This Prototype iPhone Dongle Blends The Magic of Kinect and the Wii — But The Best Is Yet to Come

We caught wind of the Mauz iPhone dongle from Spicebox last week during CES, and promised you a closer look; here it is. You’ll remember that the dongle connects to your Mac over wifi and lets you control it from your iPhone in three unusual ways: by flicking your iPhone, waving your hand over it or making a 3D-model on your Mac mimic the movements of your iPhone in real space.

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Arcade Retro Rhythm Game Bit.Trip Core Hits Steam

The retro-wacky Bit.Trip series, originally published on the WiiWare downloadable game service for Nintendo’s Wii console, has started showing up on Steam. The second game in a six-game series, Bit.Trip Core serves up some psychedelic visuals married to a fantastic chiptune soundtrack, which is available if you purchase the $12 version of the game.

The best part? Bit.Trip Core, like the other three Steam-available games from the Bit.Trip series, is available for the Mac.

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The iPhone & iPad Are Killing Nintendo As Famous Game Maker Posts First Ever Annual Loss

Is it time to retire game consoles? That’s the question buzzing around in the wake of Nintendo announcing its first yearly loss, forcing a downgrade of the 3DS future. The creator of Super Mario said it lost $575 million (45 billion yen), surprising experts forecasting a $52 million (4.2 billion yen) deficit. The unspoken push over the precipice: the iPad and iTunes App Store games.

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Apple Patents Technology To Let Your iPhone Play Lazer Tag

Ever played Lazer Tag? If Apple has its druthers, next time you play it, it won’t be with big ray guns and fluorescent sensors, but with your iPhone.

Apple’s gaming plans are described in a newly discovered patent dated April 2009 for “Interactive Gaming with Co-Located, Networked Direction and Location Aware Devices.”

The nitty gritty’s a lot cooler than that dry legalese description, though: what Apple is describing here is away to take advantage of an iPhone’s gyroscope, accelerometer and GPS to turn your handset into an aimable device that can talk to other iPhones that it is pointed at.

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