The unthinkable has happened. For the first time in 16 months, sales of the PS3 in Japan jumped 80% in the last five weeks of March compared to a year ago. At the same time, demand for the Wii went down by almost 63% to 99,335.

You can chalk up at least part of this to the release of a few new popular games like Resident Evil 5. Which helped up the PS3’s sales figures beyond the Wii’s for the first time since November a few years ago. It should also be noted that nearly everyone in Japan seems to already own a Wii.

We first told you about Envizions new console back in October. It goes by the name of the EVO Smart Console will be powered by an AMD Athlon 2.4GHz processor, and will be accompanied by a Fedora-based Linux distro. The open-source console will give you game play, Internet access, VoIP communications and HD video playback all in one box.

It should work with Envizions “cloud” computing service, where users can pick up Amiga-based games and a video on demand service where you can choose from over 10,000 titles. The beta shipment for developers will begins next week with a 100 units. More systems will be released later. We have some updated specs below.

It’s official. Starting tomorrow you can get the aged Playstation 2 for just $99.99. Just like we told you yesterday. So stop denying yourself and go play some of those old games you’ve been missing out on.

Good news. Unless it’s Sony’s idea of an April Fools prank. Probably their way of bolstering the numbers this fiscal year. Who cares, we all win.

This Exploded Atari 2600 shirt is all kinds of awesome. It illustrates disassembly perfectly for any geek who thinks that the Atari 2600 is somehow full of tons of parts and hard to take apart.

We recommend wearing it while doing such mods as the Atari-Hero, or the Multari. You can’t have too many geek shirts after all. Even when you run out of drawer and closet space. That’s what your floor is for, right? It will only cost you $17.

There’s not much to go on here. Just some guy’s word, but there’s talk that the permanent retail price of the PlayStation 2 console will soon fall below $100. It would certainly be long overdue. The console currently retails for $129.99.

It was in April of 2006 when Sony adjusted the price of the PS2 last time. Will April of 2009 be the month they get it below $99.99? The images above are from a Kmart pricing system. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but a price shift at this point would make sense.

The FC Mobile II Console will let you play all of your old NES games. It improves on its predecessor by pulling double duty as a handheld and a home gaming system in one unit. NES cartridges can be docked directly in to the portable handheld system which features a 2.5″ LCD screen. While the home gaming system can be connected to a TV screen, and now comes with 2 wireless handheld controllers, and a wireless gun for playing hours of Duck Hunt.

The FC Mobile II is available in black or white. No word on pricing yet but the previous system sells for about $40. So you may want to consider digging out all those NES cartridges.

Here’s some exciting news for gamers. Microsoft is apparently deep into the development process for the successor to the Xbox 360 console. Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has confirmed that his company has taken part in talks with Microsoft about this next console.

We all knew they would launch another console eventually, but the news suggests the company plans to replace its current 4-year-old system very soon. Pardo didn’t provide any hardware details, just that Blizzard is “actively in discussions with Microsoft” about the new gaming hardware.

Well hello hotness. What’s not to love about the new Xbox 360 dev kit unveiled at this week’s Game Developers Conference and due out in the summer? It’s ultra-sexy with its sleek black-and-blue tint finish and stylish etchings. It also features 1GB of RAM, twice what is found in the retail model.

Sadly, no matter how much drool pools up on your desktop, this hardware is only for those who make the games. But maybe they will take pity on us and offer one up to the masses soon.

If OnLive has anything to say about it, this could this be a console killer. Something that puts the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii six feet under. OnLive handles all the heavy graphics rendering on its servers and what you get is lag-free gaming as a video stream. IF it works as advertised.

You would use either your broadband-connected PC or Mac, or you could hook up the set-top box to your home theater, which features Ethernet, HDMI and USB. According to OnLive, the box costs “less than a Wii.” OnLive will be launching later this year.

Whether there’s room for a new next gen console or not, Zeebo is squeezing it’s way into the lineup. And since there’s no way it would stand out in the US or Japan, they’ve decided on Brazil. The idea is to get into developing countries that maybe Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have ignored.

Getting your console positioned in the right country is one thing, but you need to have support from the game publishers. Good thing Zeebo has managed to get some big names now. EA Mobile, Namco Networks, THQ, and PopCap have all signed on to support the Zeebo.

This toaster rejects bread in favor of NES titles, which are far more delicious. Created by the same modder behind the Nintoaster, this mod is just as heart healthy.

This followup is part toaster, part Super Nintendo, and is perfect for any geek kitchen. We’re hoping that the toaster/console trend keeps on keeping on, because there are still a whole bunch that need to be assimilated. Video below.

The latest rumors suggest that Microsoft is considering putting the Xbox 360 Elite on the back-burner, while they take no more orders and allow stocks to dwindle. That way the Elite could be treated as a limited-availability option, on sale on at select European and US retailers. It is believed that retailers prefer only two SKUs, low-end and high-end.

Any remaining Elites on sale would more likely be special editions, like the red Resident Evil 5 package announced last month. Elite packages take longer to sell than the Arcade or Pro 360s, so this is what they want.

If you’re a serious gamer, Solomods has a custom-built Xbox 360 arcade machine that they’ll sell you for $2,250. The original Midway arcade cabinet was once The Simpsons game, but the Microsoft game console has been added and it’s been repainted and given a new monitor and front-loading disk tray, two joysticks, a 60GB hard drive, WiFi, along with display and volume control.

It also supports your favorite wireless controller. They want to sell this thing so if you order it, he’ll throw in an illustrated owners manual. It’s available for pick-up in Cleveland, Ohio. What are you waiting for?

If killing Zombies is your favorite pastime (And who hasn’t enjoyed a good head shot that permanently kills them dead?), you’ll want to pay attention here. Microsoft is coming out with a Red 360 console and matching controller to celebrate Resident Evil 5.

The bundle comes with Resident Evil 5, a Red Xbox 360, matching controller and a Resident Evil NXE (NEw Xbox Experience). No word on official pricing yet or hard drive size. Also no word on whether “red” means “Zombie blood red” or just red.

The Famicom Box is a rare piece of Nintendo history. It’s an old school Nintendo system with 15 games built in. Sort of like Nintendo’s Greatest Hits. The games include Duck Hunt, Mega Man and Super Mario Brothers. It comes with two controllers and a light gun. Believe it or not it was designed for hotels and arcades.

It’s a rare nerd artifact, highly sought after and it’s available now on Yahoo Auctions at a starting price of $110. How high it will go is anyone’s guess. So, if you want an expensive NES alternative, the Famicombox may be for you. Your friends will be envious should you win.