Men Free Blog

Adding to the ever-growing list of “cool stuff Japan gets that we don’t,” Bandai Namco is offering a sweet preorder bonus with Tales of Symphonia. The RPG, which releases in Japan in late June, will come with a Dramatic DVD for gamers that preorder the title. The DVD will include original animated scenes that add to the game’s story, which sounds like a pretty nice extra to us.

We’re sure the DVD will never see the light of day outside of Japan (officially), so the rest of us will just have to be content to look at screens and pretend that’s dramatic. Some new screens might help you with such a task, so just click on the “Read” link below (or the picture above) to check them out.
[Via Gemaga]

While Shuttle’s KPC most certainly wasn’t aimed at the enthusiast in the crowd, its newest XPC definitely is. The XPC G5 6801M gets going with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, LG’s GGC-H20L Blu-ray / HD DVD combo drive, ATI’s 256MB HD 3450 graphics card, a DVB-T tuner, 25-in-1 multicard reader and 7.1-channel audio output. Moreover, you’ll find gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, a slew of USB / eSATA ports, DVI / VGA out (DVI-HDMI adapter thrown in) and a bundled remote to make your life even easier. If you’re digging where this is going, you can latch on to one of these boxes for €1,091 ($1,727), and if you’ve turned a cold shoulder to HD DVD, a BD-only unit can be had for €167 ($264) less.

source:engadget

We’ll be honest, we can’t exactly recall what the going rate on rare Betamax tapes was soon after VHS took over, but it seems that one HD DVD fanatic was willing to shell out quite a bundle in order to take home a presumably canceled version of Bee Movie. In a war that saw some 23 bids fly in, one particularly fortunate eBay seller was able to move a copy of Seinfeld’s latest on the now-deceased format for $400 — we think. Curiously enough, the seller didn’t specifically mention that it was the HD version in a publicly answered question, and even more suspicious was the fact that he / she chose to end the auction early despite the chance of it soaring even higher. Here’s to hoping the winning bidder both reads this and gets the film they purchased, but let’s see some actual pictures as soon as it arrives, cool?

source:engadget.com

Man, Fidel’s out and already the kids are getting crazy: the Cuban government is finally allowing general consumers to buy various electronics, including DVD players and computers, for the first time. Only companies and foreigners were previously able to buy computers, while the looming threat of terrible Hollywood movies had forced Cuban authorities to seize DVD players at the airport. The change is due to “the improved availability of electricity,” and Cubans can look forward to also picking up microwaves, 24-inch televisions, and rice cookers to plug into the new juice. Of course, it’s not all flip flops and high-fives: air conditioners will not be available until next year, and the deadly menace known as the toaster will be restricted until 2010. Hope you like plain bread with your communism movies

source:engadget.com

This is the closest to a high end DVD camcorder that one can get for its price range. This is the most affordable DVD camcorder yet available that provides high definition video quality that usually belongs in high end and more expensive models. From the outside, the Panasonic VDR-D310 doesn’t look any different from other lower-end Panasonic DVD camcorder models in terms of size and shape. The difference lies on the inside.

The Panasonic VDR-D310 offers high definition video quality with its three 800,000 pixel CCD sensors and 10x Leica lens. It is 700x digital zoom capable and makes use of an optical image stabilizer that works quite well when zooming in for closer images and helps reduce shakes and blurs. This camcorder has a 3.1 mega pixel effective still resolution and makes use of miniDVD’s as its storage medium. This camcorder also supports a slot for flash memory Multimedia and SD Memory cards.

This camcorder can provide high quality footage taken both indoors and outdoors. It can provide accurate color captures and sharper details. The Panasonic VDR-D310 has no video light and instead makes use of its MagicPix feature to enhance shots taken indoors or in low light conditions. But this feature may slow down the shutter speed and can sometimes make the footage look choppy in dim lighting.

Its basic shape and simple control make shooting more convenient especially when recording those unexpected moments. It might be prices a couple hundred dollars more in the market, but its extra features are all well worth it.