Even though Microsoft has not confirmed the pricing of Kinect, the Microsoft Store currently has a page up that shows that Kinect will be priced at $150.

Other retailers, such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon, have as well shown the $150 pricing, but could not be confirmed from Microsoft. Now with Microsoft’s own store putting up the $150 price tag on Kinect it, does it mean its official?

Let’s just hope that when it launches there are better game titles to play than the ones demoed because they were not compelling at all. Do you think that you will buy it at this price? Let us know in the comments.

If Steam were to release on Linux would more people accept it then? It would help gaming on Linux take off and if it helps gaming take off wouldn’t Linux take off with it as well? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The 5th generation Pokemon games names have been announced on the official Pokemon website. After being translated the names of the games will be  Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. There is no more information currently about the two games other than the names of the games. Nintendo is expected to release more information about the game for the Nintendo DS on April 15th on the official website. The date on official website points to the reveal on this weeks upcoming Pokemon Sunday episode.

The names can be clues as to what the next generation has in store for us. There has been rumors of “light” Pokemon to be added to the game, but there has been debate in the Pokemon community over the fact that it will change the core mechanics of what types are more powerful over what types. Until Nintendo releases more information about the games in the following weeks, this is all speculation.

Pokemon Black and Pokemon White are supposed to release later in 2010 for the Nintendo DS in Japan.

Happy New Year from all of us at DotDosh. To ring in the new year we have launched our new design that we have been working on for the past couple of months. We have revamped the whole website with a new design and the way things works around here.

A new logo has also been brought with the design change and we think that this logo is here to stay for a while. We have added the option to follow us on Twitter, featured post content area, and a lot of back end changes.Things are also brought back from the old version, like the mobile theme, polls, etc.

To come will be a way to reply to comments directly and a few other suprises. If you have any comments or suggestions or things that you want implamented in please drop a comment in and we will see what we can do!

2010 is a new year with new information to be learned and we will be there to inform you about the important stuff. Hope you have a happy and merry 2010!

We have something that we have been working on for the past 2 months coming out soon. Hopefully in the next few days. News Posts will pick up after the release! Stick around!

As a PC gamer myself, I bought the original MW for the PC and played countless hours killing people online and having fun doing it.I would start the game, look for the usual server that I would join, and when I joined I would see the usual people in there and we would play the game. With the decision to replace dedicated servers with a matchmaking service, it would not be the same.

Changing to a matchmaking service makes the PC version more like the console version. This can cause many things to be different that would be normal to other PC games that have dedicated servers. The following things are a result of this happening:

Matchmaking issues

When I start up CoD:MW or almost any other multi-player game I just click on the “Join Game” button and I can look for the usual server that I go to and play with the usual people that play on there. With the change to matchmaking, you would no longer be able to chose what server you can go to and what people you will play with. You will be playing with people that is your rank, but that does not mean that they are not noobs and non-team players or not. Every time you play, there will be a new set of people there playing with you.

Latency = Higher

Dedicated servers are run by providers that have a huge amount of upload/download speed and bandwidth. They have upload speeds of over 100 MBits/sec and with high upload speeds, it keeps ping down. With matchmaking the end user has to run the server and not everyone has 100 MBits/sec upload connections, let alone 10 MBits/sec or 5 MBits/sec. This will cause the ping to increase not a lot, but enough to make it lag and have horrible hit registration.

No more BIG games.

With matchmaking you won’t be able to set up big games because of the latency and performance issues from the user hosting the server. The users connection would not be able to handle a big server, so server sizes will be going down.

Cheating

With punkbuster being removed and in it’s place VAC, the game is now more prone to cheating. Punkbuster is a good, but annoying method to counteract cheating, instead of leaving it in they replaced it with something worse. You can see other games like Counter Strike and how easy it is to cheat when using VAC. Cheating makes the game less fun and if you can’t win it’s worthless to you.

No custom content or mods.

You won’t be able to set up a game with custom maps or mods because there are no dedicated servers to run them on. Since there is no SDK and no dedicated servers there will be no custom content. Since there would be no custom content they can nail you with map packs for a price.

Map Packs+Patches (DLC) on the PC may not be free anymore.

Game developers and publishers create DLC on the consoles because there is nothing more that users can do with what came with the actual game. In order to give them more they charge them for more. With the PC, people would create mods and maps for free for users to play with. With no custom content for MW2, Infinity Ward and Activision can now charge you for extras. Where they would be free for games that are open to the community (L4D, CS, and more), it can now be something that they can make some money off of.

Lack of Control over rules, etc.

In a dedicated server scenario, the person that is running the server can ban anyone that they want. In a Matchmaking system, everyone has to vote on whether or not the person they want kicked should be or not, it’s not the same as an instant ban against the person. You can also control the game exactly the way that you want it on a dedicated server, like rules, map configurations, mods, etc.

No clan servers

Clans will no longer have a place where they can call home. They won’t have a place where they can just go and play with their fellow clan members and just do whatever. Clans won’t be able to run private servers where they can train or practice or just play with custom rules on purpose for specific scenarios/etc. With this change it will just make things harder for everyone.

These are just some of the main reasons why PC gamers want dedicated servers over a matchmaking system. There is however a bigger picture behind why this is happening. Infinity Ward and Activison and ALL the other game developers and publishers are starting to not care for the PC gaming group. Instead of putting time and effort into the PC version of the game, they are just porting the game directly from consoles and not caring what happens to the PC version. Patches are usually released latter than the console version and so are map packs. With the dedicated servers being removed Infinity Ward is putting one of the final nails in the coffin of PC gaming as we knew it, which was open and filled with support.

Maybe in the end of the battle between PC Gamers and Infinity Ward/Activison we might get a compromise of options to have both Dedicated Servers and Matchmaking service, but hopes for that are slim. With the petition growing ever so largely, all we can do is hope that change will happen for both the game and the way that the PC is viewed as a gaming platform.

Image props to Gamebane.com

With a recent scanned pic of a private Square Enix document that has leaked onto the internet, it may seem that KH is confirmed for the iPhone/iPod Touch in 4th quarter 2010.

In the document it appears that the platform’s that it is being created for is the  Apple iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch 3rd generation. It may seem that the iPhone 3G/2G and the iPod Touch 1G/2G won’t be getting it because they don’t have the updated full OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics thats in the iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch 3G.

It will be controlled with a virtuall joystick and control pad, just like all the other iPhone/iPod Touch games. It is used in games ranging from Madden NFL 2010 (EA Sports) to shooters like Modern Combat: Sandstorm (Gameloft).

Although the pricing is not yet known, it will most likely be in the $9.99 range like all the current EA titles that are new releases. Seeing as how games about $9.99 is going to be hard to sell over to users, it might not be out of the picture though because of the popularity of KH. Then again, the Sims 3 is very popular and was priced at $9.99.

There is also a 4 local wireless device synchronization mode, so you can play at the same time with your friends. This sounds like a great option if you want to play the game with your friends just like CO-OP in console games like Halo 3: ODST (X360) and Uncharted 2 (PS3).

With a release date of fourth quarter of 2010 for North America we have plenty of time to get more information on the story, how it looks like, and how its going to work. Let’s hope that it turns out to be a good game that is not a flop on the iPhone/iPod Touch like the way MGS: Touch was (not saying that it was, it was just a letdown).

Although we don’t know if the image is a fake or this is even real, we decided to let you decide.

Thanks to the anonymous tipster that sent this in with the translation!

At TGS today Sony has shown off the new Motion Controller. The controller was originally revealed during E3 2009 and has been criticized for its “ugliness” and for looking like another certain object. It uses the ball on the top of the controller and the PlayStation Eye to track the movements of the controller. Hirai said  that “very accurate” movement can be realized and the reality can be “enhanced” via slight vibration feedback.

Before:

After:

As you can see in the before and after pictures, the top part before the ball, has now curved out and so has the bottom. The Motion Controller is still on schedule to launch in Spring 2010.

*Image credits to Joystiq

Intel’s plan is the Core 2 Duo/Quad series will disappear before Q1 next year, being replaced by Nehalem-based Core i7/i5/i3. In addition, some Pentium processors will also employ Nehalem architecture. The Core i7 will target the high-end market, the Core i5 is designed for mid-range segment, and the Core i3 is aimed for entry-level market. Pentium is used for ordinary applications, Celeron for entry-level solutions, and Atom for netbooks and handheld devices.

Intel also have Lynnfield and Clarkdale products to offer. Lynnfield consists of Core i7-800 and Core i5-700. To be more exact, it includes Core i7-870, Core i7-860 and Core i5-750 models. Clarkdale is the Core i5-600 and Core i3-500 series, which has not released yet.

Image from Expreview.

With the new releases, we should expect to see PC’s equipped with these processors soon and the Core 2 brand being phased out with cheaper prices.

Microsoft may tell people that they are confident with the way sales are going and they are confident that the PS3 will not overtake the XBOX 360 in sales this holiday season, but there is reason for disbelief. This holiday season can mean announcing a new XBOX 360 Slim soon to counter the PS3 Slim, if sales dip and if the PS3 has higher sales. If they don’t that may be another story, but it can still happen.

If Microsoft were to release an XBOX 360 Slim, they can market it as a new reliable console that is more reliable than the previous versions of the console. A console redesign could be a good marketing move to get rid of the stigma of 360′s continuous breaking down. They can use the knowledge that they have now on heat design and with that they can redesign the XBOX 360 so that it has less faliure rates than before. That would mean less to no RRoD’s, E74 Errors, or other issues.

There is something stopping Microsoft from redesigning a slimmer console. A problem that they face would be that they can’t redesign a slimmer console until they get to the point where they can get the CPU and GPU in the same package. Sony shrinking the cell processor down to 45nm and other components allowed them to build a slimmer version of the console, but Microsoft still has a Falcon 65 nm chipset in their consoles.

This holiday season will be a turning point for better or for worse for Microsoft. Do you think that there will be a slimmer XBOX 360 in the works?