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I’ve posted before about the Brain-control headset and how it could revolutionize the way of gaming. Well, now we read about an adapted Harry Potter version of the game where you lift boulders and throw lightning bolts using only your mind. That would be something right? But is it fun to just use your brain while playing? I don’t really know, but I think about it and feel, I must do some action during the game, and brain signals are not the physical actions you may wanna have. Would it be too tiring to play for long, since it’s purely focusing on your brain rather than your acts?

A Nintendo Wii fan made this clip to show how he wants the Wii technology to be applied to the new Star Wars game. I’m not sure if the current Wii controller can handle all it requires, but it’s an amazing concept he should be paid for doing it :)

To be frank, except that mind-control is something more techy and new, I feel the Star Wars Wii concept appeals to me more. Would the mind-control turn out to be just a fancy way of gaming that would be used for showoff for a while and then just die? Or would it really be a replacement to Wii and traditional controls? What do you think?

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While Wii keeps promising the awaited Wii Fit that will launch in May, that some say would let you cancel your gym membership, others are making things more easy and lazy-proof with their Brain Control headset that would allow users wearing the $299 headset (cheap.. I’m buying one) to move objects by only thinking of their actions! The headset can also detect more than 30 different emotions and actions, and can also use your facial expressions as avatars to the game character.

While this technology is not new, it’s newly brought to end user and in the gaming industry. This headset is expected to be out in the market later this year, so it’s pretty soon. You can see the Brain Control headset link for snapshot and video of it, and also enjoy the other video from YouTub here.

One thing that comes to my mind is, how does outside interference affect the game? Say there is someone talking to you, a baby jumping over your lap, your hear a joke, or see an eye-catchy thing, or even sneeze. And this happens before you give the final boss his mortal combo attack. OUCH!!!

Anyways, you can find all those news story links and more on Buzz Out Load.

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The January NPD data report on console and game sales in the US has been released, and PS3 sales have not only surpassed Xbox 360 with 269,000 units compared to 230,000, but it is also going Wii a real chase up with 6,000 units difference only! It’s true ofcourse, Xbox 360 has been in the market for quite some time, and Wii has been selling like candy all the time. On the other, considering the price difference between a PS3 and a Wii, for me this counts as PS3 is outselling right now.

Meanwhile, rumors are spreading of next generations of the Wii and Xbox 360 in 2010. With the delay Sony had in releasing PS3, I think the will have their own show in the next release, probably 2012. But then again, they might enjoy knowing their enemy tactics and countering them.

PS3’s main problem remains so far however, and that is lacking killer apps and exclusive games. Wii is fun for family, Xbox 360 has many exclusive games, and with strong internet multi-player support, while in PS3, and coming from Anti-Microsoft guy, still lacks the games that brings people to it. I am personally downloading many playable demos I find, and I hardly find ay worth of spending $60 on. Call of Duty? Well that’s not exclusive. MGS? Fans are still waiting! I know some people might be loving some games there but there isn’t just enough variety, and the lack of multi-player games there makes it less helpful in gatherings.

This Add-on device that will let PS3 users watch digital TV via their consoles might bring more value to it. There is a video demo of the device if you like. But for me, last week I knew I didn’t waste my money on the PS3 after I watch the first Blu Ray version episode of what I think is the best planet documentary ever made.

Watch the trailer and you will know what I mean.

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The new hack into Wii that allowed users to run their on code on the console, even if only partially successful and with no motion-sensor support, the hack video could really mean soon you will get custom user made small games to run on the Wii, which could bring real more joy and fun to everyone. Nintendo definitely didn’t promote for this hack, and neither I found any comment from them on it, but I think what a smart move would be is to let people really enjoy it! You can’t even imagine what users would have in mind that they want to bring into reality, and what would Nintendo have to lose? More consoles off the shelf. That’s it. Surely home games won’t take commercial games place as is the case with PC gaming.

I hope to hear some announcement from Nintendo about it, or keeping a blind eye on it rather than taking what Apple took on the iPhone.

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I came by the Google Trends and I was thinking of an interesting competition to make, and I thought “What’s better than console war?”. So I went and compared PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. and here is the result:

Pretty obvious Wii came out of no where in 2005 Q4 to take over soon. Xbox 360 over does PS3 for most of the season. And only recently PS3 seems to be catching up with XBox 360, as it is becoming more affordable and has more games. That’s not all you can read from the marvelous Google Trend however. If you take your eyes down a bit to the regional break down you will see this:

What can you see? Xbox 360 is red remember. It is the lowest of all in Japan, and we’re not talking about a tiny difference. Not for any other console or region there is such low demand. Pretty interesting ha! Guess Japanese hate this thing to heart. The other interesting thing I noticed is that United States come at # 8 in ranking for PS3 demand, and does not exceed # 6 for the other two consoles. I didn’t think France, Canada and Spain would be topping the US in video game demand.

Now for a detailed look at how the graph looks for console demand in the land of games, Japan:

OUCH! Very very low for XBox 360. Wii is starting to get competition with the yet to prove PS3.

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Since its release I have wanted to try it. It was only limited to U.S. when they allowed me to register my credit card and Kuwait Shipping address. This awkward start raised the flag! Months later, the Google Checkout service is available globally, but I still did not see a use for it with the current signed up merchants. Few weeks back I had my eye on Nintendo Wii, but it was always out of stock, or extremely expensive. I tried various sites, Become.com, Google Base, and Froogle eventually found me a retail store called TRLStore.com (Short for Takes Really Long I pressume). The site had it in stock and for a reasonable price. What’s even better is they had Google Checkout. I was already registered so it’s very tempting, the whole thing is only few clicks away. Even though the TRL load time was extremely slow, I still managed to add the item to the cart and checkout. This was back in 8th Feb.

Immediately after my order, I received an email from Google Checkout with the status below:

That was it. They were really quickly collecting their money, but then again, most people are! I did not care much however if the item is really going to get delivered for that price. 7 working days later, the status is still the same. When I contacted TRL through Google Checkout (they use virtual email to hide your email from the store) I received a reply saying they already sent me an email two days back, and that the item is still out of stock and they have no fixed date for the next shipment. A good hope is 1st March, but it’s again not certain, and I am not sure where do I stand in the queue. I did not receive the two days before email, either because simply they did not send it, or the mechanism of forwarding the email through Google Checkout failed. Anyways, the end result is, I have paid $366 for something they don’t have, when they actually promoted it as in stock, and this is the only reason I chose them. I decided this is a waste of time and money and canceled my order. My argument however that the item was marketed as in stock did not suit them and they replied with this:

“Your order has been canceled. Please wait 3-5 days for the credit to get applied to your bank.

The funny thing is that, even when he posted the URL back to me, and up till this very moment, the Wii Console link does not mention the item is out of stock or not available. In fact the two words (stock, available) do not exist right now in the link. Instead they are promoting the item as “On Sale For: $312.29 (USD)“. You can wonder how the out of stock item is on sale, pretty amusing. After that incident only, I found out that CNet has a review on Google Checkout, and that it is only rated as 3.9 POOR!

So what now? To summarize, below are the Pros & Cons of Google Checkout:

Pros:

• Single sign on with Google. Your personal information is hidden from the merchants and no need for multiple signup passwords.
• Wide variety of merchants, with quick and fast search through them from one interface.

Cons:

• Additional fees for Google Checkout service, as the CNet reviews show.
• The wide variety of merchants is causing low profile merchants to spoil the service quality and overall experience of the end user
• Instant Charging: Even when the item is not in stock, you get charged immediately when you place the order. I am not sure if this is related to how the RTLStore operates or how Google Checkout behaves, it seems like Google Checkout nature and it’s really inconvenient and is on the side of the merchant. Unlike Amazon who charge shipments separately only once they are shipped out.
• Communication problems: CNet reviews revealed cases when merchants did not receive customer purchases, and my experience suggests a possible similar contact forwarding problem.
• No Merchants Review: REALLY BAD! With the wide variety of merchants, how can I tell which merchants I can trust? Right now, there is no way to review merchant rating. Even though Google Checkout prompts you for a merchant review 2 weeks after your order, they still do not provide your review for public. The merchant him self however is allowed to discuss your review. So it’s really a feedback to the merchant, whom I already disargued with, rather than a review for other consumers. This is either because they still don’t have enough reviews to publish them, or because the reviews are still so bad they don’t want to scare people off. I strongly believe it’s the second reason. Cnet reviews prove it, the unknown brands give you a hint, and the fact that the seller is the only one outside Google Checkout beside you who can view your review and comment on it, as they indicate here. It seems they want to reach customer satisfaction by encouraging comments exchange under their supervision.

I hope I have made the Cons list long and detailed enough to keep you away from the hassle of using the service, in the meantime at least. I really like the concept and wish it can improve. I would be a user again if they can deliver quality service.

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If there is one lesson that I have learned from the gaming industry, it’s that strength is not everything. The report and results from PC World says so. After two years of promising next generation powerful console, PS3 came out unloaded and had nothing special. Sales of PS2 are surpassing PS3 now, that Sony have increased this year shipment of the old console to 13 million unites, up from 11 millions planned originally.

But why is that lack behind? When Nintendo launched, they didn’t have much advancement in graphics, and I think they made the right choice not to go with that direction. To succeed, they decided instead to do thing differently, with their remote like controller that really made the simplest of games sound fun to play, and easy too. Another thing they saved on was the price, compared to the expensive PS3 console. In addition, Nintendo had their killer apps ready for launch. The long anticipated and exclusive Legend of Zelda, was enough to get people lined up for the Wii console. Rayman did not do bad at all as well. Sony on the other hand had no killer app, nor exclusive games. It was basically the sames games on other consoles with a bit more on graphics. Nothing that is worthy of 400 to 600 dollars! While both Wii and PS3 should not be available worldwide, in Kuwait ofcourse they both are even at large stores like Virgin. The funny thing is, some shops are selling Wii for over $700, almost the price of PS3. It is worth mentioning that PS3 came first to Kuwait for over $1500, and it is now worth around $850 only. Read the PC World report for more information on console sales in the US.

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