Two of the top selling video game franchises of 2008 were Guitar Hero and Rock Band. With the huge popularity of the music games, it’s no surprise that an ecosystem of peripherals and accessories are available to add realism and take money from the wallets of gamers.

dreamGEAR has announced its latest guitar controller for the PS3 called the WarBeast. The controller was designed by the developer of real guitars B.C. Rich. The WarBeast has the heavy metal looks gamers want and works with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Rock Revolution.

Looks like the VW bus has jumped the groove and left it’s record playing days behind to become a radio. Dreams of Japan has released a miniature version of the Volkswagen bus aka hippie mobile, that features an AM/FM radio, all the necessary jacks for hooking up an external audio source and radio antenna alongside a tiny LCD display in the back window.

It also features a digital clock for the time. But it wouldn’t be a hippie mobile without some analog dials to tune the radio and adjust the volume. Sadly, there’s a catch. As every hippie knows, “the man” can’t be trusted. “The man” has priced this one at $129.99.

World of Warcraft has a huge fanbase. The kinds of fans that are actually into tech as well. So it makes sense to have a World of Warcraft Today theme for the BlackBerry Curve. WoW fans can now get in-game graphics and icons on their communications devices, and probably helpful reminders about any guild raids they may have planned.

Just when you thought you could get a gamer out of the WoW universe for a few minutes, something like this comes along and pulls them back in. Sure, it’s not like you get to play on your iPhone, but the theme certainly gives BlackBerry that in game feel. Horde and Alliance themes can’t be far behind.

These days we want games to be super realistic. It’s all about better graphics and sound as well as clothing technology that puts you into the gaming environment.

Rumble controllers were just the beginning. The LumiSource BoomPod is another such accessory. This one is designed to park your butt on, offering multi-directional tilt to the gamer sitting on it. Some other features include: Integrated 3″ 2-way speakers, Fully adjustable volume control, Illuminated control knob, RCA input jacks, Plush two-tone microsuede surface, Audio cords and Built-in handle.

What with living in 2009, chances are you suck at sewing. It seems like kind of a lost art in a way. And mastering an old sewing machine can be a real pain anyway. With the Brother Quattro 6000D, you’d be a master seamstress. This beast of a sewing machine features a 7-inch HD LCD display and embedded runway lighting. It even goes so far as to have a camera next to the needle, letting you see up close exactly what you’re doing, so you don’t mess up your stitches.

There’s no info on pricing or a release date as of yet, but I think we can safely say that it will cost quite a nice chunk of change. You may want to toil away on your old machine while saving some extra scratch.

Eazo is all about bringing luxury to everyday computing with its Z70 computer. The exterior, exudes a sort of manly charm with it’s rosewood finish amalgamated into an aluminum-magnesium alloy chassis. The wood has been painted with natural Chinese lacquer without any chemical additives, giving it that natural look.

Under the hood of the Z70, you’ll find an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processor that should mean decent performance no matter what you are using it for. It’s even water-cooled so that you won’t accidentally burn your precious wooden wonder after hours of high performance.

Nintendo has done everything it can to stay one step ahead of those crazy modders, but it hasn’t slowed them down. Now we have FLATMII, a device that plugs into the Wii’s drive ribbon and lets you stream ISO backups of games (or whatever) from your Windows XP or Vista PC.

The console thinks it’s a DVD drive. It’s for cautious Wii owners who want to backup games that they own legally. Users who would never steal software. If you fall into that category, check out a video below.

Before the dawn of the netbook age, there were several tiny, ultraportable machines on the market like the OQO Model 2. These devices were much smaller than the notebooks of the day, but offered too many compromises in usefulness and performance so they never really caught on.

Today the netbook has shown many consumers that a lower performance computer can be very useful and netbooks are leading the computer market in growth. To grab some of this action OQO is getting a new Model 2+ of its little machine ready for a CES 2009 debut.

There are a few common threads in the SSD market no matter the maker of the device. These threads include price premiums and better performance. For some markets, the high price of SSDs has kept them from being popular despite the performance benefits.

RunCore has announced a new line of SSDs that are 1.8-inch PATA drop in replacements for many portable notebooks that use standard 1.8-inch HDDs. The SSDs come in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities retailing for $69.99, $119.99, $199.99, and $389.99 respectively.

Apple rumors seem to circulate constantly and each time an event has Apple launching new products, like MacWorld, the rumor mill works overtime. A new rumor started over at TechCrunch says that Apple may have large format iPod touch in the works.

According to sources cited by TechCrunch, some of whom claim to have held this device, the large format touch would have a screen of 7 or even 9-inches. That is netbook screen size territory and Apple is said to be talking to Asian OEMs about producing the device.

So many Apple rumors. Who can keep up with all of them? Most revolve around the latest gadgets from the company. The latest rumors are regarding Apple CEO Steve Jobs decision to not be a part of Macworld, cite to the state of his physical health as the reason. According to sources, “Apple misrepresented the reasons behind Macworld and Jobs’ keynote cancellation.” The real cause is said to be his rapidly declining health.

With this recent alleged news Apple has chosen to remove the “hype factor” instead of letting it later destroy the company when the news of Jobs’ health surfaces later this spring. Apparently, no longer needing Macworld is just a cover designed by the worldwide “loyalty” department.

Though it’s just a concept for the moment, the Climbing UP suitcase designed by Woo Moonhyung makes dragging your suitcase around much easier. Especially on uneven surfaces or up stairs. Most suitcases use just a single set of wheels on the bottom, but not the Climbing UP suitcase. Instead, it has rubber belt tracks like a tank, along the length of it’s body.

It makes it much easier to pull your suitcase up stairs, and with the track along it’s entire length, it’s easier to handle from either side. It’s not motorized, but the design doesn’t add much weight. It just adds that extra little nudge to help you get a bit of a break.

Self-parking automobiles aren’t new, but Ford’s system, which is part of the company’s new power steering technology, will work on hills and uses sensors to monitor blind spots and notify the driver of approaching traffic. This new auto-parking technology debut on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and Lincoln MKT luxury crossover vehicle.

The fancy new power steering uses the vehicle’s battery instead of it’s hydraulic system, which improves fuel economy and reduces carbon emissions. It should be showing up in almost ninety percent of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles by 2012.

Last night we told you about the Wii winning the console wars this holiday season. The Xbox 360 did well too. But nobody wanted the poor PS3. There’s apparently at least one modder who the likes the PS3. The outside of it anyway.

This modder shoved an Xbox 360 into a PS3 case. It wasn’t a perfect fit, with a large hole cut into the front to allow access to the tray. It’s for those gamers who can’t make up their mind and love both consoles along with some neon.

I talked a bit last week about the Sony P series page on the Sony site that leaked on Christmas Day. The page has since been pulled from the site. It appears that the P Series will be Sony’s first Netbook and it has some interesting specifications, if they prove to be accurate.

Sony has a new teaser page up on its Japanese site that is giving brief glimpses at the keyboard design of what the page calls the VAIO New mobile. The site has a woman walking towards a door carrying a tiny purse as the image of a keyboard with a Lenovo-like tracking nub in the center of the keyboard. The suggestion is that the P Series fits into her tiny bag.