DSi XL Pegged for 2010 Release In North America, Europe

The DSi LL is heading to North American and Europe under a slightly more identifiable moniker — the DSi XL. XL, obviously standing for extra large. Official word from Nintendo is that the unit will offer a screen 93% larger than the current DS Lite, coupled with a better view angle, a jumbo-sized stylus, and unspecified preinstalled Nintendo DSiWare software.

It’s slated to hit “first quarter calendar year of 2010.” No word on pricing yet, but expect it to carry a premium like its Japanese counterpart, which will retail for approximately 1100 more yen over that of the standard DSi model.

27-inch iMacs having performance issues?

It’s not at all clear what the root cause of the problem is, but we’ve noticed a big uptick in people complaining about performance issues on new 27-inch iMacs on Apple’s support boards. The most common symptom seems to be incredibly slow Flash video playback, but people are also claiming that there’s a bug forcing the hard drive to spin down, that there’s a corrupted Snow Leopard build preinstalled, and even that the problem is bad permissions, which is basically how an OS X user gives up trying to figure things out. Apple hasn’t said anything yet, but neither of the 27-inchers we have here are having problems, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed while we wait for an official resolution. Video of the issue after the break.

LifeHacker: Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap

You won’t find a better media center than the open-source XBMC, but most people don’t have the space or desire to plug a noisy PC into their TV. Instead, I converted a cheap nettop into a standalone XBMC set-top box. Here’s how.

iTunes goes 9.0.2: adds support for Apple TV 3.0, kills Pre sync

First comes the Apple TV 3.0 update, and next comes the iTunes update to make the two play nice. It’s a beautiful thing, we tell ya. As of right now, iTunes 9.0.2 is available via Software Update, and with that comes compatibility with Apple TV 3.0, an “improved look and feel,” and an easier-to-explore iTunes Store. Hop on past the break for the full changelog, and feel free to get your download on now if you’re still not scared of blindly installing software from Cupertino.

Update: Looks like it killed Pre sync — now, act like you’re surprised!

PSP-4000 To Include UMD Drive

According to developer talk recounted by Edge at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Sony’s next PSP iteration will include a UMD drive, despite the company’s renewed focus on digital distribution. It was originally assumed by many that the PSPgo was Sony’s first step towards moving to a digital only platform but recent murmurs out of Tokyo suggest that this is not the case.

DIY: Virtual Reality Goggles

CFW 5.50GEN-D2 released

Ok guys, this is it! Homebrew developer Yoshihiro and and the rest of Team Gen has finally released the much awaited Custom Firmware 5.50GEN-D2 Quick Updater to finally fix the issues that other users have experience while installing the previous version of 5.50GEN.

CFW 5.50GEN-D2 Quick Updater changelog:

* Evangelion Anti CFW patch Fix
* Fix Wlan TKIP in game loop : pes 2009 , fifa , motorstorm , GTA cw ect….
* Fix Video Output With 5.5X and 6.X Games like GTA Chinatowns War
* Fixed recovery menu with make Pandora and make battery normal
* removed splash screen http://www.pspgen.com but you have another spash screen in red color for let you know if the decrypter work .

Download: CFW 5.50GEN-D2 Quick Updater
Download: Custom Firmware 5.50GEN-D

Uncharted 2 Exceeding Expectations At Retail, DLC Coming Before Year’s End

As if anyone expected otherwise, Uncharted 2 is well on its way to cementing its status as one of the top-selling PS3 titles, with developer Naughty Dog revealing that unit sales have “exceeding expectations.” In fact, company creative director Amy Hennig says it is already on track to outsell the original “many, many” times over.

I would definitely say it’s exceeding expectation. Being in the industry for a while you learn to try to manage your expectations because you’d rather be surprised with good news than disappointed. It’s a tough business, but from the early numbers I’ve seen getting reported back it’s exceeded any estimates we had internally, and it’s certainly outsold the first game by many, many times. That and the critical reception so far has been really gratifying.

Netflix confirmed for PS3

That didn’t take too long to confirm. A mere day after word got out of the possibility that Netflix will indeed be coming to either the PS3 or the Wii (or both), we now have official confirmation from Sony that the movie streaming service will definitely be on their console.

Palm Pixi Lands on Sprint November 15th, For $100

Sprint’s just gone public with its plans for the Pixi: a single c-note, payable November 15th. It’s not the aggressive, bottom-scraping pricing I was hoping to see for Palm’s second, daintier webOS device, and just $50 less than the Pre.