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.

The Rock Band Stage Kit will add more authenticity to your dreams of becoming a real life rock star. The peripheral kit was spotted on GameStop’s website, retailing for $99.99. Not many other details are known, but it will include an interactive light and smoke show.

If rocking on a fake plastic guitar still manages to satisfy your rock and roll dreams, just imagine how fancy smoke and lights will raise you to the next level of your somewhat less then Rock-God performances.

If I were a skater I would do all of my skating at night using the Photon Light Board. I would turn a 360 pivot into an ollie while people would swear up and down that they saw a bright neon UFO descend down that staircase.

With the Photon Light Board, I could do it too. Since all the boards have such highly customizable lighting patterns and many colors to choose from. It would be like doing tricks on a Lite-Brite. But I’d probably break my neck doing a rad stunt… So it’s probably best if I let that dream die. But you don’t have to. You can ring your board with LEDs, add drop lighting, or even skateboard headlights. Each Photon Light Board has about 30 lights.

VIZIO, that upstart HDTV brand you see for sale at Costco-like places, is dropping the LCD hammer big time at CES as it reveals lots of new HDTVs. One new line up of flat panel displays is the “Black Tie” series.

The VIZIO “Black Tie” series includes 42 and 47-inch displays. It is noted by VIZIO for having “120Hz processing with MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation), a side access HD game port and full 1080p resolution.”

Get the whole story on these new VIZIO displays after the jump.

Polk Audio is always known for bringing excellent products to the Consumer Electronics Show to show off. It has a new two-piece surround sound system set to unveil known as the Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 DVD Theater. It is priced at around $1,200.

The Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 DVD Theater has a “multichannel loudspeaker (44 1/2″ W x 4 7/8″ D x 4 1/8″ H) and a separate, compact electronics console (16 1/2″ W x 11 1/2″ D x 3 3/16″ H) that contains an integrated DVD/CD player, SDA signal-processing amplifier, AM/FM radio, and a host of digital, analog, USB, and video inputs.” That’s right from the horse’s mouth folks – all of that in a tight little design which will make you drool over its very cool looking gloss black enclosure.

How many times have you cursed HDTV manufacturers while trying to install HDMI cables into those hard to reach HDMI ports on the back? Cables to Go thinks it may have an answer to this home theater issue by unveiling a line of rotating HDMI and DVI adapters. These adapters all price at around $13.

The Cables to Go HDMI and DVI 360-Degree Rotating Connectors are designed to enable 360 degree rotation and 90 degree bending so one can more easily connect HDMI and DVI cables to sources. Each one sports a center ball joint design and appropriate connectivity ports in its body shape.

iPod case maker iSkin has unveiled a new case for the iPod classic which is made of silicone. The iSkin eVo3 classic is priced at around $35.

The iSkin eVo3 classic is described by iSkin as being “precision-molded with premium silicone” to provide “maximum 360-degree protection without added bulk.” It is also coated with a special finish over the screen which iSkin says leaves the iPod classic fully viewable while protecting against scratches.

Anyone that’s been interested in buying a Nintendo Wii this holiday season is aware of just how difficult it has been to get one and people are capitalizing on that fact, and so are many retailers. I purchased a Wii months ago that I had to stand in line one early morning to get, and even then I had to buy the $250 console bundled with two games for a total of $350. The Wii has seen a shortage for a year now and Nintendo says the lack of consoles available to meet demand is tough on planning for the company including creating any planning or promotions for new games. However, I can think of worse problems than having a consistently higher demand than supply.

According to Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, Nintendo is also discouraging the practice of bundling the console itself with other items since the Wii loses its price advantage over competitor consoles like the Xbox 360 or the Sony PS3, but it is ultimately up to the retailers how they decide to sell the console. He also added that the power Nintendo held over what retailer they would ship consoles helped retailers adhere to the companies suggestions.

The marketing research firm NPD has turned in their analysis of what the top video game titles and consoles were last month and the news is very good for the industry as a whole. Leading the top in sales of new software was Activision’s “Call of Duty 4″ for the Microsoft Xbox 360 which sold an impressive 1.57 million copies. Nintendo’s “Super Mario Galaxy” came in second place and if you combine the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sales for “Assassin’s Creed” it would actually take the silver medal. Not coincidentally Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed” has emerged as the best-selling new IP for games in recent years.

Nintendo’s handheld DS gaming device sold an amazing 1.53 million units in November which was enough to give it the top of the chart for hardware sales. In second place was Nintendo’s Wii gaming console with 981,000 Wiis sold followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in third spot with 770,000 units finding homes. Sony moved 577,000 PlayStation Portable to give it fourth place and the price drop in the PS3 convinced 466,000 consumers to go out and buy one of the consoles last month.

Time magazine has released its list of the top ten videogames of the year. Can you take a guess at what made their number one spot? If you guessed “Halo 3″ you don’t win a prize. “Like a pebble that has been rounded over the centuries by the gentle splashing of the ocean waves, ‘Halo 3′ has become the perfect hardcore first-person combat simulator,” said Time in their idol worship of the Xbox 360 killer app. “By dint of painstaking labor on the part of its developer, Bungie, it has been refined over three installments to the point where it delivers only pure, unadulterated gaming bliss.” Who knew that the editors at Time were down with playing some Master Chief deathmatches?

Of the titles that made Time’s best of 2007 list six are exclusive to one videogame system, of which three are for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and one each for Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s DS and Wii console systems. Why didn’t at least one PlayStation 3 exclusive title make it on Time’s list? And no “Guitar Hero III” (or is that game now redundant that “Rock Band” is out and lets you play drums as well as guitar?)

Anyone who has ever taken a few pictures knows that lighting is the most important factor. It can mean the difference between a great picture and a catastrophe. Ortery’s Photosimile 5000 is a PC-controlled light box, 360° turntable and a CPS(camera-positioning system) that is compatible with many digital cameras. The Photobox will give you shadow-free pictures for use on websites, presentations, eBay etc.

It’s a pretty simple concept. Just you just attach a camera to the light box while your object to be photographed is on the rotating platform, as if you are microwaving it. The light box connects to your PC via a USB cable. The software takes care of all the details, like the camera’s tilt and the speed of the turntable. As long as the item can fit in the box, you’re good to go.

We all want a single unit that has every form of entertainment in one box. SE2 Labs has an entertainment super-machine that tries to oblige, while looking like a mini-computer server. Design-wise, it’s looks are simply amazing. It’s called the ITC One and it boasts an Xbox 360, HD personal video recorder, surround-sound processor, ICEpower High End D-Class Amplifiers, 4.3-inch touchscreen, iPod dock, and remote control system all in a single unit.

The price for having so many goodies in one box? A whooping $19,900. Most people would prefer to get a rocking home theater system at that price. Or even buy a car. But if you like it’s design and the fact that it’s so compact, go for it.

Nokia was busy showcasing today two new stereo headsets for use with music mobile owners. The models introduced are the in-ear Nokia Stereo Headset WH-700 and the on-ear WH-600.

The Nokia Stereo Headset WH-700 and WH-600 both offer what Nokia says is “seamless changeover” between incoming calls and your music, stopping for a call and resuming your music where it left off after the call is over. The in-ear WH-700 offers three different ear cups for a more custom fit and offers a lightweight design.

What do AT&T, Apple, Comcast, Cablevision and eBay all have in common? They are all being sued today by Klausner Technologies over visual voicemail patents the company says it owns and which it feels these well known, other companies have not yet requested a patent license for.

The suits were filed by the company which “was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer.” Klausner Technologies says Cablevision’s Optimum Voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice Voicemail, eBay’s Skype Voicemail and AT&T/Apple’s iPhone Visual Voicemail services all violate patents it holds which allow “users to selectively retrieve and listen to voice messages via message inbox displays.”

Video game website discussion forums are melting down after Gamespot senior editor Jeff Gerstmann was fired yetserday from his job of ten years over what the site’s editorial is calling a problem with the “tone” of a video game review. Gerstmann gave the Eidos game “Kane & Lynch” an average Gamespot score of 6.0 and shortly thereafter his employment with Gamespot, one of the largest and most influential game news websites as well as owned by CNET Networks, was terminated immediately. News of Gerstmann’s dismissal quickly spread across the web thanks to blogs like Kotaku and other gaming websites such as Penny Arcade. Calls for clarification to Gamespot was met with no comment and so far Gertsmann hasn’t decided to go public with his side of the story. That hasn’t stopped one blog from publishing what they claim is an account given by an insider working at Gamespot why Gertsmann was fired. The alleged insider spills that it was pressure from Eidos to Gamespot senior management that led to Gerstmann’s dismissal. “This management team has shown what they’re willing to do,” writes the blog’s source. “Jeff had ten years in and was f***ing locked out of his office and told to leave the building.”