The UpStream

Let's give Microsoft a hand for making an attempt at being creative here. Let's forget the fact that the attempt may not be the most aesthetic, and let's focus on the fact that this limited edition Xbox 360 controller, in a two-tone black and red, may actually be a hit with certain people.

GameStop has teamed up with Microsoft to exclusively launch this in there own stores, bundled with a Play and Charge Kit, for an MSRP of $69.99. So pony up the extra penny and make some sense in your wireless experience!

I will give them some credit. It is a step above the plain colors, and much better than any skin you can add to the controller, which I think makes the controllers less playable.

The bundle is going to hit stores in over sixteen countries, but not in the UK. Weird.

Sony's sales are looking pretty damn good this week, and you know what I have to say to that? Hell Yeah! Only three days after the launch of the PSP Go (and three weeks after Jon officially won't get one), sales skyrocketed 300% week over week, according to Sony Computer Entertainment America.

SCEA corporate communications director, Patrick Seybold, stated,

The launch of PSP Go has generated strong consumer interest in the overall PSP platform and the PlayStation Network's digital content offering.

Some details leaked this past week, and although Nintendo may not be too thrilled about it, we sure are. On October 8, Nintendo held a retailer briefing to share new products and release dates. The press is not permitted to attend this event. Still, somehow the details were spilled and we learned that the highly anticipated game, Tales of Graces, will be released December 10. This game will have the option to purchase as a bundle with the Wii system or just the game itself. Also, on December 3, Samurai Warriors 3 is scheduled to hit stores.

Some other games include New Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and NHK Kouhaku Quiz Chorus, which are big titles with release dates previously announced. All of these games are set to be released throughout the month of December.

Poke Park Wii Pikachu's Big Adventure, which is expecting a large number of sales, has set a release date of December 5. Something that excited us was the mention of a Blue and a Pink Wii Remote (for your butt) coming out December 3...too bad it's only being released overseas. Bummer!

Here at PLuGHiTz Live! Radio, we certainly like to push the envelope and we certainly appreciate those who like to do the same with design concepts, especially when it comes to cell phones. This year at CEATEC, the Japanese equivalent to our Consumer Electronics Show, there were many interesting phone designs unveiled and yes they were everything you would expect to see from companies like Fujitsu who were responsible for many of the new designs this year but other such as NTT, DoCoMo and KDDI also contributed.

Chamelephone - This is a cool concept idea that you can pretty much guess from the name what it is. This phone designed by Hiroyuki Tabuchi would use something like OLED technology to mimic its surroundings and blend in. Don't get excited yet though. Science does not currently enable this to become a reality but I give it another 5 years and it might be fee sable. On the bright side it wont be any harder to lose your phone... for now.

Uh oh! Somebody at a college bookstore is going to get fired! Looks like a copy of an education version of Windows 7 was sold. Not only that, but the system didn't reject the order due to the hard street date restriction of October 22nd. Let's not forget to mention the fact that one of the associates had to physically hand this to the customer, totally disregarding the big yellow or orange stickers placed on the box to prevent the literate bunch of bookstores employees (or so you would hope) from selling it early. To make matters worse, the copy, according to our source, was successfully activated!

Now I'm sure this won't be the only copy leaked before street date, but it's definitely earlier than some of the other debacles like the DS Lite and the revamped original Zune.

If you guys happen to see or hear about something like this occuring in your neck of the woods, feel free to drop us a line, and maybe even a picture of it! We'd love to hear from you!

There usually are several recalls that come across our desks per week and we typically don't report on them. However, when a big name like Acer issues one, we have to relay the information, especially due to Acer's usually safe and strict standards. The following is the memo straight from Acer:

It has come to our attention that certain Acer Aspire Notebooks may overheat under specific conditions. Acer is therefore voluntarily instituting a safety recall for these products.

Hit the break for the rest of the quote.