NYC

We're a few days out from E3, that magical place where dreams are made and fanboys and girls from all walks of life are simultaneously appeased and slightly disappointed. Surprises are expected from all of the big three this year -- particularly Nintendo. How will the gaming giant top last year's 3DS debut? All signs point to the announcement of a Wii followup, which we've heard alternately referred to as the "Wii HD" and "Project Cafe." Rumors, leaks, and the occasional bit of confirmed information have been rampant in the months and weeks leading up to the event. We've weaved it all together into one handy guidebook, to make sure that we're all on the same page, come Tuesday morning. Let's start with a genuine bit of information: back in April, the company's CEO, Satoru Iwata, confirmed that Nintendo is, in fact, working on an HD followup to the Wii that is most likely due out in 2012. A few days prior to that revelation, the requisi...

Earlier this week the Eee Pad Transformer scored itself a sweet upgrade in the form of Android 3.1, and with it came USB host support. When we did our hands-on with the Honeycomb update we couldn't demo the feature because, well, the Xoom doesn't have any USB ports. But that Transformer keyboard dock has a pair of 2.0 jacks and someone was kind enough to post a YouTube vid of a PS3 controller and the ASUS tablet getting their game on. Theoretically, this should work with any USB gamepad, including those for the Xbox 360. The only drawback? You've got to be wired in -- no Bluetooth support here. Follow the break to see it in action and satisfy your Android-loving curiosity.  Update:  We managed to have a quick go on the same setup at Computex, and the tethered PS3 controller worked perfectly. Unsurprisingly though, we had no luck with the Bluetooth connection. Quick hands-on video after the break. HKtech ASUS UK (Twitter) ,  MrEverb...

If multiple batmobiles, a bat-usb stick, and a bat-puter aren't enough to convince you Bruce Wayne is a vain egomaniac, maybe these  Batman: Arkham City  batarang controllers will give you pause. In traditional bat-gadget fashion, these Xbox 360 and Ps3 controllers boast a cheesy bat-aesthetic (such as bat-start and select / back buttons), dual rumble motors, comfort-soft grips, and seven switchable splashes of LED color. Although physically the two controllers are pretty similar, Ol' Bats seems to favor the PlayStation 3, giving its controller not only the popular Xbox 360 button / analog layout, but an internal battery, detachable charging cable, and batman-themed USB RF receiver, to boot. The Xbox variant? A dated, wired affair -- but hey, at least it's got that Xbox guide button, right? The controllers will be on display next week at E3, courtesy of Power-A, and will hit store shelves when  Batman: Arkham City  ships in October, leaving ...

Splitfish is finally bringing its flagship PC and PS3 mouse controller to the Xbox, albeit packing an odd wireless caveat. Although the FragFx Shark 360 is billed as an identical twin to its PS3 counterpart, this half-gamepad and rodent combo, much like a XIM adapter, needs a wired Xbox 360 gamepad to act as an intermediary between itself and the console. That wired controller plugs into the Shark's wireless USB dongle; the macro-equipped "fragchuck" and mouse themselves are completely untethered. It sounds a little janky, but if your faith in mouse superiority is strong, you may be forgiving it for its faults come late August. Hit the break for a full list of features and glittery PR wonder. Splitfish

With the PSN finally back up, it's time for important things -- you know, messaging your buds for a  Black Ops  pwning spree or hitting up Netflix. Hyperkin's Remotext for PS3 wants to help you get back into action with its hybrid remote / controller / chatpad. It features a slide-out Blu-ray remote panel, QWERTY keypad -- better positioned than SONY's offering -- and two analog nubs with a near-complete set of gaming controls. There's no sign of rear triggers, and Bluetooth connectivity is absent too, but it does come with a wireless USB receiver and rechargeable battery so you're not left scrounging between the couch cushions for AAs. Although we're doubtful it'll prove functional for gaming, it could be appropriate for PS3s that spend more time sitting at the movies than getting their Move on. The DualShock 3 shouldn't have much to worry about, but we'll find out at E3, when the Remotext will be officially showcased. There's no word on pr...

Think your body's a temple? Turns out it's actually just the antenna the temple's staff uses to watch football when they're done praying. A group of engineers from Microsoft Research showcased a technology at Vancouver's Conference on Human Factors in Computing that offers gesture-based control on a scale that could make the company's Kinect controller downright laughable. The team demonstrated how it could harness the human body's reception of electromagnetic noise to create gesture-based computer interaction that does away with the need for a camera -- though a receiver  is worn on the body (the neck, in this case). The system uses the unique signals given off in different parts of the home to help measure the interaction, effectively turning one's walls into giant control pads, which can regulate things like lighting and the thermostat. Hopefully games, too, because we can't wait to play Pac-Man  with our bedrooms. The Register Microsoft

Unless you're into weird promotional mascots, video games, or measuring the rotation of the earth, the PlayStation Move probably hasn't caught your eye. Here's an idea: what if you could wave it about to control your PC? Earlier this week, electronics hobbyist Jacob Pennock used the Move.me C library to build a gesture-controlled mouse driver, and we've got the project's tech demo after the break. Watch as Pennock launches Facebook by drawing an "F," starts a video with a jaunty "V," and closes a few items with a quick "X" motion over the offending windows. Control motions are loaded through the creator's own gesture recognition library, called hyperglyph, which he claims can record motions with 98 percent accuracy. As Move.me is currently a closed beta, Pennock is keeping the source code under wraps, but he hopes to eventually put the driver to use controlling a gesture-based Linux media center. Pretty neat, but not qu...