Australian consumer website Choice has delivered a fairly comprehensive chart regarding the cost of keeping our favorite electronics plugged in. The chart converts electrical cost into Australian dollars, so unless you live there, it might be more informative to compare the various energy measurements.

The Wii is clearly the most energy efficient console currently on the market, which a similar study established last year. But despite the energy efficiency of all the consoles, we're sure Greenpeace still isn't happy with all the chemicals it takes to make our game-playing boxes of joy.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

It's hardly news that the Wii uses up less power than Sony and Microsoft's graphically intensive, monolithic consoles, but Aussie consumer website Choice has now delivered the most detailed results yet on how much juice each machine consumes -- even taking into account factors such as whether or not WiiConnect24 is active, or whether the console in question is idle.

And there's no doubt about it -- despite what Greenpeace might say, the Wii is an efficient little bugger when it comes to energy consumption. Ninty's console uses under one-tenth of the power required to play games on a PS3, and an eighth of the energy needed to run games on an Xbox 360. Regrettably, the survey neglects to mention that the Wii is three times as fun as both. YES, WE TOTALLY WENT THERE.

[Via Go Nintendo]

A report from German site Computer Base reveals that consumers giving up backward compatibility on their 40GB PS3s are at least getting something in return. The new systems utilize the new 65nm version of the Cell processor, reducing the power usage from 200 watts to 135 and further limiting the heat and noise the system gives off.

With both the Xbox 360 and PS3 now having the cheaper, more efficient 65nm CPUs integrated into their designs, the race to 45nm can truly begin. After that? We're predicting microscopic quantum CPUs.

[Via Engadget]

It only takes a quick, comparative glance at Pong and BioShock to see how far gaming technology has coming in a relatively short time. But despite all the progress, we haven't quite reached the pinnacle of a real-time, controllable, photo-realistic environments quite yet. What's stopping us? Popular Science takes a look with a recent piece on the ten greatest challenges in making realistic games.

The photo essay looks at some neat cutting edge technology aimed at fixing virtual modeling problems both natural (water and fire are particularly nasty to model) and human (artificial intelligence and uncanny valley faces, for instance), but the technology that impressed us most is based firmly in the real world. Organic Motion's Stage system replaces the standard black-with-ping-pong-balls motion capture suit with a simpler system. "Subjects step in front of the camera in their street clothes, and instantly their avatar forms onscreen," reads Pop Sci's description of what sounds to us like the coolest thing ever.

So will we ever reach that holy grail of totally reality simulation? It's a possibility if Moore's Law keeps up, but there'll almost certainly always be something to improve. As one designer put it to the magazine, "the more we can do, the more excited we get, and the more we want to do." In other words, the reach will always exceed the grasp.

[Thanks Wonderflex]

Originally reported by Beyond3D, apparently the PSP's new found power comes at a price. Turns out the PSP has to disable Wi-Fi to utilize the new CPU speed. Sony confirmed the information saying that the increased CPU speed does disable the PSP's wireless feature. Sony says they are "working closely" with developers to take full advantage of the new functionality where appropriate.

Developers now have to either choose to utilize the full power of the PSP or focus on multiplayer -- but not both, never both. GameDaily BIZ followed up on the Beyond3D story to find out why this either/or concept was put in place. Speculation is that it was to conserve battery power in the unit as the the Wi-Fi turned on affects battery life already, but Sony America is currently contacting Sony Japan to get the official answer.

[Via GameDaily BIZ]

Proud Xbox 360 owner ethjam0909 must have thought that turning on his white box was a little too easy or he just had had a lot of free time, because he felt compelled to construct a Rube Goldberg machine to power it up. Embedded above is a video showcasing his machine, which uses a marble, blanket, and some string to turn on his 360. Our favorite part has to be the end where ethjam0909 glows with pride by giving the camera the "oh yeah, I roxorz" smirk. Rock on ethjam0909, we'd so make one of those contraptions to power on our Xbox 360 at Fanboy Towers, but it's against house rules. And as everyone knows, we're good kids who abide by the rules.

[Via 360 Style]

While the rest of you suckers are out looking like chumps with mismatched AC adapters, the more fashionable among us are rocking an $18 third-party power cord in the same color as our DS Lite.

We'll leave it to you to decide if, considering that Nintendo sells their official AC adapter for $9.95, it's worth the extra money to get extremely minor home decorating assistance from Toytech. On second thought, we won't leave it to you. It's probably not worth it.

We attempted to think of something witty and clever to start the post off with a bang, but in the end, it would just be inappropriate. For at least one of us here on staff, Nintendo Power delivered the very first experience to the concept of gaming journalism.

Recent reports, however, have indicated that massive layoffs have been implemented at the publication. This is by no means an official announcement, but certainly either a massive downsizing or outright cancellation. NP has been putting out their pages for nineteen whole years, and it would be a great loss to the gaming community to see such a mainstay eliminated.

That said, our brilliant coverage of all things Wii and DS have probably helped in some small way to facilitate this grim news. Oops. Also, will this affect the tentative plans to bring legacy NP content to the Virtual Console? If they have to die, let their memory at least by memorialized in style.

It's the proverbial elephant in the room, the issue that isn't really discussed by Nintendo fans: the appearance of Wii games. Let's be frank -- the level of graphics in a lot (not all) of Wii games can best be described as unimpressive. We know graphics aren't what makes a game ... but they can certainly be part of it, just as they can be part of what ruins a game. Sometimes, the game is so good that any number of flaws can be ignored. We can even offer up a decent example from the other guys: Dead Rising wasn't exactly the best-looking game last year (and it even had some serious problems), but there is nothing like running through the mall on the shoulders of zombies with a lightsaber laser sword in your hand. You want an example of one of our fabulous games with subpar graphics? Two words: Eternal Darkness.

So, alright. Graphics aren't a deal-breaker, but just one aspect of a game. Then why are we talking about this? It's simple -- Wii games are sometimes even falling short of the standards we grew to expect from the GameCube. We shouldn't be gazing fondly upon Resident Evil 4 redux as one of the best-looking games to hit the Wii; we should be looking forward to it because it's a great game.

Even if you want to grant that the Wii is nothing but two GameCubes duct-taped together, then fine, great -- shouldn't the games look that much better than the games we played on one 'Cube? We're patient. We understand it takes a system time to grow, and we're willing to wait for things like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3. But some of the games third party developers are showing off don't look that great. Even the coming titles that are overflowing with cuteness can be a little simplistic. So to these companies, get with it, before Nintendo muscles you out of the market by virtue of actually caring.

Do you ever stop and think about the resources that power your electronic lifestyle? Sometimes we look around at the stack of consoles and the computers and think, well ... maybe someday we should cut back a little(yeah, right). Well, the folks at Tom's Hardware are looking for ways to incorporate solar power in their gaming consoles, and we applaud their efforts. Apparently, they made a solar-powered Wii that wasn't fully dependent on the sun, and that just didn't seem good enough. They wanted something that really demonstrated what could be done to bring solar power to gaming, so they needed a different device. The answer? The DS Lite. We applaud their choice. You can, too -- just head on over there and watch the video.

Must ... resist ... urge to use "Thwii" pun ...

Now that we've sufficiently girded, here's the news: the PS2 Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI is getting an enhanced port on the Wii, to be released in Japan on March 21st with the enhanced title Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI with Power-Up Kit. Along with the obvious Wiimote functionality, the game will be getting some new gameplay modes and scenarios.

After trying to figure out the first NES Romance, we swore the series off forever. Kudos to those of you who managed to play these things.

[Via GAME Watch]

The crew at HCW decided to compare the power consumption of all three major consoles. Just for good measure, they threw in a mid-range PC as well. The overall conclusion, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 suck up almost as much juice as a PC. The Wii, on the other hand, sips lightly on its electricity like a vacationing retiree drinking a mai tai. It's worth noting that the PS3 does consume more power than the 360. During DVD playback, the Xbox 360 uses somewhat less than the PC or the PS3, though HCW notes that 360 playback quality is low and the machine itself is noisy.

Does any of this really matter? Nope, but it's interesting nonetheless, and it's sure to give fanboys some fuel for the forums. HCW will be comparing other aspects of the consoles in the coming weeks. We'll keep you posted.

[Via Joystiq]

The controversy surrounding the positive and negative effects of modern video games has drawn commentary from luminaries ranging from the governor of California to the Pope. But among all this high-level pontificating, one question has loomed large: What does Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad think of video games?

Apparently, he doesn't like them. This according to an interview Al-Assad gave to Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer, who figured that since the dictator has "talked about the internet," a question about video games was appropriate. Al-Assad tersely answered that he uses the internet "for information, not for video games" before moving on to important topics like his favorite movies and what's on his iPod (we're not kidding).

Al-Assad's discussion got us wondering how the world might be different if more heads of state actually were gamers? Could President Bush gain a deeper understanding of history through Civilization? Could a nice, calm game of Mario soothe Tony Blair's nerves after a long day in front of Parliament? Could the world-gobbling power of Katamari Damacy satiate the ambitions of Kim Jong-Il? The world may never know.

[Via NewsBusters]

For years, Sony and IBM have talked up the power of the Cell processor that's at the core of of every PS3. Now, some University of Illinois researchers are working on finally unlocking that power for the next generation of highly parallel supercomputers.

The Illinois News-Gazette has a report on the efforts of user interface experts Marc Snir, Laxmikant Kale and David Kunzman, who say that a computer with a cluster of Cell chips could offer 50 times the performance of a similar sized PC. Squeezing out that performance is no small task, though -- Kale admits "it's going to be a challenge to program it."

Despite the team's inside access to Cell technology and tools, the N-G article ends with a joking complaint that the team members "haven't received a PlayStation 3 yet, either." Hey, if you want one that badly, just go to your local store, guys.

Microsoft has been planning on reducing the chip size of the 360's CPU since inception, but it looks like it's going to be a while longer before that actually happens. Digitimes reports that the large 90nm chip that's currently in the 360 will be shrunk down to a nicer 65nm, but not until mid 2007 because of a delay. The benefits of shrinking a CPU are not only cost reduction, but less power consumption, and less heat is generated. When a gaming console's innards get smaller and cost less, that can only mean good things for consumers and a possible price reduction may be in the distant future. And since the new smaller chip will need less power maybe we can finally reduce the size of that huge power brick.

[Via Joystiq]