The alaTest Blog

Every year, Las Vegas plays host to one of the biggest technology-related trade shows there is: the Consumer Electronics Show, more amicably known as CES. Even though CES is only half way through, we’ve already seen some pretty spectacular stuff – things like super thin OLED TVs and custom molded earphones – but it seems that this year, the spotlight is on mobile computing with smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the planned release of the PlayStation Vita right around the corner, game studios appear to be continuing development on some great PlayStation Portable games this year. It’s not yet clear whether the Vita will be able to play your PSP titles, but if you don’t intend to get the Vita as soon as it comes out, or if you’re looking for a few PSP games to tide you over until it does, here’s a list of the best PSP titles so far this year. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time to take a look at the best PS3 games 2011 has delivered so far. Sony makes it a point to keep as many titles exclusive to the PS3 as possible. Because these exclusive titles are able to leverage the PS3’s hardware better than cross-platform ports, they are typically quite popular, and a couple made our list. Read the rest of this entry »

E3 2011 just wrapped up at the end of the week, and there was a lot that happened, so much that even if you were there, it would have been hard to see it all. Not to worry, we have the details on all the important stuff, just in case you missed any.

Read more on E3 2011

All of the current generation gaming consoles have been out since about 2005 (or 2006 in the case of the PS3). Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 focused heavily on performance, each outpacing their predecessors (the original Xbox and PS2) significantly, achieving roughly 300 million polygons per second in performance. Nintendo, on the other hand, chose to focus on revolutionizing the console interface, making the Wii only slightly faster than the GameCube, obtaining about 100 million polygons per second. The Wii wasn’t anywhere near the league of performance found in the Xbox 360 and PS3, but Nintendo still had an advantage. Neither Sony nor Microsoft intends to replace their current consoles until well into 2015. Nintendo has something prepared for 2012: “Project Café.”

Read more on the Nintendo Wii 2

Nintendo’s newest portable gaming device came out just recently, but everyone knows that Sony is working on something big to respond with: the NGP. Currently, “NGP” is just a codename, meaning “Next Generation Portable.” The actually market name is still in the air; it could be anything from the PSP 2 to the PlayStation 3DS-Killer. Regardless, it will be a huge leap up from the current PSP.

Read more on Sony’s Next Generation Portable

Portable gaming has been around for decades, starting with Mattel’s light based handhelds back in the Seventies. Things really started to take off in the late Eighties with Nintendo’s original Game Boy, followed a little over a year later by Sega’s more technologically advanced Game Gear, and even though the Game Boy sold significantly better, this marked the slow start of technological progression of handheld consoles.

Read more on the Future of Portable Gaming

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching, odds are many wish lists include one of the three big gaming consoles, but if you want to surprise someone or even just know a bit more about that shiny new game console your kids are asking for, it can be tough to know exactly what you’re looking at. This is our crash course for gaming consoles to help you with your holiday purchase.

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