Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category

Nintendo shipping black Wii to Europe in limited edition bundle

Why, Nintendo — why? Americans have been buying your underpowered, kid-centric console faster than you can ship ‘em here for years now, and yet you ignore our innermost desires to see a Wii in some color other than white. Have we not made ourselves clear? Are our voices going unheard? Clearly, you’ve an ear for those in Europe, as folks in the UK and Ireland will be able to procure a dark Wii starting on November 6th as part of a limited edition bundle that includes Wii Sports Resort and a Wii MotionPlus dongle. The rest of mainland Europe will see the same bundle on November 20th, and as if that wasn’t enough, a black Classic Controller Pro and a slew of black Wii accessories will also accompany the package for those looking to stock up. Naturally, there’s no mention of a price, but considering that you’ll pay anything to join the still-limited black Wii party, it (likely) matters not.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo shipping black Wii to Europe in limited edition bundle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China Blue HD crosses over to the UK, third Opium War inevitable

We’ve given HD DVD’s bastard child China Blue HD its due for a good start in its native land, but now that U.K. Importer GBAX has made a few units available it’s time for English language buyers to at least consider this Blu-ray alternative. Of course, with a £259.99 ($413.22 U.S.) pricetag for this plain TCL player, AV and HD cables, plus 14 CBHD movies (The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Invasion, The Island, Flood, Poseidon & 8 Chinese-only flicks) to get you started the barrier to entry is high, but as shown in the unboxing / preview video — embedded after the break, watch for ninjas — the experience is very familiar. As Format War Central points out, the 220/240Hz power cord makes things complicated for the U.S. and other places outside Europe, but hardcore HD DVD holdouts are used to a world filled with only Warner and Universal movies already, so why not give the other blue laser flavor a try?

[Via Format War Central]

Continue reading China Blue HD crosses over to the UK, third Opium War inevitable

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

China Blue HD crosses over to the UK, third Opium War inevitable originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remainders – What We Didn’t Post [Remainders]

Marge Simpson To Pose for Playboy…Kindle Books To Cost More Abroad…Twitter Recommended for Nobel Peace Prize…Windows Mobile 7: So Close and Yet So Far

Marge Simpson is going to be on the cover of Playboy on Oct. 16, and I don’t know whether to laugh, puke, subscribe, or shake my head in utter dismay. What I do know is that this is proof the magazine industry as a whole, and the formerly dignified adult magazine industry in particular, has lost it. And I think it means The Simpsons has finally officially jumped the shark, too. (Confession: I have the first 8 or 9 seasons committed to memory, but I haven’t watched it in years.) [SF Gate]

Kindle revelation of the day: While there may not be any extra service charges for the international edition (which costs just $20 more), the books themselves will cost more. This makes sense for roamers, certainly, since that effectively is the extra service charge, but it doesn’t make as much sense for people who live in other countries. In its defense (or should I say defence?) Amazon cites higher EU taxes on ebooks as a reason. [Guardian UK]

TechCrunch caught this great Fox News blip where some guy (former Bush Deputy National Security Adviser Mark Pfeifle) said that the founders of Twitter should be up for the Nobel Peace Prize next time around. And we all had a good guffaw. And then we realized, whoa, wait a minute, why shouldn’t this be taken seriously? It’s not always about Michael Jackson, folks. [TechCrunch]

Engadget reported that a leaked slide from a Microsoft Office presentation mentioned the eagerly awaited Windows Mobile 7 would be released to manufacturing as early as “Spring 2010.” Never mind that the Office team is in a completely different division of Microsoft than Windows Mobile, and that the company is not known for strong internal communication. If this is accurate at all, what it does (as Engadget also notes) is affirm what we basically already knew, that Windows Mobile 6.5 is a stop-gap and that WinMo 7 would come out as soon as developmentally possible, sometime in mid to late 2010. I don’t care when it gets here as long as it’s not a total piece of crap. [Engadget]

European Commission likes Windows 7 browser ballot screen, will probably fine Microsoft anyway

Well, it took two months, but the European Commission has finally decided that Microsoft’s idea for a Windows 7 ballot screen, in which users pick which web browser they want installed, is acceptable, saying it’ll give users “an effective and unbiased choice between Internet Explorer and competing Web browsers.” Previously MS was working on a custom version of the OS for EU shores, called Windows 7 E, but nobody was particularly fond of that idea. We’re glad to see the European Commission and Microsoft finally starting to warm to each other — maybe money can buy you love.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

European Commission likes Windows 7 browser ballot screen, will probably fine Microsoft anyway originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First sales reports: PSP Go performing ‘within expectations,’ says Sony

So the PS3 Slim was an absolute monster at retail (look at us, using superlative adjectives on a Monday!), selling one million systems since its release. (Keep in mind that’s an old number by now.) How’s the PSP Go doing? It’s doing well, yes, but I don’t think we can call it a monster yet. Sales in the UK were up 120 percent in the week following its launch. We don’t have U.S. numbers yet. Sorry.

Are those numbers good? Yeah, they’re good, but, much like the PSP Go itself, they’re not out of this world or anything.

Sony Europe put out an OFFICIAL STATEMENT~! (yes, I’m ripping off Figure 4 Weekly) that reads:

PSPgo has performed in line with our expectations, driving 100 per cent incremental volume for the category and has benefited the broad PSP portfolio with PSP-3000 also enjoying a big lift. PSP software sales also having been a standout with both new releases GT PSP and FIFA 10 performing well.

Note that Sony said it’s performed “within” expectations; expectations weren’t exceeded. So I don’t know if we can attribute sales directly to the PSP Go, or to the pretty big releases in Gran Turismo and FIFA. Unlike the Europeans, I paid full price for my copy of Gran Turismo!

And now we play the waiting game vis-à-vis U.S. numbers.

Surely I’m not the only one who remembers Homer and the Sorny television?

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