As you can see, a removable mask also turns the face into Skeletor. For $25, you too, can celebrate bad taste and creepy peripherals this Halloween. Yes, Sorceress! [USB Geek via Technabob and DVICE]

Koller said, "It's not coming back, so let me put that on the table," before later adding "won't be returning" to Ars.

Then, to Kotaku, Koller flipped the whole table metaphor around (but said the same thing) with the assertion that "backwards compatibility is off the table."

Some eyewitnesses claimed that Koller then stood from his chair, squatted to the floor and teabagged the first generation of PS3s that included hardware backward compatibility. Then, with an equal amount of ceremony, he teabagged the second generation of PS3s the included software emulated backward compatibility.

Sony's stance is that PS2-compatibility is simply no longer a relevant draw to PS3 buyers. And while that's an easy enough point to scoff at, I will admit, I don't know the last time I loaded a PS2 disc into my PS3. [Ars and Kotaku]

"As we have stated previously, we do not have plans for a PS3 price drop, and any rumors to that effect are false and are the result of speculation," the statement from SCEA public relations manager Al De Leon reads. "SCEA remains focused on the long-term momentum of PS3. With the industry's best software lineup this year, combined with our most aggressive marketing campaign to date, we remain confident in our approach and the value we're delivering with PS3."

Note that there is no denial of a PS2 price drop.

[Joystiq]

Diagramed to work with the PS2 (but probably just as applicable to the PS3), Sony recounts variably-colored LEDs that fit on your fingers. A regular camera (like the EyeToy) tracks these LEDs—a task that's easy even in dark environments.

My gut tells me that this patent is a dated, defensive maneuver—the once-solution to the fundamental flaw with Nike's Kinetic for PS2. The exercise game was fantastic, but it just couldn't track user movement all that well in any sub-optimal lighting conditions. Then again, newer PS3 games (like Trials of Topoq) are based upon the same motion-tracking premise and they, too, are hindered by low light.

So I guess the rings could still be useful. I'm just not sure that anyone would view them as innovative enough to be worth the marketing push. [Siliconera via Kotaku]

By November 1998, when the Dreamcast first arrived in Japanese shops, it had been ten long years since the popular Megadrive, a decade punctuated by a triple whammy of high-profile hardware mistakes...the Dreamcast simply came too late in SEGA's hardware decline to reverse a long-running downward trend. For all its technological innovations and excellent games, SEGA's misadventures during the 1990s had left both gamers and publishers wary of any new platform bearing its name...Even if it had shipped with a champagne fountain and a nozzle that fired a constant stream of chocolate and diamonds into the player's lap, it seems likely that many potential owners would still have adopted a "wait and see" attitude.

While we gave away the article's thesis, it's still worth heading over to the link and giving the entire cathartic piece a read (before polishing off a sixer in DC's name and loading up some Shenmue). [Eurogamer via Kotaku]

According to prosecutors, Nathan's father taught him the ways of spydom from jail over his cellphone UPDATE: from his cell (duh), coaching Nathan through meetings with Russian agents in Mexico, Peru and Cyprus. And then, there was the issue of how to handle the money.

...Nathan Nicholson, a former Army paratrooper, had returned from his visits with the Russians with at least $35,000 in cash, some of it in a PlayStation video game case. The money was intended in part to settle a “pension” that Harold Nicholson said was owed him from his days as a C.I.A. spy for the Russians before his arrest in 1996, the prosecutors said.

[NYTimes Thanks ibelli!]

The other interesting, though not necessarily surprising finding was that the gaming population spends more time playing the 360 than the Wii, despite the 360's lower install base. Microsoft can probably thank Call of Duty 4 for that win (along with similar online titles).

One point we're not sure about, however, is whether or not portable systems were included in this list. We're guessing not, as the DS would have probably popped up somewhere. [Kotaku]

The Jog attaches to your belt and connects between your Wii or PS2 and the controller—forcing you to jog in place in order to move your character (can you say "hot seller?"). I must say that I haven't encountered a fitness peripheral of this caliber since the Gamercize Pro-Sport and it's PC partner-in-crime (and that is not a good thing). Fortunately, only those in the UK will be able to get their hands on one in the foreseeable future. [Kotaku]

He also goes on to say that it's almost as strong as a PlayStation 2 and an Xbox 1 at launch. Think back to the games you played on the PS2 and Xbox. Now think of the games you're playing on the iPhone. Doesn't quite match up, does it?

It's strange to us that Carmack is throwing out so much hype for Apple, seeing as he's got a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with the company.

The verdict is also out on whether Apple has a concrete grasp of gaming, the id co-founder said. The company's reception to criticism has also been counterintuitive, which has led to its relationship with id being something akin to a roller-coaster ride.

Apple essentially kisses his ass when they need him to show up for one of Steve Jobs' keynotes, but then throws him the cold shoulder the second he passes judgment, Carmack said.

[Apple Insider]

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