Nintendo’s 2DS popping up for Pre-Order

Today when I glanced at Gamestop and Best Buy I saw the 2DS was available for pre-order. These retailers have decided to start taking orders just a few days after Nintendo’s the 2DS would hit shelves October 12th.

 

For those who don’t know the 2DS is a DS console that can play 3DS games and regular DS, but the catch is it can only do 3DS games in 2D. The new handheld also doesn’t sport Nintendo’s clamshell design, so it isn’t pocket friendly, unfortunately.

The new DS also has support for Nintendo’s eShop where gamers can purchase and download both new and retro games from SNES, NES, GBC, and Gamegear.

Currently the console can be pre-ordered for $129.99 in Crimson Red or Electric Blue and comes with a 4GB SD card, the console itself of course and a wall charger.

Nintendo Announces New 2DS Handheld Console

Nintendo currently has a stranglehold on the handheld console market for years and its 3DS currently reigns supreme over Sony's PS Vita. The newest edition to the DS family is the firm's budget-minded $130 2DS, which was announced earlier today. The device is slated to have a October 12th release date once its passed FCC quality controls.

The cheaper DS will be able able to play 3DS games and is backwards compatible with regular Nintendo DS games too. The only caveat is that you won't be able to the games with Nintendo's 3D features, thus the name 2DS.

You'll also be able to access the Nintendo's eShop to buy downloadable games. The store features classic retro games which include my favorites Zelda Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Majora's Mask, and Super Metroid. These blast to the past games are super duper cheap at just $5 a piece making the eShop a great feature for the 2DS to have.

Nintendo's squeezed a SD card slot into the 2DS just like they did with their 3DS and you'll be able to store downloadable games, apps, and saves onto the card.

Nvidia's Shield handheld was released a few weeks for an MSRP of $300 and now faces stiffer competition from Nintendo to lower its price. The Shield is still far more expensive than Nintendo's current DS offerings as the 3DS and 3DS XL sport MSRPs of $200 and $170, respectively.

EVGA Video Cards now to come with Double Bios

If your overclocking fails try again

Obliterating a video card’s Bios by overclocking it to much way can make into a glorified paper weight. To solve this problem, EVGA has now started making its video cards with its new “Double Bios”. The feature gives users two Bios to mess around with, so if their video card’s Bios gets corrupted they can flick a switch and it can be set back to its default bios.

The company says that its “Double Bios” feature is to help unlock the additional power of overclocking and to allow users to experiment with its new cards. EVGA will offer this feature on its 700-series video cards which range from the GTX 760 up to the GTX 780.

EVGA is celebrating the new release of its new “Double Bios” video cards by giving away 2 GeForce GTX 780, 770 and 760s. You enter to win these cards here.

ASUS Launches H81 Series Motherboards

A set of Entry-Level Haswell boards

Asus has announced that it will be releasing six entry-level motherboards sporting Intel’s entry-level H81 Haswell chipset. The boards feature several different form factors which include ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ATX.

The H81 series is comprised of the H81-Plus, H81M-Plus, H81M-A, H81M-C, and the H81M-E and the H81I-Plus. All of boards include two DDR3 1600Mhz dimm slots supporting up to 16GB of RAM and one PCI-Express x16 slot (@16). Other specifications include two SATA 6GB/s ports, Realtek 7.1 Audio, and USB 3.0.

Asus claims its new boards feature 5K gold capacitors which are supposed to “last more than twice as long as traditional electrolytic capacitors — over 50 years of continuous use under typical conditions (at 65 degrees Centigrade).”

Currently there is no word on how much the new H81 boards will cost. However, on Newegg H87 motherboards are priced at $80-$120, so the H81 motherboards should be around the same price or cheaper.