When Apple unveiled the iPad 2, they also advertised a new video converter that was designed to mirror whatever is displayed on the tablet’s screen to an external HDMI display by upscaling content to full HD 1080p resolution. This one plays nice with any third-party app and when it comes to games, the $39 Apple Digital AV Adapter upscales graphics from the iPad’s native 1024 by 768 pixel resolution to full HD 1920 by 1080 resolution.

That means you won’t have those annoying black bars on your screen. Don’t you hate those? The PowerVR SGX543MP2, the GPU unit of the A5 chip can drive full 1080p 3D graphics. TouchArchade says that the next update to Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD will enable full 1080p video output in 30 frames per second. That’s without upscaling.

Samsung has introduced a new external Blu-ray combo drive. It looks nice and sleek and even features an anti-fingerprint surface so you can avoid smudge marks. The SE-406A external Blu-ray drive also comes with software that will turn 2D DVD movies into 3D.

The device provides several speeds across different data media types: 6X BD-R, 4X BD-R Dual Layer, 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-RW, 8X DVD±R recording, 8X DVD-RAM recording, 6X DVD+R Dual Layer recording, 6X DVD-R Dual Layer recording, 8X DVD+RW recording and 6X DVD-RW recording. You can expect it to arrive in April 2011 for $150.

If you were hoping to import Japanese games for your US Nintendo 3DS, this is bad news. If you want to play imports, you will have to buy a foreign system since a 3DS from one territory will not play games from another. It won’t even show up in the menu.

This is confirmed for the Japanese version so it is safe to assume that the US version will work the same. To some this is not a deal-breaker, but to others this is a big issue. If you want to play foreign games, you’ll need a 3DS from the same country.

You know that slider on the side of the 3DS? It adjusts the 3D aspect to the user’s preference. And although the 3DS’ screen doesn’t force you to wear glasses, it does have to be held at just the right angle to get the most out of the 3D effect. And there are many of us who would just want to use it for plain old 2D gaming. So it’s good to know that Nintendo now says that no game should require 3D as part of its gameplay mechanics. And frankly that’s just a good rule of thumb for making a good game if you ask us.

Hideki Konno, one of Nintendo’s producers says that the company wants all of its 3DS games to be playable in 2D, reducing the 3D aspect to an aesthetic enhancement. Some might feel ripped off, but what did you expect? Nintendo wants to please the mass market, otherwise people will soon tire of the 3DS, like they did with the Wii. Novelties wear off quickly.

Gamer anticipation is reaching critical mass as it is now less than one week until the Nintendo 3DS launches. Sure the line-up of launch games leaves us a little cold, but more games will come in due time and at least we will get to hold the 3DS in our hands.

Those who live in New York have another reason to be excited about the 3DS launch. Nintendo is throwing a midnight launch event. It starts at 9:00 PM EDT at the Best Buy in Union Square. There will be plenty of hands-on 3DS demos, food, music, and giveaways. Probably a bunch of people in costume too. Sounds like a good time. Additional Best Buy locations will also be selling the device at midnight, but maybe with not so much fanfare.

If you didn’t already get the Droid R2-D2 edition, than all of you wannabe Luke Skywalkers out there have another option. This R2-D2 case for your iPhone. Nothing is cooler than making a phone look like a Star Wars robot after all.

This one features sculpted details and is a StarWarsShop exclusive iPhone 3G hard case. It may not pal around with C-3PO and beep and chirp at you, but it’s the next best thing to having an actual droid.

AT&T and LG have announced the LG Thrill 4G. What we have here is basically the AT&T branded version of the LG Optimus 3D, but with a more “thrilling” name. The LG Thrill 4G features a dual core 1GHz processor and Android 2.2 Froyo.

Other features include a 4 inch touchscreen display capable of displaying 3D video without dorky 3D glasses and it also features dual five megapixel stereoscopic cameras that can record HD 3D video in 720p as well. There are no details on when the LG Thrill 4G will be available on AT&T and no pricing details yet.

Samsung has announced the D6400/D6500 Series 3D TVs for the South Korean market. They are available in 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch versions. The Samsung D6400/D6500 Series 3D TVs feature a Clear Motion Rate (CMR) of 480Hz, a Crystal Black Panel, Hyper-real engine and smart-real motion picture support that reduces cross-talk and flickering.

Both models have the ability to convert 2D content to 3D. Some other features include Bluetooth 3D glasses support, Smart Hub UI and Samsung’s 3D VOD service. The Samsung D6400 3D TV series is priced from 2,400,000 Won ($2,133) to 4,900,000 Won ($4,355). The Samsung D6500 3D TV series is priced from 2,600,000 Won ($2,310) to 5,200,000 Won ($4,621).

When you watch 3D movies in the theater, the glasses are heavy and uncomfortable. Dolby has a new solution and has just announced this newer and lighter pair of 3D glasses. They will also come with anti-theft measures and an RFID tag for inventory control purposes.

Theater owners will also be happy to know that the thinner lenses can be washed and reused hundreds of times. They are $12 each and are cheaper when purchased in bulk. Though they won’t improve the quality of a movie script or lower ticket prices.

After selling 500,000 units of the Nintendo 3DS handheld on day 1 in Japan, Nintendo has hit another milestone. Amazon UK has announced that they have received more pre-orders for the 3DS than any other gaming console they’ve previously sold.

The Xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii all come in second to Nintendo’s portable glasses-free 3D gaming sensation. They didn’t reveal the exact numbers, but 3DS pre-orders were 20% higher than the PS3, 56% higher than the Wii and 255% higher than the DSi. Looks like the big N has a huge hit on it’s hands.

Samsung is now showing off a 55 inch glasses-free 3D TV at the FPD China trade show. It’s a prototype for now. The 55-inch display can accommodate nine different viewpoints for glasses-free 3D viewing, and can be switched into a 2D mode any time.

To switch modes, it changes the optical refraction index of an LCD panel that sits on top of the main LCD that’s actually used to display images. The prototype uses a direct-lit CCFL backlight, which will likely be replaced with an LED backlight before it hits the market. For now, it’s still about 3 years away.

A girl named theofficialLGgirl was recently chosen to shoot an advertisement for LG’s G-Slate tablet on T-Mobile. She was given her own G-Slate after the shoot, and has posted a video showing off her experience with the tablet.

Obviously it’s going to be a bit biased, but it does a nice job of showing off the tablet. And it never hurts to have a cute girl if you are selling something right? The tablet runs Honeycomb (Android 3.0) on a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and can display 3D content on the tablet itself if you have 3D glasses. It can also output to the big screen through an HDMI port.

The Nintendo 3DS launches next week and now there are rumors that the company may focus on a replacement for the Wii. Frank Gibeau, label head at EA Games, said in a chat with IndustryGamers that he was aware of a follow-up coming. The device is unknown and wasn’t confirmed, but it is a fair bet that it will have have HD support, rivaling competitors from Microsoft and Sony.

Nintendo has been one of the most conservative console makers especially during this generation of console. The Wii was mostly built using faster but nearly identical processors as the GameCube. The company has often refused to discuss the possibility of a next-gen console as long as sales continued to dominate, but sales are not what they once were and it would seem that the time is right.

HARMAN International Industries has announced their latest gaming headset, the AKG GHS-1. It’s already a winner of the Red Dot award for its outstanding product design. The GHS-1 will enhance your gaming experience with better realism, portability and comfort.

It is specially designed to draw gamers into the game and keep them immersed. It has a lightweight design so you can wear it for long periods without discomfort and passive noise reduction makes sure that gamers don’t get distracted from the real world.

We have less than two weeks before the Nintendo 3DS will make its way to U.S. and U.K. shores with it’s glasses-free 3D gaming. But there’s one feature you are sure not to like and that is backward-compatibility loading times on old DS games.

The 3DS is cutting edge handheld gaming right? So it should be able to provide faster loading times, even for the old DS games. Nope. Gamespot managed to get its hands on a Japanese 3DS from last month’s launch and they compared the load times of several DS games on the new 3DS with the old DS Lite.