We have been talking a lot lately how the gaming industry is rapidly changing into a mainstream entertainment industry. The years of 2007 and 2008 are turning points for this industry as PC gaming is declining into old age and death and the consoles are rising to complete domination. The 360 and PS3, and to some extent the Wii (I have very mixed feelings about the Wii as a gaming console), are not only fantastic gaming consoles but they are media platforms on steroids too. They are important players in home entertainment and living room evolution.

Let’s just look at the sales as I think it’s really interesting. There were some pretty fantastic games in 2006-2007 like, Gears of War, Uncharted, Bioshock, the fabulous Orange Box, etc. However, the hype around the release of Halo 3 last September was really something else. In the 24 hours after its release, Halo 3 earned 170 million dollars. That never happened for an entertainment product, movie or music record. Halo 3 would go on earning 300 million dollars in the first week.

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John Phillips sent this to me via Facebook, and I just had to share. Are any of you getting a Wii Fit? It actually looks like fun, and of course the video pokes fun…so enjoy.

Video game maker Destineer announced today that they would be releasing the game title, Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine for the Nintendo Wii and DS. The scoop so far is that Iron Chef America host, Mark Dacascos will appear in the game. Now, given the unique input hardware of the Nintendo Wii and DS, there should be some interesting and fun elements to the game play. Expected release is summer of 2008.

Check out the announcement trailer:

During the season premiere of Beauty and the Geek, there was a unusual geek who went to the auditions with a bunch of Smurfs, his name is André Meadows. André made it to the finals but did not get picked to be on the show. However, he did get 23 seconds of fame on TV, which was enough, as shortly after I found his audition video posted onto his YouTube channel, BlackNerdComedy and his videos became some of my favorites on YouTube. André’s newest video “Buy Mii a Wii - Black Nerd Music Video” is his best video yet! In the video, he proclaims his love for the Nintendo Wii.

Disclaimer: This video is rated PG (Parental guidance recommended) - André gets a bit TOO friendly with his Nintendo Wii box towards the end of the video, and it might scare the children.

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A couple of weeks ago, I posted “Transformers Invade the Nintendo DS”, about the coming games Transformers Autobots and Decepticons for the Nintendo DS. Well the games were released, and last weekend I picked up the games.

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On Monday I bought the DS version of Star Wars: Lethal Alliance and surprise to me, the game actually is very good. IGN gave the game a poor, and based on that, I did not buy the game when it was released back in December 2006. Since, the DS game scene has been lacking games that I like over the past several months. I have not purchased any new DS games since November 2006. I kept going back to look at the Star Wars: Lethal Alliance, because I like Star Wars. I found a GameSpot review and they gave the game a “good” rating. Now who is right and who is wrong here? Ok, I thought, lets see what the actual game players have to say about it? Many, players who posted their comments on Amazon.com, GameSpot and IGN forums… majority say its a good game.

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The movie Transfomers which is due out on July 4th, is getting the big merchandising treatment blitz, and that includes video games. All the gaming systems will be getting a version, so that gamers can relive the onscreen action at home. But I want to talk about the Nintendo DS version, which is more exciting to me as the DS is my favorite gaming platform. I want these games bad, as I am a Transformers fan. They’ve gotten the big hype treatment on IGN and Gamespot.

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If you are like me, and I hope some of you are, you probably have fond memories of hanging out in the video arcades, feeding quarters into a big black box as your sweaty hand became one with the joystick. Back then, in the days before Playstation, X-Box or Wii (we called that the Dark Ages), having a gaming system in your home meant a giant black cabinet…a true video arcade game.

I had a friend who actually got one. We used to hang out in his basement playing free game after free game of asteroids (for you youngsters, Asteroids is a classic video arcade game, in which you control a spaceship navigating through an asteroid belt. Shatter the giant rock forms with your laser in order to make it safely through to the next level).

Well, today, we received an email from DreamAuthentics, which brought back all of these memories of the 1980’s. DreamAuthentics is a leading manufacturer of custom-built personal arcade cabinets, just like the ones from my childhood. Now, they have launched the Katana, the first model in DreamAuthentics’ line designed to sit on a table top or bar top, allowing you to convert any room into an “entertainment destination.” The cabinet comes preloaded with over 200 licensed games and also functions as a jukebox, computer and DVD player. Heck, you could even use it to watch Judie’s unboxing of the HTC Advantage.

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This just came in from Kat with Proporta: evidently she has arranged a special give-away so that anyone�who buys a Proporta PSP product will get a free UMD case for their games…

I like the looks of their aluminum PSP case, but there is also a leather case for those that would rather. Full details follow after the jump.

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Cassily, our�friend at Vavolo, sent this bit of news today which�I thought might interest Gear Diary Readers…

Vavolo is selling some serious replacement parts for both Sony PSPs and PlayStations. These�goodies may be exactly what some of you DIY’ers have needed.

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