The UpStream

As part of a lawsuit filed in California, of course, Sprint Nextel will start allowing their stores to unlock handsets to be used on other compatible services (such as Verizon Wireless and Alltel). Also, they will unlock other phones for use on the Sprint CDMA network.

Two things to remember here:

• This ruling will not affect Nextel handsets, since Nextel is the only AMPS network still running in the US.
• When moving a handset, especially a CDMA handset, from one network to another, features do not work. Text, pictures, video, internet, etc are all unique to the carrier, so the only likely feature that will work on an unlocked handset is voice.

Remember when we said that the wonderfully exciting upcoming game, Spore was coming to the PC? Well, we were kind of right. We will also be seeing the game come to the Wii, and ONLY the Wii.

Will Wright had this to say:

The PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement, but the Wii feels like a major jump--not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic.

Hooray for someone outside of our offices being supportive of the Wii, and its great possibilities. Thank you for going out on a limb, Mr. Wright!

Nintendo has announced that they want to launch their Wii system in China and South Korea next year. Luckily, they have not forgotten about us in the countries that it has already launched in and we still can't find them. They will work to correct the global console shortage before they add any new countries to the lineup.

A number of years ago there was a little-known Dreamcast and arcade game known as Samba de Amigo. It was right at the beginning of the rhythm game movement, and was played with special maracas. Well, this simple, yet incredibly fun, game is being revamped by the Sega team to be playable on the Wii.

This should be a perfect match, as the Wiimote is designed for just such a game. We here at PLuGHiTz Technologies loved Samba, and look forward to this remake, destined to dance onto the Wii this Spring.

We knew there was going to be a full featured site for RockBand, but we got more than we expected. Here's the gist:

• A personal page where your game character is loaded automatically to keep you current. Play with skins and backgrounds, just like a real social networking site!
• Search for new band members
• Top artists and bands
• Blogs and Forums
• Create a band photo with your characters, pick a background, lighting and you're off and running

Where did you buy your Orange Box? Game Stop? Wal*Mart? Online? If you answered yes to #3, you might be in trouble. Many people who purchased their games online are now having some difficulty:

Many of us bought the product (and hence, the serial numbers) legitimately online via well known international game stores, as they sell them significantly cheaper than American stores.

We were able to activate the products without a problem. One week later, Valve, via the Steam program, inactivated all Orange Box games (after they had already been active for some time), stating that they are in the "incorrect territory." There was no warning or anything, just completely inactivated.

Uh oh. That'll teach you for legally purchasing products from a reputable source! Think about it...