Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Following on last week’s mammoth launch of Halo: Reach, this week we have a major PC launch – Civilization V, the follow on to the fourth entry to the massively successful turn-based strategy game franchise from 2005. The other game struggling for my time is yet another sequel, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City for the DS. The first two were brutally difficult and forced you to draw your own maps, and were loads of fun. The PC strategy simulation Patrician IV ended up with a delay and is supposed to launch this week, along with the PC version… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Yeah, baby!  A free iPad!  You KNOW you want one! Well, maybe you all don’t, but I’m pretty sure that a lot of you do.  So I’m genuinely pleased to let y’all know (I can say “y’all”; I’m in Texas) that NTI has begun a contest to win a free iPad or iPod for trying Media Maker 9.  Rather than bollux up trying to re-word the details, I’m simply going to say WIN AN IPAD one more time, and then let you peruse the following info: NTI Corporation today announced a contest to win a free iPad or iPod for trying Media Maker 9, an all-in-one digital creativity suite to simplify today’s digital lifestyles. Media Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love my Tuxdroid, the little robotic open source penguin that could read e-mail, weather and the time to you.  I decided to revive my Tuxdroid as I had not played with him for a while.  I hit up the website for Kysoh, the makers of the Tuxdroid and the site appeared up, but the software was not available for download at their site.  I searched around the site and was unable to find the software, but did find this bug in their tracker.  At the bottom of it is a note from one of the founders, Sebastian.  Apparently, Kysoh S.A., the maker of the Tuxdroid is bankrupt. There are lots of Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Back in our Palm days — which many of us here at Gear Diary still miss, I might add — Astraware was one of the go-to companies for Palm games.  And while Palm may be on shaky ground these days, Astraware at least hasn’t given up, releasing a pair of new games for the Palm Pre: Astraware Casino: http://www.astraware.com/webos/casino Police Range: http://www.astraware.com/webos/policerange There’s life in the ol’ Palm platform yet, I’m guessing.  And if you’re a Palm Pre owner,  then hey, check them out!… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Is it time to crown the ‘Entertainment King of 2010′ already? Not so soon – but one thing is clear, Halo: Reach is an amazing blockbuster smash hit – it brought in more than $200 million in the first 24 hours! From a Yahoo! article: “‘Halo: Reach’ is the biggest game Microsoft has ever released, and its launch has already surpassed every game, movie and entertainment launch this year,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. US sales alone made “Halo: Reach,” which hit stores on Tuesday, the biggest entertainment launch of the year, surpassing the three-day opening weekends of Hollywood blockbusters “Iron Man 2,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Toy Story Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Here’s a heads-up that you can download a FREE five-track sampler of music from the upcoming movie The Social Network, scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, by clicking this link. You can also pre-order the full 19 song soundtrack as a CD ($8.00), in HD Blu-ray Audio ($20.00), or on vinyl ($25.00). The Social Network soundtrack will be released digitally on Tuesday September 28th with physical formats to follow in October. You can pre-order standard CD, Blu-ray (audio only 5.1 surround and high resolution stereo) and 2 disc 180g vinyl formats now. All preorders include an instant 5 song sampler download and a full digital album delivered by email Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I love Amazon’s new commercial for the Kindle 3. It’s funny, a bit on the harsh side, and absolutely true. The iPad is an amazing device and it has taken over so much of what I normally do. Unfortunately when you’re outside in the sun it’s all but useless. It’s hard to read and it overheats relatively quickly in direct sunlight. So if you live in a dark cold climate you have no problems. If you live anywhere on the planet Earth however you will encounter issues relatively quickly. Since I enjoy beach vacations it quickly became clear to me that the iPad wasn’t going to be the right solution for me the next time we… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

“So – what’s good?” Oh, don’t I wish I had a nickel for every time I am asked this question about new cars. And “good” can mean so many things to so many folks. A quick check over at thesaurus.com gave me some 250-plus ways to describe “good.” I would add to the list the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s good – darned good. I guess good minds think alike in Detroit these days as both Jeep and Ford are delivering completely new vehicles carrying each automaker’s iconic SUV moniker. Ford is readying a new Explorer later this fall and Jeep has released its latest Grand Cherokee. Both models are all-new from the ground up and… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

I’ve reviewed a ton of cases for the iPhone over the last few years. Cases made from leather, silicone, plastic, metal, felt, fabric and polycarbonate. But the Bioserie case for the iPhone is the first case I’ve reviewed that’s made entirely from advanced bioplastic materials which are derived entirely from plants. Here’s some technical information from Bioserie on how this is done. Bioplastics are a variety of plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as plant starches or microorganisms, rather than fossil-fuel plastics which are derived from oil. Bioplastics represent a relatively new and very promising field of modern biotechnology. Although they are increasingly used in some areas such as disposable goods and Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Kicking Nokia while they’re way, way, down is practically a sport these days. Admittedly, Nokia has become the kid in school with a “Kick Me” sign on them. And like that poor kid, Nokia watches what all the cool kids are wearing, and then seems to show up rocking the cool jeans a year after they’re out of style. Businessweek has taken a look at how Nokia went from star quarterback to losers, and they have some interesting theories. Geography BW argues that Nokia was too isolated from their competitors due to being based in Finland. Apparently there are no airplanes to Nokia headquarters: Building a technology giant in Finland was a great achievement. But Continue reading on Gear Diary …

This summer my wife’s sister moved from New Jersey to Texas because her husband works for Exxon-Mobil, and in the process what started as ‘babysitting’ her 3 cats turned into getting them dumped on us permanently! So on top of our two terriers, without own cat we suddenly had a minor herd of kittehs! Here is one we actually just got rid of when our nephew returned from China and wanted the cat back with him at college: And yes, he is rather large – he’s actually bigger than either of our dogs! They can get out of hand at… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

How young is too young to start indoctrinating your children in the ways of the gamer? NEVER too young! So instead of reading ‘Chicka Chicka ABC’ or ‘Goodnight Moon’ to your toddler, tuck them in with the ‘Gamer’s Alphabet’! Anyway, ElJeffe at the Penny-Arcade forums talked about his book and how he created it: Okay, here’s the Gamer’s Alphabet. First, this is roughly how I made it. Instead of using adhesive paper, I used plain, sturdy printer paper and spray-on glue, because I couldn’t find any adhesive paper that didn’t suck for printing. Also, the instructions make it sound like you should put the laminating sheets on after you make the book, which would Continue reading on Gear Diary …

We have looked at a number of cordless charging systems over the last year or so, but now a heavyweight in the world of mobile-device power jumped into the field in a big way when they released their myGrid system. Duracell’s myGrid offers several different kits that let you simply set your device down and watch it charge up. With the myGrid… Cord clutter is a thing of the past. With myGrid, you can easily charge up to four mobile devices at the same time. Simply attach a Power Sleeve™ or Power Clip™ to each device and drop it onto myGrid to charge. The myGrid comes in a cell phone started kit or an… Continue reading on Gear Diary …

Today’s Gear Deal is more like “Today’s Gear DealS” since our Gear Sponsor has found a coupon that will save you a huge 20% on a number of different pocket camcorders from Flip, Creative and Kodak. Better still, all of them will even ship for free. Among some of the key deals being offered Creative Labs Vado 4GB HD Pocket Video Camcorder 3rd Generation (black) for $111.99 Creative Labs Vado 4GB HD Pocket Video Camcorder 3rd Generation (purple) for $111.99 Kodak ZX3 PlaySport HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera (Black) for $119.99 For details, ordering or to see other deals like this visit LogicBUY. 20% Continue reading on Gear Diary …

For a limited time two of Disney’s most popular iPad applications are on sale.  I’ve reviewed the Princess and the Frog read along app and it remains a weekly bedtime ritual, if not more often, for my children.  These interactive books not only bring Disney’s stories to life but also include fun, games, coloring pages and other activities for you and your children to enjoy as well. Now both the Princess and the Frog and Disney’s Toy Story 3 iPad applications are available for $3.99. If you’ve been thinking about grabbing one, now is the time to so.  If you want to learn more about the apps click the link above to check out my… Continue reading on Gear Diary …