Apple Promises More “Amazing Products” in 2010: Any Guesses?

Apple announced its Q3 2010 results…and it was ridiculous. The company posted all sorts of record sales, but also hinted that there were still new products to come in 2010. Before we play the guessing game, let’s take a look at the numbers via Wired:

  • 3.47 million Macs (A record)
  • 8.4 million iPhones (1.7 million were iPhone 4’s, which went on sale only six days before the quarter ended)
  • 9.41 million iPods (The Touch model was up 48 percent year-over-year,)
  • 3.27 million iPads (Went on sale three days into the quarter)

Simply ridiculous. Here’s the curious part: during the earnings call CEO Steve Jobs said, “We have amazing new products still to come this year.” What do you think he was talking about? An iPod refresh is expected in early autumn, but do you think anything else “big” is on the way? A MacBook Air refresh perhaps? Maybe the iPhone 4 going to another carrier? You think an entirely new product is on the way? Let’s speculate!

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Coffee Talk #183: Make Your Own “Dark” EA Game

EA recently announced a slew of interesting games, including Maxis’ Darkspore. While this action-RPG looks pretty cool, a lot of my journalist friends were ripping on its name. You can imagine some of the jokes, right? They came up with stuff like Dark Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Dark Hasbro Family Game Night, Dark Sims, etc.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Apple’s crazy strong Q3 results, Magic and Jordan calling out LeBron’s decision, or your favorite hamburger, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

EA recently announced a slew of interesting games, including Maxis’ Darkspore. While this action-RPG looks pretty cool, a lot of my journalist friends were ripping on its name. You can imagine some of the jokes, right? They came up with stuff like Dark Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Dark Hasbro Family Game Night, Dark Sims, etc.

My challenge for you today is to come up with your own “Dark” EA game. Shoot off some names and concepts in the comments section (please). I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Microsoft Announces Xbox 360 Kinect Pricing: $149.99

Microsoft has officially announced the pricing for its Kinect motion controller for Xbox 360: $149.99. The package includes Kinect Adventures. The company also announced an Xbox 360 bundle with Kinect included. Customers can pick up an Xbox 360 (slim model with 4GB storage) with Kinect and Kinect Adventures for $299.99. The console alone will cost $199.99.

Naturally, I’m dying to hear what you think of Kinect’s price. Too much? Just right?

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Amazon Videogame Lightning Deals All Day Today

Amazon is serving up videogame lightning deals all day today! There should be some great stuff available. Be sure to hit up Amazon lightning deals if you want to take advantage of these specials. Here are the hints for the games. Most of them are easy to figure out. I’ll update this post with the actual game and price as often as I can.

  • 6:00AM PDT: Singularity for Xbox 360 for $39.99
  • 9:00AM PDT: Red Dead Redemption for Xbox 360 for $42.99.
  • 11:00AM PDT: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for Xbox 360 for $25.99.
  • 12:00PM PDT: Street Fighter IV FightStick for Xbox 360 for $94.99.
  • 3:00PM PDT: Alpha Protocol for Xbox 360 for $36.99.
  • 4:00PM PDT: Splinter Cell: Conviction for Xbox 360 for $36.99.
  • 6:00PM PDT: Metro 2033 for Xbox 360 for $44.99.
  • 9:00PM PDT: Assassin’s Creed 2 for Xbox 360 for $36.99.

Please Spoilarz Inception For Me

With one exception, all my friends are raving about Christopher Nolan’s Inception. I’m genuinely surprised by all the superlatives being heaped on this movie. I’m sure it’s good, but I’m not really interested in paying money to see it. However, I’d like to understand it a bit better. If you’ve seen it, I’d super appreciate you telling why it’s so awesome.  Leave all the spoilers you want in the comments section (please).

Coffee Talk #182: Your Biggest 2010 Gaming Disappointment

We’ve already discussed our favorite games from the first half of 2010. Today I want you to join me in the bitter barn so that we can talk about games that have disappointed us this year. Yeah, I usually try to keep things positive, but disappointing games are a reality. It’s like a television show once told me: “You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both and there you have the facts of life.” Though in this case it would be the facts of gaming.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, SNL’s Jason Sudeikis hooking up with women out of his league, the bizarre Pacquiao/Mayweather negotiations, or the hotness of Joss Stone, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

We’ve already discussed our favorite games from the first half of 2010. Today I want you to join me in the bitter barn so that we can talk about games that have disappointed us this year. Yeah, I usually try to keep things positive, but disappointing games are a reality. It’s like a television show once told me: “You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both and there you have the facts of life.” Though in this case it would be the facts of gaming.

Most of the games I played this year were pretty much what I expected them to be. The one game that I found disappointing was Crackdown 2. My expectations were pretty high. I enjoyed the first one and was excited for the sequel after I saw it in April. Then I started helping my friend with his review. I enjoyed the multiplayer but was very disappointed in the single-player experience. It bummed me out to the point where I haven’t been able to start playing on my Xbox 360. I’m sure I’ll get to it again one day, but for now there are better games to play.

Now it’s your turn! What 2010 games were you disappointed in?

Tuesday Housekeeping

– Yeah, I meant to write this on Sunday but I’ve been tired from working on super secret project, commuting, and writing for the site. Ha!

– Last week was one of the best the site has had in a few months. My Droid X review has been getting some nice traffic. This story on SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 was promoted by the excellent people at WrestleZone and ProWrestling.net. It was a very strong week in a season where there isn’t a whole lot to write about.

– The mobile version of the site is pretty popular. Mobile traffic has been up in the last month. I wonder if it’s because the mobile version make it easier and faster to load stories from a phone. Here are the top five device types that visit the site:

  1. iPhone
  2. Android
  3. iPad
  4. iPod
  5. BlackBerry

– As always, thanks so much for all the support, comments, and excellent company!

Power Gig: Rise of the Six String Developer Diary

Seven45 Studios has released a developer diary on its upcoming game, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString. This music game uses a real guitar as its controller. Design director Jack Davis goes over the story and world in this dev diary.

With its unique controls and story mode, will Power Gig be able to take a slice of the pie that’s dominated by Guitar Hero and Rock Band? I’d love hear your thoughts on the matter.

Microsoft Drops (Small) Details on Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Live

Engadget posted an excellent preview of the upcoming Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system. One aspect that was touched on (lightly) was the operating system’s connectivity with Xbox Live. The site chatted with Microsoft corporate vice president Joe Belfiore and found out:

We were told by Joe Belfiore during a meeting that there would be two kinds of games on Windows Phone 7 devices — turn based, “app” games, and Xbox Live content which would be full-on arcade experiences. We’re dying to get our hands on something more than just a brief demo of The Harvest, but that’s not possible yet.

Although gaming details were sparse, I highly recommend checking out the article. It reveals a lot of details on what should be an excellent alternative to Apple iOS and Google Android. Whether it’s too late for Microsoft remains to be seen, but the details Engadget revealed are very exciting.

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