This week on preGAME we bring you a trio of some of the most unique PSP games around. That’s right, on today’s episode we bring you live demos of Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake, Patchwork Heroes, and Echoshift. Joining us on the phone to chat about the PSP version of Fat Princess will be Matt Morton, the US producer on the game.

But first, we’ll take a look at the just-released teaser-trailer for one of the most acclaimed mash-up fighting games around. Join us as we screen the first-ever video for Capcom Vs. Marvel 3! Sure the game may not be out for another year, but Mark tells us why this title is so important. Next, we’ll talk about some of the most highly anticipated Xbox Live Arcade games due out this year. From Limbo to Sonic the Hedgehog 4, there’s something for everyone on our list.

Been to a 7-11 lately? The company has announced today that after a successful trial, used console games will be available for sale in most of the nation’s stores by September. Games will go for $20 or lower and classic consoles may soon be supported as well.

Next we’ll chat about Ubisoft and the announcement that the publisher will soon be removing paper instruction manuals from games in order to reduce the cost of production and to help prevent waste. Finally, Mark and Jeff discuss software piracy and how it affects portable gaming consoles the most, especially now that Nintendo blames it for a 50% sales drop in Europe….

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(Credit:
CNET/The 404)

We’ve been promising you guys 404 stickers for the past year now, and we’re happy to report that we finally have them in the office! We literally have 15,000 of them in boxes at our desks just waiting to ship out to our faithful listeners, so if you want a stack and a handful of 404 temporary tattoos, all you have to do is send a self-addressed stamped envelope with the appropriate postage to CNET NY (address in link), care of “The 404 Podcast – STICKERS.

A note to our international fans: we’re happy to send stickers and tattoos out to wherever you live, but please make sure the postage on your envelope is correct, or they’ll get lost in limbo somewhere. Thanks for your patience in advance, we prepare and seal each envelope ourselves so it might take a little time for them to get back to you.

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404 Temporary Tattoos, thanks Props Guy Jim!

(Credit:
CNET/The 404)

It’s our second day back in the office, but it’s also the first time we’re back together for a normal episode. There’s a ton of voice mails to get to, but we get right back into our usual fare with the death of Spiderman 4. Sam Raimi just announced that he’s pulled out of the directing role and some speculate that the studio will use James Cameron’s screenplay for the next movie in the arachnid-superhero franchise. Speaking of movie news, we also check out the new A-Team movie trailer featuring Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, and Jessica Biel- oh my.

Big thanks to everyone who sent us happy new year voice mails over the break, and keep them coming. Now that we’re back, we’re anxious to play more on the air, so phone us up at 1-866-404-CNET and give us a piece of your mind! Stay tuned during the second half of today’s show to learn about the back end technology behind JDate and other popular online dating Web sites.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

EPISODE 496

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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

Amazon.com’s Kindle may be the most-popular e-reader on the market, but that doesn’t mean everyone is happy with it.

Amazon announced earlier this week that it will, in fact, sell a Kindle version of “Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown’s latest novel, “The Lost Symbol.” The book is slated for release on September 15.

(Credit: Amazon.com)

The Kindle version of “The Lost Symbol” was in limbo since Amazon first placed the hardcover version on its site for preorder. Its publisher, Random House, was concerned with releasing a Kindle version on the same day as the hardcover version. The company reasoned that with such a low price ($9.99 on the Kindle) compared with the hardcover version, which Amazon is currently offering for $16.17, that Kindle sales would cannibalize hardcover sales.

Random House’s issues set the stage for what could have been a major battle between Amazon and publishers. Dan Brown’s book promises to be a bestseller the day it’s released. Random House might have had some leverage.

But after entering into discussions with Amazon, Random House announced last week that it had approved a Kindle version.

“Now that all of our security and logistical issues surrounding the e-book of ‘The Lost Symbol’ have been resolved, the e-book will be released simultaneously with the hardcover on September 15,” the publisher announced. It didn’t elaborate on what those issues were.

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Originally posted at The Digital Home

At a glance, the game of craps may look complicated, but in actuality it is really quite simple. Here’s a simple craps game flow for you to grasp:

If the come-out roll is a 7 or 11 (which craps rules label a natural) the don’t pass loses and the pass line wins. The shooter (person rolling the dice) has another chance to set a point and rolls another come out roll immediately. If the come-out roll is a 2, 3, or 12 (called ‘craps’) the don’t pass line wins, or ties and the pass line loses. The don’t pass bet is a tie when the come-out roll is a 12. The shooter once again gets another chance to set a point. In order to pass the dice along the shooter must first set a point, and then ‘7-out’ by hitting a seven before he/she hits the point number again.

If the come-out roll is a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 then that number becomes known as the ‘point’. The dealers will then place a little puck with the word ‘ON’ written on it and put it on top of the number that is the ‘point’ on the layout. This is just to remind players that the session is on, and what the point number is. Before the dealer did this, the puck would have been just off the table with the ‘OFF’ side up. Any don’t pass line or pass line bets at this point are in a state of limbo, waiting for more action to determine their outcome. Do you have a craps strategy? We’ll discuss this further soon.

The shooter will keep rolling until one of 2 things happen: if they roll the number that they had set to the point (i.e. they made the point) the don’t pass bettors lose and the pass line bettors win. If a 7 is rolled before the point number is rolled (which is called 7-out), the winners are the reverse: don’t pass bettors win and pass line bettors lose. In both instances, the round is over. How’s that for simple craps game play.

If you haven’t already done it, you should try playing craps at your favorite online casino.  Check out Flash Craps, Craps Video or Craps Table Layout for more information and free craps software downloads.

I got an e-mail over the weekend from a reader who read my earlier post, “Does the iPhone need a real keyboard?”

Ed writes:

What I would like to see is a portable keyboard for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This would be very helpful in meetings and/or traveling.

For what’s essentially a minicomputer, a compact external keyboard would seem like a simple and logical accessory and would be especially appealing to those who haven’t mastered–or aren’t comfortable–typing on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard, as good as it is. Travel-friendly, fold-up keyboards are available for the old Palm Pilots and Treos, but a quick search on Google reveals precious little on iPhone keyboards.

The $100 BTKeyMini is still in limbo.

(Credit: MacAlly)

Way back in January 2008, Macworld wrote up some notes from the now-defunct Macworld Expo under the headline, “A Bluetooth keyboard for the iPhone?” The article referenced the small MacAlly BTKeyMini Bluetooth keyboard ($100). At the time, MacAlly reps claimed that when the BTKeyMini arrived in March of 2008, it would be compatible with the iPhone. But alas, Apple has never provided Bluetooth keyboard drivers for the iPhone and the BTKeyMini has never shipped. A note on the Web site AValive, which sells the BTKeyMini, says:

The BTKey Mini for the Apple iPhone will not ship until Apple updates the iPhone to accept Bluetooth input. No date has been given as of yet. THE iPhone 3.0 UPDATE DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS PRODUCT.

Of course, the lack of Apple support hasn’t stopped hackers from getting Bluetooth keyboards to work with the iPhone. Back in January of this year, Ars Technica had a report on the Bluetooth keyboard hacking efforts of iPhone expert Ralf Ackermann. And more recently, in March of this year, a couple engineers at Perceptive Development managed to connect an infrared keyboard to an iPhone using a 1,200-baud modem via the headphone port. iPhone Central called it, “One of the most unnecessarily complicated hacks in iPhone history.” Ars Technica described it as “clever,” partially because it didn’t require a jailbroken iPhone.

So, there you have it, Ed. Yes, it would be nice if there was an external keyboard option for the iPhone–wireless or wired–but it looks like you’re going to have to wait for Apple to decide it’s ready to supply the drivers for it.
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Originally posted at Fully Equipped

Green Day is coming to Rock Band. Finally. I mean, it makes sense right? The band has a ton of fans and they fit under the umbrella of “rock” so it’s a pretty natural move.

What’s not all that clear is whether we’ll be seeing a full Rock Band: Green Day game or a track pack. I’d personally vote for downloadable tracks because we’d all get our hands on them sooner but if I had to guess, I’d say they’re working on a full game. They have more than enough tracks to fill an entire game and you’d think that downloadable tracks would have been made available already if they weren’t working on a full game.

Luckily, Green Day frontman Billy Joe Armstrong cleared it all up for everyone on KROQ this morning when he said:

“Uh yeah, we’re doing a whole Green Day Rock Band… uh.” And when asked when we’d see the game, he said. “I’m not sure… soon. Like I think not this week, but this year soon… by the end of this year.”

So “a whole Green Day Rock Band” would make it seem like an entire game and the fact that the band hasn’t gone in to do all the motion capture stuff means that it probably won’t be out for a while. All of this information is still in limbo so take everything with a grain of salt. We’ll hopefully hear more soon.

[via Kotaku]