Games and gear

Dear Nintendo: you've had a great couple of months. The Wii is awesome, the DS still sells out everywhere, and everyone is pumped about your upcoming games (except maybe Wii Play). It's totally cool if you just want to take a break for a while, recharge your batteries and come back refreshed. You're starting to run out of ideas, and it shows.

Last night, Nintendo launched the Everybody Votes channel on the Wii. It's a polling/survey system that lets Wii users log in and answer various, seemingly random questions. They vote by dragging their Mii … Read more

As far as complicated computer apparatuses are concerned, we weren't so sure about the "Ergopod 500," especially for those who live anywhere near earthquake country. But Russian-based Gravitonus seems to have done it right, with a new gaming system for the physically disabled that appears a lot more secure.

The "Alternative Computer Control System" shown on Medgadget looks like a cross between a piece of ultra-modern Danish furniture and something you'd find in Dr. Evil's underground control center. Despite the aesthetic qualities, it's an engineering marvel that incorporates features even quadriplegics can … Read more

Gamespot reports that a new "A-Hole Button," so coined by Bungie Studios, will allow Halo 3 gamers to mute unwanted...ahem feedback...from other players.

The new feature will allow the back button on the Xbox 360 controller to bring you to a menu where you can choose to instantly mute other players.

The feature came in response to complaints from Halo 2 community players about poorly behaved players ranting and raving against other gamers on Xbox Live, a community liaison told Gamespot.

Wii Play seems like such a great idea. About $50 for a brand-new Nintendo Wii remote and a collection of games that take advantage of said Wiimote. With games like pool, target shooting, and table tennis, it should be a sure hit. Well, we just got Wii Play in, and after a night of gaming I'm ready to offer my first impressions.

Wii Play is a lot of things, but it's not a sure hit. The games that should be instant classics--target shooting, table tennis, and pool--are instead disappointments.

Lots of nostalgic gamers are excited about the target … Read more

A few of us Cravers have been at the American International Toy Fair in New York City this week, and we've been thoroughly impressed by the selection of fun playthings that might be geared at a slightly younger audience but which we certainly wouldn't mind taking home anyway.

--LEGO Millennium Falcon. Will Greenwald kind of went nuts over this 5,000+ piece Lego building set that was released to commemorate that 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie. (Crave)

--Nerf gear for your Wii. Will also dug these super-soft "accessoriies," with a caveat: &… Read more

There are plenty of Wii accessories on the market, and some may actually help you improve your game play. But what good is all this without the appropriate attire?

City Magazine understands this well and has offered some helpful fashion hints for the well-heeled fanboy and fangirl. Among the designer fashion wear it chose, according to Luxist, are "a Polo Ralph Lauren vest and polo, a Tiffany diamond bangle, P'8419 sunglasses and, if one-piece outfits are more your style, a map dress from Lacoste."

We can't wait to see what outfits are recommended for venturing outside … Read more

Better luck next time, Sparky. Remember those two special-edition World of Warcraft Dell laptops we mentioned that were up for charity auction on eBay? In case you missed it (shame on you for not reading Crave more carefully), they were a pair of custom XPS M1710 gaming notebooks painted by artist Mike Lavallee and signed by Michael Dell himself.

The company announced the winners, Trip Hoover of Texas and Daniel Marinow of Germany, whose combined bids totaled nearly $12,000, according to Laptoping. So don't feel too bad. The proceeds went to the America's Second Harvest.

Web site discovery and recommendation site StumbleUpon, best known for its thumbs-up-or-down recommendation and discovery system for Web sites, has given its Stumble Video product a makeover that targets the coveted demographic of Wii addicts. The site now has an interface specifically designed for the Wii's Opera browser so that Wii owners can use their consoles to find cool new videos from YouTube and other sites, targeted specifically toward their prior StumbleUpon rating histories. It's a bit like Netflix's recommendation service.

StumbleUpon, which claims nearly 2 million registered users, has also released the 3.0 version of … Read more

LEGO unveiled its biggest, most detailed Star Wars kit to date with the Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon. This massive package is clearly targeted more toward hard-core fans and hobbyists than children, with its huge price tag and thousands of pieces.

This beast consists of over 5,000 pieces and measures over 33 inches long by 22 inches wide by 8 inches high. It can't make the Kessel Run in 1.2 parsecs, but it features careful details like a retracting boarding ramp, rotating quad blaster turrets, and an elevating radar dish. It also comes with LEGO minifigures of … Read more