Available starting today, the $30 Energizer Flat Panel 2X Charging System from Performance Designed Products is an inexpensive, quick, and cool way to juice up your Wii remotes.

This is an inductive charging system, meaning that there’s no need to connect any cables between the charging pad and the remote. The NiMH battery packs slips into the Wii controller and is magnetized to align with the special charging area on the black pad you see in the above photo. It’s a pretty neat feature that’ll add some much needed class to “Busch Light and Wii Bowling Thursdays” that have made your house so popular. Simply place the remote on the pad and watch it wiggle itself into the correct charging position like magic.

At $30, the system is priced somewhere between entry-level and mid-range Wii remote chargers. I can tell you that without knowing the price beforehand, I assumed it’d retail for around $50 when I first took it out of the box and set it up. So there’s that.

The battery packs are nice and hefty and hold a charge for about as long as standard AA batteries – maybe a tad shorter, but not enough to make a huge difference. If you’ve been using regular batteries for your Wii remotes up until now, you’ll definitely appreciate switching to rechargeable ones over the long haul. And with inductive charging, you’re able to charge your Wii remotes without taking off any protective silicone jackets or the MotionPlus add-on.

Recharge time is refreshingly quick for an induction system. Inductive charging generally takes a bit longer than standard recharging systems but the technology has come a long way over the past year or so. The system I reviewed in March took a long time to recharge – overnight, pretty much — whereas this Energizer system takes about 3-4 hours.

Overall, I can safely recommend this product as a solid purchase for anyone looking for an attractive induction charger at a decent price. Battery life is good, recharge time is quick, and the magnetized charging surface adds a touch of cool for good measure.

Energizer Flat Panel 2X Charging System [PDP.com]

Amazon is unloading Activision’s new-ish DJ Hero package for $85 across all current-generation systems – that’s down from $100+ elsewhere.

The bundle is also available on PlayStation 2, although it’s priced at $98.99. That’s “whack” as most popular DJ’s might say. That’s a thing, right? Whack? The standard bundle includes the DJ Hero game with over 100 songs and the turntable controller.

DJ Hero Bundle with Turntable [Amazon via dealnews]

EA Sports Madden 95/NHL 95 Plug and Play TV Game: $16 (Amazon.com)

I take this thing with me whenever I travel. It contains two of the greatest old-school Sega Genesis games of all time: Madden 95 and NHL 95. It plugs into any standard TV via white and yellow AV cables and this two-player version here is perfect for reliving the glory days of mid- to late-adolescence with an old buddy. For best results, have Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album playing in the background and sit on a beanbag if there’s one available.

Product Page

ExciteBike: World Rally: $10 (Nintendo Wii/WiiWare)

Oh man, I downloaded this the other day and played it for about six hours straight. It’s ExciteBike, through and through, with the added bonus of online multiplayer and all new graphics. The game itself is still as simple-yet-addicting as ever, you can still build your own tracks, and the $10 price tag isn’t too bad considering the multiplayer feature augments the otherwise short single player mode with nearly infinite replay value.

Product Page

Portable Handheld Emulator: Starting at around $30

Nothing gets a nostalgic gamer excited like the idea of taking old school games everywhere and, thankfully, there are plenty of portable emulation machines on the market. From the very-reasonable NES emulator reviewed here, to the slightly-more-expensive Genesis emulator reviewed here, you should be able to find an emulator for most older systems for under $50.

The ultimate portable, perhaps, would be the GP2X Wiz, a $180 handheld that runs just about every available retro system available and is backed by a vibrant community of users. Nobody beats the Wiz.

Retro Duo Twin Video Game System: $43.99 (Amazon.com)

If your favorite gamer hasn’t had the heart to sell, donate, or toss a single NES or SNES game cartridge despite numerous advancements in the magical field of PC-based emulation, then this Retro Duo console is a no-brainer. It’s cheap, too!

Less than $50 for a console that plays NES and SNES games and includes two controllers? There’s not much to consider there – it’s pretty much an impulse buy.

Product Page

USB NES Controller: $29.99 (ThinkGeek.com)

Playing old emulated NES games using anything other than an original controller just feels so… wrong. But if you don’t have the tinkering prowess to convert an original NES game pad into a USB version that can be used with your computer, you still have options. The $30 RetroLink USB gamepad takes care of the dirty work for you, allowing you to play those old NES games the way the gaming gods intended.

Product Page

That’s right, here’s your chance to win some gaming goodness for the holidays. Specifically, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles. How do you win? Apparently, all you have to do is become a fan of AMD on Facebook. One winner is chosen every week for four weeks, with the contest ending on December 18th.

Apparently there really is no rest for the wicked. Gearbox confirmed that “there’s a chance of a Borderlands 2″. Currently though, they are focusing on downloadable content and other such horse beating projects. It’s quite obvious that there will be a sequel, however considering the fact that the game has only been out for a very short time, I think it’s safe to assume that we’re looking at a year or more before we see it.

“If we felt like we could deliver the cinematic experience we were going for on other platforms, then we would gladly move to that platform. Right now, we don’t think the Wii can deliver the exact experience that we’re doing. We like to be very equal across all platforms, and if it’s not equal then we won’t do it,” said Bowling.

Oh I see how it is. Just because there’s no HD and a whole lot more arm-flailing, it’s not the same? Sigh. It’s actually not the same. He’s right.

At least we’ll have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition on the Wii the same day as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comes out on all the other systems. It’s probably just as good as the new game, right? Except older and less cinematic? And not as good?

Infinity Ward- Wii can’t deliver on our goals [Develop via Destructoid/VideoGamer]

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said recently that his company would be testing out demo downloads of certain WiiWare titles this month. It’s unclear if this test program will only be for Wii owners in Japan or if those of us here in the U.S. would be able to participate as well.

Apparently the program “will cover just a few titles,” according to IGN.

Nintendo is apparently looking to attract more potential WiiWare customers and this program is an attempt to gauge whether or not offering game demos will ultimately result in increased purchases. As one of those potential customers myself, I’d like to add that I can’t believe it’s taken this long. Just make demos for all WiiWare games available already, eh?

Nintendo to Offer WiiWare Demos [IGN]

Well what have we here? It seems that a “retail tipster” sent Kotaku the following inventory screen showing this potentially enticing deal: an Xbox 360 Arcade system for $199 “with $100 GC.” Let’s pretend for fun that “GC” means “gift card” shall we?

You’ll also notice a few other pretty aggressive deals: 42-inch TV for $498, HP laptop for $298, Sony Blu-ray player for $148, and so on and so forth.

This is still all in the rumor phase, although there’s apparently an official announcement expected tomorrow. The above screenshot looks plausible, too, I suppose.

UPDATE: It’s all legit. See Walmart.com for details.

Xbox 360 with $100 Card for $200 This Weekend [Kotaku]

What was your favorite part of the 70s? If you said egg chairs, than stop and read the rest of this post. You won’t regret it.

Acousticom, the same company who make headsets for military pilots and flight deck crew, has taken your favorite seating implement and turned into a personal theater / gaming station. These babies contain a 5.1 surround sound system with full 20 Hz – 20kHz response, and a 10″ woofer under your seat. The sound isolating foam not only eliminates outside noise, it comes in a variety of designer colors.

The SoundEgg will be officially released at CES 2010 in Las Vegas. But it looks like they’re taking online orders already. These things run 1450.00 USD. A bit steep, but worth it to have a evil mastermind throne that has its own sound system? Hell yes.

Here’s a frequency response chart for all of you nerds serious audiophiles out there.

Maybe “psycho-erotic thriller” isn’t the most accurate phrase. It’s a fun game, let’s leave it at that.

Those of you who have never played Catan before may very easily pass this one by but those of you who are into the game and own an iPhone or iPod touch will have little reason not to purchase it for $5.

It’s not without its drawbacks – there’s no Wi-Fi or internet-based multiplayer and the game board is downright tiny on the iPhone’s screen – but for five bucks, it provides a nice quick fix for Catan addicts in between real-life or Xbox Live rounds.

Here’s a quick hands-on showcasing the interface and whatnot:

Catan [iTunes via Pocket-lint]

BFG is new to the laptop world, and it kind of shows. The box was very basic, without all the pointless extras that some manufacturers include. I’m fine with that, I don’t particularly feel a need to have a BFG hat or mouse pad. I’m here for the gaming performance.

The machine looks good. And it’s not ridiculously heavy like certain other gaming laptops. It’s still huge, but not in an overwhelming way. More importantly, everything works. Sure, there’s isn’t any gimmicky “facial recognition,” but that hardly ever works right anyway. First impression is a solid machine with enough bling to keep me happy. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for blue LEDs.

So I’ve fired up my Steam account, I’m downloading some machine-melting games, and looking forward to putting this thing through its paces. As always, I’ll ask: any particular questions about the machine? Anything you’d like me to take a look at in particular in the full review? Also, if you like the look so far, keep in mind you can get 10% off the price if you pre-order by this Friday.

Perhaps someday you’ll buy an Android device to use primarily for gaming. It could happen! Pictured above is the ODROID, a gaming-focused portable running Android and packing a powerful 833MHz Cortex A8 CPU.

Other specs include 512MB of RAM, 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI out, and the ability to act as a USB host. There’s no cellular chipset on board.

Apparently the first run of developer units have already sold out at around $320. A second batch is expected to follow in late November, with a consumer version planned for December. Aside from using the ODROID to play games, you can do all the non-phone Android stuff and watch HD movies at 720P thanks to the speedy processor.

While being able to play games from the Android Market’s list of currently-available titles, I’d personally have this thing running one of the NES, Genesis, or SNES emulators before I even got the plastic film removed from the screen. The actual D-pad and X/Y/A/B buttons would make for some seriously wonderful retro gaming.

ODROID [HardKernel.com via SlashGear]

Yes, you can leave work early today. No need to ask your boss, he/she is okay with it.

If you haven’t had your fill of music rhythm games by now or you watched with a furrowed brow as guitar-based game after guitar-based game flooded the market, your giant headphones covering only one of your ears and held in place by your own shoulder just like your favorite DJs, then you’ll want to scrounge up between $100 and $200 for Activision’s DJ Hero, depending on your console and whether or not you want the special “Renegade Edition.”

Pricing is as follows:

• DJ Hero with Turntable Controller for PS2: $100
• DJ Hero with Turntable Controller for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii: $120
• DJ Hero Renegade Edition for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii: $200

The “Renegade Edition” includes “premium Renegade turntable controller, case, stand and exclusive DJ Hero Renegade 2-CD pack from Jay-Z and EMINEM.”

Available today all over the place. Full press release below:

DJ HERO™ – THE MOST-ANTICIPATED NEW MUSIC GAME OF THE YEAR – SPINS ONTO STORE SHELVES NATIONWIDE

DJ Hero Renegade Edition Features Premium Renegade Turntable Controller, Case, Stand and Exclusive DJ Hero Renegade 2-CD pack from JAY-Z and EMINEM

93 Exclusive Original Mixes from World Renowned DJ’s Bring Unprecedented Variety of Music Spanning Hip Hop, Rock, Pop, Dance and R&B to the Music Game Genre

SANTA MONICA, CA – October 27, 2009 /PRNewswire/ — The party has started with the most anticipated music game of the year, as DJ Hero^™ is now available at retail stores nationwide, Activision Publishing Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced. DJ Hero invites audiences of all kinds to the party, bringing living room legends to the main stage with the newest innovation in music gaming with an exclusive 93-mix track list, created by a host of legendary DJs uniquely blending almost every genre of music including hip hop, rock, pop, R&B and dance. Featuring electrifying gameplay that incorporates the fundamentals of DJing in a fun and accessible format, and booming tracks from Rihanna to The Killers; Marvin Gaye to Daft Punk; Queen to the Black Eyed Peas, DJ Hero provides consumers an opportunity to interact and listen to music unlike ever before. Heightening the euphoric experience, the DJ Hero Renegade Edition delivers exclusive special edition hardware and a limited edition CD collaboration between two cultural icons – JAY-Z, the most successful solo recording artist of all time and hip hop legend, EMINEM – introducing unreleased material from EMINEM and JAY-Z’s first ever “best of” compilation.

The game has already received global accolades:

“DJ Hero is an impressive piece of work…” with “…infectiously inventive mash-ups.” –Entertainment Weekly

“One of the best games I’ve played this year” with “the best soundtrack for any music game, ever” and “You’re going to want to have DJ Hero on hand for your next party.” – 9/10 – IGN.com Editors’ Choice Award. – IGN.com

“The best music game of the year and a leap forward for the genre.” – 92/100 – GamesMaster Magazine

“DJ Hero allows a player to get lost in a DJ universe, creating a genuine experience,” said JAY-Z. “It’s a perfect way to expose hip hop as all encompassing of every musical genre and how the DJ combines everything to make great music.”

“I think that the cool thing about DJ Hero is that the music is actually part of the gameplay,” said EMINEM. “You get a chance to experience what it’s like to be a DJ and scratch up different songs of mine in really great mixes.”

“When artists with the global appeal and cultural significance like JAY-Z and EMINEM come together you know it’s something groundbreaking,” said Dan Rosensweig, President and CEO of Guitar Hero. “DJ Hero pushes the boundaries of music and gaming with original music mixes and innovative game play that put the power of the DJ and the artistry of hip hop music into the hands of consumers around the world.”

Expanding upon the revolutionary easy to pick up/challenging to master gameplay mechanics developed and refined in Guitar Hero®, DJ Hero delivers an all-new interactive music experience that allows players to start the party and not only experience, but to hear music in an all-new way. Featuring mixes created by DJ AM, Cut Chemist, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, J. Period, DJ Shadow, DJ Z-Trip and more, spinning over 100 individual songs, highlighted in 93 unique never-before-released mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, pop, rock and dance, DJ Hero delivers the most diverse and international collection of music ever assembled in a music game by incorporating anthems from legendary artists. Created exclusively for DJ Hero, the turntable controller immerses fans into the DJ culture and a sea of music as they utilize and master various DJ techniques including scratching, crossfading and sampling, while leaving room for creative expression with a variety of effects and player chosen samples and scratches, transforming a face in the crowd into the life of the party.

The DJ Hero Renegade Edition includes a copy of the game, a premium Renegade turntable controller, hardshell turntable carrying case that converts to a performance-ready DJ stand, and an exclusive JAY-Z and EMINEM 2-CD pack featuring “best of” and new, unreleased material.

Available now, DJ Hero was developed by FreeStyleGames for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems and the Wii^™ system from Nintendo. The game is rated “T” (Teen – Mild Suggestive Themes, Lyrics) by the ESRB. For more information about DJ Hero, please visit djhero.com, facebook.com/djhero and twitter.com/djhero.

If you’re into button-mashing melee games a la Super Smash Brothers and whatnot, then perhaps you’d enjoy a change of scenery and fighters with our old friends the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Amazon’s got a deal on TMNT: Smash-Up for the Wii at $30, down from $47. The deal is good today only.

You can participate in 16-player online tournaments or “experience an exciting original single-player story mode written in collaboration with TMNT co-creator Peter Laird.”

TMNT: Smash-Up [Amazon]

Nintendo UK just announced that the limited edition black Wii system will be coming out on November 6th, bundled with Wii Sports Resort. The limited edition bundle will include a Wii-mote, nunchuk, and MotionPlus peripheral, as well as Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort.

Nintendo UK also announced that they are releasing a black Classic Controller Pro. There’s no pricing on any of this new equipment, for the EU yet. Nintendo not only hasn’t announced a release date for the US on the new bundle, they’ve said that they have no plans to release any other colors of Wii until sales drop off on the original system. We are going to get black peripherals however.

[via Joystiq]

See that right there? That’s a Wii peripheral. If not for the blaze orange tip, one might mistake it for an MP5 submachine gun. Spotted at a Hong Kong trade show by Pocket-lint, it’s “a 1:1 scale Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun for the Wii.”

The plan is to eventually sell this in the U.S., although a price hasn’t been set. You can bet it’s going to be a pretty penny, though, as the gun features a built-in Wiimote, Nunchuck, MotionPlus sensor, rechargeable battery (via USB), speaker, and rumble support.

Part of me thinks that this newest crop of Wii peripherals (like the bike from yesterday) is just a test to see how much consumers are willing to spend on elaborate game controllers. I can’t wait for the first peripheral to come out that costs more than that Wii itself. That’ll be a sad and wonderful day. Probably mostly sad.

Wii gets custom-made Heckler and Koch MP5 controller [Pocket-lint via OhGizmo!]

Whoops. Philadelphia-area Gamefly members who have been wondering why in the hell they never got their rented copies of Cooking Mama finally have some answers. The culprit, 34 year old Reginald Johnson of Germantown, PA, stole some 2,200 Gamefly games while working as a mail-processing clerk between April and September of 2008.

The total value of the stolen games is $86,000. Johnson apparently traded many of the games in to GameStop for store credit, as authorities found several consoles and GameStop receipts in his SUV. Oh speaking of his SUV, he sped off in it when federal agents initially tried to arrest him. He eventually crashed the vehicle and took off running before being caught.

He had a duffel bag with him containing 81 Gamefly games and a search of his car turned up 79 additional games along with a bunch of stuff from GameStop. Johnson is facing 12 to 18 months in prison with sentencing to take place on January 13th.

Ex-mail handler admits theft of video games in envelopes [Philly.com via Kotaku]

If you’re a Wii owner and you’ve been thinking to yourself, “Boy, there aren’t nearly enough available accessories for my console,” then maybe you’d enjoy blowing off some steam on a full-size Wii-compatible exercise bike. Yes, a bike.

The Cyberbike will apparently be available in January 2010 from German accessory maker Bigben Interactive. It’ll come with its own game, wherein you find yourself pedaling a weird helicopter bike for some reason or another.

According to Kotaku:

“The game that comes packed-in places you in the role of an eco-citizen, using your head and legs to clean up the planet. You clear pollution by riding over land, sea, and air, powering your strange vehicles with your feet.”

And while I can’t speak to the effect of being able to clean up large swaths of land simply by hovering over them on a helicopter bike, I can tell you with 100% certainty that if I don’t get my own real-life helicopter bike for Christmas I will burn… this place… to the ground.

The accessory is apparently also compatible with Mario Kart Wii. I’m not quite sure how you would steer, but maybe the handlebars shimmy from left to right.

There’s no pricing information available for the Cyberbike yet and, as a fully-grown Norwegian standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and tipping the scales at 230 pounds, I’d actually be more interested to know whether or not I’d even fit on this thing and, if so, how long it’d take for the apparatus to buckle under the pressure of an individual my size frantically pedaling like an eight year old in a neighborhood bike race.

Unless this tiny lady is secretly a center in the WNBA, I’m guessing this bike might not be meant for big kids like me.

Ooh, look! Just found a video, too. Enjoy…

[Kotaku via Crave]

Details are scant at the moment, and Fudzilla is quoting unnamed “industry sources” so take this news with a grain of salt even though it makes sense and probably isn’t that big of a stretch anyway.

The site is also positing that the ATI chip may be of the 28-nanometer variety but being that next generation consoles are apparently not due from Microsoft and Sony until 2012, GPUs by that time could be invisible and made out of unicorn horns and fueled by Sasquatch DNA for all anybody knows. It could happen!

ATI already won next gen Xbox deal [Fudzilla]

Thanks to John for sending this in.