Just how big is Dragon Quest in Japan? Not only did the game sell some 2.3 million copies already, but it helped double the sales of the Nintendo DS. In MMA terms, Dragon Quest is a huge, Brock Lesnar-like draw.

The week before the game went on sale, Nintendo sold 51,601 DSs. That number jumped to 126,785 after the game’s release.

There’s still no U.S. release date, but given that Square Enix takes its sweet time localizing games, it could be something of a wait.

Or, you could hop on eBay and buy a copy of Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2. If you’re not prepared to grind for more than hour just outside the starting village, then maybe it’s not the game for you.

Final Fantasy is child’s play compared to Dragon Quest.

Seems those those “exclusivity agreements for popular handsets” have attracted the attention of the US Department of Justice. On the agency’s unofficial (so far) agenda? Whether or not these exclusivity are anti-competitive.

Palm Pre Under Sprint. Courtesy Sprint

Personally, I don’t really mind when a manufacturer and service provider agree to limit access to a particular phone. It’s just business after all, with the operator hoping to cash in on an eagerly-awaited gadget’s popularity, and the manufacturer enjoying a bigger share of the profits in return. It’s not anti-competitive when you’re trying to acquire any advantage to beat your competitors, more so when an exclusivity deal is strictly a B2B move.

What I do mind is an operator intentionally crippling a phone, apparently hoping its customers will pay for what should already be available to them. Anyone remember the RAZR from Verizon Wireless that had its Bluetooth disabled? The consensus regarding Nokia’s lackluster entry into the US is that the manufacturer doesn’t enjoy operator support because it refuses to cripple their phones for service providers. Another anecdote going around the tech journalism circles is that Palm took its sweet time integrating cellular and wireless connectivity into one device in an effort to remain operator-friendly.

And the specific deal that probably attracted the DOJ’s attention? Well, we all know how the newest iPhone still can’t do MMS and tethering—in the US. Such functionality is already available to European iPhone users, or to people who decided not to play the operator’s game.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Mega Man 2.5D: Holy wow
3D candy fabricator promises a sweet time
We would like to present a Lego bar chart
New kind of shape-memory plastic that’s moldable at room temperature
No TiVo DirecTV DVR until 2010, sorry

The CandyFab 6000 is an updated version of the larger 4000 model and can make 3D objects out of sugar. It uses Arduino boards to control the fabricating arms and fits on a desktop.

You will eventually be able to buy a kit to make one of these yourself. We would not recommend using the objects produced by this device in industrial situations. For example, do not make a sugar caribinier. It will only end in sadness.