TSWN.com

While it's not likely that any new gaming consoles will be released in 2010, there's plenty of new hardware that will change the way we play.

2010 is the year that everyone catches up to Wii: Both Microsoft and Sony will introduce their own unique takes on motion controllers. Meanwhile, Nintendo will attempt to move things in a different direction with the Wii Vitality Sensor. But perhaps the biggest game-changer could come from Apple. And in a post-iPhone world, that doesn't sound so far-fetched.

Here are Wired.com's picks of the gaming gadgets that will come to define the next 12 months.

Project Natal

This revolutionary interface for Xbox 360 ditches joysticks for an array of cameras and microphones that track your movements, recognize your face and respond to your voice. Microsoft says it'll be available this holiday season.

Wired.com got some hands-on (off?) time with Project Natal at E3 2009, and we can attest that it genuinely works. Natal really does track minute movements of your body, allowing you to swing your arms to whack things onscreen or grip an imaginary steering wheel to drive a virtual car.

Even just fiddling around with simple prototype proof-of-concept software generated the sort of excitement and wonder that Wii Sports did the first time I played it.

Wii Vitality Sensor

Nintendo is known for innovative accessories, but the Vitality Sensor is old tech: A similar device was released in Japan for the Nintendo 64 well over a decade ago.

Since the notion of a videogame controller that reads your pulse from your fingertip isn't new, Nintendo must come up with interesting pieces of software if it's going to sell this thing to the Wii Fit crowd. The company says the pulse-monitoring feature could be used for a game that helps you relax, but hasn't actually shown any such thing yet.

Nintendo's president recently named the Vitality Sensor one of the company's big products for 2010, saying that software would be announced in July. Our hearts aren't racing just yet.

Sony Motion Controller

To make a long story short, Sony's new device is like a Wiimote that can be tracked by an EyeToy camera. The PlayStation 3 will know where the controller is moving, but it will also be able to (for example) project your image onto the TV screen, then replace the controller in your hand with a virtual sword.

The combination of motion sensing and position tracking should make Sony's controller much more accurate than Nintendo's. But we haven't seen much more than tech demos yet, even though Sony says the motion controller will launch in the spring. "Ape Escape" and "Resident Evil" titles that use the controller are in the works.

Apple Tablet

The iPhone was a game-changer for mobile gaming. Since the phone debuted in 2007, the App Store has been deluged with games, more than a few of which are awesome. Apple's rumored tablet, a multimedia touchscreen device meant to compete with (read: crush) similar but lesser-featured gadgets like Nook and Kindle, can only mean interesting things for games.

Rumors suggest that Apple's machine will be less a computer and more an overgrown iPhone. So you probably won't be playing World of Warcraft on the thing  more likely, you'll be playing stuff like Defense Grid on a big, roomy screen.

One potential downside is that developers might not have the money, resources or motivation to release upgrades of their iPhone games to suit the tablet's larger screen. What if the game boom on the iPhone was a one-time deal?

Nintendo DSi XL

While it's certainly possible that either Nintendo or Sony could release a new handheld gaming platform this Christmas, we know for sure that another version of the DSi is on the way first. Already available in Japan, the DSi XL is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2010 in the United States and Europe.

You mean we all have to buy a fourth Nintendo DS? Yes, even though the only difference is that the DSi XL has giant screens. Portability takes a backseat to visibility in this new model  the 4.2-inch screens make your games pop with big, bold images, but make the unit itself much larger.

You might not think you want this, but when you experience how much easier it is to play with bigger screens, you'll probably be hooked.

Original article found here.

Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer opened up the largest consumer technology trade show in the world with a tone that was both reflective and energized, but without living up to much -- if any -- of the anticipation that preceded the speech.

Some tech insiders had expected Microsoft to use its keynote slot Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show to debut a tablet-sized computer, a much-hyped category of electronics that is sized between mobile phones and laptops and usually has a touch-sensitive screen.

Apple, the company's chief rival, is rumored to be announcing a tablet later in January.

While Ballmer did briefly show off tablet-sized computers that run on Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, he did not announce a Microsoft tablet computer; nor did he dazzle the technophile crowd with many new products or announcements.

Instead, Ballmer chose largely to highlight the company's past successes, like Windows 7, the Xbox 360, its Zune HD portable music player and the search engine Bing. Thirty-nine million Xbox 360s have been sold worldwide, and Bing has gained 11 million new users in recent months, he said.

He also mused on the history of technology and said he is going to be headstrong about the fact that the future will be just as innovative and inspiring as the past.

Noting that the global middle class -- Microsoft's customer base -- is expected to jump from 1 billion to 4 billion people in coming decades, Ballmer said, "I'm bullish, and we can all be bullish in terms of the long-term prospects of our industry."

A substantial portion of the keynote focused on entertainment and gaming, and some news did come out of that part of the talk.

Microsoft announced Project Natal, a new controller-free video gaming system, which reads a players body movements with cameras and mimics them with avatars on screen, will be available for purchase by the holiday season this year.

The company had demonstrated the system at another trade show last year, but had not set a release date until Wednesday. It is still unclear how much the system will cost, although Microsoft says Natal add-ons will work with its existing Xbox 360 gaming console.

Robbie Bach, Microsoft's president for entertainment and devices, also announced a number of new games for the Xbox, including a new edition of the popular game Halo,

Microsoft's Windows resumed its usual losing form last month as the operating system's usage share dropped by about a third of a point even as the new Windows 7 posted a second straight month of impressive gains, Web metrics firm Net Applications said Friday.

Although rival desktop operating systems -- Mac and Linux -- essentially remained flat, mobile OSes, including Google's Android and Apple's iPhone OS, took up the slack created by Windows' dip. Mobile operating systems, said Net Applications, now power 1.3% of all the hardware that surfs the Internet.

Windows finished the year with a 92.2% share, down 0.3 of a percentage point. It was the eighth month in 2009 during which Windows lost share.

As it did in 2008, Windows' decline again accelerated in the second half of the year, when it lost 1.2 points of share. That compared to a drop of just 0.5 of a percentage point in the first six months of 2009. In 2008, Windows also lost more than twice as much share between July and December as it did in the preceding six months.

But the slip doesn't mean Windows is in any danger of losing its grip on the operating system market anytime soon: At the pace of the last 12 months, Windows would retain a majority share for another 25 years.

As in November, both Windows XP and Windows Vista lost share in December, while Windows 7 gained ground. Unlike in November, however, Windows 7 was unable to make up for the decline in Microsoft's older operating systems.

Windows XP slid 1.3 percentage points in December, its second-largest one-month decline ever. (The record remains November, when XP lost 1.4 points.) Vista, meanwhile, lost 0.7 of a percentage point, a single-month record, to end at 17.9%. December was the second month in a row that Vista lost share, and the third in the last four months, a trend that points to a permanent decline as users abandon it for Windows 7.

Still, the bulk of Microsoft's losses since the Windows 7 launch on Oct. 22 have been from Windows XP; the eight-year-old OS has lost 2.7 points in the last two months, while Vista has lost only 1 point.

Microsoft's newest OS, on the other hand, boosted its share by 1.7 percentage points to end December with 5.7%, meaning that approximately 1 out of every 18 machines on the Web ran Windows 7 last month. If it can keep up the pace of the last 60 days, Windows 7 will crack 7% this month, beating Vista to that number by six months.

Call of Duty: World at War DLC Maps Bundled Up @ Joystiq

Modern Warfare 2 Patch Fixes Hacks @ Shacknews

Steam Holiday Game Sale @ Steampowered

What's With All The War Video Games? @ Kotaku

Earlier today, IGN and its parent company were issued a cease and desist order from Harmony Gold, the co-copyright owner of the television series Robotech. The letter claims that the use of certain trademarked figures from the Robotech/Macross universe are prohibited as a result of a prior settlement that dates back to 1996. While MechWarrior isn't part of the Robotech/Macross universe, the similarities between vehicles has been enough to cause legal issues and raise questions. Apparently, some of those trademarked figures appear in the trailer used by Pirahna Games in its announcement of the MechWarrior reboot earlier this year, and a request has been made for that trailer to be pulled from IGN.

This development could put the future of MechWarrior in jeopardy. A trademark dispute could derail the game's development. On the flip side, it could also simply result in specific characters, logos, or other trademarked material from being included in the final product.

IGN contacted Smith and Tinker, the company that currently holds the license to the MechWarrior franchise for word on this situation. A spokesman for the company responded to our inquiry, stating, "We have no comment on the situation at this time." Smith and Tinker, along with Piranha Games, announced the reboot of the Mechwarrior franchise exclusively with IGN in July.

Original story found here.