Are you in the market for a "Summer Fun" Wii bundle to get your Independence Day started right? Oh, yeah? Fantastic, 'cause GameStop has just the packages for you. For the low, low price of $249.99, the aforementioned bundle consists of a Nintendo Wii console, a water gun and... wait, what? Amazingly enough, GameStop has seen fit to bundle a $0.25 water gun with a Wii and call it a bundle; heck, it's even limiting them to two per household. If that's not strange enough for you, there's also the Pirate Tattoo bundle and Take a Bath with a Buddy (a rubber ducky, just so we're clear) bundle. Talk about really taking advantage of that whole "freedom" thing.

Read - Summer Fun bundle
Read - Pirate Tattoo bundle
Read - Take a Bath with a Buddy bundle

[Via Joystiq]

It's your holiday weekend America -- how are you going to spend it? We'll tell you how: by listening to Engadget Podcast 153 over, and over, and over. What better way to utilize your extra day off and barbecue-packed good times than by putting Josh, Paul, and Nilay on repeat for you (and your friends') enjoyment? Check out the 'cast this week as the boys explore the ups and downs of the Olympus E-P1, Dell's MID plans, and field a handful of questions from our handsome, intelligent, and just basically awesome listeners. You won't be disappointed.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Virt - Katamari on the Rock

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00:02:10 - Olympus E-P1 hands-on, test shots, and mini-review
00:10:26 - Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 gets officially detailed, priced for US market
00:14:22 - Wii MotionPlus impressions: it works, but so far the games aren't worth the fuss
00:24:45 - Dell working on iPod touch-esque Android MID, says WSJ
00:32:08 - Android 1.5 gets official SDK for native development
00:38:10 - Video: Mobinnova élan sporting a custom Tegra UI
00:47:30 - Video: NVIDIA Tegra's GPU gets busy with HD video and full-screen Flash -- Intel 945GSE shrugs, kicks dirt
00:47:30 - Verizon BlackBerry Tour unboxing
00:50:17 - BlackBerry Tour hands-on, wild sibling confrontation with Curve and Bold
00:53:00 - RIM CEO: "SurePress is here to stay"
00:57:00 - 13-year-old trades iPod for Walkman, reports on mysterious ancient artifact
01:04:55 - iPhone 3GS review
01:07:15 - Palm Pre review

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At first glance it's a little difficult to understand the necessity of another motion-sensing add-on. What could possibly be inside this particular block of white plastic that's not inside those other countless slabs of white plastic that Nintendo has already slathered on the Wii? Sure, we know in theory that the gyroscopes that MotionPlus provides allows the controller to truly orient itself in 3D space, instead of just sensing acceleration in various directions, and breaks some of that reliance on the sensor bar, but do those theoretical advances result in a true leap in gameplay? We tested it out with EA's new MotionPlus-enabled Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis -- the first such titles on the market while we wait for Nintendo to get its own Wii Sports Resort in order -- and we'd say the results are pretty inconclusive so far. Check out our full impressions after the break, along with enthralling videos of both games in action.

Major thanks to The Golf Club at Chelsea Piers for letting us test this out at their facilities, and to golf pros Herb and Marj for letting us waste some of their valuable time.

Hey, who doesn't have a desire to get down and nerdy with their Wii on occasion -- we respect that. But if you're going to pretend to hold the Wiimote like a lightsaber, you might as well go for the full-on, officially-licensed accessory. Oh, there are plenty of pretenders but nothing can feed your delusions of grandeur better than George Lucas' blessing. Yes, the lightsaber glows, and the cats at Bensussen Deutsch & Associates have plans for a matching blaster too. Unfortunately, the accessories don't make room for MotionPlus which is fine, we guess, since they'll be shipping with Star Wars - The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes -- a game that doesn't support MotionPlus anyway. How wude.

Just great, more hue-enhanced Wii hardware that we in North America will very likely never get. After teasing us with that kuro (i.e. jet black) Wii and matching classic controller, Nintendo's announced a light blue sleeved Wii remote, nunchuk, and motion plus set that'll be given out to five thousand members of its Japanese Club Nintendo program who have registered Wii Sports Resort. Historically, Club Nintendo gifts have only made their way stateside via unofficial channels, so if you're desperate for a non-white peripheral and using paint is absolutely out of the question, we suggest you keep a close eye on eBay and hope the House that Mario Built takes a cue from its portable line sooner rather than later.

[Via Joystiq]

The Wii has already set more than its share of sales records, but it looks like Nintendo has now claimed another big one, with the latest NPD figures indicating that the Wii has become the fastest-selling console ever in the United States. That milestone was apparently marked when the Wii sailed past 20 million consoles sold after just 31 months on the market, although that number is of course just a small part of the more than 50 million consoles shipped worldwide which, incidentally, has already made the Wii the fastest-selling console in the world.

[Via Joystiq]

It wasn't all that hard to see a bit of a brouhaha erupting now that all three console makers are more or less firmly committed to motion-control technology, but it's still always notable when one of the big three throws a shot across the bow, and Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata did just that in a recent interview with the Financial Times. According to Iwata, Nintendo actually tried out camera-based motion control technology similar to what both MIcrosoft and Sony have now adopted, but found that it got better results with the accelerometer-based tech that ultimately wound up in the Wii remote. Iwata did also say, however, that "until they say when they're releasing it, how much it costs and what software it comes with, we won't know whether that is the route we should have taken," although he added that he thought "they couldn't choose to release exactly the same thing" that Nintendo did.

[Via Joystiq]

Sony and Microsoft certainly turned the motion-sensing heat up on Nintendo at E3 last week, but it doesn't seem like Shigeru Miyamoto is all that concerned at the moment -- he just told the BBC that while he's "flattered" his competitors are "moving in the same direction," he's "not worried at all" about Project Natal or the Playstation motion controller because "they don't have the type of depth that we're able to provide with Wii Motion Plus." Snap. We don't know about that -- we certainly haven't been blown away by Motion Plus -- but we can see why Nintendo's not sweating it just yet: the Wii's a runaway hit and a pop-culture phenomenon, while Natal and the PSMC are still tech demos without announced ship dates or even final names. That said, it's clear that Microsoft and Sony don't intend to just cede this space to Mario and Co., so we'll see how Nintendo fights back -- we'll tell you right now that the Wii Vitality Sensor ain't gonna cut it.

[Via Joystiq]

Nintendo's Wiimote (and the Nunchuk, by extension) have certainly been wired up to control their fair share of oddities, but we honestly can't think of a more suitable use for a spare 'chuk than this right here. The so-called Beancat is nothing more than a motorized beanbag chair that takes direction from a wired Nunchuk, and while we can't exactly speak from experience, it certainly looks thrilling from afar. Have a glance yourself just past the break, and tap the read link if you're eager to see how it all came together.

[Via MAKE]

It doesn't come as a surprise that Sony and Microsoft are hard at work at motion controls for their respective consoles: Nintendo is eating their lunch. The Wii's incredible appeal with the average consumer -- due primarily to the accessibility and charm of its Wiimote motion controls -- has also created an annoying divide in the industry (real or perceived) between consumers who use embarrassing gestures to control meaningless mini-games, and those who memorize incredibly complex control schemes to control deeper and more "mature" experiences. There's been a small amount of crossover, of course, but since Sony and Microsoft have lacked most of the gestures option, a majority of it has taken place on the Wii -- the inclusion of an accelerometer in Sony's Sixaxis controller has had little impact on gameplay, and Sony's EyeToy 2 has had even less impact on the average gamer.

Of course, that's all about to change next year, with the emergence of the Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's PlayStation motion controller. Typical thinking would suggest that Sony and Microsoft will be attempting to capture a slice of the casual gaming market that the Wii has so well dominated, while also expanding on the Wii's capabilities at serving the hardcore gamer -- some capabilities which Nintendo itself is attempting to add to the Wii with the even more imminent MotionPlus add-on. So, does anyone here have what it takes to serve up the next generation of gaming controls to everybody, or do cost considerations and the current state of the console wars dictate an ongoing rift in the market? Let's weigh our options...