The image above is from the Video Game section of Target’s online storefront announcing “free shipping” on a $299.99 Xbox 360 250GB console with Kinect bundle. Pretty sweet. But if you click you’ll find the regular $399.99 price tag.

So it looks like retailers are getting ready for price drops on the 250GB Kinect bundle before E3. Either that or it could just be a mistake? We should know soon either way. Our money is on a price drop.

Splitfish is bringing its PC and PS3 mouse controller to the Xbox. However this version needs a wired Xbox 360 gamepad to act as an intermediary between itself and the console. Seems an odd design choice. The wired controller plugs into the Shark’s wireless USB dongle, while the “fragchuck” and mouse are completely free of wires.

It doesn’t sound like a setup that I would want to deal with but if you want to give it a try, it will be available in late August.

Flatscreen displays are so last decade. Taking a hint from the shape of our own planet perhaps, some students from Queens University have created a snowglobe display. They hacked a 3D HD projector, two Kinect sensors, and a hemispherical mirror inside of an acrylic sphere, to create “Project Snowglobe”.

The result is an almost holographic display with a 360-degree view of a digital subject. The object isn’t really projected in 3D, but follows the movements of a single person, rotating and shifting position with the viewer. You can still gesture to control various aspects of the object as well.

Looks like Sony isn’t the only gaming giant having problems. Microsoft’s new disc format will allow for an extra 1GB of storage space for new games and hopefully stop piracy, but there is a problem. It looks like some consoles contain drives that can’t read the new XGD3 discs. Opps.

The email pictured above has been confirmed as real by the Xbox Support Twitter account, but now it’s responding to inquiries by saying that the replacements are in response to a previous update and not the upcoming one that has been in beta.

The X7 is Nokia’s latest Symbian smartphone featuring slanted sides and a brushed aluminum back, giving it a futuristic industrial look. Going beyond looks, the X7 features a 4-inch 360 x 640 display, 680MHz ARM 11 processor, 256MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, 8GB of internal storage with microSD storage supported, an 8MP camera with dual LED flash, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. The X7 runs Nokia’s Symbian Anna OS.

And now we can check out the device’s innards thanks to some FCC photos of the X7. The FCC documents give a good look at the device’s Samsung SDRAM, Broadcom transceiver, Gorilla Glass display and 8MP image sensor, as well as the X7’s unique back cover, which features a honeycomb pattern.

Microsoft’s Mango update for Windows Phone 7 had some more features unveiled today. The release will have built-in instant messaging for Windows Live Messenger and also for AIM and Facebook. Microsoft’s system is smart and weaves into the people hub, automatically detecting which is the best network and create group messages.

Integrated SkyDrive and Office 365 will be included in Windows Phone 7.5. Microsoft is rumored to be building support for editing documents with Internet Explorer 9 mobile. Other features include album art on the lock screen with an active track and syncing for the games hub to pick up progress from an Xbox 360 game on WP7 or the other way around.

This is not good news for Sony. Retail sources have indicated that PS3 console trade-ins have dramatically risen as the controversial PSN outage drags on. Apparently during the first week of downtime there was not any major change in sales or trades according to one store manager ‘at a major UK retailer’.

However, starting on the second week onwards, there has been an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 down the middle between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 in it’s place. Ouch! Sony had better get it’s act together before things get ugly.

Well we already suspected as much, but Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned that his teams will be able to use a lot of the work done on titles for the current HD consoles when developing for Nintendo’s new platform. Guillemot says, “So we will not have to redo completely the games that we create. We’ll be able to use all the capacity the console is giving but also use all the work we do for the other platforms.”

Good news for them and it’s not a surprise, but it does confirm that Nintendo’s next console will be as powerful or more powerful than the current generation of HD consoles. Yes, it should be a great console. Then again these are the same people who released the Wii with only 480p, so who knows.

Check this out. Somebody has a split personality. This knock-off NGP is called the iReadyGo RG. It’s a rip off of Sony’s upcoming handheld with the same 5-inch touchscreen, however it has some identity problems. The detailing is clearly inspired by the Xbox 360.

Other specs are rumored to include a 1GHz Cortex-A8 CPU, 720p camera, HDMI-out, and video playback compatibility for MP4, WMV, AVI, and many more. Apparently it will also have Android too, since iReadyGo is looking for six senior Android developers. No word on pricing or availability yet, but we will just wait for the real deal.

We know that you’ve been waiting for the highly anticipated Escalation DLC for the Call Of Duty : Black Ops game and now we have some good news. It is here and available on the Xbox 360 for 1200 Microsoft Points or $15.

There is a new zombie level called ”Call of the Dead” which stars George Romero the horror director. But it’s not just him. There is also Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), Robert England (Freddy Kreuger), Danny Trejo & Michael Rooker who plays Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead. Other maps include Hotel, Convoy, Zoo and Stockpile.

LTD Tools has cases for your iPad and iPhone that look amazing and are made from metal, with flip up lids that protect the screen. They have a neat industrial look. The case also wraps around your gadget to protect the entire thing. Just expect them to be expensive.

The iPad 2 case is $140 and ships on May 28. The iPhone 4 case comes in two styles. The 180 iPhone 4 case for $45, which ships June 1st and the 360 iPhone 4 case for $75 which ships on May 28.

Are you bored with your N8? Need a color boost? Something girlie? Well, this is your lucky day. Nokia has added another color to the Nokia N8. The Nokia N8 Pink. Aside from the feminine color, it has the same specifications as the N8.

The Nokia N8 packs in a 12 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and a Xenon flash. It will record HD video in 720p and also has HDMI out. Other features include a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels, 16GB of built in storage and a microSD card slot.

Redbox has announced today that it will expand to videogames and offer videogames nationwide starting June 17th. The game rentals will be $2 a day and include titles for PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. So they have your gaming rentals covered.

The company has been testing the service at about 5,000 locations for some time now and that will be expanded to 21,000+ other locations now. Not a bad price to try before you buy and anyway some of these games are so short, you can complete them in an evening, so it’s a good deal.

According to a scan of the June issue of OXM, Hulu Plus will launch on Xbox 360 on April 29. That’s this Friday. We knew it was coming, but the last official word we had heard was “spring”.

If this turns out to be a true scan of the magazine, it looks like Microsoft will promote the launch with a contest each week from April 29 through May 30. Prizes will be awarded to randomly chosen Hulu Plus users. Some of the prizes include Beaches Resort trips and free Xbox 360 bundles as well as Hulu Plus subscriptions.

Thanks to the guys over at Joystiq, we have some screenshots that show Hulu Plus on the Xbox 360. There’s also an image of the Kinect Hub with Hulu and Netflix. The Hulu and Avatar Kinect apps are said to be “fully functional,” with good tracking of movements, according to the source. The Hulu interface looks like the Xbox Dashboard, with a rotating layer of categories and selectable content.

We don’t know whether Hulu Plus will be added to the current public beta test of the next Dashboard update, but we hope so. It looks pretty good in pictures.