Gear Patrol

You’re sitting on the grid at Road America in a classic Lotus 79. The red turns green and you light ‘em up. Accelerating hard down the front straight, you dice for racing room with two or three dozen other drivers around the world before pouring into turn one. Yep, you read that right. Those other drivers aren’t FROM around the world, they ARE around the world. This is internet racing on iRacing.com

There’s no doubt about it: Sony’s Fourth Generation PlayStation has a hell of a lot to live up to. Sony’s video game rock star has absolutely shaped the gaming world, and the tech world in general, leading the way through three iterations of gaming domination, DVDs, Blu-rays and a massive library of titles. But today’s gaming market is a whole different beast. At an introduction event Wednesday, Sony revealed some of what’s to come in the new console, though quite a bit was (maddeningly) kept under wraps.

What could you have possibly done to make the monkey so mad? Temple Run 2 (free), much like its predecessor, is insanely addictive and madly difficult. Yes, you’re still fleeing through a sparse, badly maintained network of paths, using your fingers to slide, leap, turn and tilt. These sorts of games have a definitively juvenile…

Taking the iconic mantra “think different” to a whole new level, Nvidia — a company known for the graphics chips powering some of the best hardware on the market — has released what we think is either one of the coolest or zaniest releases at CES: Nvidia Project Shield. Either way you cut it, the…

Virtual Reality (VR) gaming headsets have long sported a gimmicky “TRON” feel, but the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset bucks that trend. It’s a head mounted display that actually works well in gameplay, and it’s receiving a lot of attention from big names in gaming. Oh, and it’s already raised six times its $250,000 pledge…

If you’re considering sneaking some Adderall into your favorite kid’s midday snack, you should take a peek at the Sony Wonderbook first. Recently unveiled at E3, the educational tool is an augmented reality pad consisting of only 12 pages that leverage the PS3’s PlayStation Eye camera to create the ultimate version of the pop-up book…

If your penchant for gaming, music and web surfing through your smartphone is a 10/10, then you might want to put a tickler in your calendar for this holiday season in anticipation of the Clamcase Clambook. With nary a hint of Macbook Air (ahem), the Clambook is as thin as the day is long and…

Futuristic “bio-sensor” company NeuroSky has finally perfected what Professor X was born with — a brainwave scanning headset that can read your mind. Parts of it, at least. Designed for playing iOS and Android games, the MindWave Mobile headset ($130) can’t tell you what your enemies are thinking, but it can detect your levels of…

The earliest video games like NIMROD, tic-tac-toe, Tennis for Two and Spacewar! were more like pet hobbies by MIT genius tinkerers than a mainstream entertainment discovery. They were born in the 1950s and 60s, out of basic radar display technology and consisted of an analog interface and vector-drawn dots. It wasn’t until the early 70s…

While Christopher Nolan certainly deserves the lion’s share of credit for molding the caped crusader into his 21st century, cash-raining form, the impact of game developer Rocksteady on Batman’s recent popularity can’t be downplayed. Batman: Arkham Asylum was slathered with praise in the video game community, leaving the follow up title, Arkham City, with some…

Though most diehard driving gamers will find the action of the new Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel ($60) a bit lacking due to the rather conspicuous absence of a steering column, brake/gas pedals and a shift knob, it certainly caters to those who prefer their seating arrangements in the extreme couch potato position. Lightweight,…

Nintendo has just announced the successor to its wildly popular and family friendly Wii system today at E3 — called the Wii U. If the name didn’t clue you in, essentially Nintendo hopes they’ve built a console gaming experience that’s highly entertaining for the entire family and individual gamers. To pull this off, the new…

Hold onto your quarter rolls. After a decade of waiting, Marvel vs.Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will be release on February 15th, making its way to living rooms on either Xbox 360 or PS3. Old standby’s like Ryu and Wolverine have returned to throw down with over 30 new characters from both the Marvel…

Motion gamers: Shake, rattle and roll to your hearts content–but most still rely on the analog controller as their weapon of choice. Microsoft recently released an updated version of the 360 controller–now with a less blister inducing D-pad, but it’s Razer that has upped the stakes in the quest for the perfect console controller. Available…

Sure, the new Xbox Wireless Controller with Twist D-pad ($65) features a smooth matte silver finish along with spiffy monochrome buttons, but it’s the new transforming D-pad that gives our hadouken launching fingers pause. With a simple twist, the D-pad’s directional bars rise a 1/4″ to give traditional gamers (especially fighting games) new found life…

The only downside to golfing on the Wii (well, besides not actually golfing) is the lack of realistic simulation. No, not in the game, but rather the controller. The Nintendo Wii Motion Plus provides control aplenty, but when it comes to recreating the feeling and motion of swinging an actual club, it falls short. Bad…

Video game technology has come a long way from the classic 8 and 16 bit systems many of us at Gear Patrol grew up playing. Despite all of the fancy motion controls, insane cinematic graphics, and online fragging wars these new systems have enabled though, sometimes it’s just nice to step back in time to…

It’s still going to be several months (Nov. 2) before you can experience the latest edition of Sony’s premier racing title at home, but true fans with an obsession for memorabilia should look alive and pre-order this limited edition set now. Besides the game, this exclusive set features a 1:43 scale diecast 2009 Nissan GT-R…

The new Xbox 360 Slim ($300) has landed. A decidedly Alienware-ish looking console, the Xbox 360 Slim has called 1-800-Evil-Jenny and dropped the weight with a slimmer, glossy-black case design that features touch-sensitive buttons (sounds a bit like Xbox and PS3 have swapped designers), “whisper” quiet fan that generates less noise than its wind-tunnel predecessor,…

Who doesn’t have a soft-spot for the Wii, or Nintendo for that matter? The fact that there are few impromptu party formulas better than Booze+Women+Wii (in that order) is likely to blame. Then again, we know you’ve always secretly wanted a Wii in black, especially one to better match your classic controller or better integrate…

We’re not sure how we feel about the glowing ball atop the new Sony PlayStation Move (can we use it as a flashlight in a pinch?), but we do know that Sony’s long awaited foray into motion control should prove interesting. Using a similar dual-controller setup as the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation Move will be…

Mario Kart Wii is without peer. Four competitive friends + beer = hilarity. But Nintendo classics just aren’t the same with the rectangular Wii control stick (original Nintendo controller notwithstanding). File this one under last months news, but Nintendo recently answered the call with the Wii Classic Controller Pro ($20), and we finally got our…

The Apple iPad is here, and it’s both as much/little as people had hoped, expected, worried, drooled over, and even prayed for. The Apple Newton 2010 iPad ($499-$829) will arrive well equipped: 9.7″ (1024×768) IPS enabled Multi-Touch LED backlit display, 1GHz A4 processor, built-in speakers, Bluetooth, microphone, ambient light sensor, 720p video playback, fingerprint-resistant oleophobic…

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: your laptop’s puny speakers simply won’t cut it. They’re not even good enough to aptly project the beeps and boops of your NES emulator, much less to accompany your iTunes library. That said, the venerable accessory players at Logitech offer several options to suit your auditory…

Rock Band and its main rival Guitar Hero are sort of a big deal, if you hadn’t heard already. For the most competitive faux rockers, the Mad Catz Fender Stratocaster is the ultimate Rock Band controller. Based on a legit Fender Strat body, it’s gotten the Dr. Frankenstein treatment, being reborn as the clear superior…

After what seems like ages, it finally appears that Sony and Netflix have reached an agreement to bring the movie company’s glorious streaming service to over 9 million U.S. PS3 units in November. This is a major boon to current PS3 owners, as it finally provides a key service that the competing Xbox 360 has…

Children’s Miracle Network and Microsoft have teamed to provide three pediatric hospitals with an what their calling the Ultimate Gameroom. Apparently they got wind our Gear Patrol’s very own Nerf Charity Giveaway and decided to one-up us in a major way. Specific details for just what this Ultimate Gameroom consists of are scarce, but you…

So you’ve got your iPhone, iPhone 3GS, or iPod Touch. You’ve got it loaded with useless apps or boring games. Hell, maybe you just want some justification to get buy one. Well, if the plethora of awesome apps out there isn’t enough, then maybe something that appeals to your less functional/productive side will entice you….

Priced at $300 and conveniently sized similar to Blu-Ray players, the new Sony PS3 Slim is finally here. It’s over 30% smaller than the previous PS3, but still features HDMI, optical audio out, built-in Wi-Fi, dual USB ports and a hefty 120 GB hard drive.. all packaged in a comparatively lilliputian sized case. The PS3…

HD video is a blessing and a curse. As sports fans, gamers, and movie buffs, the instant we gazed upon those eye-searing lines of vertical resolution there was just no turning back to standard definition. The trouble is, witnessing Kobe’s facial expressions in glorious 1080p while defending Courtney Lee comes at the expense of added…