If you read our round-up posts on E3 last June, you noticed a new way to play video games on your Xbox 360 called Project Natal. Basically, Project Natal allows the player to be the controller, something that PlayStation attempted since the days of the PS2 with PlayStation Eye, but it didn’t pan out too well for them. Today reports were coming out that Microsoft was showing Natal off to some UK game publishers and they let a possible price tag slip. What is the price of this sick looking device? Try an awesome $84, that could possibly go down to $50 as Microsoft is trying to push this to be a must have or “impulse buy” for everyone. Oh, and they also let slip a possible  release date of November of next year.

For a full overview of everything that is the awesome Project Natal, see our post here.

Of course these are just rumors for now (and don’t worry, we’ll keep you updated as soon as we hear more), but what you think of Natal possibly being so cheap when it comes out? If it is, you running out on day one and picking it up? Sound off in the comments.

Info from Joystiq

Apple today announced that they’ll be holding an event on September 9th– and from the pic above, it looks to be music oriented. So don’t buy that new iPod just yet; waiting an extra week or so may turn out to be really smart. As in the past, Apple used the September event to show off new iPods, and with strong rumors floating around the web of new iPods– see our post here– we wouldn’t be surprised if they update the iPods again.

Just to briefly cover some of the other rumors of what Apple is expected to show off (remember– these are just rumors): new iPod Nano, Touch, and Classic with cameras (as we wrote about in that previous post– just now the rumors are that the Classic too will be getting a camera), iTunes 9 with some possible integration with sites like Facebook, Blu-Ray for Macs, among some other rumors. So while we wait to find out on September 9th what Apple really has planned, feel free to guess on what you think Apple will show off in the comments.

Oh, and don’t forget to check back on the 9th, as we’ll have everything covered here.

Pic from Engadget

Xbox 360’s Price Cut in Target flier (Pic from Engadget)

Well, well look what we have here. Another Xbox 360 price cut, this time to match the PS3 Slim’s new low price? If these upcoming weekend fliers for Best Buy and Target are to be believed, then don’t run out to buy that new PS3 Slim or Xbox 360 yet. Microsoft is about to drop the Xbox 360 Elite’s price down to that same $299 the PS3 Slim is going for. Yup, $100 price drop, and definitely worthy of a week’s wait before buying in my opinion. Now what about the Xbox 360 Pro that’s right now priced at $299? Well, according to these fliers, that will be dropped to $249, but only while supplies last as rumors around the web are saying that Microsoft is about to drop the Pro from the lineup entirely (and leaked new boxes for the Elite and Arcade are only now showing the $200 Arcade version and the Elite on the back of the box, with no Pro in the middle– this helped fuel those rumors of Microsoft cutting the Pro).

Now Microsoft hasn’t confirmed any of this yet, but I sure believe this is real. Why? It only makes sense. Microsoft isn’t about to let the PS3 be the cheapest of the 120 GB consoles, especially with the holiday season starting in a couple of months. And the pix of the flyers also look real (seriously, these look like cellphone shots taken quickly). So what’ll it be– Xbox 360 Elite or PS3 Slim for your $299?

Pix of the Best Buy flyer and of the new Arcade back of box after the more link.

UPDATE: Yup, Microsoft came out today and officially said that starting tomorrow, they will cut the price of the Elite to $299, while the Pro is dropped to $249 while supplies last as they kill off remaining stock. Microsoft also reiterated that the Arcade will remain $199 and that all Xbox 360 consoles bought will work with the upcoming Project Natal. Full press release can be found here.

New box for Xbox 360 Arcade (Pic from Engadget)

Best Buy’s upcoming weekend ad (Pic from Kotaku)

The new iPod Nano? Check out the camera hole on the the lower left of the back of the case

So new pix are popping up online today of case mockups for upcoming iPod Nano’s and iPod Touches. These type of images seem to leak out around this time, as Apple usually updates their iPod line in September (like they did last year), right in time for the Back to School and the holiday shopping season. What’s really different about this year however, is that the pix seem to confirm some rumors that have been floating around the web for a while now– the iPod Nano and iPod Touch will be getting cameras.

Yes, your reading that right– digital cameras coming to the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. The pix (the iPod Nano one above and the iPod Touch below), are from Cult of Mac.com and come from numerous Chinese case manufacturers (which kinda would make sense as the manufacturers would need to get this type of info from Apple long ahead of time in order to make the cases ready for the inevitable launch. Also just another proof of this possibly being true– Apple recently placed an order for a whole boat load of camera parts which were said to be made for upcoming iPods).

Now how powerful these cameras are we don’t yet know (like how many megapixels they’ll have and if they will shoot video like the iPhone 3GS. If I had to guess, it’d be about 3 megapixels– like the 3GS–  for both with the iPod Touch definitely getting video recording, and the Nano doubtful to get it, but I wouldn’t rule it completely out yet). There also should be bigger storage for both devices (probably doubling the current storage on all the models like they’ve done in previous years), and the Nano is said to be getting a slightly bigger screen (nothing significantly noticeable from what we could tell right now), and the iPod Touch might also be getting a mic.

The new iPod Touch? Note the camera hole in the middle of the case

Remember, this for now is just a rumor, and Apple obviously hasn’t confirmed anything yet, so take this as you wish. We’ll of course keep you up to date on all of this as soon as we hear more.

Info and pix from Cult of Mac.com– you can see a whole lotta more pix at their site as well.

A leaked pic of the upcoming BlackBerry Storm 2 (pic from Engadget Mobile)

Yeah, we all know the first BlackBerry Storm was no where near the quality of other phones like the iPhone, G1 or Pre. But don’t worry Verizon users, as we mentioned briefly in our upcoming Verizon phones post, a newer (and hopefully much better) version of the Storm is coming, and it actually is looking really good.

Ok, so what exactly is in this new Verizon version? Boy Genius Report has got a scoop from some of their insiders that not only will the Storm 2 keep some of the good’ol features of the Storm– like Verizon 3G, the 3.2 megapixel camera, and the ability to use 3G GSM networks in Europe– but will also be adding WiFi (it’s about time), BlackBerry OS 5.0, AND a new touchscreen interface (better than the horrific SurePress on the first Storm, and supposedly being a regular touchscreen like the Pre, G1 and iPhone’s, but we don’t know exactly what’s going on there). This version is said to be coming later this year for Verizon.

Now you may be wondering, so what’s this talk of AT&T getting a Storm? Well, that according to BGR is also coming soon in the form of an AT&T Storm 2. Not much is currently known of AT&T’s new Storm 2 (though we’d assume it’s got similar features to Verizon’s, just with things like AT&T 3G instead of Verizon 3G), but BGR has confirmed with their sources that a model does exist, and hopefully will be coming soon. Keep those fingers crossed, and we’ll of course keep you updated as soon as we hear anything new.

A rumored pic of the Samsung Glyde 2 (pic from HowardForums, click on pic for bigger version), next to it is a pic of AT&T’s already released Samsung Impression for comparison purposes (you gotta admit, they look a lot like)

We all know the first Samsung Glyde for Verizon had its ups and downs (looked really cool, but originally the touchscreen stunk, and was so bad that they had to actually recall all the phones to fix it….), but now pix are popping up of a new  Samsung Glyde 2, and boy does this look to not just fix everything possibly wrong in the first one, but actually do even more!

Right now all we got are a couple of pix (like the one you see above), but the phone itself to me looks like a sleeker, Verizon version of AT&T’s very good Samsung Impression (which I have actually seen in person and played with for a couple of minutes– the screen and keyboard on it are AMAZING!), and that is definitely a very good thing.

As I said, we don’t know much yet specs wise but we can safely assume this will be touchscreen (my guess on screen size is somewhere near the Impression’s 3 inches– though that is just my guess, and seeing as this is a rumor, isn’t confirmed anywhere), possibly an AMOLED screen like the Impression (again, just a guess, but could very well be as Samsung has been very big on this tech lately. Oh, and in simple terms– this means an AMAZING screen that is up there with the iPhone and Pre’s), Verizon  3G and Samsung’s TouchWiz interface (both of which we can tell from the pix. And the TouchWiz interface is basically a bunch of cool widgets you can place on your homescreen, it’s definitely nice to have and sure beats Verizon’s standard UI on the homescreen). There also looks to be some sensors like a light sensor by the Verizon logo, which also is a nice touch (though what exactly are the sensors we don’t yet know), and the keyboard looks to be easier to use than the very hard keyed keyboard on the first Glyde.

We’ll of course keep you updated on this, but even if the specs are close to what we guessing, then this is looking like another winner for you Verizon users out there.

And we now gotta ask, if your looking for a new phone for Verizon over the next couple of months, what ya gonna get– this (basing on the rumored specs and assuming it gets released soon– like in the next couple of months), the BlackBerry Tour, the enV Touch or the enV3? Or are you gonna look for something different entirely? We’re all ears so sound off in the comments.

The Verizon version of  the BlackBerry Tour (Pic from Boy Genius Report.com)

We really are into the new BlackBerry Tour said to be coming to Verizon and Sprint sometime over the summer, and we know a lot of you are too. Today we got some really good news for those of you interested in the Tour, and it really is awesome news.

Ok, so as we said in the title, this concerns the release dates for the next awesome BlackBerry, and as in our last post we said the news was really great for Sprint users interested in getting the new BB, this has to be a win for Verizon users. Here we go: Boy Genius Report is saying that Verizon will be getting the Tour on July 12th– only 3 weeks away! Even better for Verizon users? Just as we speculated in that previous post, the Tour is said to be coming to Verizon for the same $199 it is said to be coming to Sprint for. Definitely awesome. Speaking of Sprint, you guys also can share in the good news, as your rumored to be getting it only 8 days after your Verizon friends on July 20th.

Now, none of this is confirmed yet by either Verizon, Sprint or RIM (the makers of BlackBerry)– but the rumors  are pretty strong. So, you going to get this once it comes out?

UPDATE (7/1): Verizon has announced that they will launch the Tour on the 12th for that $199 price, and you can pre-order it now here. Sprint also has just announced on their Twitter page that they too will be launching the Tour on the 12th for $199.99.

A lil while ago we wrote about 5 phones that were coming soon to AT&T. Yesterday, Engadget.com got word on a whole bunch of other phones coming to AT&T later this year, and while you can see all the scoops at their Engadget Mobile site here, we’re gonna focus on 3 really big, awesome ones we think will particularly interest you.

HTC’s Lancaster for AT&T with Google’s Android OS

1. HTC Lancaster

At first glance it seems like a solid HTC Touch Pro2 (not to worry, there’s one of those too if you check out the Engadget page) with touchscreen/full keyboard, 3G, GPS, 3 megapixel camera, etc.–all very nice. But get this: it runs Google’s Android OS instead of Windows Mobile that’s found on the Touch Pro2, making AT&T the 1st US carrier outside T-Mobile (the G1 soon HTC Magic) with a phone using this very cool OS. This exciting combination of AT&T features, real good looks (seriously which would you take based on looks– the G1 or this?) and Android makes this my preferred choice over T-Mobile’s G1, hands down.

Release is said to be August 3rd, though that part is not really set in stone, so we’ll keep you updated.

The Palm Eos

2. Palm Eos

Another nice phone which also, like Lancaster, attempts to add a new OS to AT&T’s lineup, this time Palm’s webOS. While webOS is not fully confirmed–the OS for the Eos has only been referred to as “new Palm OS experience” — we really got to believe it is webOS as Palm said that there will be many devices using it (it’s already on the Palm Pre coming to Sprint as you know). This appears to be an updated version of the very popular Palm Centro, making it even more probable that webOS would be on the device. Features wise the Eos also has AT&T 3G, 4GB built in memory, 2 megapixel camera, GPS, and the touchscreen/full keyboard design you find on the Centro. Did we mention how thin it is- how can we forget!? Unlike the Centro, which was small but a little bit chubby, the Eos is said to 10.6 mm, or paper like thin!

Sadly, we don’t when exactly this will drop, though it is said to be coming second half of the year (July 1st through December 31st). Let’s all hope it comes in the sooner part of that time frame rather than the latter.

A rumored shot of the BlackBerry Magnum, aka the BlackBerry 9900 (Pic from CrackBerry.com). Note: this pic was not in Engadget’s AT&T scoop; just the rumored pic of the Magnum that’s been floating around the web.

3. New BlackBerry’s

Also on the list is a whole slew of new BlackBerry’s, most notably a Curve-like device with 3G (codenamed Onyx), a new BlackBerry Pearl with 3G (not the flip Pearl- the candy bar-shaped Pearl 1), and this, the update to the BlackBerry Bold, called the BlackBerry Magnum. The BlackBerry Magnum is probably the BlackBerry everyone, and we mean EVERYONE, has been waiting for: a BlackBerry with its distinctive, awesome keyboard AND a touchscreen.

And don’t forget about a sick HVGA screen (480×360 resolution– really clear screen), AT&T 3G,WiFi, and GPS. Pretty cool no? Sadly, Engadget doesn’t have other details like the camera resolution or release date, but let’s  pray here as well that AT&T is kind enough to release this REALLY soon (I’d be happy with tomorrow).

Other phones mentioned in this massive leak (honestly, does AT&T really have any other phones left after this?) are the HTC Touch Pro2, which really resembles T-Mobile’s version, the HTC Touch Diamond2, which is like the Touch Pro2 except thinner, with a smaller screen, and no slide out keyboard (info on these phones here), a bunch of Nokia’s, a new HP phone, and a whole lot more. Again, for all the details on everything they found (trust me, there is a lot more than this), check out their Engadget Mobile site.

Like what you see? Is this, coupled with the rumor of a new iPhone or 2 for AT&T this year, going to convince you to re-up if your AT&T contract is set to expire later this year?

Next month, a major video game conference called E3 is taking place, and all the big players in the video game industry– Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, will be there. A lot of new/upcoming games and accessories usually get shown off for the first time as well. Read on to see of the rumors that have been flying around for E3 this year.

These are more hardware based rumors than anything else (I mean, it honestly is not possible to cover all the possible actual games at a major video game conference in one little post), but we know you’ll still be very happy with these.

The rumored PS3 Slim box

1. “PS3 Slim”

Kinda like the PS2 Slim. Think an insanely thin “new” PS3, that keeps all the great features found in the current PS3, while bumping the standard hard drive up from 80 GB to 120 GB. Also rumored is that this new “Slim” will, as with the PS2 Slim, cut down on the PS3’s significantly higher price ($400 for base unit over the Wii’s $250 or 360‘s $200, also base unit)

The Xbox 360 motion sensor bar– it the white thing directly in front of the TV. Pic from Engadget

2. Motion Sensing

Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are rumored to introduce motion sensing add-ons at E3 as well, the PS3’s more like the Wii/SIXAXIS system, but using a camera as well to make it better at motion sensing, while the Xbox 360 takes on a whole new approach.

According to Engadget.com, this will be a sensor bar as well as a camera that will sense the player’s movements without the need to be carrying a control like you would on the Wii. For example in a fighting game, you kick, punch, duck, dive, jump and so forth with your body, and the sensor and camera will pick it up and make it happen with your character in the game. The sensor also is said to be so advanced that it will only detect the movements of the player, and not whoever’s watching you play on the couch.

If done right, and Microsoft has been very on target thus far with its Xbox stuff (separate from the recent Vista/Windows and Red Ring of Death debacles), this is by far the most awesome thing rumored to arrive at E3 in my opinion. Oh, and get excited because the prestigious Wall Street Journal said to expect this soon as well.

A mock up of the rumored PSP 2

3. PSP 2

Like all E3’s over the past couple of years, rumors are running wild of a real, new PSP 2 (we’re talking a complete upgrade– not some minor spec changes to the original as the case for the past 2 years). So what can we expect from this new PSP 2?

• built-in 8 GB or 16 GB flash based storage like the iPod Touch to play games will replace the noisy, slow and relatively bulky UMD currently in place
• a touchscreen (again to compete with the iPod Touch and Nintendo DS)
• a slide out keypad under the touchscreen (which as you can see in the mock up above, would be a full touchscreen), containing the analog and joystick buttons
• possible built in camera
• release date of later this year in the US. All I can say to this is: it’s about time!

Anyways, you’re now caught up to what might go down in 2 weeks in LA when E3 kicks off. E3 is from June 1st-4th, so check back for our coverage of all the major stuff that goes down.

Feel free though to speculate on what you think might be coming in the comments.

The current iPhone 3G

So, you saw the post about Palm Pre possibly getting 4G that I found out at Best Buy? Well, I actually had a like 5-10 min conversation with that Best Buy guy that night and he told me some real cool stuff coming out beyond the Palm Pre. As you can see, he told me about some new iPhones as well and one of them is something I’m already saving up for! Remember, this is unconfirmed by Apple, and we’re keeping the info in here as just RUMOR until we hear more. Now that the disclosure is out of the way, let’s talk new iPhones, and he told me about 2 new ones to come this year.

1. 2 GB iPhone/cheaper, lower-end iPhone

A 2 GB model I’m a little more skeptical, as I would expect at least 8 GB in the cheapest model at this point, with the prices for the chips to be used continuing to drop in price. Anyways, he said that we should expect a low end iPhone model (he said 2 GB, though again I would suspect more) to come this summer, though we didn’t talk much more on this so I can’t say what it will look like and price (though rumors of a low end iPhone like this are pretty strong around the internet, and most expect it to price in at below $100– which assuming it is something like an 8 GB iPhone 3G, should make for a great deal).

2. Whole new iPhone with slide out QWERTY keyboard

Yeah, we spoke more on this, and he actually said he saw one in person and showed me a pic similar to what he saw, online (see below). This looks to be THE iPhone, and something that would not only give the Palm Pre (4G or not) a rough time, but could be the final piece that starts luring BlackBerry users to the iPhone. He said the size is the same as the current iPhone 3G (awesome!) with the screen being really thin (think like the chrome/silver ring around the screen being the thinness of the ENTIRE screen), and the black (or white if you got a white iPhone 3G) back being a slide out full QWERTY keyboard. Yeah, awesome I know, and even though its a rumor, the guy seems to be really confident in this.

When should you expect to see this new iPhone? Well, this guy at Best Buy told me this iPhone should come in September– not as good as a summer launch (though not that far off), but hey what better way to go back to school then to make your friends jealous of your cool, new iPhone.

An iPhone with a real keyboard? Note: this is not an actual picture, just a mock up, but the Best Buy guy I spoke to said it looked pretty much like this when he saw it, minus the big pad on the left side of the keyboard

This info also seems to fit well with new iPhone 2,1 and 3,1 designations found in the 3.0 beta (the original iPhone was 1,1 and the 3G was 1,2– so the 2,1 and 3,1 must have some new hardware/ different hardware that get it the new numbers. The 3.0 beta, for those who don’t know, is the next version of the iPhone/iPod Touch software coming this summer. See our post here).

Also rumored to be coming to new iPhones this year are:

• Better, updated camera (some say 3.2 megapixels compared to current 2)
• Video capture (FINALLY!!!)
• WiFi wireless N (the latest and fastest version of WiFi out there, this just really started getting big last year)
• FM radio and transmitter (not only listen to music, news and sports on the radio, but also play your music wirelessly on speakers– like in your car or house– using the FM transmitter)
• Updated memory to 32 GB or more of storage (compared to either 8 or 16 GB currently)
• iChat ON your iPhone-the second coolest thing to be rumored to be coming to the iPhone this year (2nd to getting that QWERTY keyboard). This rumor is really strong, and the tech is very popular in Europe, found on pretty much every phone there, so it wouldn’t surprise us if the new iPhone had a second camera for iChat video chats/calls.

Oh, and AT&T has begun increasing their network speeds (and overall strength- I know from personal use that the iPhone on AT&T’s network is not always the easiest thing to use, with signal drops and such), so we expect whatever new iPhone that comes this year to be ready to harness it fully (and make it struggle to keep up, like it did to the current AT&T network ).

So there you have it. You should now be fully caught up on iPhone rumors, and we even gave you 2 you probably never heard of before

By the way, Apple is holding their Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC for short) on June 8th– this is where they last year announced the iPhone 3G, so I guess we’ll begin to find out then if any of this is happening or not

So, what you think, you like? Would you get an iPhone 3G if it was below $100? You waiting to get an iPhone till it gets a real keyboard, and now gonna get one (assuming this RUMOR- I got to stress the false hope thing)? And if youre a free bird and looking to choose between iPhone and Palm Pre– which would you get, Palm Pre with Sprint 4G, or an iPhone with real QWERTY keyboard and AT&T 3G? We wanna hear your opinion on this, so sound off in the comments!