Our friends down under in Brisbane, Australia have a fantastic little hangout for geeks and gamers alike called the Mana Bar: Australia’s first video game themed bar! Events and parties held at the venue will have video game themes, and all of the house special cocktails are all named after video game characters, titles, places, and so on. For example, you can just as easily walk up to the bar and order a Princess Peach as you can order a martini, but if you’re feeling daring you can walk up and order a Mana Potion or a Health Potion if you need a little refreshment, or even a Purple Tentacle if you’re feeling a little ecchi.

Also, going to the Mana Bar doesn’t mean you just drink tasty beverages inspired by your favorite video games, it means you get to play some of your favorite video games as well! The games rotate out every month, and the bar has on-site XBox 360s, PlayStation 3s, Nintendo Wiis, and even downloadable titles for people with handheld game consoles! If you have a bit more money to spend, you can walk up to the bar, order your next drink, and buy a video game right there on the spot as well.

Before you head out though, check out the dress code page: leave your shorts and thongs at home (unless you’re in cosplay, in which case the Mana Bar apparently welcomes you!) and don’t forget to invite Pikachu! Now, if only I can get down there in time for Steampunk Saturday…

[ The Mana Bar ]

Obviously I’m more of a “build it, don’t buy it” kind of guy, especially when it comes to a gaming rig. I’d rather spend more on quality components that I research and choose myself and then put the whole package together on my own than trust another company’s decision-making on which components to skimp on and which are worth investing in.

Admittedly, that approach isn’t for everyone! If it’s right for you, however, the fine folks at ExtremeTech have a guide for you on how to build the right gaming PC for your budget – whatever that budget may be! The article is a series of lists of components you can pick up and put together at different price points. If you have $500 to spend? There’s a gaming rig you can assemble for that. Maybe you have twice that much – there’s a section on building a gaming PC for $1,000! What could you get if you had a few more dollars to spend than that? $1,250 it is.

Head on over and take a look at the full roundup – just in time for back-to-school shopping!

[ ExtremeTech :: Build the Best Gaming PC for Any Budget ]

While Android phones and the Android market certainly haven’t caught up to the iPhone and the iTunes App Store when it comes to games and mobile gaming, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some great games available for Android devices. Being a proud Droid by Motorola owner, I can tell you that there are some really great free titles out there for Android phones (games like Replica Island, Jewels, and Robo Defense Free.)

If you’re an Android phone owner and you’re looking for some free games to help you pass the time, Mashable has this excellent rundown of 10 free games that will work on just about any Android phone, from text games to puzzle games to shooters, and they even include Replica Island, one of my favorites. Check out the full list and start downloading!

[ Mashable :: 10 Great Free Games for Android ]

PC Mag has a rundown of what analyst Jeff Wilson believes are the 10 best video game consoles of all time – not necessarily the ones most fanatically loved by their owners or the ones that were the most hyped when they were released or available – the best, as in the ones most loved overall, the ones where gamers today still heave a wistful sigh when they think about them, and the ones that pushed the gaming industry forward by leaps and bounds.

Not everyone’s going to agree on the list, or agree on some of the inclusions and omissions, but I found it a really well rounded collection of consoles, and with excellent justifications for all of them. For example, the inclusion of the iPhone as a gaming platform may be startling, but it’s by far one of the most popular gaming devices in the market today, even though it’s clearly a smartphone and you won’t find it in your local electronics store with all of the other consoles and games – and you certainly won’t find an iPhone in your local game store. Still – the iPhone as a platform has pushed gaming forward in a way that can’t be denied, and put more games in the hands of more people and raking in more money to publishers and gave developers who put out their titles for it than ever before.

Some of the inclusions to the list are more obvious, like the XBox 360 and the revolution in online and voice-enabled play that it brought to our living rooms – it literally took multiplayer games out of the PC-only realm and brought it to our couches, and the PlayStation 2, still one of the most popular consoles of all time with a game library that dwarfs even the current generation of consoles.

The venerable Atari 2600 – the console that started it all – is on the list, as is the original Game Boy, which made gaming portable for the first time. It’s a great list, but head over and check out the others yourself, and let me know what you think, either in the comments here or over there!

[ PCMag :: The 10 Best Video Game Consoles of All Time ]

The folks over at Ars Technica had the wonderful opportunity to tour the headquarters of massive video game and entertainment company Blizzard recently, makers of such fabulous games as World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

The photo-heavy walkthrough is fantastic for people like me who both love office tours and photos and a window into the workspaces that help create some of my favorite products and favorite services, but also because I’m a huge World of Warcraft fan and love to see some of the creative inspirations littered around Blizzard’s offices.

Among some of the great things are a massive poster-sized map of Azeroth, standing sculptures of Kerrigan from Starcraft and the Ghost from the now-cancelled title, Starcraft: Ghost. One of the things that really shook me though is the fact that Blizzard employees who have served at the company for 5 years get a sword, and after ten they get a shield, and each year the company switches up the logos and designs. It’s a really unique and interesting way for the company to show appreciation to their employees, and I really dig it.

Check out the whole tour at the link below!

[ Ars Technica :: Earning Your Sword: The Magical Inner Sanctum of Blizzard ]

Earlier this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft took the stage and finally announced a product that people in the mobile space have been waiting for for a long time: Windows Mobile 7, or more appropriately (since Microsoft re-dubbed the product a couple of months ago “Windows Phone,”) Windows Phone 7 Series. Windows Phone 7 will be Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, replacing the aging and unattractive Windows Mobile 6.5 that’s the mainstay of a number of enterprise-class and tech-savvy smartphones currently on the market.

Faced with stiff competition in the smartphone space from companies like Apple and Google, Microsoft was forced to come to the table with something strong or risk falling even father behind in the smartphone space – a slip that likely would have met with their downfall in the mobile marketplace. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has never been a particularly strong OS, and the bulk of its functionality came from the fact that because it’s a Microsoft product and Exchange is also a Microsoft product, the only competition for it on the corporate side has been RIM’s BlackBerry, which unseated Windows Mobile in a huge way. Now, Windows Mobile looks dated, aged, and reminds us of an era when it’s major competition was the old Palm OS (not to be confused with Palm’s WebOS, which is on its new smartphones.)

Windows Phone 7 on the other hand, looks incredible. It’s been updated, it looks modern, it looks sleek, it’s got integration with your social networks and services, it’s got a stunning touch-screen interface, and it brings in two of Microsoft’s most successful properties to the mobile space: Zune and XBox Live. That’s right – your music and your Windows Phone 7 Series device will sync with Zune marketplace and you can snag your music from there, and your mobile gaming experience will be integrated with XBox Live. This alone proves that Microsoft means business and is rolling up its sleeves in the mobile space again.

But it’ll take more than rolled up sleeves and determination to make people abandon their iPhones and G1s for a Windows Phone 7 device.

Before we dive into why, here’s a hands-on video with Windows Phone 7 by my friend Sascha Segan at PC Magazine, who was out at the Mobile World Congress and got to see a live demo of the new operating system:

Continue reading Spinning Gears :: Thoughts on Windows Phone 7…

When I happened by all of the gaming peripherals at CES, one of the more fun booths I dropped by were BoomChair and PlaySeat. I had a better feeling about PlaySeat, but more about them when I get their press kit in the mail so I can write more about their products.

BoomChair on the other hand, was also a lot of fun – they released a number of new game chair models that all look pretty exciting, especially if you’re the type to sit in front of your huge screen TV on the floor with your controller and you’re looking for a seat that works pretty much like a peripheral for your console. BoomChair’s gaming seats are those comfy rocker-style seats on the floor that plug in to the audio output and in some cases the controller port for your consoles.

BoomChair’s products are those kinds of gaming seats with speakers built-in that are designed to rest on the floor and be comfortable to sit in for long gaming sessions – the speakers tend to be in the headrest and give you the feeling of surround-sound without having to wear headphones, so if someone is moving around behind you, the speakers in your chair will let you know. Depending on the seat, they can even plug into your console to give you the force feedback (vibration, rumble, etc) you would normally get with your controller.

One of the big moves BoomChair made this year at CES is to pick up some of those chairs from the floor where they traditionally sit and put their audio systems into standing chairs on rollers and wheels that can double not just as console gaming chairs that can sit in front of your TV, but also that you can roll over to your desk and use while you’re sitting at your PC if you choose. BoomChair’s newest products are in the image above: the Sky Lounger, the Stealth, the E-Tec, and the Admiral. All of the new ones will run between $200-$250 each. Some of BoomChair’s previous models are a bit more affordable if that’s too steep for you: some under $100. Some of them are sold out, so you’ll want to contact BoomChair directly if you’re interested!

Additionally, BoomChair also unveiled a completely different product at CES this year called the Rock Show – a series of speakers and a microphone that you can plug into any audio device that will automatically turn your favorite songs into a karaoke light-show. The Rock Show even auto-mixes the music so the vocals come off louder when you start singing, and will flash the lights on the speakers in time with the music. If you want, you can even plug in the Rock Show to your console and it’ll work while you’re playing Guitar Hero or Rockband, flash the lights in time, and give you a little more audio oomph when the person you have on the microphone starts singing. I watched some people playing Guitar Hero while using the Rock Show, and it definitely adds a little star power to the game.

[ BoomChair ]

The holidays are rapidly approaching, and if you haven’t started your holiday shopping, you might want to get busy – there are precious few shopping days left before Christmas, and even if you don’t celebrate it directly, the sales and stores are all acting like you do, so now’s the time to pick up some presents for the geek in your life, and to hopefully save a little money at the same time and get them something shiny that they’ll actually enjoy.

Now of course everyone is doing holiday gift guides, and a lot of them have a ton of expensive and superfluous junk on them that may end up on Craigslist or ebay by this time next year, so I put together a short list of five items that will thrill anyone when they see them in a pretty box tied up with a bow this holiday season, regardless of whether they’re a geek – but if they are a geek? Even better. Let’s dive in!

Continue reading Gears and Widgets 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!…

Building a Hackintosh is really no big deal, and there are tons of guides out there to help you do it if you want, you just run the risk of the thing not working the next time Apple releases a patch for Mac OS X. That being said, this particular Hackintosh is a killer.

Will Urbina decided that his old classic XBox wasn’t doing too much useful around the house these days, and it would make a good case for his Hackintosh – so what does he do? Picks up the required parts, then gets his hands dirty taking the Xbox apart and makeing it the perfect case for his new build. The whole thing is documented in the glorious video above, where you can watch step by step as Will goes through the motions of making his vision come to reality. It’s absolutely mindblowing – and not just in that “He fit a Mac in that Microsoft device!” way, either.

[ Engadget :: OS XBox Pro Casemod Build Video is Mesmerizing ]

If you were a huge fan of the game Okami, the third-person adventure game that put you in the role of Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, on her quest to save the world from falling into darkness with the power of her celestial brush and ability to alter reality as if she’s drawing on a page, then you’ll love the upcoming Nintendo DS game, Okamiden, and the trailer is above (thanks to Joystiq!)

The new DS game apparently puts you in the role of a chibi Amaterasu, bounding about like an adorable little wolf-shaped goddess as you save the world all over again! The trailer was recently released, so stay tuned for more details – in the meantime, man it’s so cute.

[ Joystiq :: Okamiden Trailer is in Desperate Need of a Cheek Pinching