News:: PBS' new kids' channel lets you flip between streams and games

When you give kids digital educational content, you're frequently forced to choose between passive viewing and games. Why can't you offer both? PBS wants to give it a try. It just launched a free 24/7 national channel, PBS Kids, where a live internet stream is just the start of the strategy. At a later point in the year, you'll have the option of switching between the stream and an activity that builds on what the show offers. Your young one will have an easy way of putting what they've learned into practice.

Source: PBS

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News:: PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List

_{[After a nice New Year's break, we're back with more List! More Friendship! More half-assed messages from me! How self-referential of me. The List will continue on into perpetuity. -Panda]}

Good New Years, my friends/robots/Gardevoir

It has been made aware to me that, just perhaps, you all enjoy video games. It might even be said that you... like to game with others? Now now, don't be that way, I don't mean to lump you into some sort of box. You're all just such lovely folks, it pains me to watch you, struggling in vain to connect with each other, striving to engage in...

Read more...

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News:: Ben Heck's Xbox One S laptop

Since the teardown of the Xbox One S, Ben has been designing a laptop using the console's innards. Building a hardware enclosure can be tricky, as Ben has to make sure the specifications are exact. He gets precise measurements with the help of a document scanner, later bringing in a laser cutter and CNC router. Naturally, though, it's not just the aesthetics that are important: Ben also has to reduce the size of the hardware and ensure it's cooled properly. To do so, Ben finds an appropriate fan that can be speed-controlled to ensure the laptop stays cool. What would you change about the Xbox One S notebook? Let the Ben Heck Show team know over on the element14 Community.

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News:: The Nintendo Switch will support external storage for up to 2TB, when the pricey cards actually exist

Speaking to Game Informer, Nintendo finally let people know what the maximum amount of storage will be for the Nintendo Switch, which ships with 32GB -- and...drum roll...it's 2TB! That's quite a bit of space for non-proprietary micro SDXC cards, which you can pick up at your local big box store.

Well, you would be able to pick them up if they existed as Nintendo muses that 2TB models are not actually being sold -- but when they are, they'll support them. For reference, average micro SDXC cards are only at around 512GB at the moment (not even 1TB, just a month and a half before the system launches), and can wildly vary on price depending on the brand. In other words, you might actually end up spending more than you did on the Vita's cards comparatively, since Switch games are much bigger than the average Vita game, storage-wise. Yikes!

Yet another added cost to tack onto the Switch, since the included 32GB is woefully small. This is probably why their presentation was so devoid of things like performance specifications and other hard data.

Nintendo Switch Supports Micro SDXC Memory Cards Up To 2TB [Game Informer]

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News:: Reggie: Nintendo Switch won't have shortages, NES Classic getting 'continued' stock in the US

Nintendo has had a "shortage" problem for years in the US.

The company did it with the Wii. It did with with every single special edition they've ever made, from systems to games (remember Fire Emblem Fates, and how that single cartridge sold out in seconds and was never heard from again?). And it somehow did it again with the NES Classic. Speaking to Wired, Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime says that won't happen again with the Switch, and gives us a glimmer of hope with the NES Classic.

Firstly, he says that for the latter, "global demand [Ed: of a celebration of one of the most iconic consoles of all time] was well in excess of anything we had anticipated," so that's what caused the shortage. They allegedly "only" expected 30-40 year olds to pick up the machine, and he faults the fact that people had "already picked up Super Mario Bros. a bunch" for the low anticipated demand. Sounds like marketing speak to me. But in the US, and seemingly only in the US, since it's the only region he mentioned, they will continue to meet demand. How much demand? Well, maybe only a few bits at a time so the scalpers can buy it, like everything else they trickle back in. Nintendo!

But Reggie says this situation definitely won't happen for the Switch, a system that sold out mere hours after it was announced. That won't be a problem, Reggie says, because they want to ship two million units worldwide "through month one." So how could there be shortages, right? In both cases, I'll believe it when I see it. They said amiibo stock would be fixed too, but for some toys it took one to two years to see that promise through.

Nintendo boss promises Switch won't have NES Classic supply issues [Wired]

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