Remember that funky Falcon FPS controller from Novint? Well, the controller is pretty much the same but the company has announced an aesthetic upgrade to the device giving it a more “edgier” black and silver design instead of just the passive looking white model. Novint is also going to be adding a pistol grip controller to use with the Falcon to provide even more realistic FPS game play. Novent CEO Tom Anderson predicts that the less expensive pistol grip accessory alone will help drive sales for actual Falcon controller. The pistol grip accessory is expected to go for $19.99 and the black Falcon will be at $199.99.

GestureTek is planning to unveil a prototype “Wii-LIKE GAME STICK” this week at the 2008 Toy Fair in New York. It uses a camera to detect 3D position and motion. With the technology being camera-based, players are able to see their real-time, full-body image on screen as they control 3-D simulations and interact with characters and other objects. Your body motion controls the program, for a more virtual experience.

On a creepy note, GestureTek says that it can even vision-equip dolls, stuffed animals or robots. You know, so they can …

What the hell? A planet where apes evolved from men? Not exactly, but a twist just as mind bending. This is a world where, instead of Pac-Man being chased by ghosts, you control the ghosts as Pac-Man comes after you. That’s the idea behind this new Flash game called “Anti Pac-Man”.

Kind of a squad based version of the old classic. You use the 1 through 4 keys to select and take command of each ghost, then you use the arrow keys to guide them through the maze and avoid the yellow dot eater. Thing is, while Pac-Man is gobbling up dots, your score goes down. By keeping your ghosts alive, you can minimize the damage and keep him from chomping more. Personally I can’t help feeling a bit like Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes. It’s just unnatural.

Give yourself a retro movement backward in the video game world with a hip table which plays some of your favorite old time games. This ’80s Gaming Table is available for sale through The Cool Hunter for around $2,800.

The ’80s Gaming Table brings stainless steel touches to your old school arcade tables found in pizza parlors and bars. It comes with just under 50 arcade classics pre-loaded, including Pac Man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders.

Japan’s Vis-a-Vis has a new PSP controller accessories do give you a better grip on your PSP or PSP lite. The “Flexible Hand Grip Pad Advance” mounts onto the back of the PSP to give a hand-hold similar to that of a Dual-Shock controller to avoid any of that cramping up during hours of remote play.

The flexible handgrip appears to still keep access to all the controls including the power button and Wi-Fi enable switch on the sides, and when it slides apart for use it even exposes the UMD tray on the back. When not in use the grip slides together to be a little more compact, but is still a pretty bulky accessory compared to the PSP itself.

Want to get in on some of that Wii action, with a controller just as intuitive, but still can’t find a Wii? Maybe it’s just time for motion-controlled games on a different platform. Darwin’s new Motus controller will work with other systems. Not the Wii. Mainly the PS3 and your computer. The Darwin contains gyroscopes and accelerometers to sense its location and it’s said to be more accurate in tracking motion than is Wii’s infrared.

It’s fairly neat looking and it’s meant to be held like a Samurai sword, which should make for excellent slicing and dicing action. Not to mention golf. The Darwin should be available by the 2008 holiday season. The price will be between $79 and $99. No word yet on what games it will work with, new or old.

I’ve seen a ton of screwed up knock off consoles, but this one has to be the strangest. Is it an Xbox, PlayStation 2, 3, or something else? What can you say about a modern console that sports the classic 9-pin controller ports of an Atari 2600 or Vic-20? I can only surmise that crackheads are now included in the design process.

Notice the Bat-wing controllers. It’s made by Cheer-Tech Industries of Hong Kong and includes visual elements from several modern consoles, tweaking them just enough to keep them safe from copyright infringements. It will play a handful of built-in games and comes with two controllers, only one with a rumble feature. Right now, no one seems to know if it plays games from recent consoles, but I doubt it.

It was only a short time ago that Harmonix had finally announced the release of standalone instruments for Rock Band. At the time there was no word of a standalone mic. As it turns out, it is already on sale. The packaging teases us with a single word. Wii.

No, that doesn’t simply mean yes in France. It means that Rockstar should be hitting the Wii sometime soon. This isn’t the best picture, but if you look in the top right corner of the package, you’ll note which systems it’s compatible with: Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. This is interesting because so far Harmonix has been strangely silent about a version of the game for Nintendo’s console.

Puget Systems today announced the release of the Deluge, the companies most aggressive gaming rig to date. The systems can be highly customized but all of these liquid cooled systems feature some of the fastest and most powerful components available, including nVidia’s 780i triple-SLI, overclocked Intel 45nm Penryn processors and OCZ DDR2 heatpipe memory. Optional BigFoot Networks’ KillerNIC and MTron Solid State drives are also available.

Puget’s goal was to create an intense gaming system that did not require gamers to pay through the nose to get own, and the system they’ve come up with looks pretty good. The company is offering three different Deluge-i systems to start from with pricing starting at around $2600 and with options can extend to well over $10k. All can be tailored to your own specs but come standard with the following:

Etch-a-Sketch is finally coming into the 21st century. The Wired Etch-a-Sketch is the digital version of the classic toy that has entertained children as well as bored adults for the past several decades. The TV Etch-a-Sketch takes the toy to the next level.

It has a wide variety of new modes, like Cool Drawing Tools, Trace A Pic, Super Sketch and Connecting the Dots. The controller has the two classic Etch-a-Sketch knobs to keep the nostalgic feel of the original. What about shaking it and clearing what you’ve drawn? That’s the most classic part, after all. Yes, it has that feature too. Just shake the controller and the screen will clear.

NPD has released the year-end sales numbers for non-PC video games in 2007 showing record figures for the industry. The year 2007 brought an impressive 43 percent increase in sales compared to 2006 with a total of $17.94 billion.

Game Consoles
The highlights of the year come as no surprise if you’ve been reading our coverage of game console sales with the Nintendo Wii topping the list of most console units sold at 6.29 million. The Wii spent the year at a lower price-point than rival consoles and caught the attention of a wide range of gamers. Behind the Wii in console sales was the Xbox 360 with 4.62 million units sold in 2007, which was helped out a little bit by the wildly popular Halo 3. Next in line was not Sony’s new Playstation 3 but it’s older brother, the Playstation 2. Sony moved 3.97 million PS2 units in 2007 and 2.56 million PS3s.

Allegro Rainbow’s Guitar video game has been rocking CES this week. Music Wizard Group’s Guitar Wizard video game is a step forward after their successful Piano Wizard title, but Guitar Wizard is not just another version of Guitar Hero. It’s actually an educational video game that’s designed to help kids of all ages to read and play music.

Guitar Wizard will be available on both PC and MAC platforms, and will come with an actual honest to God guitar from US Music Corp. and an Interface by SoundTech. Plus, the software is compatible with just about any MIDI guitar.

Pyramat, known for making innovative gaming accessories, brought a well stacked line up of products to CES. This items included a full-on chair, a laptop accessory and a few rockers. All of these products should be available now.

Pyramat was specifically showing off the PC Gaming Chair 2.1 (pictured), Laptop Sound Booster, PM450-WR Sound Rocker and S5000 Sound Rocker. Prices on these items range from around $90 to $250.

For more details, check out the full press release after the jump.

Sorting through the reams of CES related press releases coming at us right now turned up this rather interesting looking “enclosed play area specifically created to maximize the enjoyment of inter active media.” It’s known by its maker as a PlayPOD and it’s being targeted towards gamers who want their own dedicated space.

The PlayPOD is described by maker Gamecenter as a space where “gamers can now place in one piece of furniture a game console/PC, TV/monitor and all the included accessories, games and movies.” It has something of a Tron like look to it and, according to its development blog, may have a sound system integrated.

We first told you about the Sega Genesis portable in November, coming from Tectoy. It appears that either it had a name change or someone else has beat them to it, basically cloning it.

Just like the Tectoy version, the AtGames Mega Drive Portable, the device comes pre-loaded with 20 classic games like Ecco, Sonic & Knuckles, Alex Kidd and Golden Axe. And just like the Tectoy version, you can’t download any extra games. But you can play them on your TV if you choose. The price is far cheaper then we first thought at $39.