Nintendo DSi ready to release.

by | October 7, 2008 | In Technology | Comments Off

nin_dsi

November 1st… This is the offical Japan Release date for the Nintendo Dsi. Possibly a Christmas release for the US, but I doubt it. I think it would be cutting it a bit too close to make it into stores over here before Santa makes his rounds. According to Akibablog the stores in Akihabara have the POP materials in place, but haven’t started taking pre-orders yet.

Nintendo seems to have jammed eveything but the kitchen sink into this unit.

  • 640X480 digital camera (located externally)
  • A VGA video “webcam” located on the inside
  • Expanded 3.25″ screens
  • SD Memory Card slot
  • Full music player capability
  • Built in DS web browser
  • A DS-Ware store (similar to the Wii store) with access to downloadable games using “Nintendo points” for purchase.
  • All this and it’s 12% slimmer than the DS-Lite

I don’t want one myself (never was into portable gaming much), but I think I will be interested in the U.S. release date to see just how crazy people will be to get this.

Update (11/01/2008): Nintendo DSi will release in the U.S. summer 2009.

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Lucky Star OVA and Vol 4 DVD release date.

by | October 7, 2008 | In Anime | Comments Off

ls_ova

As Lucky Star fans should know by now the Lucky Star OVA officially released in Japan on September 25th.

Those of us in the US will most likely not see a release over here until at least April 2009 (after the regular series DVDs have all released) if not well into summer or fall depending on how fast Bang Zoom can get the cast dubbing.

I will say this… I have seen it (just don’t ask how), and it will be worth the wait. Kadokawa and Kyoto Animation really brought the funny on this release. The story takes up right after the end of season 1, and some have even dubbed it as “episode 25″. The OVA has done a few things differently than the series. First off there don’t seem to be quite as many meaningless idle conversations. The characters always seem to be up to something. Second… I think they intended this to be viewed by a wider audience as the usual obscure references have for the most part been replaced with references that most people (who haven’t lived under a rock for the last 10 years) will get. If anything these changes didn’t hurt the story one bit, but I believe made it much easier to enjoy. The third thing I noticed is that several plots were created throughout the OVA that were not resolved, and the ending itself tells me that we haven’t seen the last of Lucky Star. (Like anyone needed me to say that). Whether it be a new season or more OVAs this show seems to be far from finished. From me the OVA definitely gets two thumbs up.

While on the subject… Since some may not know this yet the Lucky Star Vol 4 DVD is scheduled to release in the U.S. on November 4th. I have not seen any DVD artwork as yet and after the Vol 3 DVD released with completely different artwork than was advertised I will not even assume it will be the same as the Japan DVD.


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Intel’s New SSD drives

by | October 7, 2008 | In Technology | Comments Off

intel_ssd

A few weeks ago intel released their new line of Solid State Drives (SSD).  These drives promise to be different than previous SSDs from other manufacturers which have had some reported problems. This is essentially due to the new multi level cell flash memory vs the single level cell architechture used in previous SSDs. These drives are supposed to be much more reliable, and so far most are feeling that Intel has definitely lived up to that promise.

What is an SSD??? Basically it’s a hard drive based on flash memory technology rather than the magnetic platters used in conventional hard disks. As some said when I tried explaining it to them: “So it’s like a flash card for a digital camera only bigger?” Well… Yes… That’s exactly what it’s like. The benefits??? It’s fast, it produces less heat than a standard HDD, it’s fast, there are no moving parts so it’s more reliable, and finally it’s fast… Did I mention that SSDs are fast??? There have been benchmarks showing that SSDs are anywhere from 6X to 12X faster than the average hard drive. A good example would be one fellow that installed one on in his laptop… He said it takes 15 seconds to reboot the computer… Next time you reboot your computer time it. On average I’d say it takes 2 to 3 minutes using a standard HDD. Not to mention all the time folks spend watching that hourglass icon waiting for a program to load.

At the moment the Intel Mainstream drives come in 2 flavors. the XM-18M is an 80 GB drive and the XM-25M is the 160 GB version. Granted they are rather small by todays standards, and rather expensive (the 80GB model is retailing around $700), but the standard rule of thumb on flash memory products is that capacity doubles while price drops by half each year, so it would not be a surprise to see the 160GB drive selling for $350 or so by next fall and a 320 GB version releasing along the same time.

For more info on Intel’s SSD Drives
Click here: http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/mainstream/index.htm

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