The latest rumor to come from the pages of EGM lends further credence to one of last month's marketing leaks that Activision has gotten a little gung-ho with their plastic controllers. According to EGM's "skater spy," the next Tony Hawk game will feature a "new fancy plastic peripheral" (we're thinking something like the Wii Balance Board); for reference, the marketing leak called it "a new motion sensing board controller." Additionally, the game will supposedly not be developed by Neversoft, who at the moment have their hands full with Guitar Hero World Tour's peripherals.

We have a hard time imagining Neversoft, who created the Tony Hawk series and has worked on all previous iterations, not having a part in the next version. We've sent our network of spies into action and will let you know what we come up with.

[Via NWF]

Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Activision has yet to respond to our requests for clarification, and anecdotal reports continue to contradict our finding that the Rock Band Stratocaster does not work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on the Xbox 360. If you'll consult our guitar compatibility matrix, you'll find that incompatibility is par for the course, so we left it at that. But conflicting reports keep coming in.

Our original tipster, who works for a rather large gaming magazine, tested all manner of guitars with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but, alas, he was on an XDK – the Xbox 360 debug kit (and no, the above is not Photoshopped, it's a direct screen grab). Perhaps something, however unlikely, has changed from the reviewable code to the final retail code? Even then, we've gotten tips as recently as this morning claiming the Rock Band guitar does not work with the retail release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Frankly, we can't keep track anymore so we'll do the next best thing: power of the masses.

If you opted to save some green and snag one of the 40GB PlayStation 3s, you may have found you're missing more than just backwards compatibility. You're also missing the flash card readers and two of would-be four USB ports.

Never ones to leave a shortcoming un-peripheraled, Nyko has announced the decidedly fugly Media Hub for the PlayStation 3, a dongle that attaches to one of your PS3's USB ports, adds 2 additional ports, an SD slash Memory Stick reader (no Compact Flash, sorry), all while totally trashing the sleek aesthetic Sony was going for. Now all you need is a backwards compatibility dongle and you're all set.

The Activision peripheral tantrum continues, with the mega-publisher still refusing to allow Rock Band guitar peripherals to operate on its Guitar Hero games, including this week's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Despite reports to the contrary on a couple forums, when our friendly tipster attempted to use a Rock Band guitar on the Xbox 360 version of GH: Aerosmith he was greeted with the following error: "An unsupported guitar peripheral has been detected. Connect either a Guitar Hero guitar or Xbox 360 controller and press START to continue."

Considering the Rock Band guitar never worked on any of the three new-gen consoles' releases of Guitar Hero 3 (check our guitar compatibility matrix), we're going to assume the same lack of functionality is present in not only the Xbox 360 release, but the PlayStation 3 and Wii releases of GH: Aerosmith as well. Let us know if you've tried it on either of those consoles.

[Big thanks, Dan A.]

Sony Europe announced this morning that the DualShock 3 will release in the land down under over there on July 2 and in the UK on July 4. The rumble-licious controller will cost £40 -- there is currently no price given in Euros.

So, happy American Independence Day merry ol' England! Crack open a can of Bud, prep some barbecue and go down to your local games shoppe and pick up a DualShock 3. Yes, it's everything the Sixaxis was supposed to be.

SOCOM Confrontation's retail release will include a Bluetooth headset, Sony reconfirmed today -- this time with pictures. While similar to the Jabra headset packaged inside Warhawk's box (and later removed), SOCOM's offering actually appears to be well-designed and, in fact, PlayStation-branded. Features include a prominent Mute button, USB charging cradle, and extended battery life. Sony has neither finalized the design nor priced a standalone model, but the SOCOM bundle is rumored to fetch $80.

Sony has provided a peek at some of the "lifestyle" applications it has in store for PSP in FY08. The company hopes these non-gaming titles will get a PSP into the hands of – you guessed it – non-gamers. Unfortunately, they all use peripherals not currently available in the US. They've all been previously announced for European release; hopefully their inclusion in the latest business update from SCEI head Kaz Hirai points to a pending E3 announcement regarding US plans.

The lineup includes Go!Messenger, which uses the PSP camera add-on for VoIP video chat; Go!Explore, which uses the PSP GPS to ... well, it's GPS mapping software; Go!Cam, which turns the PSP into a digital camera; and, finally, Go!View, which uses the PSP antenna peripheral to turn the handheld into a wireless video-on-demand receiver. Sony is partnering with Sky in the UK for Go!View content. Sadly, our suggestion of Go!Just Go!, an application for handling difficult breakups, didn't make the cut.

Source (Warning: PDF file)

EA Sports executive producer and VP David McCarthy has revealed that Moore's division plans to create and bundle peripherals with some of its sports games. "I think you'll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months," McCarthy teased during his Paris GDC lecture, reports Gamasutra.

According to additional comments McCarthy made to Next-Gen, it would seem that EA Sports is specifically focused on developing plastic shells peripherals for Wii. "One of the things we're doing is looking at just playing with the Wii remote in a different way, using a whole new peripheral that's out there, kind of thing. So, basically enabling control for the user in a much different way," McCarthy said, adding, "we are prototyping stuff that really does allow us to play with the Wii remote differently." McCarthy promised that something would be shown to the public in the next few months, maybe as soon as E3.

Source - Gamasutra
Source - Next-Gen

Fancy playing your favorite console titles on PC? If our super-fountain of rumors turns out to be gushing truth, you may be able to do just that. Included in the lengthy list of leaks is a device called "Trioxide," which will reportedly allow users to use their home computers to play Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 titles.

How exactly would this work? The brief blurb doesn't say, but our best guess is that Trioxide merely allows users to send video and audio signals from their console of choice to the PC for displaying. This theory is reinforced by the blurb, which states that any games played using Trioxide utilize their original game controllers, rather than the PC's keyboard or mouse.

Joystiq previously reviewed the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid (pictured above), a device that performs a very similar signal-display operation. Unlike the EyeTV, Trioxide would likely be designed strictly for game-playing, and would be optimized for low latency. It might not be the magic bullet people were hoping for, but Trioxide could still be a pretty sweet peripheral by our guesstimation.

The two USB ports on the back of the Nintendo Wii don't get a whole lot of love, but that might be changing sometime in the near future. According to PC World, a recent posting on Nintendo's job board calls for a Software/Hardware Tester specializing in creating and executing "a test plan for Wii's USB devices."

We already know that Rock Band on the Wii will utilize a USB hub for its peripherals, but the job posting suggests even more USB devices might be enroute. These could include USB keyboards for future online games, or possibly even an eventual external storage solution (though Nintendo's recent disparaging comments on the matter make this unlikely).

[Via Engadget]

We're really not sure what to make of this, and honestly this description doesn't help much either. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Counting Rupees: You drink their milkshake
DS Fanboy Lite: May 31 - June 6
Introducing the Joystiq Metal Gear Solid 4 page
Joystiq Podcast 052 - Don't Chew Dare edition
Metareview -- The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360, PS3)
Poll Results: Poker best, Shrek worst of XBLA chopping block titles

News
Former GameSpot eds reunite at Gerstmann's Giant Bomb
Ben Heck's one-handed controller now available
Preorder Hail to the Chimp, get $10 of Onion Store credit
Saints Row 2 trailer pokes fun at GTA IV
New Afrika trailer is wildly educational
Age of Conan ships a million units
Missing masters may be behind Who's Next DLC delay
Strong Bad game gets delayed until July
Peering into the depths of Qore
Former Supreme Court Justice designing educational game
Try Guitar Hero: On Tour one week early at Toys R Us
'Dark Apprentice' shows some moves in Soul Calibur IV vid
Amazon offering Fallout 3 'Survival Edition'
LucasArts cuts staff, remains committed to internal development
Commando 3 blasts onto XBLA next week, SSFIITHDR beta invite tags along
LucasArts: next-gen Indy still in development
See the first trailer for Tenchu 4
Rock Band Weekly: The Material, The Myriad, Them Terribles and Maxïmo Park
Haze down to $40 at GameStop
Chris Taylor talks Dungeon Siege 3
Sony offers PS2/PSP dev kits for education
Tabula Rasa largely absent from NCSoft financial reports
Guitar Herowned: GH3's hardest song rocked 100%

Rumors & Speculation
Is the iPhone App Store a threat to DS?

Culture & Community
Make friends with 'Wii Friend Number' Facebook app

Nothing brings us more pleasure than when a single product can unite both the disabled and the lazy, and that's exactly what your friend and ours Ben Heck has cooked up with his new, commercially available one-handed peripheral: the Access Controller, compatible with PCs, PS2 and PS3. You can now pre-order the unit here.

Though the footprint is a bit larger than previous one-handed attempts we have to give him credit, if only for figuring out how to make all the buttons accessible (the layout's even customizable). Now, when can we get our hands hand on a 360 version?

Playing the game based on Terminator and Titanic director James Cameron's next big thing, Avatar, in full 3D sure sounded like a neat idea. After all, the movie itself is being shot to take advantage of the growing number of digital 3D cinemas popping up across the globe. Leave it to Ubisoft prez Yves Guillemot to get us all un-jazzed by revealing to GamesIndustry.biz that the game will only be playable in 3D on certain HDTVs.

According to Guillemot, the technology used to 3D-ify Ubi's Avatar game has been designed only for "a specific TV" and glasses that work with it. He goes on to say that the display is already available in the US. Could these TVs and these glasses be what he's referring to?

So ... no new TV, no Avatar 3D. Bummer. Though Guillemot has confirmed that the game will be playable in one less "D" on that nice, big old style HDTV you just spent your economic stimulus check on.

According to unconfirmed (but "exclusive") information on PlayStation LifeStyle, you can toss another waggle wand prototype on the increasingly large pile of potentially non-existent peripherals. The information, supposedly obtained during a PlayStation 3 focus test held in exotic "****** ****, California," describes motion-sensitive PlayStation 3 controllers that operated via a "mini-tripod that stood about 12 inches high."

Several mini-games, including fencing, paintball and the obligatory tennis are said to have been played with the "incredibly responsive and accurate" devices. PlayStation Lifestyle's "proof" comes in the form of a January e-mail inviting PS3 owners to participate in a focus group "discussing PlayStation 3 games." PlayStation forum chatter does seem to indicate that some Underground members were invited to focus tests in Chicago and Los Angeles during that month, but it lends no credence to the rest of the story.

Naturally, Sony told us, "We don't comment on rumors or speculation."

[Image: Not the real thing.]

Since Wii Fit finally hit the US market, Wii Fanboy has been teetering all over the Balance Board in an effort to work out the best (and worst) aspects of Nintendo's latest. Check out some of that featured coverage, and jog on over to put your name in the hat to win a copy of the game, as well.

	The basics
	Five quick Wii Fit factoids Early impressions, neatly packaged in a single bullet-point list.
	Wii Fanboy Review: Wii Fit Wherein we break it down -- the good and the bad.
	Wii Fit vs. Let's Yoga How does Wii Fit stack up against another recent exergaming title available for a Nintendo system?
	The extras
	Point/Counterpoint: Wii Fit Awesome title or gaming's death knell?
	Wii Fit measures JC's apartment Balance board vs. stuff. Ready ... fight! Er, test.
	Finding space for Wii Fit Sure, the Balance Board is small by itself, but you need space to work out. Let us help you figure out how much.
	Old school
	Peripherals that paved the way for the Balance Board A trip through Nintendo's peripheral-littered past.
	Revolutionary: Balance Boarder Long before the real thing hit, we were making our own thing.