Gaming can be an activity where you follow the character’s journey and everything in real life goes away. But is the escapism so real that gamers wouldn’t even know if there is an emergency?

New York State is testing a way to send emergency warning to video game consoles. The goal is to reach younger residents who spend most of their time on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or Wii rather than on Television or Radio.

Singleton, speaking Thursday at the Interop technology conference in New York City, said the plan makes sense, “considering the amount of time our youth spend on video games.”

Currently the Office of Homeland Security is using Second Life to train 700,000 first responders and are figuring out how to use Twitter to send out information.

Remember this is just a test.

[source via Information week]

Playstation 3 Slim

A Sony presentation talking about their consumer strategy moving forward showed some interesting plans that Sony has in store for their gaming area.

After showing 3D gaming at GDC and CES, Sony has confirmed that it intends to put the Playstation 3 as a 3D Games console to be used with upcoming 3D tvs. The current Playstation 3s “will be firmware upgradable to 3D”.

There was also mentions of a “new revenue streams from subscription”. That’s right gamers, something may be threatening the free Playstation Network. The argument of a free online service is what Playstation fans have been using to justify the PS3 experience. But it appears that may change and there may be subscriptions coming down the line to access Sony’s top-end PSN services.

[source via mcvuk]

Parents looking for a new way for their kids to play that isn’t sitting in front of a tv might want to check out Swinxs (http://www.swinxs.com). Swinxs has only been in the US for two months and is already receiving awards from various parenting groups. The awards are: 1) The 2009 Game of the Year Award in the Electronic Toy category by Creative Child Magazine 2) The National Parenting Center’s 2009 Seal of Approval 3) The Gold Award by the National Parenting Publications Awards 4) The 10 Best Audio Award by Dr. Toy and 5) The 100 Best Children’s Products Award by Dr. Toy.

Swinxs was designed for ages four and above and encourages kids in physical, creative and educational play.

The National Parenting Center, in its review of Swinxs, states, “Swinxs is a gaming console, but we guarantee it is unlike any console you have ever seen or played with. Swinxs is your electronic game host and kids absolutely loved the hours of fun they had with their new virtual pal.”

Here is a video trailer that explains what Swinxs is:

The system is upgraded by connecting it to a computer via USB and then the software looks for updates. There are currently 21 games to choose from and they support a developer community to create more games for the console.
Here is a tutorial showing how easy it is to use their sdk:

The console is available on Amazon.com for $150.

Hundreds of classic home video game fans from around the Northwest and beyond will converge on Portland this September 20 for the Fourth Annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE). The Expo will feature a large area of free-play video game consoles, a classic video game “museum”, common areas for socializing and competitive gaming, organized tournaments and plenty of classic video games for sale from our many vendors. Additionally, the expo will include contests, door prizes and a performance from Seattle chiptune artist, Leeni.

Several developers in attendance will be releasing new homebrew and authorized-reproduction games at the Expo including Chunkout 2600 for the Atari VCS. Homebrews are newly released games for play on classic video game consoles.The classic video gaming hobby is most closely associated with home consoles like the Atari 2600/5200/7800, Nintendo NES and SNES systems, Sega Master System/Genesis and other game systems released in the 1980s and early 1990s. Expo attendees can expect to see and play these and even rarer systems at the Expo.

Doors open at 9:00 AM for presale ticket holders and 10:00 AM for admissions purchased the day of the show at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near downtown in Portland’s Lloyd District. Admission is $10 for adults and children over 10 or $30 for a family pass good for up to five people. Children 10 and under admitted free with paid adult admission. Presale tickets are available at RetroGamingExpo.com or Video Game Wizards game store at 9712 SE Foster Road in Portland.
There will be a PRGE pre-show party at Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade on 511 NE Couch St.
starting at 7:00 PM on Saturday, September 19.

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[img width=250]http://www.gamingangels.com/uploads/photos/415.jpg[/img] OMG….it has ears!

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[img width=250]http://www.gamingangels.com/uploads/photos/411.jpg[/img]
[img width=250]http://www.gamingangels.com/uploads/photos/412.jpg[/img]
[img width=250]http://www.gamingangels.com/uploads/photos/413.jpg[/img]

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Etsy.com: [url=http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title&search_query=gamer]GAMER[/url]

Etsy.com: [url=http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title&search_query=video+games]VIDEO GAMES[/url]

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[url=http://www.amazon.com]Amazon.com[/url]
[url=http://www.ebay.com]eBay[/url] and other auction sites

For those of you who are like me, and have a TON of stuff, check out the [url=http://www.videogamemm.com/main.php]Video Game Memorabilia Museum[/url] and see just how your collection compares, or better yet, how much you are missing!

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Thanks for reading and if you will excuse me, I have some shopping to do!!!

Rating: 7.5

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