Gadgets Blog

If there is one thing I can’t stand, it is when a video game gets old. Of course, this happens all the time, which is why most people trade up in order to buy new ones. It would appear that Wal-Mart is trying to meet the consumers’ needs with video game kiosks.

These automated “Video Game Buy Back” kiosks are designed by e-Play, and they will accept a customer’s game by scanning the bar code on the game box. From there, the customer will receive a quote for buying back their game.

If the customer accepts the quote, he or she will insert the game discs into the machine. Now I am not certain if there is some sort of scanning process involved to make certain that the game isn’t damaged, but I believe the money for the games will be put back on a credit card in 2-3 days.

These kiosks are being tested in 77 Wal-Mart locations in several locations including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. Is it possible that this could put Gamestop and Amazon out of business? Probably not, but it could mix in a little healthy competition.

On a somewhat related note, today marks the release of Punch-out for the Wii. I’m looking forward to using the Wiimote, Nunchuk, and even the Wii Balance board to get into the hand-to-hand fighting action. Let us hope that it won’t be returned to one of these Wal-Mart e-Play kiosk any time soon.

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I was fortunate enough to receive an email from Hitachi announcing the Starboard WT-1 Interactive Wireless Tablet. Users can connect up to seven WT-1 systems to a PC, and it appears to be designed for “educational facilities and corporate environments”.

Users then have a wireless range of up to 30 feet via RF technology, and it will give presenters the ability to “create interactive and dynamic presentations”. The user operates the WT-1 with an interactive pen, two customizable buttons, and 16 shortcut function keys.

Other features include search engine integration, handwriting recognition, and the ability to advance PowerPoint slides with a function button. As for a battery life, it lasts about 16 hours, and will alert the user of a low battery with a built-in LCD indicator screen.

The WT-1 is very light, weighing approximately one pound, and measures in at 10.9” x 11.1” x 0.8”. From what I see, the WT-1 appears to be marketed to educators, presenters, and other related business people. It certainly looks like something plucked from the classroom or business of the future.

If you would like to see the WT-1 Interactive Wireless Tablet in action, then you should probably attend InfoComm 2009, where it will make its planned debut. There is no word on a price or availability.

One of my favorite Transformers was Ravage, one of several pet robots from Soundwave. In case you don’t know who Soundwave is, he was a Decepticon (the bad robots) who could turn into a cassette recorder. Soundwave had a bunch of tapes that he could miraculously store inside him, and Ravage could turn into some sort of demon cat.

Of course, no one uses cassettes anymore. I suppose that Soundwave’s minions could be CDs, but how are they going to transform into robots? Even if they were to morph like the T-1000, CDs are becoming an outdated medium.

I suppose in a modern world of Transformers, Soundwave would probably transform into an MP3 player, but what would his tape/minions be? How about something that could store MP3s, like a USB Flash Drive.

You have to admit, my logic makes a lot of sense. The Ravage Transformers USB Flash Drive comes with 2GB worth of storage, and is compatible with Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, and the Mac.

You should be able to pre-order the Ravage Transformers USB Flash Drive for $42.99. For an extra $2, it will ship in some collector’s grade packaging, so it can sit on the shelf and build up value as a collector’s item.

Oddly enough, it won’t ship until September, which is long after Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen will be in the theaters. I would have thought that this Flash Drive would be released in tandem with the would-be successful movie sequel, but I’m guessing we won’t see Ravage in it. Too bad. He would have looked neat as a CG charater.

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