Want to create an easy-to-navigate home page for the broswer on your Wii or any other? Wii Browser, a free page creation tool, lets you create a page full of big, easy-to-click links to set as your homepage. You can also easily edit or rearrange your links from inside your Opera-powered Wii browser, as the site uses a number-based passkey system instead of requiring a login/password, which can get a bit tedious with a Wiimote-controlled keyboard. The main value here is in being able to edit your links from your computer browser rather than through slow screen typing, but it also gives you a Wii-friendly page you can browse to from any system. For another Wii homepage idea, check out Google’s Wii-formatted Reader.

Wii Browser [via eHub]

The Tech-Recipes blog posts a relatively simple, two-software-program method for grabbing the video from your DVDs and converting them to a PS3-playable MP4 format. Depending on the size of your PS3 hard drive, this method might only work for a handful of DVDs, but you could tinker with the video quality settings to make your console a jukebox of films, no Blue Ray burning required. The tutorial uses the same DVD Decrypter program Adam highlighted in his guide to copying DVDs to your iPod, as well as a lesser-known tool dubbed PS3 Video 9. Have an easier, quicker solution for transporting your own movies to your console? Offer them up in the comments.Photo by DeclanTM.

PS3 - How to convert movie DVDs to MP4 for playback on Playstation3 [Tech-Recipes.com]

This hack is neither cheap nor easy, but if for some reason you just have to pull off a feat of Guitar Hero virtuosity but lack the necessary skill, the folks at SYSTM have now provided details on how to automate the controller so you never miss a note. At the heart of the hack is a so-called “show control system,” which runs a hefty $210 but will let you program all the necessary strums and button presses with some seemingly not to difficult to use software. Of course, there’s also the little matter of cracking open the guitar and wiring everything up, but we’re guessing that won’t be much of a problem for anyone actually still considering the hack. If that includes you, you can get the complete rundown in video form at the link below.[Via Hack n Mod, thanks Nick L]

It’s no surprise that Sony has had some sort of new PS3 SKU in the works, but the company has now finally gotten official with it, and thrown in another surprise to boot. On that former front, Sony’s announced the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 Bundle, which includes said game, an 80GB PS3 and a DualShock 3 wireless controller (also available separately), all for the usual $500 price tag. Look for it to coincide with the launch of MGS4 in the second quarter of this year. As if that wasn’t enough, Sony’s also taken the wraps off its new God of War PSP Entertainment Pack, which includes a spiffy red Kratos-approved PSP, the God of War: Chains of Olympus game, Superbad on UMD, and a voucher to download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops for free. $200 and it’s yours on March 4th.

Nintendo couldn’t have been more obtuse in its announcement last week at GDC, but from the looks of it you won’t be enjoying that totally free Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection play forever. Nintendo is busting out a new Pay & Play service for certain games, which seems to refer to both downloadable content for some titles, and online multiplayer for others. It’s really hard to tell, but it doesn’t sound like Nintendo has any intention of going the Xbox Live route. There will be red stickers on games with Pay & Play features so you can spot them in the store, and if you do end up paying for online multiplayer, it looks like it’ll be on a per-title basis. Other than that Nintendo isn’t spilling much — we have no idea what titles will cost money to play, and how much it’ll be — but given the fact that Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart are just about to make online play on the Wii actually interesting, this isn’t exactly an encouraging sign.

[Via Register Hardware]

It’s only been a short while since we saw the first successful attempts at Wii homebrew, but things now look to have busted wide open, with hacks seemingly turning up left and right these days. Most notably, the folks from the GameCube Linux project have recently let loose a proof of concept Linux “mini-distro” that makes use of the now infamous Twilight Princess hack to turn the Wii into a tiny (and so far not very useful) Linux box. If that’s a bit too much you, however, you may be interested in some of the tamer homebrew fare that recently made its debut, including an MP3 player and, you guessed it, an SNES emulator. In related news, Nintendo also just pushed out an official updated to the Wii OS (version 3.2), but contrary to what the timing would suggest, it apparently doesn’t do anything to block you from getting your homebrew fix.

Read - GameCube Linux project
Read - TehSkeen, SNES emulator
Read - Wii News, Wii Mode MP3 Player
Read - MaxConsole Forums, Wii Update 3.2

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]

Hailed as a rig that “gamers won’t outgrow,” the XPS 630 that we originally peeked at CES is finally official. As expected, the tower is ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI-ready and will support Intel’s Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme processors on the nForce 650i SLI chipset. You can beef things up with 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 1TB of HDD space or an optional Blu-ray drive and AGEIA PhysX accelerator, and you’ll have plenty of room for all those peripherals thanks to six total USB 2.0 ports, an optional 19-in-1 media card reader, gigabit Ethernet, audio in / out, FireWire and even PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors. Also of note, it’s the first pre-fab PC to support the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA), and you can snag your own for as little as $1,249 right now. Click on through for more of the breakdown. Oh, and if you’re interested to see how this beast stacks up, you can check out reviews from PC Mag and Computer Shopper.

Gallery: Dell’s XPS 630 gaming desktop gets official

Look, don’t act like you didn’t know this was coming. Microsoft has started selling its Xbox 360 HD DVD drive for the ultra-bargain price of $49.99. So now’s your chance to get one super-duper cheap. Or you could just throw that $50 into the garbage… same thing.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Not but a few days after some decided anti-Sony Japan commentary by a very frustrated Phil Harrison, the Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President is out, with his role to be assumed by the monolithic Kaz Hirai. Phil recently expressed his frustration for SCE Japan’s resistance to online and social gaming, which, as it turns out, is exactly where Sony needed to be like five years ago. From the sound of things, Phil’s departure is a little unceremonious (and, dare we say, sanctimonious?), but who’s to say what really went down behind closed doors?Read - Phil pulled his hair out over Sony Japan’s conservative nature
Read - … and now, mysteriously, Harrison is out

We keep on telling people that the iPhone and Wii are like totally going to be huge, but maybe they’ll finally believe us now that Jon Stewart trotted both out on stage during the Oscars this year. Oh, and perhaps now would be a good time to remind everyone that voting is still open on the 2007 Engadget Awards. (Wii shots after the break.)

Continue reading iPhone, Wii guests on stage at this year’s Oscars