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]

Officially, Sony's PSPgo is only clocking in at 333MHz like the rest of its brothers and sisters, but as the gang at Sony Insider found out in the FCC filing, the internal processor actually maxes out at 480MHz. What that means for gamers is probably nothing in the near future, since the firmware'll underclock it to standard speeds and we've seen absolutely no sign Sony's interested in releasing software exclusively for the UMD-less iteration at this point. Of course, the opportunity to capitalize on the upped hardware is gonna be there, and we still remember a noticeable difference in the technical quality of games released after Sony bumped its original PSP's clockspeed from 266MHz to its max 333MHz, but for now, it's just something to keep in the back of your mind.

[Via Sony Insider]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has won an all-out "bidding war" over the film rights to Atari's classic Asteroids video game. We're not entirely sure who all was involved in this "war," but the conflict couldn't possibly be prompted over the universal themes tackled by the story of the plucky little triangular spaceship and the asteroid field it inhabits. As the Reporter, um, reports: "As opposed to today's games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology." Michael Bay is rumored to be very interested in directing.

[Via George Ruiz]

Yeah, we're all been-there-done-that with portable SNESs these days, but we've never seen it done like this. Marshall posted his creation, dubbed the "SUPERTENDO," to Ben Heck's forums, which seems to imply (along with the looks) that he took some queues from similar designs already floating around those parts. What really sets this one apart, however, is the vacuum-formed chassis and the instant "make me an offer" move to a sale -- being owned by a major faceless media conglomerate ourselves, we like to see a guy who's out for a buck. A quick hands-on Video is after the break.

[Via benheck.com]

If you're familiar with the emulation scene (and let's be honest, you are reading Engadget), then you know the name ZodTTD -- the brain behind some of the best jailbroken emus for the iPhone, including variations on the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and most importantly... the TurboGrafx-16. Now the master-hacker has brought his goods to the Pre, cooking up a version of psx4all on the Palm device, with the aforementioned GBA and TG16 ports on the way! Interestingly, he reports that the performance on the Pre is actually better than that of the iPhone 3GS, and of course he's hacked access to the keyboard, allowing for (more) proper control of games. There are still kinks that are being worked out (sound emulation, screen scaling, etc.), but it looks like we can expect big things in the near future. We at Engadget know everyone will rest a bit easier tonight knowing that real gaming on the Pre is at hand. We'll hopefully be getting our hands on a version soon, but for now hit the read link for more info, and check out the full video after the break!

We haven't heard much about the PS3 slim since E3, but that doesn't mean it's been entirely quiet out there -- the hot rumor today is that Sony's signed manufacturing agreements with both Foxconn and Pegatron to build the revised model in time for July delivery. That much we believe, since it's been backed up by a couple different credible reports, but here's where it gets totally insane: there's a suggestion that the slim will be the last PS3 model of this generation, and that a next-gen console based on Sony's motion controller is due in spring 2010. We don't buy that at all, since the PS3 is just entering its prime and Sony was clear that the motion controller was for the existing console, so we think this rumor is getting garbled down the wire -- it's far more likely that the slim is being prepped for an August launch to coincide with those rumored price cuts, and that new PS3 bundles that include the motion controller are set to drop next year. That's just our take on the matter, though -- we'll see how things shake out.

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.

Do you dream of big plastic tennis-rackets and steering-wheel snap-ons for Sony's upcoming motion controller? Yeah, then why not build them yourself? Sony Computer Entertainment has launched its Official Licensing Program that gives accessory and peripheral makers in Japan, Asia, North America, and Europe access to all the PS3, PSP, and PS2 tech documents and schematics required to qualify your product for an "Official Licensed Product" logo. Sure, you'll likely have to hand over some cash for the privilege, but imagine the bank that awaits the person who converts the glowing orb atop Sony's motion controller into the very first official PS3 lightsaber.

The U.S. has Netflix, the UK has Sky TV and now France is getting Canal+ added to the Xbox 360, in a similar deal to the one bringing live and on-demand Sky TV in England, the French will be free to party up and watch more than 3,000 movies and TV shows, catch-up TV, French Ligue 1 soccer games, and headbutt flopping, filthy-mouthed Italians in the chest. No word if sports hooliganism will be supported in this iteration, but judging from the screens the avatar support should also mirror its UK counterpart. This is likely not the end of tie-ups between the two either, with the partnership planned to eventually encompass other Canal Plus & Microsoft products. Check out one additional pic of the updated dashboard after the break.

[Via Reuters]

We don't know exactly what's going on, but both Xbox Live and Zune Marketplace are apparently acting up right now -- we've gotten reports that the entire Zune user database is more or less MIA, while Xbox Live seems unable to process purchases reliably. If we had to guess, we'd say that Microsoft's free Thriller video giveaway is causing some pretty massive server strain, but that's just a shot in the dark. Keep us posted on how you're doing, and we'll let you know if we hear anything official.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

As recently as May Sony has itself stated that a PSP phone "could happen," and now a report from Nikkei business daily states that Sony is planning on putting together a team as early as next month to build product that would act as a combination of a PSP and a Sony Ericsson handset. It makes plenty of sense, both as a differentiation from Nintendo and as a confrontation of the looming iPhone threat -- and hey, it might also act as a decent salve over the lukewarm reception of the pricey PSPgo. Unfortunately, if Sony is just about to get started on this, we likely wouldn't be looking at any resulting product for a while to come. Sony declined comment according to Reuters, which doesn't mean a whole lot, but it's worth keeping in mind that we've been hearing this sort of rumoring since back when the N-Gage (as a product) was still almost relevant.

[Via Mac Rumors]

So that "certain premium" for the UMD-less PSPgo? We may gripe about the $230 price tag here, but our friends across the pond might actually have it worse. Right now, while UK gamers are shelling out on average £100 (about $165 US) for a new PSP, the "guide price" for Go is currently set at around £230 ($370 US). Egregious? We think so, and it looks like British consumers might agree, as two independent retailers have reported zero pre-orders so far. Ouch. Of course, it's not indicative of the entire region, especially given there's no data here from the big chains, but as a "canary in a cage" indicator, it still doesn't sound good -- but hey, there's still plenty of time before its October 1 launch, and anything can happen.

[Via Joystiq]