Sound Headphones for $150 at retail stores or directly from Turtle Beach.

Although I’m not a gamer, my buddy pointed this one and wanted fellow gamers to know. This new USB joystick from Elecom is finally what many are looking for - a well built, sturdy PC controller with enough buttons to play any game. The new Elecom USB JC-AS01BK would be ideal to re-live the glory days of Mortal Combat, Track-n-Field and even Asteroids. Although no dual joystick configuration for classics like Karate Champ.

The USB joystick is compatible with PS3 and check out these stats; truly arcade caliber components with micro switched steel-shafted ball joystick and eight heavy gauge push buttons with four auxiliaries for use as start/select buttons or what ever.

The Elecom USB joystick runs just under $60USD.

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So the makers who brought you Drops just released another fun and adictive game called ZACK.

Simple. Place the colored squares in the grid without getting stuck. The color of your stone must match the color to the left, right, top or bottom. You do have gray stones as jokers whereby you can place them anywhere there is a free slot. When you fill a complete row or column it’s removed from the grid.

I guess one guy got so into this game, he emailed in and said:

I lost my wife because of this game. Thank you Derbrill

Not sure who to feel sorry for… (more…)